HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: Re: Why I am thrilled with the QPBC
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 16:59:01 GMT

Not to rain on the wet-noses parade here, but I'm curious to hear
a little more about what QPB's list looks like, these days.  The
ads offering three books for three bucks *never* have any three
books that I'm interested in, and I do keep looking.  You see, I
used to be a big QPB buyer between about 1980 and 1988, but the
quality of the selections offered declined steadily during that
period, to the point where I wasn't ever finding anything I wanted.
This may have reflected a change in my reading habits, but I don't
think so--certainly I still read lots of trash.  

But I figure it this way: if I can't find even three books in their
ad that appeal to me, then why should I re-instate my membership?

					--I can be negative, too, :-)

							Fiona
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Maddona's new book
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 04:26:59 GMT

In article <1992Nov23.151116.2763@hellgate.utah.edu> speterse%peruvian.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (soren--Ms. Jackson if you're nasty) writes:
>In article <1992Nov20.231625.21385@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>
>>To me, the exceptional thing about the book is that Madonna could get away
>>with it. What other star of stage, screen, or music could have pulled this
>>off without damaging his or her career?
>
>Prince.

Ah, finally an answer I agree with. Prince indeed could do such a thing,
although not with quite the publicity impact that Madonna can elicit.


--Mike



-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"I can solve this Orient Express thing without
mnemonic@eff.org| breaking a sweat. It's that simple."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Hercule Perot
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.meta
From: torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen)
Subject: Re: Wittgenstein, P.I.
Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista
	<TORKEL.92Nov21005013@bast.sics.se> <1992Nov21.012248.23322@eff.org>
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 07:45:20 GMT

In article <1992Nov21.012248.23322@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) 
writes:

   >On the works of Mr. Wittgenstein, who, inter alia, once argued to 
   >Karl Popper that there are no "philosophical problems"--only problems in
   >the use of language.

  Have another look! You will find that Wittgenstein is intensely concerned
with the problems of metaphysics.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Re: Sunday Times BOOKS
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:41:26 GMT
Organization: Austerlitz, Gershovitz, and Carmichael

Marko Amnell writes:
>  Francis Muir writes:
>	Marko Amnell writes:
>
>		... a biography of R.L. Stevenson, ...
>
>	Could you flesh out this titbit please?
>
>Sure.  The book is _Dreams of Exile: Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography_
>by Ian Bell (a Scottish journalist), reviewed by Humphrey Carpenter.
>
>                                     Much is made of Stevenson's influence
>(by way of Kidnapped, "arguably the best piece of narrative by any writer",
>according to Carpenter) on later fiction (like spy stories and thrillers) 
>
If you doubt that _Kidnapped_ should be in the running for this honor,
check the opening to the 2nd chapter. Pretend you know nothing about
the book you are reading and after the first paragraph or so tot
up what you know about the narrator. All done indirectly and all
done in an apparently effortless style.  Pure narrative is a
nice art and Stevenson was one of its masters.
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> My bad.     
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: joan@med.unc.edu (Joan Shields)
Subject: Re: Why I am thrilled with the QPBC
Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 13:52:43 GMT

In article <9211171925.AA26858@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:

>I just received three books from the Quality Paperback Book Club.  I am
>absolutely THRILLED about receiving one of them.

......

>But the one that really thrills me is called WHY DO DOGS HAVE WET NOSES?

>In order for you to understand why I am thrilled by this book, I should
>tell you that I bought it as a gift for my father, and I have to tell
>you a little about my father.


Now, that was a truely wonderful post.




Wet fishes and dry kisses make for a dull weekend,

Joan






Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: sfysh@epas.utoronto.ca (Stephanie Moskal Fysh)
Subject: Re: Books as Objets D'Art
Organization: University of Toronto - EPAS
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 17:51:49 GMT

In article <9211161435.AA02659@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>Not a bad idea for a thread.  What books qualify as an objet d'art?
> 
>I'll nominate THE BOOK OF KELLS -- which is in the Long Library at
>Trinity College Dublin, and is, indeed, beautiful.  Any others?

From the perspective of the non-discipline of the History of Books,
for a book to be an objet d'art requires primarily that it be a fine
example of its kind, or exemplary in one respect.  Much of the work of
Baskerville in the 18th century could be called objets d'art because
of their fine typography.  Many other books may qualify on the basis
of fine binding.  Books of engraving often would be considered objets d'art.

Perhaps an offshoot of your question could be, can a book be an objet
d'art that was never intended as such?

Stephanie Fysh
Dept of English
Univ. of Toronto


-- 
Stephanie Moskal Fysh    |   "Things are only impossible until they're not"  
Dept. of English         |                             - Jean-Luc Picard
Univ. of Toronto         |   "Lager: the only thing that can kill a vindaloo"
(sfysh@epas.utoronto.ca) |                             - Dave Lister
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: msmorris@watsci.UWaterloo.ca (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: Captivity among the Indians
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 20:08:20 GMT

                                Thursday, the 19th of November, 1992

Lew Mammel, Jr. mentions sources for _Last of the Mohicans_.

May I strongly recommend Francis Parkman's ``France and England
in North America'' in this context? This takes up two volumes
in the Library of America set, and basically comprises
a history of New France down to the Plains of Abraham
and the British conquest of Canada. Even after 3000 pages, you
won't want the narrative to end. Anyway, it's not a source for
Cooper (being written 1850-60ish), but it is a history of the
British-French conflict that Cooper was writing about, and there's
plenty of material on Indian life and the warfare under the trees.
(A lot of this deals with the Hurons and the Iroquois and the
Jesuit missions and the martyrdom of the various missionaries, but
much later, I remember a particularly vivid chapter telling
the story of the ``Deerfield Massacre'', which included the
capture, abduction, and eventual ransoming of some New England settlers.)
Parkman relies on primary sources, and is pretty thoroughly footnoted,
so he will get you to Cooper's sources.

                  Mike Morris
             (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rons@quads.uchicago.edu (Josh Ronsen)
Subject: Surreal Novels About WWII
Reply-To: rons@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 08:29:27 GMT

	Greetings,

	I am planning to spend the rest of the year reading surreal
novels about the Second World War. Why? Why not? I have just finished
Dali's novel "Hidden Faces" (ask me for details) and have started "the
Journal of Albion Moonlight", which, so far, has been very enjoyable
(I can't resist a book with text in its margins). I need suggestions
for more surreal novels that take place during this time frame. I have
recently picked up the Lawrence Durrell series of 5 books (I cannot
recall the names) which it not really surreal, but Durrell is usually
very strange, if not downright odd. Please help me find more books. I
would perhaps even consider surreal novels about any war, just to be
complete.

	Regards,

	Josh Ronsen
	rons@midway.uchicago.edu


Organization: Doctoral student, History, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 09:49:54 -0500 
From: Lori Cole <lc1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Madonna's new book

Fido writes:

   Since young women carry about 400 of the little rascals around
   with them in one stage or another (my ObGyn knowledge is pretty rusty),
   it would seem that "eggs" would not be appropriate. To confuse things
   a bit, in slang Spanish "balls" are called "uovos", eggs.

Then wouldn't referring to people as having "a lot of eggs" be the
perfect, all-purpose, non-gendered term?!?!

Lori Cole 

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: RE: Ate in Arcadia. Eggo.
Organization: Clark University
Date: 18 NOV 92 17:28:54 GMT


>Ted B Samsel writes:
>
>        Then there's the old "revolutionary" maxim attributed to several,
>        (Mao, Lenin, etc.)
>          "To make an omelet, one must break eggs"

William Sburgfort Smith responds:

>Attributed to Hermann Goering in 1933 in "The Cynic's Lexicon" by Jonathon
>Green, but he doesn't say that Goering originated it.

Actually, what Goering said was, "When I hear the word 'omelet', I take out
my egg beater."

Heather
HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Maddona's new book
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 16:19:06 GMT

In article <By3DxC.A6J@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (John Mechalas) writes:
>In article <9211212332.AA12117@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>> 
>>mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>> 
>>> To me, the exceptional thing about the book is that Madonna could get away
>>> with it. What other star of stage, screen, or music could have pulled this
>>> off without damaging his or her career?
>> 
>>2 Live Crew.
>
>Andrew Dice Clay

Mark Taranto thinks 2 Live Crew would be successful photographed in a book
like Madonna's. Now John Mechalas says Andrew Dice Clay would be
successful with such a book. I have learned much more about your tastes
than I ever knew before.


--Mike



-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"I can solve this Orient Express thing without
mnemonic@eff.org| breaking a sweat. It's that simple."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Hercule Perot
From: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Maldoror
Date: 17 Nov 92 23:34:24 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In <Bxv965.5CM@brunel.ac.uk> Christopher.Carne@brunel.ac.uk 
(Christopher J Carne) writes:

>In article <1992Nov15.011624.10755@klaava.Helsinki.FI> amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell) writes:
>>Here's a little something I thought fans of surrealist writing might
>>enjoy seeing.  It's from _Les Chants de Maldoror_ by Isidore Ducasse,
>						      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>first published in Paris in 1868 (translated by Paul Knight):

>Well, yes, technically it's by Isidore Ducasse, but published under
>the name Le Compte de Lautreamont (sp?) (so you'll find it under 'L' in
>the bookshop), he reverted to Ducasse when publishing his 'Poems' which
>stand in ironic counterpoint to 'Maldoror'. 

The poems are really lousy (as in bad, not lice infected -- sorry, it's
been a long day).

>I've never really seen the book as essentially a surrealist work (despite
>its being 'discovered' by that crowd) although acknowledging the surreal
>quality of some of the writing. It should also appeal to fans of the
>gothic novel and also fans of postmodernism. Its especially recommended for
>devout Christians :-)

Hm.. Well, the poems are very Christian.  The long passage I quoted is
probably my favourite scene in the book.  For readers of French, the
original is highly recommended.  Knight's translation is a Penguin
Classics paperback from the late '70s.

-- 
Marko Amnell
amnell@klaava.helsinki.fi
Graduate Student in Philosophy
From: stevem@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Steve McGowan (RA))
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Trebbitsch Lincoln
Date: 17 Nov 92 09:49:13 GMT
Organization: Computing Sci, Glasgow Univ, Scotland


Does anyone know of other material about this character?

I read "The secret lives of Trebbitsch Lincoln" by Prof. Howard Wasserstein 
a few years ago, and found it fascinating. I meant to track down more 
literature about him but never got round to it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the person, Trebbitsch Lincoln was
one of those strange people that history throws up very rarely. Most of his 
activities occurred in the earlier part of this century, and the 'secret 
lives' referred to in the above book describe how Trebbitsch had been a
missionary, a Member of Parlaiment for Darlington, an international spy and
a Buddhist monk (amongst other 'jobs').


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If your breasts are too big, you will fall over - unless you wear a rucksack"

							Ivor Cutler
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: German Book as Gift?
Date: 19 Nov 1992 02:42:52 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Janine Schenone writes:

	I would like to give a book as a gift to a manager who has
	been very helpful to me, and since he is fluent in
	German and loves the language, I am thinking of getting
	him some great work of German literature in the original language.

	Recommendations? Hesse? Mann? Goethe? 


No, no! LudWit is the only way to go. How can you not like a book which
begins with a crib from the Bible:

	Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist

and ends with some maudlin teutonic Romantic nonsense:

	Wovon man nicht sprechen kann,
	daruber muss man schweigen.

Get it in the edition suhrkamp and you won't have to read any tripy
translation at the same time. Oh yes, the title. "Logisch-philosophische
Abhandlung" or, as we Latin snobs prefer, "Tractatus logico-philosophicus".

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: msmorris@watsci.UWaterloo.ca (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: Well, Nichael??
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:26:25 GMT

                              Thursday, the 19th of November, 1992

Jan Yarnot writes:
  ObBook:  If I'm going to be Secretary of Education, you all are going to
  have to read John Holt and Jonathan Kozol.  I'm still trying to recover
  from the latter's _Rachel and Her Children_.  

I haven't heard of Kozol (can you tell me/us more?), but judging by
your recommendation of John Holt, Jan, you have my support for Secretary
of Education.

                Mike Morris
        (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)
From: abc@smoke.brl.mil (Brinton Cooper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS DECEPTION
Keywords: Dead Sea Scrolls
Date: 22 Nov 92 03:55:41 GMT
Organization: The US Army Research Laboratory

Off and on, I hear of, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception," by Baigent (?)
and Leigh (authors' names are smudged on announcement that I have.)
Book purports to be about a conspiracy to suppress the "revolutonary"
contents of the scrolls.

I solicit your views.  Is it a good read?  Are the allegations
self-supporting?  Are the citations complete?  If you have independent
knowledge of the issue, do you find this book credible and, if not, why
not?

I prefer e-mail but will try to scan rec.arts.books.

Many thanks,

_Brint

abc@brl.mil

cooper@udel.edu

ab.cooper@compmail.com
-- 
_Brinton Cooper 
<abc@brl.mil>, <cooper@udel.edu>, or  <ab.cooper@compmail.com>
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:20364 soc.history:9571
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,soc.history
Subject: Re: Crystal Palaces
Date: 19 Nov 1992 16:51:19 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Jeff Davis writes:

	Francis Muir writes:

		Cameron Laird writes (of the Crystal Palace):

			How is it that an *amateur* like Paxton could 
			build something so novel in a year,...

		Cameron Laird has raised a nice point. One simple answer 
		is that in Paxton's time Art and Engineering were 
		intertwined, and that was at least one of the messages of 
		the Great Exhibition. 

	But was Paxton an amateur? Wasn't he some semi-official 
	horticuluralist, used to making greenhouses and stuff? 
	The Crystal Palace was, after all, just a duded up greenhouse. 

Precisely. And I should have remembered, since I have visited Chatsworth
several times. He was previously Estate Manager to the Duke of Devonshire
at Chatsworth where he had built two greenhouses which were models for
the CP. Chatsworth is Gynormous and quite splendid, and Paxton would have
been quite familiar with large scale and deep pockets. I wonder who he 
employed as his architectural engineer?

							Fido

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: [UPI] Library attacked for buying Madonna's Sex book
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 18:36:51 GMT

cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>In article <1992Nov18.164642.17801@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes:

>>One can imagine an entire museum devoted to Madonna's masturbatory devices.

>One has obviously been practising :-)

I was, of course, deliberately misinterpreting Clayton Cramer, and maybe even 
exaggerating a little in my assessment.  But it wouldn't surprise me at all
if some pop culture museum eventually acquires a vibrator once owned by 
Madonna.  Just think what such an item would bring at auction.  You could
probably start a wave of hysteria merely by spreading a rumor that it
was up for sale.

...not that I'd be involved in any such hysteria.  In fact, I'm still pretty
surprised at the longevity of Madonna's career, and the fact that she's almost
achieved a level of respectability as an "artist."  I admire her boldness, but
I don't think she has anything new or interesting to say.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Subject: "Books in Popsongs" quiz
Reply-To: djdaneh@PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:01:51 GMT

I liked the "Authors in Popsongs" quiz enough that I've got a followup here -- 
one point each for the title of the song; the artist/group/composer -- ie. the
name with which the song would most be associated; the name of the book or story
or poem or series it's based on/makes strong reference to _with_ the author.

I do _not_ promise anything about only one song per artist, etc.  Some of these
are quite easy.  Some are quite obscure.  And in fairness, I should mention that
some are taken from "concept albums," "pop operas," or musicals, which are based
as a whole on the book/story in question, rather than just the individual song.



1.  You may know what I don't know 
    but not that I don't know it but
    I can't tell you so you will
    have to tell me all.

2.  If you go chasing rabbits and you know you're going to fall,
    tell 'em all a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call.

3.  My sisters and I
    have one wish before we die.
    To complete this obsession,		[I may have this line slightly wrong]
    you have the key in your possession.

4.  Ah, that day of myst'ry
    When I made hist'ry
    as Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell.

5.  You are the City of God,
    You are the City of God.
    But if that city's on a hill,
    it's kind of hard to hide it well.
    You've got to stay pretty in the City of God.

6.  There, coming over Charenton Bridge --
    look, do you see the man who is poor but rich?
    What do you wish and where do you go?  Who are you?
    Where are you from?  Will you tell me your name?
    Rest a while, call me your friend...

7.  You are the Crown of Creation.

8.  ...he whom life can no longer surprise
    raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown.

9.  Someone to lead us, someone to follow,
    someone to fool us, some brave Apollo,
    someone to shame us, someone like you.

Have fun!


			"You realize, pally, that your gun is
			likely *plugged* with tar an' won't
			fire proper."
				"A logical theory, old friend....step
				closer so that we may experiment."


Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, Net.Roach
My opinions do NOT represent Pacific Bell,
Professional Development, or anyone else.
But I'm willing to share.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Surreal Novels About WWII
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
	<1992Nov21.233205.23269@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
	<92326.212936U48073@uicvm.uic.edu>
Date: 22 Nov 92 02:49:29

In article <92326.212936U48073@uicvm.uic.edu> Cole Kendall <U48073@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:

   _The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin_ by
   Vladimir Voinovich is my suggested addition.  Avoid Mailer's _The Naked
   and the Dead_ like the plague.

   Cole Kendall

I agree about both, but especially about Chonkin.  There is a sequel
to Chonkin called _Pretender to the Throne_.  Perhaps not quite as
good but still excellent.  The race down the bureaucratic chain between
two orders from Stalin, one to execute Chonkin and the other to release
him, supplies great tension.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.meta
From: torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen)
Subject: Re: Wittgenstein, P.I.
Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista
	<TORKEL.92Nov21194533@bast.sics.se> <1992Nov21.205719.5509@eff.org>
	<TORKEL.92Nov21235600@bast.sics.se> <gall.722534917@yorku.ca>
	<TORKEL.92Nov23174534@bast.sics.se> <gall.722543992@yorku.ca>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:17:15 GMT

In article <gall.722543992@yorku.ca> gall@nexus.yorku.ca (Norm Gall) writes:

   >This is certainly not what Wittgenstein would consider metaphysics.
   >Let's not make the discussion trivial.

  Wittgenstein, indeed, would hardly have described his writings as expressing
metaphysical convictions. You seem to be suggesting that therefore a
discussion of whether Wittgenstein held metaphysical convictions must be
"trivial", but your reasoning escapes me.

   >W's positions are not claims about the world.  he leaves that for
   >science.  His claims are about the conceptual geography of language.

 Well, so is Leibniz's philosophy all about the conceptual geography
of language. Let's leave these rotund phrases to one side and try to
get at the issue. Am I to take it that you do not agree that Wittgenstein had
"strongly held ideas about what exists, what is real, what it makes
sense to invoke in explanations, what is or is not a question of fact"?
Specifically, are you suggesting that Wittgenstein did not have such
convictions with regard to mathematics?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: RE: not verbose (was Re: Balls etc.)
Organization: Clark University
Date: 22 NOV 92 14:02:48 GMT


I said:

>>Less of some things is better than more.  Talk, for example.  Less talk,
>>more action.  Women don't want to castrate men, they just want them to shut
>>up.

kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover) writes:

>This would seem to corroborate the old saw as to why women seem
>to like the strong, silent type of man; they think he's listening.

That's just an old husband's tale. 

Heather
HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books