[skjaeran]

I play football (soccer for you Americans...) and read, a lot at times (sci/fi, fantasy, crime, bridge) and spend too much time on the internet....

[Codo]

So I am the only one so far to play World of Warcraft?
Besides this I try heavyweight beach volleyball.

In case you care: No, there are no special classes in beach volleyball, I just wrote it in case you think that I may look like a real beach volleyball player.

[blackshoe]

World of Warcraft (US Perenolde server), EVE Online, currently reading John Ringo's The Eye of the Storm and Paul Christopher's The Sword of the Templars. On deck, George Friedman's The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century. Saw the new "Transformers" movie yesterday. Recently read the first 6 books in Patterson's "Women's Murder Club" series, and Grant and Rodwell's introduction to 2/1. How Rome Fell looks interesting, so I'll probably add that to the list.

Mark Twain said:

When I feel the urge to exercise, I lay down until it passes.

[bluejak]

I enjoy train travel, also transport timetables. When my wife and I visited San Francisco for the Nationals, we flew Manchester UK - Chicago IL - San Francisco CA, but we came back via the pretty route. We booked an Amtrak sleeper from San Jose CA to Seattle WA - 24 hours and change - intending to fly back Seattle WA - Chicago IL - Manchester UK. But the state of Washington was underwater. They took us off the train at Eugene OR, by bus to Portland OR [no, I do not enjoy buses ], and .... nothing. So we had to fly home Portland OR - Chicago IL - Manchester UK and I am still arguing with my insurance company. I think missing our destination by a full state was careless!

I have taken Amtrak trains just ofr the fun of it when visitng Boston MA, New York NY and Long Beach CA. Last year I played in Biarritz near the France/Spain border. I really enjoyed the journey there: Liverpool UK - London UK - Paris FR [metro across Paris] - Biarritz FR. Great.

[matmat]

i have no hobbies. but y'all knew that.

[mikeh]

Phil, on Jul 7 2009, 01:43 PM, said:

mikeh, on Jul 7 2009, 12:31 PM, said:

Phil, on Jul 7 2009, 10:36 AM, said:

Been doing a lot of mountain biking the last few years. Had a bad spill a month ago (could have been REAL bad), but otherwise no issues. Golf is something pclayton did.

Looking for something good to read this summer if anyone has any suggestions.

what kinds of reading do you like? I am a voracious reader... There are any number of excellent books I have read in the past....well... large number of years

Non-fiction includes history, evolutionary theory, paleontology, psychology

Fiction: some 'serious' writers and a great deal of science fiction ranging from space opera to more thoughtful works... Neal Stephenson is an incredible writer, as one example.

I started to read a lot on the history of Istanbul a few years ago, but it didn't hold my interest.

For fiction I've read most of Crichton, and I confess to liking Ken Follett. I basically hate sci-fi.

Best non-fiction I've liked over the past few years was Fooled by Randomness and The Tipping Point. Also a few books on chaos theory I liked.

Interesting: I suspect that your dislike of sci-fi is based on a limited exposure to the genre.. some of the authors these days are extremely talented writers, and it isn't all Star Wars drivel or monster fantasies. Neal Stephenson is a great example... altho I am not very enthusiastic about his latest one (Anathem) which is, I think, his weakest since his very early efforts. The Baroque Cycle (originally published as three hard-covers but, I think, as 9 paperbacks is one of the great literary feats of the past 20 years or so. And, it really isn't science fiction... I doubt that it would have been markerted as such had Stephenson not already been well established as a science fiction writer.

Blind Sight, by Watts, is a less imposing book, but has a fascinating look at the significance of consciousness... the outcome suggests that consciousness is an impediment to intelligence.

Ian Pears is an excellent (non sci-fi) writer, altho he has only written 3 serious novels... the first, An Instance of the Fingerpost, is brilliant historical fiction.

Moving to non-fiction:

A People's Tragedy offers a review of the Russian Revolution and ensuing civil war, written by an Oxford professor with access to communist party archives.

Paris 1919 shows how flawed the peace negotiations were after WWI, laying the seeds for much of the European and Middle East violence of the next 90 years, and counting.

I have just finished House of Cards, on a more current topic... and it seems well done.

Dawkins' earlier books are his best, imo... once you've read The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene, most of his later writings seem like expansions on a theme, rather than anything new. Pinker is a brilliant writer. Gould's essays are almost always interesting even tho I find some of his ideas to be too politically correct.. his accommodation to religion strikes me as disingenuous. Diamond's ideas about how culture and agriculture (closely related) spread, and how local vegetation and other resources influenced the technological development of cultures offers a refreshing insight into how and why Europeans conquered so much of the world, rather than the other way around.

Oh... btw, if you liked Crichton... Crichton was a sci-fi writer.... as far as I know that's all he wrote early on in his career.... and in my view he was a mediocre writer by comparison to many lesser-known authors... so if you liked him, then I suspect that there is a significant body of writing you will love if you give it a chance. Some interesting ideas but wooden characters.

I am NOT talking about the huge amount of crap pedalled as sci-fi... most of which is really nothing more than fantasy... magic, dragons, vampires and that sort of thing. It may be marketed as sci-fi, but that's like saying that a Harlequin Romance is akin to War and Peace (which, if you haven't read it, isn't bad... but really... really slow by current standards).

[mtvesuvius]

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

[Gerben42]

Quote

So I am the only one so far to play World of Warcraft?
Besides this I try heavyweight beach volleyball.

I really like Warcraft, until they made it into some kind of fantasy roleplaying game..

Other than bridge I like playing the piano* and reading hard scifi (horrendously thick books with lots of details about the technology etc.), think Asimov's Foundation series or so

* Another thing at which Rodwell is so much better than me!

[Lobowolf]

Phil, on Jul 7 2009, 01:43 PM, said:

I confess to liking Ken Follett.

Confess?! Follett has some GREAT stuff. Particularly, IMO, The Man from St. Petersburg (and Pillars of the Earth, of course).

[Aberlour10]

I play occasionally handball, skiing & trekking in Alpes or Tatra Mountains,
reading and collecting books/expedition reports about climbing in Himalaya/Karakorum, searching in internet for material about various historical reenactments ( currently for ex. about Operation "Catapult" ).....last but not least music, music, music

Robert

[Rain]

I played WOW a lot too, but have stopped. Come to US Stormrage server, firechief and photon play there a lot. I also saw this guy on server called Hrothgar and stalked him a bit, but he insists he's not the bbo hrothgar.

[babalu1997]

mtvesuvius, on Jul 8 2009, 10:56 AM, said:

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

Yes, matmat is unhealthy.
matmat is sick!!!

I used to do a lot of cake baking and decorating. but that tuened out to be too fattening.

Now I bake bread-- any type from challah to englidh muffins.

[jjbrr]

peanut butter and jelly on a warm toasted english muffin. can't go wrong.

[cherdanno]

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

[Phil]

cherdanno, on Jul 8 2009, 06:17 PM, said:

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

Cherdano = Hannibal Lechter

[matmat]

babalu1997, on Jul 8 2009, 04:41 PM, said:

mtvesuvius, on Jul 8 2009, 10:56 AM, said:

I spend my time designing unplayable systems, or making fun of people/things.

When I just read that to myself I felt a little like matmat... Is that unhealthy?

Yes, matmat is unhealthy.
matmat is sick!!!

I used to do a lot of cake baking and decorating. but that tuened out to be too fattening.

Now I bake bread-- any type from challah to englidh muffins.

I don't design unplayable systems.

[matmat]

cherdanno, on Jul 8 2009, 06:17 PM, said:

Having friends over for dinner. Even better, being over at friends for dinner with home-made pasta. (Yeah I have quite a few Italian friends.)

pasta is evil.

[akhare]

Not truly unique, but:

Running marathons
Racquetball
Reading (mostly non fiction)
Movies
Cooking

I would have added programming, but that's my profession ...

[hrothgar]

Definitely a different Horthgar

These days I'm playing a DK named Narsille on Ravenholt

(Yes DKs are lame. Yes Ravenholt blows. However, I have one of those jobs things and can't raid seriously)

[hrothgar]

On the hobby fronts:

The big ones seem to be hiking and cooking.
Haven't done a decent trip overseas since Australia (sigh).


I still read a fair amount. The work related stuff all seems to be about Bayesian data analysis. For "fun" I tend to read science fiction and fantasy.

On the fantasy front, I'm a big fan of "The Malazan Books of the Fallen" by Steven Erikson. Yes, its epic fantasy and all that; but its done well, published at a reasonable pace, and the series is actually ending.

On the science fiction front, my favorite author is Iain Banks. Sadly, I don't think that he has yet matched some of his early work (Use of Weapons, Player of Games).

I also love most anything by Tim Powers, especially Last Call and Declare. I'm also quite fond of James Blaylock (The Last Coin is a lovely piece of whimsy)