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Archive for the ‘Leisure’ Category
Literature recommendations
1 February 2010
Greetings, readers!
The exams have kept me away from anything that distracted me, and as the computer is an abundant source of distraction, I practically had to hide it. I hope my colleagues haven’t upset you too much with technology articles.
Today I’m going to talk about my private library, I mean, the books I enjoyed the most.
- “The lost origin” Matilde Asensi
The truth is that I love almost all the books this woman has written. She has an incredible ease to get you into the story and its characters make plot twists in a unique way.
This particular book was the first I read from this writer, and the one I liked most. It’s about how three friends try to cure the illness of the brother of one of them, who has gone crazy. Researching, they found that the brother discovered the origin of the first language, but went mad trying to decipher it. So they embark on an adventure through an uncharted territory on Earth. Places that not even the GPS are able to decode because of the height of the trees, the thickness of nature, where mankind has not yet arrived, or maybe yes…
- “Finis Mundi” Laura Gallego
Michel, a monk of Cluny, is proposed a virtually impossible mission and decides to accept, knowing that it involves risks, but ignoring what will happen him during his adventure all over the world. According to the revelations of a hermit the end of the world is approaching and the only way to stop the destruction of mankind is to invoke the spirit of Time. To achieve this, he has to find the three “axis” (past, present and future). He search them in France, Spain and England, to end up at the end of the world…
- “Sans dessus dessous” Jules Verne
A book that I certainly recommend to young people. It’s a very short science-fiction book, with no aliens nor travel to the center of the Earth or anything similar. Let me explain.
This is the period in which nothing is known of the North Pole. Some failed attempts to get close, but all failed with horrific results. Because nobody is able to reach the North Pole, an odd character send all the world civilizations an invitation to auction the land at the North Pole. The countries send their representatives in order to seize the land. Finally the struggle is won by an unknown dynamite company. What’s their intent? Change the axis tilt of the Earth, so that the sun’s rays impinge on the part of the pole that they can’t reach, to colonize it, and to exploit the natural resources (oil, coal…) that they think it has.
When the world learns about this, they mustn’t say what’s happening. The explosion needed to modify the earth’s axis would raise the sea level, submerging parts of the world, it would change the height of some places…
- “Stories to read in a fullmoon night”
I don’t consider myself a person who likes the tales of terror. I think it’s because it’s so hard to instill fear through the word, that it is accessible to very few.
This book is a collection of fantastic, mystery and terror tales of the greatest writers like Bécquer, Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens…
A book I recommend for those who don’t know these authors’ terror tales. It’s worth reading this book.
- “The great Gastby” F. Scott Fitzgerlad
It’s inevitable to talk about books and not to talk about one of the authors of the so-called lost generation.
Jay Gatsby is a millionaire with a dark past, often linked with illegal sale of alcohol or being a murderer for hire. He has no friends. However, he makes great parties where strangers are invited. He invites, he gives the house, and nothing more, he doesn’t even assist to them. People go to those parties, but don’t really know who he is.
Gatsby is a lonely man that wills to return to the past. A past to revive the love of his life, Daisy. Unfortunately, she got married to a famous millionaire and they have a daughter. But the discomfort with her husband and Gatsby’s insatiable desire to be back with her, makes that the past can be back for a while.
But from that point, the tragedy of events is inevitable and the present returns to its place. What happens? I think you’ll have to read it for yourselves.
- “The tyrant” Valerio Massimo Manfredi
I decided to include this Manfredi’s book (excuse my familiarity, Mr. Manfredi) because it’s the latest I have read. Although it might have included some more ones. I discovered this writer by chance, like the little things of life, and now I can’ get him out of my hands (his books, of course).
Sicily, V century B.C. Dionysus, the boldest warrior of Syracuse, had a single passion: to free the island from the Carthaginians and strengthening the Greek control over it.
Thus began the wonderful adventure of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, feared by those opposed to his policies. He managed to turn his city into the most prosperous of the Greek empire and the magnificent monuments that he built still today admired. However, he must pay a high price, one that not all were willing to pay. View his friends, his family, his soldiers dying. How he was only trying to liberate the Syracusans from Carthage invasion and how the people was smearing his name. Because when all power rests with one person…
I think for today I fulfilled my part. So I leave you until my next contribution, and I hope that you read at least one of the books I mentioned about.
Thank you and have a good day!
More logic puzzles
26 January 2010
today Selkie brings you some puzzles!
Pay attention, today they are really difficult. Solutions are left in the comments… Can you solve them all? However, they’re funny and you can tell them to your friends.
1.- House mess
You and your two neighbors are residents in a new neighborhood, but when you arrive to your new houses, you notice that there are no light, water or gase; so you call the builders, and they ask for your help with the supplies.
Each supply centre has written the resource it supplies. The goal is to connect through lines each supply with each house. This means, the left house must be connected with the three bottom blocks, and so the middle house and the right house; so at the end would remain nine lines. The problem? Each line cannot touch any other line.
Can you solve this puzzle?
2.- The lier twins
One of my favorites.
Imagine you’re walking through a road, alone. With the sunset, you see a house far, and you hurry to arrive there before the night.
Then, you see that, at the house, the road has a bifurcation and divides into two.
Two twins appear from inside the house, they are identical. You remember the story that your father used to tell you, about two twins, one of them always said the truth, and the other always lied.
Now, with only one question to one of the twins, you have to know which road is the good one. Can you do it? Don’t forget, one of them always tells the truth, and the other always lies.
3.- The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever
This puzzle is much trickier, as the title says. It was created by Raymond Smullyan, and its ‘nickname’ was given by George Boolos.
It says:
Three gods A, B, and C are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer all questions in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are ‘da’ and ‘ja’, in some order. You do not know which word means which.
Some hints:
# It could be that some god gets asked more than one question (and hence that some god is not asked any question at all).
# What the second question is, and to which god it is put, may depend on the answer to the first question. (And of course similarly for the third question.)
# Whether Random speaks truly or not should be thought of as depending on the flip of a coin hidden in his brain: if the coin comes down heads, he speaks truly; if tails, falsely.
# Random will answer ‘da’ or ‘ja’ when asked any yes-no question.
Good luck with this one, it’s really tricky.
And here ends today’s session for waking up your brains. If you didn’t solve anyone, don’t worry, they were quite hard.
Bye!
More juvenile literature
21 January 2010
A few days ago, I talked you about some of my favourite books: http://www.barail.es/ocio/juvenile-literature
Today, I’ll finish my literary recommendations.
The country is ruled by the tyrannical power of the “Capitol”, and each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.
Katniss, a girl 16 years old, decides to go into the games in place of her young sister.
Join Katniss in his battle for survive in this trilogy with The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and a third book wich is only known that’ll be released at 8-24-2010, written by Suzanne Collins!
Two-books-saga: “Alas de fuego” and “Alas negras”, written by Laura Gallego. In this saga, we read about the adventures of an angel, Ahriel, in her mission to protect queen Marla.
But one day, Ahriel is thrown, by Marla treacherously, to the worst jail ever created: Gorlian.
Gorlian is an horrible place from where anyone has got away from, in where the law of the jungle rules, and where the kindest man becomes the worst murderer ever. A place where the onliest aliment is mud, fishes in mud or plants in mud.
Will Ahriel get out of there? Discover it in “Alas de fuego” saga!
(It hasn’t been translated into English)
Cat’s dad is an angel, and he’s been murdered. When Cat saw his parent dead body, he decides to revenge and kill his father’s murderer.
Cat will have to search over all the world to find his dad murderer, and even he will have to pact with the demons to achieve it.
But there’s something that Cat wasn’t expecting
Will Cat find his father’s murderer? What’s the thing that Cat wasn’t expecting? Discover it in this fantastic book written by Laura Gallego!
Tunnels is a passionate saga that now has three books (Tunnels, Deeper and Free fall), but it will have 6 or 7 books.
Tunnels tells us Will’s story, a excavation fan like his father. One day, when his father and he are excavating, they discover a very strange and unknown tunnels.
The day after, Will’s dad has dissappeared. So he, with his friend Chester, will begin a very dangerous and unimaginated adventure to find him, and where they’ll know a very strange guys…
Are you ready to join Will Burrows and Chester in Will’s parent search?
Dragonlance saga has 175 ~200 books. Yes, I’m not exaggerating. But don’t be affraid! It’s divided in a few principal books, and then the others tells us world’s legends, secondary scenes of terciary characters, etc., etc., etc.
The saga tells us ALL Krynn’s (the world) history.
Principal books are:
- The Chronicles Trilogy
- The Legends Trilogy
- The Second Generation
- Dragons of summer flame
- Dragons of a new age
- The dark disciple
- The lost chronicles
The saga was created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, both from “Wizards of the Coast” company, creator of the mythical Dungeons & Dragons. The company decided to creat the saga to give a base for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance’s 12 modules. The principal authors were Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, but, as supposed, they were helped for all the company members!
Are you ready to enter into the most epic saga of all times?
Here you have all my literary recomendations. I could add more books, but I think that with this it’s sufficient.
I hope you read them and you like them!
