Seems like everyone is into this vampire stuff but me. I keep telling myself to dump my Audible account if they don't stop recording so much of that, and it looks like BARD is on a massive vampire and Star Wars kick as well. You can't get Henry David Thoreau's Walden, but you can get all the Star Wars and Vampire trilogies you could read in a lifetime. Now what is wrong with that picture? Anyone know what criteria BARD uses to select books that will be in digital format? I don't get it; that is for sure. No Henry David Thoreau, but they do have Mortimer J. Adler's "How to Read a Book." Wonder how many times that one has been downloaded. It's an excellent book, but I don't see it being all that popular these days especially when viewed in the light of the thesis of Nicholas Carr's aforementioned book. And why have multiple recordings of S. King's works when they are not revised or updated in any way? My escapist leanings are more in the area of spy thrillers and medical thrillers, but have grown bored with those for now. Too much time on the internet <grin>. I enjoy the excitement in those works, but it is all too transitory. There isn't ever anything left over to chew on and think about once I have finished the book. Maybe I am getting to be an even older curmudgeon, but I don't like having spent time reading a book and a month later not being able to recall any of the salient details of the plot, themes or characters. -----Original Message----- From: real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Reginald George Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 8:28 AM To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [real-eyes] Re: A few book ideas for your summer reading Right now I am reading a book from Bard called blood and ice, about people who must get turned into vampires at some point, though that word is never used, that are chained together and thrown overboard from a ship at the south pole in 1856, and are found and brought back to life by divers in our time at an American research station. Totally escapist fiction, but fun anyway! The book is following parallel lines between the 1850s and now describing how they met and got into this mess, and what is happening now. No idea where it will all end. This is one of the commercially recorded audio books done by Amazon. -----Original Message----- From: Mitchell D. Lynn Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 8:22 AM To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [real-eyes] Re: A few book ideas for your summer reading Here's another one, but this is not in the same vein as those you have recommended. DB-Carr, Nicholas-The Shallows- What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains-DB74072 And before I am accused of being a neo luddite (<grin>) give it a shot. It is an interesting and thought provoking book. Loads of good science on the brain for the layperson. Don't let "science" and "the brain" detour you from this. Science isn't my gig, and in college I stayed as far away from those subjects as I could. This is well -written, interesting and understandable. We blinks even get a few paragraphs regards the brain's adapting itself (reconfiguring would be closer) after sight loss. -----Original Message----- From: real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of blindbites Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:31 PM To: nutkc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [real-eyes] A few book ideas for your summer reading Hi, Here's something to do on these hot days of summer. These are books that are tech related and a thrill to read. These 3 books are currently available for download via BARD. 1. Zero Day Russinovich, Mark. Read by Ray Childs. Reading time 12 hours 7 minutes. Suspense After an airplane's computer fails in mid-flight, a cascade of catastrophic events occur around the world. Former government analyst Jeff Aiken fears these cyberterrorism attacks are just the beginning. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2011. Zero Day, DB73939 2. Daemon Suarez, Daniel. Read by John Polk. Reading time 18 hours 6 minutes. Suspense Thousand Oaks, California. A computer-game designer's death launches a powerful program that wreaks havoc on CyberStorm Entertainment. After a few deadly mechanical accidents occur on the company's grounds, lead detective Peter Sebeck races to prevent further destruction and save lives. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2009. Daemon, DB68916 3. Freedom (TM) Suarez, Daniel. Read by John Polk. Reading time 13 hours 43 minutes. Suspense Daemon--the computer virus created by now-deceased mad genius Matthew Sobol--continues to assassinate people, control the Internet, and amass millions of followers. Meanwhile, civil war breaks out and a movement against corporations emerges in the Midwest. Sequel to Daemon (RC 68916). Violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2010. Freedom (TM), DB71118 I've read all three of these books and they are excellent. Both authors have books soon to be released. Mark Russinovich has a new book scheduled to be released in September called "Trojan Horse: " here's a brief description. Publication Date: September 4, 2012 It's two years post-Zero Day, and former government analyst Jeff Aiken is reaping the rewards for crippling al-Qaida's attack on the computer infrastructure of the Western world. His cyber - security company is flourishing, and his relationship with Daryl Haugen intensifies when she becomes a part of his team. But the West is under the East's greatest threat yet. The Stuxnet virus that successfully subverted Iran's nuclear defense program for years is being rapidly identified and defeated, and Stuxnet's creators are stressed to develop a successor. As Jeff and Daryl struggle to stay together, they're summoned to disarm the attack of a revolutionary, invisible trojan that alters data without leaving a trace. As the trojan penetrates Western intelligence, the terrifying truth about Iran is revealed, and Jeff and Daryl find themselves running a desperate race against time to reverse it - while the fate of both East and West hangs in the balance. Like Zero Day, Trojan Horse is a thrilling suspense story, a sober warning from one of the world's leading experts on cyber-security, Microsoft's Technology Fellow, Mark Russinovich. Trojan Horse demystifies the dangerously realistic threat of a cyber-terrorism attack on the Western world, while chronicling the lengths through which one man and will go to stop it. The new book from Daniel Suarez, "Kill Decision" Publication Date: July 19, 2012 The shocking techno-thriller that cements Daniel Suarez's status as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy-a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-plausible vision of the world's near future. Unmanned weaponized drones already exist-they're widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. In Kill Decision, bestselling author Daniel Suarez takes that fact and the real science behind it one step further, with frightening results. Linda McKinney is a myrmecologist, a scientist who studies the social structure of ants. Her academic career has left her entirely unprepared for the day her sophisticated research is conscripted by unknown forces to help run an unmanned-and thanks to her research, automated-drone army. Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into the faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention. Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power, because for thousands of years the "kill decision" during battle has remained in the hands of humans-and off-loading that responsibility to machines will bring unintended, possibly irreversible, consequences. But as forces even McKinney and Odin don't understand begin to gather, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save humankind from destruction at the hands of our own technology. As of today, these two new books are only available in an electronic format via kindle and text to speech is enabled for both books. It should be just a matter of time before they are available from Bard and other sources. Happy reading, Steve To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes