The best Travel Writing Reference books: Reddit reviews

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I suspect he's one of those guys that doesn't think he needs a hunting license since he owns 30 acres.

Joke's gonna be on him when someone on the neighboring lot hears him shooting his shotgun in say August, and then finds a wounded deer on his property.

Also he should have fun figuring out which are the edible plants and which are the look alikes.

I eagerly await his preparations for winter in Wisconsin.

If I were him I'd find a copy of this at his local Goodwill.

This is a discussion, and criticism is a part of that, however, I went through art school, and work in an artistic career, and a crucial tool in learning how to make "better" art is getting and giving detailed critiques that offer explanations for WHY something is failing or succeeding, instead of just stating that it is good or bad.

So, for instance:

> massive dip in quality.

What do you mean by this? My guess is that you don't exactly mean quality as in it being poorly written, acted, structured, etc, but that you aren't laughing, so something is wrong with the humor. Something about the writing isn't making you laugh.

So, let's try to pin down what it is that you used to like about the show.

• What season was the strongest?
• What episodes worked for you?
• What scenes made you laugh the most?
• Looking at all the things that you listed, what do those things have in common?
• How do the episodes that you liked differ from the current episodes?
  

As a total aside, if you've never read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", it's kind of related to this topic. It takes deep, perhaps overly so, dives into what we mean when we discuss the idea of "quality", and how it relates to all of our experiences, from relationships and love to machines and consumer products. Quote from it: > “The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility, it's right. If it disturbs you, it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed.”

The best explanation I've ever read online:

80/20 Japanese: The Difference Between the Particles “wa” and “ga”

 

The best explanation I've ever read:

Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You by Jay Rubin (it's a whole chapter of the book)

Jay Rubin professionally translates famous works.

This one and Rogue One need a "making of" book like these.

If access was given on that level, we might find out the truth.

I urge anyone to read Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia" which goes into this topic of people visualizing music.

Heck, read ANY book by the late Dr. Sacks. Dude did a wonderful job exploring the mysteries of the mind and writing down all the weird shit that can come from it.

I think the only way it could be a mistake is if A: you realize later you don't enjoy trying to get good at pool and B: the amount of money you spent really stings.

For me, trying to get good and diving deeper into pool was really enjoyable. It's fun to just hit balls around but it's really fun being GOOD at the game, and knowing that if you have a random room full of people you can probably beat all of them.

Your choice of table is great. Not only is Diamond a popular standard for tournaments, it's cheaper (brand new) than the other big name brand, Brunswick. But it's just as good, many would argue better. It's got more methods built in to level it, making it easier to set up for flawless play.

The pockets are tighter than the average Brunswick and certainly tighter than a Valley, and when I was still learning, I thought Diamonds were scary. But over time I realized they're not THAT much tighter than a typical pool room Brunswick, and you mostly just need to adjust to the lively rails.

I think you'll enjoy it. I dunno where your skill is at but spend a few bucks on the 99 Critical Shots and practice the shots on your new table. Be a good way to get used to it and learn something.

Great question! I haven't seen it come up as an answer yet, so I hope I'm providing new information here.

There is indeed a peculiar tribe in the Amazon that is known for its almost total lack of rituals or traditions.

This is the only source I could find real quick on the Pirahas and burials.

With that said, I'll give my two-cents on them and hope that someone here can back me up.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, a Christian missionary was assigned to the Pirahas to (1) convert them to Christianity, and (2) learn their language and culture.

He wasn't successful with (1) BECAUSE of (2). During his time with the Pirahas, he came to the conclusion that they are a people without rituals, gods, myths, and therefore could not be converted.

I'd highly recommend his book if you're looking for something about peoples with "non-cultures." It has the perfect mix of linguistics, anthropology and personal accounts of his time with the Pirahas.

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes

From what I've heard, she uses a lot of content out of the book Making Sense of Japanese by Harvard Professor and translator Jay Rubin if you want to learn her material without having to deal with the robot voice.

Don't Sleep There are Snakes by Daniel Everett

Dr. Everett went to the Amazon jungle in the 1970's to learn the language of the Piraha people in order to put their language into writing and then translate the Bible into that language. He eventually got his PhD in linguistics.

The Piraha people have so sense of time - no past or future. They only use "within our senses" or "not within our senses". If something is not within their sight or sound or smell, it doesn't exist for all intents and purposes.

Dr. Everett may be a good place to find more information for your research.

edit: spelling

Yes, if I remember correctly, this is noticeable in the Pirahã community, which you can read about through Daniel Everett's research. The following book is a good entry point, but you'll have to search around for the bit where he discusses how the community treats children as independent adults, with little to no protective behaviour.

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120

Nobody reads anymore :) ...but the single best way you can spend ~$10 or less to learn is this book: The 99 Critical Shots in Pool.

It shows pretty much all the common shots that come up in various games, plus tips on how to control the cue ball to set up for the next shot, which is important to play pool at a decent level.

You can bring the book and work on the shots 1 by 1, in order or not.

Youtube videos are great, but they tend to deliver info kind of slowly, in a way that forces you to sit still for a long time to cover each concept. The book meanwhile has so much good essential info packed into a single place. It's the closest thing I know of to a 'quickstart guide' for pool.

Read this instead: https://www.amazon.com/God-Disappointed-You-Mark-Russell/dp/1603090983/ref=nodl_

It’s the cliff notes version of the Bible told in the modern vernacular and each book is a few pages long. It is SURPRISINGLY accurate to the historical and academic understandings of the text.

For example, the Book of Revelations is presented as what it really is: a tome of “fuck you, Rome!” writings written in code as to not get in trouble… not some grand prophecy of the 2nd coming of Christ.

Absolutely, yes. I think maybe there is a mechanism by which the muscle memory you've learned is allowed to sink in, so to speak. I'm not altogether sure. Maybe a neuroscientist could explain it better. I only know that if I set the guitar aside for a couple days, when I come back, I play better.

Oliver Sachs wrote a book called Musicophilia where he talks about music psychology. There are some really interesting things in there, like the story of the man who got into a car accident and could suddenly play piano, even though he'd never had a piano or piano lessons.

I enjoyed Musicophilia. Loved the work that he did with stroke patients and the ability to communicate through singing.

I just read it in a book recently. I actively looked it up because I was like "wtf, did he just spell aesthetic wrong?"

I think the 99 Critical Shots is a great way to learn, even if using a book might sound a bit outdated vs. youtube. It's the closest thing pool has to a quickstart guide. You just bring the book to your pool room and practice the shots 1 by 1.

They start you off with the basics (no english) and then go on to cover how to use follow, draw, and then sidespin.

I have some suggestions on what to learn in the right order as well (which more or less match the book's): https://www.reddit.com/r/billiards/comments/c0gh85/what_should_my_natural_progress_look_like/er5f8nb/

Thank you for posting this! I've seen so many posts about は and が that have a lot of mis-information on them but this seems to get a lot of the main points down from my understanding.

I wish more textbooks would use more examples using ∅ to indicate that sort of unnecessary information in sentences.

Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You by Jay Rubin is also a fantastic book that touches on this topic. I really recommend it to beginners of Japanese.

Daniel Everett also wrote a book, not an academic study, more of a memoir. Amazon

And here is a talk he gave to the FFRF (Freedon from religion foundation) on the subject.

Aside:

If people don't want to, or find the Bible hard to read - a good alternative is "God is Disappointed In You". It's a humourous abridged but somewhat accurate version of the Bible. Amazon link.

I own it and love it. Whilst I did read the Bible mostly cover to cover a few years ago (skipped the genealogy), this comedy version is a great refresher.

King James. And no, it is terrible. It is definitely not meant to be read cover to cover. Books like Kings and Numbers are pointless slogs.

Edit: if you are intent on doing it I’d advise you to pick a modern easier to read version. Unless you were the type of person who loved reading Shakespeare in high school.

I’d recommend this version. https://www.amazon.com/God-Disappointed-You-Mark-Russell/dp/1603090983

You got surprisingly decent fundamentals for just 1 month, can already pocket long shots, and most common cuts. Well, except for that 11 ball, you murdered it set that up and do it a few times :)

At this point you should start on playing position. That's the secret to running out in pool. If you can set up the cue ball so that most of your shots are easy, you can run a whole rack.

There's a great book I always recommend that starts out on the most common position shots. New you should be paying around $10 and used you can get for even cheaper - https://www.amazon.com/99-Critical-Shots-Pool-Everything/dp/0812922417

You can also go through dr dave billiards on youtube, tons of great info there.

The Making of Star Wars is a fantastic read. Even if you think you know the majority of the story behind the making of the first film, there's a ton of stuff there I guarantee will be new to you.

One of the best books to get started with is "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool", you can find it for around ten bucks or less. It's like a quickstart guide for pool. It takes you through all the really common shots that come up and how to play them and get position for future shots.

You can bring it to the pool room and set up the individual shots. Probably works best starting at the beginning, but you can skip around.

It doesn't focus much on how to stand, hold the cue, etc. which is all important stuff, so for advice on that you'd look at other books. Play Great Pool is like a dense college textbook on fundamentals. And it can help to have a good player just look at how you swing the cue to make sure you're not doing something counterproductive.

It can help to have some sort of plan. Drills gotta scale with your skill level. Most of them will be tough for a 3.

I usually recommend the 99 Critical Shots book if you can stand reading. It's not free but you can find it under ten bucks. They give you shots in a logical progression from easy to more advanced, e.g. you start out with a stop shot or forward roll and work your way up to draw and using sidespin.

If you're more of a video person, Dr. Dave has everything you need, but basically you have a choice between his youtube content (free, but not really organized)... or his pool courses (download/DVD)... not free, but organized carefully to take you from beginner to advanced.

This is my take on what you learn, in the right order. Find videos and drills that match up with these goals. https://www.reddit.com/r/billiards/comments/c0gh85/what_should_my_natural_progress_look_like/er5f8nb/

Most of my experience was outside the US. I did the Vagabonding thing when I retired from the military. $200 per night hotel rooms were not in my budget. I was able to do things via AirBnB that I would never have been able to do with hotels. But for short stays, I agree that AirBnBs aren't really worth it.

I'm going to send you down a different road.

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469

Try to find a copy of said book, and give it a read.

Then come back to us after you've read it.

It depends on your skill set.
Assuming you are starting from scratch my recommendation for leveling up would be as follows:
1. Engine air filter
2. In-cabin air filter
3. Oil Change and oil filter change
4. Read the book Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance. Start developing an ethic behind the work.
5. Engine coolant change, inverter coolant change, transmission fluid change.
6. Spark plugs change
7. ERG cooler clean, ERG pip clean, Air intake manifold clean, PCV valve replacement.
Learn the workflows by watching this playlist.

I recommend getting yourself a copy of this;

Rolf Potts - Vagabonding

It will answer all of your questions, plus will help you develop an idea of how to go about planning such a trip.

Lucas is a petty, jealous, bitter person, but Marcia must have the best PR team of all time for this myth of her “saving Star Wars” to have spread so far and wide.

She did do a small amount of editing work on the initial cut of Star Wars, but left the project altogether after a disastrous test screening. It was GL who then personally put thousands of hours in the editing room—all uncredited because he didn’t officially belong to the professional editors guild—and saved his film.

The academy awarded Oscars to the editing team, but left out GL—again, not a member of the guild—which I believe Lucas took as a huge slap in the face after putting in more work cutting and splicing celluloid than virtually the entire editing staff combined.

Should mention that despite GL’s resentment of her work and recognition, some of her influence on Star Wars persists. Most notably, Leia kissing Luke “for luck” as they make a daring escape from the Death Star was 100% Marcia’s suggestion and exists in all cuts of the film today.

source: film historian J.W. Rinzler’s excellent The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film

"Living off the land" is nice and romantic in theory, but turns out to be somewhat more challenging in practice. Read <em>Into the wild</em> by Jon Krakauer for a nonfiction account of one young man who starved to death trying to do just that.