Hello Nedzet... I share your feelings on guilty pleasures and the wish to find more friends who read. No harm in reading some Chick Lit to relax once in a while! I used to put those books in discreet places on my bookshelf so no one would ever see them, but recently I've embraced my shame. I read fi...

I think a lot of people who prefer to be buried are religious. To me that seems funny because if you believe in a soul, the body should matter less to you than more! I mean, to us atheists, our body is all we have! I don't know if any of you have read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius but I ...

Books I have the most trouble with are books that have characters that seem entirely irrational. This effect is magnified if the book has done well critically, such as Away and The True History of the Kelly Gang . The rants I've had about those books, especially the latter novel. Whew! Maybe it's be...

I wanted to read Wicked because I have a strong attraction to fairy tale type stories, and re-tellings of fairy tales. I think that's part of the reason I like magic realism as a genre, and the whole idea of modern day fairy tales. Personally I didn't end up being a huge fan of Wicked . I felt for a...

Uh... *cough* Was this supposed to be a private message? Maybe it should be? Sorry to intrude but... I kind of feel like I'm listening to my parents argue through the floor. Maybe not a good impression for new people? Just thought I'd mention...

I'm leaving now. *puts on earmuffs*

Julian: Are you disagreeing the law says you can't take organs from people without their consent? I think, at least where I live (Ontario), you can give consent while you are alive, and your family can give consent when you are dead. Without that consent, it's illegal to take organs from the deceas...

Pinker's first three scenarios, which were quoted by DH -- brother/sister incest, using a flag as rags, or eating the family dog -- didn't offend me. I suspect that those scenarios would morally offend most American, as Pinker applies, but my moral sense is out of sync with the mainstream. As an in...

I'm slowly going through the essay when I have time at work, so hopefully I'll have more to say later. Using similar reasoning to that used in the example you'd have to say that eating a deceased brother would not be wrong either, so long as he died of natural causes. After all, who is harmed? There...

Chris, when I went to order my book I did go through your link. However, I get my books from Amazon.ca, so I had to switch websites. Maybe you could post a link to follow for Canadians as well?

Hullo Ms. Squash! I am a newbie, like yourself, but welcome anyway! I read Snow Crash a while ago, and I really loved it. Probably in my top twenty favourite novels. Really, "Hiro Protagonist"? That's just too precious. I know a lot of people who loved the book until the end, but then coul...