Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Interactive Fiction for Fun
Stealing Wikipedia's definition, Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of interactive narratives or interactive narrations.
IF happens to be a gem of a genre for someone like me who loved to read choose-your-own-adventure novels when I was a kid. To have books with destinies decided not just by the author but by the reader was astounding to me. Besides, I frequently look at my own life this way. What if I chose to go to the park instead of just staying in that day? What if I decided to kiss the girl on the date instead of not? What if I decided to cook curry instead of fish? The most trivial choices can lead to momentous results.
Perhaps because of this, I was intrigued when I discovered Twine -- an open source tool for creating interactive fiction. Check it out: http://twinery.org/
Here are a few examples of works that people in this community have created. I am not saying they're the best stories but they can be interesting to read.
https://tayruh.github.io/monster
http://slimedaughter.com/games/twine/wtwla/
Strange but beautiful I hear (with music).
http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2013/web/solarium/solarium.html#1e
https://philome.la/winningcake/a-trial/play/index.html
http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2018/Bogeyman/bogeyman.html
For more games, you can check out what other people are playing:
https://intfiction.org/c/playing
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Literature: Reading Taste
I just spent some time reading some short stories by Mulk Raj Anand, a famous 20th century Indian writer. There are many accomplished writers from other cultures that I do not read much. These authors, though appreciated by the literary critics and those who studied liberal arts, are under-appreciated by the public at large, even by those who read a lot. Nowadays, if I read fiction, I find myself mostly absorbed in science fiction or fantasy. They're typically very entertaining but not very deep or intellectually fulfilling. It's like eating ice cream or candy compared to eating rice or meat.
When I was younger, I delighted in reading kid's magazines such as Highlights, Boy's Life, and Cricket. I especially liked Cricket since it was a kid's literary magazine with stories, cartoons, and assorted articles. As I grew older though, my taste changed and the magazines I read shifted towards more worldly concerns such as the Economist and Times. However subtly, I relinquished my zeal of reading well-written meaningful literature and opted instead for news, politics, business, and science fiction.
When I was younger, I delighted in reading kid's magazines such as Highlights, Boy's Life, and Cricket. I especially liked Cricket since it was a kid's literary magazine with stories, cartoons, and assorted articles. As I grew older though, my taste changed and the magazines I read shifted towards more worldly concerns such as the Economist and Times. However subtly, I relinquished my zeal of reading well-written meaningful literature and opted instead for news, politics, business, and science fiction.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Literature: Some Books
I constantly add new bookmarks to books that I should read. Forgive my description, but I have decided that my bookmarks of my Google Chrome is becoming increasingly bloated like a constipated fat man needing to relieve some gas. I have decided to clean up my original Chrome bookmarks of books and instead re-organize and share the books I'm reading or plan to read here. Have you read any of these? Let me know.
BIOGRAPHY
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Frank McCourt
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Amy Chua
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls
BUSINESS
A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons for Life and Investing
Jim Rogers
Jump Start Your Business Brain: The Scientific Way to Make More Money
Doug Hall
The Innovation Paradox: The Success of Failure, the Failure of Success
Richard Farson, Ralph Keyes
Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges
C. Otto Scharmer
CULTURE
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Jared Diamond
Into that Silent Sea
Francis French, Colin Burgess, Paul Haney
FUTURISM
The Third Culture Beyond the Scientific Revolution [FREE!]
John Brockman
HUMOR
Dinosaurs by Design
Duane T. Gish, Earl Snellenberger, Bonita Snellenberger
Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School
Eveline Chao, Chris Murphy
INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL/SPACE
Emigrating Beyond Earth: Human Adaptation and Space Colonization
Cameron M. Smith
Frontiers of Propulsion Physics
Dr. Eric W. Davis, Marc G. Millis
Going Interstellar
Les Johnson
The Seventh Landing: Going Back to the Moon, This Time to Stay
Michael Carroll
Space Enterprise: Living and Working Offworld in the 21st Century
Phillip Harris
LAW
Getting Permission: How to License and Clear Copyrighted Materials Online and Off
Richard Stim
NOVEL
Alas, Babylon
Pat Frank
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
Deep Winter
Thomas Sherry
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart
Earth's Children (5 Books)
Jean M. Auel
Fifty Shades of Grey
E. L. James
Lights Out
David Crawford
On the Beach
Nevil Shute
One Second After
William R. Forstchen
The Last Ship
William Brinkley
The Postman
David Brin
平凡的世界
路遥
PHILOSOPHY
First Earth Battalion Operations Manual: Reprint of Original Manual from the '70s
Jim Channon
God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion
Guy Consolmagno
The Trial
Franz Kafka
PHYSICS
Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
Dean Radin
The Holographic Universe
Michael Talbot
Wrinkles in Time
George Smoot, Keay Davidson
POLITICS
Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative
Jon Michael Hubbard
The Machinery of Freedom
David Friedman
PSYCHOLOGY
Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us
Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Alisa Bowman
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman
In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People
George K. Simon, PhD
Milieus of Creativity
Peter Meusburger, Joachim Funke, Edgar Wunder
The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness
Martha Stout
Out of the Ordinary True Tales of Everyday Craziness
Jon Ronson
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Jon Ronson
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty
Simon Baron-Cohen
Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work
Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare
The Sociopath Next Year
Martha Stout
Without Consciousness: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us
Robert D. Hare, PhD
SCIENCE FICTION
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America
Albert Brooks
Ennatarian Dreams [Kindle]
Peter Saye
Eternity Road
Jack McDevitt
Expedition: Being an Account in Word and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Wayne Douglas Barlowe
Operation Chaos
Poul Anderson
Orbit Unlimited
Poul Anderson
The Fountains of Paradise
Arthur C. Clarke
The Silk Code
Paul Levinson
Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse
John Joseph Adams
SPIRITUAL
A Heart as Wide as the World
Sharon Salzberg
ALREADY READ
Abundance
Dr. Peter Diamondis
BIOGRAPHY
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Frank McCourt
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Amy Chua
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls
BUSINESS
A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons for Life and Investing
Jim Rogers
Jump Start Your Business Brain: The Scientific Way to Make More Money
Doug Hall
The Innovation Paradox: The Success of Failure, the Failure of Success
Richard Farson, Ralph Keyes
Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges
C. Otto Scharmer
CULTURE
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Jared Diamond
Into that Silent Sea
Francis French, Colin Burgess, Paul Haney
FUTURISM
The Third Culture Beyond the Scientific Revolution [FREE!]
John Brockman
HUMOR
Dinosaurs by Design
Duane T. Gish, Earl Snellenberger, Bonita Snellenberger
Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School
Eveline Chao, Chris Murphy
INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL/SPACE
Emigrating Beyond Earth: Human Adaptation and Space Colonization
Cameron M. Smith
Frontiers of Propulsion Physics
Dr. Eric W. Davis, Marc G. Millis
Going Interstellar
Les Johnson
The Seventh Landing: Going Back to the Moon, This Time to Stay
Michael Carroll
Space Enterprise: Living and Working Offworld in the 21st Century
Phillip Harris
LAW
Getting Permission: How to License and Clear Copyrighted Materials Online and Off
Richard Stim
NOVEL
Alas, Babylon
Pat Frank
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
Deep Winter
Thomas Sherry
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart
Earth's Children (5 Books)
Jean M. Auel
Fifty Shades of Grey
E. L. James
Lights Out
David Crawford
On the Beach
Nevil Shute
One Second After
William R. Forstchen
The Last Ship
William Brinkley
The Postman
David Brin
平凡的世界
路遥
PHILOSOPHY
First Earth Battalion Operations Manual: Reprint of Original Manual from the '70s
Jim Channon
God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion
Guy Consolmagno
The Trial
Franz Kafka
PHYSICS
Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
Dean Radin
The Holographic Universe
Michael Talbot
Wrinkles in Time
George Smoot, Keay Davidson
POLITICS
Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative
Jon Michael Hubbard
The Machinery of Freedom
David Friedman
PSYCHOLOGY
Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us
Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Alisa Bowman
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman
In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People
George K. Simon, PhD
Milieus of Creativity
Peter Meusburger, Joachim Funke, Edgar Wunder
The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness
Martha Stout
Out of the Ordinary True Tales of Everyday Craziness
Jon Ronson
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Jon Ronson
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty
Simon Baron-Cohen
Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work
Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare
The Sociopath Next Year
Martha Stout
Without Consciousness: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us
Robert D. Hare, PhD
SCIENCE FICTION
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America
Albert Brooks
Ennatarian Dreams [Kindle]
Peter Saye
Eternity Road
Jack McDevitt
Expedition: Being an Account in Word and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Wayne Douglas Barlowe
Operation Chaos
Poul Anderson
Orbit Unlimited
Poul Anderson
The Fountains of Paradise
Arthur C. Clarke
The Silk Code
Paul Levinson
Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse
John Joseph Adams
SPIRITUAL
A Heart as Wide as the World
Sharon Salzberg
ALREADY READ
Abundance
Dr. Peter Diamondis
Labels:
books,
intellectual,
literature,
reading,
shen,
Shen Ge,
shenge86
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