The Reality Machine

So, I recently purchased a copy of The Reality Machine by Cliff Burns. It's a signed copy that I got from AbeBooks. If you don't know what that is, you haven't lived. Anyway, the girlfriend is on another one of her travels to a faraway land...called Tipton I think. So, I have time to just relax and read with the cat and a beer.


This book is actually a collection of short stories from Burns. They vary in length from a few paragraphs to a dozen or more pages. It's hard to classify his work. I imagine it could fall into horror, SF, psychological thriller or even poetry for some works. A few of the stories in it are not for the squeamish. All of them are interesting. Burns is an interesting author in many regards though. He seems to have a dislike for the publishing industry. This is apparently why he posts some of his major works online for free. He even has a podcast for the first part of his book available for download. Find out more about Cliff Burns at Beautiful Desolation.

Other than that, I have been reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I haven't gotten very far yet but the story is very intriguing. I feel like I could draw parallels between the Overlords and the secret society ruling the world. Maybe Clarke felt that way, don't know. I've also got a book, Banana, that serves as my brief book. I read it in ten minute intervals throughout the day. Waiting for something to cook, waiting for the girlfriend to get ready, that kind of thing. Then I still have my Michael Oren book on the US and Middle East throughout history. It's a bit dry and I can only read a chapter or two at a time. I've also been perusing my Polish history selection, reading up on Casimir and Jagiello. Then there is the Louis L'Amour book. It's a memoir of sorts, Education of a Wandering Man. It's really interesting to see his views on education, best received in the real world, not in a school.

And last but not least for my reading list, the GRE study guide! I can't wait to be done with that ordeal. I realized that most of the classes I had taken in college the first time would have counted toward an MA had I been a grad student. I don't know what that means, but I am really excited to get back to studying the real information. Not words like circumlocution. I want to do research and write a book, but no one will fund me, and working where I work now is not a gold mine. If anyone has ideas, hook me up.