Just aim for the bulls-eye: Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov.

Also, there's a new translation of War and Peace by Pevear and Volokhonsky that should be excellent.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:32 PM on October 17, 2007

I'm not aware of a perfect solution apart from those Etymotics, which are too expensive for my eagerly anticipated $100 Apple Store credit. My favorite earphone is actually the Apple In-Ear Earphone + the Shure foam sleeve, which is cheap, durable, and (to my ears) almost as good quality as the e2c. I'm waiting for an in-ear earphone from Apple with a mic built in.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 9:10 AM on September 9, 2007

I've used them all, they all have pluses and minuses. DevonThink is the most obv. powerful, but it falls short if you plan to actually write in it; if you're going to do a lot of writing, Scrivener is by far the most pleasurable choice, and has been genuinely helpful to me from a creative standpoint. DevonThink works best if you have a very high volume of information, and if you're going to fall short of that it's not worth it. Yojimbo is a little underpowered for what you're planning to do, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:40 AM on July 31, 2007

We love everything ... and we LOVE to dance, if that helps. I'd be really into going to some great DJs or other 'dance' events. But an amazing organ recital would be great too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:41 AM on June 19, 2007

I agree with wilful; though I do know a few guys who are like this, they are widely recognized to be the weirdos of our social circle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:37 PM on March 7, 2007

my quick thoughs:

- wemayfreeze is right. if you buy a messenger-style bag and plan to carry a lot of stuff, you ought to wear it 'right,' high up and secure the way messengers do, across your upper back, not slung low on the side or on your hips. this will do in your back. for this i'd suggest a bigger bag like a chrome. (i think chrome looks cooler than bimuk2, and everyone has a timbuk2 nowadays--i've had a timbuk2 for years and they're great quality, but the 'style... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:05 AM on February 17, 2007

Willa Cather.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 7:27 PM on February 13, 2007

Have you read Anna Karenina? There's a lot of thought about this same question in that novel.

Pragmatically, I tend to agree with jrossi4r: it's good to work because you'll be self-sufficient. And that is always a good feeling, no matter the current circumstances. Working and being self-sufficient, though, isn't the same thing as having a career. It's more about having a set of skills that you can always rely upon and call yours. Not knowledge, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 10:24 AM on February 11, 2007 marked best answer

If you want poems about relationships, try W. B. Yeats. Lots of great poems in the Norton. Try "Adam's Curse," "When You Are Old and Gray," "A Bronze Head," "Among Schoolchildren," "The Collar-Bone of a Hare."

Yeats is the greatest lyric poet, IMO.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:14 AM on February 9, 2007

I'm more interested in writing that comes in memo form: lots of lists, numbered items, a clear hierarchical structure, very pithy and short, and so on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 12:29 PM on January 24, 2007

Great thread; from cruising through my iTunes:

My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant
Belle and Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets and Another Green World
David Bowie: Low and Hunky Dory
Clinic: Internal Wrangler
DJ Shadow: Endtroducing...
Herbert: Scale
Dntel: Life Is Full of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 7:00 PM on December 11, 2006

Wonderful, thank you everyone--and that is some fascinating material, allelopath.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:20 PM on December 6, 2006

I would second a lot of these: Sontag and Didion for sure, Lewis Lapham. D.F.W.'s essays are marvelous, but I'm not sure that they fall into the same general category as Orwell, Tocqueville, et. al., since they are more 'new journalism.' In that category I'm surprised no one has mentioned John McPhee, who is definitely near or at the top (as in "A Roomfull of Hovings," for example).

Other writers who come to mind as excellent essayists in the classic sense,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:37 AM on November 17, 2006

If you haven't read Anna Karenina or The Brother's Karamazov, they are amazing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 12:44 PM on October 27, 2006

I think your friend is totally crazy. A good book to try, though, would be The Professor's House by Willa Cather. It is excellent.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 3:13 PM on October 26, 2006

Handee is right: at a very straightforard level, it's very possible that "we" don't cause anything to happen in our brains; rather, our brains decide and then we "decide" as a result. (This is called epiphenomonalism, by the way: the idea that conscious mental life is like the steam whistle on a train, or like sun glinting off waves on a lake.) Since your brain is a chemical system, it is more or less determinist--as determinist as anything in the universe is. (This is *more*... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:13 AM on October 25, 2006

I've also thought that Edge is an interesting model. It always seem to me that a 'long-form' MeFi would be really interesting: a Metafilter not structured around posts but around essays. A paid writer writes a long-form essay; over the course of a month users of the site write long-form continuations, responses, or replies; editors choose the best of these; then all the replies, with the best emphasized, and with new articles by paid writers, form the content of the next published issue. All the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 1:17 PM on October 24, 2006

I'm a grad student in English who teaches literature to undergrads, and every semester I have a few students like you: science people who have never liked humanities subjects and have chips on their shoulders about it. Often they're really busy with the subjects in which they're already immersed and they resent having to learn a whole new set of subjects; they also have a lot of pre-conceived ideas about how the humanities and arts are bullshit. They are, needless to say, very... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 11:05 AM on October 24, 2006

what would prevent the same world outlook from leading to "action" in an altogether different path, say fascism?

I am not an existentialism expert by any means, but my understanding is: nothing would prevent it, and this is one of the real difficulties that Sartre tried, more or less unsuccessfully, to overcome philosophically as time went on. The best answer to your question, as far as I can tell, would be: nothing about the world suggests... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:05 PM on October 7, 2006

My advice--which might not play well here--is that online is not the way to go. The way to get 'well-rounded' is to use the library. In my experience, despite the hypertextual nature of the web, it's really in reading long, old-fashioned books that you run up against new ideas in a meaningful way. Online resources (like Wikipedia) are often too short in terms of format. You get through a given topic faster, but in not nearly as deep or integrated a fashion. So I say: go into... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:42 AM on September 24, 2006

Patagonia seems perfect for this; and J. Crew, or especially Filson, make great luggage out of waxed canvas that's durable and waterproof.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:19 AM on September 18, 2006

Reading aloud is definitely part of the game plan. justkevin: it's actually a one-on-one tutorial with a very advanced college junior. If all goes well, next year I'll try to teach it to a group.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 12:05 PM on August 31, 2006

The books I've enjoyed most over the last few months:

David Mitchell, Black Swan Green
Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved
Imre Kertesz, Fatelessness
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
John McPhee, A Sense of Where You Are

And, if you haven't read them, you are in for a treat with Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 3:12 AM on August 19, 2006

Yeah, that's crazy. In my half-Malaysian-Chinese family, we eat fresh tofu and drink soy milk as a staple. All you have to do is go to an Asian supermarket and see the huge tubs of tofu for sale to see how wrong that claim is.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 7:57 AM on July 25, 2006

I was about to say Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love. This seems like the perfect record for you. (It's great, too.)

Also: Coloma, Junior Boys, Robyn (her self-titled CD is amazing), and Sarah Cracknell's self-titled record all come to mind as worth checking out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:02 PM on July 14, 2006

Hey everyone, thanks for so many great answers (please keep them coming!).

To clarify: I'm a teaching fellow in the English department (and a 'regular' English graduate student). Our department allows students who want to study something not covered by the course offerings to request special tutorial classes. In this case, a student (I'm guessing from the History of Science department) has requested a course on science and literature after WW2, which I'll be teaching... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:21 PM on July 5, 2006

I'll chip in and say Peter Luger's too--although go for dinner! Order steak for two rare, and make sure to ask for tomatoes and onions and bacon as appetizers. Desert (with schlag, a.k.a. a huge bowl of fresh whipped cream) is incredible. It usually runs about $70 per person in my experience. For two, you will probably be able to fit in if you're willing to go very early or very late.

For Italian food I always go to Po, a small and reasonable restaurant on Cornelia St.,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:47 AM on June 28, 2006 marked best answer

I've had a Nokia 6230 on Cingular for about a year. Great service so far, and it's a *great* phone: small, fast, easy to use. The camera sucks, etc., but I have absolutely no complaints about the phone itself. It's substnatially better interface-wise than the Sony Ericcson T68i I used to carry.

I'm definitely sticking with Nokia from now on, although the S-E k750i is also tempting.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 2:20 PM on June 16, 2006

I was in the Strand a few weeks ago and it was really nice and air conditioned inside, with a remodeled second floor. The Strand is *great* for art books and other books that are normally expensive, and it also does a good job with hardcover bestsellers (history, especially). I wouldn't knock it; I like the serendipity of it.

Otherwise, I heartily second Three Lives and Co. (I loved it when I lived in New York and still go every time I'm in town) and second Labyrinth as... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 10:03 AM on June 15, 2006

Contributed by my fiancée:

1. Potatoes have lots of eyes.

2. They are a member of the nightshade family.

3. There are always those crazy upstart 'new' potatoes.

4. They have funny names: German fingerling, pink blossom, yellow fin, desiree, rose fur, ruby crescent, bintje, red laSoda, etc. German fingerling potato meets Desiree the seductress potato!

5. Potatoes with green... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 2:47 PM on June 14, 2006

What's the median cost of a wedding these days? The average must be skewed high by the outrageous spending of the super-rich.

I think that Vacapinta's answer is best. Your question assumes that the super-rich are pushing up the average wedding cost--but I'd bet that some perfectly middle class people are spending a whole lot on weddings; they're saving up for it way in advance (and taking on loans, too). I'm sure that $20,000 designer dresses are part... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:06 PM on June 4, 2006

I too affirm that "Insanely Jealous" is a great song.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:39 PM on May 23, 2006

I own a lot of clothes from Sean.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 12:46 PM on May 22, 2006

I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind, but Gillian Beer's Darwin's Plots is about natural selection and its influence on narratives. It's fantastic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:38 PM on May 19, 2006

I'm in Harvard's English Ph.D program, and the requirement here is that you pass two language reading exams with a dictionary. Lots of people arrive with no other languages at all and pass the exams quite easily after a year or two of the language.

I wouldn't worry about languages at all if you're applying to an English Literature program.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:09 AM on May 10, 2006

I don't know how it ranks in terms of language, but Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater is pretty obscene.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 1:00 PM on May 9, 2006

Jane Austen is only funny for women, I think.

This is crazy! I would read Pride and Prejudice; it's hilarious from the first page to the last. Really. (And one of the greatest novels ever written, etc.)

I'll also second Wilde, Dickens, and Cervantes, obviously--but I'll add to the list Henry Green, an English novelist writing in the 40s and 50s. His novel Loving is probably one of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:50 AM on May 9, 2006

I would read Temple Grandin's (amazing) book Animals in Translation. It has a lot of examples of exactly this kind of animal intelligenece: e.g., squirrels remembering the location of 10,000 buried nuts over the course of the winter, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:45 AM on May 9, 2006

I'm surprised at all this warm-and-fuzzy advice. Have you tried just telling them off? "I'm tired of your negativity, and if you keep it up, don't be expecting to hear from me in the future"?

Your parents aren't robots--they can change their behavior if they understand how unacceptable it is. Next time this starts to bother you, just put your feelings on the table.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:57 AM on May 4, 2006

As a (former) science-fiction reader and a literature graduate student, I'd give the big thumbs-down to most of these choices--especially if she reads "classic" novels of the 19th century for fun. I would give a particularly vigorous thumbs-down to Dune. I have a soft-spot for it, but that huge glossary in the back is enough to turn anyone off.

I'm very surprised that no one has mentioned Richard Powers, who is probably the best 'literary'... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:31 AM on May 1, 2006

Have you seen the Levenger Travelling Inbox?
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 7:47 AM on April 7, 2006

Bim, I ended up using your two, plus Tookie Williams -- thanks very much everyone!
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 2:02 PM on April 6, 2006

Ask your neighbor about it, and if he doesn't give you a good explanation, talk to your landlord about it ASAP.

To my mind, living in an apartment building means that the 'nosy neighbor' tag gets applied less liberally. You're all sharing hallways, stairwells, elevators, fire escapes, and services with whomever happens to have a key to an apartment in the building. It is completely within your writes to care about who is coming and going in the apartments adjacent to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 7:43 PM on April 5, 2006

I know exactly what you're talking about. I have two suggestions, both of which have worked for me.

1. Get up earlier. I'm not sure what your schedule is, and it may be that you're up at 5 and in bed at 9 anyway; but extra morning hours are far more useful than extra evening hours.

2. Read this book: How to Work the Competition Into the Ground (And Have Fun Doing It) by John T. Molloy. It has been the missing piece in the GTD... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:08 AM on April 4, 2006

Yes, it's Bakhtin (I'm just reading his book on Dostoevsky this morning!) As I recall, he buried a lot of his other books under the shed in his backyard, or something similar.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 3:57 AM on April 4, 2006

Cleo From 5 to 7.
La Notte.

... two of my favorites.
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:45 AM on March 31, 2006

I'm a graduate student in English at a 'top-tier' school, and we're right now in the midst of our recruiting process. I can say that, from my experience, the 'yield' on a given class hovers somewhere in the 50-80% range. It seems very rare, even at the best schools, for 100% of those who are offered admission to accept. And there is no magic number: my class was 14, the class before me was 10, the class after me was 16; there is leeway.

So: wait it out and see what... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 6:28 AM on March 18, 2006

Without knowing anything about your thesis at all, I'd guess that a broad approach is the best if you are starting from scratch. If you're focusing on the 20th century, then you ought to take a look at Jonathan Crary's newer book, Suspensions of Perception, which is, broadly, about visual art and the modern visual world. It doesn't talk directly about literature, but it does provide a capsule history of the way that visual culture, including film, changed in the early 20th... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 8:18 AM on March 13, 2006

Well, I'll second all the non-online options mentioned here. As a college student, you are surrounded by more intelligent, pretty, single girls than you ever will be again in your entire life. So save the internet stuff for later.

What you really need to do is just ask out more girls. If you meet a girl, and you like her, get her email, and then ask her out for coffee. Try to do this once a week, for example. You must meet plenty of girls in your day-to-day life, right,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 4:27 AM on March 12, 2006

The best suggestion I have is to really focus in the short term on getting that debt consolidated on a single 0% interest card. If you have a decent credit rating this will be easy. And you will save a huge amount per month. Huge. You might have a not-so-great credit rating, but you can probably swing something very close to 0% just by telling your bank that you're thinking of moving.

For me, the single greatest money-saving strategy... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by josh at 5:06 PM on March 9, 2006