Shown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Sigismund on September 23, 2009, at 17:09:20
Anybody read it?
It's a delight. Very profound and also funny.
If you are interested in Aspergers or Autism, this is the book.
Posted by Sigismund on September 23, 2009, at 17:17:42
In reply to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, posted by Sigismund on September 23, 2009, at 17:09:20
[Protagonist speaking] And I realize that I told a lie in Chapter 13 because I said "I cannot tell jokes," because I do know 3 jokes that I can tell and I understand and one of them is about a cow...
And this is the joke.
There are three men on a train. One of them is an economist and one of them is a logician and one of them is a mathematician. And they have just crossed the border into Scotland (I don't know why they are going to Scotland) and they see a brown cow standing in a field from the window of the train (and the cow is standing parallel to the train).
And the economist says, "Look, the cows in Scotland are brown."
And the logician says, "No. there are cows in Scotland of which one at least is brown."
And the mathematician says, "No. there is at least one cow in Scotland, of which one side appears to be brown."
And it is funny because economists are not real scientists, and because logicians think more clearly, but mathematicians are best.
Posted by Dinah on September 23, 2009, at 22:22:50
In reply to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, posted by Sigismund on September 23, 2009, at 17:09:20
It's been on my to buy list so long I've stopped looking at it.
Is it good?
Posted by Sigismund on September 24, 2009, at 2:16:22
In reply to Re: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, posted by Dinah on September 23, 2009, at 22:22:50
>Is it good?
We are listening to the audio book, having heard part of it serialised on the wireless.
It's very funny, if you like that sort of thing....I'm doubled up with laughter half the time. The narrator is around 12yo and has Aspergers, which is to say he is gifted and disabled both at once. He has a fondness for prime numbers, and does maths problems like counting to 20 meaning he counts 2 to the first power and then 2 to the second and so on up to 2 to the 20th to create some order in his mind. I don't normally read fiction....I have to be convinced that there is a voice worth listening to....my way of relaxing when things get too much is to read about the leadup to WWI, and have a good long think about it.
Posted by Dinah on September 24, 2009, at 10:00:18
In reply to Re: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night » Dinah, posted by Sigismund on September 24, 2009, at 2:16:22
I have developed a liking for audiobooks too! And it's in my audiobook waiting list. I have to confess that one reason it's never made it in to my cart was that I was a bit cautious about the reader. Long term he holds up?
I like reading reading. And for things like nonfiction, where I may want to skim or go back over some things I may like it better. But for fiction, an excellent reader can weave a spell even better than a book alone can. Like the bards of the old days. The Harry Potter series and the Lemony Snicket series spring instantly to mind as wonderful books that are even more wonderful read with the magic of a talented voice. And I must confess that I like Jonathan Kellerman immensely when John Rubenstein is reading, but not so much in print.
My therapist (keeping this Psychological) has really been taken with the idea that I'm aspergerish, as opposed to a bit schizotypal. Me, I don't know. I think I have some of the neurological deficits, but my theory of mind is good.
On the other hand, I often don't get jokes, and my mind is very literal. Too literal really to feel comfortable sometimes with repartee.
Oh, one nonfiction exception. My son *asked* to relisten to "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Richard Matthews is wonderful at conveying the dry humor of the book, and my son and I are laughing away while learning all sorts of interesting things that often seem to be echoing what he's learning in science this year! It's fascinating.
Posted by Sigismund on September 24, 2009, at 14:22:28
In reply to Re: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night » Sigismund, posted by Dinah on September 24, 2009, at 10:00:18
The version I have is very well read (although poorly copied).
An English voice, perhaps from the midlands, kind, somewhat pedantic and explanatory....the voice matches the character very well.Something that people used to do before all our functions were privatised was read to each other. There are so many books, just about all of them fiction, that I would love to have read for me because I don't have the concentration. (I haven't read Madame Bovary, for heavens sake, not to speak of his Dictionary of Received Ideas, let alone the Russian writers.)
You will get the jokes in this because they are explained. (You know there is a book called 'How to Make People Like You in 5 Minutes'). The joke that is a little subtler, as in the one I quoted, is that the explanation is another joke. No matter how literal you are though, you won't be as literal as the narrator in this book.
Posted by obsidian on September 24, 2009, at 23:07:14
In reply to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, posted by Sigismund on September 23, 2009, at 17:09:20
I enjoyed that joke. Senses of humor are funny things, ha ha, that was a funny statement right there. Different people find different things funny, just like there are many ways to see a cow.
This is the end of the thread.
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