Issuing supreme power to you...one moment.

My self-summary Propose an edit

Hi, I'm johnl. I'm studying in Trinity College Dublin, doing Computer Science, Linguistics and French, in Third Year. This year, I am living in Grenoble in France, where I am studying on Erasmus. I like computers, video games, books, scouting, cycling, and the internet. I use a Mac.

What I'm doing with my life Propose an edit

Currently, I'm in college, finishing my degree. I'm reading Computer Science, Linguistics and French in Trinity College Dublin. I'm really enjoying it and can't understand why more people don't study Computer Science, Linguistics and a Language, apart from the cumbersome name! There are only 2 people in my year doing CSLL. But we get on really well.
I study spoken and written French, formal logic, phonetics, assembly programming, programming, maths. We also attend seminars about linguistics in general.
I'm continuing with Scouts, and all my other activities.

My favorite books, movies, music, and food Propose an edit

(BOOKS)

Here is a small representation of the books and the types of books I like:

Super-Cannes by J. G. Ballard

1984 by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Empire Of The Sun by J. G. Ballard

Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Kindness Of Women by J. G. Ballard

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Empty World by John Christopher

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Narnia Series by C. S. Lewis

Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

I've always loved to read, ever since I was very young. I used to read much more than I do now, but I do my best to always be reading at least one book, if not more.

I frequently listen to the books which are read on BBC Radio 4, the best radio station in the world. It was there that I was introduced to J. G. Ballard for the first time, in the wonderful book, Super-Cannes, which is my current favourite book.

1984 remains a favourite of mine because of its attention to detail and worrying implications.

Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy and its sequels are very funny, like Adams' other books, but also incisive and thought-provoking. I often re-read them. Again Radio 4 has played the radio plays of these books.

Empire Of The Sun and The Kindness Of Women are part of an auto-biographical series by J. G. Ballard, and provide a 3rd-person view of his early life as a boy in Shanghai just before the Japanese attack, and his experience of the war, and, in the case of the latter, his life as a student.

Terry Pratchett is a British author of humorous fantasy, and his Discworld series is probably his finest work. Of these, I like Thief Of Time best.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is a little-known (in the West) book by a Russian author, in the same vein as Brave New World and 1984, that of the dystopic future vision, but is also remarkably different. It was written long before either book and is all the more interesting for it.

Brave New World is probably inferior to 1984 in many ways, but it provides an interesting counterpoint to Orwell's vision, with its hedonistic and utterly vapid society.

William Gibson is the father of cyberpunk, and is loved and loathed because of this. Neuromancer is his seminal work, and is probably his best, but that does not mean that other work such as All Tomorrow's Parties should be ignored. They bring the ideas in Neuromancer up-to-date, and provide some new ideas too.

Philip Pullman is an interesting author, with several very good books, ostensibly for children, but with very mature topics. It's reassuring that books can appeal to both adults and children like this.

I like the Narnia books by C. S. Lewis because of the beauty of the worlds, and the overall atmosphere. My favourite is definitely The Magician's Nephew, followed by The Silver Chair, Prince Caspian and The Dawn Treader.

Rama is a series of books by the legendary Arthur C. Clarke. It may not be his best work, but I do quite like the first 2 or 3 books. I also like other Arthur C. Clarke, but this will do as a representation.

And now, on to movies...

The six things I could never do without Propose an edit

1) My general good health.

2) My family.

3) My friends, online and offline, Irish and foreign and through Scouts.

4) My bike, which gets me round the place.

5) My Macintosh computer.

6) Books, learning, music.

I spend a lot of time thinking about Propose an edit

Life, the universe and everything.

On a typical Friday night I am Propose an edit

Probably at Scouts, where I was a Scout for 6 years and have been a leader for 4 years. I get a lot out of Scouts and intend to continue with it for a long time.

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