>want to read Gravity's Rainbow >bad at math and physics,

Read it with a guide
You aren't supposed to get all the technical shit anyways

>>7662563
>read book
>study concepts as they come
>Don't be bad at it anymore

I want the Pynchon being super science meme to die. He's not a fucking hard sci-fi writer, if there's anything you need to watch out with him it's history stuff, not science.

>>7662655
What do you mean by watch out for.

You'll be fine.

The trouble is with understanding the symbolism, thematic elements, intertwining plots and characters relations, and rambling surrealist prose-poems. And even that stuff is supposed to be hard to follow. It's all just as hard to understand to the characters.

The science/math stuff is mostly high-school level, and used only in context of scientists to illustrate their work and draw thematic content out of calculations.

Really, ignore everything else you've heard about GR on /lit/. It's not that hard.

>>7662748
people should still read The Crying of Lot 49 first, yeah?

>>7662655
>Pinecone will never write a sci-fi novel
>tfw

>>7662759
V.

>>7662759
No, this is a stupid meme. People on 4chan love charts for some reason. Read Gravity's Rainbow first, it doesn't fucking matter.

That's how I started with Pynchon. Hadn't even heard of his other books, and it wasn't a problem at all. In fact I'm glad my first Pynchon experience was with GR because it turned out to be my favorite of his anyway.

If you think you absolutely MUST ease yourself into his style though - yes, Lot 49 is probably the best choice.

I wasn't a math major, then again I'm not terrible at math, but somehow I feel like if I was I still didn't struggle with the math in this book. It makes allusions to Wealth of Nations, mathematical theory, mathematicians and engineers but it never eluded me. I found my easiest run-through was with note-taking on general themes and especially, especially summarizing characters in the margins (the characters were by far the most difficult part, but became easy when I would begin to write about them at first mention).

For me, doing this only took intensive attention to detail for the first half, and then it really stuck and read like a very readable, easy novel.. People who get muddled in the first half find the last part unbearably opaque.

Also, the mathematical/ engineering diction that should go over your head is often explained in the text itself, not even contextually but overtly, if you pay attention.

Also, this was the first book aside from older works like Paradise Lost and Leviathan that I simply couldn't pair with other works. In other words: read this and only this while you're reading it. At least, that worked for me.

I think his reputation for distancing readers is confused by the depth of his imagination. I hope that helps. Good luck.

>>7662809
didn't mean to get you salty, I've just heard that GR is pretty challenging and I was afraid of wasting my time trying to read something I wasn't ready for

>>7662563
if you've read Ulysses rigorously, this should be no problem for you.

>>7662655
I love his historical references. I learn about history as I read a Pynchon novel.

>>7662809
People from /mu/ love charts. We didnt have this shit before they invaded

Read Gidel, Escher, Bach instead

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>>7662694
WAaaaaaaaaatch out!!

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Unrelated to OP's question, I've been meaning to ask — does anyone have an explanation or interpretation for the Outer Level / Outer Radiance / Epidermal passage? Page 148. That part seemed like it would be very important when I read it, but unless I missed it it's never explained or mentioned again.

>>7662759
There are some references to V. and The Crying of Lot 49 in it, but it doesn't matter much if you've read them before or not. It's a good bet you won't understand everything in Gravity's Rainbow anyway. I wonder if anyone really does.

>>7663852
not that confusing in context. i mean its pretty weird, but its also pretty clearly a conversation between the albino guy's skin cells.

>>7662563
What should i do then
I am mediocre in math AND english isnt my first language

>>7663852
I always assumed it was the two skin cells talking about how they're all at some point pushed upwards to the edge of the skin and flake off, possibly made to mirror a person being told of/coming to terms with their mortality, and to express the universality of the cyclical structure of life, that even cells experience it just as people do, and that it (the cycle) permeates us and, ultimately, is what constitutes us. But that was just my interpretation

>finish book
>get this crazy idea the whole thing is about Blicero's spiritual transformation through war
>go back to first epigraph
>literally a quote from a nazi scientist about the spirit going on after death

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>For De Mille, young fur-henchmen can't be rowing!
>mfw

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if you don't get this than you're screwed. otherwise, read the book faggot

>>7666202
Zeimlich lustig.
Might have to read this.

pynchon is for humanities retards who are too stupid for that so it's perfect fit for you desu.

>>7666206
So hostile. The heck, mate?

>>7662655
>tfw gravity's rainbow was nominated for the nebula sf award
what the fuck?

>>7666202
Fuck me, I think that's the most autistic thing I've ever seen.

>>7666228
out of context maybe it is but obviously you haven't read the book. Lighten up bud. You're not smarter than anyone

>>7666268
You're not impressed with the crowbar usage of autistic? High standards for /lit/.

>>7666202
>baby's first integrul
Is that the best he has?

>>7666271
He's not doing it to impress you. How do you develop this lens?

>>7666202
That's actually pretty clever. Makes me want to read Pynchon.

>>7666281
By being extremely insecure

>>7666281
I just want to know if the book has more autistic jokes, I didn't judge pynchon or his book based on this joke, as you seem to think.

>>7665540
>>For De Mille, young fur-henchmen can't be rowing!
why do people like this?

>>7666202
Can someone explain this, I don't really use math that often and forgot everything about integrals

>>7667833
The integral of (1/x dx) is ln(x)+c

>>7666204
It's spelled "Ziemlich" anon.

>>7662563
Read something good instead

>>7667840
Well, but what is the joke? How are a log cabin and a house boat related?

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>>7667853
+ c (sea)

>>7667853
c
A log cabin + c
A log cabin + sea
It's a log cabin floating on the sea
A house boat

>>7662655
What's the alternative though? Not that its a dichotomy but the only people who might say Pynchon is a hard sci fi writer are those who know nothing about science anyway. But the fact of the matter is that Pynchon knew he wasn't writing sci fi. His inclusion of math, physics etc wasn't a justification or display of knowledge as plot device. Most of his allusions to science are either metaphorical or for comedic effect. If you don't get them you're not missing out on anything huge but it is one of the more fulfilling points of reading his book.

To me the alternative is a book like The Martian, where the author is making a weak attempt at writing hard scifi where science is only brought into the equation in efforts to move the plot forward. Pynchon is the exact opposite and does so completely without pretension.That's what makes it the better book.

I do agree with you on the history bit though.

>>7666202
is this really in it?

>>7666202
rip translators

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>>7662914
This times ω.

>>7668492
maths is universal you goof

>>7666202
kek. That joke almost makes me not hate calculus.

>>7668585
Math may be universal but the joke made out of the English words "log" (sounding similar to logarithm and being a type of house) and "+ c" (c being the first letter of the word constant whose pronounciation happens to sound the same as the English word sea) is not universal... you g-goof.

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>>7668610
>hating calculus

top pleb

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>>7668643
>defending calculus
>not posting based Leibnitz
>with his superior method of notation
>in addition to his bonus Candide angle for the /lit/ folk
Excellent premise, but non-infinitessimal points deducted on execution

>>7668685
>with his superior method of notation
fucking triggered

>>7668701
>preferring Newton's calculus notation
...mildly curious. Engineering background?

>>7664130
>>7663852
Yes, I think it's just two of these cells talking about how they all have to move upward through the layers and turn to unliving (calcified like animal horn, nail) tissue with no memory of the stem cell they originated from in eutero/as a placenta. They won't have the old memory that Pynchon was talking about at this part of the book.

This section with the skin cells went completely over my head. Almost makes me want to invest another month rereading this book 30 pages at a time
>le sigh