What are you currently reading?

[WWGD]

Still reading "Crucial Conversations" on how to have productive exchanges in emotionally-charged situations. The methods don't come naturally easy
to me, though I am trying to change as much as possible.

 

[gfd43tg]

Art of War by Sun Tzu

 

[nuuskur]

Double integrals of Fichtenholz's Mathematical analysis :D

 

[cobalt124]

In the rare opportunities I have to read I'm slowly working my way through The God Delusion, also Acts of Worship by Yukio Mishima, primarily shadowing the interests of my youngest son, a rampant Dawkins advocate. He came across Mishima due to his obsession with Manga/anime.

 

[Borg]

I've been reading the Wall Street Journal this week - one of my neighbors moved and forgot to stop his subscription.

 

[PWiz]

I'm reading "The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (the original one by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Absolutely brilliant at invoking the desire to deduce everything around you through astute observations and clever analysis (although I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of overestimating my limited abilities of inference). My only complaint is the repetitive usage of "singular" throughout the book, which seemed to be a tic the author developed.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Hugo is in no special hurry to tell this tale - it's as if hurrying it would diminish his point.

Heh, so true! Try reading his other books. 'The Laughing Man' or 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'. He spends inordinate amounts of time describing the minutiae of the backdrop of the story, to the extent that it almost feels like the book proper begins a third-to-half way through.
It may feel like unnecessary, gratuitous detours at first, but once the story jump-starts you suddenly realize how deeply immersed in the realities of the period you've become as a result, and how much harder the drama hits you.Myself, I'm reading 'The Passage' (Cronin) and 'Steppenwolf' (Hesse).

The first one is an incredibly readable vampire-cum-post-apocalypse brick of a science fiction, and makes me want to binge read it like the literary equivalent of a season of Game of Thrones. But I also feel like I've read it all many times before, and that my enjoyment is a result of a calculated button-pushing. Which makes me feel like I'm wasting time on superficial fast-food.

Hesse's book is intriguing, with multi-level framing narratives and a blurred sense of reality the deeper, more removed from the first the narrative becomes, but I also can't stand the pretentious protagonist - the more so as I'm at times tempted to identify with him.

What I'm saying is that it might take me a while to finish those two, since I both love them and hate them at the same time, so they're stuck in a limbo between being tossed out for good and finally finished.

 

[BobG]

Thread resurrection!"All The Light We Cannot See". Fantastic! Well written, great story...read it. Really, you have to read it.

Awesome book! I was practically dying in anticipation of the collision to come between the characters. But, for all that anticipation, I was kind of disappointed in the ending. Still an incredibly fun book to read!

In some ways, I thought it was similar to "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena". Both were set in wartime. Both switched back and forth between the present and the past that explained how the characters ended up in the present. But with "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena", the links between characters were more of a shock instead of the anticipation. "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" had a way better ending, though.

 

[lisab]

Which movie? The '98 one with Liam Neeson or the newer one? Academia has ruined leisure reading for me, but I really liked the '98 adaptation.

The newer one. I haven't seen the older one yet, but the new one was really good - I liked it much better than I thought I would.

 

[lisab]

Awesome book! I was practically dying in anticipation of the collision to come between the characters. But, for all that anticipation, I was kind of disappointed in the ending. Still an incredibly fun book to read!

In some ways, I thought it was similar to "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena". Both were set in wartime. Both switched back and forth between the present and the past that explained how the characters ended up in the present. But with "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena", the links between characters were more of a shock instead of the anticipation. "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" had a way better ending, though.

I agree, the ending was kind of depressing. I'll check out "Constellation", though!

 

[thankz]

aesops fables

 

[TheDemx27]

Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty. It's pretty "meh". I don't find it to be very interesting but I'm going to read the whole thing anyways.

 

[unknown1111]

I'm currently reading
Smolin: The Trouble With Physics

As an aside: A great place to discover new physics books, which I just discovered, seems to be http://books.physicsinsider.com/

 

[diogenesNY]

Currently reading:

_The Inflationary Universe_ by Alan Guth

Recommended to me by Bandersnatch as a good followup to Steven Weinberg's _The First Three Minutes_.

_Heaven's Bankers_ by Harris Irfan

A book about Islamic Banking that I read a review of in the NY Times Book Review a few weeks ago. More about the recent history of Islamic Banking, with lots of anecdotes... just a little ways into it. This is a subject that is very poorly understood by the general population (just as is banking generally, only more so). This is also a subject that has interested me on a technical and legal as well as financial level for over twenty years. So far, pretty interesting.

Those are the main two that I am putting in reading time every day at the moment, but there are a dozen or two that I am intermittently picking up and putting down... I am usually in the middle of at least a dozen or two books (of all varieties) that way.

diogenesNY

 

[Tobias Funke]

I'm reading "The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (the original one by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
...
My only complaint is the repetitive usage of "singular" throughout the book, which seemed to be a tic the author developed.

Yes! It's hard not to notice when you read several stories in a row. Watson must have been so excited to be looking into his old notes that every third case seemed the most singular one ever.

 

[lisab]

Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty. It's pretty "meh". I don't find it to be very interesting but I'm going to read the whole thing anyways.

That's...hmm what's the word. Ambitious? Noble?

I know it has earned respect from economists. Kudos for pushing through!

 

[Silicon Waffle]

I am reading the Bible...uhmm I guess everyone doesn't want me to explain what it is about...OK.

 

[Tosh5457]

Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty. It's pretty "meh". I don't find it to be very interesting but I'm going to read the whole thing anyways.

Same here. I'm actually finding it a very good book, it analyzes most issues in detail with relevant empirical data to back up his assertions and to clear up some myths in economics. Though I'm still in the page 100 and something, I picked up a bias on the author, and this is because he refused to analyze the birth rates in the West in detail, saying that in this field any predictions are useless, which isn't true. He also falls into a fallacy when analyzing economic growth rates - historically, a growth rate of 1% is a pretty fast growth, and based on that he infers that if the economy is growing for 1% it's actually a fast growth. What he doesn't mention is that the historical average includes recessions, and so if we had an average growth of 1% when the economy is booming, historically we'd have a growth less than 1% because there will be recessions. And again, it's just an average, so if we had year after year a maximum growth of 1% (even including recessions), most likely our historical growth would go below 1% easily since if that's the maximum, the deviations will take the average lower. The bias is that he doesn't want to assume the West's slower growth economy and the declining birth rates will exert a pressure on the social security system, and so there wouldn't be a justification to make cuts, which would widen the economic inequality.
Nonetheless, good read on most topics he speaks about.

 

[Enigman]

Just finished An equal music and now reading Lord of the flies.

That was disturbing. I am disturbed.

Now reading: Icon by Fredrick Forsyth
After that, get started on Discworld or Foundation or maybe GoT.

 

[Blackberg]

The Wikipedia in alphabetical order.
Almost done with the "A" section.

 

[Lord Anoobis]

Just started on Three Days to Never - Tim Powers. After that it'll be The Educated Ape and Other Wonders of the Worlds - Robert Rankin.

 

[diogenesNY]

Current fun reading:

_Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies and the making of a Medical Examiner_ by Judy Melinek, MD and T.J. Mitchel.

http://search.library.duke.edu/search?id=DUKE006170630

Fast moving, very graphic and clinical. I am enjoying it immensely... a really fun summer book.

Highly recommended.

diogenesNY

 

[thankz]

looks interesting, just put it on my amazon wish list.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1HIX5W0LQT/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[gleem]

Still trying to finish "A Storm of Swords" by George R. R. Martin; Book Three of " A Song of Ice and Fire" think "Game of Thrones". Reading in fits and starts.

 

[phion]

The Moscow Puzzles

 

[thankz]

the womens encyclopedia of myths and secrets

 

[Enigman]

the womens encyclopedia of myths and secrets

There is a lot of uncorroborated speculation in that one, take everything with a pinch of salt.

 

[thankz]

yea, but its fun, especially when they talk about male genitalia!

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

Boy, have I been away awhile. Thanks college.

I'm reading "The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (the original one by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Absolutely brilliant at invoking the desire to deduce everything around you through astute observations and clever analysis (although I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of overestimating my limited abilities of inference). My only complaint is the repetitive usage of "singular" throughout the book, which seemed to be a tic the author developed.

Great collection of stories, and I see that your writing, like mine (and everyone's, to an extent) is malleable by whomever it is you've just been reading.

I dare say, however, that his collection of stories is the singularly most intriguing set which I have ever read

___

As for my reading as of late, I took an English course over Life and Thought in America, spanning from its colonial inception, through a nascent America, and into early 19th century America. Initially I was reading the dreadful prose of Puritans and pastors; men who, while purporting to be selfless men of God, couldn't find the time to write about anything other than their own spiritual journeys. It did lend perspective to the culture of early America, though.

Then, we got into the familiar writers: Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson, Dickinson, Thoreau, etc., all of whom I'd recommend, maybe except Emerson, since he was a bit of a quack, and not in the endearing and enjoyable way that Thoreau was.

For pleasure, I started the arduous journey of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. It's an astounding feat of literature, which I have difficulty accurately describing. I would say, imagine you were tasked with detailing the entirety of your life to the world, but, rather than it being purely autobiographical, you also wish to extrapolate towards, with as much truth as possible, a sort of biography of the aesthetic world. Yes, you were a child, and you ran and played, but what do you think it meant when you ran to the woods? How did you feel, and what can be said of its nurturing, regal beauty, when your mother kissed you goodnight? Sure, you read a lot outside, but you also wish to address the multifarious nature of literature: its tendency of escapism, of revealing to you previously nonexistent worlds, worlds which, perhaps, couldn't exist in our own; how literature lends itself towards paroxysms unattainable in everyday happenings, since--from page to page--you move from one set of catharsis to the next, purging and filling with contrasted combinations of emotions you've never felt before. That's a much more powerful premise for a novel, and Proust does it beautifully.

Beyond that, I'm reading Pynchon's V. Tommy's a quirky guy, and I think his writing takes a bit getting used to, but it's ultimately worth it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Great collection of stories, and I see that your writing, like mine (and everyone's, to an extent) is malleable by whomever it is you've just been reading.

For some years now, I have been sensible of the singular insight that what most attracts me to certain authors is not the plot or characters, but the texture of their diction. The message I receive from these litterateurs is one of ambiance, mental environment, and (dare I say it?) aura. I return to them for the presence of their voice, not the content of their story. I dare say, the message of their story, for me, is the very medium itself whereby the story is related: their particular authorial voice. In short, the medium is the message. (Or, perhaps, massage?)I'm about halfway through:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage

The medium whereby a message is delivered restricts you to understanding the message within certain parameters, and so, to understand it, you have to absorb the medium. Thus, people end up writing like Conan-Doyle.

 

[peevemagpie]

Almost done with 50 shades of gray. :)

 

[Evo]

Almost done with 50 shades of gray. :)

Ahahaha, seriously? I heard that was the most poorly written book ever.

 

[StevieTNZ]

I really need to start reading some of the books I have purchased over the years. But the top two I'll get to first are:
'Madam President' by Nicolle Wallace (arrived last week)
and
'My Story' by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

I still have to get to 'Hard Choices' by Hillary Clinton, too. It is just sitting there collecting dust.

 

[Rippetherocker]

Charles Stross- Saturn's Children

 

[technotoltec]

the secret life of plants and toddler whisperer