What Books Are You Currently Reading?

[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

 

[diogenesNY]

Just finishing _North Korea: State of Paranoia_ by Paul French

http://search.library.duke.edu/search?id=DUKE006073285

and just starting _ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror_ by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan

http://search.library.duke.edu/search?id=DUKE006506913

The former is scholarly and a bit dry/specialized, but one of the few well researched (as well as can be) overviews of the dynastic succession of the three Kims, how DPRK came to be and how it evolved to where it is and some speculation as to where it is going. There is so little well sourced information on the subject that this is a very desirable resource, and Paul French is one of the relatively few credible scholars on the subject.

Just starting the latter, but looks good. In depth and well researched, as opposed to several other books on the subject that seemed like editorials. I have read a number of primary sources on the subject and the whole mess is something that seems to be almost all completely misreported by the western (and other) media.

That's my light summer reading, so far. :)

diogenesNY

 

[Tobias Funke]

Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians by Jeffrey Burton Russell. About how and why the Flat Earth myth (ie, the modern myth that educated people believed the Earth was flat until around 1500) came to be, and why it continues.

Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam. Pretty good, but includes multiple letters from too many people (208 letters from 125 people).

 

[chloeangelique]

I'm currently reading "The Name of the Star" because I'm now planning to study abroad and this book might help me know the adventures I can get by studying abroad and the diversity of things that I could learn from the people I would be dealing to. And at this point of time, I'm learning something from this book. To those who have the same situations as me, this book is also for you! :)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Finally getting around to reading Neuromancer

Nice review here
https://unclenecro.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/book-review-neuromancer/

 

[zoobyshoe]

Night Frost by R.D. Wingfield. Quirky British police procedural from 1992. Slovenly and disrespectful Detective Inspector Jack Frost finds three separate murder victims, all in one shift. Apparently the book is part of a series. This one's entertaining enough that I may check out the rest.

 

[QuantumCurt]

I'm currently reading Neutrino Oscillations: Present Status and Future Plans, which covers all of the major findings in the field of neutrino oscillation as of 2008. It starts with a general introduction of neutrino oscillation phenomenology, and follows up with the findings from Super-K, SNO, KamLAND, K2K, MINOS, LSND and Karmen, MiniBooNE, OPERA, T2K, NO$\nu$A, Double Chooz, and Daya Bay.

I'm interning at Fermilab this summer, and I'll be working with NuMI and MiniBooNE, so I'm trying to get as much information on the general field as I can. I'm also reading through the various Fermilab Rookie Books on several of the projects associated with the ones I'll be working on.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

... 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.

For a different angle on a similar concept, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death argues that only certain types of media are effective at truthfully conveying complex messages. Television, according to him, is a device solely meant to entertain, and even programs with the greatest of intentions will stray from discussion towards entertainment by the necessity of views powering the program, and views only visiting fun shows.

Of course, the written word gains the most merit, as the author has time for serious contemplation, can address an unknown and multifaceted audience at once, and has time to formulate and guide a reader through abstractions that would be lost in fifteen second quips on the TV or radio.

The dire implications of this attachment to entertainment, I think, can be inferred fairly readily.

 

[Dotini]

I'm currently reading Moon Lander, by Thomas J Kelly. It's the inside story of the development of the Apollo lunar module by the guy responsible for designing and building it at Grumman on Long Island, NY.

 

[jesssmart]

Celine Roberts "No one wants you" . Involving book.

 

[WWGD]

The World Outside your Head, by Matt Crawford. Kind of involved, about setting a policy for allotting attention in todays (data-)noisy world.

 

[Enigman]

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
It is a story about a cathedral being built in the 12th century and the people and politics involved.
Highly engrossing.

 

[gleem]

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
It is a story about a cathedral being built in the 12th century and the people and politics involved.
Highly engrossing.

I think you will also be pleased with its sequel 'World Without End" .

 

[Enigman]

It is sitting on my desk waiting for its turn, but the size intimidates me.

 

[TheDemx27]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

 

[lisab]

The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson.

I'm finding it so disturbing. It's written well, that's not the issue. It's about living in North Korea, if you want to stretch the meaning of "living". I know it's just fiction but the depiction of life in North Korean is just really dark. I want to believe 100% fiction...but I don't think it is.

 

[thankz]

liquid gold by joseph castellano

the story of liquid crystal displays, $$$

 

[EverGreen1231]

Haven't long finished "Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove and a debut novel "a land more kind than home" by Wiley Cash.

Right now, I'm not reading much of anything accept IEEE papers.

 

[EverGreen1231]

The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson.

I'm finding it so disturbing. It's written well, that's not the issue. It's about living in North Korea, if you want to stretch the meaning of "living". I know it's just fiction but the depiction of life in North Korean is just really dark. I want to believe 100% fiction...but I don't think it is.

Nothing in fiction is 100% fiction. In fact, it imitates the real thing far more accurately than any would like to acknowledge...IMO

 

[Astronuc]

Had to wait for my car to get serviced, so I checked out the local B&N, found and started reading:

A Curious History of Mathematics, The Big Ideas from Primitive Numbers to Chaos Theory, Joel Levy, Metro Books, 2013
30-Second Math, Richard Brown, Metro Books, 2012
The Intriguing Story of the Elements, Jack Challoner, Metro Books, 2012

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Barnes & Noble, 2003
The Quartet, Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1788-1789, Joseph J. Ellis, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015

Success or Failure, Judging America's Presidents from Washington to Obama, Whitman Publishing, 2013

All interesting.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A Curious History of Mathematics, The Big Ideas from Primitive Numbers to Chaos Theory, Joel Levy, Metro Books, 2013

I like the title. I'll keep my eye open for it.