What Books Are You Currently Reading?

[Curious3141]

Interestingly, Sherlock Holmes believed in Charles Darwin:



http://www.trussel.com/detfic/friedlit.htm

It was "A Study in Scarlet", actually. I should know - I've read every single word about Holmes.

Anyway, Doyle had his faults - he was a rather gullible spiritualist, and fell hook, line and sinker for that whole affair with the Cottingley Fairies. But a great novelist, nonetheless.

 

[Monique]

The last intellectually stimulating thing I read that wasn't a textbook, exam, or homework assignment was probably the lyrics to Britney Spears, I Wanna Go. It's not a very long read so I'll just post it here:



At this point, I might as well just point the music video:

T-sxSd1uwoU[/youtube][/QUOTE] Wow.. I can't believe I watched that.

 

[ThinkToday]

Current fiction: A Song of Fire and Ice series. I watched the Game of Thrones for the first time a month or so ago and have devoured my way through most of the books. If you like tales of swords, kings and kingdoms with a dash of fantasy then you might like to try it.

Same series, but just getting started. Doc I work with is a big fan of the first 3 books, not so much of the later books.

 

[Pythagorean]

Wow.. I can't believe I watched that.

Yeah, me either. This might help justify it somehow:

http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

 

[Mépris]

The first three are good, the rest a waste of paper.

While I chose not to re-read Caligula in the end and choosing to go over some extracts instead, I have not yet started reading the Wheel of Time. Why would you say the rest is a waste of paper? The person who suggested I read the series seems to think that the first three serve merely as an introduction to the whole series and the interesting stuff starts to happen after the 3rd book!

The last intellectually stimulating thing I read that wasn't a textbook, exam, or homework assignment was probably the lyrics to Britney Spears, I Wanna Go. It's not a very long read so I'll just post it here

A good riposte to such abominations is the 11th episode of the 3rd Community season. Here is an extract.

 

[Jimmy]

I'm not reading it now but if you like fantasy, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is excellent. It's part of a trilogy with the third book slated to be released next May.

http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/books.asp

 

[cobalt124]

Non-fiction: reading about Wittgenstein on the internet, with a view to reading a biography and possibly even attempting something he wrote!
Fiction: another Sherlock Holmes fan. I'm working through his novels having read the "shorts" to death. Just started A Study in Scarlet.

 

[MrsNemisis]

Fiction: A Game of Thrones, which seems to be really popular right now.
Non-Fiction: Hyperspace by Michio Kaku, which is really entertaining. I love all the pictures and diagrams; they do a great job at providing a visual representation of some of the more difficult to grasp (through words alone, at least) concepts.

 

[phylotree]

Isolation by Travis Thrasher
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446505544/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[dydxforsn]

Fiction: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle.
Nonfiction: On the Origin of Species by Darwin.

Very nice choices.

There are those who would put both of those works into one category or the other.

Both of those groups of people are delusional, but I wonder which is the more.

lol

Fiction: another Sherlock Holmes fan. I'm working through his novels having read the "shorts" to death. Just started A Study in Scarlet.

The novels are amazing, I honestly think I like them more than the shorts, so you're in for a treat. The Valley of Fear and The Sign of Four are probably the least talked about longer stories, but both are completely amazing.




Currently I have just finished reading Feynman's Rainbow by Leonard Mlodinow. Anything for a mere further glimpse at Feynman.. :)

 

[Astronuc]

I just received a recommendation for Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe by Silvan S. Schweber, June 2012.

I like to read biographies, autobiographies, textbooks and journal articles by (or about) physicists and mathematicians.

 

[turbo]

I have a bit of an issue visiting libraries or bookstores, especially when I end up wanting books or journals that have been handled by people with colognes or perfumes all over their hands.

Pretty much restricted to on-line stuff now. I try to keep current with ArXiv and free journals when I can. It would be nice if people could pay a yearly fee for access to copyrighted materials and download them for reading without getting nickel-and-dimed for every single book without actually taking possession of a physical book.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I can't be specific, but I've been reading all about swaging.

The significance of swaging in the industrial and commercial/municipal sectors goes mostly unrecognized until one learns a bit about it. Suddenly swaged products appear all around you! Next, one is asking oneself how in the world they swaged that! Then, how in the heck did they hold it?? An entire universe within the industrial world suddenly comes into view.

 

[cobalt124]

The novels are amazing, I honestly think I like them more than the shorts, so you're in for a treat. The Valley of Fear and The Sign of Four are probably the least talked about longer stories, but both are completely amazing.

It's the second time round for me, though I can only remember The Valley of Fear.

 

[arildno]

Right now, I'm reading Roger Collins' "The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797".

 

[Infinitum]

Just finished Game of thrones, and hey, its awesome.

Have to stop being lazy now and go to library for book 2

 

[zoobyshoe]

Just finished "Diamond Dust". Very good British detective fiction by Peter Lovesey. Really entertaining plot twists.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and other members of a Boston literary club are trying to solve the murders of prominent Bostonians, murders based on punishments from Dante's Inferno.

 

[Infinitum]

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and other members of a Boston literary club are trying to solve the murders of prominent Bostonians, murders based on punishments from Dante's Inferno.

Zooby is literally a well read person! I started 'The First Three Minutes' by Steven Weinberg, and SOIF 2.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Blasphemy, a novel by Douglas Preston.

Murder and mystery plague a 40 billion dollar supercollider tucked underground a New Mexico Indian Rez while a TV Evangelist rallies fundamentalist outrage against this government sponsored effort to explore the Big Bang. Very entertaining!

 

[Ryan_m_b]

A few recent additions;

Read/re-read:
Brave New World
Siddhartha (good story about the life of a brahmin searching for enlightenment)
The first two books in the hunger games trilogy

Ongoing:
2312 (typically KSR, lots of worldbuilding but weak story)
The Handmaidens Tale (worrying warning regarding fundamentalism in the US)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Just finished Tyranosaur Canyon also by Douglas Preston. Murder and intrigue in the desert Southwest as corrupt forces converge to snatch a remarkable treasure uncovered by a lone prospector. Very entertaining!

Just started Best American Mystery Stories of 1997. Have read 3 so far and they're all top notch. (Strangely, though, none are mysteries. They're essentially murder/revenge stories, and there's never a mystery to solve. So, I don't get the title, but it's worth reading.)

 

[dydxforsn]

I just received a recommendation for Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe by Silvan S. Schweber, June 2012.

I like to read biographies, autobiographies, textbooks and journal articles by (or about) physicists and mathematicians.

I just bought this and started reading it and I'm pretty impressed! It seems very well researched, but what I feel is equally impressive to the sheer amount of unique biographical information in this book is the lack of aversion to actual physics! I love that there's actual physics in the book. More "popular books" should be like this!

 

[zoobyshoe]

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat, by Eric Lax.

Really awesome subject, the development of penicillin into a viable form by a British team, rendered into a real yawner by boring writing. I'm not sure I'm going to finish it.

 

[k!rl]

Gödel, Escher, Bach (GEB), the quote on the cover describes it best: A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Caroll. It's an oldie but quite relevant and totally awesome!

The last fiction book is worth mentioning too: House of Leaves. A thriller of sorts written in a wildy creative style about a house who's dimensions appear bigger inside then it is on the outside. Another very cool and creative, inspirational book.

Good thread! =)

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I'm halfway through so you can ask me anything about mice.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

Zooby, I think you would love An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.

It's essentially a story that takes in England in the 1600s, and uses Francis Bacon's Novum Organum loosely as it changes between four narrators each recounting their experience of the same murder, all of whom are lead to different conclusions as to who the murderer is.

It's an extremely well researched book (the author is an historian who has extensively researched English history) and it's amazing because you're completely enveloped in the atmosphere of 17th century England. Nearly all of the characters are real, with frequent ocurrences of Robert Boyle, John Locke, Richard Lower, etc, and the few characters who aren't real are based off of the stories of real people as well.

Now, I'll warn you that it does slightly include religion as part of the story, but here is why: Iain Pears was attempting to juxtapose the medieval thinking and learning that was still prevelant in the 1600s to the new scientific way of thinking that was emerging in the time period. So, while some narrators will enexplicably seem very religious, it's not because the author is trying to push religion, but merely compare it with science.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I'm currently reading through:

The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo, which examines what turns good people evil, and the social phenomona and group dynamics that heavily contribute to evil moral standards.

I also have about 15 other books on standby, because I'm abusing my new Kindle Fire, and the ability to get any book pre-1900 for free. Those include Voltaire's Candide, several of Friedrich Nietzche's writings, The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, and some others that I don't remember.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Zooby, I think you would love An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.

Sounds like something I'd enjoy. Thanks!

 

[OmCheeto]

Current non-fiction: Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital by John Restakis. A really interesting read about the history and modern progression of the co-operative movement and how new practices with new technologies are allowing co-operatives world wide to out-compete corporates in areas they previously could not hope to.

Hmm... That looks interesting. The last book I read was Jim Clifton's "The Coming Jobs War", which I thoroughly enjoyed. It might be fun to read them side by side. Restakis sounds like a lefty, and Clifton is definitely right.

Current fiction: Joseph Heller's "Something Happened".

Please don't ask me anything about the book. I've had it since February and have not gotten past the intro. All I can recall is "sex, sex, sex." Not that I have anything against sex, mind you. I've just been too busy to read.