What Books Are You Currently Reading?

[WWGD]

The Revenge of Geography, by Robert Kaplan. Kaplan counters ( or at least tries-to; pretty effectively I thought) Thomas Friedman's claims that the world is flat -- Geography does matter. Kaplan argues that geography contributes to shape cultures ( he is careful to use 'shape' instead of 'determine' ); e.g., the U.S has been able to develop a model of its own, having the advantage of being separated from potential enemies by two major oceans. Contrary to the case of the U.S, many European countries cultures and views were shaped by not having defenses from enemies. The geography of the U.S is also enviable in many other ways, having major navigable rivers, temperate climate, good-quality harbors and sea- and lake- ports; on the flip side, Africa has major deserts that make travel difficult, and a horrible climate.
Another example: cultures or people living in mountainous areas tend to be more independent and assimilate less, since it is harder for outsiders to travel to these areas and interact with the natives.

There was a nice presentation of this in C-Span's Book TV.

 

[Integral]

I am currently reading the memoirs of U.S. Grant. I was pleasantly surprised to find them a good read. He provides pretty good order of battles with some copies of orders he wrote. Recommended for anyone interested in the US Civil War.

 

[dkotschessaa]

The Divine Comedy (The Inferno to be exact) by Dante Alighieri.

I had a (great) challenge reading that years ago, back when I had more time to self-educate. I had gotten a version of the Comedy (all three books) that had no footnotes whatsoever. So I had to do all my own research to see what all was being referenced. I plan to revisit it again someday. There are people who spend years researching that book.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Taking a break from Dumas "The Three Musketeers" to read Enders game before I go see the movie. I was expecting something a lot more mind blowing, based on many years of hype. But it's a good read and good distraction right now.

 

[Julio R]

I had a (great) challenge reading that years ago, back when I had more time to self-educate. I had gotten a version of the Comedy (all three books) that had no footnotes whatsoever. So I had to do all my own research to see what all was being referenced. I plan to revisit it again someday. There are people who spend years researching that book.

Footnotes and endnotes for me please. It just saved a lot of time.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Footnotes and endnotes for me please. It just saved a lot of time.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend what I did to anyone, unless they are really committed. I just took it more like a project.

 

[zoobyshoe]

11/22/63 by Stephen King.

It's conceivable people here might be put off by the fact King makes no attempt whatever to plausibly explain the existence of a time portal between 2011 and 1958, it's just there, in the back store room of a diner in Maine, but if you can get beyond that you might enjoy this book. I was continually impressed by his depiction of daily life in the late 50's/early 60's. The plot was good, but what really carries the book is the protagonist's ongoing discovery of what life was like 50 years ago. He finds he fits into that time well, participates as if he belongs there, and is almost sucked into becoming diverted from his reason for going back: to stop the assassination of JFK on 11/22/63.

 

[danago]

I've just started reading Daniel Yergin's The Prize. I'm not far into it, but am so far enjoying it a lot.

 

[Enigman]

Another reason to learn japanese:
http://www.ams.org/notices/201207/rtx120700956p.pdf
(I need to get the translation...)

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

11/22/63 by Stephen King.

It's conceivable people here might be put off by the fact King makes no attempt whatever to plausibly explain the existence of a time portal between 2011 and 1958, it's just there, in the back store room of a diner in Maine, but if you can get beyond that you might enjoy this book. I was continually impressed by his depiction of daily life in the late 50's/early 60's. The plot was good, but what really carries the book is the protagonist's ongoing discovery of what life was like 50 years ago. He finds he fits into that time well, participates as if he belongs there, and is almost sucked into becoming diverted from his reason for going back: to stop the assassination of JFK on 11/22/63.

I started his Dark Tower series, and similarly am enjoying it. His own description of the series is a combination of Lord of the Rings and the wild-west. His writing is also incredibly quick and easy to read, which is enjoyable; I almost forgot that there was once a time where I could read a 200-paged book in a day, and King renewed that experience for me.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I started his Dark Tower series, and similarly am enjoying it. His own description of the series is a combination of Lord of the Rings and the wild-west. His writing is also incredibly quick and easy to read, which is enjoyable; I almost forgot that there was once a time where I could read a 200-paged book in a day, and King renewed that experience for me.

11/22/63 was over 800 pages, and, yes, it took me about 4 days.

Now I am reading a very interesting novel called 12.21., a title which is also a calendar date. The lead character is a doctor trying to contain an ominous disease outbreak, back in the year 2012. The author, Dustin Thomason, does a wonderful job of re-creating every day life back in those days. (It's as if he went back in time and lived it himself.) Apparently some of the primitives back then were laboring under the delusion the world was to end on December 21st of that year, and it's looking like the outbreak will be seen as the agent of that ending. Can't tell for sure, I'm only a quarter of the way into it. Very readable writing, anyway.

 

[member 392791]

Steve-O: Professional Idiot, a Memoir

 

[djh101]

Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard. Also learning a bit about abstract algebra while on break with McWeeny, Tinkham, and Pinter.

 

[Enigman]

The Name of The Rose
- Umberto Eco
Watson once said that if Holmes was born a few centuries back he would be burnt at stake for witchcraft. Eco's convincing me that he would rather be the inquisitor. The Baskerville reference doesn't do much to hide the inspiration behind the protagonist. Hate the narrator, though.
As of now, it shows promise.
Ed- just googled the protagonist to see if my suspicions were correct, they were- William of Baskerville is indeed a reference to Holmes and the first name apparently is a reference to William of Ockham of Occam's razor fame. And add the fact that the story's going to come with minimal historical distortion which I so despise because Eco's a historian (semiotician).

 

[lendav_rott]

Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" ..the movie left too many questions, thought it good to consult the book :P

 

[jim hardy]

"Answer to Job" by Carl Jung


Jung suggests that God suffered a mid-life crisis over His (mis)treatment of Job and sent Christ as atonement.
His description of God is reminiscent of Susan Forward's "toxic parent", a half century before she made that phrase part of pop-psychology jargon.

The book is unsettling in that it reminds me of my imperfect parenting.
Makes one think of Mark Twain's "Mysterious Stranger". And it's causing strange dreams.

Almost finished, ten pages to go.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Final Theory by Mark Alpert. Elderly physicists are being interrogated and murdered. It turns out they were all students of Einstein at Princeton in his last year. What deadly secret did Albert impart to them before he died, a secret now sought by power hungry terrorists?

Not good enough to recommend. Not quite bad enough to stop reading.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

History of Rome by Michael Grant. That Rome was capable of coupling brutality and complacent subservience has always intrigued me, as well as the obviously rich mythology and culture.

 

[jmeps]

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. It slipped by me many years ago so I thought I would give a look..not a bad read.

 

[Jilang]

Time enough for love by Robert Heinlein (6th or 7th time probably!)

 

[George Jones]

Time enough for love by Robert Heinlein (6th or 7th time probably!)

If you keep repeated reading it, you won't have time enough for love.

 

[lisab]

If you keep repeated reading it, you won't have time enough for love.

:thumbs:

 

[George Jones]

I Just started The Silkworm, the second book (loved the first!) by Robert Galbraith. With my wife and daughter thousands of kilometres away at the in-laws', I have some quite time to read.

 

[ModusPwnd]

I finished Stranger in a Strange Land last week. I am now alternating between The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Wilkinson, Toby A. H. and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson.

 

[lendav_rott]

Been years since I read the A.C Doyle's Canon - round 2 coming up.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Reading Daniel Dennett's "Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking." I'm reading it in very small bites between other stuff.

Also in the middle of "One Renegade Cell: The Quest for the Origins of Cancer."

That's of course in between reading the current issue of Analog.

And I'm still in the midst of the Three Musketeers Somewhere.

Depends on my mood when I settle into read...

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

11/22/63 was over 800 pages, and, yes, it took me about 4 days.
...

Reading the 5th installment of King's Dark Tower series, I thought you would appreciate this:

​

"Whatever it is, I felt it calling me back to the cave . . . and further. Whispering that I should resume my wanderings, and make them endless. I knew I could open the door by opening the box. The door would take me anywhere I wanted to go. And anywhen! All I had to do was concentrate." Callahan considered, then sat down again. He leaned forward, looking at them in turn over the gnarled carving of his clasped hands. "Hear me, I beg. We had a President, Kennedy was his name. He was assassinated some thirteen years before my time in 'Salem's Lot . . . assassinated in the West--"

​

"Yes," Susannah said. "Jack Kennedy. God love him." She turned to Roland. "He was a gunslinger."

​

Roland's eyebrows rose. "Do you say so?"

​

"Aye. And I say true."

​

"In any case," Callahan said, "there's always been a question as to whether the man who killed him acted alone, or whether he was part of a larger conspiracy. And sometimes I'd wake in the middle of the night and think, 'Why don't you go and see? Why don't you stand in front of that door with the box in your arms and think, "Dallas, November 22nd, 1963"? Because if you do that the door will open and you can go there, just like the man in Mr. Wells's story of the time machine. And perhaps you could change what happened that day.'"

As per an important element in the Dark Tower series, King has access to each and every possible universe and epoch to have ever occurred. He often uses this to allude to other books he has written (notice the 'Salem's Lot). However, 11/22/63 was written many years after The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of Calla. Maybe King's minor "what-if" in this book evolved into a book of its own.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. It slipped by me many years ago so I thought I would give a look..not a bad read.

I liked Fargo the miniseries' take on The Jungle Book.

"You know what wolves do?" Malvo asks. "They hunt. They kill. That’s why I never bought into 'The Jungle Book.' A kid's raised by wolves, he becomes friends with a bear and a panther. I don't think so."

I highly recommend the show.

 

[BobG]

"A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra.

This might be the best book I've ever read. The main setting is a practically abandoned hospital in Chechnya during one of their civil wars. This is a classic that would fit right alongside "A Tale of Two Cities", except in a more modern setting that people today could better relate to.

A little more fun read is "Dear Committee Members" by Julie Schumacher.

It's a sarcastic series of letters of recommendation by a middle-aged English professor. It's so sad when an English professor writes a letter of recommendation for one of his graduating students... to a paintball emporium. English majors obviously have a hard life. And never, never, never ask an ex for a letter of recommendation. I kept wishing the book would include at least a reply or two to the letters. It's a really funny book.

Her husband, upon reading the first draft, gave it the highest recommendation possible: "I'm glad we have different last names." (Maybe you shouldn't ask current spouses for recommendations, either.)

And if you like childrens' books, you have to read "The Taking Tree". It's kind of like "The Giving Tree", but a different tree, a different kid, and a very different book.

 

[jim hardy]

"Tales of Terror" , a 1943 collection of scary short stories selected and introduced by Boris Karloff.

First two, by A M Burrage and Helen R Hull, were psycho-mini-dramas worthy of Twilight Zone. Well written. No wonder this little collection is still popular.

I needed a break from the Oldsmobile shop manual - trying to figure put how to add a fuel pressure gauge to the dashboard .

old jim

 

[Astronuc]

I just finished "Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation" by Cokie Roberts. Not only does it provide a much ignored part of US history, it also gives some interesting insights to folks like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, James Monroe, and many others.

I just started reading "Jesus Interrupted" by Bart D. Ehrman, and two books:

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, edited by Marvin Meyer and
A New New Testament edited by Hal Taussing.

The Nag Hammadi codices are written in Coptic and some (or most if not all) likely translated from Greek. The were written in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, and represent some of the earliest Christian writings, even preceding many books in the New Testament. Very interesting history surrounding these documents.