What's Your Current Book, and What's Next on Your Reading List?

[JasonRox]

So, what are you currently reading?

Is it good? Bad?

I'm currently reading "God in the Equation" by Powell.

It's alright I guess. I haven't read a Physics/Cosmology book in a long time so it's ok. I would read two of them in a row.

Since I'm almost done I'll be looking for another book to read soon. I have no idea what I plan on reading next. It might just be another Asimov book. Who knows.

 

[0TheSwerve0]

I'm reading Quincunx right now, and it's piqued my curiosity so far. I like the writing style and the characters, but I still don't know what the book is about or how to situate my perspective just yet. It's jumped from one scene to what I think is a flashback. I actually picked it up from the Harvard Coop last summer because I liked the cover. Turns out it's a national best seller, and even the cashier commented that it was great. Hopefully it'll turn out so!

btw, if you're looking for a neat book that has a science/philosophy taste, check out Peter Pesic's Seeing Double. It's a short, but thorough examination into the nature of identity, "the separateness and connection of individuals," that draws on quantum theory, philosophy, and literature.

 

[Cyrus]

I read my textbooks, becuase that's all I have time to read.

 

[JamesU]

I just finished reading Angels and Demons, it was pretty good...though not as accurate as it claims to be

 

[QuantumDefect]

Im currently reading a jumble of books. I am almost done with Lanau's Mechanics text, still have awhile on Bohm's Quantum Theory and a Geometric Algebra text I've been slowly working through. However, I don't have much time for outside reading with my studies.

 

[sebas531]

I've been reading Men of Mathematics, which I really like. For school I've been reading Frankenstein. I am sure everyone or at least most people have read that. And I have read just a little bit of Journey Through Genius, but I am just going to wait to finish Men of Mathematics or Frank. before devoting my time to reading Joureny Through Genius (and ofcourse school.)

 

[neutrino]

Rindler's Intro to SR. On the fiction side, I'm reading https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140185437/?tag=pfamazon01-20 by R.K.Narayan.

 

[siddharth]

I just finished The Bromeliad series by Terry Pratchett. Like all of his other books, it was very good.

As for textbooks, it's currently Elementary Principles of Chemical Processess

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Just a few pages into ayn rand's atlas shrugged

 

[JamesU]

just a thousand pages to go...

 

[Mk]

I'm reading Dune, its good!

 

[loseyourname]

Beauvoir. Second Sex.

 

[Bladibla]

Godel, Escher Bach.

 

[0TheSwerve0]

I've still got to finish that one. Funny, I was able to use it for a paper, but I haven't finished it yet, even the sections I pulled quotations from.

 

[brewnog]

Currently reading two things:

Iain Banks - The Business
Rather entertaining so far, I read quite a few of his other books at uni and just got lent this. I don't know if I'm expecting a major twist at the end like with The Wasp Factory or A Song of Stone, but it's keeping me entertained thus far.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - The River Cottage Yearbook
I love this dude. Although it's sold as a cookery book, there are probably only 50 recipes out of 400 pages, and many of these are a bit too gruesome for me to even dare try and eat, let alone cook. But there are huge sections on how to select and grow your own vegetables, and how to select and rear your own livestock. And then how to butcher it, and prepare it for eating. Also quite a good bit about eating from the wild, - not in a Ray Mears kind of way, but in a forraging-for-mushrooms and hunting rabbits kind of way. Definitely one for people like Wolram to have a look at, I think.

 

[selfAdjoint]

The latest Flint & Drake Belisarius novel, The Dance of Time, a wonderful sf series IMHO, and Hausman & McPherson's Economic Analysis, Moral Philosophy, and Public Policy, which I saw recommended online. It's good, and clear on the way philosophers reason about real things.

 

[Geographer]

I'm nearly finished Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress'. Really good read! And then I've got one of his other books, Deception Point, to read.

And I also have a few geography textbooks that I enjoy reading every now and then.

 

[JamesU]

Just picked up The Da Vinci Code...101 pages into it

 

[JasonRox]

So did Dan Brown really copy?

 

[moose]

I'm nearly finished Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress'. Really good read! And then I've got one of his other books, Deception Point, to read.

And I also have a few geography textbooks that I enjoy reading every now and then.

I read that book in one sitting on the way back from poland on the plane

It was interesting enough for me to not put it down for ten hours (except to eat something and to use the restroom). However, it had a few dull moments spanning over a few pages.

 

[heartless]

I'm currently reading Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein and also Prime Obsession, both seem to be great.

Just picked up The Da Vinci Code...101 pages into it

What are your view about it? Tell me something

Thanks,

 

[selfAdjoint]

I read all the Dan Brown books a year or so ago. They are all adventure stories, well done as such, with "controversial" subplots. Digital Fortress is about the NSA, Angels and Demons is the Vatican versus the scientists at CERN, and of course Da Vinci Code is about the records of the secret history of Jesus. I don't think Brown copied the secret history stuff, it was in the open literature; it's a crank theory.

 

[JamesU]

Halfway into the book, I obviously have nothing bettter to do...

What are your view about it? Tell me something

Thanks,

could you clarify what you mean?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

The Siddhartha: Herman Hess
The Last Guardian: David Gemmel
Cold Heart Canyon: Clive Barker
Talon of the Silver Hand: Raymond E feist
Ethics: A Guide to Modern Pluralism

As you can tell too many books to read and not enough time.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Just finished Moving Mars by Greg Bear.
Mars is colonized and has a government separate from Earth. Mars has a sort of syndicalist type of government and Earth is pushing hard for Mars to submit to federal control from Earth. Since Mars has a rather small population and relatively low level technology compared to Earth no one is quite sure why Earth is so adamant about bring Mars into the fold.
Bear focuses mostly on the politics which he does rather well but he also brings in some rather speculative advancements in quantum physics as well. For anyone who is a fan of Greg Bear he also invokes at least two of his older stories. The AI named Jill from Queen of Angels makes a cameo and his short story about a Lunar Ice Pit Station where a physicist experiments with absolute zero is used as a bit of history which the aforementioned speculative advancements are based on.

 

[Evo]

So, what are you currently reading?

"We start with a superior blend of coffee beans to create an intensely rich roast for a gourmet taste". Reading the back of a jar of coffee.

 

[Moonbear]

"We start with a superior blend of coffee beans to create an intensely rich roast for a gourmet taste". Reading the back of a jar of coffee.

I do that too...or the cereal box, or the milk carton (I'm sure that's why they put the missing kids on milk cartons; there's a lot of closeted milk carton readers).

I enjoy the Dan Brown novels too. They're certainly not great literature or anything, but they make a nice light read when you don't have a lot of time for pleasure reading. They're kind of fun too, as long as you don't take it too seriously. I also agree that it's not copied...most of the stuff he used in his plot lines was nothing really new...that's actually what makes the stories good, because you've heard those conspiracy theories enough times before that it lends a feeling of plausibility simply because you have heard it somewhere before, even if you know it's wrong.

I picked the Chronicles of Narnia back up again (the full series). I had started reading a bit of it at Disney and had planned to finish it there, but Zz kept me too busy to do much reading. After I got back, I had too many other things to do to keep reading. But, lately, I've been finding time to read a chapter or two each night while sipping my bedtime cup of tea. It shouldn't take so long to read children's books, but I just don't have a lot of free time for it, and it's actually quite fun to read at bedtime (I always did like bedtime stories).

 

[JasonRox]

I enjoy the Dan Brown novels too. They're certainly not great literature or anything, but they make a nice light read when you don't have a lot of time for pleasure reading. They're kind of fun too, as long as you don't take it too seriously. I also agree that it's not copied...most of the stuff he used in his plot lines was nothing really new...that's actually what makes the stories good, because you've heard those conspiracy theories enough times before that it lends a feeling of plausibility simply because you have heard it somewhere before, even if you know it's wrong.

It's not that you heard of it somewhere or the conspiracies.

Apparently, the plot and everything is completely identical to the book from the 1980's called The Holy Grail.

I'll probably read both books to make a better judgement.

 

[Moonbear]

IApparently, the plot and everything is completely identical to the book from the 1980's called The Holy Grail.

The courts found in Dan Brown's favor, that it wasn't a copy of the earlier book.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Apparently, the plot and everything is completely identical to the book from the 1980's called The Holy Grail.

That was Holy Blood, Holy Grail which was a "non-fiction" book. The estate of Trevor Ravenscroft who wrote The Spear of Destiny did the same thing when someone used ideas from his "non-fiction" book in a piece of fiction. The estate won that case. Personally I don't think that such cases should be taken seriously unless major excerpt are more or less rewordings of the orginal. They say that they have written accounts of real historical events and then get angry when someone uses their 'material' in a fiction setting. Dan Brown's book brought so much attention back to their book that they really ought to be thanking him rather than suing.

 

[JasonRox]

The courts found in Dan Brown's favor, that it wasn't a copy of the earlier book.

Was the court in California where celebrities don't lose?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Was the court in California where celebrities don't lose?

It was in London where they don't have the same scewed notions of what a copy right is as they do here.

 

[neutrino]

I'm nearly finished Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress'. Really good read! And then I've got one of his other books, Deception Point, to read.

I don't mean to be rude, but that[Digital Fortress] was the silliest of the four. Of course, I'm thankful to Dan Brown for making me read fiction again and increasing my reading speed. Decpetion Point was, IMHO, better.

 

[Mk]

I didn't read Digital Fortress, but I read his other 3. Deception Point wasn't very good. It was very exiting at times, but very dry in between.

Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code were good, yeah.

 

[Gale]

i just finished angels and demons last weekend. well, i also started it last weekend. i never take more than a day or two to finish the book... if i do, i usually don't finish it. i read straight through.

i also read the da vinci code. i thought both books were pretty well written. just good adventures. i think i liked angels and demons better than the da vinci code personally. I'm going to head over to the library now actually. i have studying to do, plus its a long weekend, so I'm going to get a few novels to read. i miss reading. mm.

 

[franznietzsche]

Dostoevsky, Kafka, Camus, and Nietzsche all the way. I have my own library from which other people borrow books.

 

[0TheSwerve0]

I've put down Quincunx for now and picked up Dean Koontz's Watchers. Sooooooo scary! I started it last night and am half way through it now. I even missed my first class because I stayed up so late reading it. Great book, easy to read, and a suspenseful page-turner.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Now reading Greg Bear's Eon. Only a few chapters in.
An asteroid suddenly apears in the solar system and takes up orbit around Earth. Tensions are up between the US and the Soviets since the Cold War became a bit warmer after a nuclear attack that somehow did not turn into WWIII. The way that the Stone apeared in the solar system and neatly placed itself in orbit immediately set theories of aliens into circulation and both the US and the Soviets wanted to be the first to reach it. The US did in fact get there first and were startled at just what it was they found. Not only was the asteroid hollowed out and being used as a sort of spaceship but there were vast cities inside this asteroid aswell. Upon inspection of these cities it is very obvious that they were at one time inhabited by humans but all signs of life in the Stone seem to have disapeared over five hundred years ago.
The tensions between the US and the Soviets have taken a different turn. The Soviets still want the Stone and just might try to take it.

It's rather interesting and I'm still leaving bits out but it won't spoil the story really since I have already read all of this in just the first few chapters. Note also that this was originally published in the 80s, hence the conflict between the US and the Soviets.

 

[JamesU]

us finished the Da Vinci Code...very good. Angels and Demons was much better though

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I just spent too much money buying books on Amazon and there are still more that I want but they're REALLY expensive.

I ordered The Dancing Gods One, The Dancing Gods Two, and Horror of the Dancing Gods by Jack Chalker.
Each of the first two are two books in one reprinted. I heard about these a long time ago and forgot the name but fortunately Bystander knew which books I was referring to and told me the title of the series.
They're about two people from our reality that are sweep into another fantasy reality which is very much a spoof on the fantasy genre in general. The creation of our world had the effect of a 'counter world' being created that wasn't exactly finished and god had apparently left for his angels to complete. The world being incomplete there were loopholes in the natural laws which certain people figured out how to exploit and whom were called 'wizards' and 'sorcerors'. Apparently the chaos led a committee to form and try to close the loopholes with a bureaucracy of new laws which turn out to be rather absurd.

I also ordered The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers. I had previously posted about this book in another thread but I had confused it's title with another.
The main character in this book accidentally places the wedding ring he had bought for his wife to be on a statue and forgets about it there. Later he returns for the ring and finds the statue is not there so he buys a new ring and gets married. Soon after the marriage the wife is murdered by someone unknown. The man finds himself being stalked and pursued by the Lamia (Vampire, succubus, ect ect). In attampting to figure out what to do he learns that Lord Byron and Shelly both had similar experiences and seeks out Byron for help.

I absolutely love Tim Powers books. He is probably one of the very best authors I have ever read. His are the books that I want to get my hands on which are much too expensive. There are several of his older works which are only available in special limited prints which cost at least $40 some starting at $100. I just don't have the money to be buying collectors editions of books. Especially when I just want them so I can read them.

Other Authors I looked into were James Blaylock who is a good friend of Tim Powers and Robert Shea who co-wrote the Illuminatus Trilogy wiuth Robert Anton Wilson. I've never read anything by Blaylock. I have read two books by Shea called The Saracen which were quite good. He seems to have a knack for books set in true historical settings and events. The only others I found were a set called Shike set in fuedal Japan. They're quite old and long out of print though so a bit pricey. Shea never became as popular as Wilson did.

By the way Swerve Tim Powers and James Blaylock were friends of Dean Koontz. They were all a part of circle that included Philip K Dick aswell.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

us finished the Da Vinci Code...very good. Angels and Demons was much better though

Hmmm... Maybe I won't read that then. I read Angels and Demons but didn't care for it much.

 

[JamesU]

I picked up digital fortress, since my teacher wants me to read all the time...

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I picked up digital fortress, since my teacher wants me to read all the time...

You should read Tim Powers. Try out Anubis Gates first. If you like that then move on to Last Call then Expiration Date and then Earthquake Weather. It's almost a trilogy but doesn't really say on the covers so if you do read them that would be the proper order. I accidentally didn't read them in order.

 

[Azael]

just finished Space by Stephen Baxter and next I am going to read Absolution Gap by Alistair Reynolds

 

[Hootenanny]

us finished the Da Vinci Code...very good. Angels and Demons was much better though

I think that Angel's and demon's was the better book. The final 'twist' in angel's and demons was more concealed, I thought than the da Vinci code. Still can't wait till the da Vinci code film comes out though

I'm currently reading Chadwick's biography.

 

[JamesU]

I think that Angel's and demon's was the better book. The final 'twist' in angel's and demons was more concealed, I thought than the da Vinci code. Still can't wait till the da Vinci code film comes out though

I'm currently reading Chadwick's biography.

which twist? There were like 10

 

[Hootenanny]

which twist? There were like 10

Severe spoilers posted in white;

Well, in the Da Vinci code, as soon as we met the prof (Teabing is it?) I have a feeling that he was the mastermind behind the murderous monk and that he wanted the Holy Grail and I'd read before the theory that the holy grail was actually Magdelene.

In angels and demons I actually had no idea who was behind the illuminati and that Moriati was actually a deranged psycopath trying to save the catholic church

 

[heartless]

I'm currently deciphering and studying works of Arthur Schopenhauser. Doing Counsels and Maxims now.

 

[JamesU]

I read Digital Fortress---stupid
I read Les Misérables(abridged) for school---Good

now...nothing

 

[heartless]

oh Yomamma... stupid tv shows, stupid books, stupid Pengwuino, what else? :)