What book(s) are you currently reading?
- Thread starter john4psu
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Just finished this great book about a true genius.
So much more than a painter -- accomplished at sculpture, engineering, architecture, anatomy, geology, hydraulics, optics, botany, and other fields largely by observation and self-education.
I just received Chernow's Hamilton bio as a gift, so I will probably be tackling that soon. Thinking of The Longest Day as a beach read next month (it's in the cart, lol).
Just started a book.Bit of background in the mid 80s I had learned that I had been an adopted child. And began trying to locate some info on my biological parents. What I found was unexpected. My biological father was killed at Con Thien while fighting with 1/1 and tgat was the reason I was put up for adoption. Wanting to know more about Con Thien which I had never heard of i read many books about the battle. Which I still do to this day.
Yes, great book. Much of the focus of Dark Sun is on the Rosenberg spy ring and on the great Soviet physicist Kurchatov.
My dad’s a big reader and reads fun (Davenport novels) then does a serious book (Washington? right now) and of course daily theological heavy stuff. I just finished Under The Dome by SK, thought I’d try out Dads plan and read something heavy next.
So what do you smarties recommend?
So what do you smarties recommend?
Recently read the Great Gatsby and the Silence of the Lambs, would rate both 9/10.
I never bothered reading TGG in HS but it really is a masterpiece- it's the type of book where you can almost smell the dank long island beach air.
SOTL- I'm a huge fan of the movie so bearing that in mind it's a damn impressive book. The Hannibal character is a little less creepy than the movie but the Buffalo Bill character is even more creepy in the book.
Was reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis but couldn't get into more than a few chapters. I'll probably try to get back into Satanic Verses by Rushdie.
I never bothered reading TGG in HS but it really is a masterpiece- it's the type of book where you can almost smell the dank long island beach air.
SOTL- I'm a huge fan of the movie so bearing that in mind it's a damn impressive book. The Hannibal character is a little less creepy than the movie but the Buffalo Bill character is even more creepy in the book.
Was reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis but couldn't get into more than a few chapters. I'll probably try to get back into Satanic Verses by Rushdie.
Try Red Dragon in the Hannibal series, just don’t read it before going to bed.
Daniel Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year". Writing as an old man in 1721, Defoe describes how as a young man he survived the great London Plague of 1665 -67 (the plague that sent young Isaac Newton escaping from Cambridge to the countryside, where he sat under the legendary apple tree and invented calculus, the theory of gravitation, and other diversions. Defoe's book is a work of fiction, mixing mortality statistics with a horrific narrative of suffering and death. Defoe was about five years old in 1665, and it is suspected that he was paid to write a book to scare the inhabitants of London to take the plague seriously, whose horrors they had forgotten in the 55+ years since the last outbreak. It has many resonances with today, with enforced isolation, escape to the country, and many acts of cowardice and heroics.
https://ellethinks.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/14-a-journal-of-the-plague-year-by-daniel-defoe/
I am also mired in Volume 3 of Edward Gibbon's 7 volume unabridged "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" . He is nothing if not prolix. All his bawdy footnotes are in Latin. When he presented a volume to the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke replied, "Another damn'd thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?"
https://ellethinks.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/14-a-journal-of-the-plague-year-by-daniel-defoe/
I am also mired in Volume 3 of Edward Gibbon's 7 volume unabridged "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" . He is nothing if not prolix. All his bawdy footnotes are in Latin. When he presented a volume to the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke replied, "Another damn'd thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?"
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F.S.F. has long been a favorite of mine. Like you, I wasn't attracted to TGG in H.S., but after a couple years in the army and a bit more maturing, I read it with great appreciation in college. I have since reread it several times with at least a decade between readings, and each time derived additional perspective and appreciation. Hard to believe he wrote it at age 29. Along with his other notable works, sad to recall he passed at age 44.
I’ll be reading it one of these days.It's brilliant and a colossal pain in the ass all at the same time.
Someone in the other thread mentioned A Gentleman in Moscow. Entertaining, informative, twists, turns, fun read. Solid suggestion.
Currently reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Excellent.
If you're looking for an entertaining & informative read, I recommend The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. It's a history of Chinese food in America.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
by Jennifer 8 Lee
ISBN-13: 978-0446580076 (hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0446698979 (paperback)
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
by Jennifer 8 Lee
ISBN-13: 978-0446580076 (hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0446698979 (paperback)
It's been on my list forever. I appreciate the quality of writing and the depth of thought in it, but it's a challenge to read. Lots of character names and the story is non-linear. Chapters are labelled by the year in which they take place but the year names have all been sold to sponsors so numerical names have been replaced by things like "Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken" or "Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment."
I'm enjoying it and hating it all at the same time.
good to see you picked up a quick, easy-to-read book for the summer.
Tom, like you I have long been interested in history. At the age of 18 I started to read the 2 volume abridgment of Arnold Toynbee's A study of History, but I soon realized that I did not know nearly enough history to understand the complexity of his arguments. I therefore bought Durant's 10 (later expanded to 11) volume The Story of Civilization from the Book of the Month Club while a first year grad student. It took me many years to plow through those 11 bricks. When I finish Gibbon (if it does not finish me first), I will start on my newly acquired 10 volume unabridged set of Toynbee. I may well pass away with one of his volumes in my hand. Life is too short.
I’ll ask him. He’s Christian so mostly in that wheel house but he reads studies on Judaism, Far Eastern religions etc All sorts of stuff. I’m visiting Lancaster Wednesday and I’ll get a list. I think most on this board would trade me for my dad straight up. A true intellectual and giant hearted brother.
Here’s what’s by his chair today (he didn’t disappoint
)
and read then shelved:
And my sweet haul:
@Colorado Lion
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Last week I was on vacation and read Thomas Sowell's Discrimation and Disparities. I liked the book so much that I am now reading Sowell's The Vision of the Anointed. For reality checks, I read George Carlin.
Re-reading:
It’s both history and physics. The book is brilliantly constructed, with the physics carefully and lovingly explained. This is also a great book on relativity, and does a better job of explaining relativity than any other book I’ve read.
It’s both history and physics. The book is brilliantly constructed, with the physics carefully and lovingly explained. This is also a great book on relativity, and does a better job of explaining relativity than any other book I’ve read.
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I would recommend listening to some of the Alan Watts recordings that are on youtube... he was from the Catholic tradition but gives great insights on Eastern philosophies and religious thought- Buddhism in particular.
