(cross posted from daily Kos, where this diary is a Friday morning feature)
Rereading
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. This 1,000 page book is the FIRST volume of three. And I’m reading it AGAIN. SO, I must like it, right? Newton, Leibniz, vagabonds, sex, history, politics, more sex, science…….great stuff.
If you haven’t read Stephenson before, I recommend starting with Cryptonomicon which actually takes place much later, but is a good introduction.
More Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality edited by Glenn Ellenbogen. Readings from the Journal of Polymorphous Perversity. A spoof of psychology journals. If you have ever had to read scholarly psychology articles, you should find this hilarious. Even if you haven’t, you might.
Just started
Forecasting presidential elections by Steven Rosenstone. Although it’s 25 years old, it comes highly recommended by Andrew Gelman, who runs Statistical modeling, causal modeling, and social science, one of my favorite blogs. If Andrew likes it, it’s going to be good.
In the middle of
A world without time: The forgotten legacy of Godel and Einstein by Palle Yourgrau. I love this sort of book, and Yourgrau explains things well, although his writing is odd….not unclear, but sort of….I dunno what the word is. He writes like an incredibly learned 8 year old….that isn’t right, that’s insulting. Each sentence is fine, but the paragraphs are oddly joined…..I still recommend it.
the last man who knew everything by Andrew Robinson. All about Thomas Young, who was a physician, a physicist, and a philologist (and that’s just the ph s!). Young proved that light had to be a wave, he deciphered hieroglyphics, he ran a medical practice, and formulated the 3 color theory of color perception. He was also an expert engineer, and contributed about a dozen articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
(I was reading this and have lost it…..I hope to find it in some pile somewhere)
The discoveries by Alan Lightman. The greatest breakthroughs in 20th century science, with the original papers. Frankly, I find Lightman’s explanations wonderful….clear, concise etc. The original papers….well, I can’t understand them.
The singularity is near by Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil thinks that really really powerful computers will usher in utopia. He’s been right before.
Just finished
Out of the labyrinth: Setting mathematics free by Robert and Ellen Kaplan. The Kaplans run The Math Circle, which is, IMHO, a stunningly good way to teach math. This book is good, but not stunningly so. If you are interested in education or math, or, especially, math education, this is worthwhile. It will help if you know some math yourself. To whet your appetite, they get 5 year olds talking about the nature of infinity.
I will be writing a diary about this as part of the Ed/Up series, on 3/24 (on dailyKos)
Recently read:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Dancing in the Streets by Barbara Ehrenreich
Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
Knots by Nuruddin Farah
I’m feeling very lazy and sleepy tonight so a list is all I can manage.
Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse.
Currently reading:
Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer
Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Medical journal articles too numerous to mention
My D40 user’s guide
Cottage Living
Next in the pile:
Eizabeth Edwards’ book
You have a D40? Kudos! I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned this dimension of your life before!
OK, I’ll bite…..what’s a D40?
It’s etiher my new camera or a very large piece of construction equipment…
Yep, except mine’s purple with silver stars all over it…regular hot rod it is. 🙂
Currently reading #2 of 4 books of Tad Williams Otherland series.
Will soon read Tony Hillerman’s latest.
Worth reading: Tad Williams’ War of the Flowers. (recently read)
Tad Williams is a great writer!!!!!
I haven’t read anything else other than Otherland, but I devoured that book (all four volumes of it). It gets a bit winded and tedious by the end, but it is a classic.
and hope to get my hands on at least one of them this year — maybe the Lightman book, since I’ve only read his fiction before.
Quicksilver was my favorite read in 2006. If you like books of that scope and scale, you’ll enjoy this one. . .
Just finished Gregory David Roberts’ huge novel Shantaram about an escaped Australian convict who hides in Bombay, falls in love with the city and a woman, and eventually finds himself fighting against the Russians in Afghanistan. Highly autobiographical. The author is an Australian escaped convict.
In the middle of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Another take on the theme of “it’s not easy being green.”
And just started a book my son leant me that everyone but me has probably read by now, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. No, I didn’t see the movie. Only read the first 30 pp (paperback), but so far the “Translator’s Note” (mimics an introduction) is the most interesting reading.
I have 7 books lined up and at the ready and yet untouched in my To Read stack. It’s going to be a great year!
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, by distinguished professor Chalmers Johnson, which was just released this month. It is the third volume of his “Blowback” trilogy. Important. Terrifying.
Howard Zinn, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, a gift from my son, tempered by a Robert Jordan fantasy, To The Blight, The Eye Of The World Part 2.
Less enjoyable, but interesting nonetheless, a huge stack of technical stuff for the new job I started Jan. 1.
Future reading includes Julie Phillips’ James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon and Web Mage by fellow frog ponder Kelly Mccullough.
And I predict you will enjoy your future reading very much. The Phillips biography was one of my favorite reads of last year and Kelly’s book is great fun.
Last Fiction: The Thirteenth Tale by ??
Last Non-Fiction: LBJ: Architect of American Ambition
Last Audiobook: The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian
Current Ficton: The Club Dumas by some Spanish dude
Current Non-Fiction: Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England
Current Audiobook: Desolation Island by Patrick O’Brian
Was the LBJ book good? And the Henry V?
The LBJ book is loooooooooonnnnnnngggggg. It’s interesting on domestic policy, so-so on Vietnam, and good on personal stuff. It really drags in places though. It took me several months to get through it.
Henry V – just started it, but seems interesting so far.
again by the intellects of others on this blog – it also happens when I read the more eloquent posts. And I’m surprised by the amount of time some people seem to have for reading…
My most recent completed books were escapist reading on our recent summer holiday… John LeCarre’s The Mission Song and Frederick Forsyth’s The Afghan. I hadn’t realised until this book the extent to which Forsyth is right-wing. Very mechanical writing, too. LeCarre much better!
Lately I’ve been dipping into a book called How to give your kids $1 million each (and it won’t cost you a cent) to remind myself about a long-term investment strategy for my daughters. It’s a much better book than the corny title sounds!
And I wasn’t sure whether to admit to this or not: as we drove for hours up and down the highway in December and January we listened to the audio version of Hillary Clinton’s autobiography. My partner is much keener on Hillary than I am, but I have to admit I found it pretty interesting to relive a lot of recent history. My nine-year-old became quite interested in it, too.
Neal Stephenson…..I read Snow Crash about ten years ago it was hilarious.
Just finished “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins
Almost finished with a fiction – “Ghoul” by Brian Keene…horror novels to relax.
Next up “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” by Ilan Pappe
Cool idea many times you read something and you want to share it. This is therapeutic, even if no one is paying attention. I skimmed all the comments in my rush to brag about what I’m reading!
How was the Dawkins book?
Interesting. He delves a lot into how a religion goes through “memes” that cause certain ones make it for thousands of years. Sort of the social evolution of present day religion. It doesn’t go enough into religion and mourning. I think that is major key to its survival even in the present day.
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community – David Korten
Born Fighting – Jim Webb
Both are very good, but I need someone to turn me on to a comedy.
Elinor Lipman
The Pursuit of Alice Thrift
My Latest Grievance
Christopher Moore
Coyote Blue
Lamb : the gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal
I like Korten, I heard him speak a couple of months ago and he was quite good. If you haven’t read it, I also recommend his “When Corporations Rule the World,” it’s good too.
Just finished “Static” by Amy Goodman and David Goodman
Now reading “Saturn’s Race” by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes
I am reading Stephen King’s “Lisey’s Story”.
I have rad all of his books and could not pass up on this one. LOL
I generally don’t like to read more than one book at a time. Currently, I just started Frank Rich’s The Greatest Story Ever Sold, which I am enjoying. While it is not much new information, it is helpful to see it all laid out in one place.
I also just started The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardi. These latter I read when I get a chance at home, while I take Rich’s book with me to work every day.
I just finished Mort by Terry Pratchett. I/m not a huge fan of Discworld, but it is light and very funny.
I love Neal Stephenson, though I must say that I’m not sure I would recommend Cryptonomicon first. I would start with Snow Crash or The Diamond Age first.
Snow Crash and Diamond Age are great….but so different from Cryptonomicon and the Baroque series that they might be by different authors; that’s why I suggested Cryptonomicon as a sort of warm up for Baroque
That makes a lot of sense. For some reason, I just couldn’t get into the Baroque series. I love his humor, and I like the concept, but it just didn’t grab me. Cryptonomicon has math, which tends to turn many people off and like the Baroque series, it is long and convoluted. Nevertheless you make a valid point.
Marcy Wheeler’s Anatomy of Deceit. It just came in yesterday.
“Marcy Wheeler’s Anatomy of Deceit.” Me, too. Mine came just as the trial began, plus I read Joe Wilson’s book when it first came out.
In my Civil War book discussion group, we’ve recently read Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power by Richard Carwardine. Very dense and difficult, but covers political and religious aspects in depth; his field of specialization.
John Brown: Abolitionist by Davis S Reynolds. 500 pages of more John Brown life and lore than you’d ever have imagined. Seems to appeal to men!
On my own dime, Mr Lincoln’s T-Mails, by Tom Wheeler. Occasionally gushy but the author handled and read all the original Lincoln handwritten telegrams, now protected in glassine sheets. This alone allows a modicum of gushiness. Wheeler’s collection of telegrams shows Lincoln’s increasingly astute use of the new invention as he copes with changing fortunes of the war years.
Illinois Dems will discuss Fighting for Air by Eric Klinenberg at a meeting TBA; starts out with gripping examples of how media consolidation has harmed the common good. This should provoke excellent discussion. Looking forward to getting started on it.
In the wings: American Fascists by Chris Hedges. He’s a great writer, judging from an earlier book. This fits in with having access to a local chapter of Americans United that meets in my community.
“Marcy Wheeler’s Anatomy of Deceit.” Hye, me, too. Just started it, looks to be well written.
Nemesis is next on the list.
I just started 1491, by Charles Mann. Basically, it’s a re-examination of what the Americas were like prior to European conquest and colonization.
“The Great War and Modern Memory” by Paul Fussell. A very literate and unusual account of WWI and the perceptions of it by those in the trenches. The understated accounts (toned down to get past the mail censors) bring home the horror and senselessness more strongly than any purple prose ever could.
The cover photo of the boy-soldier is an oddly disturbing shot.
finally finished last pages “Plan of Attack” and have been reading “FIASCO”; makes for an interesting story if it weren’t so real
Just finishing Hunter S. Thompson’s Hey Rube
Currently reading The Best War Ever