what are you reading?

SpecialEd said:

Dustinl said:

Tonight I will finish a book by Bill Bryson titled "I Am A Stranger Here Myself" and will post a commentary on it tomorrow.
DL

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I can highly recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson if you are into science and the history of science. Fascinating! A Walk in the Woods is also good for fans of backpacking and hiking.

Last night I started Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer about a ritualistic murder in the mid-eighties by members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect. Scary stuff.

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SpecialEd, thanks for the recommendation! I have read "In A Sunburned Country" by Bryson and thoroughly enjoyed it! Short History is about the big bang theory? I have heard of it, just never read it.

I did in fact finish "Stranger Here Myself" last night. The book is a collection of editorials written for a British newspaper. Bryson lived in Great Britian for 20 years and moved back to America. The editorials are about his adjustment to the American lifestyle. Not a bad read.


DL

Dustinl said:

Short History is about the big bang theory? DL

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Yes but much, much more. The keyword in the title is EVERYTHING! Geology, chemistry, the discovery of the elements, fossils, etc.

Anyone reading anything good?


I am reading "Tolkien and the Great War", about JRR Tolkien in WW1 and how his ideas for The Lord Of The Rings developed from his experiences. It is a painfully slow book.


DL

I finished up "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg today. Very interesting, thought-provoking book. Likely, I'll finish Max Lucado's "Cure for the Common Life" today. Great book to help you figure out what you want to do in life, and how to do well at it by realizing it's all for God, not merely for ourselves.

The pile of books on my nightstand is getting smaller...

acharpe said:

I finished up "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg today. Very interesting, thought-provoking book. Likely, I'll finish Max Lucado's "Cure for the Common Life" today. Great book to help you figure out what you want to do in life, and how to do well at it by realizing it's all for God, not merely for ourselves.

The pile of books on my nightstand is getting smaller...

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Aubs, I love Max Lucado! We have a bunch of his books and really enjoy his style of writing. BUT....... I can assure you that if you ever get the opportunity to hear him preach, you may be dissapointed. He is as dry as a west Texas creekbed! His writing is excellent and very inspiring, tho.

DL

Now that will be a great read my friend. We are off on a little excursion to the left coast this week, so I have picked one of my favorite authors; Ian Rankin, The Naming of the Dead.

I just finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Very good read. Lots of history mixed with vampire, mainly Vlad Dracula, lore.

I'm reading "15 Qualities of a Team Player" by John C. Maxwell. I got it free through work.

:mrgreen:

Title: Blind Man's Bluff
Subtitle: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
Authors: Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew, with Annette Lawrence Drew
Copyright 1998.
Harper Paperbacks 1999.
Perennial Edition 2000.
ISBN 0-06-097771-X

Non-fiction, jawdropper. Reads easy. Keeps me awake at night remembering where I was on certain specific dates mentioned in text.

Subsnyper, I'd like to read your "take" on the book. I got it at a big, regional (Shenandoah Valley) overstock sale. If you can't find it, PM me with an address & I'll loan it to you.

If there are other submariners on the board, PM me and we can start a round robin with my copy.

BigMike said:

Title: Blind Man's Bluff
Subtitle: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
Authors: Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew, with Annette Lawrence Drew

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Didn't the History Channel do a show based on that book? I was particularly impressed with the cable tapping scheme and the Captain known as "Whitey."

Then there was the ship that was forced to surface and "the ashen faces of the men with the cyanide capsules in case they got captured."

I hope I'm remembering this correctly.

You've got it right. Photo of CDR Whitey Mack, CO of the Lapon, in the middle of the book.

Never saw anything about it on TV. Got no cable here in the boonies.

Can't say much about cyanide capsules ... never took one. :mrgreen:

I finished The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs yesterday. He decided to literally follow the rules of the Bible (as many as he could) over the course of one year. Some things were motivating, some were absurd, but all in all, it was a very interesting book. He's a very talented writer. He even made spending a year reading the encyclopedia interesting (The Know It All is another great book.)

I also finished You on a Diet which is from Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. It's got a good diet plan in it. I am not a big fan of the strength/cardio in the book. What really makes the book good is that you can figure out why you eat and ways you can slow down by listening to your body and eating smart.

Excellent, Aubs!!!!

I am stuck on Tolkien and the Great War. It is painfully slow. Maybe I should do what Dubya would say and "cut and run".


DL

Dustinl said:

Excellent, Aubs!!!!

I am stuck on Tolkien and the Great War. It is painfully slow. Maybe I should do what Dubya would say and "cut and run".


DL

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This book is actually turning out to be quite interesting. I should be done by this weekend. This is the first that I have read about WW1 and trench warfare. What a brutal way to fight a war. The casualties were staggering.


DL

Last night I finished "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy. He must have been on acid when he wrote this book. Classic McCarthy stuff: tragic, a lot of spanish, no quotation marks to seperate diologe, and a lot of deep philosophy.


Would I recommend? Probably not.


DL


Read "The Road". Great book.

I just finished Damages, by Barry Wirth. It's a book about a medical malpractice case. It sounds about as exciting as watching grass grow, but it is a very interesting book. It's nonfiction, but it reads like a novel.

Finished Law School Confidential late last night. It's a primer on getting ready for law school and what to do when you're there.

Today, I started and finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Dusty sent it to me in a bomb a while back. I wanted a book to tide me over a few days before another shipment of books came from Amazon. I couldn't put it down. Not exactly an uplifting book, but very good.

it sounds like you or someone in the family is going into the noble practice of law. Try the John Grisham book The Innocent Man. I know: Grisham?? but it is non fiction about a guy on death row and is pretty good.