Hi,
thought we can make a thread where we write down the books we are reading at a given moment.
It'll be not just interesting, but also informing of books worth reading.
We do it in another forum and it's a popular thread.

Think I should start then.


I'm currently reading a book by Mark Chadbourn "World's End", first book from the "Age of Misrule" series. It's fantasy, but with a unique twist.

The action takes place in nowaday London, UK and the Age of Reason has gone, but nobody has noticed it yet, though they all will soon notice. Laws of physics are slowly fading and scientifical inventions begin to stop working. Fridges, cars, etc. Mystical creatures start to appear in a modern city: dragons, witches, shapeshifters, giants, even more - the old celtic gods are returning and want to set the old order in the fading modern world. In between is caught our modern and rational society facing with magic returning to Earth.

Well, okay! This is a thread I can get excited about!

Annnnnnnnnnnd...I'm a giant nerd. Oops.

Anyway, I'm currently reading:

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (for my Book Group)
Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (to satisfy my current jones for Victorian crime fiction)
Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (because even your brain likes the occasional empty calorie)

Goedel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
The author sets out to answer the question "what is consciousness?" in terms of formal systems. Fascinating and confounding at times, but remarkably readable and entertaining.


The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
This book is about globalization and its effect on businesses, the world market, and world politics. Plenty of advice about how to survive in the flat world. Highly recommended.

Apendrapew,

Ah. You picked up GEB then, did you? I am ashamed to admit that I still haven't picked it back up yet... so many damned books to read. I really need to finish it someday.

Have you made it to Diagram G yet? If so, you might consider looking through this thread I wrote on it a while back.
http://www.thescienceforum.com/Diagram-G-and-Recursive-Transition-Networks-434t.php


Now.
As to what I'm reading at present.

Trilobite! by Richard Fortey.
A witty little book about trilobites. It ranges from biology to paleontology to history to philosophy. A very interesting book.


Mythology by Edith Hamilton.
I've only just picked this one up and begun to read. I recall reading this book when I was younger... 10 or 12. Somewhere in that age. Interesting the differences that one notes from a youthful reading to a more mature one. I expect to fill many pages of notes from these observations as well as pure mythological observations.


The Golden Bough by James Frazer.
Another book on mythology. Specifically in regarding to magic, religion, and human sacrifice. A bit out of date, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless.

Frazer wrote the book by asking a question. He sought to explain the practice of the priesthood of Diana at Lake Nevi. The priest or "King of the Wood" can only be replaced by being murdered by his successor just as he murdered his predecessor. The explanation of this practice ranges far and deep into subjects that are quite far afield of his rather innocent beginnings.

I'm reading the abridged version, which is a shame. I'd like to get my hands on the original multivolume set. Apparently, there was quite a scandal as Frazer attempted to link Christianity to tree worshipping... Muaha!


Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Pretentious and simplistic. But still possessing philosophical value for a discriminating mind.


The Story of Civilization by Will Durant.
A huge monster of a series. But extremely interesting and well-thought out. Durant spent 45 years writing this 11 volume series. That's dedication.


Molecular Cell Biology, 5th edition, Lodish.
Textbook. Good stuff.


J.O.B. A comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein.
Interesting parody (or adaptation) of the biblical tale of Job. In this version, Satan bows out of the action as he's finally realized that his brother (YHWH) cheats and so it's no fun playing with him. Loki plays the role of interloper in this tale of dimension hopping delight.


On deck:
The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch.
About reality and the possibility of parallel dimensions and such.


The Boxer Rebellion by Diana Preston.
Simple historical work on the boxer rebellion of China.

(And. Yeah. I know. I read way too many books at one time. Always have.)

I'm impressed vertie.

:)

So is my optometrist...

I really loved "Job: ACOJ." It's tied with "Friday" as my favorite Heinlein book.

I'm getting my current events reading out of the way while I still have some time:

My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
A talking gorilla teaches a young girl. ;) Second in a series.

The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen
The author breaks down the walls of civilization exploring how we got here and why it's all fucked up.

Necessary Illusions by Noam Chomsky
Media control and state propaganda stuff.

The Cointelpro Papers by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
An archive of the US government's very own secret police actions taken out on those who dared commit thought crime in the 50s through 80s.


Anyone else read the Friedman book? I've been thinking about taking a look at that one too...

I'm currently reading "Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong", edited by Peter Marler and Hans Slabbekoorn. The depth and complexity of bird songs and calls has amazed me. Before this I read "The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century" by David Salsburg. I plan on reading "What Makes Biology Unique" by Ernst Mayr next.

I'm currently listening to Shelby Foote's "The Civil War: A Narrative". I'm about half way through the third volume. It's a little heavier on the military aspects of things than I would like, but it's comprehensiveness cannot be matched. Before this I listened to "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis and Friedman's "The World is Flat" is next on my listening list.

Finished "World's End". It was an exciting read. Really looking forward to getting more books from the series.
=======

Just started reading "The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology" by Joseph Campbell.
Because as of now I haven't read more than a few pages, I'll just quote the text from the back of the book.

In the first volume of this great work, the summation of a lifetime's study of the origins, history and function of myth, Joseph Campbell examines the primitive roots of spiritual belief among our ancient forebears. He draws on recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology and psychology to find confirmation of the fundamental unity of mankind not only in biological terms, but in a spiritual history that from the earliest emergence of human beings bears evidence of a confluence of ideas, themes and quests for meaning.
As we are drawn farther and farther back in time we find ourselves, a the dawn of spiritual awakening, confronting preoccupations and anxieties, hopes and aspirations, that are universal and enduring.

The Crucible

*-- to continue on my book -->

I read through the introduction and prologue (~30pages), began to feel a bit bored because they talked about things I already knew, but at the first real chapter I was (yet again, for I have read other works by Campbell) seized by the ideas and great writing style of the author.

I advice this book to all who'd like to know more about human and essentially their own nature
and it has changed little if any since the stone age, because its' roots essentially lay in our nervous system and the structure of our brain.

Currently in the middle of The Discourses, book I.
Tonight starting: The History of the Peloponesian War by Thucydides.

The Masks of God are really an excellent series, Avatar. I'm not surprised you say you've heard it before, Campbell's ideas have been spread around quite a bit (not to mention that I've heard they originally came from Jung but I've never seen any corroboration of that.)

Just keep reading. There's 5 books (I think... Been awhile.) And you're sure to see things repeated as you go through them, but the overall gestalt of the books are really quite interesting.

Campbell makes many mentions of Frazer's Golden Bough and was the first place I ever heard mention of the book. You might consider giving it a go sometime. It's in the public domain and you can find it on the web, although the only digitally available version is the one I'm reading and is abridged. I should do some library crawling and see if I can't find the unabridged volumes.

The Habsburgs- Embodying Empire
What the hell else? :p

Currently browsing through my $11,014.49 copy of the International Encyclopedia Of The Social & Behavioral Sciences, "the largest corpus of knowledge about the social and behavioral sciences in existence."

I know you're jealous. :p

And Paul Johnson's 'A History of the American People'. Because I'm not American.

Actually I shiver in cold horror
social sciences = yuck!

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0007158467.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

it's very heavy going, but stick with it....it's worth it.

The Dick and Jane books do it for me. I used to think Jane was hot.. Some of the illustrations for earlier books suck though. I never grew up with Dr Seuss. Didn't even hear about him till I was 12, at which point I found the books to be senseless.

Enid Blyton stories did it for me back then in the day.

Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern by Douglas Hofstadter

At any level of scientific comprehension, this book provides an intelligent subscription to pattern. Includes essays and 'conversations' on Alan Turing, and clear and relevant description of common and interesting science. The most valuable information is hofstaedter's creative description of thought.

Ahh, now I'm working on reading all of Robert B. Parker's novels. What a great novelist!! Try it, you'll never go back to reading that dry, philosophical crap again.

Baron Max

Ah.
Green Eggs and Ham.
The pornography of days of yore...

"Would you? Could you? In a car?
Eat them! EAT THEM!! HERE they ARE!"


And. Speaking of Dick and Jane, I remember reading Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant when I was a lad and when Hope become President and made his daughter secretary of Education, she made reading fun. Wish my books weren't buried or I'd find the exact quote but here's a paraphrase:

"See Dick. See Jane. Dick and Jane go behind the couch. See Jane as she lifts her skirt. Look, Dick, Look!"

Muaha!!

(By the way, that's saying that Dick is looking. Not that she has a dick.)

Reminds me of an efficient method of teaching teenagers math by showing them how to compute their drug sales. "Johnny has an eight-ball of coke. Etc..." Muaha! I bet you'd see some pretty fancy math whizzes if that change was ever made...

I'm reading Bill Bryson's excellent The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way.
Bryson's one of my favorite authors - authoritative and erudite, yet snarky and common enough to draw in the reader and engage one's own sense of wonder about the topics he covers.

I'm also halfway through Seamus Heaney's superb translation of Beowulf. Heaney's poetic skill and elegance have enchanted me since "Finder's Keepers," but his ear for the flow of a narrative poem is amazing. Plus, I love comparing the translation with the Old English original, thoughtfully included on the facing page. Lingui-tastic fun! :D

I'm starting Melissa Banks' The Wonder Spot tonight...I thoroughly enjoyed The Girls' Guide To Hunting and Fishing, so I'm sure her follow-up will be a treat.

I'm also reading Conformity and Conflict. It's a textbook, but eh. It's a collection of articles about cultures of various peoples. Have just finished reading an article on Barbados. Pretty interesting.

I'm reading House of Leaves, a very bizarre and very interesting book. The blueness of the word 'house', by the way, is a thing from the book... that word always appears in blue. Once I finish the book I may have to return to the Art & Culture forum and talk about it, because it's very different.

I'm, reading <B>Atlas Shrugged</B> by Ayn Rand. I've read it once before, but I'm currently reading it again. I also started reading <B>Fury</B>, by Salman Rushdie, but got bored and gave up.

I've just begun The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. apendrapew has the information in his post on the first page.

just finished green eggs and ham, phew what a hard slog, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

now this should tie me over till christmas (if I increase my reading speed)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0911903488.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Outlandish,

The sad thing is that I believe you.

you're probably thinking sarcasm that crude and obvious might actually be true.

Today, I glanced at The Law of Evidence in the Victorian Era. Very informative.

the tin drum-gunter grass

abarat:days of magic nights of war-clive barker

Beside my bed at the moment:

Collapse by Jared Diamond, about why some complex societies fail and others succeed. Among others, it looks at Easter Island, the Maya, and Greenland.

The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose. A massive book giving Penrose's ideas on modern physics, mainly relativity, quantum physics, the problems with both and some possible ways to make progress.

Mad about Modern Physics. A nice collection of puzzles and interesting facts from different areas of modern physics. I'll probably post some here at some stage.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. This is obviously the book Dan wrote as a warm up for The da Vinci Code. The plot and characters are essentially the same. It's pulp fiction, but fun to pick to pieces. Dan really should have researched how new popes are elected a bit more thoroughly, since he gets it embarassingly wrong in this book - and we all know that, because we've just had a papal election. (The book was written before the death of JP II.)

War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, by Chris hedges. Yep, war buff

Lester Bangs- "Mainlines, Blood feasts, and Bad Taste".