Hi, thought we should make a thread where we write down books we are reading at that moment.
Quite a diverse crowd here, so the list should be quite interesting too. :cool:
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Anyway, today I started reading
Joseph Campbell "The Masks of God - Oriental Mythology"
which is the second book in the "Masks of God" tetralogy. The first one I very enjoyed and it was "Primitive Mythology".

This is from the Amazon.co.uk page:
"The Masks of God, Vol 2" really is a book only for those with a hardcore interest in the subject. Campbell is both a prolific and well respected author in the field of mythology. "The Masks of God" is his triumph of four volumes, of which this - of Oriental mythology - is typical. The book is a dense fog of information - statistics, quotes, stories and anecdotes.

Once, however, you dip into the book you will invariably begin to find passages of with information so surreal and bizarre that it seems out of place in a book with the layout and style of a textbook. Campbell finds the most obscure and strange rituals and legends from long lost cultures and brings them back to life, not with creative flair but with the sheer impact of the content of his words.

Recommended especially is the final chapter, in which he describes an experience of a samurai warrior fulfilling his own death sentence through suicide by disembowelling himself with a dagger before he is beheaded his kaishaku.

It may not be compulsive reading, but the information contained within this collection will serve your knowledge and imagination for a long time.

"the sea hunters 2" by clive cussler
deals with finding old shipwrecks

"secrets and spies" by readers digest
deals mainly with world war 2

The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618329978/sr=8-1/qid=1151702792/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8939794-4965743?ie=UTF8

I.Asimov´s Foundation series, currently "Foundation and Empire".
I have read Asimov´s popupar science books before but I picked Foundation up quite recently.

I've currently got a huge list of books sitting on my desk waiting to be read. The stack contains:

1) See No Evil- Robert Baer
2) The Autobiography and Other Writings- Benjamin Franklin
3) The Elegent Universe- Brian Greene
4) A Brief History of Time- Stephen Hawking
5) A License to Steal- Benjamin J. Stein
6) The Design of Everyday Things- Donald A. Norman
7) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens- Sean Covey
8) Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy- Partha Bose
9) The Einstein Factor- Win Wenger, PH.D, and Richard Poe
10) Creative Visualization- Shakti Gawain
11) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Robert Louis Stevenson (school)
12) Life is a Series of Presentations- Tony Jeary
13) The Thinker's Way- John Chaffee
14) The Art of Speed-Reading People- Paul D. Tieger

I'm glad I'm an abnormally fast reader :)

AmishRakeFight

I.Asimov´s Foundation series, currently "Foundation and Empire".
I have read Asimov´s popupar science books before but I picked Foundation up quite recently.
i have read "the caves of steel" and "the rest of the robots" by asimov

I'm glad I'm an abnormally fast reader :)

personally i'm only half fast

The "Secret" World of Vickers Guided Weapons - John Forbat
Statistics of Deadly Quarrels - L F Richardson
The Far Call - Gordon Dickson
The Confusion - Neal Stephenson
Armament of British Aircraft 1909-1939 - H F King
British Aircraft Armament Vol.1, RAF gun turrets 1914-95 - Wallace Clarke
Istoria i Konstruktsi Samoletov v SSSR - V Shavrov
Britain 1939-1945: The Economic Cost of Strategic Bombing - John Fahey

Collapse

"THE BOOK OF TEA" by KAKUZO OKAKURA
A book about the history, the spirituality, the beauty and the masters of tea.

You can read it on the Internet here (http://serv.ul.cs.cmu.edu/ulib/data/cmu_classics/5db/255/91b/9bb/011/3/index.html) .

God dang a freakin site of geniuses. Geniuses, I say!

-Existabrent is un-able to read.

"THE BOOK OF TEA" by KAKUZO OKAKURA
A book about the history, the spirituality, the beauty and the masters of tea.

You can read it on the Internet here (http://serv.ul.cs.cmu.edu/ulib/data/cmu_classics/5db/255/91b/9bb/011/3/index.html) .

Thanks Avatar! I'm a compulsive tea drinker, so I really appreciate this!

Currently reading:

Noll, Mark A. America's God.
Barker, Clive. Galilee.

Recently read:

Cady, Jack. The Hauntings of Hood Canal.
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw.

On deck:

Brust, Steven. Dzur. (Awaiting Aug., 2006)

If you ever want to ruin your vacation by reading, Henry James is your man. The Turn of the Screw lives up to the reputation I'd learned over the years: "The finest horror story in which nothing happens." In the meantime, Cady's Hauntings, a 2003 release and the last novel he published before his passing, is one of the finest creepy tales I've encountered. Noll's America's God is exactly what it sounds like: a dry, thick, dense history of theology in the United States of America. I've neglected Barker's Galilee for too long, and it's enough to say I'm nearly salivating for Brust's Dzur.

Currently reading:

Noll, Mark A. America's God.
Barker, Clive. Galilee.

Recently read:

Cady, Jack. The Hauntings of Hood Canal.
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw.

On deck:

Brust, Steven. Dzur. (Awaiting Aug., 2006)

If you ever want to ruin your vacation by reading, Henry James is your man. The Turn of the Screw lives up to the reputation I'd learned over the years: "The finest horror story in which nothing happens." In the meantime, Cady's Hauntings, a 2003 release and the last novel he published before his passing, is one of the finest creepy tales I've encountered. Noll's America's God is exactly what it sounds like: a dry, thick, dense history of theology in the United States of America. I've neglected Barker's Galilee for too long, and it's enough to say I'm nearly salivating for Brust's Dzur.

I liked the Turn of the Screw; its like two completely different stories in one, depending on who you believe, the children or the governess. Great read!!

It's a wonderful read, but tasking to the point of nullifying the idea of a vacation. I look at it differently, though: I think the true horror of the story is that the children knew what was at stake; Miles was assured of his sister's condition when he spoke alone with the governess, and I believe he knew what was to come. Stylistically, though, it's a heavy, demanding read; and I'm one who actually likes semicolons and commas. You know, some stories are an education in themselves? James schools me on rhythm and punctuation; I wasn't prepared to be educated in such a manner while on vacation.

Well I usually don't get more than an hour to read every day, so I take much longer to get through a book nowadays; I think I read it over two weeks which is slow for me. You're right, it was heavy. But I was brought up on Somerset Maugham, A J Cronin, James Michener, Dickens and Joyce, so you could say I've plowed through too many of them now to feel the pain.

Right now I'm reading 'Memoirs found in a Bathtub' by Stanislaw Lem, but I just finished up 'Timeline' and 'State of Fear' by Micheal Crichton. They were both great reads.

Scott Adams "Build a better life by stealing office supplies"

(not a book, a comic)

Adams' "Way of the Weasel" is worth reading (not comic collection though). And its sequel - "exactly the same title and text, but all the words are pronounced differently". I love that guy's sense of humour.

Yup read it.

Am a fervent aficionado of Scott Adams and Bill Watterson!

"Darkest hour" by Mark Chadbourn

The second book in the "Age of Misrule" trilogy, where to the modern day UK and the rest of the world old celtic gods, demons and other beasts return. The ages have shifted, but many don't realise it yet, the technology gradually stops working and among the fading remains of the age of reason a new dark age begins, an age of great horror and great wonder.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1857987667/202-1887088-3492617?v=glance&n=266239

The Time Before History, by Colin Tudge

It's about the early history of human lineage, and evolution in general.

A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin.

Finished Game of Thrones sometime last month--I love the fleshing out of his characters and the unexpected turns (so far).

I'm perusing Sextrology, mainly for my own sign, but it's an interesting read while I'm eating cereal.

The King of the Great Clock Tower, Commentaries and Poems by W. B. Yeats, modern first edition, 1935 (damn, this cost $1.50 back then and I bought it for $22).

N. S. Gumilyov's short plays.

Two Dover books:

Introductory Graph Theory by Gary Chartrand

Topology: An Introduction with Application to Topological Groups by George McCarty

Trying to get around to reading The Elegant Universe but it's been in mint condition for many weeks now.

I'm reading:

Dean Koontz Seize the Night

Kip R. Irvine Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers

Kip R. Irvine Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers

Interesting. Interested in trying machine code? That is the true sign of 1337ness.

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy

The Hollow Kingdom, Close Kin, Into the coils of the Snake by Clare Dunkle
Alosha, The Shaktra by Christopher Pike (waiting for bk 3 The Yanti)
The Dancing Girls of Lahore by Louise Brown

Vulpes, the Red Fox: Jean Craighead
Don Quixote: Cervantes

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0192835769.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1085514482_.jpg

Upanisads
First translation of all the ancient Upanisads for over 50 years
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0192835769/202-1887088-3492617?v=glance&n=266239&s=gateway&v=glance

Herman Melville: Moby Dick.

just finished the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Very moving.

In the holiday stack:
The Snow Geese by William Fiennes
Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden by Tim Page
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin

Animals in Translation is very good; have you read Thinking in Pictures??

Animals in Translation is very good; have you read Thinking in Pictures??

No. I've just gotten into this lady after seeing her in a documentary. That stuff fascinates the hell outa me.

When I get the chance I'm definitely going to try lying down amongst a herd of cows. But you probably know that about me already ;)

Heh. Spent a few minutes digging in the history trying to find this thread. Was thinking to myself, "This thread should be stickied." Couldn't find it. Went back to page one. And here it was. Stickied.


Reading:
The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Catalhoyuk (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0500051410/102-1819325-8070556?v=glance&n=283155).
I've been fascinated with the stories of Catalhoyuk for quite some time. Every now and again I've done some internet searching for what I could find and have always been disappointed with the sparcity of the information thus derived.

Ian Hodder is the archeologist in charge of the new dig at Catalhoyuk (the original archeologist, James Mellaart, was kicked out of the site in the mid-60's after certain artifacts went missing...) and, I have to say, that what I've read so far of the story is extremely interesting.

Catalhoyuk is not the oldest city in the world, as I once thought. In fact, it seems to be quite late in the series of Anatolian settlements which began about 10,000 B.C. Catalhoyuk was populated between 7600 and 6000 B.C. Still an incredibly long time ago. And the culture at the site is just so... different.

What originally struck me in my first aquaintance with the site was that they buried their dead in the floors of their houses... Apparently, however, this is not so uncommon and is still practiced in some areas today!

Hodder promises theories of the site's Symbolic extravagances, and I'm reading with bated breath to get to these sections. Refusing to look ahead though...

I've gone on enough here. This isn't supposed to be a review.


Up at bat:
Word and Object (Studies in Communication) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262670011/sr=1-1/qid=1153448884/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1819325-8070556?ie=UTF8&s=books).

Interesting. Interested in trying machine code? That is the true sign of 1337ness.

Not that difficult. I've got an assembly language book around somewhere... I forget the author... The problem is, like any form of programming, coming up with a decent idea for software....

I also read an assembly language tutorial for the Apple II a while back. I am so disappointed at the wasted opportunity in my youth. Wasted time learning stupid software like Appleworks and Print Shop when we should have been let loose in the guts of the machine.

To think. Every time a game crashed and dumped us into that maddening list of numbers numbers numbers... that was the pure machine code... the things we could have learned...

Stupid teachers...

The Vagrant Mood by W. Somerset Maugham

I got hooked on Maugham a long time ago after reading "The Summing Up"; it was the dryness of his self analysis and his complete objectivity in presenting the highlights of his life that got me. I've read most of his work and except for the occasional misogynistic touch in his writing, he's never disappointed me yet. Looking forward to this book for the weekend.

just finished angels and demons by dan brown

The Great Mortality - An intimate history of the Black Death
John Kelly

Balzac's novelettes, "The Girl With Golden Eyes." This one has a lengthy description of the money-hungry, deadish French populace of Balzac's days and I notice it can be applied to any large city today. Some sharp words there.

Essential French Grammar. I decided to learn French.

Learn French. What spurred that?

I'm currently halfway through Richard Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene." I'm really enjoying this book. Very easy to read, entertaining and enlightening. He's made me an advocate of the camp of "gene selection." Basically the thesis of the book is that genes are the fundamental level on which evolution works. Even though it may seem that animals act in ways designed to perpetuate the species and that there is, in fact some sort of high level phenomonen going on, all that's really happening is animals, or "survival machines," as Dawkins puts it, are acting on behalf of their own selfish genes. It's not a particularly uplifting, but it makes a lot of sense.

It has definitely changed the way I think about animals and even human relationships.

After I finish this book I'm going to read Stephen King's, "The Talisman."

<i>Man walks into a room</i> by Nicole Krauss. It's about a guy who loses all his memories after the age of twelve. Very interesting, so far.

Learn French. What spurred that?

I am not fond of translations. I'd like to be able to comprehend stuff in exhibits, movies, songs, etc., without having to read someone else's interpretations. Yes, this means that German, Italian, and Sanskrit are also on the menu.

I'm also reading Buddhist folk tales and today I found out how straws came into use. :)

You see, I just graduated, and it's now time to learn all the things I've always wanted to know.

just finished the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Very moving.

In the holiday stack:
The Snow Geese by William Fiennes
Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden by Tim Page
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin

Darnit. I don't think I'm going to have time to read Kite Runner. I have a ton of other reading to do. Well, now that you have whetted my appetite, I'm going to have to read it along with the 6 other things I'm trying to read simultaneously.

Me, on the other hand, I am an abnormally slow reader. I used to be very fast but I have recently gotten this obsession with trying to remember every detail I read and so I find myself going backwards to read paragraphs over again and, even at times, reading the entire book from scratch before I'm ever done with it because I can't remember too well. Looks like I'll have to overcome my pedantry and get through Godel, Escher, Bach. Goddamn Hofstadter and his puzzles that I can never solve!

Where's an answer book when you need one..

Me, on the other hand, I am an abnormally slow reader. I used to be very fast but I have recently gotten this obsession with trying to remember every detail I read and so I find myself going backwards to read paragraphs over again and, even at times, reading the entire book from scratch before I'm ever done with it because I can't remember too well. Looks like I'll have to overcome my pedantry and get through Godel, Escher, Bach. Goddamn Hofstadter and his puzzles that I can never solve!

Where's an answer book when you need one..

There are books that can be read quickly. You read for an hour on the train and when your stop comes you shut that book and move on with your daily activities. Then, there are books that are meant to be read slowly. You read a passage, contemplate it, remember it if you especially like it, and keep reading as long as you want, despite the time. If you like a book, relax and don't worry about how long it takes to get through it. I'm a slow reader, too; it's very pleasant.

The book on the taboo against knowing who you are by Alan Watts.

Interesting stuff. Breaks down basics of Vedanta, a hindu philosophy which asserts that we are not a sperate entity in a bag of flesh but a representation of the universe so everything and everyone is connected ergo ego is useless, so is religion..pretty much.

Interesting, quick read.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy & The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
You have to read the classics before you can dig into the new stuff, right?

Just read Slaughterhouse 5. I was expecting more, it didn't really draw me in. I do admit I was contemplating time the way the Tralfamadore's do, though - being in all periods of my existence at once. It was interesting enough that I'm considering Cat's Cradle for my next read.

Currently reading The Poisonwood Bible - decent so far, but it's not a page turner for me.

The book on the taboo against knowing who you are by Alan Watts.

Interesting stuff. Breaks down basics of Vedanta, a hindu philosophy which asserts that we are not a sperate entity in a bag of flesh but a representation of the universe so everything and everyone is connected ergo ego is useless, so is religion..pretty much.

Interesting, quick read.


Alan Watts is the bomb!

edit to add:
I just started on Don Quixote

I'm reading Early Irish Myths and Sagas by Jeffrey Gantz
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140443975/ref=pd_rvi_gw_2/202-1887088-3492617?ie=UTF8

im reading "cat's cradle" again...for the umpteenth time.

Finished Comus and Paradise Lost both by John Milton.
Paradise Lost was pretty good book which puts an interesting twist about God and Satan.

Nights of rain and stars, by Maeve Binchy.

It's a wonderful book. So interesting and touching I couldn't stop crying.

Light a penny candle, also by Maeve Binchy.

I'm sort of in love with her right now. This book is about WW2 when this English girl goes to live with her mothers best friend that lives in Ireland. She becomes great mates with her daughter and the book is basically just about their lives.

Right now I'm reading Invisable man by Ralph Ellison. It's interesting so far.

"day of infamy" by walter lord
"the mind of adolf hitler" by walter c. langer

right now i am deeply studying one books on "Practical socialism " by Nilkanth kadhilkar . it is a nice book . :m:

"The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends" by Peter Berresford Ellis

This's from the book:

I was a listener in the woods,
I was a gazer at the stars,
I was not blind where secrets were concerned,
I was silent in a wilderness,
I was talkative among many,
I was mild in the mead hall,
I was stern in battle,
I was gentle towards allies,
I was a physician of the sick,
I was weak towards the feeble,
I was strong towards the powerful,
I was not parsimonious lest I should be burdensome,
I was not arrogant though I was wise,
I was not given to vain promises though I was strong,
I was not unsafe though I was swift,
I did not deride the old though I was young,
I was not boastful though I was a good fighter,
I would not speak about anyone in their absence,
I would not reproach, but I would praise,
I would not ask, but I would give.

Cormac Mac Cuileannain
King and poet of Cashel, AD 836 - 908

That boook sounds really interesting. I'm going to have to check it out.

If you're interested in Celtic history you might want to read about the Saints of Ireland. It's interesting history or fiction if thats the way you go. Either way it's great stuff.

"The Bhagavad Gita"
"myths to live by"-joseph campbell
"ape and essence"-Aldous Huxley
numerous books on this site (http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm)
yeats, keats, lorca.

Thanks for the suggestion, hug-a-tree, I will check that out sometime.

ghostelephant, I'm reading a book by Joseph Campbell too (together with Celtic Myths),
it's called "The Mythic Image". Quite an interesting read.

I'm usually reading two books at a time, it lets me switch when one book freaks me out too much.

p.s. Myths to live by is more like a self-help book, I suggest you better read "The Hero with a thousand faces", if you haven't already.

Avatar, I've tried to start the hero with a thousand faces several times, but find it too dry... or something, I just can't get into it although I know the basic premise and find it to be fascinating. Oh well it'll stay on the pile until i find it interesting... :m:

Try in a few years, your psyche probably is too unknowing to make the greatest sense out of it.

Ishmael- Daniel Quinn


Citizen Kane so I can watch the movie seeing as how it's supposedly " the greatest film ever made. "

Just finished Phillip Dick's A Scanner Darkly. Fine, fine story. It's hard for me to do much of a review right now, since the tale is also one of several factors which have come together strangely right now and are causing me to reconsider my policies toward illicit drugs and also mental illness. Though it is officially outdated (set in 1994, I believe), the story remains relevant to drug use, abuse, and addiction today. I hear the movie was good, but I haven't seen it. Primal Scream's song of the same title, incidentally, is pretty cool.

Sticking with the broodingly depressive, I'm onto Camus' The Stranger and The Fall. I've nothing to say on those titles at present; as much as I adore Camus' philosophical outlook, his stories are always a bit laborious since they chase after such large concepts.

I also read Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, and despite the fact that her writing style actually grates on me a little bit, it was a fun read. Anyone who thinks American politics is particularly disturbing today ought to remember that things really have been this way for a while. Vowell's book actually provides some interesting insight into that unfortunate truth.

Haven't read The Fall. I've read The Stranger and The Plague. I recommend The Plague.

By the way, did you know his name is pronounced Camooo. Heh. Funny. Odd how funny words sound when you've built up a specific sound based on reading the word and then find out it's pronounced completely different.

Camooooooo.



Anyway.

I'm reading A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind by John Heil.

It's written from a metaphysician's point of view and is thus not my cup of tea, but it does have some interesting facets and I promised someone I care deeply for that I'd read it. And I will. I'll milk it for every gemstone it might contain.

But, the man seems to be a Dualist. Imagine that! I thought they were extinct.

I've got three on the go at present

In Search of Schrodinger's kittens by John Cribbin (better and wierder than any SF), Tales from the Mabinogion and on a lighter note Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett!

Hunters of Dune. (Sucks.)

On deck: The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose.

I don't like these recent Dune books. When Frank Herbet died his son should have left the series alone. He spoilt a masterpiece of SF with his inadequate writing. I like Roger Penrose, his "Shadows of the Mind" is interesting, where he tries to put a Q Physics bent on Human Consciousness

wuthering heights - emily bronte

Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

i'm reading, " Go ask Alice " anonamous

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson.

A new Thomas Covenant trilogy. Woohoo!! I'm a bit late finding out about this one. White gold rules!

The Green Hills of England, written in 1927 (travel book)

the taking

Koontz

Darwin Awards II. Funny, funny book.

Princess I by Jean Sasson

I'm mid-way through American Gods by Neil Gaiman---amazing writer, recently I also read Anansi Boys by the same author.

I just finished A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson---very highly recommended for a potted history of well, nearly everything!

Just finished:

Truman, Margaret. Murder in the CIA. (Pub. info., who cares?)

A twenty year-old murder-spy mystery. Ye gads! On the one hand, I tend to criticize the genre; to the other, I rarely read it. The book was given to me in a box purged from a neighbor's library. I decided to give it a read. Ms. Truman must have been signed for name recognition; it would be inaccurate to say she cannot write, since she obviously can undertake the function of writing. But the notion that this book was at one time a bestseller in the U.S. only testifies to the sad results of American literacy. I just don't get it; I refused to read Shatner's Tek- series, based not on the covers but on the first pages. This was worse than I expected of Captain Kirk. Ms. Truman's book serves me as a stern warning that the genre should be avoided strenuously. Television is better for the brain than this crap.

Brust, Steven. Dzur. New York: TOR, 2006.

Now here is a writer that can make a genre worth paying attention to. It's not that I have anything specifically against fantasy, but the genre usually doesn't suit me. Brust, however, is good enough to transcend such considerations; the guy can tell a story. And what a story it is. Those who have followed his Taltos cycle will not be disappointed. Teldra Lives! (And no, that's not spoiler info.)

Currently reading:

Kenan, Randall. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. New York: Harvest, 1993.

I'm reacquainting myself with this collection of linked short fiction. While the jacket copy compares the stories to Faulkner, I tend more toward Harper Lee and Alice Walker. Find it. Read it. Sublimely excellent. These are stories that turn fiction into a kind of heritage: no, you don't experience foreign lands reading adventure novels, but you do get a glimpse into the southern black experience (U.S.) that is not easily forgotten. Genuine, moving, artful.

Just finished:
-- Old Twentieth, Joe Haldemann. Doesn't compare with his The Forever War (but does anything?) or his other semi-remarkable Camouflage. The twist at the end isn't really worth the drudging through historical snapshots that precedes it. An interesting conceit, but done better elsewhere.

Currently reading:
-- The Kite Runner, Amir Housseini. Picked this one up in tandem with the one above. So far, so good. Details the disruption of everyday life in Afghanistan during the (late?) 1970's til the present day, I believe. Though it's still early, there's echoes of The Power of One in the prose.

Mondays to fridays Nights :
1.)Bhagwad Gita (always read it, so yeah whatever)
2.)Upanishads by Easwaran (contains upanishads translation from sanskrit and corollaries from shankara's texts)
3.)Uddhav Gita (Most accurate translation to this date)

Saturdays and Sundays
1.)Complete Plato Works ( currently on republic)

Rick

"Microbiology - An Introduction" - Tortora, Funke & Case
"General Organic, And Biochemistry" - Hein, Best, Pattison...
"Practical in Biomlecular Sciences" - Reed, Holmes...
"Analythical Chemistry" - Skoog, West & Holler

Presently amid:

Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking, 2005.

Rushdie, Salman. Shalimar the Clown. New York: Random House, 2006.

1.)beltrand Russell's famous essays
2.)The writings of Descarts Vol. I
3.)Atmabodh by Shankaracharya
4.)Upanishads (on mundaka upanishad)
5.)Das Capital - Marx

Rick

"The Myths of Reality" by Simon Danser

Simon Danser asks us to think of myths as like the lenses in spectacles – we see the world through them, but rarely see them in their own right. He then systematically focuses on the myths at the core of the belief systems which create every aspect of what we take to be reality: religion, politics, commerce, science, knowledge, consciousness, self-identity, and much else that we take as 'given'.

This book reveals how reality is culturally constructed in an ever- continuing process from mythic fragments transmitted by the mass media and adapted through face-to-face and Internet conversations.

From the Inside Flap
"This liberal author's knowledge of contemporary society is amazingly broad. He exposits the mythic depths (and appearances) of everything from 'the myth of science' to superhero attitudes of contemporary American nationalism.

"Along the way he challenges many superficial trivialities about myths functioning in culture. He regards the mythic as a primary, highly effective agent of social ideology, and is never hesitant about demanding that the garments of our truly mythological capitalism are ill-fitting and socially harmful.

"This is the best book I know in terms of disclosing the pragmatic functioning of myth in society."

William Doty
Professor Emeritus, The University of Alabama and author of
'Mythography: The study of myths and rituals'


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Myths-Reality-Simon-Danser/dp/187288380X/sr=1-3/qid=1159723178/ref=sr_1_3/026-0558032-4168442?ie=UTF8&s=books

"Ash: A Secret History" by Mary Gentle
Mainly semi-historical/fantasy tale about a female mercenary leader in fifteenth century Europe, but interspersed with emails between the "translator" and the "publisher", which explore the idea of what history is (trying not to spoil it for others).
It's a fairly hefty book, but well written and very thoroughly researched - it serves as a good introduction to mediaeval weaponry, armour, heraldry and siege warfare!

Currently reading:

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972.

Just starting:

Huxley, Aldous. Antic Hay. (Publisher information unavailable at present.)

Simon Danser "Myths of Reality"

I've never so much argued with an author of a book before, and neither have I agreed so often.
This book is not neccesseraly an easy experience, but it's worth it.

Read about it:
http://www.hoap.co.uk/alternative.htm


edit: oh, I had forgotten that I had already mentioned it here. :D

Watership Down by Richard Adams (i love it and cant stop reading, almost done now) and Event by David Lynn Golemon (pretty interesting for a sci-fi.)

Contact, Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

Contact, Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

How do you like Contact?

He's no novelist. Interesting plot, but too much information. He's like a news reporter documenting everything. The love story in the backround is not believable. With some editing it could be quite readable.

I just learned that Carl Sagan also wrote Marijuana Reconsidered under a false name. I used that book in a high school debate class!! I was assigned the pro-:m: legalization stance, and no one agreed with me. I did convince myself and that was way before I ever tried anything!!

In addition, regarding Contact, the plot seems weirdly dated. In some cases, there is evidence of futuristic advancement, such as orbiting condos. On the other hand, he writes about continuing problems in South Africa and the US/USSR standoff, which really take away from believability for me.

I'm reading:
EO Wilson's: Consilience. Just started

Robert Flynn's: Race, IQ and Jensen. Just started.

My school workload is so ridiculously easy I have to find other things to occupy my time. So I have a lot of time to do other things. I guess going to a dummy shool has its benefits. :)

At the moment I am reading Domsday 50 visions of the end of the world by Nigel Cawthorne.

Albert Camus, The outsider.

How do you like Contact?

I think it sucked big time mainly because of the religious undertone...well..not undertone...main theme.

Colloidal Minerals and Trace Elements: How to Restore the Body's Natural Vitality (http://www.amazon.com/Colloidal-Minerals-Trace-Elements-Vitality/dp/1594770239/sr=8-1/qid=1160902025/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8719653-0003131?ie=UTF8)

"Soul Music" by Terry Pratchett
"A Game of Thrones" by George R R Martin

:cool:

"The Pusuit if Victory; Life and Achievements of Hiratio Nelson" by Roger Knight
"Die Weltgeschichte in Zusammenhängen" by (forgot)

The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen

http://www.amazon.com/Argumentative-Indian-Writings-History-Identity/dp/0374105839

As India's multicultural society confronts violent sectarianism at home and a range of destabilizing forces internationally, these illuminating essays from Nobel Prize–winning economist Sen (most of which began as articles or lectures over the past decade) offer a timely and cogent examination of the country's long history of heterodoxy and public discourse. With sparkling erudition and crisp prose, Sen reminds readers of a capacious cultural legacy that has nourished a plethora of religious communities (including Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Parsee, Sikh and Baha'i), as well as a venerable line of atheist and materialist thought, while fostering ancient advances in science and mathematics, and inclusive theories of governance. Challenging the notion of the West as sole originator of liberal values, the book—which ranges over subjects as diverse as India's ancient calendars, nuclear arms policy, relationship with China, gender and class inequality, representations in the Western imagination and the competing national visions of Tagore and Gandhi—bears forcefully on contemporary debates over multiculturalism, secularism and postcolonial identity. Sen's lucid reasoning and thoroughgoing humanism, meanwhile, ensure a lively and commanding defense of diversity and dialogue.

An excellent read on Indian prolixity and its effects on the pluralistic nature of Indian society

"Substance and Shadow" by suhotra swami

Moving away from the topic of science, I should like to conclude the preface to this second edition by advising the reader that this book is not supposed to be a global survey of all philosophies or philosophical problems. Nor is it supposed to submerge you in abstract, technical complexities. It serves up what I hope are bite-sized samples from a select number of pots of controversy that have been cooking in philosophy for a long time. And alongside each sample, Substance and Shadow supplies the straight sauce of Vedic wisdom. You are invited to taste each sample first without, then with, the sauce. I think you'll find that when Vedic wisdom is added, philosophy satisfies as never before.

some abridged excerpts here (http://www.geocities.com/krisnossamone/substance_and_shadow.htm)

The problem with this thread is that everyone is so pretentious. Come on! Everyone is reading Marx, Camus, Samund Rushdie, Descartes, Bertrand Russel....give me a break!

Let's be honest. The last book I read was Von Neuman's War by John Ringo. It was about an invasion by self replicating machines. A nice bit of sci-fi escapism. I've also recently read Kildar by the same author. Both books were entertaining, but not too deep or philosophical.

Fritjov Capra's "The Web of Life'
Carl Sagan's 'Broca's Brain'
Kant's 'Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals'
n Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'...

And if everyone was being so pretentious they'd say they had already read Marx, Camus, Samund....as it is, they are actually being quite the opposite.

one of mark twains books

"Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card.
"Godel, Escher, and Bach" Hoftstadder.
"Nickle & Dimed".

I really am reading Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard. But that book is just so full of bullshit. It gives me a headache. :(

Kierkegaard is worse than Schopenhauer, and that is saying a lot, considering I refuted the latter by refusing to let him suck on my titties.

The Tale of Genji
The Republic

Still working on "The Second World War", by John Keegan. It's history. My cat ate a hole in the middle of Barbarossa.

Oniw17:

Great choices.

Oniw17:

Great choices.

Thank you, I'm starting to think that the Republic is the best book ever.

The Republic is truly a brilliant philosophical work. It was the first Platonic dialogue I read and one of my favourites of his.

The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays 1959-1987 (Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mythic-Dimension-Selected-1959-1987-Collected/dp/0060966122/sr=8-2/qid=1164012529/ref=sr_1_2/203-1898266-0805508?ie=UTF8&s=books

Suskind "Perfume" (again)
Gogol "Viy" (short story)
and L.H. Morgan "Ancient Society" (again)

Enid Blyton's "Five Get Into Trouble".

I'm struggling with it, though. Can't really wrap my mind around it.

Once I'm through with it, I intend to move on to Harlequin novels, starting with "The Italian Millionaire's Virgin Wife".

Wish me luck.

I'm finishing up the Dune series, currently reading God Emperor of Dune. I took a brief break to read the graphic novel Watchmen. It lived up to all the hype, best Graphic Novel I've ever read.

StaringIntoTheAbyss:

"Dune"? "Watchmen"? I LOVE YOU.

I'm finishing up the Dune series, currently reading God Emperor of Dune.

What a coincidence. I'm just starting on Dune. Heard the later books suck though?

Purple Hairstreak:

There is no such thing as a bad Frank Herbert "Dune" book.

Dune, Dune: Messiah, Children of Dune, God-Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune, are fantastic books.

His son and Kevin J. Anderson's books? Not as much, but decent SciFi.

But seriously, the most brilliant science fiction ever written is Frank Herbert's "Dune".

Dune was great. Has anyone read Pandora's Star and it's sequel Judas Unchained by Peter Hamilton? Excellent books.

I haven't, but I might check them out.

Yeah I'm liking God Emperor of Dune so far. It took a little getting used to, because all the characters that had been established in the first 3 books except for Leto II and one other character (don't wanna spoil anything) have been gone for about 3000 years and the culture has changed drastically.
I don't know, I guess I thought they would follow the Golden Path chronologically (which they did, they just skipped about 3000 years rather than picking up a year or two after Children of Dune). But the fact that they skipped so much time is making me curious as to what they thought is so much more important :D

1. The Beach - Alex Garland
2. Laborynth - Kate Mosse
3. Eragon (by someone..!)
4. Evil Star - Anthony Horowitz
5. my geography revision book which is mind numbingly boring

who cares about mid latitude depressions and anticyclonic gloom?

not me!

Just finished Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb (http://www.robinhobb.com/books-main.html). And I suppose it's about time. I think I bought the copy from her, had her sign it at the Book Festival ... man, was that eight years ago? The thing is that I'm generally not a reader of books that fall under the heading, "Fantasy". There are a few authors, though, whose works draw my attention despite the genre. Robin Hobb is one of them. I can't believe it took me so damn long to get around to this one. It took me a while with Assassin's Apprentice, too. Even the title grates a little bit. So I should have known better about Ship of Magic. As with any proper genre series, though, the book ties up no loose ends before the last page. That would simply be improper. I think my jacket copy blurb would be "Defiant, entertaining storytelling!" Oh, maybe that one's been used before by someone else. Of course, who the hell cares?

I'll rate them out of 5. 5 being the best.

In the past few weeks I've read -

Almost Heaven - David Fletcher 3
Them (Adventures with Extremists) - Jon Ronson 4
Voyageur - Robert Twigger 5
Call of the Wild - Guy Grieve 4.5
Are You Dave Gorman? - Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace 4

and I've been looking through

(Collins need to know) Outdoor Survival - John 'Lofty' Wiseman 3.5

I still need to get his SAS survival one, but I imagine it's much the same.

Still to read -

Attention All Shipping - Charlie Connelly
Vroom with a View - Peter Moore (then I'll have read all his books)
Diaries - Michael Palin (the size of it scares me, it's fecking huge)
and
The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin

Should keep me going 'til Christmas... but I'm planning a book buying extravaganza come Boxing Day.

I don't know, I guess I thought they would follow the Golden Path chronologically (which they did, they just skipped about 3000 years rather than picking up a year or two after Children of Dune). But the fact that they skipped so much time is making me curious as to what they thought is so much more important

3500 years of enforced peace (the Golden Path) is mind-numbingly boring. That's why.

That's sort of the point. Hope you've finished the book before you read this.

The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler

It's ok so far, but a little dull. It's a tad annoying the way he 'reminds you' every second page that humans are living outside their means in concern of oil and nobody's doing anything about it. I love it when he says all the shit that's going to go wrong and how badly we're screwed :)

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7203633/the_long_emergency

Just finished:

Clapton's Guitar
Why Gender Matters
The God Delusion
Breaking the Spell
The Long Tail
The Progress Paradox

Getting ready to start:

The Feeling of What Happens
Wealth of Nations

"Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film" by Maya Deren

As a filmmaker to be I've found this book to be encouraging and from the start giving me insights which I would probably have found after years of thinking.
Maya's philosophy on creating films is something worth reading, something revealing.

Book Description (from Amazon)
Until now, Maya Deren's essays on the art and craft of filmmaking have not been available in a comprehensive volume equally handy for students, film enthusiasts, and scholars. Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film contains all of Deren's essays on her own films as well as more general essays on film theory, the relation of film to dance, various technical aspects of film production, the distinction between amateur and professional filmmaking, and the famous 1946 chapbook titled "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film," which has been reset here for the first time. There are hard-to-find articles written for magazines and art journals, as well as lectures, Q&A sessions, program notes, and manifestoes. This book will be particularly welcomed by the large audience that saw Martina Kudlacek's documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," during its theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2002. The importance of Maya Deren's films and writings is further evidenced by the American Film Institute having named its highest award for independent filmmaking the "Maya Deren."

"Rabies" by Borislav Pekic.

Awesome!!!

just read "the stranger" for the first time - funny huh?
Anyway, I wasn't blown away -camus is pretty awesome, but the stranger didn't do much for me. Did anyone here really love this book? Why?

Now reading, "camus' hellenic sources" -don't know how accurate this can actually be regarding camus himself, but I don't care, it is very interesting. How many lifetimes can I need? I need an extra one just to go to the mediterranean and read greek stuff for a few years.

Also, "how (not) to speak of god".

About to open up Jorge luis Borges, selected non-fiction, seems interesting from the few things I have scanned out of it.

i have read "the caves of steel" and "the rest of the robots" by asimov


'Pebble in the sky' is a wonderfull book by Asimov. And who can forget 'Andromeda Strain'!! Right now im reading ' How the Irish Saved Civilization', Tom Clanceys 'Without Remorse', and William Shattners 'Tek War'!! lol

I'm strangely and curiously drawn into the 1998 (I think) revision of Hawking's A Brief History of Time. One of the things I'm getting from it, actually, is that more of what my generation takes for granted was, in fact, groundbreaking when put before the people during my lifetime. Abstract social comment, at least as it occurs to me at this very moment: No wonder people are disappointed.

I couldn't possibly explain it right now.

just read "the stranger" for the first time - funny huh?
Anyway, I wasn't blown away -camus is pretty awesome, but the stranger didn't do much for me. Did anyone here really love this book? Why?

The Stranger had some interesting things to say about it, but for the most part wasn't really the spokespiece for existentialism that most see it as.

Meursault didn't really make choices. In fact, he tended to avoid them. He just sorta went with the flow. And, I suppose, many think that this is what existentialism is.
Of course, it's not.

Meursault was damaged, in many ways. He was, so to speak, a physiolgical existentialist. He lived in the moment, surely. But not from choice.

I find it interesting how he convinced himself that it was foolish to think that he was being judged by the people at his mother's funeral, when, of course, he was being judged. He found this out the hard way at the end when he was convicted and sentenced to death, not for the murder of an Algerian (who were seen as less than human), but rather for not crying at his mother's funeral.


The Plague is far better in my opinion.

Those are the only two Camus books I've read. I've got the Fall around here somewhere, I should get to that one of these days.

The Plague is quite amazing.

Currently reading:
"Snow" by Orhan Pamuk.

Charles Elton-The Ecology of Invasions

I think i might revisit "Frankenstein"

Very good book...and nothing of what popular culture perceives it too be.

Origin of Species

http://www.heritagebks.com/wwii/nf176.jpg

"Hiroshima"

I gotta say the line between reality of the situation and sci-fi like imagery seems to intertwine at times. With every paragraph, I grow much more optimistic of the world I live in.

Frankenstein is one of the most brilliant books ever penned.

Currently reading The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman, having just finished Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. Working my way through the books from Christmas still. Another book I've read recently that I enjoyed was The Shadow of the Wind.

Im starting to read 'Through the Corner of his Eye' by Dean Koonts. I have to say, i cant put it down!!

just finished during last week:

Robin Cook - Crisis
Romain Sardou - Das dreizehnte Dorf
George Orwell - 1984
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451

Reading at the moment:

Patrick Süskind - Das Parfum
Patrick O'Brian - Post Captain
Robin Cook - Cromosome 6

This is a forum for intelligent people aint it! Well I'm reading Moby Dick at the mo, really slowly because of the uni work I have to do. Its good though I'm enjoying it. I do have alot more new books from Christmas waiting to be read, all novels. I don't read true life stuff, apart from autobiographies written in a sort of story way. So after Moby Dick I shall be reading "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer.

Im starting to read 'Through the Corner of his Eye' by Dean Koonts. I have to say, i cant put it down!!

I've read that about 3 times he's my favourite author!! Don't you just hate Enoch Cain he is the most evil fictional character ever, I just love to hate him.

?its "From the Corner of his Eye" isn't it

I am currently reading 'Dead Souls' by Nikolai Gogol and also a selection of short stories by Anton Chekhov, specifically 'A Dreary Story'. Gogol's poetry is quite amazing at times.

Day of the Dead - John Creed
Wilderness - Jim Morrison (not impressed as I thought I would be)

Jim Morrison wrote a book?

Is he, in fact, the Lizard King? Can he do anything?

Herodotus: The Histories
Being and Time by Heidegger

Jim Morrison wrote a book?

Is he, in fact, the Lizard King? Can he do anything?

Jim Morrison - Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison to be exact.

His dissociation made most of it impossible to understand without his mind. However, I do not think it was intended to be public.

Possibly it is coded in vMorrison 1.0 :confused:

(mostly poetry, btw)

"Rites and symbols of initiation. The mysteries of birth and rebirth" by Mircea Eliade

A very interesting book with much "food for thought"! Written about initiation rites and symbology of what we call primitive tribes. Can't put it down! Gives great insight into human societies.

Utopmk:

So I will take it that is a "yes"?

Next, by Michael Crichton. Interesting book about the dangers of bio-tech and the inadequacies of our legal system when it comes to dealing with such issues.

I just finished Philip K. Dick's "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", couldn't put it down! I recommend it to anyone who likes Sci-Fi as well breaking down the hidden meanings behind the genre itself and what Dick is implying.
Starting to read: Neuromancer by William Gibson. Has anyone read this book? Feedback would be great. I am taking a class; Social Functions of Science Fiction.

King, Stephen. Lisey's Story.

This is a difficult book. It was a gift, so I'm determined to read it. But I haven't appreciated Mr. King's work for years. And this one has done little to increase my esteem. It's actually a complicated story; I admit I still adore "The Body", and recall fondly a few of his short stories.

But, yeah. This one. It better get good. And fast.

Gilgamesh

There is a new book released it is called "Mastering Time Travel:Voyages Through Time" by Sapphire on Feb 09, 2007 (in lulu.com)

This book will teach you how to do time-travel yourself, and why it is possible, and a comprehensive book all about time travel.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Finished "Flatter Land", would tell you who wrote it, but already loaned it to a friend. Not sure what to start next.

There is a new book released it is called "Mastering Time Travel:Voyages Through Time" by Sapphire on Feb 09, 2007 (in lulu.com)

This book will teach you how to do time-travel yourself, and why it is possible, and a comprehensive book all about time travel.

Sounds a little like advertising.

I'm still reading War & Peace.

im currently reading the prestige by Christopher Priest.


though if you want to get technical im currenly reading probably a half a dozen books. ill start one, get bored with it, then read another, before going back to it and reading more....

right now im switching back and forth between "the prestige" and "Pride and Prejudice"
-amber-

H.P. Lovecraft

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

love that! im in the middle of the third book right now.

love that! im in the middle of the third book right now.

Hey I have seen the series and the Movie...should I read the book, is it any better?

Elements Volume 1(probably won't finish for a while though; I've been doing a lot of essays for school lately)

Hey I have seen the series and the Movie...should I read the book, is it any better?

the book is way better than the movie. though i do not know about the series. :) its a pretty quick read. and in my opinion is worth the time it will take. the first time i read the first book i read it in a day.

'Marvellous Escapes From Peril: As Told by Survivors' fascinating book published about 1915-20. First-hand accounts of 1) Pelee eruption 1902 (the escape of the Roddam) 2) Battle of Ulundi, 1879 3) Midair rescue of a steeplejack, 1909 4)The battle for Rangoon 5) Chicago Fire, 1871 6) The First Ironclad Fight 7) The Defence of the Lucknow Residency 1857 8) The Storming of Canton 9) Cholera in London 10) London Under Arms 1835 11) The Fall of Theebaw 12)The World's First Railway 13) Britain's worst mine disaster 14) The Johnstown Dam Burst 15) Indian Fighting 16) The Ashanti War 17) The loss of the La Bourgogne 18) The Bombardment of Acre 19) The Paris Bazaar Fire, 1902 20) The Dale Dyke Damburst 21) San Francisco Earthquake 1906 22) Defence of Mafeking 23) Rescuing survivors from shipwreck

1) The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
2) Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
3) The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Recently finished: Pushkin's full collection of works, Tolstoy's "Childhood," "Boyhood," "Youth," and Diderot's "Rameau's Nephew."

Currently reading: Italian folktales selected and translated by Italo Calvino.

1) The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
2) Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
3) The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Weird. I just read those in nearly the same order a few months ago. Good books, all.

I'm working on "Mayflower", "Descartes' Error", and a lecture series on Mozart's Operas.

Dawkins is too religiously obsessed with christianity for me.
Reading "Lavondyss" by Robert Holdstock again, one of my favourite books.

reading catch 22,didnt like it so much for the first half but its getting better.

Karen Armstrong, Islam: A Short History.

I've had it for a while and never finished reading it. The primary text is only about 180 pages, and it strikes me that it is really hard to compress Islam into "a short history". But she is, after all, Karen Armstrong; few, if any, do such things better. Highly recommended.

"Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet" by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Foreword by the Dalai Lama

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

im actual not reading any books at the moment. but i am reading a magazine :)

martial arts illustrated vol 19 no 11.

it does have stories in the book and some very good infomation. i enjoy the indigenous martial arts column most, this months is about "singlestick" the old uk stickfighting tradition fascinating stuff.

tickets for seni 07 ar availible now from ticketmaster get yours if you live near london, its held in the excel arena near docklands, 19th 20th of may!


peace.

im actual not reading any books at the moment. but i am reading a magazine :)

martial arts illustrated vol 19 no 11.

it does have stories in the book and some very good infomation. i enjoy the indigenous martial arts column most, this months is about "singlestick" the old uk stickfighting tradition fascinating stuff.

tickets for seni 07 ar availible now from ticketmaster get yours if you live near london, its held in the excel arena near docklands, 19th 20th of may!


peace.

This (http://ejmas.com/ejmasframe.htm) e-journal has quite a few interesting articles(though I haven't seen anything about Baranta yet) in it, if you enjoy MA literature.

"Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Retrospect and prospect"

http://books.google.com/books?id=H8dzQJlj3YoC&dq=Hiroshima+and+Nagasaki+books&pg=PP1&ots=jY5yx-Am1h&sig=UVmq5rSx3re7aZRf98WgRCSXiyk&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-US%253Aofficial%26hs%3DjCv%26q%3DHiroshima%2Band%2 BNagasaki%2Bbooks%26btnG%3DSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1

http://thealewife.typepad.com/weblog/images/liu1_6.jpg

The story of extermination of Japanese culture using nuclear bombs by USA.

The burning and evaporating bodies of children, men, and women.

And, prospects to employ this nuclear force in the future.

A Briefer History of Time - Hawking & Mlodinow
War of the World - Niall Ferguson
Weighing the Soul - Len Fisher
OKB Sukhoi - Yefim Gordon et al
Soviet X-planes - Bill Gunston & Yefim Gordon
and about to start on the complete works of Shakespeare.

To only name a few:

1) Fahrenheit 451
2) Magic Time Trilogy
3) Downsiders
4) Feeders
5) Memoirs of a Geisha
6) Ellen Foster
7) I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
8) Dean Koontz books
9) Ninteen Eighty-Four
10) Jane Eyre
11) Anne Rice's books
12) To Kill A Mockingbird
13) Of Mice and Men
14) Holes
15) Harry Potter
16) We
17) A Tale of Two Cities
18) The Secret Garden
19) Kite Runner
20) Water For Elephants

Now reading? :bugeye:

---
I'm rereading "Mythago wood" by Robert Holdstock

"Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card.

Just finished Imajica by Clive Barker.

Now reading: Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter.
The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury.

I hate books.

Even Sartre?

I like Sartre.

Just read The Antichrist, by Lawrence M. Nelson. It's really hilarious, at least until you realize the author is quite serious.

SPOILER: The antichrist, according to Nelson, is the papacy. While even I could eventually come to accept this assertion in context, Nelson's "logic" is so vapid that all he really accomplishes is reminding the rest of us that "Christian thinker" is a term which has long outlived its value.

There's nothing I can do about this guy. It's up to the Christians to put down this kind of crap. Seriously, if I was the alien anthropologist who found the remnants of human civilization, and all I could find of the Christian record was the Bible and books like this, I would have a hard time figuring out if I was seeing a legitimate historical presence in Christianity or the longest-running comedy in Broadway history.

Finished a few graphic novels recently -

Guy Delisle - Pyongyang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyongyang_%28comic%29
Guy Delisle - Shenzhen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen_%28comic%29
Pyongyang's the one to go for if you do. I loved it. Shenzhen's good too, but a bit lacking and isn't so interesting.

Marjange Satrapi - Persepolis (1+2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(graphic_novel)

Cool book (graphic novel again) about a girl growing up during the Iranian revolution. Her travels and education in Europe, moving back to Iran and subsequently her marriage and the changes in her country. Recommended :)

I'm about to start -

Joe Sacco - Palestine

The guy's a legendary graphic novelist, so I thought I should check some stuff out. His style's fairly unique, too.

Normal books I've yet to read -
The Aquariums of Pyongyang - Kang Chol-Hwan (trans by Pierre Rigoulot)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aquariums_of_Pyongyang

The Idiot - Dostoevsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idiot_%28novel%29
I enjoyed Crime and Punishment, so thought I'd give more of his stuff a go.
Found a Wordsworth Edition (blue paperback) copy in Borders so grabbed it. The Worsdworth Edition collection is pretty cool and full of classics. The books are cheap - between £1.50 and £2.50 really, so ideal if you're skint and want a new copy.

I'm currently reading 3 books at this time (somewhat of a rotating thing):

Daniel C. Dennett - "Darwin's Dangerous Idea"

Richard Southwood - "The Story of Life"

Eric Kandel, James Schwartz and Thomas Jessell - "Principles of Neural Science"

Slaughterhouse 5 satirical, hilarious, tragic, and wonderful.
my uncle has perfect pitch, and can read close to 2000 words a minute.

Manseau, Peter and Jeff Sharlet. Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible.

From the founders of the neat-o website by the same name (KillingtheBuddha.com (http://killingthebuddha.com/)), this truly amazing 2004 release from Free Press combines the road tales of Manseau and Sharlet's cross-country search for true believers with Biblical retellings by A.L. Kennedy, Peter Trachtenberg, Charles Bowden, Randall Kenan, and more.

To cite the introduction:

What do you say about yourself, for example, to explain the things you do? Forget the hypothetical--let's start here, with this book. We had more reasons for making it than there are words between the covers. One of us is a Jew raised by a Pentecostal Hindu Buddhist, one is a son of a Catholic priest and former nun. The priest kept the vestments in the front hallway and held mass in the dining room; the Hindu Buddhist asked Charismatic Christians to pray over her as she lay dying ....

.... Like the original, this Bible crosses freely between genres, between history and prophecy, confession and myth. Seven of the contributors responded to our call with nonfiction: Genesis, Exodus, and Ruth as personal investigations; Leviticus, Job, and Isaiah as critical riffs; Song of Songs as a love letter. Six responded with fiction: one book of biblical history is revised (Samuel), the rants of three prophets are translated and improved (Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah), and books of the New Testament (the Gospels and Revelation) are entirely made up. Threaded through the chorus of our makeshift choir are our own counterharmonies, thirteen postcards from our trip across this strange, godless, pious land: not so much walking the Bible as stalking its shadow. Every one of these psalms is 100 percent true, pure American revelation. (Manseau and Sharlet, 2-5)

Amazon, public library, best friend's bookshelf: raid whatever and wherever you need in order to get hold of this book.

Really. It's just that good.

I like Sartre.

Sartre's the bomb!

Funny though, every copy of his wonderful books i've had, i've lost before finishing - c'est la vie typique!

Christopher Hitchens: God is not Great.

Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim

James Fallows: How the Media Undermine American Democracy

Last interesting read- Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Most recent not so interesting read- Joan Borysenko's A Woman's Journey to God. Its taking me a lot longer to read the latter because I keep putting it down and not coming back to it. Plus in school now reading the ever popular Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children and Mosby's Guide to Physical Examination.

dean koontz = the husband, which was a good book if you like kidnapp plots.

Germinal by Emile Zola. Good, very strong emotions and imagery.

i am now reading a book about munchausen's by proxy which is a mental condition that perants get.

I'm just reading Stephen King's "It". I bought it in an airport when my flight got delayed, and now I'm finishing it.

Tales of the Shaolin Monastery by Hongjun Wang and C. Lomsdale

Dave Barry is not taking this sitting down by Dave Barry

the lord of the rings and the wheel of time both series

Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology) by Roy A. Rappaport

I hate books.

i feel sorry for you

George Elliot: Middlemarch

Just finished E.Cohen Supreme Command

Now reading Lee Child

plato and platypus


AMAAAZing.

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Daniel Goleman

Just finished The Poisonwood Bible and Freakanomics... both awesome books. Plan on finishing Finding Darwin's God... one of these days.

I just started Swan Song (http://www.amazon.com/Swan-Song-Robert-McCammon/dp/0671741039/ref=pd_bbs_2/105-5133357-8528439?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183149967&sr=8-2). I just finished The Road (http://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307265439/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-5133357-8528439?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183150048&sr=1-2)

http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Myth-Think-Right-Wrong/dp/0060813970/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6523281-7488048?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183150472&sr=8-1

Oh yeah! Speaking of Swan's, I started reading Swann's Way by Marcel Proust... I actually bought all of the volumes of the book Search for Lost Time and it will probably take me a few years to read, lol. He is such a fascinating writer.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series of books.
Absolutely brilliant.

A Caress of Twilight By Laurell K. Hamilton
Creativity: Theory, History, Practice By Robert Pope

The Love Sonnets of Mirza Ghalib

Ghar mein tha kya, kih tera gham use ghaarat karta
woh jo rakhte the hum ek hasrat-e taamir, so hai

What was left in the home that your sorrow would have destroyed it
The desire to build that we had is still there

the historian! which is excellent

The Poincare' Conjecture by Donal O'Shea.

Just finished rereading "Mythago wood" again.

Just finished rereading "Mythago wood" again.

That was a wonderful read!! I'm glad you recommended it to me back then.

Currently devouring: Hoffmann's tales, Carlo Gozzi's plays, Muratov's Images of Italy. I am getting incredible insight into Italy's history and culture, everything about Italian art and literature is suddenly falling into place. I'm in love with Renaissance again.

I am also giggling about Emasculation of the Unicorn, written by C. T. B. Harris, Ph. D. I'll make a thread about this later.

"Lavondyss" is even better. It's the second book and the best in Mythago series.

A Spot Of Bother--by Mark Haddon
and his other good book..
The Curious Incident Of the dog in the night time...

The Client
by some attorney I forget his name.

Star Wars Eposide II: Attack of the clones
I don't know the authors name

...Nothing else atall!!

Please feel sorry for me all you wish. Books, I hate for some reason. There are some books, that without doubt can cast you into hatred.

The Proud Bastards- One Marine's Journey from Parris Island through the Hell of Vietnam

E. Michael Helms

On page 50 or so of Richard Dawkin's Climbing Mount Improbable. So far a good book. Richard is so good at talking about zoology. I'm on the chapter about spiders. So interesting how they work. It's amazing to learn about how they build webs. And yet spiders build webs through their impossibly complex ways constantly throughout the world. His books are frickin' awesome.

Finished The lady in the lake by Raymond Chandler, now reading The little sister.

Next, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

America Libre (http://raulramos.com/A_Inside_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm), by Raul Ramos y Sanchez.

Author's synopsis:

Time: the second decade of the 21st century
As the immigration crisis reaches the boiling point, once-peaceful Latino protests explode into rioting. Cities across the nation are in flames. Anglo vigilantes bent on revenge launch drive-by shootings in the barrios, wantonly killing young and old. Exploiting the turmoil, a congressional demagogue succeeds in passing legislation that transforms the nation’s teeming inner-city barrios into walled-off Quarantine Zones. In this chaotic landscape, Manolo Suarez is struggling to provide for his family. Under the spell of a beautiful Latina radical, the former U.S. Army Ranger eventually finds himself questioning his loyalty to his wife—and his country.

see RaulRamos.com (http://raulramos.com/A_Inside_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm)

The link includes the first chapter.

• • •

I'm torn. It's a fine story, but written in a voice I've never done well, and thus am wary of. That I see some of the problems I have with my own voice in the narrative is confusing; I don't know whether to be reassured that I've been too exacting, or affirmed that there's something amiss about the narrative voice.

The book has been picked up by Grand Central, the former Warner Books. I'm thinking this could lead to bigger things, like a movie. And that, folks, will be a hell of a show.

America Libre (http://raulramos.com/A_Inside_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm), by Raul Ramos y Sanchez.

Author's synopsis:



The link includes the first chapter.

• • •

I'm torn. It's a fine story, but written in a voice I've never done well, and thus am wary of. That I see some of the problems I have with my own voice in the narrative is confusing; I don't know whether to be reassured that I've been too exacting, or affirmed that there's something amiss about the narrative voice.

The book has been picked up by Grand Central, the former Warner Books. I'm thinking this could lead to bigger things, like a movie. And that, folks, will be a hell of a show.

Wait...are you, Paul Ramos Sanchez? The pics in his bio don't look like you. If you are not the author, why does your post make it sound as if it is:confused:

If it is you, then fucking well done!

Just started reading a book I bought on last Saturday Markt:
Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf

Super..!!

Just started reading a book I bought on last Saturday Markt:
Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf

Super..!!

Maalouf is great! I like his books! A new vision on history!

I am reading Franz Kafka's 'The proces' again.
I am a total Kafka admirer!
The way he plays with reality and fiction is magic!
Everybody: read Kafka

and Oh tanks Avatar I am going to read the Book Of Tea...I know the book but never red it and I am addicted to tea!
Thanks for reminding me!

"The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova,

Has anyone read this? it rocks I laid it down the other night at the end of a scary chapter and I actually kept waking during the night thinking there was a vampire in the room. This is not my usual fare as I prefer history but it's a fantastic vampire yarn.

Sporting Body, Sporting Mind. An Athlete's Guide to Mental Training by John Syer and Christopher Connolly.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I've decided to read as many Pulitzer winners as possible.

Pity the nation By Robert Fisk.

Although i didn't get through his last book, this one seems to be slightly more interesting.

American Gods and Anansi Boys, both by Neil Gaiman.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

Ah one of my favourites and quite romantic....

Supercontinent by Ted Neild - a gift from a very special person.

American Gods and Anansi Boys, both by Neil Gaiman.

Lucky you. Anansi Boys is a far easier read, but both are great. I love Neil Gaiman even though he's hard work sometimes, but he has a knack of making the impossible quite believable.

Yeah Gaiman is a master storyteller. Enjoy his work

atm i'm reading Kingdom By The Sea - Paul Theroux

I have read some of Theroux' more exotic works about afrika, asia and south-america, and I was interested in how he would portray Britain, which isn't all that exotic :)
So far I'm not dissapointed. It's a funny book full of sharp observations en some good insights, even though the subject-matter doesn't interest me as much as his other, more exotic, books

Currently reading War & Peace for the 5th time, a book everyone should read at least once before they suffle of this mortal coil. It's a hard slog but there are some passages that have some profound and insightful thoughts.

so long and thanks for all the fish

1603:The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft and the Birth of the Stuart Era, Christopher Lee.

The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantrease

Barker, Clive. Days of Magic, Nights of War.

It is the Second Book of the Abarat (http://www.thebooksofabarat.com/content4/xbarat99.html); yes, I'm behind on my reading schedule.

Also in the queue is Thomas Mullen's The Last Town on Earth (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6133594), and an unpublished manuscript from a local mystery writer (http://shootingshrink.com/). I'm also preparing to read through Raul Ramos y Sanchez's America Libre (http://raulramos.com/A_Inside_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm) a second time in order to review it online in honor of its transfer to Grand Central Publishing.

• • •

A Note to Tablariddim

Nope, not me. Sorry I missed that note for so long. Truth is I've been supposed to write a review of the book for a while, but because I ran into the problem with the narrative voice, I've been reluctant to do so. Ordinarily, I should be jealous that someone else succeeded where I have been failing, except that I cannot explain the "success" of the narrative voice. The fact is that he simply didn't relent; I would have given up somewhere in the first third of that book. I mean, I've met the guy, I've drank with the guy ... (okay, I drank while he sat and patiently listened to me ramble about something) ... and I like the guy. He's smart. And nice. And I've been tripping over this review because ... well ... it's not the review I wanted to give him.

Started reading Oblomow again.


FFS GET OUT OF BED *sigh*

:)

I've tried it a couple of years ago, but didn't get far...

Just finished reading all these in 3 days

Lee Child: running blind
Drew Curtis: It's not News, It's Fark
Noam Chomsky: What we Say goes
Star Trek: Avenger

James Patterson - London Bridges

Gone- Jonathan Kellerman.

I have a soft spot for Alex Delaware

And I have a HARD spot for Milo ... just kidding:o

I highly recommend to read Eduard Radzinskij book Stalin.

'cat and mouse' by james petterson

Currently reading:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51O1GU-T3jL._SS500_.jpg
It portrays a crazy future vaguely reminiscent of Douglas Adams, yet somehow almost believable.

Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man" - just finished. Death is unfairly dismissed, but gets his job back. The Last Waltz. Initial apparition of the Death of Rats. The wizards bury their undead at a crossroads, with a stake through his heart. The crossroads chosen, nearest Unseen University, is the main intersection of the city. Middle of the afternoon, traffic backed up. With a bunch of celery on his chest, because the go-fer couldn't find a steak on short notice. He digs his way out later.

"The wizards said the the University stood on magical ground and was therefore exempt from taxation and anyway you couldn't put a tax on knowledge.

The Patrician said you could. It was two hundred dollars per capita; if per capita was a problem de capita could be arranged."

Last read: "Small Gods"

Next: "Maskuerade" (sp?)

Favorite so far: "Hogfather"

Yeah, it's on a kick. They're about eight bucks apiece, mass market papaerback. There are about 35 of them, so far. I've read 8.

In between: "Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community" (Wendell Berry)