Exterior Ballistics With Applications: Gjergj Klimi. Can't recommend it enough. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! (Haven't got to the end yet, but I'm fairly sure the butler didn't do it).
The Armlet of the Gods The Armlet of the Gods, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. No, I'm not prepared to recommend it. Rather, I've had this copy for twenty-four years; it's probably the book that opened me to high fantasy when I was a kid. But, in retrospect, it's been a hard read because, frankly, it's terrible. Or maybe not; that's the thing. Eshbach was born in 1910 and grew up reading and imitating pulp fantasy from the heroic days of Howard, the scary gloom of Lovecraft. This book was published when the man was seventy-six; it is obviously a throwback to that earlier form of adventure writing. And in that context, it is at least a mildly entertaining read. Still not enough to recommend it. I'm just revisiting something I haven't really given any attention in years.
Started reading Blindness by Jose Saramago. Pretty interesting concept about people suddenly turning blind, but the blindness in this case seemingly has a deeper meaning to it than just the physical state of being blind, or something like that. @.@
Cold War Tech War: The Politics of America's Air Defense, Randall Whitcomb. How the USA, after abandoning its pre-war plans to invade Canada*, instead conspired to destroy the Canadian aerospace industry (with the connivance [witting or unwitting] of certain Canadian politicians) in a quest to become the West's main defence contractors. Very frightening, and extremely eye-opening. * Yes really! (Well, okay they were contingency plans, but they were ready, just in case). And I just bought Infinity, The Quest to Think the Unthinkable (Brian Clegg) a history of infinity and its application. Although my sister did suggest it might take a long time to read...
At Home: A short history of private life by Bill Bryson. I love Bryson. He's one of the most brilliant non-fiction writers of all time (IMHO). This book is, thus far, no disappointment. His witty prose and thorough research makes each little tidbit of history entertaining and informative. I highly recommend it. ~String
"Shop Class as Soulcraft" - Mathew Crawford Initially avoided, a couple of years ago when it came out, based on reviews; given to me by my brother, it has turned out to be a great read. The guy writes in sentences, one polished and pithy sentence after another, so the big picture is filled in point by point - but there is one. The tone is unusual; at first appearing to be a lack of tone control, it is not - the jagged rhythm is often a smooth and intellectual setup to a short-word punch, the abrupt transitions from academic vocabulary purposeful and effective. Not always, maybe - he joins Norman Maclean in the thinking and expression, not the beauty of the prose. The first two sentences of three consecutive paragraphs, from somewhere in the early middle of the book (about a third into the overall argument, just after the intro of the major references, and about age 17) "Like building houses, mathematics is constructive: every element is fully within one's view, and subject to deliberate placement. In a sense, then, a mathematical representation of the world renders the world as something of our own making. - " "Because the stochastic arts diagnose and fix things that are variable, complex, and not of our own making, and therefore not fully knowable, they require a certain disposition toward the thing you are trying to fix. This disposition is at once cognitive and moral. - - " "During those interludes when the Bug ran, I acquired a taste for driving sideways. In a rear engine car, you can easily make the tail slide, especially if it has a swing axle suspension. - - "
Shame on me for not paying closer attention to my own subforum. I read that book two years ago and it's one of my all-time favorites. My favorite line is when the Alchemist offers the protagonist some wine and, always wary of a trick, he says, "I thought you Muslims don't drink alcohol?" The alchemist replies, "It isn't what men put into their mouths that's evil. It's what comes out of them that is." (I haven't got the book here so those quotes are not word-for-word.) My wife specialized in Latin American literature and, specifically, Magical Realism, when she was writing her master's thesis in literature. Unfortunately my head blew up before I got halfway through the book that was the subject of her thesis, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. But I do love Coelho and I also recommend Veronika Decides to Die. Selling sixty million copies, The Alchemist is one of the most popular novels ever written. It has been translated into 67 languages, the Guinness record for a living author. Born in Brazil in 1947, Coelho was so introverted and misunderstood as a child that his parents put him in a mental institution. He eventually succumbed to their wishes and entered law school, but he dropped out and became a hippie, traveling the world and immersing himself in the counterculture. He was a successful songwriter for several years but his lyrics offended Brazil's military rulers in the 1970s and he was arrested and tortured. Always creative, he worked as an actor, a journalist and a theater director. After walking a 500-mile pilgrimage in Spain, during which he had some of the experiences that informed The Alchemist, he finally returned to the passion that had so alarmed his parents and became a full-time writer in 1986. He has published 26 books, selling in aggregate more than 100 million copies in more than 150 countries, and is the all-time best-selling Portuguese-language author.
Just finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw...Very amusing to me, but then I suppose that might be the chef in me. Currently, I've stooped to sci-fi...and am almost finished with Book 4 of the Harry Potter series. I started Book 1 two weeks ago.. haha.
"The Master and His Emissary" by Iain McGilchrist. By sheer good luck begun immediately after "Shop Class as Soulcraft" previous. A tome that puts a physical and neurological foundation under that book, and much more - half technical, dry, difficult, and profound analysis of serious implication.
Fresh library meat. "The Myth of Male Power" - Warren Farrell "The End of Certainty" - Ilya Prigogine
Note to the previous poster. That's a video. A music video. Not a book. Currently reading - The Physics of Super Heroes (James Kakalios), The Musashi Flex and Brother Death (both Steve Perry), TSR2: Britain's Lost Bomber (Damien Burke) TSR2: Britain's Lost Cold War Strike Aircraft (Tim McLelland) American Secret Projects: Bombers, Attack Aircraft and Anti-submarine Aircraft 1945 to 1975 (Tony Buttler). Yes folks, Amazon took another stock hit in the last week. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Saint Paul in Britain or The Origin of British as a pose to Papal Christianity by Reverend Richard Willams Morgan Best non-fiction druid book out there imho.
Boyd: a biography of John Boyd "The fighter pilot who changed the art of war", the man responsible for the OODA Loop and who was instrumental in the design criteria (and USAF requirement for) the F-16 and what turned into the F-18. Veteran, Gavin Smith: SF novel recommended by, among others Richard Morgan. Good enough source for me. The Trinity Vector, Steve Perry: another SF novel. Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding: a steampunk romp. Hurricane, Leo McKinstry: a "biography" of the Hurricane fighter. The Second Book of General Ignorance, Johns Lloyd and Mitchinson: spawned from the TV series QI. Panzer IV vs Char B1 bis, Steve Zaloga; a technical/ historical/ operational comparison between two of the tanks involved in the invasion of France 1940. Student Cookbook: well, you have to eat sometime (apparently).
I'm re-reading The Divided Self by R.D Laing. Unfortunately it is still very relevant to a lot of the struggles I'm going through with trying to figure out who the hell I am. It is very lucid prose and I'm thankful for that. A lot of writers who deal in these concepts can obfuscate to the point of becoming impenetrable. Also an old Psychology textbook that appears to be written for the eleventh or twelve grade level. It is not terribly exciting but it's good to refresh myself with the basics. It'll be back on my shelf tomorrow when I go back to the library and try to dig out something more engrossing.
