A fireplace, hot chocolate, and a good read

[prof]

Being a teacher I tend to read a lot, mostly non-fiction. Here's a list of my latest books I recommend:

1) The Demon-Haunted World- by Carl Sagan
Carl comes to the rescue of reason and rationality from the pseudoscience, New Age thinking, and the fundamental zealotry that surrounds us.

2) Disinformation: You are being lied to- by the disinformation company ltd. (www.disinfo.com)
Great book about media distortion, historical whitewashes and cultural myths.

3) Killing Pablo- by Mark (Black Hawk Down) Bowden
A book that exposes the hunt for Pablo "the cocaine king" Escobar

4) Stupid White Men...updated edition- by Michael Moore
A lot of you have probably read it. A book about the state of America. Funny, informative plus the odd rant here and there.

5) What if...? Book 1 and 2.- edited by Robert Cowley
Essays by military historians who imagine what might have been during crucial moments in our history.

Anyone read a good book recently?

 

[Bboy]

5) What if...? Book 1 and 2.- edited by Robert Cowley
Essays by military historians who imagine what might have been during crucial moments in our history.

Now that sounds like an interesting premise. Can you list some examples of the moments in history they cover.

Just got done reading The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, an excellent read on the events of and leading up to the first month of WWI.

 

[onthebottom]

A couple light reads

I'm reading Arab and Jew by David Shipler. Very depressing in that these two people have so much racism and absolutism that I don't know how they will ever get along.

Before that I read: The Threatening Storm by Stephen Pollack making the case for invading Iraq. Not a bad read, he's pretty objective in making the case and describing all the other options in detail.

And before that: Abraham, a journey to the heart of three faiths by Bruce Feiler. A great book about the birth of a single GOD and Abraham being the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

And before that I read the six books about WWII by Winston Churchill. An awesome read with an obvious British view of WWII. (about 3,000 pages, not for the weak of heart)

I think I need a Tom Clancy novel to lighten the load a little.

OTB

 

[gar]

if you want to read fiction

You have to read Alistair MacCleod's "No Great Mischief". His writing style is deceptively simple--a sign of a great craftsman. Easy the best book I've read in years.

 

[elaine]

Die like the Carp
By Harry Gordon

Japanese prison camp during the second world war, very good, a surving campee(are they called campee's) tells his story.

And for the mathematics lover for innumeracy,

Longing for the Harmonies- Plain and simple modern physics,
Frank Wilczek, not a hard to read like universe in a nutshell

 

[Scarey]

hi sheik

you have read Red Rabbit? Was it any good? Got it for Christmas but have not started reading it yet.I love Clancy's Novels and have read pretty well all of them.

 

[xarir]

I dunno Sheik - I can't say I was much enamoured by Clancy's latest opus nor the one previous (The Bear and The Dragon). He seems to have written himself out these days - no where else to take his Jack Ryan story. But one thing is certain - you can't beat Clancy when it comes to things military.

I recently read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. This is without question, one of the best books I've ever read. (This is coming from a guy who spends more than $100 per month on new books. Only thing I really spend more on is the hobby!) This is not a normal story - in chapter 1 a little girl is raped and murdered. From there we're taken through the world over the years as she sees it from her version of heaven. She watches her family cope with the loss; she watches her sister and her brother grow up without her; she watches her best friends go out into the world. It's decidely an odd topic for a book, but Sebold really makes it works. Fantastic stuff.

Also recently read A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsen. This details one day in the old Soviet gulags. Interesting stuff. Hard to imagine that Solzhenitsen (and thousands of others) endured this life for years on end.

Currently reading both Bush At War by Bob Woodward and Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Lou Gerstner. Bush At War chronicles the first 100 days after Sept 11. Quite interesting to see how things turned out. The Bush Administration is portrayed as a bunch of intelligent people who really know nothing about foreign policy and how to implement it. The one exception is Colin Powell, but the SecState is more or less an outsider from the beginning and thus is rendered ineffective through many (most) of the issues. Lou Gerstner is the former CEO of IBM. When he took over, IBM was on the brink of bankruptcy. Most financial analysts had written the company off. Gerstner turned the whole thing around and returned the company to fortune.

I also keep a selection of Shakespeare on my Palm Pilot. Helps me pass the time when I'm in between meetings, in the airport lounge, waiting for people etc. I'm studying Hamlet right now. Recently completed Romeo & Juliet. My favourite is Macbeth though. I love the dark aspects of it. (Hmm ... is that bad?)

 

[elaine]

Merry wives of Windsor

If you want a real mans novel/play to read form Shakespear pick up Merry wives of Windsor, had me crying and laughing, he really hits home how silly men can get when attracted to a woman.
And also how cruel woman can get when they get caught in their own emotions for another man.

Its worth the read

 

[Big Bear]

Old is new again

I've recently started re-reading P.J. Woodhouse Jeeves books. They are wonderfully entertaining about a way of life that has been lost. The people in it are wonderful. Also have been reading Rumpole of The Bailey books. Another English set but again a great read.

 

[AnonSP]

Red Rabbit-I do not recommend this book. I don't know who edited it but there are so many mistakes in this book; geographical, character and dates through out the book are continously incorrect.
No action, no suspence.

Why I Hate Canadians by Will Ferguson-Great book. Polital essay that really makes you proud to be Canadian. Very easy read.

 

[prof]

More books...

-It's great to see that people are still reading...after this I'm going to log on at Amazon and purchase some of the books mentioned here. Thanks everyone.

-Bboy, in the books "What if...." they cover events such as Alexander the Great what if he didn't die, The Spanish Armada wins!, Robert E. Lee humbles the union, Japan wins at Midway, Chiang Kai-shek defeats the commies...etc...you get the picture.

-a few more good reads (about Japan):

1) Tokyo Underworld- by Robert Whiting
A great book about post-WW2 in the Japanese underworld. This book follows the life and times of Nick Zappetti as the Mafia boss of Tokyo.

2) Samurai- by Saburo Sakai with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito
A book about one of Japan's greatest fighter pilot (64 kills in WW2) as told by himself. Very insightful and from a Japanese perspective. His survival at the end of the war reads like a Hollywood movie. I highly recommend this book.

 

[Bboy]

Re: More books...

Bboy, in the books "What if...." they cover events such as Alexander the Great what if he didn't die, The Spanish Armada wins!, Robert E. Lee humbles the union, Japan wins at Midway, Chiang Kai-shek defeats the commies...etc...you get the picture.

Thanks Prof they sound really interesting I shall check them out!

 

[onthebottom]

Sheik

I highly recommend the WC books, it's a commitment but you will learn something and feel like your in his mind at the time.

I'd buy the old red hardbacks (published about 1950 - 1953), you can find them used on Amazon for about 5 bucks. It's a series of 6 books, the funny thing is I bought the first 5 at an estate sale and thought that's all there were. I realized my mistake when the 5th book ended at D-Day, I knew there was a little more of the story left to tell. I bought the 6th book (for which I would have paid almost anything) for 4.50 on Amazon and spent 5.00 on shipping. And it matches the first 5!

Enjoy the read!

OTB

 

[xarir]

It seems many of my fellow booklovers are buying on Amazon. Out of curiosity, do you find Amazon to be better than indigo.ca? Cheaper? Better selection? Better service?

In a related vein, I've never bought anything from these guys, but it's a great website with good author interviews. And it's clear that the owners love their books.

http://www.powells.com/

 

[gar]

Lovely bones

I found the impassive voice alittle irritating--she accepts her fate too easily,considering the heinous crime and her unrequited life. I guess this was the author's intention, making our outrage even greater.The section where she manages to connect with her old boyfriend is heartening,joyous and the highight of this novel. Still a worthwhile read.

 

[drg]

My favourite in the last year was:

The Informant - A true Story By Kurt Eichenwald

A real insight into the workings and shenanigans at a large corporation and the human pshyche.

Another favourite was:

The Hot Zone By Richard Preston

A real scary novel about ebola and the potential of this plague.

The informant is as good as any Grisham novels. The Hot Zone is as good as Chriton novel. Except that they are both true stories.

 

[Prophet]

Re: Other Non-Fiction

There is a great book called Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos. The book is about how the general public uses mathematics (in particular probability) in an erroneous manner. You won't ever just accept numbers at face value again.

gypsy

I won this book in a high school math contest 20 years ago. The title has stayed in my vocabulary, and the book is one that is always on my mind.

I could list all sorts of things I'm reading currently, but most notable,

The Fateful Triangle, Noam Chomsky (since revised) analysing the relationship between the US, Israel and the Palestians and why peace does not come

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Architect but a Dutch author whose name escapes me. Published by Pepin, orginally MIT Press. Wittgensteins one architectural project was his sister's house in Vienna. It remains a classic of modernis style. Lots of pictures, no nudes, except for the occasional Klimt.

And Where Were You Adam? Heinrich Boll. I'm working my way through this Nobel prize winning author. Lots of good German liberal outlook on the absurdity of war.

and I'm also reading some plays by Peter Weiss, who most notably wrote the play Marat/Sade, made into a movie by Peter Brooke.

I have a few mainstream books sitting in a pile...

 

[onthebottom]

Re: Re: Other Non-Fiction

Lots of good German liberal outlook on the absurdity of war.

Wow, I can't think of any people less qualified to make that observation, OK maybe the Japanese.

OTB

 

[Prophet]

Re: Re: Re: Other Non-Fiction

Wow, I can't think of any people less qualified to make that observation, OK maybe the Japanese.

OTB

I should have pointed out that this can be typical of "post-war" German writing.

 

[Will Iam Hurt]

Books read recently

A novel of 356 pages by Chang-rae Lee called a Gesture Life. About a Korean raised in Japan but is living in the States after WWII erasing his foreignness and apparently becomes a respected entity of the suburban bourgeoisie. Lee continues on with his theme of identity and exile. Story cuts back and forth from the presnt with his one love encounter and his concern with his adopted teenage daughter and his romantie involvement with a Korean "comfort woman" during the war. TALK mag's best book of 1999. Check it out. Another Non-fic trying to dig into is Interviews with Edward Said edited by G. Viswanathan.

P>S> Thanks prof for checking my posting. Will