What Are You Reading? vX.x

[CrescentMoonie]

Been on a nonfiction kick recently with things like Inventology (Pagan Kennedy), Originals (Adam Grant), The Industries of the Future (Alec Ross), The Inevitable (Kevin Kelly), Sprint (Jake Knapp) and Choose Yourself (James Altucher).

Most of them focus on how ideas and inventions come about with a dose of trying to forecast the near future of technology and industry.

[Chief Rum]

I haven't read those books, but I know of some of those authors and love the ideas they espouse and put out there.

[Umbrella]

I'm reading The Longest Winter right now. It's about the Battle of the Bulge. Turns out the day I started reading it, the main character, Lyle Bouck, died. Weird.

[CrescentMoonie]

If you want something that is fairly unique as a cold weather, read it while you're huddled in front of the fire escape, Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Just don't watch the movie under any circumstances.

[CrescentMoonie]

Really enjoyed Make It Stick (Peter Brown) which delves into how low stakes/no stakes testing, spaced retrieval, and interleaving help cognition.

I'm getting ready to tackle Tools of Titans (Tim Ferriss), The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (Mark Manson), and F*ck Feelings (Michael and Sarah Bennett).

[Young Drachma]

Teeth: Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America (Mary Otto)

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Adam Alter)

[Vince, Pt. II]

Been on a serious audio book binge lately (as in cannot get into my car for a commute without an audio book to pass the time) and got caught out unexpectedly with a book ending and nothing in the hopper to follow up. Picked up a random fantasy series called The Cycle of Arawn by Edward W. Robertson (go go Audible advertising). Really enjoying it, though it isn't going to make any best-ever lists or anything.

[Groundhog]

I really struggled finding a good book the past 6 months or so. I bought about 4 books during that time I didn't make it more than 50% through any of them. I started on The Name of the Wind a few days ago, a book I bought years ago and didn't make it more than about 10% through at first. Enjoying it more this time though, I definitely didn't give it enough time to grab me on the first attempt.

[AlexB]

Just finished reading Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, a story about a group of jazz musicians in early WW2 era Germany & Paris.

Amazing book, one of the best I've read: the charcters were so convincing I got to the point of googling which were real and which were fictional.

Really highly recommended.

[CrescentMoonie]

Nearly finished listening to The Talent Code (Daniel Coyle) and it's an interesting dovetail with a lot of the topics in Make It Stick. If you want to understand more about how learning occurs, I'd recommend The Talent Code first and Make It Stick second as the second one is more recent (2014 v 2009) and corrects/expands some of the ideas in the first one.

[sabotai]

I read How We Learn by Benedict Carey a year or so ago which covers the same topics like spaced repetition and interleaving practice.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I read How We Learn by Benedict Carey a year or so ago which covers the same topics like spaced repetition and interleaving practice.

Interesting. It was published 5 months after Make It Stick. I'm wondering what differences there are.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I really struggled finding a good book the past 6 months or so. I bought about 4 books during that time I didn't make it more than 50% through any of them. I started on The Name of the Wind a few days ago, a book I bought years ago and didn't make it more than about 10% through at first. Enjoying it more this time though, I definitely didn't give it enough time to grab me on the first attempt.

Bombed out at 28% through Name of the Wind. Once the flashback scenes started my interest dived off a cliff... The world just didn't grab me, and started to feel like by-the-numbers, vanilla fantasy.

Started One Second After by William R. Forstchen last night and next thing I know it's 1 am and I'm forcing myself to put the book down and get some sleep. Horrifying... With a type 1 diabetic wife, I'd actually given some thought to what would happen if there was some type of disaster that made insulin hard to come by, and although I'm only 20% through I'm dreading what's to come with his daughter... not to mention the whole terrifying premise of the book itself, which was not even something I was aware existed as a threat before reading this - an EMP strike.

[CrescentMoonie]

Working on "The Death of Expertise" by Tom Nichols. Excellent look at what has led us to the place where facts are irrelevant and being an expert is looked at as a bad thing. I think he was trying to not mock people for being stupid, but he really didn't even make it out of the preface before his exasperation starts to show through. Excellent read so far (about 75% done).

[Buccaneer]

Just started Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign written by a an embedded NYT analyst. This is the book that I've been anxious to read and it starts off early on with this great summary:

They didn't know if her campaign was to be Clinton's third term, Obama's third term or Hillary's first term and because they had each of these camps managing her campaign at the same time, it became a mess with lots of in-fighting.

[CrescentMoonie]

That reminds me of reading Narconomics this past spring. A journalist repeatedly got himself into some ridiculous settings just to write about how the criminal drug business is much more like traditional business than you might initially think.

[CrescentMoonie]

Recent reads I enjoyed:

Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins: Both historic and modern examples showing that some in the arts have been highly successful and that most can make a good living if they're smart about it.

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds: Former CIA museum historian found paperwork suggesting that Hemingway was more than just a spy late in life but started with the NKVD (precursor to the KGB) in 1935 through his death in 1961.

[CrescentMoonie]

Finish by Jon Acuff. Excellent little book on all the crap excuses we make for not following through on our goals.

[QuikSand]

After On is speculative fiction, set in modern times, about scary AI, the Silicon Valley mindset, and a bundle of related things. Not brilliant, but clever enough. Maybe a 7.5 out of 10?

[sabotai]

Ghost on the Throne by James Romm. Covers the immediate aftermath of Alexander the Great's death. How his generals started dividing the empire administratively and how they tried to gain as much power as they could. Wasn't long before war were declared. A narrative-like flow to the book that focuses on the people involved from all sides.

Dividing The Spoils by Robin Waterfield. Same topic but covers a longer time period. This book goes on for ~2 generations following Alexander's death. This one goes off on tangents about Greek and Macedonian culture, art, literature, etc. and how it changed over this time period, but because it covers a longer time period, it doesn't get into as much detail as Romm's book.

For example, Romm spends a good sized chunk of his book on Greece's attempt to gain independence (The Lamian War) and covers a lot of people, who did what, etc. Waterfield covers it, of course, but almost entirely from the Macedon side. I think the first time he mentions Demosthenes is at the end even though he was one of the major players from the Greek side (and doesn't mention a bunch of others).

Both books compliment each other and would recommend both to anyone interested in the time period.

[CrescentMoonie]

BTW, big sale on Kindles and Kindle books for the 10th anniversary.

Amazon.com: 10th Anniversary Kindle Book Deals

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

After On is speculative fiction, set in modern times, about scary AI, the Silicon Valley mindset, and a bundle of related things. Not brilliant, but clever enough. Maybe a 7.5 out of 10?

I might go a little higher but I'm in the same neighborhood. Parts of the book were very enjoyable but it didn't deliver a great ending.

Reid's podcast is well worth a listen if you haven't heard it yet.

I mostly read ancient history non-fiction but I enjoy a novel now and again to mix things up.

Edit: I should have read sabotai's post before posting. I'll check those two books out. Thanks for the recommendations.

[Critch]

Just Finished: His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet - Fictional diary of a boy accused of murder in a remote Scottish community in 1869, and summary of the trial. He admits to murdering the man who persecutes his family. I really enjoyed it, easy to relate to the main character, even if his diary isnt totally truthful.

Currently Reading: Life After Life: A Novel by Kate Atkinson - Story of a female who's born, dies and goes back to being born again for another attempt, over and over, getting a little further each time. Thanks to kindle I know I'm 28% of the way through, so still short of knowing what the point is, if there is a point. Liking it so far though.

Next Up: Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel by George Saunders. Sounds weird, story of President Lincoln's dead son in purgatory, but it won The Mann Booker prize, always a good sign. Almost always, I've read some real crap that won the Mann Booker prize I guess. His Bloody Project was also a Mann Booker finalist last year.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

After On is speculative fiction, set in modern times, about scary AI, the Silicon Valley mindset, and a bundle of related things. Not brilliant, but clever enough. Maybe a 7.5 out of 10?

Glad I noticed your review. My own thoughts are not far from this at all.

[CrescentMoonie]

An intriguing look at what libraries might actually be in 10 years.

The Public Library of 2027 – Snipette – Medium

[CrescentMoonie]

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. The follow up to his debut Sleeping Giants. Went a different direction than I expected but it's still a very interesting piece of speculative near future fiction.

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz. Book 5 in the Millennium series, and the second by Lagercrantz. He's getting much more comfortable with Larsson's characters and this reads like a true extension of the original trilogy.

[PilotMan]

So I have a backlog of reading but went ahead and preordered Michael Lewis's upcoming book "The Fifth Risk"


https://smile.amazon.com/Fifth-Risk-...dp/1324002646/

[sabotai]

I finally got around to starting The Color of Magic, my first Terry Pratchett book. A few pages into the prologue:

"This was known as the Big Bang hypothesis."

...I'm already sold and am kicking myself for waiting so long to read his books.

[cuervo72]

I forgot we had this, nice thread necro.

I'm currently reading The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I'm picking up Norm's "memoir" from the library tomorrow. Big stack of $1 books from the local bookstore to churn through.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I finally got around to starting The Color of Magic, my first Terry Pratchett book. A few pages into the prologue:

"This was known as the Big Bang hypothesis."

...I'm already sold and am kicking myself for waiting so long to read his books.

I've just started this myself. I asked for the first couple books for Xmas last year and I just got around to reading it. I'm on page 80 or so.

[Kodos]

I just finished The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte. Good book if you're into dinosaurs. I'm now working on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yeah, I'm a little late to the game...

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I just finished The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte. Good book if you're into dinosaurs. I'm now working on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yeah, I'm a little late to the game...

You like the end of Goblet of Fire?

I am doing the Plot Against America. It has always been on my list.

[cuervo72]

Currently:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
The History of Mr. Polly, H.G. Wells

After:
Persepolis 2, Marjane Satrapi

Not sure after that; I have a big backlog of books from the used bookstore and Goodwill. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. And how long of a book I want to read (Kavalier & Clay is pretty friggin thick, might want a break.)

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Lathum

You like the end of Goblet of Fire?

Haven't gotten there yet.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Haven't gotten there yet.

Will be curious to hear your thoughts

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by Critch

Next Up: Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel by George Saunders. Sounds weird, story of President Lincoln's dead son in purgatory, but it won The Mann Booker prize, always a good sign. Almost always, I've read some real crap that won the Mann Booker prize I guess. His Bloody Project was also a Mann Booker finalist last year.

Such a good book. I made the mistake of reading it when my son was about the same age as Willie Lincoln, he got a lot of extra hugs while I was reading.

[cuervo72]

Read Persepolis 2; good, though not as good as the first volume I don't think.

Finished Kavalier & Clay. Good, but LONG. Flagged a bit about 2/3 through.

Started The Greatest Generation on Veterans Day. It's ok. Maybe better taken in smaller chunks so the stories don't blend together too much (Redeployment might have been like that too). I've taken to reading it more like the transcript of a news documentary; Brokaw's writing is really not on that high a level. (This may be sacrilegious, but much is made of how hard the "Greatest Generation" had things. And there's no doubt that being a child in the depression was probably hard, and many lives were changed forever [or lost] by the war. But, wouldn't it have been harder being a parent in the Great Depression? And once past the war, when the generation was just entering the workforce, weren't they met with the greatest era of growth and prosperity in the country's history?)

Have started Stephen Fry's Mythos. Very much enjoying his take on the truly effed-up Greek gods.

[cuervo72]

Figured I should finally read Frankenstein. It was...well, kind of overwrought and not really all that exciting. I mean, all the deaths are off-camera, really. "Oops, now X is dead. Curse you, Monster!" *mopes bed-ridden and feverish for months*

I'm sorry, classics.

[Izulde]

Dune - Amazing, and one of the best books I've read in years.

Dune: Messiah - Paint-by-numbers, mediocre. If this was the first one, I wouldn't have continued.

Children of Dune - Better than Messiah so far, but I'm having trouble finishing it.

There's a few other odds and ends I've read or am reading through that haven't been especially noteworthy. The Doughnut Fix was just cute enough a kids' book that I'll continue the series if I happen to find them in a used bookstore or thrift shop or something. Good Girl, Bad Girl was a $5 pickup at the grocery store, but haven't started. We're also working through Great Expectations in AP Lit, which is my own first readthrough of the novel. A bit slow, but enjoyable so far. Might end up liking it better than A Tale of Two Cities

[cuervo72]

Listened to Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) while driving to/from Purdue. Not bad. Victorian, but still can elicit some laughs today.

Started She (yes, the origin of SWMBO) in the hotel room after arriving. Fell asleep before getting too far into it, didn't have much time after that to get back to it. Written in the same time period as Three Men. We shall see if it has aged as well (I'm guessing in many cases, not.)

[Thomkal]

So I've been reading a lot of ebooks lately since they are cheaper (and sometimes free) than regular books and you do have to go out in a COVID world to get them. I finally gave in and started exploring LitRPG books and one of the very first I found, Viridian Gate Online has a great holiday present-starting today each of the 8 ebooks out already in the series will be available for free. Each ebook is free for five days, and a new book added every day (book 2 tomorrow, 3 the next day, etc)


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0753JVZSM...eniuslink=true

[Thomkal]

To follow up on my last post here, a lot of LitRPG writers are making their ebooks either free or .99 right now until tomorrow in a benefit for St. Jude's. Including more of the Viridian Online books that you can still get free. So a good time to check LitRPG out and help St. Jude's too


Over 400 books FREE or $/£0.99! More than 150 participating authors! The 2021 Holiday MegaSale to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has begun! - (posted with moderator approval) - : Fantasy


The very first LitRPG book I read, Barrow King by C.M. Carney is included in this sale. It's a series of books called The Realms, and book 2 is also free, rest are .99

[QuikSand]

Hard to classify easily, but I enjoyed this quite a lot:

Amoralman: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek Delgaudio

[sabotai]

[molson]

I could listen to Chuck Klosterman drone on about pop culture in audiobook form all day. I'm listening to his new book The Nineties right now. His stuff is just a super-researched and high octane version of the kind of stuff we all talk about here or on reddit.

[Ksyrup]

I don't know why it took me so long to read The Man From the Train by Bill James, but once I started (on my return flight from San Diego), I finished it in about 3 days. I've always enjoyed James's writing style from all the Baseball Abstracts, of course, and him writing about true crime was a perfect fit. I bought it on Kindle a couple of years ago but never got around to it, not even during the lockdown.

It's a fascinating read about a string of murders from about the turn of the 19th century through about 1912 that he and his daughter argue were committed - or likely committed - by one man. Several of the later crimes were connected back in the day, but they found other crimes that seem to fit the MO and go to great length to explain each of the crimes, sometimes taking a detour on some of the more interesting ones and discussing policing, investigation, journalism, racism, etc., and how all of the above hampered attempts to connect the crimes well before now. In the end, they even name a potential suspect.

He's got a second book about true crime that examines the cultural influence of popular crimes in America. I'll be downloading that one as well.

[Izulde]

Had a student loan me The Poppy War. Finished it in two days. Dark fantasy set in ancient China but inspired by actual Chinese history. Starts off a little slow and formulaic - especially if you're familiar with The Hunger Games, but then it picks up around page 100. Really, really good for YA dark fantasy, and it makes me want to read the other two novels in the trilogy

[21C]

I just finished a book called The Priests which is a true story about a man who was abused by a Catholic priest (P1) in high school.

What was most interesting to me is that it took place in the same high school that I went to (that I have now taught in for the last 33 years) at the same time as I was a student. The author was one year ahead of me and ended up marrying someone whom I worked with for several years.

While there was one notorious priest (P2) who everyone knew about and ended up being charged with several counts of molesting boys, I found it difficult to deal with the story of P1 abusing the author where the accusation was made after P1's death. He even recounts a third priest (P3) being in a homosexual relationship with P1 - no evidence to support this, it was just something that he heard. I held P3 in the highest esteem during my high school years, as did many others of my generation, and even had P3 officiate at my wedding as well as baptizing both of my children. What was weird was to hear that P3 also officiated at the author's wedding.

The author, who experienced many mental health episodes following his abuse, was happy to regale us with the depravities of the now-deceased, he took great care to avoid the names of thuggish teachers who are still alive. These teachers were given monikers, most probably to avoid litigation. He was happy to besmirch the names of those who could not defend themselves. I believe the diocese ultimately paid him a large settlement.

While I feel bad for anyone who has experienced real abuse in their lives, I read this book with a fair degree of skepticism.

A reviewer at Goodreads, also an ex-student of the time, said much the same.

[Izulde]

Student loaned me The Dragon Republic (Poppy Wars Trilogy #2) and I'm hooked (if you'll pardon the pun). I'm about a quarter in and my impression so far is that it's better than the first book. Plus, it's even more fun since the student's numerous, numerous annotation tabs and underlines are in this one, so I have fun following their thought process of what they found valuable/interesting, etc.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I've just started this myself. I asked for the first couple books for Xmas last year and I just got around to reading it. I'm on page 80 or so.

Nearly a year later and I finally finished the Color of Magic. The series has 41 books in it. So at this pace I will have finished the series around the time the Lions win their next playoff game.