What books are you currently reading?

MadArchitect

Once again, I'm reading more books than I'm really capable of juggling, which means that it takes me longer to get through any particular book. Here's the rundown; if any catch your fancy, find a copy and open a thread. I'd love to have someone to discuss with.

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. Carson's "The Sea Around Us" is one of my favorite books of science/nature writing, but she's probably best known for this, the first book to really bring ecological disaster into public debate. If you've never read Carson before, you owe it to yourselves as scientifically-inclined person's to give her a run through. She's one of those writers gifted with a tremendous ability to translate her interest in a topic into prose that infects the reader with her enthusiasm, and she renders scientific information intelligible without writing down to the lowest common denominator.

The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. In middle-school and high-school I made abortive attempts to read both "Cosmos" and "Contact". I've read some of Sagan's technical papers, but this is my first adult brush with his attempts to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the popular perception of science. Frankly, I have my issues with the way that he polemicizes "superstition" and "pseudo-science", and I think that writers like C.P. Snow and Jacob Bronowski have made much more concise and elegant arguments for a fuller public embrace of science. But I'll hear Sagan out, at least.

The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest, by Francis Jennings. I stumbled on this one by accident, and in all honestly, my decision to read it was probably heavily influenced by our discussion of the Native American Church v. Snowbowl Ski Resort. So far, it's an incredibly astute analysis of the motives that went into the European conquestion of North American, the ways in which they justified that conquest back home, and how the clash of the Amerindians and the Euramericans (the terms are Jennings') affected the future of both. Really fascinating stuff, and I hope someone else will track down a copy of the book so we can discuss it.

Momento Mori, by Muriel Sparks. A group of elderly people are harrassed by crank calls that say only, "Remember that you must die." I need hardly mention that this is dark comedy, or better yet, satire. Sparks is an interesting figure in the world of fiction, always choosing off-kilter plots that are difficult to pigeonhole, and I've been meaning to tackle one of her books for a while now, so this one is about due.

Ride of the Second Horseman, Robert S. O'Connell. I think I suggested this as a quarterly reading several quarters back, and I've only just now gotten around to reading it. The book purports to be an inquiry into the cultural and biological origins of war, and it covers some fairly interesting ground in a number of disciplines. The first chapter makes a brief attempt at situating some archaelogical data into a narrative of the earliest examples of war in human culture, while the second chapter looks at war-like ant behavior, including slave raids and slave revolts. Interesting stuff, and I'm finding O'Connell to have a really open yet balanced approach to the topic.

The Prophets: An Introduction, by Abraham J. Heschel. Heschel examines the prophets of Israel from the perspective of people caught up in a moral vision and compelled to confront society on both its behalf and the behalf of God. Pretty fascinating stuff, and I appreciate his effort to break down the reader's assumption of familiarity, making it possible to see the prophets as the radicals they no doubt were.

The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople, by Jonathan Phillips. The subject matter is fascinating -- how did a Crusade intended to "liberate" Jerusalem from Saladin instead end with the decimation of the Christian capital of Byzantium? -- and Phillips presents the major figures and events clearly, but I can't help but think there must be a more scholarly and better reasoned book on the subject. I'll probably follow this one up by reading Villehardouin's first-hand account of the Crusade.

The Copernican Revolution, by Thomas Kuhn. Okay, okay, I haven't really started this one just yet, but I don't intend to wait. Kuhn's a pioneer in the history of science, and the development of astronomy was his forte, so I'm really eager to see how he handles the theme.

Any takers?

JulianTheApostate · Junior Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 308 Gender:

I'm recently started P. W. Singer's Children at War, a depressing account of child soldiers in modern wars taking place in Colombia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Myanmar, and other places. Since we discussed Ender's Game previously, some of you might be interested in the horrible life that real child soldiers face.

I'm almost done with another depressing book, Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It describes the pro-corporate reduced-government policies pushed through around the world, how those policies were pushed through in times of national trauma against the wished of the population, and their negative impact.

As a lighter read, I'm most of the way through Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir. Sapolsky describes his experiences as a young field researcher in Africa, investigating the behavior of orangutans and interacting with the African natives.

Last week, I finished Chaim Potok's The Chosen. That novel center of two Orthodox Jewish adolescents in Brooklyn, dealing with personal, family, and international issues during and after World War II. Though I'm now an atheist, I was brought up Jewish, and it's good to read some classic Jewish novels. Plus, it's a compelling story.

geansecret · Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Posts: 3 Gender:

Currently I'm reading Having it All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams by John Assaraf. (He was one of the teachers from the hit movie "The Secret") Great book for laying out your goals and understanding how the brain works in achieving them.

Chris OConnor · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 pm Post subject:

I loved The Chosen!

annaisabella · Eligible to vote! Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 13 Gender:

i'm currently reading Demian by Herman Hesse and a Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The books that are on my list to read rite now are:
1. Conversations with God volumes 2 and 3
2. Steppenwolf and Magister Ludi by Hesse
3. The lost continent by Bryson

jales4 · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject:

I am reading Crow Lake by Mary Lawson The main character was immediately likeable and real. I had cried by the end of the second chapter. I love books that can invoke so much emotion, no matter what that emotion may be.

bolsen1 · Eligible to vote! Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 11 Gender:

Currently, I'm reading Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Excellent.

Daisy · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 12:39 pm Post subject:

I've just finished:

1. Escape by Carol Jessop

http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Carolyn-Jessop/dp/0767927567/ref=pd_bbs_1 ?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211477702&sr=8-1

2. A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life by Nancy Peacock

http://www.amazon.com/Broom-Ones-Own-Writing-Housecleaning/dp/00613578 71/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211477769&sr=1-2

I'm finishing up Barbara Walter's Audition

And the next book to start is James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning.

Very Happy

Daisy · Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject:

Finished Bright Shiny Morning, which I would be glad to discuss with someone, and also Sunday's at Tiffany's. I really enjoyed Sunday's at Tiffany's, and I have been reading Welcome to your Brain periodically as well.

seeker · Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject:

I just finished THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Is there anyone out there who has read it and wants to discuss it?


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