Now reading (The Book Thread)

A

Avatar

smoking revolver
Valued Senior Member
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:
-------------

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.
Click to expand...
 
"the sea hunters 2" by clive cussler
deals with finding old shipwrecks

"secrets and spies" by readers digest
deals mainly with world war 2
 
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
 
Naat said:
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.
Click to expand...
i have read "the caves of steel" and "the rest of the robots" by asimov
 
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
 
"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 .
 
Avatar said:
"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 .
Click to expand...

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.
 
tiassa said:
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.
Click to expand...

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!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top