Now reading (The Book Thread)

The last Christmas present ....

Not quite reading yet (awaiting delivery):

Steven Brust, Iorich​

The thirteenth novel in the Taltos cycle hit the shelves on January 5. I just have to figure out where my brother is having the Amazon order sent ....
 
I am reading
The Relentless Revolution - A History of Capitalism by Joyce Appleby

Diabetes Rising by Dan Hurley
 
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

An interesting take on the life and influence of Genghis Khan, with some interesting insights into power dynamics. I'm not competent to judge its accuracy, so I'm reading it agnosticaly as historical fiction that may or may not correspond to reality.

Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell

I've just started it, and so far it looks decent. I just hope it becomes more informed by empirical data as it goes along, because so far... well lets just say it looks like it was written by an economist! :p
 
Finished "Diabetes Rising". Boring reading but learned to take Vitamin D

Scanned "From Eternity to Here" - The quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time. Interesting...no practical applications like building a Time Machine. :bawl:

Will be reading "Relentless Revolution" - A History of Capitalism netx.
 
Faure said:
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. An interesting take on the life and influence of Genghis Khan, with some interesting insights into power dynamics. I'm not competent to judge its accuracy, so I'm reading it agnosticaly as historical fiction that may or may not correspond to reality.
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The best historical novelists are good about the big issues but they may fudge on the small ones. Michener, even with his army of assistants, was infamous for that. But if the author has something thought-provoking to say about power dynamics, it doesn't really matter whether it's historically accurate in the context of this particular book.

But the further back one goes in history, the fewer details are available, so fictionalizing is essential. Usually you don't have to dig too far to find the author's or a critic's assessment of the scope of historical accuracy.
Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell. I've just started it, and so far it looks decent. I just hope it becomes more informed by empirical data as it goes along, because so far... well lets just say it looks like it was written by an economist!
Click to expand...
I assume you're not joking? Sowell is an economist. Citing Hayek as a major influence, he's one of the darlings of the libertarian community and his books are always advertised in Reason magazine.
 
Mark Twain said:
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
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Right now I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. At least for now. The book doesn't seem terribly dated yet, although I am not that far into it.
 
Currently reading:
Churchill's Wizards, Nicholas Rankin: British camouflage, deception and misdirection in WWI & WWII.

Death by Design, Peter Beale: the failures of British tank design/ designers/ policy makers in WWII.

Cold War Tech War: the Politics of America's Air Defence, Randall Whitcomb: the Canadian aviation industry and how it was destroyed.

T-Force: the Race for Nazi War Secrets, 1945, Sean Longden: how the British did their best to steal/ appropriate whatever they thought useful in the rubble of German industry & science - before the US or USSR got there first.
 
Doesn't anyone here read crap?
Right now I am reading Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey. Basically porn
 
Crap?
It's all relative. This is a (partial) list of my latest purchases (i.e. in the last two weeks)

Antitank: Air-mechanized Response to Armoured Threats in the 90's
BAC TSR.2: Camouflage and Markings
Cold War Tech War: The Politics of America's Air Defense
Convair Advanced Designs: Secret Projects from San Diego, 1923-1962
Death by Design: British Tank Development in the Second World War
English Electric Lightning
Fairey Rotodyne
Flying Guns: World War II
French Aircraft from 1939 to 1942: v.1 Amiot to Curtiss
French Aircraft from 1939 to 1942: v.1 Dewoitine to Potez
French Battleships 1922-1956
Japanese Secret Projects: Experimental Aircraft of the IJA and IJN 1939-1945
Mechanized Infantry
Military Helicopter Design Technology
Moving the Guns: Mechanisation of the Royal Artillery, 1854-1939
Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development 1923-1945
Russian tanks, 1900-1970: The complete illustrated history of Soviet armoured theory and design
Secret Projects: Flying Wings and Tailless Aircraft
Secret Projects: Military Space Technology
The Cutting Edge: Half Century of U.S. Fighter Aircraft R and D
The French Army 1939-1940: Organisation:Order of Battle: Operational History: v. 1
The French Army 1939-1940: Organisation:Order of Battle: Operational History: v. 2
The French Army 1939-1940: Organisation:Order of Battle: Operational History: v. 3
The French Army 1939-1940: Organisation:Order of Battle: Operational History: v. 4
The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940
The Battle Of France, 1940
The Blitzkrieg Legend: The Campaign in the West, 1940
To Lose a Battle: France, 1940
Hitler's War (science fiction)
Not Much of an Engineer (Biography of Stanley Hooker)
Schismatrix Plus (science fiction)
US Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945
Empire (science fiction)
Steampunk (science fiction)
What Engineers Know and How They Know it: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
The best historical novelists are good about the big issues but they may fudge on the small ones. Michener, even with his army of assistants, was infamous for that. But if the author has something thought-provoking to say about power dynamics, it doesn't really matter whether it's historically accurate in the context of this particular book.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't mean what I said as a knock against the book. I don't much care if it's totally accurate or not. I'm not really interested in the history of the Mongols as such, I'm more interested in the historical-literary persona of Genghis Khan presented in the book.

Fraggle Rocker said:
I assume you're not joking? Sowell is an economist. Citing Hayek as a major influence, he's one of the darlings of the libertarian community and his books are always advertised in Reason magazine.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know he is an economist, I meant that its really obviously written by an economist, because its so uninterested in making arguments on the basis of empirical data. Rather, it is just a theoretical argument based on premises about human nature (which may or may not be true, but the author doesn't bother to argue for his view).


In other news, about to start reading The Discourses of Epictetus, as translated by Robin Hard.
 
Go figure

I just finished reading Brust's Iorich for the second time in ... um ... two weeks, I think. I don't know. Maybe a little less.

What can I tell you? It's the literary equivalent of comfort food. Or soul food. The Epilogue is ... actually it's quite useful. And the final chapter, which, naturally, precedes it, is pretty damn good, too. Every once in a while, a book seems to inevitably lead to its ending, which isn't as easy or common as you might think. But, if you pull it off, why not do it twice in the same volume?

The Deleted Scenes are, um, almost funny. Okay, the one with the talking cat is genuinely funny, but you have to understand Loiosh. Been a long time coming.

Best line of the book (at least that you would understand):

"When you stop being surprised, you've stopped living."​

And, strangely, it's Kragar's, which is not surprising.

No, the prior sentence is not inherently contradictory.
 
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