Watcha readin'?

Brian Greene "The Elegant Universe" is a great book.  The first 100 pages, as I remember, review Newtonian physics and Quantum Mechanics.  Yes it is a challenging read, but there are few better. "A Brief History of Time" is another worth reading. The second 100 or so pages of Greene's book explain "string" theory.The second half of this section is the mathematical proofs of string theory and was WAY beyond my understanding or intrest.  Good Luck. Go get 'em.
 
k-k-kboooman said:
Since there are many intelligent and/or educated people on this board with wildly different opinions and tastes, I was wondering what everyone is reading at the moment? Feel free to update as your reading progresses as per the "what's for dinner?" thread :)

I've just started re-reading Leif GW Persson's fourth police novel, whose title roughly translates to "Between summer's longing and winter's cold". The man is a god of the Swedish language, it's like eating healthy and nourishing candy.
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I'm reading "Mustaine:  A Heavy Metal Memoir."

About a month ago, I just finished reading Bob Taylor's book, "Guitar Lessons."  Great book.
 
I am rereading The Hobbit, Around The World In Eighty Days, Dorian Gray and The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
 
Finished my Persson book, very good stuff indeed. Lots of little things in it that became bigger things in later books which were interesting to note this time. Now reading the Jens Lapidus book. Pretty good so far but not life changing.
 
My Snapple cap informed me of a book on their "real fact's"

I'm almost interested.

"French Author Michel Thayer published a 233-page novel which has no verbs."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Train_de_Nulle_Part  but then I can't find it for sale anywhere..

:icon_scratch: :tard:
 
Luke by Vox said:
My Snapple cap informed me of a book on their "real fact's"

I'm almost interested.

"French Author Michel Thayer published a 233-page novel which has no verbs."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Train_de_Nulle_Part  but then I can't find it for sale anywhere..

:icon_scratch: :tard:
Click to expand...

They call it "constrained writing." There are novels without characters or the letter e, for example. It was really big in the 1950s, if I'm not mistaken, and is a real pain to read.  :icon_biggrin:
 
Keith Richards - Life, and the latest Radiology journal. I'm liking Keef.
 
I just read the hunger games series this last weekend. Now I'm starting Steven Tyler's book.
 
Time to resurrect this thread!  :icon_biggrin:

I just finished Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year, which I picked up for something like three bucks from a used book store. It's pretty meh. Now I'm about to start La belle bête, by Marie-Claire Blais. It's somewhat of a Québec classic, so it should be good.
 
Nice necropost, Jonesy - well done.

Just polished off "Spies of the Balkans," by Alan Furst.  Good straight-ahead WWII-era spy storytelling.  Furst is a master of the genre.

Rereading Bukowski's "Post Office."  I recommend it to anyone who suspects that working for The Man is a racket - you'll have your suspicions confirmed and then some, plus lotsa laffs, sex, and booze.

Also midway through a re-read of "The Count of Monte Cristo," which is just a blast.  Dumas's overblown style is a hoot, and the abridgment I'm reading manages to keep enough of the "shining eyes and quivering heart" bombast to keep it rolling merrily along. 

Peace out, brothers and sisters -

Bagman
 
I recently have been on a WWII kick, I just finished Band Of Brothers and have Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge to Far in the warm up section . After that there is a book on B17s I need to look up that a member of my fathers Squadron in WWII wrote back in the 90s from his memoirs.
 
Monte Cristo is great! So are the first, second and last books of the musketeers series. I just came off of reading the Hornblower saga, which I read because I had finished the Patrick O'Brien series and was in withdrawal. Hard to beat in terms of semi historical fiction and very addictive.
Other recommendations - books I re-read periodically: (in French) Les rois maudits by Maurice Druon - semi historical fiction surrounding the end of a French dynasty after the fall of the Templars, and the 3 books by Michel Folco: Un loup est un loup, Dieu et nous seuls pouvons and En avant comme avant. Hilarious dark comedy about a family that accidentally fell into the profession of undertaker. If there are any translations or you can read French - well worth it!
 
RIGHT THIS SECOND? jewish backgrounds of the new testament, asian philosophy, and Personal-View.com (camera hacking forum).
 
I forgot all about this thread :tard: I've read a whole bunch or stuff, and just finished another excellent Lef GW Persson book ("En annan tid, rtt annat liv") which may well be among his best ever. Next is probably a Ceasar biography.
 
I read mostly nonfiction.  At any one time I usually have two or three books checked out from the library, so if one turns out to be a dud I can just move on to the next. 

Right now I'm finishing up Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish by G. Bruce Knecht.  Its about an Australian fisheries boat that engages a pursuit of a pirate fishing boat near the antarctic circle.  The pirate fishing boat is fishing for Chilean Sea Bass (or Patagonian Tooth Fish as its also known.)  Its a pretty amazing account of how an illegal fishery can nearly wipe out an entire species of fish in just about ten years.  It has science mixed with intrigue because chapters alternate between the science of fishery management and an account of the boat chase that spanned about 4,000 miles through iceberg laden waters.  The chase doesn't end till the fisheries boat engages an armed private mercenary force from South Africa to rendezvous on the high seas to assist in boarding the pirate ship.

FYI, it also notes that Orange Roughy is another species at the brink of survival from overfishing, so even though its a delicious fish, its best to avoid eating it.
 
I've changed my mind, next up is "Dawn over the Kalahari" about how we became human beings. Dad has been very enthusiastic about it, so I'm looking forward to a good read.

Also, finally got around to reading "Metro 2033". Very interesting, I felt a bit like I was reading the Stalker game. Will read 2034 too soon. It feels good to have a bit of a back log!
 
I love detective fiction, but I stayed far away from "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" simply because I was so irritated by its ubiquity. I seriously saw a homeless man on the subway reading it.

Currently, I am not reading anything but the New Yorkers I get as a gift from my public radio station. The last book I read was either "Tishomingo Blues" or "Up in Honey's Room", both by Elmore Leonard. The former was great, the latter was OK, but Leonard at his worst is better than a lot of others at their best, in my opinion.
 
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