What Are You Reading Now?

[falafel]

Hmm, maybe I should make this the first ever podcast I listen to.

I just downloaded the audiobook for Bad Blood (and the ebook so I can hit both at the same time). So you should do the podcast and we'll be even.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hmm, maybe I should make this the first ever podcast I listen to.

Welcome to the year 2004!

[BigPiney]

Welcome to the year 2004!

lol, I would much rather listen to an audiobook than a podcast though.

[BigFatMeanie]

I work in a tech role for a tech company but when it comes to some stuff like podcasts and social media and whatever other things the kids do these days, I'm as old-school as it gets.

[BigFatMeanie]

Also, I finished the Bad Blood book last night and was shocked at how vicious/evil Theranos and their lawyers were in their pursuit of anyone - doctors, ex-employees, journalists, even individuals who received the blood tests - that they thought could possibly produce any negative information about Theranos.

The whole "Sunny abused me" defense strikes me as crap for a defense against fraud because Sunny didn't join the company until 2009 and Elizabeth Holmes was already lying to investors and prospects long before then. The fake demo for Novartis and the firing of the CFO who raised the red flag about it was in 2006. Sunny may have abused Elizabeth but she was a ruthless lying cheating fraud long before he joined the company. I would not be an impartial jurist in this case. I want Elizabeth Holmes to rot in jail.

Boies and his crew should also be punished. Maybe not rotting in jail because they may not have done anything technically illegal, but they should certainly burn in hell because they suck.

[Parrot Head]

Range by David Epstein. Book professing the benefits of gaining a wide set of experiences and education as opposed to hyper-specialization that is often preached in education, career, sports. Interesting from a professional standpoint and from that of a parent who, with (I think) good intentions, wants to steer their children to temporal success.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Recent reads:

The Pale-Faced Lie - memoir about a white kid growing up on navajo reservation with a psycho criminal father and mentally ill mother. Father insisted they were Cherokee. Father was one of the worst human beings imaginable. As most memoirs go, it is trauma-porn, but difficult to put down.

The Sociopath Next Door - bestselling book from 10-15 years ago, written by an psychologist. Fairly short and very interesting. I have known a few sociopaths in my life, but I understand them far more now. And I am know how to recognize them better than before.

The Life We Bury - Thriller/mystery novel about a young college student who gets to know a convicted rapist/murderer who is dying of cancer and insists he is innocent. Recommended.

[SteelBlue]

Recent reads:

[
The Life We Bury - Thriller/mystery novel about a young college student who gets to know a convicted rapist/murderer who is dying of cancer and insists he is innocent. Recommended.

This sounds interesting.

[Paperback Writer]

Summer reads...

West with the Night by Beryl Markham. Autobiographical excerpts of a woman aviator and racing horse trainer, mostly set in Kenya, during the interwar years (WWI-WWII). Very well written and highly recommend. In my view, this book belongs with the best of Hemingway and Steinbeck.

The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth. Semi autobiography of the authors' experiences growing up in a Jewish family in Newark leading up to WWII, with a twist. Charles Lindbergh wins the election over FDR in 1940 and America delays its entry into WWII because Pearl Harbor takes place a year later. In the meantime, President Lindbergh's administration takes an accommodating stance with Nazi Germany resulting in a raise in anti-semitism in America that affects the Roth family. I found some parallels between the imagined Lindbergh administration and Trump administration. As expected, Roth's writing is top notch and enjoyed the personal accounts and day-to-day struggles of him and his family. However on a larger scale, I found some of the alternate historical events implausible due to me being an amateur historian.

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher. Wish I had read her book back when it was published (1987) in addition to my recent listening of it. Autobiographical account of her days in rehab and resuming her career in Hollywood. I enjoyed Fisher's snarky sense of humor in her own voice. I think I would have appreciated it even more by reading it in my college days when these memoirs were still somewhat fresh instead of being so commonplace now.

Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule. Written by a career Army man and former instructor of military history at West Point, the book debunks the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy and reiterates Slavery as the true origin of the Civil War. The author examines his own southern upbringing in the new light of the mythology of the Lost Cause. Consequently, he is a fierce critic of all things Confederate and regards Lee a traitor. I would have preferred a narrative that had a semblance of balance to it, but that was not the author's purpose. Still, it convinced me to take down my portrait of Robert E. Lee that hangs over my fireplace mantel (just kidding about the painting...I'm leaving it up).

[SeattleUte]

Summer reads...

West with the Night by Beryl Markham. Autobiographical excerpts of a woman aviator and racing horse trainer, mostly set in Kenya, during the interwar years (WWI-WWII). Very well written and highly recommend. In my view, this book belongs with the best of Hemingway and Steinbeck.

The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth. Semi autobiography of the authors' experiences growing up in a Jewish family in Newark leading up to WWII, with a twist. Charles Lindbergh wins the election over FDR in 1940 and America delays its entry into WWII because Pearl Harbor takes place a year later. In the meantime, President Lindbergh's administration takes an accommodating stance with Nazi Germany resulting in a raise in anti-semitism in America that affects the Roth family. I found some parallels between the imagined Lindbergh administration and Trump administration. As expected, Roth's writing is top notch and enjoyed the personal accounts and day-to-day struggles of him and his family. However on a larger scale, I found some of the alternate historical events implausible due to me being an amateur historian.

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher. Wish I had read her book back when it was published (1987) in addition to my recent listening of it. Autobiographical account of her days in rehab and resuming her career in Hollywood. I enjoyed Fisher's snarky sense of humor in her own voice. I think I would have appreciated it even more by reading it in my college days when these memoirs were still somewhat fresh instead of being so commonplace now.

Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule. Written by a career Army man and former instructor of military history at West Point, the book debunks the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy and reiterates Slavery as the true origin of the Civil War. The author examines his own southern upbringing in the new light of the mythology of the Lost Cause. Consequently, he is a fierce critic of all things Confederate and regards Lee a traitor. I would have preferred a narrative that had a semblance of balance to it, but that was not the author's purpose. Still, it convinced me to take down my portrait of Robert E. Lee that hangs over my fireplace mantel (just kidding about the painting...I'm leaving it up).

Roth's novels are aging well. Can't recall if I said I read The Human Stain last summer. Loved it. A 20-year old novel about cancellation that has influenced a recent TV show.

[Paperback Writer]

Roth's novels are aging well. Can't recall if I said I read The Human Stain last summer. Loved it. A 20-year old novel about cancellation that has influenced a recent TV show.

Thanks for the recommendation and have added The Human Stain to my reading list. Given Roth's liberal leanings, will be curious to read his treatment of cancellation in an academic setting - to one of his own.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Summer reads...

West with the Night by Beryl Markham. Autobiographical excerpts of a woman aviator and racing horse trainer, mostly set in Kenya, during the interwar years (WWI-WWII). Very well written and highly recommend. In my view, this book belongs with the best of Hemingway and Steinbeck.

I read this a couple years ago and really liked it.

The woke crowd is coming after it, but

[SeattleUte]

Thanks for the recommendation and have added The Human Stain to my reading list. Given Roth's liberal leanings, will be curious to read his treatment of cancellation in an academic setting - to one of his own.

By today's standards, he's not liberal at all.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Next you need to read The Free World by Menand.

I'll bring this over to this thread to avoid threadjacking the "I was wrong about" discussion. This book is already in the queue, but I want to finish These Truths.

I'm also reading Which Side of History?: How Technology Is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives, an anthology edited by Jim Steyer, and An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination, by NYT reporters Sheera Frankel and Cecelia Kang. The latter two books are in connection with my current class. Facebook and other social media were the recipients of scathing attacks during yesterday's presentations by Kang, David Axelrod and Thomas Friedman. Marc Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg have thus far declined invitations to attend. Coming full circle, I think my previous support for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was wrong. I'd better head back to that thread.

[SeattleUte]

I'll bring this over to this thread to avoid threadjacking the "I was wrong about" discussion. This book is already in the queue, but I want to finish These Truths.

I'm also reading Which Side of History?: How Technology Is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives, an anthology edited by Jim Steyer, and An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination, by NYT reporters Sheera Frankel and Cecelia Kang. The latter two books are in connection with my current class. Facebook and other social media were the recipients of scathing attacks during yesterday's presentations by Kang, David Axelrod and Thomas Friedman. Marc Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg have thus far declined invitations to attend. Coming full circle, I think my previous support for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was wrong. I'd better head back to that thread.

The antivaax movement is testing my own belief in unrestricted speech.