What Are You Reading Now?

[creekster]

Just finished at Home by Bill Bryson. Am part way through something called "Time Travelers guide to Medieval England" and about to start A. Lincoln by Ronald White.

[CardiacCoug]

Just read this book by the brother of the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remembering-Everything/dp/159420229X"]Amazon.com: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (9781594202292): Joshua Foer: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Hx4JgGSuL.@@AMEPARAM@@51Hx4JgGSuL[/ame]

Pretty interesting the insight this gives into how the human mind works. We are designed with incredible spatial memories. He gives as an example how much information you can regurgitate from memory if you snoop around a friend's house for ten minutes -- most people could describe and write down for pages all the things you saw and their locations.

It's pretty amazing also that the author became the US Champion in memorizing cards -- he memorized a deck of cards in something like 1 minute 40 seconds using mnemonic techniques. Also he makes the argument convincingly that memorization is really a creative process (using mnemonics and the imagination). I thought it was really interesting.

A review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/bo...pagewanted=all

[happyone]

Just finished at Home by Bill Bryson. Am part way through something called "Time Travelers guide to Medieval England" and about to start A. Lincoln by Ronald White.

If this is the one by Ian Mortimer - I rather liked it. I was definately different.

Finished Conquerer - not bad. It covers the time from the death of Ogedia to when Kublai defeated his younger brother Ariq Bokei in a civil war to decide who was going to be the great Kahn. This is a pretty good era to write historical fiction about, because not a whole lot is known. Igguldon does follow the know history fairly well and does tell a good story.

Currently reading

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Six-Frigates-Epic-History-Founding/dp/039333032X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327808293&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (9780393330328): Ian W. Toll: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TsDNU6yML.@@AMEPARAM@@51TsDNU6yML[/ame]

[RC Vikings]

"Prophet's Prey". If you have any feelings that the government needs to step away from Colorado City and just let those people live their life this book may change your perspective.

[HauteCoug]

Smashed, by Koren Zailckas. A memoir, it's an interesting look at how young girls begin drinking, and how differently society treats the female drinker versus the male drinker. As someone who took one accidental drink in her life, it's really foreign to me, but the feminist undertones are pretty fascinating.

Her prose is fairly good so far, and I like that she isn't out to try and proclaim some massive turning point, but instead is just processing information.

[OrangeUte]

[QUOTE=happyone;592434]Finished Matterhorn. One of the best novels on Viet Nam I've read. Marlantes makes it come alive. He explores the racial tensions in the late 60s military as well as how the strategy of a war attrition affected the men who had to carry it out.

It has a very good glossary of military slang and terms. It also has an org chart for all of the characters from Div on down to the squads, so you can tell how all the characters fit together. I found that helpful esp in the first 100 pgs or so.

Excellant first novel, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in war novels in general or Viet Nam in particular - warning - language, the characters talk like grunts talk - every third word starts with a F and the word as used as a noun, verb, adverb and adjective.

Note: Like Harold Coyle, Marlantes uses actual units, but at the time of the action those units were not in existance.






Excellent book. I picked it up a few days ago and am knee deep in it now - about 100 pages left.

I recently read "The Graveyard Book" by Gaiman, author of the book Coraline. Fun little book. Definitely young adult but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[happyone]

[quote=OrangeUte;765239]

Finished Matterhorn. One of the best novels on Viet Nam I've read. Marlantes makes it come alive. He explores the racial tensions in the late 60s military as well as how the strategy of a war attrition affected the men who had to carry it out.

It has a very good glossary of military slang and terms. It also has an org chart for all of the characters from Div on down to the squads, so you can tell how all the characters fit together. I found that helpful esp in the first 100 pgs or so.

Excellant first novel, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in war novels in general or Viet Nam in particular - warning - language, the characters talk like grunts talk - every third word starts with a F and the word as used as a noun, verb, adverb and adjective.

Note: Like Harold Coyle, Marlantes uses actual units, but at the time of the action those units were not in existance.






Excellent book. I picked it up a few days ago and am knee deep in it now - about 100 pages left.

I recently read "The Graveyard Book" by Gaiman, author of the book Coraline. Fun little book. Definitely young adult but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Glad you like Matterhorn

I had a slight change of plans in the reading department. This book came in on interlibrary loan with a short due date, so I moved it up

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Tales-English-History-Extraordinary/dp/0316067571/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328657820&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Great Tales from English History: A Treasury of True Stories about the Extraordinary People -- Knights and Knaves, Rebels and Heroes, Queens and Commoners -- Who Made Britain Great (9780316067577): Robert Lacey: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eAFn6hhhL.@@AMEPARAM@@51eAFn6hhhL[/ame]

This not a standard narrative history. Lacey tells the story of England in short vignettes (from 1 to 3 pages long) from the Cheddar Man (the oldest complete skeleton found in England circa 7150 BC) to Francis Crick and the discovery of DNA. It tells the story of England through various people, both famous and not so famous who affected how England became what it is today. Some of the stories he tells are:
The Venerable Bede - England’s first historian
The story of Thomas Becket and Henry II
The history behind Robin Hood
The Burghers of Calais
Geoffrey Chaucer
William Caxton - the first English Printer
Charles II and the Royal Oak
The story of Captain Oates - accompanied Robert Scott on his trip to the South Pole

Really quick read and very interesting. I highly recommend it.
Some interesting facts
- The King James Version of the Bible used about 80% of Tyndale's translation
- The Kings of England were not very trustworthy in dealing with commoners who had issues with them, i.e. Wat Tyler and most of the others in his "peasants revolt of 1381" was executed after Richard II had promised him safe passage. This seemed to happen again and again over the years.
- The story of how King Harold died at the Battle of Hastings as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, is probably not true. The Tapestry shows him dying of an arrow to the face. There are near contemporary accounts that say he was cut down by a group of knights ran him threw with a lance disemboweling him, then the corpse was beheaded and castrated. William was so upset that he sent the knights who did this back to Normandy in disgrace and stripped them of their knighthood.
- The Bayeux Tapestry has been altered over the years. (see above). We have exact copies of what is looked like in the late 1700's (1792 I think) mid 1800 and early 1900s and there are 379 changes over the years

Now I've started on The Six Frigates

[falafel]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about a near death experience, written by an LDS author? Very specific request, I know.

[Eddie]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about a near death experience, written by an LDS author? Very specific request, I know.

I don't know that I can fully endorse this book, because I haven't read it myself...so with that disclaimer out there here it goes:

"The Message"

I have a neighbor who's wife died 5 years ago and a friend gave him this book about the experience some guy had after some sort of accident that put him in a coma.

To be honest, I don't recall for sure if the author was LDS - but for some reason I think he is. The guy is from Idaho (not that this makes him LDS, but it increases the chances.)

I don't know much about the book, but was interested enough to remember the name and think I might pick it up sometime. My neighbor said it was comforting to him because the guy described what the afterlife is like - and he envisioned his departed spouse there. It helped him to know where she was and what she was doing.

[falafel]

I don't know that I can fully endorse this book, because I haven't read it myself...so with that disclaimer out there here it goes:

"The Message"

I have a neighbor who's wife died 5 years ago and a friend gave him this book about the experience some guy had after some sort of accident that put him in a coma.

To be honest, I don't recall for sure if the author was LDS - but for some reason I think he is. The guy is from Idaho (not that this makes him LDS, but it increases the chances.)

I don't know much about the book, but was interested enough to remember the name and think I might pick it up sometime. My neighbor said it was comforting to him because the guy described what the afterlife is like - and he envisioned his departed spouse there. It helped him to know where she was and what she was doing.

Thanks Eddie. I'll look into it.

[Surfah]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about a near death experience, written by an LDS author? Very specific request, I know.

The Burning Within is a terrible book. But my mom loved it. So did Gidget.

Of course there is Betty J. Eadie and her bestseller Embraced By The Light. Another terrible book.

I don't know that there are any good books about NDE.

[Omaha 680]

The Burning Within is a terrible book. But my mom loved it. So did Gidget.

Of course there is Betty J. Eadie and her bestseller Embraced By The Light. Another terrible book.

I don't know that there are any good books about NDE.

My wife purchaed Heaven is for Real at the airport on a recent trip and devoured it in a couple days. It was a short read and she wanted to discuss it so I read it too. It claims to be the uncoaxed sharing of a NDE of a young child. 4 perhaps, but the authors (his parents) say he was a couple years older before he started sharing things. It's a simple book, the writing isn't great, but I enjoyed it. Some of the things the kid says reminds me of the "Kids say the darndest things" thread here on CUF.

The authors are very religious...he is some kind of evangilical minister I believe.

[Omaha 680]

i just finished "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright. it is about the rise of al Qaeda. Very enjoyable and reads like a David McCullough history - flowing along nicely and rarely stumbling into zzzzzzz territory.

Amazon.com: The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (9781400030842): Lawrence Wright: Books

I'll have to check that one out. I read "Mastermind" a couple months ago which is all about the terrorist career of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

I just finished "Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop culture". I included the subtitle because it explains the content better than I can. The pressure the author felt to behave a certain way in spite of all the advantages he had through the parenting he received was fascinating.

I'm about halfway through "Money Mischief" by Milton Friedman in an attempt to begin understanding monetary policy. With my foundation being only Econ 110, a few of the basics from Marx and Hayek, and a few Sowell books, I may have bitten off more than I can handle at this point. I'll finish it, but can anyone recommend something a little more dumbed down on this topic?

[EuropeanFootballMale]

Today only (Darwin Day) there are several books on evolution you can download in pdf form for free

http://view.newsletters.nas.edu/?j=f...&utm_term=&r=0

[Katy Lied]

If this is the one by Ian Mortimer - I rather liked it. I was definately different.

Finished Conquerer - not bad. It covers the time from the death of Ogedia to when Kublai defeated his younger brother Ariq Bokei in a civil war to decide who was going to be the great Kahn. This is a pretty good era to write historical fiction about, because not a whole lot is known. Igguldon does follow the know history fairly well and does tell a good story.

Currently reading

Amazon.com: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (9780393330328): Ian W. Toll: Books

you seem to read such interesting books.