What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Nicolas
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Nicolas »

Hitler’s Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway by Despina Stratigakos

Summary from Amazon: The fascinating untold story of how Nazi architects and planners envisioned and began to build a model “Aryan” society in Norway during World War II. https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Northern ... 0691198217

I’m finding this story interesting. Unlike all of their other conquered peoples in WWII, the Nazis considered the Norwegians racially superior. This thinking affected their treatment of Norway and their planning for the post-war period, for the time when they assumed they would achieve final victory.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

"Blood is the Sky" by Steve Hamilton.

Another Alex McKnight series book. Hamilton is excellent. The series is set in Paradise, Mi (an actual town) on Whitefish Bay not too far from Soo, Mi. I like that area and Hamilton blends rural Michigan, Native American Reservation life, and an ex Detroit cop into a great blend.

Hamilton reminds me of John McDonald's Travis McGee series, except it is much much colder environment.

Ed
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny.

The mystery of a murder at the Surete police academy is compounded by a mysterious 100 year old map found in stuffed in the wall of the bistro in Three Pines Quebec.
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jdb
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jdb »

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. It got a shout out from Washington Post cooking section last week, ordered from Amazon, enjoying very much. Almost ready to make fresh pasta again with my crank pasta machine that have not used in 20 years. Good luck.
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Artful Dodger
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Artful Dodger »

protagonist wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:53 am
Finridge wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:54 pm
ScoobyDoo wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 8:35 pm :D
protagonist wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:28 pm I just started reading Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon".

Why?

Because a friend listed a dozen books he recently read, including War and Peace, and said that of those dozen books S. of S. was his fav.

He has recommended books to me in the past, and I respect his judgment.

Roll over, Leo Tolstoy!
My favorite of all time! just read it, again, last month and again, blown away!!!!!! Enjoy!
I have not read any of Toni Morrison's books. Would "Song of Solomon" be a better starting point than "Beloved"? If you've read both, which would you recommend reading first?
This is my first Toni Morrison book....2/3 through it now, and I have to say she is a VERY impressive writer. Song of Solomon is quite a page turner....a bit confusing at the beginning but it all comes together beautifully.
Others here might be better able to guide us regarding where to start with Morrison.
For what it is worth, S of S is ranked higher than Beloved here (not based on one person's subjective ranking but rather a "meta-ranking" based on ranking of reviews on several major sites): https://www.bookscrolling.com/ranking-t ... countdown/

When I finish this book I will start on Cormac McCarthy. I just bought "The Road", based on the claim by the very cool bookstore owner that it is her favorite book. I subsequently was told by my daughter that she liked "Blood Meridian" better.

The pandemic has me doing a lot of catch-up reading by authors that I have somehow passed by.
I picked S of S up a couple of weeks ago, after reading yours and Scooby’s comments. I agree with your bit confusing in the beginning. I’m about half way and just enjoying her writing. My wife asked I download the Audible version, and I’ve listened to some, but like reading it better.
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crystalbank
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by crystalbank »

Why We Drive by Matthew B. Crawford

I really enjoyed reading this book. Despite the title, the book is a lot more than just driving and the open road. Modern technology eliminates individual agency in every aspect of life to the fullest extent possible and the whole premise of self-driving cars is built upon the same idea. This book more or less rebukes that line of thought and argues that technology should help individuals' agency not the other way around. Driving is a skill and mastering a skill takes years of patience and practice, which is what makes us human. As time goes by, we are outsourcing all our core skills and abilities to the tech oligarchy without whom we are unable to survive. It is in the companies' interest to make us more and more reliant on their gadgets and platforms, making us a little less 'human' in the process.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by BashDash »

Surviving Survival: The Art and Science of Resilience
By Laurence Gonzalez
Jeff Albertson
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Jeff Albertson »

'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need' - Bill Gates

and Bill McKibben's critical review
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/book ... aster.html


also, a reading list, 100 Best Behavioral Economics Books of All Time:
https://bookauthority.org/books/best-be ... 1846143004
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Strange Shores, by Arnaldur Indridason.

Around the Eastern Fjords of Iceland, there are two long unsolved mysteries about the disappearance of persons during fierce storms in the 1940s.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
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SagaciousTraveler
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

The Splendid and The Vile by Erik Larson

A Dangerous Man by Robert Crais
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

Two underway now

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande

and

The Spies of Warsaw, by Alan Furst
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protagonist
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by protagonist »

I just finished Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, and I am less enthusiastic about it than just about everybody else I know who read it (including those who posted here), so take my criticism with that in mind. Most people I know who read it loved it. I was very impressed by it, and admired the writing, but I didn't love the book ("You did everything you could, Doctor, but the patient still died." . I wanted to like it more than I did.

The positive:

McCarthy's writing was amazing. His descriptions were beautiful, lush and lavish....Melville comes to my mind. And I didn't find it very difficult to read (many described it as very challenging.....I didn't find it anywhere near as challenging as DeLillo or Joyce or Pynchon or Durrell or Faulkner, though I would recommend reading via e-reader rather than print because unless you are a walking OED you will probably have to look up the meaning of at least one word per page).

That said, I felt the novel lacked forward momentum and, with few brief exceptions, just meandered. Several pages of long sentences describing in glorious detail the southwestern desert landscape and its 1849 inhabitants, perforated by one gruesome, gory massacre after another...another trek through landscape....another massacre....another trek...another massacre....no real direction or anything to captivate the reader with surprise past the first fifty pages or so. There were several interesting existential monologues (mostly by the character known as "The Judge"), but even these seemed to lack direction. Perhaps that was the whole point....the meaninglessness of all the carnage. Melville at least understood momentum.

So I would judge McCarthy as an amazing and incredibly sensitive technician with language, but not such an amazing story-teller. The same was true of The Road. Both were humorless. An apt comparison might be a young jazz conservatory graduate who can play lightening fast licks and patterns of arcane chord substitutions in 13.5/4 time , compared with, say, Miles or Monk. Or for you rockers, the guitar playing of Yngvie Malmsteen vs that of B B King. Which do you prefer?

I just started a much simpler book. A Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. I like it much more. Now there is a writer who understands momentum .
Last edited by protagonist on Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
frugalmama
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by frugalmama »

Jeff Albertson wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:51 pm 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need' - Bill Gates

and Bill McKibben's critical review
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/book ... aster.html


also, a reading list, 100 Best Behavioral Economics Books of All Time:
https://bookauthority.org/books/best-be ... 1846143004
Thanks, I look forward to checking out that list and adding a lot of them to my Goodreads Queue. Bill Gates' new book is also on my list...

I'm currently reading Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy (online) and a paper copy (for when I don't have online access) Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

I just finished Elton John's autobiography Me.
rockstar
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by rockstar »

Pretender: Rebirth. The guys that did the Pretender TV series released two novels. I'm knocking those out this month. They're fun, quick reads.
bf0123
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bf0123 »

Blood Meridian and The Road is an exhausting starting point with McCarthy. I'd encourage you go way back to Suttree. That is much more humorous,almost light-hearted (but not really... McCarthy lite)... A fun read. Then you'll be primely positioned for All the Pretty Horses. That's the one I read with pleasure every few years. Haunting, in turns humorous, with a purpose and vivid characters and setting. Brilliant.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

bf0123 wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:15 pm Blood Meridian and The Road is an exhausting starting point with McCarthy. I'd encourage you go way back to Suttree. That is much more humorous,almost light-hearted (but not really... McCarthy lite)... A fun read. Then you'll be primely positioned for All the Pretty Horses. That's the one I read with pleasure every few years. Haunting, in turns humorous, with a purpose and vivid characters and setting. Brilliant.
Exactly the recommendation I made somewhere in the last few pages. :beer
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Barkingsparrow »

The Last Place on Earth - Roland Huntford

Engrossing book. Huntford obviously has very strong biases here - a bit strident at times even, but I would say I'm glad he was able to undercut this whole Scott myth, which frankly, annoyed me greatly. Before I read Huntford, I had read a number of other books about the race to the South Pole, and my gut feeling was that Scott was inept. Ponies? Untested mechanical sledges? Man-hauling hundreds of miles in bitter cold and higher altitudes? Scurvy? Did Scott even do his homework?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Mr. Rumples »

First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington by Peter R. Henriques. Well worth the read, for a review;

https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/02/re ... ashington/
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LtFredericHenry
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by LtFredericHenry »

I just finished The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I’m on to A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
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heartwood
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

Barkingsparrow wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:00 pm A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine.

I really enjoyed this book. A dense, intellectual, Sci-Fi political thriller / murder mystery taking place in the capital city of a multi-planet empire in the far future. Well developed characters and some creative world-building. I can see why the book was nominated for a number of awards. Looking forward to the sequel.
I started reading it as the 2020 Hugo Award winning novel. I'm about half way into it and still wanting to like it. Part of my difficulty comes from the naming of citizen characters (a number and an object), e.g., Six Direction, Three Seagrass. Similarly, places are non-English words that are unpronounceable for me. I have trouble generally recalling where this or that character came into the story earlier in the book, or where a particular place is.

Another quibble is that while the writing is good, so far not a lot has happened in this large book. Perhaps there's a grand reveal coming? I'll stick it out.
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Glass Houses, by Louise Penny.

U.S. and Canadian drug cartels clash under the radar in Three Pines Quebec.
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jason2459
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jason2459 »

Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today

Free on Kindle from Amazon. Goes well with the most recent podcast by Rick Ferri with Jamie Catherwood. I like historical views and research.
"In the short run, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long run, it is a weighing machine" ~Benjamin Graham
Invest4lt
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Invest4lt »

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

A wedding being held on a secluded island off the Irish coast turns into a murder mystery. The first 1/3 is a bit slow, but the final 2/3 of the book really takes off. Quite enjoyable.
"People sometimes fail to live because they are always preparing to live." - Alan Watts
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TierArtz
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by TierArtz »

The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom by William Lane Craig.
Preview: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Wise-God-Co ... 1579103162
cs412a
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by cs412a »

The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
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heartwood
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

I finished The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. I enjoyed it. Some surprises at the end that I should have seen coming, at least in part.

I then spent all of 25 minutes reading Buy a Bullet, a short story by Gregg Hurwitz. He writes the Orphan X novels. This short story and another by him that I read are purely exploiting that franchise. I think it was 16 pages long, with a long intro to one of his older novels. Luckily it was a library book.

Lee Child has done the same with several Jack Reacher short stories. At most half hour reads of limited storytelling.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ScoobyDoo »

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

English missing wife mystery set around time right after WWI, war only backdrop to explain dates, no spoilers. Not a war story.

Do I like it? I don’t think so.
Why? Book written with Two timelines chapter by chapter. I generally like this story telling tactic but not sure enough story is told that matters in this one.

And the writing person is hard to tell...i guess it’s 3rd person but like the 3rd person is writing a diary????

Anyway. I’m 75% done. A popular book. Nice prose, obviously a good writer! It’s a book picked by a book club and a simple short fiction book that’s easy to read, even though, not sure nothing has happened quite yet🤔😐😶
ScoobyDoo!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by sixtyforty »

Overboard! A True Blue-Water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival by Michael J Tougias

True story of what happens to the crews of two sailing boats caught in a massive storm in the Atlantic in May 2005
and the rescue missions that ensued. It's a real page turner and hard book to put down. I couldn't believe some of the conditions the US Coast Guard flies into to perform rescues. Just amazing.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo Da Vinci
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heartwood
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

The Power Couple by Alex Berenson.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BZ ... tkin_p1_i0


He's the author of the John Wells series of books. This one is not part of that series.

I'm 20% into it and like it. She's an FBI agent, he seems to be a NSA analyst. On vacation in Europe with their two teenage children.
Fallible
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Fallible »

cs412a wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:49 pm The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
Good book. Also read it and her convincing case is that we even do most of the work for the cons because we want to believe what they tell us.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
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htdrag11
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by htdrag11 »

It's been a long time since I read a book of fiction.

After the Expanse series on Prime was over, I'm reading Books 6, 7 and 8 to hold me over till end of this year (hopefully) for Season 6 and Book 9, the last one, in 2021.

Like all sci-fi series, technology might change, but not human nature. Lessons learned became lessons forgotten. All dictators like to live forever.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by TomatoTomahto »

cs412a wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:49 pm The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
If you like her writing, you might enjoy her book The Biggest Bluff. It’s about her one year (or so) journey to learn poker and play professionally. Interesting, but I wish the book had been better edited.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mrsbetsy »

After watching In and Of Itself on Hulu, I decided to get Derek Derek DelGaudio's book Amoralman. Wow! Just as interesting as the movie. After I read it, I then listened to it with an Audible credit. It's a little more than 5 hours, but read by DelGaudio himself and he has wonderful cadence and a great storyteller. His sprinkling of alliteration along the way made it the reading more silky.

I can't quite find the words to describe the movie, but the book is a story of his life...or maybe not. Magician meets card shark and the battle ensues between morality and cheating. A few twists and turns along the way. Boy raised by a single gay mother and the contortions he did to hide it from his peers in those days is only a small part of the book, but it shaped him in a way that prepared him for the rest of his life.

There is overlap between the movie and the book and I can't decide if it matters which one is to be enjoyed first, but I like that I saw the movie and then devoured the book....twice.

It's the first time in a long time that I wasn't tempted to speed up the audio to 1.5X speed, which is how I consume most things. I wanted this one to last longer...even after it finished.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Barkingsparrow »

The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel

I borrowed this book from the library based on the reviews from Bogleheads, and I don't think I have anything more to add that hasn't already been said; other then I plan to buy this book as a reminder to ignore the noise and stick to my simple strategy - which strikingly, turns out to be very similar to what Morgan is doing, i.e.; try and live frugally and save, low-cost Vanguard indexes, and pay off the house and stay debt-free.
Last edited by Barkingsparrow on Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ScoobyDoo »

ScoobyDoo wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 9:05 pm The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

English missing wife mystery set around time right after WWI, war only backdrop to explain dates, no spoilers. Not a war story.

Do I like it? I don’t think so.
Why? Book written with Two timelines chapter by chapter. I generally like this story telling tactic but not sure enough story is told that matters in this one.

And the writing person is hard to tell...i guess it’s 3rd person but like the 3rd person is writing a diary????

Anyway. I’m 75% done. A popular book. Nice prose, obviously a good writer! It’s a book picked by a book club and a simple short fiction book that’s easy to read, even though, not sure nothing has happened quite yet🤔😐😶
:oops:
So, I’m not a fan of reading reviews or plot summary so I was unaware this is a Historical Fiction book around Agatha Christie. While reading I did notice the name and the lady was writing fiction mystery, but it didn’t dawn on me until the book club began discussions....Pretty slow i guess :oops:
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Horologium »

It's been out for a couple of months, but I just started 'Twilight of the Gods', the third installment of Ian Toll's Pacific War trilogy.

I'm about 100 pages into it and it is excellent.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Elsebet »

Factfullness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Really enjoying this book, it's about putting news/statistics into perspective to see that the world is really improving in a lot of areas rather than getting worse.
"...the man who adapts himself to his slender means and makes himself wealthy on a little sum, is the truly rich man..." ~Seneca
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by cs412a »

TomatoTomahto wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:50 am
cs412a wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:49 pm The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
If you like her writing, you might enjoy her book The Biggest Bluff. It’s about her one year (or so) journey to learn poker and play professionally. Interesting, but I wish the book had been better edited.
Thanks, I may check it out. However, gambling tends to be a fraught topic for me, as my ex-husband and father-in-law were both compulsive gamblers. I've no doubt that for some people, poker actually is a game of skill, but when I think of poker, I'm reminded how much of the family savings my father-in-law dropped at the poker parlors in Gardena.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mrsbetsy »

cs412a wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:49 pm
TomatoTomahto wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:50 am
cs412a wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:49 pm The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
If you like her writing, you might enjoy her book The Biggest Bluff. It’s about her one year (or so) journey to learn poker and play professionally. Interesting, but I wish the book had been better edited.
Thanks, I may check it out. However, gambling tends to be a fraught topic for me, as my ex-husband and father-in-law were both compulsive gamblers. I've no doubt that for some people, poker actually is a game of skill, but when I think of poker, I'm reminded how much of the family savings my father-in-law dropped at the poker parlors in Gardena.
You may find some validation for your emotions in the Derek DelGaldio's book Amoralman. Half is about his journey as a kid being raised by a lesbian mother in a very conservative town and the other half is his mental gymnastics as a cheating poker dealer....with a little bit of magic/card shark sprinkled throughout.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by TomatoTomahto »

cs412a wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:49 pm
TomatoTomahto wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:50 am
cs412a wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:49 pm The confidence game by Maria Konnikova.

The author is one of the people interviewed in the movie Made you look. I was impressed by her take on the events described in the film, so I'm now reading her book on the psychology of the con - how and why grifters are able to take advantage of us. I say "us" rather than "people" because she makes a convincing case that it isn't only the uneducated, foolish, or greedy who are taken advantage of.
If you like her writing, you might enjoy her book The Biggest Bluff. It’s about her one year (or so) journey to learn poker and play professionally. Interesting, but I wish the book had been better edited.
Thanks, I may check it out. However, gambling tends to be a fraught topic for me, as my ex-husband and father-in-law were both compulsive gamblers. I've no doubt that for some people, poker actually is a game of skill, but when I think of poker, I'm reminded how much of the family savings my father-in-law dropped at the poker parlors in Gardena.
Perhaps not the best book for you, given your unfortunate experience with having close relationships with gamblers. The book I recommended is mostly about teasing out the strands of luck vs skill in poker and mostly tournament poker rather than cash games.

I was a bridge player in my 20s and 30s. Bridge is in the middle of the continuum from chess (perfect information since the board is exposed) to poker (imperfect information: some cards are hidden and it is allowed to misrepresent what your cards are to opponents). Bridge has imperfect information and ethical rules on what information you can give/get from your partner versus what you can ethically get from your opppnents; your partner is ethically prohibited from gaining information from your body language, intonation, hesitations, etc., while you are free (at your own risk) to draw inferences from your opponents. It is unethical to intentionally deceive opponents by body language and the other “tells.”
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by chuckb84 »

"The Milagro Beanfield War", which I read decades ago and decided to reread. Still hilarious, authentic and a tribute to a way of life that is just about gone now. I'll probably do the whole New Mexico trilogy again.
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FreeAtLast
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by FreeAtLast »

"A Worse Place Than Hell: How The Civil War Battle Of Fredericksburg Changed A Nation", by John Matteson (W.W. Norton and Co. 2021)

This is an unusual and fascinating book and certainly not what I expected when I plucked it from the "New Arrivals" shelf. The author is not a historian but a professor of English. His work is essentially a compilation of excellent mini-biographies of some very famous Americans - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott - and some lesser known celebrities such as Major John Pelham and the Reverend Arthur Fuller. They lived during the Civil War period and were of course deeply affected by it; the latter two were killed in action. The author has chosen the Battle of Fredericksburg as a focal point through which the threads of their existences pass. I give Matteson full credit for doing his military homework - when he describes the details of battles like Ball's Bluff, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Kelly's Ford, he commits no obvious errors.

The book is mostly about the physical and emotional trauma that the three surviving principals suffered during the War and how it affected and shaped their achievements afterwards. Considering how great those achievements were, Matteson has performed a service by illuminating their potential origins. He has also prompted me to search out "Leaves Of Grass" and "Little Women" on my next visit to the library. Better late than never.
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nisiprius
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

I just finished rereading Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. I'm rereading it because I wondering whether to recommend it to a Brazilian who is learning English, and likes positive, motivational reading. The English is probably about the right level, and it isn't full of slang or cultural references.

But here's my question, for millennials and Gen X-ers.

Do people still read Jonathan Livingston Seagull any more?

It was extraordinarily popular in the 1970s. Can I call it "a beloved American classic?" Or is it just some old book that was very popular once, but not any more?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

Finished "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou today

half way through "The Burial Hour" by Jeffrey Deaver
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Tejfyy »

Counter-revolution and revolt
by Herbert Marcuse, 1972

I'd recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by pezblanco »

The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad In Groups by William Berstein

Just finished this extraordinary book. I don't think I've read a non-fiction book in quite a while that has surprised, delighted, and astonished me as much as this one. It's not just recommended or highly recommended ... it is absolutely required reading for anyone wanting a better understanding of what makes our species tick.

From the Amazon blurb:

Inspired by Charles Mackay’s 19th-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Bernstein engages with mass delusion with the same curiosity and passion, but armed with the latest scientific research that explains the biological, evolutionary, and psychosocial roots of human irrationality. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last 500 years―from the Anabaptist Madness that afflicted the Low Countries in the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that animate ISIS and pervade today’s polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles of recent years. Through Bernstein’s supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their motivation, invariably “the desire to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next.”
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ScoobyDoo »

jebmke wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 2:25 pm Finished "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou today

half way through "The Burial Hour" by Jeffrey Deaver
What did you think of Bad Blood? would you recommend it?
ScoobyDoo!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

ScoobyDoo wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:35 pm
jebmke wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 2:25 pm Finished "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou today

half way through "The Burial Hour" by Jeffrey Deaver
What did you think of Bad Blood? would you recommend it?
Yes, fascinating detail. I was familiar with the broad scope of the fraud but the story and detail are gripping.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

jebmke wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:59 pm
ScoobyDoo wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:35 pm
jebmke wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 2:25 pm Finished "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou today

half way through "The Burial Hour" by Jeffrey Deaver
What did you think of Bad Blood? would you recommend it?
Yes, fascinating detail. I was familiar with the broad scope of the fraud but the story and detail are gripping.
Well worth a read. I believe the trial starts in July.

Here's what I noted in 2019
"
heartwood wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:30 pm
mancich wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 3:18 pm Just finished Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou, the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Outstanding read, I could barely put it down.
I read it a few months ago, finishing in a couple of days. Yes, an outstanding read, and one that outraged me about the lives put at risk by a "technology" that didn't work, that took years to uncover and put out of business.

HBO is showing "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley". Its a documentary about Theranos and the principal participants. Basically the same story as the book, but with a lot of footage of Holmes, and so many of the very famous people on the Board of Directors: quoting Fortune "We have former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Senators Sam Nunn and Bill Frist (who, it should be noted, is a surgeon), former Navy Admiral Gary Roughead, former Marine Corps General James Mattis, and former CEOs Dick Kovacevich of Wells Fargo and Riley Bechtel of Bechtel. There is also one former epidemiologist—William Foege, and, in addition to Holmes, one current executive, Sunny Balwani, who is Theranos’ president and CEO."
David Boies was also involved and on the Board for awhiile.
I don't think anyone ever has offered an apology, and so far I don't think anyone has been convicted of anything.
"
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

The trial was delayed due to the pandemic. I also think that the story got kind of overwhelmed when it first broke due to all the election news dominating the media.
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