What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Ricola
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Ricola »

In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance by Yaron Brook, Don Watkins

Concise explanation of the finance industry and positive description of Jack Bogle, Index Funds, and Vanguard.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

West of the Revolution, by Claudio Saunt.

This is a history of other events in North America in the 1770s. The book contains a disappointing, disjointed, shallow history of Russian and Spanish activity in Alaska and on the West Coast, and in the Southwest. It contains an interesting and much better discussion of activities of the Souix, Osage, and Creek tribes at that time.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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West With the Night by Beryl Markham.
An incredibly well written autobiography by one of the bravest, most fascinating and accomplished women....no, correct that.....one of the bravest, most fascinating and accomplished human beings of the twentieth century.

"“Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer's log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people's stories, are absolutely true . . . I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book.”
―Ernest Hemingway
MP173
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

Steve Hamilton's "A Stolen Season".

Hamilton has successfully penned a series of Alex McKnight novels set in Paradise, Mi. in the UP. This is the best (so far).

McKnight is a former Detroit policeman with a bullet still lodged near his heart, from a shooting which killed his partner years ago. He retreated to the UP and lives in a cabin his father and he built years ago. Very interesting series. Start at the beginning.

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

Post by quantAndHold »

Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar.

Memoir from a 2nd generation Pakistani American playwright. People are complicated and situations are ambiguous. That is all.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by protagonist »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:09 pm Your mention of the Alamo myth and of San Jacinto brought to mind a story about Lyndon Johnson:
When she was working with Johnson on his memoirs, [Biographer Doris Kearns] Goodwin said, she summoned the courage one day to ask [LBJ} why he had so often told people that his grandfather had died at the Alamo, when he knew it was not true.

Johnson, she said, confessed to the fraud, but had a ready explanation. "My grandfather wasn't killed at the Alamo," she recalled him saying. "He was killed at the Battle of San Jacinto, which Texans know was more important in achieving independence {from Mexico}, but other Americans usually haven't heard of. So I moved him to the Alamo."

"That seemed reasonable," Goodwin said, "until I did some further checking and found he hadn't been killed in the Battle of San Jacinto either. He died in bed."
I just listened to a very good podcast about the "Alamo Myth": https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/ar ... ry/619664/

If Johnson was referring to his paternal grandfather, Samuel Ealy Johnson, he was born in 1838. His maternal grandfather was born in 1846.
The Alamo happened in 1836, as did the battle of San Jacinto, two years before Samuel was born.

Why he was not called on this transparent lie long before he was working on his memoirs is sort of bizarre.
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heartwood
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

MP173 wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 4:43 pm Heartwood:

John Verdon's Dave Gurney series is excellent. "Think of a Number" was very good...I have read 3 now and am pacing them. Could bing read them.

Here is a similar author - Brian Thiem has 3 books out - Matt Sinclair series. Thiem is a retired Oakland, Ca policeman. Sinclair is a brilliant detective, but with "issues". Similar to Bosch series of Michael Connelly.

Yet another good series is Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight. McKnight is a former Detroit cop on disability living in the U.P. of Michigan. His books are set in winter, not only does McKnight face human issues, but also the elements.

I am also reading Paul Dorian's series - Mike Bowditch is a Game Warden in Maine...again, lots of nature's elements. Game Wardens (at least in the series) carry added responsibilities as law enforcement officers due to the vast land/minimal law enforcement in Northern Maine. His first book is "The Poacher's Son.".

I agree about Michael Lewis...800 page book on the history of staplers would be on my list. Cannot wait to read his latest.

Meanwhile recently:
Steve Hamilton's - "The Hunting Wind"...Alex McKnight series.
Brian Thiem - "Shallow Grave"
John Sandford - "Ocean Prey"- Davenport and Virgil Flowers investigate the killing of Coast Guard personnel in a drug deal. Sandford's best in quite some time (IMHO).
Sal DiStefano - "The Resistance Training Revolution" - an intro book to weight training - body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells, and barbells plus nutrition. Not a deep or heavy look at the science of resistance training, but helpful. I have been mixing resistance with cardio for 9 months with excellent results. Author takes a stance against mixing the two...it has worked for me.
Jonathan Kellerman - "Serpentine" Yet another excellent in his long running Milo and Alex series....about 100 pages in.

Ed
MP173, I was going to joke, "what else you got", but I've followed up on several of your recommends that I hadn't read/heard of and have lots to turn to. Thanks for the new-for-me authors.

I finally read Brian Thiem's Red Line a week ago after your March recommendation and then went straight to the 2nd, Thrill Kill. Finished that and will today start the 3rd, Shallow Grave. I hope he's got another coming. He's a good writer and story teller.

Again based on your recommend I've read a couple of the John Verdon's Dave Gurney series. Very good.

I like the others you note, esp Sandford and Connelly. But the surprise for me, after your recommend, are the Paul Dorian's series - Mike Bowditch is a Game Warden in Maine. My first reaction was, game warden novels? Then I checked amazon reviews and saw that he's got 18 novels since 2010 and all were highly rated. I read the 1st, The Poacher's Son, and then read the 2nd and the 3rd. I'm set for awhile.

I see Connelly has a new Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch coming out in November.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Finridge »

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Blurb from the publisher (Penguin Random House):
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity’s transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it?

5 ideas for summer reading—Bill Gates, GatesNotes • “Beautifully and insistently, Kolbert shows us that it is time to think radically about the ways we manage the environment.”—Helen Macdonald, The New York Times

That man should have dominion “over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.

In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world’s rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a “super coral” that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.

One way to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Mr. Rumples »

This book caught my attention while browsing Barnes and Noble:

Tales from the Ant World - by Edward O Wilson https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Ant-World-...1631495569

An interesting introduction to the complex world of ants for the layperson. I have a new found respect for them as I garden.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Freefun »

The spy and the traitor. I did the audible version. One of the best narrated books I’ve listened to.
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wilson08
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Around the Next Corner

by Elizabeth Wrenn

A woman who feels taken for granted and unappreciated volunteers
to raise a puppy to be a guide dog. The training period is one year and
she knows from the start it will extremely difficult to let this dog go
when the time comes. Not bad , sometimes details are monotonous and
are dragged out but a fair novel.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished The Corpse on the Dike, by Nicholas van de Wetering. Part of a series of detective novels set in Amsterdam. Very good.
And just before that, The Basle Express, by Manning Coles.
And just before that, The Glass Key, by Dashiell Hammett, which is supposed to be one of his classics--but I didn't like it.

I've started Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather. I'm about a quarter of the way through, but I think I'm bogging down.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:39 pm Just finished The Corpse on the Dike, by Nicholas van de Wetering. Part of a series of detective novels set in Amsterdam. Very good.
And just before that, The Basle Express, by Manning Coles.
And just before that, The Glass Key, by Dashiell Hammett, which is supposed to be one of his classics--but I didn't like it.

I've started Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather. I'm about a quarter of the way through, but I think I'm bogging down.
I think I've read all of van der Wetering's Grijpstra and de Gier books. They are favorites of mine.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Bh1984 »

"The State of Affairs" - Esther Perel
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Shambolic37 »

quantAndHold wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 4:24 pm
gatorking wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 9:45 am The Premonition by Michael Lewis
The back of the book has a quote: "I would read an 800-page history of the stapler if he wrote it." I concur.
I just finished this. Some great storytelling. Also, eye opening.
Michael Lewis is a great writer. I think part of what makes him a great writer is that he is able to simplify complex issues and then tie them into a few key characters to tell a story. It makes for great writing, but not sure it is a great tool for understanding the pandemic. So I liked the book, I am just wary of drawing too many conclusions from a story that is meant to be entertaining. The CDC definitely sounds like they are in need of a drastic overhaul.
I feel like this book was written too early, though. It's like what a World War II history would look like if it was written in November of 1941. We still don't know how the story is going to play out completely. Who knows what the ultimate lessons will be?
Also feel like the heroes in the story are analogous to the financial doom and gloom people who have predicted 8 of the last 3 stock market crashes. If you are always predicting doom, eventually you will be right. But your predictions are not useful.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Colorado Guy »

Stupid Things I won't do when I get old, by Steven Petrow.

Am guilty of several of these, and I'm not finished yet! :shock:
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

Two - each about 50% finished

"Northern Spy" by Flynn Berry
"Finding the Mother Tree" by Suzanne Simard.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Shambolic37 wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:54 am
quantAndHold wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 4:24 pm
gatorking wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 9:45 am The Premonition by Michael Lewis
The back of the book has a quote: "I would read an 800-page history of the stapler if he wrote it." I concur.
I just finished this. Some great storytelling. Also, eye opening.
Michael Lewis is a great writer. I think part of what makes him a great writer is that he is able to simplify complex issues and then tie them into a few key characters to tell a story. It makes for great writing, but not sure it is a great tool for understanding the pandemic. So I liked the book, I am just wary of drawing too many conclusions from a story that is meant to be entertaining. The CDC definitely sounds like they are in need of a drastic overhaul.
I feel like this book was written too early, though. It's like what a World War II history would look like if it was written in November of 1941. We still don't know how the story is going to play out completely. Who knows what the ultimate lessons will be?
Also feel like the heroes in the story are analogous to the financial doom and gloom people who have predicted 8 of the last 3 stock market crashes. If you are always predicting doom, eventually you will be right. But your predictions are not useful.
For something well-written and informative on vaccines try one of the books authored by Paul Offit, M.D., link.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny.

This is a murder mystery set in Three Pines Quebec about a post-pandemic dystopian solution, spurious correlations, and the madness of crowds.
Last edited by ruralavalon on Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Shambolic37 wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:54 am
quantAndHold wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 4:24 pm
gatorking wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 9:45 am The Premonition by Michael Lewis
The back of the book has a quote: "I would read an 800-page history of the stapler if he wrote it." I concur.
I just finished this. Some great storytelling. Also, eye opening.
Michael Lewis is a great writer. I think part of what makes him a great writer is that he is able to simplify complex issues and then tie them into a few key characters to tell a story. It makes for great writing, but not sure it is a great tool for understanding the pandemic. So I liked the book, I am just wary of drawing too many conclusions from a story that is meant to be entertaining. The CDC definitely sounds like they are in need of a drastic overhaul.
I feel like this book was written too early, though. It's like what a World War II history would look like if it was written in November of 1941. We still don't know how the story is going to play out completely. Who knows what the ultimate lessons will be? ...
Your questions about the book, good as it is overall, are similar to mine, which center mainly on the CDC and not learning enough about why what went wrong did go wrong. In a sense, the book may have come out too soon, i.e., in May, before the CDC's new recommendations and just as the Delta variant was taking hold in the U.S. But Lewis's character approach using CDC and former CDC insiders might still have brought out main systemic flaws that would shed light on what has happened and what did happen after the book came out. A guess is that maybe he just couldn't find those insider-characters willing to talk.

Whatever, Lewis did find excellent characters in his previous book, The Fifth Risk, which I had thought would be a perfect prequel to "Premonition."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Bad Advice, by Paul A. Moffit, M.D.

The sub-title is: Or why celebrities, politicians and activists aren't your best source of health information. The book is fairly short, well-written and easy for a layman to understand. The book deals with public health, epidemiology, vaccines and the anti-vaxx movement. Recommended.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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A Cold Day in Paradise, by Steve Hamilton.

An ex-police officer from Detroit, disabled because shot by madman, is a private investigator in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He lives in Paradise, MI just down the road from Sault St. Marie. His past returns to haunt him when a bookie is found murdered and he fears that the madman who shot him 14 years ago is on the loose.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by roamingzebra »

Freefun wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:15 pm The spy and the traitor. I did the audible version. One of the best narrated books I’ve listened to.
Am halfway through. Excellent.

Have enjoyed hearing how MI-6 tried to help Oleg's job performance in his KGB job (with "chicken feed" intelligence reports, etc.) so he wouldn't get demoted and sent back to Russia.

So far, the scariest part has been on the irrationality and paranoia of Soviet leader Andropov who seriously thought the United States was on the verge of a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Just finished Michael Lewis' Premonition.

He *really* writes well! I couldn't put it down, due in large part to the content, but also due to his incredible writing.

I hope that he ends up writing a "sequel"... how it all plays out in the longer run. We haven't seen the end of this "situation" yet, very unfortunately.

RM
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Brewman »

ResearchMed wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:58 am Just finished Michael Lewis' Premonition.

He *really* writes well! I couldn't put it down, due in large part to the content, but also due to his incredible writing.

I hope that he ends up writing a "sequel"... how it all plays out in the longer run. We haven't seen the end of this "situation" yet, very unfortunately.

RM
I want thank an earlier poster on this thread for the recommendation on Premonition! While I was waiting for it to become available at the library I also read the Fifth risk by the same author - excellent and eye opening as well and have just started Flash Boys.....I may end up reading all of his books! I love some of the recommendation I have gotten from this thread - Thank You!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather, and found it surprisingly engaging and readable. We read My Ántonia in high school so, like things that are required reading in high school, I didn't care much for it and didn't remember much of it.

I wonder if there is an edition of Death Comes for the Archbishop with big color photographs of the places and landscapes she describes?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Just finished Out Of Africa by Isak Dinesen whose real name of course was Karen Blixen. It was a first edition published in 1938 which I found languishing on dusty shelf in used book store. The inside page had a personal inscription from an earlier owner gifting the book to a friend and hoping that she enjoyed the book. I like these old hardcover books with personal inscriptions, imagining that they were part of a small cherished home library. The Modern Library lists the book as one of 100 all time best non fiction books. I certainly agree. I found it lyrical and enchanting, a fascinating glimpse of an intelligent and observant woman, who also turned out to be a great writer, attempting to run a coffee plantation in the long lost world of British Colonial East Africa. Highly recommend, especially if find an old first edition hiding in a used book store. Good luck.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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tj218 wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:11 pm Just finished Malcolm Gladwell's new book The Bomber Mafia https://www.amazon.com/Bomber-Mafia-Tem ... 0316296619

It's a short read, but interesting background on the precision guided (Bomber Mafia) bomb group in WWII vs. the area effect school. Focuses quite a bit on the moral question through the lens of what the goal of the "Bomber Mafia" was trying to achieve vs. the pragmatic concerns (lack of accuracy, ineffectiveness, etc.) of waging such a campaign during that era. I enjoyed the background on the development of the Norden bombsight in particular. The Curtis LeMay led firebombing campaign is the focus of the final third of the book.
A sort read indeed. It reminded me of the brutal numbers lost in WWII. It also puts a nuanced face on LeMay.

As often with Gladwell some interesting ways of looking at what you think you know. He ends the book alluding to aspects of current day "precision" warfare.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by tyrnup13 »

I just finished Metabolical, by Robert Lustig.

It explores the relationship of processed food on metabolic health. It was really well written. I can't recommend it enough, for anyone who is interested in optimizing health through nutrition.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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I recently received a box of mystery books by Lee Child from a collection belonging to a retired admiral. They feature Jack Reacher is a tough character who had experience as a military policeman. The first book "Make Me" comes from Reacher's expression : If you want me to stop you're going to have to make me..
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Winter of the Wolf Moon, by Steve Hamilton.

A disabled ex-cop from Detroit has moved to Michigan's Upper Penninsula. He tries to find a kidnapping victim and becomes entangled with the Drug Enforcement Administration, local authorities in the U.S. and Canada, and a violent drug gang.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by roamingzebra »

Freefun wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:15 pm The spy and the traitor. I did the audible version. One of the best narrated books I’ve listened to.
Hope this isn't too spoilerish, but it is non-fiction after all.

I just finished "The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War." Absolutely fascinating.

The story of Oleg Gordievsky's emergency exfiltration from Russia has got to be one of the most thrilling escape stories ever. The blow-by-blow account was fascinating as was the multi-year planning by MI-6 that went into it as a contingency plan that was believed too risky and that would never work.

The West really holds a huge debt to Gordievsky. He was able to persuade western leaders to scale back their rhetoric and allow the Soviet Union to pull back from the brink.

The bungling by the CIA around the issue of Aldrich Ames is really disappointing. He had all the signs of being a mole and it was ignored. Instead, he was moved into positions of increasing capability for inflicting the greatest damage to the West. The role he played vis a vis Gordievsky is ironic to the extreme.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

Finished Suburban Dicks,a debut novel by Fabian Nicieza.

A crime story set in NJ. The dicks, detectives, are a very pregnant ex-FBI profiler and a disgraced journalist.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Mr. Rumples »

Virginia State Penitentiary: A Notorious History by Dale Brumfield

Until it was demolished, the State Pen as it was called occupied a prime piece of downtown Richmond real estate. I remember as a kid going to Richmond in the summer and seeing prisoners hanging out of the windows in the massive un-airconditioned building - originally it had no heat. Arron Burr was imprisoned there once. The original prison (later replaced) was the brainchild of Jefferson and was designed by the architect of the US Capitol Building.

A review: https://news.vcu.edu/article/In_new_boo ... _Richmonds
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

:?: You Bet Your Life, by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

This is a timely history of progress in medicine including the development of anesthesia, X-rays, insulin, blood transfusion, organ transplants, polio vaccines, and gene therapy. The author discusses benefits, comparative risk, false starts, failures, successes, and living with uncertainty.

Recommended.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

tyrnup13 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:24 pm I just finished Metabolical, by Robert Lustig.

It explores the relationship of processed food on metabolic health. It was really well written. I can't recommend it enough, for anyone who is interested in optimizing health through nutrition.
Love that guy!! Explains sugar metabolism in a way that is very relatable and accessible!! He’s also in a doc called The Diabetes Epidemic or some such - Hidden Epidemic. A great documentary!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

The Fourth Turning - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny. by William Strauss and Neil Howe.

Interesting book thus far.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by American author Taylor Jenkins Reid. Perhaps someone more familiar with Hollywood would call this a roman à clef. Certainly, Evelyn Hugo has some clear resemblances to Elizabeth Taylor, and perhaps some other movie stars of the era. I'm enjoying it.
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ResearchMed
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ResearchMed »

Brewman wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:31 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:58 am Just finished Michael Lewis' Premonition.

He *really* writes well! I couldn't put it down, due in large part to the content, but also due to his incredible writing.

I hope that he ends up writing a "sequel"... how it all plays out in the longer run. We haven't seen the end of this "situation" yet, very unfortunately.

RM
I want thank an earlier poster on this thread for the recommendation on Premonition! While I was waiting for it to become available at the library I also read the Fifth risk by the same author - excellent and eye opening as well and have just started Flash Boys.....I may end up reading all of his books! I love some of the recommendation I have gotten from this thread - Thank You!
I'm very belatedly reading "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis.

I've read several of his more recent books and thought he was a brilliant writer, but I found this one (his first?) to be not quite as good. I'm finding some or the writing a bit disjointed, and it's occasionally hard to keep track of "who is where", etc.

Still, it's very interesting background for "financial affairs", etc. I'm almost finished, and I plan to keep going until the end.
DH had commented that I wasn't reading non-stop the way I often do with books that totally capture me (including Lewis' other books thus far), and he was spot on. I kept putting it aside, which I certainly hadn't done with the other books of his that I've read thus far.
This one is not the same.

RM
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Dave55
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Dave55 »

Just finished these 2:

"Migrations" by Charlotte McConaghy. A unique and powerful novel. This book is a must read. Read the reviews for more details.

"The Substitution Order" by Martin Clark. A hybrid legal thriller, page turner. Highly reccomend this one too.

Currently reading "LaRose" by Louise Erdrich.

Dave
Last edited by Dave55 on Sun Sep 26, 2021 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Reality always wins, your only job is to get in touch with it." Wilfred Bion
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Dave55 »

delete
"Reality always wins, your only job is to get in touch with it." Wilfred Bion
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Elsebet
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Elsebet »

Just finished "The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups"by William J. Bernstein. Really enjoyed it, learned quite a bit.

Working on "Chemistry for Dummies" because I found my old chemistry homework from 10th grade while cleaning some boxes out at my mom's house. I could not for the life of me remember almost anything I wrote on this homework, it was like reading something a stranger wrote, which was odd. I figured I should get a refresher, hence this book.
"...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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pezblanco
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by pezblanco »

ResearchMed wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 3:29 pm
Brewman wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:31 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:58 am Just finished Michael Lewis' Premonition.

He *really* writes well! I couldn't put it down, due in large part to the content, but also due to his incredible writing.

I hope that he ends up writing a "sequel"... how it all plays out in the longer run. We haven't seen the end of this "situation" yet, very unfortunately.

RM
I want thank an earlier poster on this thread for the recommendation on Premonition! While I was waiting for it to become available at the library I also read the Fifth risk by the same author - excellent and eye opening as well and have just started Flash Boys.....I may end up reading all of his books! I love some of the recommendation I have gotten from this thread - Thank You!
I'm very belatedly reading "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis.

I've read several of his more recent books and thought he was a brilliant writer, but I found this one (his first?) to be not quite as good. I'm finding some or the writing a bit disjointed, and it's occasionally hard to keep track of "who is where", etc.

Still, it's very interesting background for "financial affairs", etc. I'm almost finished, and I plan to keep going until the end.
DH had commented that I wasn't reading non-stop the way I often do with books that totally capture me (including Lewis' other books thus far), and he was spot on. I kept putting it aside, which I certainly hadn't done with the other books of his that I've read thus far.
This one is not the same.

RM
One hand, one million dollars, no tears.

It's funny how people's tastes are ... I started Premonition and it just didn't mesh with me at all. I ended up dropping it about a fourth of the way through. Liar's Poker on the other hand I found to be absolutely riveting. :)
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ResearchMed
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ResearchMed »

pezblanco wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 6:03 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 3:29 pm
Brewman wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:31 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:58 am Just finished Michael Lewis' Premonition.

He *really* writes well! I couldn't put it down, due in large part to the content, but also due to his incredible writing.

I hope that he ends up writing a "sequel"... how it all plays out in the longer run. We haven't seen the end of this "situation" yet, very unfortunately.

RM
I want thank an earlier poster on this thread for the recommendation on Premonition! While I was waiting for it to become available at the library I also read the Fifth risk by the same author - excellent and eye opening as well and have just started Flash Boys.....I may end up reading all of his books! I love some of the recommendation I have gotten from this thread - Thank You!
I'm very belatedly reading "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis.

I've read several of his more recent books and thought he was a brilliant writer, but I found this one (his first?) to be not quite as good. I'm finding some or the writing a bit disjointed, and it's occasionally hard to keep track of "who is where", etc.

Still, it's very interesting background for "financial affairs", etc. I'm almost finished, and I plan to keep going until the end.
DH had commented that I wasn't reading non-stop the way I often do with books that totally capture me (including Lewis' other books thus far), and he was spot on. I kept putting it aside, which I certainly hadn't done with the other books of his that I've read thus far.
This one is not the same.

RM
One hand, one million dollars, no tears.

It's funny how people's tastes are ... I started Premonition and it just didn't mesh with me at all. I ended up dropping it about a fourth of the way through. Liar's Poker on the other hand I found to be absolutely riveting. :)
That's why there are at least <insert large-ish number> different flavors of toothpaste!

:wink:

RM
This signature is a placebo. You are in the control group.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Zeno »

Michener’s “The Source”
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Finridge »

WyomingFIRE wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:21 pm Michener’s “The Source”
This is probably my favorite Michener novel. I get the sense that not too many people read Michener anymore, which is a shame.

I reread "Caravans" a few years ago. It was written in the 1960's and is set in in the late 1940's, but he absolutely *nailed* Afghanistan--especially in light of the recent American experiences there. The more some things change, the more they stay the same.
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zincTwo
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by zincTwo »

2 Funds for Life: A quest for simple & effective investing strategies, by Chris Pedersen (Amazon)
Fast read. The data analysis was eye-opening. I've sliced several funds for years, but this was a compelling work to move to just TDF+SCV.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Wilderness Librarian »

Park Bagger: Adventures in the Canadian National Parks / Marlis Butcher. Short pieces on author's visits to all the Canadian national parks (except one arctic area she plans but can't get to due to Covid lockout) Uneven writing but still worthwhile.

Douglas Fir: the Story of the West's Most Remarkable Tree / Stephen Arno & Carl Fiedler. Short interesting good pen ink illustrations. Good listing of significant individual trees and protected groves.

This is Your Mind on Plants / Michael Pollan. OK but I thought his other books are better.

Started The Premonition / Michael Lewis mentioned by several above. Put it down about half way through and went out on a camping trip. Turned it back in to the public library - didn't hold my interest.

Others in past few months but of more specialized interests.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by sandburg »

"Twilight of the Gods" by Ian Toll. It's the 3rd and final volume about the major Naval battles in the Pacific during WW2. Hard to put down.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

sandburg wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 12:09 pm "Twilight of the Gods" by Ian Toll. It's the 3rd and final volume about the major Naval battles in the Pacific during WW2. Hard to put down.
I agree, this is an excellent book in an excellent series.
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