What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by sandburg »

"Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" by Ian Toll.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by doobiedoo »

doobiedoo wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:59 am I finished "Verity" by Colleen Hoover.

It was terrific! I guess it is classified as the romance genre, but it has elements of mystery and sexual eroticism too. It was the first book of hers that I have read.

I have heard and read many recommendations for "It Ends with Us" and '"It Starts with Us" but they had a wait at the library. "Verity" happened to be available so I started with that. I was not disappointed.

Business Insider review rates it as the 2nd best Colleen Hoover book (after "It Ends with Us").
https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/ ... with-us-17
I read "Hopeless" for my 2nd Colleen Hoover novel.

For the first 200 pages, I thought it was a teen-age romance novel told from the teen-age girl's point of view.
I am definitely not that target audience. But despite the syrupy, cliched teenagers-falling-in-love-for-the-1st-time plot and dialog, it was so well-written that I plowed on. Boy, was I glad I did!

"Hopeless" embarks on twists and turns as the quirks in the main characters' histories start imploding.
It was just as good as "Verity"! And definitely not a run-of-the-mill romance novel.

I was near the climax of the story when I put the book down to go to sleep at 1:40 am.
But I couldn't get to sleep! After tossing and turning for 40 minutes, I gave up, turned the light back on, and read another 100 pages!

Most Colleen Hoover lists rank "Hopeless" in the 4th-6th best range.
I can't wait to read the books ranked 1 and 3! ["Verity" was number 2".]

https://www.rd.com/list/best-colleen-hoover-books/
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Last quotation from Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold, by Tom Schachtman, I promise. Note the last sentence in particular, which I've underline.
As for the United States, there was a flurry of excitement in June 1897 when a New York Times Magazine article opened with this memorable sentence: "Mama wants two quarts of your best liquid air, and she says that the last you sent had too much carbonic acid gas." The article referred to American engineer Charles E. Tripler and his recently announced steam-driven machine for the liquefaction of air....

Tripler's promise of producing large quantities of liquid air for such engines in carriages, ships, and other modes of transportation attracted Wall Street investors. In short order, with the help of some stock salesmen, Tripler raised $10 million for his public company....

His machine evidently did work.... Apparently, though, Tripler knew so little about chemistry and physics that he dared to assert he had fed 3 quarts of liquid air into his machine, and because of cold's ability to produce additional cold through evaporation, he had been able to obtain 10 quarts of liquid air from the energy provided by 3 quarts. The ability to use a liquid's own coldness to make a portion of it colder—though at the cost of warming the rest—was something Dewar liked to demonstrate. But Tripler's understanding of what he called the "self-intensification" of cold was faulty, and pushed him to utter the equivalent of a claim of perpetual motion. While legitimate scientists might have continued to ignore Tripler and let him go on to produce liquefied gases without comment, they could not stand someone selling what was, in effect, the snake oil of perpetual motion.

...In 1899, with the controversy still going on, Harvard's senior physicist commented that Tripler's use of one to make three "will succeed only when water is found to run up-hill." Linde, on a lecture tour of the United States, also debunked the claim. The stock of Tripler's firm collapsed and shares became worthless; shortly, investigators found that most of the $10 million had gone into the pockets of the promoters and not into Tripler's manufacturing process. In reaction to this debacle, American businesses refused to have anything to do with the commercial use of liquefied air for some years thereafter.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

I was reminded by the What Movie Have you Recently Watched thread that I recently read the new Jesse Stone novel by Mike Lupika. https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Parkers-F ... _author_dp

Lupika is a sportswriter who's apparently been picked by the Robert Parker estate to continue the Stone, Sunny Randall and Spenser characters.

I enjoyed the book, it's got all the familiar characters and an adequate story. The books written by Parker are better, but this is a good read. I'll go back and check out his Sunny Randall book from last year, and wait for his new Spenser (and Sunny) coming this summer.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

"The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S. Army" by Washington Irving.

The true saga of one of the great, relatively unsung explorers of the American continent during the 1800's. The first mountain I ever climbed in the Wind River Range of WY was named for him, and I've had a lifelong interest in the man and his accomplishments since.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by JD2775 »

nisiprius wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:03 pm
JD2775 wrote: Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:17 pm ISo, which of the following would pair better with LOTR?

The Stand
It

:sharebeer
When I read "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time, circa 1964 (before it was in paperback, I'm kind of smug about that), it gripped me so intensely that the idea of stopping to read anything else was unsupportable. I still find it pretty compelling, with the exception of the first half of "The Return of the King," the part with all the battles and gallantry. But I'm not judgmental about how you read it. You might find that you do want to read it continuously.

I don't know which would "pair" better, but The Stand is a better match in length, and in theme--an epic struggle of a battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Whether it is better to pair The Lord of the Rings with something similar or something different, I couldn't say. I personally like to "pair" fiction with nonfiction.

You will have probably heard this before, but it's a good idea to read The Hobbit first, even though it's not on the same level--it's targeted toward children and, unlike some books for children, is coy and condescending.
Been out of town for a few weeks, haven't been reading much but getting back to this now...

Thanks for the tips. I actually decided to start with "It" first. I also grabbed The Hobbit for $2.99 a cpl days ago on Kindle. I am about ~110 pages into LOTR but am going to pause, and after I finish "It", read The Hobbit, then switch to The Stand, and finally go back to LOTR. One after another rather than simultaneously. That should keep me busy for a while :)
Last edited by JD2775 on Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by abuss368 »

“What it Takes” by Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone Group.

https://www.amazon.com/What-Takes-Lesso ... C90&sr=8-1

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

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

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

Post by wabbott »

Casino Royale, Ian Fleming. Been years since I've read the James Bond series, but I recall they were all good reads. This one, the first of the series, tells about a baccarat game against Le Chiffre, a communist agent. Introduced are Vesper Lynde and CIA agent Felix Leiter.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

The Data Detective, Tim Harford. Really good, better than I expected. So far, it isn't what I'd expected (a collection of amusing anecdotes), but actually a series of interesting essays that a) defend the use of statistics, and b) have very meaningful things to say about how we should approach statistical data.

For example, he makes the really important point: when we look at any new statistics, the first question we should ask ourselves is "how do I feel about them?" The point being to try to head off our instant tendencies to look at them selectively (looking hard for flaws in statistics we don't like, but not in statistics we do).

He has interesting things to say about what he calls the difference between "slow" and "fast" statistics. "Slow" statistics are the carefully compiled, large-scale numbers, "fast" statistics are what we observe for ourselves directly. A good example (not one of his) would be the CPI ("slow" statistics) versus what we experience ourselves (the other day I had a $2 CVS "Extra Bucks" coupon, and literally couldn't find anything to buy in the store that cost less than $2). It's not that one or the other is true, it's that we need to pay attention to both and think through the complicated interpretation.

I'm in the chapter about what he calls "premature enumeration," in which he suggests that the most common flaw in statistics, by far, is not the mathematical methodology, but right at the start--deciding how to define the things to be counted.

He almost positions his book as a counter-argument to Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics. He points out that Darrell Huff became a paid advocate for the tobacco industry, because he was considered an expert on the general topic of casting doubt on statistics. Harford doesn't like Huff. Harford wants us to examine statistics critically so that we can identify and believe the valid statistics, not so that we can be cynical about all statistics.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by protagonist »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:40 am The Data Detective, Tim Harford. Really good, better than I expected. So far, it isn't what I'd expected (a collection of amusing anecdotes), but actually a series of interesting essays that a) defend the use of statistics, and b) have very meaningful things to say about how we should approach statistical data.

For example, he makes the really important point: when we look at any new statistics, the first question we should ask ourselves is "how do I feel about them?" The point being to try to head off our instant tendencies to look at them selectively (looking hard for flaws in statistics we don't like, but not in statistics we do).

He has interesting things to say about what he calls the difference between "slow" and "fast" statistics. "Slow" statistics are the carefully compiled, large-scale numbers, "fast" statistics are what we observe for ourselves directly. A good example (not one of his) would be the CPI ("slow" statistics) versus what we experience ourselves (the other day I had a $2 CVS "Extra Bucks" coupon, and literally couldn't find anything to buy in the store that cost less than $2). It's not that one or the other is true, it's that we need to pay attention to both and think through the complicated interpretation.

I'm in the chapter about what he calls "premature enumeration," in which he suggests that the most common flaw in statistics, by far, is not the mathematical methodology, but right at the start--deciding how to define the things to be counted.

He almost positions his book as a counter-argument to Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics. He points out that Darrell Huff became a paid advocate for the tobacco industry, because he was considered an expert on the general topic of casting doubt on statistics. Harford doesn't like Huff. Harford wants us to examine statistics critically so that we can identify and believe the valid statistics, not so that we can be cynical about all statistics.
Though statistics has been getting a bad rap in the general public lately, and though they are often manipulated in the popular press and by politicians and marketers to make outlandish, unsupported claims, the science and mathematics community has never been cynical about statistics or thought it needed defending. The big problem, in my humble opinion, is that our youth is not taught the skills to interpret statistics properly so they can see through the lies and understand the truth. It's odd that subjects like trigonometry are part of the standard high school curriculum (how many adults have any use for the law of cosines?), but not statistics and probability, which we encounter constantly in our daily lives.
Last edited by protagonist on Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by protagonist »

I just started The Bluest Eye, because it was banned by the local Florida county school board. The only other Toni Morrison book I had read was Song of Solomon, which was incredibly good. She is an amazing writer.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by rockstar »

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

Post by stoptothink »

protagonist wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:32 am
nisiprius wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:40 am The Data Detective, Tim Harford. Really good, better than I expected. So far, it isn't what I'd expected (a collection of amusing anecdotes), but actually a series of interesting essays that a) defend the use of statistics, and b) have very meaningful things to say about how we should approach statistical data.

For example, he makes the really important point: when we look at any new statistics, the first question we should ask ourselves is "how do I feel about them?" The point being to try to head off our instant tendencies to look at them selectively (looking hard for flaws in statistics we don't like, but not in statistics we do).

He has interesting things to say about what he calls the difference between "slow" and "fast" statistics. "Slow" statistics are the carefully compiled, large-scale numbers, "fast" statistics are what we observe for ourselves directly. A good example (not one of his) would be the CPI ("slow" statistics) versus what we experience ourselves (the other day I had a $2 CVS "Extra Bucks" coupon, and literally couldn't find anything to buy in the store that cost less than $2). It's not that one or the other is true, it's that we need to pay attention to both and think through the complicated interpretation.

I'm in the chapter about what he calls "premature enumeration," in which he suggests that the most common flaw in statistics, by far, is not the mathematical methodology, but right at the start--deciding how to define the things to be counted.

He almost positions his book as a counter-argument to Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics. He points out that Darrell Huff became a paid advocate for the tobacco industry, because he was considered an expert on the general topic of casting doubt on statistics. Harford doesn't like Huff. Harford wants us to examine statistics critically so that we can identify and believe the valid statistics, not so that we can be cynical about all statistics.
Though statistics has been getting a bad rap in the general public lately, and though they are often manipulated in the popular press and by politicians and marketers to make outlandish, unsupported claims, the science and mathematics community has never been cynical about statistics or thought it needed defending. The big problem, in my humble opinion, is that our youth is not taught the skills to interpret statistics properly so they can see through the lies and understand the truth. It's odd that subjects like trigonometry are part of the standard high school curriculum (how many adults have any use for the law of cosines?), but not statistics and probability, which we encounter constantly in our daily lives.
:sharebeer Could not agree more.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by caffeperfavore »

wabbott wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:16 am Casino Royale, Ian Fleming. Been years since I've read the James Bond series...
Speaking of Bond, I'm reading a book by one of the inspirations for the character (although, there's said to be a number) and friend of Fleming's, Patrick Leigh Fermor. I just finished Between the Woods and the Water, the second book of a trilogy that describes his journey as an 18-year-old on foot from Holland to Constantinople in the 1930s. Beautifully written, it's a fascinating glimpse of old Europe, its people, including the diminished nobility still lingering about, and its sights, some lost due to WWII or modernization. It's best to start with the first book, A Time of Gifts.

Fermor is a larger than life character known for his military exploits, travel, charm, and love affairs. He started his trek after being thrown out of school, where his headmaster called him "a dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness." Certainly sounds like James Bond to me.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

bertilak wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2023 11:28 am Get Capone (2010) by Jonathan Eig
400+ pages of text and 60+ pages of notes and index.

This is a thorough, and interesting, discussion of Alphonse Capone from about 1920 (age 21) to his death in 1947. Eig is a good writer. He does justice to the telling of a very interesting story. Having piqued my interest, I now have three related books sitting on the end table next to my reading chair:
  • A killing in Capone's Playground (2014) by Chriss Lyon
    366 Pages plus index

    Deadly Valentines The story of Capone's henchman Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe, His Blonde Alibi (2012) by Jeffrey Gusfield
    200 pages of text and 46 pages of notes an index.

    Images of America THE CHICAGO OIUTFIT(2003) by John J. Binder
    This is a book of contemporary photographs related to the gangsters of Chicago. It goes from pre-Capone to current times.
Read them all (well, still only part way through Chriss Lyon's). I found the Eig and Gusfield books most interesting, Eig for the Capone story from his early active period ('20s) to his death, and Gusfield for the story of Capone's head of security (Jack McGurn) and his girlfriend and then wife Louise Rolf. The McGurn/Rolfe story could be a movie a lot like Bonnie and Clyde (except they were not bank robbers).

The Binder book is a bit more than photographs as it also has expository text that is informative and interesting.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by spencer99 »

I've been reading WWII history on and off for the last year. Several rewarding reads about D-Day, the Battle of Britain, and the Battle of the Atlantic. I've recently switched theaters and have started "Pacific Crucible," the first of Ian Toll's trio about the Pacific campaign. It's easy, knowing the end, to lose sight of how grim those early days were.

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

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I'm a good ways into the second of Ian Fleming's James Bond series, Live and Let Die. This one is set initially in Harlem, and has some dialogue written in dialect. Mr. Big, the protagonist, is smuggling gold coins into the US, and has a vast criminal network to support the activity. A voodoo cult is employed to enforce order.

The book could not be written today, as Fleming would be immediately jailed for felony "outdated cultural depiction" crimes.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

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

Post by mega317 »

ruralavalon wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:17 am The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

Recommended.
Sounds just like In the Kingdom of Ice, Hampton Sides. About the USS Jeanette. I enjoyed that one.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

Anything by Hampton Sides is a worthwhile read, imho.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Dave55 »

"I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

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

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Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
I finished "I Will Find You" last week. It's not a typical Coben book. DW and I both asked if someone else had written it for him.

I've read all of his novels and have always looked forward to his next one. As you note, there are lots of twists and turns in this one. But, had I started with this one or his recent "Win" I would not have continued reading him for different reasons. Win was too mean spirited for me. I Will Find You is okay writing, but seems full of holes to me. I'll stop there. If you're a fan, I hope you enjoy it!

I keep hoping he'll bring back Myron Bolitar or others of his lighter hearted characters.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

mega317 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:08 pm
ruralavalon wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:17 am The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

Recommended.
Sounds just like In the Kingdom of Ice, Hampton Sides. About the USS Jeanette. I enjoyed that one.
They are very similar books . I also enjoyed In the Kingdom of Ice.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Dave55 »

heartwood wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:04 pm
Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
I finished "I Will Find You" last week. It's not a typical Coben book. DW and I both asked if someone else had written it for him.

I've read all of his novels and have always looked forward to his next one. As you note, there are lots of twists and turns in this one. But, had I started with this one or his recent "Win" I would not have continued reading him for different reasons. Win was too mean spirited for me. I Will Find You is okay writing, but seems full of holes to me. I'll stop there. If you're a fan, I hope you enjoy it!

I keep hoping he'll bring back Myron Bolitar or others of his lighter hearted characters.
I hope he is not using ghost writers. I feel it is his writing voice, but I agree it is different somehow. Hard to put a finger on it. What did you think of "The Boy From the Woods" and "The Match" sequel? Yes Myron was a lot of fun and I did like Win in those early books with Myron.

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

Post by nisiprius »

ruralavalon wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:17 am The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

Recommended.
I'm confused now because I am sure I read about the Karluk, but it wasn't that one... or was it? I was following up after reading Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic, by Jennifer Niven, a haunting and on the whole sad and depressing story. Aha. There were multiple books about the Karluk and the one I read was also by Jennifer Niven, The Ice Master.

I did even go so far as to borrow a library copy of Vilhjalmur Stefansson's own book, The Friendly Arctic, because it contained a section with a transcript of Ada Blackjack's journal.

Stefansson sent four rather inexperienced men to their deaths, in an inadequately equipped and provisioned expedition. It was in the service of a goofy theory of Stefansson's that the Arctic wasn't really all that cold or barren, and that it was teeming in wildlife so it would be for easy for people with ordinary gumption to live off the land. He seemed to think that the Arctic was ripe for profitable colonization. I see from the Wikipedia article about him that Roald Amundsen called him "the greatest humbug alive." He really was a weird character.

There's also a side story, not explained by Niven, regarding scurvy. Where did I hear this? One of Tim Harford's Cautionary Tales podcasts, I think. Yes, South Pole Race: When Limeys get Scurvy. The completely wrong story I learned as a kid was that scurvy was a scourge of all long-distance navigation, and then the British discovered that limes would prevent it, and everyone lived happily ever after. Harford says that no, the science at the time was ambiguous, and having learned that limes prevented scurvy, the British navy and everyone else more or less forgot it. The great Arctic expeditions did not bring limes and they all suffered terribly as a result. (It also turns out that limes are low in ascorbic acid and a fairly bad choice, used because they were cheaper than lemons and people just assumed they would work as well).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:04 pm
heartwood wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:04 pm
Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
Dave55 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:16 pm "I Will Find You", Harlen Coben's latest thriller. Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors in the space and this one is a page turner with the usual twists and turns.

Dave
I finished "I Will Find You" last week. It's not a typical Coben book. DW and I both asked if someone else had written it for him.

I've read all of his novels and have always looked forward to his next one. As you note, there are lots of twists and turns in this one. But, had I started with this one or his recent "Win" I would not have continued reading him for different reasons. Win was too mean spirited for me. I Will Find You is okay writing, but seems full of holes to me. I'll stop there. If you're a fan, I hope you enjoy it!

I keep hoping he'll bring back Myron Bolitar or others of his lighter hearted characters.
I hope he is not using ghost writers. I feel it is his writing voice, but I agree it is different somehow. Hard to put a finger on it. What did you think of "The Boy From the Woods" and "The Match" sequel? Yes Myron was a lot of fun and I did like Win in those early books with Myron.

Dave
I like Win in the earlier books. He was a good character.
The Boy from the Woods and The Match were good stories. After your question I read a quick summary of The Match and see it has a DNA angle like I will Find You. I'd forgotten that.
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Elsebet
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Elsebet »

Just finished

A billion years: my escape from a life in the highest ranks of Scientology by Mike Rinder - wild story

In progress

"The Phantom Tollbooth: by Norton Juster - definitely a kid's book and a cute, easy to read story that I'm enjoying as an adult since I didn't read it when I was younger.

"Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman" - huge book, Russian literature about the battle of Stalingrad in WW2 but surprisingly not a difficult read so far, although I'm less than 50 pages in.

Coming up next

"Sometimes a great notion" by Ken Kesey
"...the man who adapts himself to his slender means and makes himself wealthy on a little sum, is the truly rich man..." ~Seneca
LenaAuerbauch
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by LenaAuerbauch »

I went to UC Berkeley and I remember how hard it was to read and comprehend Das Capital by Karl Marx...no marxist here lol, purely academic. I'm reading it again and it wasn't as convoluted as I remember. Anyone try to read old texts from college?
startwithtruth
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by startwithtruth »

Elsebet wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:09 pm
In progress

"Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman" - huge book, Russian literature about the battle of Stalingrad in WW2 but surprisingly not a difficult read so far, although I'm less than 50 pages in.
I was thinking of that book recently and couldn’t remember the title - I read it in the mid-late 1980’s when it was first published; I don't recall much of the plot but I remember loaning it to my brother so that he could finish it quickly before my library loan ended, so I thought it was something special. Now I see it’s considered a sequel to the book “Stalingrad”.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Horologium »

sandburg wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:29 am "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" by Ian Toll.
Ian Toll is one of my favorite authors. His Pacific war trilogy is excellent.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Horologium »

spencer99 wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:14 pm I've been reading WWII history on and off for the last year. Several rewarding reads about D-Day, the Battle of Britain, and the Battle of the Atlantic. I've recently switched theaters and have started "Pacific Crucible," the first of Ian Toll's trio about the Pacific campaign. It's easy, knowing the end, to lose sight of how grim those early days were.

S
As I mentioned above, this is excellent.

And you are correct, those first 18 months were grim. I never knew what a near thing the Guadalcanal campaign was.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Horologium »

mega317 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:08 pm
ruralavalon wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:17 am The Empire of Ice and Stone, by Buddy Levy.

This is a history of he last voyage of the Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–16, with ended with the ship trapped in the ice, drifting across the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and sunk when crushed by the ice. The crew was stranded on the ice, 14 of the 25 man crew were eventually rescued from Wrangel Island north of Siberia.

Recommended.
Sounds just like In the Kingdom of Ice, Hampton Sides. About the USS Jeanette. I enjoyed that one.
Read this a few months ago. Thought it was very good.

Definitely agree with Blues - Hampton Sides writes about a wide range of subjects and does a great job with all of them.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Horologium »

Been on a reading tear this month. I recently finished:

Endurance by Alfred Lansing. This is the second book I’ve read on Sir Ernest Shakleton’s Antartic saga and both were excellent.

Cemetery Dance and Fever Dream by Preston & Child. These were #9 and #10 in the Agent Pendergast series.

You Are Worth It by Kyle Carpenter. This is the autobiography of the youngest person to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in Afghanistan. I really wanted to like this book, but can’t recommend it. Apart from his description of his combat injuries and recovery/rehabilitation, to me rest of the book was filler. It would have made a better magazine article.

Nimitz At War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Craig Symonds. As the subtitle indicates, this book focuses on Nimitz’s “management” style during the Pacific war. I really liked it.

Missionaries by Phil Klay. Read this for my book club. Did not care for it.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I read this and Huckleberry Finn every couple of years. They are both classics, but I am more partial to Huck Finn.

Stalin’s War by Sean McMeekin. My son gave me this book and it was a real eye opener. I’ve read a lot of history, but this book both provided a lot of information I never knew or put information I thought I knew in a whole new light.

Currently reading Nimitz by E. B. Potter.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

I have been recently reading a lot of spy and crime fiction. Here are some recommended titles:

Herve Le Tellier “The Anomaly” Excellent book, I could not put it down. I will be reading his other books.

Oliver Harris: Elliot Kane thrillers "A Shadow Intelligence" and "Ascension." I liked the first one better than the second one, but will seek to read his other books.

Jonathan Holt: The Carnivia Trilogy "The Abomination," "The Abduction," and "The Absolution." I liked The Abomination a lot. I am now reading The Abduction which is fine but some novelty is lost in the second tome. I'll definitely follow with The Absolution.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Horologium wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:16 pm
sandburg wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:29 am "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" by Ian Toll.
Ian Toll is one of my favorite authors. His Pacific war trilogy is excellent.
I agree.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jginseattle »

Investing Amid Low Expected Returns. Making the Most When Markets Offer the Least, by Antti Ilmanen.
ekid
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ekid »

LenaAuerbauch wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:52 pm I went to UC Berkeley and I remember how hard it was to read and comprehend Das Capital by Karl Marx...no marxist here lol, purely academic. I'm reading it again and it wasn't as convoluted as I remember. Anyone try to read old texts from college?
Marx made sense in the context of the time he was writing. In the modern world not so much.

Then he was twisted by the Bolsheviks.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

Good news about the Robert Parker "Jesse Stone" series...DW and I watched the 9 "movies" and found them quite good. Now I see based on the post above there are 21 Jesse Stone books. Very good news.

Just finished "The Match" by Harlan Coban. There were obvious holes which were not addressed...now I see The Match was book 2 in the series. Add "The Boy from the Woods" to the list on the next trip to the library.

I agree with some statements above. Coban is good, but I feel he has slipped a bit. Good question if he has a ghost writer, similar to Paterson and his "book of the week" club.

I loved the early works with Myron and Win. Yes, Win was a bit dark but quite effective.

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

Post by FRANK2009 »

Just completed "The Librarian of Burned Books" by Brianna Labuskes.

This is a work of historical fiction.

On May 10, 1933, about 40,000 Germans burned about 25,000 books. The books were written by Jews or espoused ideas that went against beliefs of the ruling Nazi party.

The book is also about a World War 2 project in which President Roosevelt wanted every soldier to have a special edition of a classic book (Alice in Wonderland, Huck Finn etc.) that the soldier can carry with him and read.

The book follows three fictional women whose lives intersect near the end of the book and become life long friends.

This short review does not do justice to a fascinating book by a truly gifted author.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mike@jb »

"The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough
It's about the creation of the Panama Canal.
I am about 25% into it, and it's very good.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mancich »

Blues wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:09 pm Anything by Hampton Sides is a worthwhile read, imho.
+1000
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

mancich wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 1:40 pm
Blues wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:09 pm Anything by Hampton Sides is a worthwhile read, imho.
+1000
:sharebeer
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein.

This novel is unusual. The narrator is the family dog, recounting the lives of the husband and young child after the wife's death, and struggles with the maternal grandparents over child custody.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
mega317
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mega317 »

market timer wrote: Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:24 am Half-way through Replay, by Ken Grimwood. It's about a 43-year-old guy who dies in 1988 and returns to life back in his freshman dorm in 1963 with the memory of his first life, then dies again 25 years later and returns to his 18-year-old self again and again. Pretty sure this book inspired the movie Groundhog Day.
I'm almost done with this one now. Can't put it down, I'm really enjoying.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by stoptothink »

Just finished the Circadian Code by Satchin Panda. I guess it was OK, but it was clearly written for someone unfamiliar with his research; there was nothing introduced in the book that I wasn't already familiar with.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by quantAndHold »

Grant, by Ron Chernow. Really interesting. I did not know that when Lincoln was assassinated, the plot was actually to kill Lincoln, Grant and Stanton (the Secretary of War), but Grant and Stanton both bailed out in going to the theater, because their wives couldn’t stand Mrs. Lincoln.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Nicolas »

quantAndHold wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:56 pm Grant, by Ron Chernow. Really interesting. I did not know that when Lincoln was assassinated, the plot was actually to kill Lincoln, Grant and Stanton (the Secretary of War), but Grant and Stanton both bailed out in going to the theater, because their wives couldn’t stand Mrs. Lincoln.
But Secretary of State Seward was viciously stabbed, though he survived.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassina ... cks_Seward

Vice President Johnson was also targeted but his assassin failed due to drunkenness.

All plotters were executed.
Last edited by Nicolas on Sun Apr 16, 2023 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Nicolas »

I’m reading Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R.Tolkien.

Completed in 1926, Tolkien never intended it for publication, but his son Christopher Tolkien edited and published it in 2014. C.T. used notes from his father’s university lectures from the 1930s. The elder Tolkien was striving for a literal translation from the Middle English and in so doing had to forgo the alliteration and poetic rhythm of the original. It includes commentary and other related material.
Last edited by Nicolas on Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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