What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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sonic1

Quote from: Don Giovanni on May 07, 2007, 06:05:46 AM
I didn't mean to strikethrough sonic1 in my original post.

That's ok, it made me feel pretty punk rock.















that is a good thing.




DavidW

Warped Passages by Lisa Randall-- this is a book about extra-dimensional theories in physics, only a small part about string theory, the rest about Randall's theory.  Anyway her history/overview of physics is inaccurate.  Her writing is a bit messy and she unethically tries to convince her readers that her theory is widely accepted.  Actually only empirical evidence can tell that.  What I think is fascinating about her model of the universe is that she has made testable predictions, and LISA and LHC can falsify her model.  She is wrong to say that string theorists are not model builders like her, actually string theory was originally created to explain scattering experiments in the sixties.  Randall's writing is sloppy and not engaging.  I like the structure of her chapters, but not her execution.  This is not a good book for the layman on extra-dimensions in physics.

What to Listen for In Music by Aaron Copland-- this was a delightful read.  Very insightful, and ignores alot of dogma that still exist today (as is seen on this board).  I like his view on what an intelligent listener is and how to become one.  Most of his book is very easy to follow, but without audio examples following the chapters on forms can be tricky.  Lucky for me I've taken a music appreciation class.  For other novices, I think that an audio book with musical examples would be better these days.

I'm now reading The New Music by Aaron Copland.  More on that later.  I do find it interesting that he points at the start of the revolt against Germanic Romanticism with Mussorgsky.  I can tell from both books that Copland has a great appreciation for Russian composers, and a very low appreciation for Wagnerian bloat! lol :D 

Haffner

Quote from: karlhenning on April 30, 2007, 06:29:13 AM
Back in on Crime and Punishment, which I had to set aside through no fault of the author  0:)

Brilliantly written!




Dostoevsky is so inspiring! Crime and Punishment has so many dimensions, it's truly life Affirming to read.

Steve

In addition to Swann's Way, I've been following along with some more Proust...



sonic1, if you're interested, its a wonderful companion.  :)


Bogey



A synopsis from Amazon:
In 1927, 25-year-old American aviator Charles Lindbergh earned international fame by making the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean (and won a prize of $25,000 in the bargain). This lively book, a publication of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, celebrates that great accomplishment in words and images. Museum curators Dominick Pisano and F. Robert van der Linden draw on the Smithsonian's holdings (among them Lindbergh's then-state-of-the-art monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis) to offer a portrait of the famed pilot in the context of his time. They emphasize Lindbergh's calculated daring--he did not carry a parachute or heavy radio, for instance, reckoning that neither would be useful should he have to ditch at sea--and his abilities, unusual for a man of his age and the time. They also chart Lindbergh's progress from young flyer to world hero, considering his later career without shying away from its unpleasant aspects--notably, his early embrace of Adolf Hitler's regime and his insistence that the United States not take the side of England and France in the impending global war, at considerable cost to his reputation. Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Lindbergh's flight and the centenary of his birth, this book makes a fine gift for aviation and history buffs.

Actually, what drew me to this book in particular was the chapter that was dedicated entirely to the plane itself.  We are planning a trip to D.C. this summer and will take in the Air and Space Museum (toured it 3 or 4 times, but am looking forward to another visit) where The Spirit of St. Louis is on display along with the likes of the Wright Flyer, Earhart's Lockheed 5 Vega, Yeager's Bell X-1, etc., etc.  Here is a link for you aviation buffs:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/aircraft/aircraftg.cfm
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bunny



So far, the introduction is excellent and the first chapter is very good. 

Daidalos

No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan. Quite a fascinating read.

I'm also re-reading Aniara by Harry Martinson. It is a fantastically beautiful story.
A legible handwriting is sign of a lack of inspiration.

karlhenning

Quote from: Daidalos on May 11, 2007, 04:34:02 AM
No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan. Quite a fascinating read.

Hmm, it does sound it, Daidolos!

toledobass

I don't know where I've been, but I just learned about the Harvard Classics.  Has anyone read this entire collection?  I was thinking about trying to get through some of them this summer.


Allan

Daidalos

Quote from: karlhenning on May 11, 2007, 05:27:59 AM
Hmm, it does sound it, Daidolos!

I thought it was about time I educated myself a bit on the major religions of the world. Islam seemed most relevant, considering the situation in the Middle East, so I decided to start with that. For novices such as myself, the book most certainly does not disappoint. It is very lucid and enjoyable to read.
A legible handwriting is sign of a lack of inspiration.

rockerreds

American Dreamer A Life of Henry A. Wallace by John C. Culver and John Hyde

Anne

Quote from: toledobass on May 11, 2007, 05:33:29 AM
I don't know where I've been, but I just learned about the Harvard Classics.  Has anyone read this entire collection?  I was thinking about trying to get through some of them this summer.


Allan

Do you have an address where we might look at the list of books?  Thanks

toledobass

Hi Anne,

Here is a a link for some info and the contents of the collection:

Harvard Classics

Allan

karlhenning

I was going to ask if that was the "five-foot shelf"  :)

SonicMan46

Partisans & Redcoats (2001) by Walter Edgar - subtitled 'The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution' - short but good read of South Carolina's role in the American Revolution w/ a lot of emphasis on the characters involved and the 'civil war' nature of the conflict.  Since I live in NC, I've explored many of these places (coastal Carolinas & Georgia, King's Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Court House, etc.) - 'mixed' reviews on Amazon, but a good introductory read. 

A longer & more encompassing book of the Southern Campaign in the American Revolution is The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas (1999) by John Buchanan - Guilford Courthouse is basically in Greensboro (which did not exist at the time); but Nathaniel Greene was in charge of the American forces at that battle, and hence the name of the 'new' city that emerged.  CLICK on either image for comments.  :D

   

Anne

Thanks, Allan.  Much obliged.  Good thing I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment.

Bunny

Quote from: toledobass on May 11, 2007, 05:33:29 AM
I don't know where I've been, but I just learned about the Harvard Classics.  Has anyone read this entire collection?  I was thinking about trying to get through some of them this summer.


Allan

Allan,  why don't you just read what interests you?  Look at the world around you and let your curiousity be your guide rather than a long dead intellectual snob.

toledobass

I do plenty of that.  This list interests me because I've only read one of the titles and regardless of it being on a list or not, I feel I shoud've made it around to at least a few more by now.  The list is just some motivation for me and something of a checklist or something to remember stuff by.  I was pretty much just wondering if anyone had any comments on how it worked as a collection. 

Allan

Steve

#199
Quote from: Bunny on May 13, 2007, 10:20:10 AM
Allan,  why don't you just read what interests you?  Look at the world around you and let your curiousity be your guide rather than a long dead intellectual snob.

Long Dead Intellectual Snob! For wanting to read the Western Canon! Nonsense!

Aristotle, Plato, Herodicus, Sophocles, Copernicus, Archimedes, James, Pascal......

Quote from: toledobass on May 11, 2007, 05:33:29 AM
I don't know where I've been, but I just learned about the Harvard Classics.  Has anyone read this entire collection?  I was thinking about trying to get through some of them this summer.


Allan

I have a copy of the University of Chicago canon, and I challenge myself to read a new volume every month. What a wealth of discovery awaits, my friend! Might I reccomend beginning with Aristotle? Particulariy Poetics.  :)