What are you currently reading?

[Todd]

I have a hard time sleeping sometimes, knowing that China is growing in wealth and power.  Fortunately, Martin Jacques has written a book on the subject that can put one to sleep. 

Mr Jacques, a current or former Marxist (he served as the editor of a Marxist journal) tends to present his central idea in a decidedly Marxist – ie, deterministic – way, and his very brief histories of Europe and Japan gloss over a few things, even if they get the sweep of history right.  Early on he mentions the need to look at things in new ways, but then proceeds to look back to a time when China was "dominant" and tries to project that forward.  Of course, I'm only about half way through, but the on-the-street feel of China Shakes the World is missing, and the historical insights of professional historians is also missing.  I'm hoping that he considers modern day realities – shifting alliances between various actors in Asia, international organizations, strategic nukes, etc – a bit more later on.  I don't know his conclusions, but I won't be surprised if they are different than mine.  I'll have to try some other books in this field.

[nesf]

It's been on my shelves for a few years and was a gift from my father-in-law and I'm finally getting around to reading it:

[asin]1400040817[/asin]

[Ataraxia]

I keep seeing that one at the store.

[nesf]

I keep seeing that one at the store.

I really liked his "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", so I've high hopes for this book.

[Cato]

Nikolai Grozni, Bulgarian-born classical pianist and now novelist: Wunderkind takes place in 1987 Sofia, Bulgaria, at a classical music academy for gifted children and teenagers.  The book offers a sarcastically brutal account of life in a People's Socialist Paradise, especially the contradiction of a socialist society giving special treatment to an artistic and political elite.

Crude at times, the book offers a good number of interesting opinions on classical music (Chopin, Rachmaninov, etc.)

See:

http://www.nikolaigrozni.com/novel.html

[Opus106]

Some serious maths porn! Try it.  0:)

[Ataraxia]

I'm reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS and it seems very familiar...

[nesf]

It's been on my shelves for a few years and was a gift from my father-in-law and I'm finally getting around to reading it:

[asin]1400040817[/asin]

A few chapters in. Quite interesting so far, he's talked about musicophilia (either a sudden obsession with music where no particular interest was there before, or in one case someone who suddenly became a player and composer of piano music after a lightening strike) suddenly induced by temporal lobe seizures and tumours in that area as well as music induced epileptic fits. If you like science/neurology this is quite an interesting book.

[lisa needs braces]

I'm reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS and it seems very familiar...

I had a great time experiencing that book in audiobook form. The first person narration was well suited to audiobook form and the performance was great! If only I could remember who the reader was...

[North Star]

Some serious maths porn! Try it.  0:)

Much more fun reading these   
       

[nesf]

Much more fun reading these   
       

I see your science and raise you some social!

[asin]0691042896[/asin]

[North Star]

I see your science and raise you some social!

[asin]0691042896[/asin]

I find it hard to believe that that was a 'raise'. 

[nesf]

I find it hard to believe that that was a 'raise'. 

Hah, it's a good deal more difficult than the book on the right of your selection, the authors of which taught me actually.

[nesf]

Actually I'll raise you some proper (applied) maths porn:

[asin]0124808735[/asin]

Just to be less controversial.

Also one of those bizarre academic books where the hardback is cheaper than the paperback...

[North Star]

Hah, it's a good deal more difficult than the book on the right of your selection, the authors of which taught me actually.

True, that physics book is light reading, unlike the chemistry books.

[nesf]

True, that physics book is light reading, unlike the chemistry books.

It's a good book though, I learned quite a lot from it when I started Physics in college.

[Opus106]

Much more fun reading these   
       

*Yawns* Move along, people, nothing to see here... just applied QM.

[The occasion calls for an XKCD comic: http://xkcd.com/435/]

[SonicMan46]

The Sexual History of London: From Roman Londinium to the Swinging City---Lust, Vice, and Desire Across the Ages (2011) by Catharine Arnold - prompted by an excellent piece in the NY Times Book Review and a bargain ($10) from the History Book Club - just on the third chapter which discusses the spread of syphilis in Europe in the 1490s and Henry VIII's approach to the problem in London; but the book covers nearly 2000 years; the first chapter on 'Londinium' and the Roman occupation was fascinating - highly recommended if you're into this topic - 

[North Star]

*Yawns* Move along, people, nothing to see here... just applied QM.

[The occasion calls for an XKCD comic: http://xkcd.com/435/]

Oldies, but goldies.
You do know that math is just a tool for the real scientists, though, don't you?

It's a good book though, I learned quite a lot from it when I started Physics in college.

You might be biased, though.

[Opus106]

Oldies, but goldies.

Who or what are you referring to?

You do know that math is just a tool for the real scientists, though, don't you?

And I hope you know that much of theoretical physics is essentially maths with a human spin on things?