What are you currently reading?

[Octave]

Philo, are you doing a lot of this reading toward/for a diss?  It's all pretty interesting, but I'm curious if it's reading with a thesis in mind.  What's yr field?

[CaughtintheGaze]

Philo, are you doing a lot of this reading toward/for a diss?  It's all pretty interesting, but I'm curious if it's reading with a thesis in mind.  What's yr field?

Well I'd be reading this stuff for fun, but it will likely be for my Ph.D dissertation in History. Currently I'm getting my MA in Communications, and the reading I do for that is mostly from academic peer reviewed journals, so there's not much to review. My MA thesis is a content analysis regarding National Socialist Black Metal. My Ph.D thesis will likely be around the failure of realist geopolitics.

[Geo Dude]

I've just finished Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars and I'm now starting Childhood's End.

EDIT: review of The City and the Stars here.

[SonicMan46]

Medical Book, The (2012) by Clifford Pickover - based on 250 'milestones' in medical history from the ancients to the present; presentation is for the lay public and is presented as 'snippets' w/ text on one page and a facing image on the other - short summaries of these 'chosen' milestones; as a physician (and always interested in medical history), a lot of this is a refresher course, BUT for someone new to the topic and not that familiar w/ the events described, an easy & fascinating read - excellent reviews on Amazon HERE -

Fat Chance (2012) by Robert Lustig (MD; pediatric neuroendrocrinologist) - subtitle on the cover art pretty much explains the topic(s) of the book; purchase prompted by an interview w/ the author on the Diane Rehm show (PBS - probably a podcast available for those interested); the first third is NOT an easy read for a non-physician but the reasoning & science are sobering - I'm already talking w/ Susan about changing our approach to food (although not that bad @ the moment) - for those interested, see the reviews on Amazon HERE - and watch the FRUCTOSE!   

 

[Bogey]

"Over 400 pictures, many exclusive. Covers Keaton, Chaplin, Sennett, Langdon, Lloyd, Laurel, Hardy, Maxi Linder and many others. 374pp."

[Octave]

Bogey, this is the second time I have seen that SILENT CLOWNS book mentioned and/praised; I am forgetting where else someone discussed it...an Amazon user?  I need to get my hands on it, if it's still affordable.  Do you like it?

[Bogey]

Bogey, this is the second time I have seen that SILENT CLOWNS book mentioned and/praised; I am forgetting where else someone discussed it...an Amazon user?  I need to get my hands on it, if it's still affordable.  Do you like it?

See PM.

[val]

CHARLES ROSEN:        The Classic Style: Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven

It's the third time I read this book, perhaps the best book I know about the three great masters of the Classic Period. The way Rosen shows us the deep relations between the style and language of this three men is amazing.   

[Octave]

CHARLES ROSEN:        The Classic Style: Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven

It's the third time I read this book, perhaps the best book I know about the three great masters of the Classic Period. The way Rosen shows us the deep relations between the style and language of this three men is amazing.

Here here!  It's funny, not too long ago, I even ran across a reference to this book in an interview with the French philosopher Alain Badiou, appended to his book ETHICS.  Not a very deep reference, but an acknowledgment of Rosen's use of the term "constellation", iirc.  I think maybe there was a passing reference to Rosen and maybe the same book in Jean-Luc Nancy's little essay/book LISTENING, as well.  Back atcha, Frenchies!

[Gold Knight]

Adam Hochschild--To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion. 1914-1918

[listener]

P.G Wodehouse:   AUNTS AREN'T GENTLEMEN   (1974)
I think it's at least 45 years since I last read any Wodehouse - except for a couple of musical librettos.
Not much change in style over his career, reliable diversions when you want one.

[Karl Henning]

P.G Wodehouse:   AUNTS AREN'T GENTLEMEN   (1974)
I think it's at least 45 years since I last read any Wodehouse - except for a couple of musical librettos.
Not much change in style over his career, reliable diversions when you want one.

One of my favorites.

[Geo Dude]

I just finished and reviewed The Fountains of Paradise.  I'm now starting on Perdido Street Station.

[Brian]

Fat Chance (2012) by Robert Lustig (MD; pediatric neuroendrocrinologist) - subtitle on the cover art pretty much explains the topic(s) of the book; purchase prompted by an interview w/ the author on the Diane Rehm show (PBS - probably a podcast available for those interested); the first third is NOT an easy read for a non-physician but the reasoning & science are sobering - I'm already talking w/ Susan about changing our approach to food (although not that bad @ the moment) - for those interested, see the reviews on Amazon HERE - and watch the FRUCTOSE!   

Dave, how would you recommend this book as a work of persuasion? My father is 57, has very high blood pressure and probably 40 pounds too many for his frame, but he seems unwilling to make any kind of effort. Even giving up soft drinks is too big a sacrifice to his frame of mind. My mother and I are trying to find some way to get him to clean up his act. There's only so much you can do, of course, but a good sobering up might be what he needs.

[Octave]

I'm now starting on Perdido Street Station.

I really dug that; I want to read more China Mieville.

[CaughtintheGaze]

America's Strategy by Spykman

Simply an amazing book on military geo-strategy, made even more fascinating because it was published in 1942, so it offers up some interesting insights given that we know the outcome of the war. It focused a lot on the transition from 2-d war to 3-d war, which Germany was the first country to truly understand and implement. It also revolved around the realist concept of balance of power, and how this weakened states who had not yet been caught up with the transformation of war. The sections on Japan were of keen interest, and it touched on the weakness of appeasement, and the importance of distance, and also some American folly in relations to their reluctance to utilize economic warfare. Overall, it's a must read if you're at all interested in geopolitics and how realists continue to shape the global terrain.

Taking a bit of a break to read some fun books:

[Geo Dude]

I really dug that; I want to read more China Mieville.

That book is the first of a trilogy, The Scar and The Iron Council being the second and third books in said trilogy.  That might be a place to start.

[Daverz]

On the Kindle:

[asin]B00A8ICOEY[/asin]

Not sure I needed another QM book, but Weinberg's perspective is interesting, though fairly traditional.  The equations are a bit too small on the smaller Kindles, though the graphics on my HD kindle are crisp enough to make it readable.  This is still a big improvement over the mangled crap that Kindle translation makes of many technical books.

[asin]B007IVWAT8[/asin]

Light techno-thriller.  A bit cheesy but fun.

[CaughtintheGaze]

Taking a bit of a break to read some fun books:

Didn't really care for this book at all. It didn't seem put together all that well. I think the best pieces were Lee's Journal and Ginsberg Notes, and I did like that it seemed to laid the seeds for the novels that were to follow it.

Up next:

[Bogey]

Sampling (I love my Kindle) the first in the Moscow police detective Porfiry Rostnikov series.