What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

Catering to their audience.  Lefty sources do the same thing.  Check out Salon, or, for a more timely example, Melissa Harris-Perry's racial analysis of Darth Vader.

I see your point.  (I don't think I've actually read anything on Salon . . . .)

[Todd]

I see your point.  (I don't think I've actually read anything on Salon . . . .)

Salon used to run some good stories when it was new/new-ish.  Over time it degenerated into basically just another clickbait specialist.  They are in the running for Clickbait Headline of the Year for this year.  (At least it's holiday themed, right?)

[kishnevi]

Catering to their audience.  Lefty sources do the same thing.  Check out Salon, or, for a more timely example, Melissa Harris-Perry's racial analysis of Darth Vader.

And Jewish outlets were quick to tell of how a rabbi being sworn in a few days ago as a cabinet minister in Argentina used  Jewish Scripture for his ceremony ( also supposed to be the first rabbi to serve on a cabinet outside Israel).

[Daverz]

Salon used to run some good stories when it was new/new-ish.  Over time it degenerated into basically just another clickbait specialist.  They are in the running for Clickbait Headline of the Year for this year.  (At least it's holiday themed, right?)

All the aggregators use clickbait headlines.  I've only been checking Salon lately because Amanda Marcotte moved over there.  The worst stuff they've done lately were some idiotic "I won't vote if Bernie is not the nominee" clickbait articles, but at least I haven't seen any recent Camille Paglia articles there.

[kishnevi]

Got this in Barnes and Noble today

More or less a companion to The Louvre: All The Paintings and The Vatican: All the Paintings

Amazon description
This is the most comprehensive book on the paintings and frescoes of Florence ever undertaken, with nearly 2,000 beautifully reproduced artworks from the city's great museums and churches-produced in the same manner as BD&L's The Louvre and The Vatican.
Every painted work that is on display in the Uffizi Gallery, The Pitti Palace, the Accademia, and the Duomo is included in the book, plus many or most of the works from 28 of the city's other magnificent museums and churches. The research and text are by Ross King (best-selling author), Anja Grebe (author or The Louvre and The Vatican), Cristina Acidini (former Superintendent of the public museums of Florence) and Msgr. Timothy Verdon (Director of the artworks for the Archdiocese of Florence).
One glaring omissions is sculpture.  Michelangelo's David and one of the Slaves is included, but no others that I saw:  no Medici tombs, no Loggia, no Donatello, none of the statues in the Uffizi.

[Mookalafalas]

Finally getting around to this. Pretty grim.  Pretty timely.

[asin]0679763880[/asin]

[André]

Following this, by Robin Cook:

[Daverz]

Finished Beevor's Stalingrad book and now starting his WWII book.

[asin]B007ME5BUG[/asin]

[lisa needs braces]

Boy was Beevor's "Stalingrad" a dense book. I've added the above to my wishlist.

[Karl Henning]

Creationists of the Secular Kind

[Cato]

Creationists of the Secular Kind

In "The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge," Matt Ridley refutes the secular creationists' fallacious idea that because social complexity is the result of human actions, it must, or should, be the result of human design. In fact, Ridley says, "Far more than we like to admit, the world is to a remarkable extent a self-organizing, self-changing place."

I find this to be true in my own creations, whether stories or musical compositions (back when I composed).  The work takes on a logic of its own, like the growth of a crystal, and often evolves along lines unexpected by the creator.  Part of the joy of artistic creation is observing the coming together of elements not expected by the artist.

With mediocre art, or worse, the artist forces things, and interferes with the logic of the work.

[Cato]

Christmas present: excellent translation so far!




http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-New-Translation-Caroline-Alexander/dp/0062046276/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451499740&sr=1-1&keywords=iliad+caroline+alexander

[Karl Henning]

Chop suey, per Wikipedia

[Super Blood Moon]

Moorcock, REH and ghost comics. 

[Mookalafalas]

creme dela creme of popular science writing.

[asin]1400096235[/asin]

[Daverz]

creme dela creme of popular science writing.

[asin]1400096235[/asin]

Wishlisted.

Sean Carroll recently posted a very ambitious pop-sci and pop-philosophy reading list:

http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2015/12/16/reading-list/

[Artem]

Ended 2015 with that wonderful book. I enjoyed it much more than Sinbad's stories. I've been on a Hungarian literature kick recently. I wonder if anybody has any other favorite Hungarian writers or books.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've just begun to read John Eliot Gardiner's excellent book on Bach.

[Artem]

There should also be a film with him about Bach on youtube, which is rather nice.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

There should also be a film with him about Bach on youtube, which is rather nice.

I haven't been compelled to watch it just yet (my focus is usually in the past century) but I'm becoming more intrigued!