What are you reading?

[susep]

been reading a lot lately...

Oppenheimer - a recent biography, very good. he's the guy who lead the team that created the atom bomb in WWII, among many other fascinating endeavors. very complex guy. it was so interesting to read about all of these scientists predicting what would happen if we began a nuclear arms race. everything they feared came true. reading about the efforts people went to to avoid what became the cold war was really eye opening.

Notes From Underground - Dostoevsky. never read anything by him before, so i started with this, a very short book. great! written 150 years ago and like nothing else. it's basically a 130 page rant. funny and intense. feels very modern. i'm going to get around to the Brothers Karamazov soon.

Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis. british, '60s, very funny story of a slacker vaguely trying to keep a teaching job at a college and deal with a variety of women while drinking way too much.

This Is Your Brain On Music - Daniel Levitin. recommended by phan003 in another thread somewhere. not bad, but i didn't get into it as much as phan did. some good stuff about the basics of music and how the brain deals with it, very much aimed at readers who've never thought about music before. for me there was too much focus on the details of his own research.

Einstein - Relativity. well i've read so many books that discuss relativity i thought i'd finally read the first book on it by the man himself. and i've gotta say, though he tries to explain it as plainly as possible, he's a little too far up in his own genius brain to get it across simply. but cool to read.

Team Of Rivals - Doris Goodwin. this is the big recent book about Lincoln and how once he very surprisingly became president, he appointed all of his rivals to all of the important positions in his government, so that he could hear the opposing opinions on every matter.  just started it, really good so far...

Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware. a graphic novel. very good and very depressing. just started that one, too.

nice selections   I saw the Oppenheimer bio recently, have to get it.

I'm reading Searching for the Sound by Phillip Lesh.  Good so far, interesting insights.  I like his description of visualizing a "rainbow of notes"between him and Jer while dosed from a '68 show.
Phil is the man!

[rowjimmy]

I just finished the Harry Potter book.
Yep. Not ashamed to admit it.

It was a good ending to a good series.

[shoreline99]

I just finished the Harry Potter book.
Yep. Not ashamed to admit it.

It was a good ending to a good series.

I read it. I agree. Well-written and it tied everything up pretty well.

[alcoholandcoffeebeans]

breakfast of champions.
Vonnegut.

watched the movie a while ago.
pretty painful.
but i always enjoyed the pieces of this book i read for school

can't wait to finish.

[kellerb]

I just finished the Harry Potter book.
Yep. Not ashamed to admit it.

It was a good ending to a good series.

definitely a good ending, although she could have left out the epilogue. Kind of the opposite of the last Dark Tower book, where -in my opinion- most of the last book sucked but the 'epilogue' was completely right.

[cactusfan]

breakfast of champions.
Vonnegut.

watched the movie a while ago.
pretty painful.
but i always enjoyed the pieces of this book i read for school

can't wait to finish.

no one seems able to film vonnegut effectively. it's very hard to get that kind of humor across on film. slaughterhouse 5 was a good effort, the only one, really, but even that one is a little too lacking in the funny. it takes a certain kind of genius to make a book about the horrors of WWII funny.

So I just started Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, which I've heard good things, and I'm about 100 pages into it and I like it so far.  It is over 1000 pages though, so my opinion is subject to change.  I know cactusfan and few other members are going to puke upon reading my post.   :-D
So I'm ready to be flamed for willingly reading this book. 

well with a lead-in like that, i guess i'd better say something. or else puke.

way back in college i read The Fountainhead, and rather liked it. i thought that the philosophy, taken in a very personal, individual context, where one should forge ahead and do creatively honest work no matter what, was very powerful. the characters were, of course, little more than mouthpieces for the various opposing philosophical viewpoints, but i still thought it was a good and provocative book.

then i read atlas shrugged, where rand took the same philosophy but this time applied it not to the individual, but to society at large, and that's where things get ugly. she does a fine job showing how totally insane and counter to human nature the concept of communism is, but her replacement philosophy is just as misguided and wholly detached from how humans actually behave. it's just as unworkable and idealistic and therefore as dangerous as communism. plus i didn't think it worked as a novel at all. but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be read. she's sure as hell got an opinion, and she makes it at great, great length...  :-D

so anyway, no puking. perhaps you will share your thoughts on it, phan, when you finish...

[Hicks]

"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of shit, I am never reading again." - Officer Barbrady

[cactusfan]

"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of shit, I am never reading again." - Officer Barbrady

:-D

[sophist]

then i read atlas shrugged, where rand took the same philosophy but this time applied it not to the individual, but to society at large, and that's where things get ugly. she does a fine job showing how totally insane and counter to human nature the concept of communism is, but her replacement philosophy is just as misguided and wholly detached from how humans actually behave. it's just as unworkable and idealistic and therefore as dangerous as communism. plus i didn't think it worked as a novel at all. but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be read. she's sure as hell got an opinion, and she makes it at great, great length...  :-D

so anyway, no puking. perhaps you will share your thoughts on it, phan, when you finish...

I will do so.   :-)

I haven't read the fountain head, so can't comment on that, but I have read Rand's "On Objectivism" and I agree with your points that you stated.  Pseudo Anarchy scares the crap out of me, and I think her philosophy does border on the brink of that.  Also her use of Nietzsche's theories is a bit baffling in that I would think Nietzsche would have an uncanny level of disdain for her ideology.  I do like the concepts of freedom and capitalism and her admiration for each being to be free; however, an excess of capitalism can be detrimental to the moral obligations of society.  I will say that I think she is a wonderful writer even though it takes forever to get her point.

I'll get back to you once I finish it. 

[Caravan2001]

reading the first Harry Potter now, seeing what all the hype is about....so far it is a pretty well written, easy read (only on pp.125)....don't know if I'll make it through the other 6, but maybe

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

saving graces

by elizabeth edwards

(no, she doesn't capitalize her name either).

<3
matthew.

[VA $l!m]

shadowrun sourcebook.
its a role playing game- old school style w/  dice.

also the most reading i've done in 10 years.
:lol:

[nab]

I need a new book.

I prefer non-fiction, historical, more of an archeological focus as opposed to historian.  I will not rule out good historical analysis from an historian though.

Any suggestions?

[phil]

just finished harry potter, i'm now starting kerouac's dharma bums

[khanti]

I need a new book.

I prefer non-fiction, historical, more of an archeological focus as opposed to historian.  I will not rule out good historical analysis from an historian though.

Any suggestions?

I recently read "The Ancient Engineers" By L Spraque DeCamp

It's a little dated, but still has a lot of good information and a pleasant read.