So, What Are You Reading?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Ted Heiks, Jul 27, 2013.

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  1. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    The other good thing about a screen designed solely for black and white text is unparalleled battery life.
     
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  2. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Allan Nevins' War for the Union (Volume 1).
     
  3. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Lamont Buchanan's A Pictorial History of the Confederacy.
     
  4. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    That's great Ted! :)
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Thanks, Abner!
     
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  6. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Keep it up man! You are the most well read poster in this forum! :) It gives me a smile.
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    All right.
     
  8. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Allan Nevins' War for the Union (Volume 2).
     
  9. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Allan Nevins' War for the Union(volume 3).
     
  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Alexabder Gardiner's Gardiner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War.
     
  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Read A Brief History of the Druids - Peter Berresford Ellis. I knew Celts were believed Indo-European in origin, so I wasn't entirely surprised to read of the strong relationship between some Celtic and Sanskrit words - and the close relationship between myths and beliefs among Celts and those of very early India. I'm certainly not the first to read of these similarities. A brief Internet search revealed there have been entire books written on such relationships since at least 1796. One book leads to others...
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Allan Nevins' War for the Union (volume 4).
     
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I should have recognized the name. I read another of his 98 books - one on Celts, a while ago. A fine and scholarly writer. Under a pseudonym, Peter Tremayne, he has written the "Sister Fidelma" series. Sister Fidelma is a 7th-Century "detective" - an Irish nun who is plunged into (and solves) mysteries. Can't wait to get some of those!

    Right now I'm working on Learn old English with Leofwin , by Matt Love. Very enjoyable - I should have done this years ago. Anglo-Saxon is especially accessible to anyone who has learned German - even someone like me,who last showed up to German class 57 years ago. Much of the vocabulary has changed little in well over a thousand years. E.G. "geduldig" is "patient" in modern German. In Anglo-Saxon, it's "geðyldig." (The ð is a "th" sound.)

    Leofwin, who leads you through the book (along with his wife Golde, his children Foxtaegele "Foxtail" and Clufweart "Buttercup" and other characters is a pretty interesting guy. It's 900 AD, and he's a farmer, who lives in a village called Prittewella - where archaeological investigation shows there appears to have been a Saxon settlement, in what is now Southend-on-Sea, a popular holiday town I have visited. Surprisingly, Leofwin has a slave and two sharecroppers! No -- this isn't the Antebellum South! The slave is an Englishman, called Spreculmuð - "Chatterbox," which he is definitely not. He was stripped of his freedom for stealing silver from the Church. Spreculmuð was a reluctantly-accepted gift from the Boss - the Thane, Godweard. An "offer Leofwin couldn't refuse."

    The two "sharecroppers" are just two impecunious guys whom Leofwin allowed to farm part of his 40 acres in return for a portion of the crop. As Leofwin says - "I let them build a house back there, but it's not theirs."

    I think learning the languages that made up English pays big benefits, in improving one's modern English. Even if I'm wrong -- it's a great pastime. It's unfortunate that Mr. Love passed away before Volume 2 could be completed. I understand from his preface that a third and final volume was also planned. I'll miss this fine author.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read William C. Davis' Duel Between the First Ironclads.
     
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  16. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Good for you Ted! How did you like it?
     
  17. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    It was a good read.
     
  18. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I'm finally getting around to reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. Given that it's as long as Stephenson's typical works, this may take a while.
     
  19. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    It is not often I read fiction books but I picked up a used one; Beyond Recall by Stephen Kyle, to read on a long flight.
    A mix of science, politics, and human relationships. Not a great book but it kept me both occupied and wanting to see what the next "crisis" would be. As I recall Michael Crichton wrote a beter book with a similar story line.
     
  20. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Well, I'm a bit behind in recording my reading.
     

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