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

    Rise of the Shadow Mage by James Haddock. It's a sort of fun easy breezy generic fantasy novel in no danger of winning a Hugo, but I read those to shut off my brain at night, and this fit the bill well.
     
  2. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    The Poisoner's Handbook (2010) by Deborah Blum. A look at the work of Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler, two pioneers in the field of forensic toxicology in the US in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York.

    Also the first book I've read with the Libby app from my local librPretty neat. neat.
     
  3. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Reread "Maus", Art Spiegelman's graphic...well, no, it certainly isn't a novel. Not sure what to call it, maybe a biography of his father?
     
  4. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Just finished Mussolini (1981) by Denis Mack Smith. A very detailed, and well-researched biography of Benito Mussolini, starting from birth and continuing until death. While not specifically a book about fascism there is enough on the internal inconsistency of the ideology to give one a good understanding of it and the violence it caused.
     
  5. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    "Desert Wife", a fascinating and occasionally shocking account by Hilda Faunce, the wife of a Navaho trader during WWI.
     
  6. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Chosen Soldier: The Making of A Special Forces Warrior (2007) by Dick Couch

    An interesting if ten-thousand foot view of the SOF pipeline. No coverage of the Intelligence Officer (18F) position, or DLI.

    One of the most detailed parts is a review of the Robin Sage exercise and its fictional country of Pineland. Not bad.
     
  7. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    Just finished My Effin Life by Geddy Lee ( of the band Rush, for those who do not know). Will start Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, 1858-1919 by Douglas Brinkley
     
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  8. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Rawhide Down
    The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan
    by Del Quentin Wilber (2011) is a comprehensive look at John Hinckley's 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan and several others.

    The movie Killing Reagan is a faithful recreation of the events. The book and the movie line up very closely. The President's wit and perserverence really comes through, and the author even briefly mentions the contradictions of his administration when discussing his legacy.

    An enjoyable read.
     
  9. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck (2009). A man dies and goes to Hell where he finds out he is in an enormous library and the only way to leave is to find the book that contains his life story.
     
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  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Based on that description, I'd be more worried about finding it than not finding it.
     
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  11. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Finished The Vegetarian (2007) by Han Kang tonight. Bought it because she won the Nobel and was curious about her work, but didn't much enjoy it.
     
  12. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    While I reading Wilderness Warrior, I am also reading The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders who threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It by Corey Brettschnider. Very interesting so far.
     
  13. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I read 19 books in 2023. Interestingly, took me until the middle of the year to pick up reading again and I'm at 10 so far in 2024. Might knock another couple books out before the end of the year (I tend to have 3+ on the go and then finish them all around the same time.) I dutifully add to my library even when I don't have the energy to read though. Thriftbooks and Abebooks are a lifesaver for inexpensive books, especially when picking up new languages.
     
  14. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I set a goal to finish 24 books in 2025. First one finished: Creating Breakthrough Products: Innovation from product planning to program approval by Cagan & Vogel (2002)

    The book covers how to identify a Product Opportunity Gap (POG) and use the Social Change, Economic Trends and Technological Innovation (SET) Factors to design it.

    A lot of the book focuses on project and product management, teamwork, etc. It would be useful for a solo inventor who is prototyping and ready to do market research or product validation.
     
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  15. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    I had a goal of 15 books in 2024 and I did it. I am hoping for 15 in 2025
     
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  16. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    My family has a tradition of a Christmas Eve book exchange. We each gift each other a book, preferably a used book, that we think the other will like.

    One of the books I got this Christmas and just finished was
    The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941 by Edward Coffman (2004). An interesting book that traces the evolution of the US Army from a scattered set of outposts into a professional fighting force.

    Interesting note from the book: George S. Patton was on the football team at West Point but never actually played for the team, and once broke both his arms in a scrimmage.
     
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  17. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    One of my 15 books I want to read for 2025 is The Hornets Nest by President Jimmy Carter. It took him 7 years to write and he researched it exhaustively. It is a work of fiction, but tired in with actual events
     
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  18. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    TIL that he wrote a novel!
     
  19. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Finished Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley (2018) by Corey Pein.

    A quick read, I started it right after finishing The Regulars this morning. The first half is basically an indictment of Silicon Valley, standard fare about how money talks and most people work themselves to the bone while only a few get rich.

    The middle of the book is significantly better, when the author goes from talking about Silicon Valley to trying to pitch their own (ridiculous) startup. Unfortunately the author diverts from that to a long discussion of Mencius Moldbug and similar which was interesting but tiresome.
     
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  20. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Well, the Dark Enlightenment is apparently upon us, so at least that long discussion was relevant.
     
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