06-08-2017, 02:03 PM
|
#441
|
Franchise Player
|
Just starting Hawkins' A Brief History of Time. Have never read it.
Recently watched The Theory of Everything and a documentary on Einstein so kinda have the theoretical physics bug going right now.
|
|
|
06-09-2017, 11:15 AM
|
#442
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Shanghai
|
Thank You for Being Late, which is Thomas Friedman's most recent book, is well worth it. It's kind of a catch-up for anyone who has had their head stuck in the sand and will seem slow to anyone who really follows tech, but it gets into some legit good insights in the second and third thirds of the book.
__________________
"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
|
|
|
06-09-2017, 12:35 PM
|
#443
|
Franchise Player
|
I am halfway through A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Excellent book that deals with and ties together multiple topics.
|
|
|
06-11-2017, 11:45 PM
|
#444
|
Lifetime Suspension
|
Oh cool, was looking for a literature thread of some sort.
Wanted to really get back into recreational reading. It's great for the mind, and I miss the feeling of being immersed in a good book, to the point where you don't want to put it down.
I've never watched GoT, but I was thinking about getting into the book series. Was going to pick-up A Song of Ice and Fire when I had the chance.
|
|
|
06-12-2017, 02:00 AM
|
#445
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Brisbane
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by agulati
I am halfway through A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Excellent book that deals with and ties together multiple topics.
|
Everything written by Bryson is excellent but that is one of his best. I also really like "At Home".
__________________
The masses of humanity have always had to surf.
|
|
|
06-12-2017, 05:23 AM
|
#446
|
Franchise Player
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireGilbert
Everything written by Bryson is excellent but that is one of his best. I also really like "At Home".
|
Thanks. Will add that to the list!
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 10:43 AM
|
#447
|
Franchise Player
|
Bump
Finally reading "A Time Of Gifts" by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Found it in a used book store this summer (I am sometimes cheap) and just got around to reading it.
What a book! It is the story of his travel from Holland to Constantinople in 1933 when he was just 18. This book takes him down the Rhine, and then along the Danube to Budapest. So eloquent, erudite, and interesting.
Travel book? Yes. But if you are interested in the history of western and central Europe, this book is for you. Architecture, art, funny adventures. But mostly it is his intelligence that shows through so clearly.
I have spent many months travelling by foot like him, but also by bus train car and motorbike along the Rhine and Danube so maybe that is another reason the book resonates with me. Some of my favourite, happiest, wildest, most cherished memories occurred a stone's throw from these two rivers.
The author had quite an astonishing time in the second world war in Crete. He kidnapped a German general. I was first introduced to him when reading "The Way Of Herodotus" by Justin Marozzi. In that book the author made a pilgrimage almost, to the home of Fermor in Mani, Greece.
Oddly, recently, I watched a food program on BBC, the host ate his way from Venice to Istanbul I think. Great show. That show travelled to the home of Fermor also.
Anyway, highly recommend. And now I must find the second book.
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 10:50 AM
|
#448
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: the dark side of Sesame Street
|
^ cheapness has nothing to do with it - used books have character.
__________________
"If Javex is your muse…then dive in buddy"
- Surferguy
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 11:05 AM
|
#449
|
Franchise Player
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aeneas
Bump
Finally reading "A Time Of Gifts" by Patrick Leigh Fermor
|
Great book. Fermor was quite a character. Not only a tireless hiker, but he seems to have had remarkable personal charm - a valuable trait when you're often relying on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
|
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 11:23 AM
|
#450
|
Franchise Player
|
I just finished Tune In by Mark Lewisohn, the first of a planned trilogy recounting the story of the Beatles in an obsessively thorough fashion. It's quite literally a day-by-day account of the lives of the four Beatles, and the early years of their partnership. 944 pages, and it takes us only to the recording of their first hit single, Please Please Me, in 1962!
Now I'm on to Hugo award winning (1982) Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh. Intrigue and political manoeuvring in a strategic space station. Cherryh is a late discovery for me, but a very pleasant one. Her writing and characterization are among the best in the field. Not exactly a page-turner, but pretty intense and plausible SF.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
|
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 11:50 AM
|
#451
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Somewhere down the crazy river.
|
I think I was fortunate over the weekend and found a copy of “The Sister Brothers” at the library. Couple of pages in so far and it is a pleasurable read.
Also recently finished “Kitchen Confidential”. Good book, especially enjoyed the “What do you know about me?” story. I actually chuckled at that, as with books you can see how things end a bit in advance and don’t get genuinely surprised much.
Going to try to find some classic sci-fi later on.
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 01:55 PM
|
#452
|
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
|
Picked up today:
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 02:13 PM
|
#453
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: sector 7G
|
Just finished a copy of Ken Reid's Dennis Maruk biography. Decent hockey book. Reading Gratoony the Loony about crazy old goalie Gilles Gratton. Terrific read on the nutty guy who had the coolest goalie mask of all time.
|
|
|
10-24-2017, 04:36 PM
|
#454
|
First Line Centre
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Canterbury, NZ
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wormius
I think I was fortunate over the weekend and found a copy of “The Sister Brothers” at the library. Couple of pages in so far and it is a pleasurable read.
|
I read that one a few years back and it's pretty good. It does pretty well in defying the standard western tropes.
|
|
|
10-26-2017, 09:16 AM
|
#455
|
The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
|
Read the 3rd book in The Broken Earth series, great fantasy series!
And book 3 in The Stormlight Archive is coming out this month!!
__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
|
|
|
10-26-2017, 05:39 PM
|
#456
|
Franchise Player
|
I've been going hard on Jack Reacher novels lately. I've read four of them in the last month. They are exactly what I need right - escapes into a different world. Quick reads, but I love them.
__________________
But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, leads to liberation and dignity. -Ricky Gervais
|
|
|
10-26-2017, 05:57 PM
|
#457
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: On your last nerve...:D
|
|
|
|
10-26-2017, 08:08 PM
|
#458
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Glastonbury
|
I’m reading Blitzed by Nicholas Ohler.... it’s very interesting, I’m just hammering through it.
__________________
TC
|
|
|
10-27-2017, 12:24 AM
|
#459
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Brisbane
|
I finally got around to reading Ready Player One. It was an engaging read and I enjoyed the world building and pop culture references. I had an issue with the lack of tension though. Wade was pretty much an internet superman who knew everything and whenever it started to look like he was in a bit of trouble he always had the solution or an ex machina would come along. I still enjoyed this and am looking forward to the movie but I just don't get all the hype.
One book I did really like was All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. This was a weird one that combines science fiction and fantasy while having a first half coming of age story followed by a second half that is very mature, dark, and dystopian. The genres are blended seamlessly and I could not put this one down.
__________________
The masses of humanity have always had to surf.
|
|
|
10-27-2017, 12:25 AM
|
#460
|
Franchise Player
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Brisbane
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minnie
|
Verdict? I absolutely loved Pillars of the Earth but World Without End was just average.
__________________
The masses of humanity have always had to surf.
|
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:46 PM.
|
|