for biography, I'll take Overtime: The Legend of Guy Lafleur
I probably have more than a hundred hockey books on my shelf at home. And this one is the best. Yes, it's easy to say that because it's my favourite player. But the writing is honest. Lafleur holds nothing back. His flaws are there for all to see as well as his successes. If you haven't read this one, try to find a copy.
Memoir/Biography has been a hard category for Bartleby and the Scriveners. However, after considering a number of books, we've decided to go with Richard Wright's groundbreaking and stunning memoir Black Boy.
Black Boy is the full story of Richard Wright's life, ranging from his fraught early life, his years in school, his early years as a writer all the way to his later friendship with H.L. Mencken and his membership in the Communist party.
Black Boy is in two parts--subtitled "American Dream" and "American Hunger"--and as a full story with those parts it has a wonderful narrative unity, and becomes a vital paean to the American Left. However, only the first part was published originally, as the publisher (The Book-of-the-Month Club) objected to the leftist content of the second half of the book. Mencken was a major influence on Wright, as were Gertrude Stein and others among the white modernist set that preceded Wright by a generation. But his style is far from derivative, and this is a book that though it is accessible on a first read, bears reading and re-reading. It's truly a masterwork.
I'll take in Children's Lit.... My favourite book when I was a kid, and still my fav of Dr. Seuss' many amazing stories. We have seen a lot of what he was prophecizing come to pass, which is somewhat horrifying. The Lorax.
This book has a lot to recommend it. First of all, it's a fantastic overview of the history of major trends in thinking and belief in Western culture, from the rise of Classical Greece onwards. Second, Russell is a fantastic writer and does a wonderful job of making complex ideas easy to understand. He's even funny.
But most of all, in reading Russell evaluate other ideas, you get a really interesting look into his own way of thinking and his own values. Because he isn't shy to let his own opinions and ideas come through, you get a really good idea of his own methods and philosophy.
This is not an objective book. But it is a fascinating tour by an incredibly knowledgeable guide, and a really thorough look into how a thinker of real historical impact thought and felt.
This book, and especially the PBS series, made a big impression on me as a teenager. It began my love affair with science and astronomy. Sagan was the rare scientist that could speak poetically about science to the general public. I joined the Planetary Society that he founded, and I remain a member to this day.
Cosmos (1980), published by Random House, is a book by Carl Sagan based on his TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. It is similarly structured to the TV series and contains most of the information from the series (though the book often explores the information more deeply), and some information not found in it. The book is still in print as of 2007, and is one of the best-selling science books ever published in the English language.
Cosmos was first and foremost intended to help the public better understand astronomy and astrophysics. Although the focus of the book is on astronomy and the world outside of the earth, it is also about human perception of the Cosmos throughout history. It is a history of how our matter originated in the stars, how consciousness sprang from that dead matter, and how unique our planet is. Sagan states on p. 12,
“Human beings, born ultimately of the stars and now for a while inhabiting a world called Earth, have begun their long voyage home.”
Cosmos was the first science TV blockbuster, and Carl Sagan was its (human) star. By the time of Sagan's death in 1997, the series had been seen by half a billion people; Sagan was perhaps the best-known scientist on the planet. Explaining how the series came about, Sagan recalled:
I was positive from my own experience that an enormous global interest exists in the exploration of the planets and in many kindred scientific topics--the origin of life, the Earth, and the Cosmos, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, our connection with the universe. And I was certain that this interest could be excited through that most powerful communications medium, television.
Sagan's own interest and enthusiasm for the universe were so vivid and infectious, his screen presence so engaging, that viewers and readers couldn't help but be caught up in his vision. From stars in their "billions and billions" to the amino acids in the primordial ocean, Sagan communicated a feeling for science as a process of discovery. Inevitably, some of the science in Cosmos has been outdated in the years since 1980--but Sagan's sense of wonder is ageless. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Product Description The best-selling science book ever published in the English language, COSMOS is a magnificent overview of the past, present, and future of science. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today's knowledge and scientific methods to their historical roots, blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic and irresistible way.
Edit: although what happened to Jammies and Jerzeegirl's picks?
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
Last edited by Bobblehead; 01-25-2009 at 02:41 PM.
Without thinking too much I will just pick something. I seem to remember a cooking category, one that I thought I would be certain to have to trade away.
However, a friend just returned a book to me. I will use that, I think it fits.
It is written by a chef, it has recipes, it describes food and meals very well. Umm, it just also happens to have more to it than just food, but when we are talking about Tuscany and Tuscans; doesn't all start or revolve around the kitchen and food/wine?
So with no more ado, I select Marlena De Blasi's 1000 Days In Tuscany.
I read this book just after returning from a trip to Tuscany and Umbria. On that trip I tried to taste the prominent foods of each region even town or village. During planning for the trip, I listed specific foods or dishes that I would search out and sample, things that the area were famous for.
That certainly was fun, but also led to some awful meals too. We camped near the Piano Grande in Umbria, and had purchased a special cheese and boar sausage in a small town. The campground was far from any store or restaurant, and sadly we found the dish we created with this food pretty much inedible.
Anyway this book really brings home the Tuscan cooking, flavored with wonderful stories from the locals the author meets. Seems to be a story for every food, dish and wine. I warned the person to whom I loaned the book, "Do not read on empty stomach!"
One short passage described an old woman simply roasting a potato with no more than salt and oil, and an open flame. I nearly drooled reading it.
The whole tone of the book, with the author up rooting herself to move to an old farmhouse in Tuscany, resonates with me. It is something I long to do. I would hope in that future time that I too, will manage to befriend the locals as she did. She fills the book with descriptions of shared meals. The preparation, thought and history that goes into the meals and occasions for those meals; provide the reader with a rich and rewarding experience.
More than just salivation and recipes, I recieved from reading this book a measure of the warmth the author felt in that small town. The stories of terrible deprivation during the war years that some share with her, really contrast with the wonderful meals they share with her now. Perhaps that is the reason Tuscans celebrate the shared meal so much, in remembrance of harder times.
I need to go roast a potato...and buy the good olive oil!
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book in 1883, it was originally serialised in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881-82 under the title The Sea Cook, or Treasure Island.
Traditionally considered a coming of age story, it is an adventure tale known for its superb atmosphere, character and action, and also a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality—as seen in Long John Silver—unusual for children's literature then and now. It is one of the most frequently dramatised of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perception of pirates is vast, including treasure maps with an 'X', schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulders.
Edit: although what happened to Jammies and Jerzeegirl's picks?
I was wondering about that myself! One day I saw my name in lights (so to speak) and the next day I wasn't there and neither was Jammies (I knew he had to go first....) - were we accidentally passed over? I didn't think we were AK'd cuz I don't think Jammies was ever on the clock.....but I could have been imagining things.... = me lately!
I was wondering about that myself! One day I saw my name in lights (so to speak) and the next day I wasn't there and neither was Jammies (I knew he had to go first....) - were we accidentally passed over? I didn't think we were AK'd cuz I don't think Jammies was ever on the clock.....but I could have been imagining things.... = me lately!
No worries, feel free to pick (you too, jammies)
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
For my eighth pick of the draft, I select in the Philosophy/Religion category,The Varieties of Scientific Experience, by Carl Sagan.
2006
Sagan, writing from beyond the grave (actually his new book, The Varieties of Scientific Experience, is an edited version of his 1985 Gifford Lectures), asks why, if God created the universe, he left the evidence so scant. He might have embedded Maxwell’s equations in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Ten Commandments might have been engraved on the moon. "Or why not a hundred- kilometer crucifix in Earth orbit?… Why should God be so clear in the Bible and so obscure in the world?" He laments what he calls a "retreat from Copernicus," a loss of nerve, an emotional regression to the idea that humanity must occupy center stage. Both Gingerich and Collins, along with most every reconciler of science and religion, invoke the anthropic principle: that the values of certain physical constants such as the charge of the electron appear to be "fine-tuned" to produce a universe hospitable to the rise of conscious, worshipful life. But the universe is not all that hospitable-try leaving Earth without a space suit. Life took billions of years to take root on this planet, and it is an open question whether it made it anywhere else. To us carboniferous creatures, the dials may seem miraculously tweaked, but different physical laws might have led to universes harboring equally awe-filled forms of energy, cooking up anthropic arguments of their own.
...
Yet this is not a dour book. Far from it. Sagan was fundamentally an optimist, and The Varieties of Scientific Experience is mostly a joyful, celebratory meditation on nature and the expansiveness of the human spirit. The volume was published on the 10th anniversary of Sagan's death in December 1996. For those who have sorely missed his clear and wise voice, it will be received as a gift.
Sagan is one of my favourite writers. While many writers will share the same viewpoints as Sagan none can come close to his style of writing. He is excellent at making his point without belittling, insulting or being rude and at the same time being interesting, engaging and thoughtful. His enthusiasm and optimism make the subject matter of his book worth while. It's not just a doubting book or a delusional book it offers more. Sagan's appreciation for the beauty of nature is much like Einsteins. Sagan fans should have this on their shelf.
I was wondering about that myself! One day I saw my name in lights (so to speak) and the next day I wasn't there and neither was Jammies (I knew he had to go first....) - were we accidentally passed over? I didn't think we were AK'd cuz I don't think Jammies was ever on the clock.....but I could have been imagining things.... = me lately!
Sorry, I try not to pass over anyone, unless they have had a good 24 hours to make a pick. If your name is in the next three, you can probably pick out of order if you see the person ahead of you is delayed.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
Sorry, I try not to pass over anyone, unless they have had a good 24 hours to make a pick. If your name is in the next three, you can probably pick out of order if you see the person ahead of you is delayed.
Oh it's not a big deal - more that I thought I had just mis-read the thread than anything else....LOL! I'll put a pick up sometime today if I have time or this evening at the latest.
= me lately!
