What book r u reading?

[jbg]

This book, like probably every other typed document you have ever read, was typed with a QWERTY keyboard, named for the left-most six letters in its upper row.
Unbelievable as it may now sound, that keyboard layout was designed in 1873 as a feat of anti-engineering. It employs a whole series of perverse tricks designed to force typists to type as slowly as possible, such as scattering the commonest letters over all keyboard rows and concentrating them on the left side (where right-handed people have to use their weaker hand).
The reason behind all of those seemingly counterproductive features is that the typewriters of 1873 jammed if adjacent keys were struck in quick suc-cession, so that manufacturers had to slow down typists. When improvements in typewriters eliminated the problem of jamming, trials in 1932 with an efficiently laid-out keyboard showed that it would let us double our typing speed and reduce our typing effort by 95 percent. But QWERTY keyboards were solidly entrenched by then.

This little vignette, from Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond has little to do with the central topic. It is one of the ingenious touches that the author employs to maintain people's focus through a very dense and scholarly work. To say the book is exhaustively researched would be an understatement.

Guns, Germs and Steel starts out with a question supposedly posed to the author by a New Guinea native, about why Europeans, rather than New Guineans conquered the world. The book's premise is that race and culture are not a factor. Geography turns out to be the central factor, enabling the Europeans (and others on a smaller scale) to conquer the world. I was exposed to the "Germs" portion of this hypothesis in the book 1491: The Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Mann posits that horses and rats were that vector and suggests that much of North America's Native American population was reduced by 90% to 98% by the spread of those diseases. In other words the migrant European population found far fewer Native Americans than had existed half a century before. If the native population was dense enough to have the famous major Aztec, Mayan and Inca cities and in the Midwest cities such as Cahokia, there was enough population to support transmission of highly contagious diseases.

Smallpox, diphtheria and typhoid raced through the native populations in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the numbers killed, their leadership was decapitated, resulting in disorganization. Diamond mentions but does not emphasize this, focusing on the spread of crops, animal domestication, tools and weaponry. It is not surprising that Guns, Germs, and Steel appears in the bibliography of 1491; I stopped at the local library today and checked.

Earlier, when making notes, I noted that "(t)he book reminds me of what I flipped from article to article in the World Book. I just finished reading the chapter about Pizarro‘s conquest of the Incas. I feel like I am back in 1965 and 1966 reading the old encyclopedias." That holds true. Overall, I give the book four stars. I rarely give five. Here my quibble is that the book does drag in places, especially near the end. The 2003 postscript was less informative than I had hoped. Otherwise, a great read.

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America (Paperback) by Les Standiford. Over the years, Carnegie has had a more beneficent image. Frick gets the moniker of being the "bad boy" who unleashed unnecessary bloodshed at the Homestead Steel Mill in 1892. It seems that Carnegie almost deliberately absented himself, left the hard decisions to others and let others take the blame for actions that he "was for until he was against."
As for the book itself I give it a 3.5, rounding it up to four stars. Until the descriptions of the end of the strike and the legal bloodbath between Carnegie and Frick, it does move slowly. For history buffs it is a very worthwhile read.
Frick, obviously intelligent, correctly foresaw what the results of world governance would be:

As I understand it, then, the proposition is to pledge the United States, now the richest and most powerful nation in the world, to pool its resources with other countries, which are largely its debtors, and to agree in advance to abide by the policies and practices adopted by a majority or two-thirds of its associates; that is, to surrender its right of independence of action upon any specific question whenever such a question may arise....Well, I am opposed to that. Of course I am. I don't see how any experienced businessman could fail to be, Why, it seems to me a crazy thing to do."

This book tells us a lot both about the Gilded Age, about common sense, and views of history.

 

[FloorSalad]

My current reads are the New Testament translation by David Bentley Hart, the Gnostic Bible by Willis Barnstone, the Alchemist by Paul Coelho, Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, Transgender Marxism by Elle O'Rourke and Jules Joanne Gleeson, and the Kojiki translated by No Yasumaro O. There are a couple more that are technically on my current reads list, but they're on the backburner rn. xD

 

[The Hammer]

I am currently about 30 pages into:

"The King in Orange: The Magical and Occult Roots of Political Power" by John Michael Greer

 

[Spice]

I'm enjoying Tales of Gletha the Goatlady, by Roger Robbennolt that was recommended here on RF.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I've nearly finished the second book of Xenogenesis. It makes me sad starting the third and final because I have greatly enjoyed reading it.

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up byAbigail Shrier. It is one of the best rebuttals to junk psychology that I have read. The book tells numerous stories about how both schools and popular culture push children to focus on “feelings” to the exclusion of accomplishment and personal growth. My own personal growth was hardly halcyon.

Nevertheless, despite these facts I agree with the book's premise. The therapy I did receive was of little use. I learned more from peers and certain teachers. I have been successful as a lawyer, husband and parent with little help from most of the professionals I had seen. This book largely confirms my own learning and experience over the years.
Unlike many children in their grades, my children have been encouraged to get wherever they can under their own power. You know, such old fashioned stuff as bicycling and walking. They are none the worse for wear. I cannot fathom either myself or my children being driven everywhere.
The book is a powerful statement in response to "medals for all" and rewarding people for just being on the earth.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Also have started reading, Island Stories: An Unconventional History of Britain (2019) by David Reynolds.

Island Stories by David Reynolds review – how British history is shaping Brexit

Dreams of empire, blitz spirit, a country in decline … this crisp and concise book shows that competing visions of the past are driving the Brexit project

www.theguardian.com

This is worth a read - as to how the British might see themselves and encompassing so much of history - so as to inform as to what happened over Brexit. I suppose only time will tell as to whether the right decision was taken over a 52:48 vote so I won't comment further.

Just browsed a rather nice coffee-table book giving an account of one person's mission as to climbing all the 4000m peaks in the Alps - 4000m: Climbing the Highest Mountains of the Alps (2016) by Dave Wynne-Jones. So a personal account recording many of these and with suitable information for any who haven't ever climbed in the Alps.

It obviously takes some time and commitment to do this (51 to climb), given that many of these don't have relatively easy routes to the top, and my experiences only match a few of these to compare our experiences - never getting to any great standard as to climbing. No doubt the enjoyment was much the same though. I'm a bit surprised that climbing seems to have become less popular than more so though - given the fall in bed rates at the huts apparently.

Also, as just another book bought out of nominal interest, I have browsed through - Hands-On Palaeontology: A Practical manual (2021) by Stephen K. Donovan, which would be fine if I ever get the urge to go looking for old fossils rather than being one - and apparently there are some locations not too far away. I also have an urge to buy a microscope - but not sure how useful this would be for anything other than as amusement.

 

[jbg]

I am in the middle of reading Judah P. Benjamin by Pierce Butler. I will have to interrupt myself to read Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance, which I had on hold in the library. Suddenly, there is a huge demand. I wonder why.

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading Miracle of Deliverance by Stephen Harper. I came upon this book entirely by accident. I was looking for a book by an author with the same name, a former Prime Minister of Canada. The description of the book looked intriguing and I decided to put it on the hold list at the library.

The book makes the case, and a very strong case, that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved a lot more lives than they cost. The book explores a little known aspect of this argument. The British were gearing up for a D-Day style invasion of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore. Of course that invasion never happened. The Japanese surrender after the nuclear bombings ensured as much. The military was fully geared up for the invasion. The probability is that invasion, rather than being the spectacular success that the invasion of Normandy was, would have been a bloody fiasco. The author also makes the case that Britain, France and the Netherlands failed in their endeavor, in World War ii, to recapture their old colonial empires.

It is always easier to read and review books with which you agree. That is why I resisted the temptation to give the book five stars. How about 4 1/2?

 

[anna.]

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.

Also: Villager by Tom Cox.

 

[Clizby Wampuscat]

I bet The Bible, The Koran, The Veda's The Torah will all be mentioned but does not have to be religious.
*********************************************
I was in a charity shop and picked up David Niven's The Worlds a balloon. Hilarious 6/10.
Your turn.

I am reading Undelivered, a book of speeches that were never delivered. examples Eisenhower's speech if D-Day was a failure and H. Clinton's presidential acceptance speech. I recommend it, it talks about the history around these speeches as well.

 

[anna.]

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.

Also: Villager by Tom Cox.

I finished The Year of Magical Thinking. I'll reread it again some day. For anyone who's grieved regardless of what or who, I'd recommend it for the way she describes the year following.

I'm halfway through Villager. I like it a lot, but it's different. Tom Cox has a slow spellbinding way of pulling you into his world, but it's a very interior world that's very aware of the natural world it moves through and he describes it so uniquely:

You're in Underhill. As you pass from the high ground down that funnel, so exquisitely depicted by Joyce, the air of the uplands remains in your nostrils, the trees have beards, the lanes have ferny green sideburns, and your hair is made of rain.​

In between, I read Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Ofill. It's the first time I've read her work. And yet. When it ended I had the strongest sense that it all felt so familiar, the way her mind moved. If ever I could have written a book, it would feel so like this one. Never had that reaction before, in all the years and all the books gone by.

Now on to Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

There are still so many books left to read.

 

[Kathryn]

I belong to two book clubs and I just finished To Slip the Bonds of Earth about Orville and Wilber Wright and their sister who lived in Dayton OH. It was good, not terrific but good. I also finished The Ghost Keeper which I thought was EXCELLENT.

 

[Kathryn]

I finished The Year of Magical Thinking. I'll reread it again some day. For anyone who's grieved regardless of what or who, I'd recommend it for the way she describes the year following.

I'm halfway through Villager. I like it a lot, but it's different. Tom Cox has a slow spellbinding way of pulling you into his world, but it's a very interior world that's very aware of the natural world it moves through and he describes it so uniquely:

You're in Underhill. As you pass from the high ground down that funnel, so exquisitely depicted by Joyce, the air of the uplands remains in your nostrils, the trees have beards, the lanes have ferny green sideburns, and your hair is made of rain.​

In between, I read Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Ofill. It's the first time I've read her work. And yet. When it ended I had the strongest sense that it all felt so familiar, the way her mind moved. If ever I could have written a book, it would feel so like this one. Never had that reaction before, in all the years and all the books gone by.

Now on to Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

There are still so many books left to read.

I read The Year Of Magical Thinking and to be completely honest, I am an American woman, 21st century, and recently lost my husband to a sudden, massive heart attack, and I simply could not relate to her way of thinking at all. I was able to relate a lot more to CS Lewis's book called "A Grief Observed" and he was a 19th and early 2oth century British man whose wife was slowly dying of cancer!

 

[anna.]

I read The Year Of Magical Thinking and to be completely honest, I am an American woman, 21st century, and recently lost my husband to a sudden, massive heart attack, and I simply could not relate to her way of thinking at all. I was able to relate a lot more to CS Lewis's book called "A Grief Observed" and he was a 19th and early 2oth century British man whose wife was slowly dying of cancer!

Everyone has their own way of grieving. The Year of Magical Thinking was very relatable to me in my losses, and I'm glad you found that C.S. Lewis was more relatable for you.

 

[Kathryn]

Everyone has their own way of grieving. The Year of Magical Thinking was very relatable to me in my losses, and I'm glad you found that C.S. Lewis was more relatable for you.

I met this guy whose wife had died a few months earlier, and I knew he wasn't The One for me when he said, "I read a book called It's OK That You're Not OK and I loved it." It was THE ONLY book I read after my husband died that I literally threw in the trash can!

 

[Kathryn]

Everyone has their own way of grieving. The Year of Magical Thinking was very relatable to me in my losses, and I'm glad you found that C.S. Lewis was more relatable for you.

It's very true that everyone has their own way of grieving, which is why I always, always recommend the CS Lewis book A Grief Observed. It's a very short book, and I believe his publishers didn't want to initially publish it because it ran contrary to some of CS Lewis's earlier stuff. So he just said "Fine, I'll take it elsewhere," and suddenly his publishers would accept it! It was under a pseudonym till after he died, however.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The Scribes of the Torah: The Formation of the Pentateuch in Its Literary and Historical Contexts
- Konrad Schmid

Konrad Schmid is professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is the author of Genesis and the Moses Story (2010), The Old Testament: A Literary History (2012), A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible (2019), and, together with Jens Schröter, The Making of the Bible (2021). During 2019–2022, he was the president of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament. [ibid]

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading (or skimming) The Rediscovery of North America (Paperback) by Barry Lopez.Very poetically and persuasively written polemic. It's bottom line; successful white explorers bad, primitive savages good. Also, horribly misleading. I like Barry Lopez, b ut this book was a propaganda tract for a student union, not a serious essay or piece of work. No comparison with works of his that I've loved, to wit, Arctic Dreams by Barry López. Also this book does not take into account modern scholarship such as War before civilization by Lawrence H. Keeley. Spoiler alert; the natives were not peaceful with each other and did not live in harmony with the land.

A definite "one star."