What book r u reading?

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm just finishing "It's OK To Be Angry About Capitalism" by Bernie Sanders. GREAT BOOK with lotsa stats.

I might put that forward as a suggestion for the atheist group where I pick what the group reads.
Or maybe Howard Zin?
But they don't do the brainiac and philosophy books like I do, and I get the feeling not much for the actual reading part as I'm the only one in the group actually reading Good Omens while everybody else is listening to it.
I should make us read Dune next to force a movement away from audio.

 

[JustGeorge]

Still in the first book of the Mahabharata.

 

[Sand Dancer]

What aren't I reading? That's easier. I am reading quite a few by Brian McLaren.

 

[Revoltingest]

A book about Seth Bullock.

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden made us Care About Jews, the South and Civil Rights, by Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett. I have to say I'm biased; I am Jewish, and the central focus of the book concerned the era from a few years before I was born through the late 1960's.
The author relocated from New York City to North Carolina under rather unfortunate circumstances.

The issues, in hindsight, seemed quite simple: 1) the remnants of the Jews had escaped, barely, extermination at the hands of the Nazis and Stalin; 2) blacks, then called Negroes, were beginning to achieve the rights all humans should have; and 3) the opponents of Jews and blacks were irredeemably evil, complete with the Klan, their attack dogs, etc. Through the aegis of Harry Golden, who some people considered a fraud, these issues were covered in his publication, The Carolina Israelite.

Harry had moved to Charlotte, NC to remake himself from past names, a failed marriage, debts, and time in a Federal penitentiary for stock brokerage fraud. Harry Golden would seem a poor candidate to encapsulate a redemptive, constructive era, and yet he was. He wrote the first of many books, Only in America, to rave reviews. Even the exposure of his checkered past could not stop him.

In my view, not coincidentally, the Civil Rights era peaked in or about March 1965 with a stirring, impromptu speech by LBJ, and then declined with the rise of urban riots, and the "Black Power" movement. His own life took a parallel fall with a gall bladder problem turning into a near-death experience. Both he and the country declined from euphoric heights to the days of Richard Nixon.

As a tale of an era through the lens of a person's life it was superb. The quibbles, as usual, are the slow, draggy beginning whose purpose seems to be to inflate the page count beyond the "young adult" range. Its 267 pages, before notes, could have been 150 and the story would not have been marred. Thus, a "four star."

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I finally got the book that John Carpenter's Vampires is based on, a book titled and stylized Vampire$ by John Steakley.
I've not even been able to check it out at a library even about 25 years later.

 

[robocop (actually)]

Print books I'm reading now (will do ebooks some other time)

The Pentateuch by Samson Raphael Hirsch
Why the Torah begins with the letter beit
The art of war
A Biblical Hebrew Grammar
Deep Learning
The plague of models
26 reasons why Jews don't believe in Jesus
Reassess your chess
Thinking fast and slow
The Koran
The Science of God
The Maitreya
Genesis and the Big Bang
The Power of Habit
The Social Animal
Emotional Intelligence
The Secret Doctrine of the Kaballah
The Unquite Mind
City Upon a Hill

 

[robocop (actually)]

ebooks I'm reading, including Internet:

*LDS*New Testament
Doctrine & Covenants
LDS General Conference
Come follow Me
One other book*/LDS*


Algorithms
My own books
Who was Adam
Three versions of How to win books and influence people
The Alpha Protocol
The Big Sociology Book
The Big Science Book
The Big Business Book
The Elements
The Molecules
The Reactions
Persist (Elizabeth Warren)
The Alphabet that Changed the World
Genesis One
Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory
The Talmud
Interpretation of Dreams
Maxims for Thinking Analytically
The Talent Code
Flow
Man's Search for Meaning
Meaningfulness
The Quest
4 Essential Keys for effective communication
The Changing World Order
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Transformer *** Highly Recommended ***
Calculus of Variations

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurrican in History by Erik Larson. This follows close on the heels of A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin. This is the story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the deadliest hurricane, at least in U.S. history.

Forecasts of hurricanes and major storms, including blizzards, is to this day an inexact science. For this one, a witches brew of sibling rivalry, ethnic chauvinism and bureaucratic stupidity and ineptitude combines to make a horrible situation worse, if that is possible.

As for the descriptions of the storm itself, few descriptions of destruction are too graphic for me to read. This one came awfully close.

 

[InChrist]

I have just started reading, “One Idea to Rule Them All” by Michelle Stiles about the techniques of propaganda.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Vampire$. I was surprised and delighted to see in the first chapter it takes place in Indiana (I hate that state), as the John Carpenter movie based on it, Vampires, takes place in New Mexico.
But the similarities and differences between the two is such that basically there's coincidentally two separate crews of vampire hunters who have the same names.

 

[exchemist]

Having been laid up in the house with illness, I am just beginning to re-read a novel by Catherine Fox, called "Acts and Omissions". It's about the lives, loves, schemes and disputes of the clergy and their families and friends, at an imaginary English cathedral. Rather like a modern version of Anthony Trollope's Barchester series.

I recommend it largely because, unlike so many modern novels, it feels no need to shock or harrow the reader with ghastly scenes of violence, death or depressing tragedy. It is amusing, friendly, gossipy, and yet somehow insightful into human nature, so that you really want to know what happens to the intriguing cast of characters.

I have found, ever since my wife died, that I really can't face reading fiction that sets out to upset the reader, as so many modern authors seem to feel they have to do. I feel I don't lectures on what that feels like, thanks all the same. This book, and Sarah Perry's (more serious and in fact magnificent) "The Essex Serpent", are two that avoid this - and are none the worse for doing so.

 

[JustGeorge]

Having been laid up in the house with illness, I am just beginning to re-read a novel by Catherine Fox, called "Acts and Omissions". It's about the lives, loves, schemes and disputes of the clergy and their families and friends, at an imaginary English cathedral. Rather like a modern version of Anthony Trollope's Barchester series.

I recommend it largely because, unlike so many modern novels, it feels no need to shock or harrow the reader with ghastly scenes of violence, death or depressing tragedy. It is amusing, friendly, gossipy, and yet somehow insightful into human nature, so that you really want to know what happens to the intriguing cast of characters.

I have found, ever since my wife died, that I really can't face reading fiction that sets out to upset the reader, as so many modern authors seem to feel they have to do. I feel I don't lectures on what that feels like, thanks all the same. This book, and Sarah Perry's (more serious and in fact magnificent) "The Essex Serpent", are two that avoid this - and are none the worse for doing so.

That's a lot of the reason I don't watch much for TV or movies... I don't want something to shock or depress me. I have enough struggle without wanting to entertain myself with pain and sorrow. Enjoy your reading, and I hope you feel better soon!

I've been reading through a few books on Zoroastrianism... I know little about it and want to learn(because I'm boring and study religion for fun).

 

[Revoltingest]

"Seth Bullock: Black Hills Lawman"
by David A Wolff

 

[exchemist]

That's a lot of the reason I don't watch much for TV or movies... I don't want something to shock or depress me. I have enough struggle without wanting to entertain myself with pain and sorrow. Enjoy your reading, and I hope you feel better soon!

I've been reading through a few books on Zoroastrianism... I know little about it and want to learn(because I'm boring and study religion for fun).

Yeah, as I get older I want more comfort from my reading, I find, at least when I'm reading fiction. I want something that reassures me the universe is not hostile, basically.

I admire your powers of concentration if you can do that. My own powers of concentration are not what they were. I sometimes wonder if the internet is partly responsible, or at any rate a bad influence. @Rival is studying theology at university, as you probably know. Do you two ever talk about what you read? My son has a bit of an interest in Zoroastrianism, from the viewpoint of its influence on ancient history and the Abrahamic religions of the Fertile Crescent. I know little about it, though I had a work collague in Dubai once who was a Zoroastrian. Nice man - very calm.

 

[ChristineM]

Making it So by Patrick Stewart. It's in audiobook form so listening not reading

 

[RestlessSoul]

Iron Ambition: My Life with Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson w Larry Sloman
I don’t read many sports biographies, but one’s really holding my attention so far; some guy that Cus D’Amato, and Tyson continues to fascinate also.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Just finished a short one - Unconventional Wisdom: Adventures in The Surprisingly True (2020) by Tom Standage - and giving answers to those silly questions one might never ask (well I probably wouldn't).

I'm currently reading - Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA (2020) by Neil Shubin - another book on evolution that might appeal to the YEC believers, as per this one I read some time back - A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived (2017) by Adam Rutherford - what our genes, and the history of such, reveal about us. Yes, YEC believers, you might even change your minds.

 

[JustGeorge]

Yeah, as I get older I want more comfort from my reading, I find, at least when I'm reading fiction. I want something that reassures me the universe is not hostile, basically.

I can understand that. I started really discriminating what media I took in during my 'panic attack' days... anything could set one off. It just wasn't worth consuming some piece of literature or TV show if it was going to make me go into an attack. I don't struggle with those anymore, but if it makes me feel poorly, and view the world poorly, its still not worth it.

I admire your powers of concentration if you can do that. My own powers of concentration are not what they were. I sometimes wonder if the internet is partly responsible, or at any rate a bad influence. @Rival is studying theology at university, as you probably know. Do you two ever talk about what you read? My son has a bit of an interest in Zoroastrianism, from the viewpoint of its influence on ancient history and the Abrahamic religions of the Fertile Crescent. I know little about it, though I had a work collague in Dubai once who was a Zoroastrian. Nice man - very calm.

I wouldn't doubt if the internet has been an influence. My concentration isn't what it used to be, either, and it definitely happened after having the internet. We were internet free until Covid came along. I think the constant stimulation it provides makes it harder to focus on things that don't interact as much. But, I don't have constant access to the internet(no smart device, and I'm out of the house a lot), so its easier to concentrate if the temptation isn't there.

@Rival and I have discussed books from time to time. She's recommended some good books on Egyptian Religion I've got down on my 'to acquire' list. I'm unsure if we've read any of the same, and now I'm curious...

I was actually surprised to find Zoroastrianism much different from what I was expecting. There's so much emphasis on it being the first monotheistic religion, but... it doesn't seem all that monotheistic to me. Perhaps in the same sense Hinduism is... It all comes from the same source. But, there's a divine form for every day, (I think today's is Tishtrya) and while all other deities are created by Ahura Mazda(who seems to share some characteristics with the Brahman concept of Hinduism), they're still acknowledged and honored. I had to have my roommate(who went to school for religion) spell out to me what the similarities with Abrahamic faith was; she said it was the first religion that taught duality. That made sense.

Never met a Zoroastrian... don't run across too much variety here in the Midwest. Our city is mostly a mix of practicing Christians, cultural Christians(the divide is worth noting), atheists, and a growing Muslim community. There are other things mixed in, but you won't run across it too often.

 

[jbg]

I just finished reading America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything by Christopher F. Rufo. I'll start with my usual critique of these kinds of books; they are an immediate turnoff for those that conservatives need to persuade. Even though personally I am a leftist, I actually agree with much of what the author says. There is no question that the l "radical left" has gone way too far, and are fast snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Having achieved legal racial equality, an end to McCarthyite suppression of speech and other major victories, the book lays out how some "thinkers" on the Left: 1) Herbert Marcuse; 2) Angela Davis; 3) Paulo Friere; and 4) Derrick Belle, and their "ideas" are in danger of creating a dystopia. A problem is that the elites, particularly the university system do not know how or when to say "no."

Rufo demonstrates how, in the late 1960's and early 1970's idealists, including Marcuse and Davis, unleashed sickening waves of violence in aid of their "cause." Later "thinkers" such as as Friere aided in the destruction of some of the Third World economies by urging such gibberish as "class suicide." Bell largely pioneered the Western education system through "critical race theory.

Racial equality, never really tried, has morphed into "Diversity, Equity "and Inclusion." The elites are talking openly of a French or Russian Revolution-style taking of people's property and earnings. Rufo correctly and skillfully illustrates how skill and competence is being unceremoniously muscled aside for vague and unworkable Utopian values. This book is less shrill than some in its genre. I do recommend it.