What book(s) are you reading now?

[stillsearching]

I just read "Still Alice" which is about Alzheimer disease. It was a written from the perspective of the person who had the disease so it gave some insight to what they would experience.

I will be starting "Mao's last dancer". Anyone read that?

 

[Yerda]

Rob Roy.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A psych text book that is chocked with typos, a few incomplete sentences, things that don't make since, things are wrong, and is very bad about stereotyping drug users (such as mentioning that coke addicted moms are often prostitutes, very poor, and living an very unhealthy lifestyle which has a very bad impact on a child, but it doesn't mention that many white collar professionals use drugs when drawing correlations and conclusions). My teacher absolutely hates the book.
A US history text book that goes alittle deeper than I thought it would about certain aspects of the Founding Fathers. For example, it explicitly outlines, along with a "key part" marker, that the main Founding Fathers were deist, and those that belonged to an organized church during that time era were in the minority. It even discuses how slavery started in America. So far it seems to not be that bad of a text book.
And as for my theatre appreciation book and speech/communication book, I haven't even opened them yet. The teacher for my theatre class doesn't even use it, and the reading for my speech class isn't required or even needed.

 

[Smoke]

Red Pine (translator), The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng.

 

[Peacewise]

the evolutionary void, by peter f hamilton.

awesome sci fi

 

[Caladan]

Generation Kill written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with Recon Marines (the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion‎ of the United States Marine Corps) during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

As much as the book can be disturbing as can be expected from the invasion of Iraq, I also get a ****load of kicks and laughs out of reading the experience and exploits of the guys and how they handle the surreal reality of war in the middle east. as a recon veteran, its also fascinating to get an impression of how Recon Marines in the American military execute their assignments, how their unit works, and how the US command uses this type of Special forces.

 

[Reptillian]

A lot of books here I'd be interested in reading. I'm presently rereading "War of the Worlds" and "Moby Dick". I read them when I was younger but thought I might get more out of them as an adult (I was right). I'm also reading "Dante's Inferno" for the first time.

 

[dust1n]

Finished Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace two days ago! 1074 pages, wowwe!

And finished The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus today.

Not sure what I will pick up next.

 

[Noaidi]

'Why Evolution Is True' by Jerry Coyne. Excellent so far.

 

[bowingtoGod]

I am actually reading the New International Version of the Bible.

 

[Tarheeler]

Invasive Procedure by Orson Scott Card
Night by Elie Wiesel
A History of the Jewish Experience by Rabbi Leo Trepp

 

[ChristineES]

I found this horrible novel for 50 cents (hardcover). It was full of weirdness and gore but for some reason, I just have to finish it.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

I just finished From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology by David Leeming. It was very very interesting.

I am now beginning to read Green Time, Green Space by Connie C Barlow.

 

[Renji]

"Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?" and Dr. Phil Mcgraw's Ultimate Weight Solution Guide.^^

 

[Kathryn]

Generation Kill written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with Recon Marines (the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion‎ of the United States Marine Corps) during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

As much as the book can be disturbing as can be expected from the invasion of Iraq, I also get a ****load of kicks and laughs out of reading the experience and exploits of the guys and how they handle the surreal reality of war in the middle east. as a recon veteran, its also fascinating to get an impression of how Recon Marines in the American military execute their assignments, how their unit works, and how the US command uses this type of Special forces.

I just finished "The Good Soldiers," also written by a journalist embedded with an Army Infantry unit near Baghdad during the surge. FANTASTIC book - you might like it. Like the one you read, it displays a wide range of emotions. Very well written. I am going to check out the one you just read as well.

I found "The Good Soldiers" to be especially poignant since it chronicled an Army unit stationed less than 40 miles from the exact place my son was stationed in the same time frame. Based on what he's shared with me, the book seems extremely realistic.

 

[Caladan]

I found "The Good Soldiers" to be especially poignant since it chronicled an Army unit stationed less than 40 miles from the exact place my son was stationed in the same time frame. Based on what he's shared with me, the book seems extremely realistic.

I believe you. Evan Wright has made a very good account of the reality of combat for the fighters, the local population, the challenges, bloopers, stress, black humor, brotherhood of fighters, tension between ranks, etc.

 

[Kathryn]

I believe you. Evan Wright has made a very good account of the reality of combat for the fighters, the local population, the challenges, bloopers, stress, black humor, brotherhood of fighters, tension between ranks, etc.

It was good to have my hunches validated. I believe that these repeated and LONG deployments (my son was deployed to a combat zone for 20 months) make our soldiers more prone to PTSD than shorter deployments. To live under the threat of random and instant death and dismemberment for over a year simply cannot be good for anyone psychologically.

My son's battalion lost 44 men and hundreds were wounded, many critically and horribly. His platoon leader was killed, one of his best friends lost both legs, and my son's eardrums were ruptured three times because he was in such close proximity to an IED explosion (one explosion threw him 15 feet and left a long scar across his back simply from his body armour pinching him when he landed - thank God for the body armour). It's amazing he wasn't wounded more seriously. He has struggled with night terrors and PTSD since returning but he's gotten a grip on it.

 

[Caladan]

It was good to have my hunches validated. I believe that these repeated and LONG deployments (my son was deployed to a combat zone for 20 months) make our soldiers more prone to PTSD than shorter deployments. To live under the threat of random and instant death and dismemberment for over a year simply cannot be good for anyone psychologically.

You are right of course.
however you will also be surprised how many combat soldiers who've been through the horrors of combat, of living in field conditions, with sleep and food deprivation, no shower for months, sleeping in a bush, and crapping into plastic bags with your friends cramped around you miss it. you will never feel as alive as during those times. fighters who return from combat service, will have an infinitely much better time with dealing with PTSD, if people around them back in civil life would know how to give them a break, and no I don't mean by that feeling bad for them or anything, I mean people treating them normally, not making them into either heroes, or war criminals, and just let them enjoy their time without 'domestic' stress. (stressed GF, worried mother, etc.), many of these guys, although they might suffer from PTSD, know how to deeply relax, after all they have already been through the worst.

My son's battalion lost 44 men and hundreds were wounded, many critically and horribly. His platoon leader was killed, one of his best friends lost both legs, and my son's eardrums were ruptured three times because he was in such close proximity to an IED explosion (one explosion threw him 15 feet and left a long scar across his back simply from his body armour pinching him when he landed - thank God for the body armour). It's amazing he wasn't wounded more seriously. He has struggled with night terrors and PTSD since returning but he's gotten a grip on it.

IEDs are one of the most terrifying realities of war zones.

 

[Kathryn]

Yes, and another thing my son said was frustrating is that he wanted to show us pictures, videos, etc of his time there, and after just a few minutes we were stressed out by the images and didn't want to see more. And yet he wanted us to look at hundreds of them, for hours at a time. All we wanted to do when he got back was feed him (he had lost a ton of weight), drive him around to all his old familiar haunts, and hug him.

When we would drive him around, he would jump at every noise in traffic, and cringe at every piece of trash on the side of the road. He was extremely jumpy and irritable. He was drinking like a fish.

This stage lasted for several weeks. Eventually I figured out that if he didn't show me those photos and videos, he was going to explode. So I made myself sit down with him and look at these for hours on end, and then we sat up drinking and talking for many more hours.

The video that sticks out the most in my mind is one he made by strapping a camera onto his helmet during a patrol through the streets of a village with another soldier. The tension was unbelievable. The furtive people in doorways, eyes looking out windows, the direction of the camera as he looked from left to right, at piles of trash, into houses, into shops and alleyways, the discussion he was having with his fellow soldier - it was nerve wracking. And this was a nearly daily occurrance.

 

[Caladan]

Is this your son with the Korean gf?