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What are you reading or what books have you read or heard about? (Part TWELVE) Ongoing general thread.
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Jim
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Apr 29, 2021 10:34AM
On 14Sep2021, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach will come out. I've preordered it since she's one of my favorite authors. I've read & own all her books. Her first book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, might be my favorite, but on another day I might pick Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal or Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. The books aren't super technical & her sense of humor makes them a lot of fun.
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Great Adaptations: Star-Nosed Moles, Electric Eels, and Other Tales of Evolution's Mysteries Solved was a great book not just for the evolutionary adaptations but for Catania's attitude. His sense of wonder & joy of discovery simply poured out. I didn't care for the narrator at all, but I still listened raptly to the whole book. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization was really good. A lot of interesting history & some of the science behind what makes wood such a versatile material. I found the last chapter about modern uses & climate change very interesting, too. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am reading, "Meriwether," and it is very good. Our July Weather is now coming in June; all ninety degrees and above.
The Disappearing Spoon: Young Readers Edition might seem an odd choice for a 60+ year old man, but I loved it & felt it covered the subject well enough for me. I think anyone from 10 yo up would enjoy it. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Would it work for an eleven year old boy, Jim?
Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings was really interesting tracing the science behind dendrochronology including field trips, calibrating it to other forms of dating, & variations in climate. She also shows how the historical & regional data aligns with major historical events - droughts causing rebellions & more. If she hadn't gotten so strident & repetitive about recent climate change, I would have liked the book better, but the last quarter of the book was just too much. Still, I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hello, I am back! Sorry to be gone so long--illness (not Covid) and my computer breathed it last. Now, I have a working computer.Currently I am read Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever. It is an non-fiction history focus on a short period of the US Civil War. It focuses on the conspiracy between John Wilkes Booth and his
fellow conspiraters as the plan was to kill the vice president and Secretary of State Seward. \ Some of this I kenw from previous histories, but I found a lot of it new to me. Recommended.
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Mary JL wrote: "Hello, I am back! Sorry to be gone so long--illness (not Covid) and..."Good to see your post. Since Joy bowed out & there is no active moderator here, we seem to have drifted apart.
Bill O'Reilly has several interesting titles, but I've avoided them since too many reviews say he twists the historical narrative to fit his theories too much. Every historian does to some extent, but I had my fill of that reading Zinn who writes from the opposite side of the aisle. That was decades ago & it still bugs me.
Well, Jim I'll try and check in once a week or so and we can maybe get some new members. Too good of a group to lose!
Jim wrote: "Mary JL wrote: "Hello, I am back! Sorry to be gone so long--illness (not Covid) and..."Good to see your post. Since Joy bowed out & there is no active moderator here, we seem to have drifted apar..."
I've enjoyed O'Reillys' Killing novels as well. I never noticed anything being very slanted, but then my primary purpose is just to be entertained. Could give me an example where old Bill shades the truth?
I've been bingeing on Paul Cleave of late. He writes thrillers about serial killers. Yeah, ho-hum right? He nicely humanizes his characters - cops, victims, whoever, but he sort of shines when he writes a serial killer in the first person. I'm used the BLACK villains, I enjoy them muchly, but Paul's aren't that way. They're just doing what comes natural, having fun. Murder, torture and rqpe are just their harmless hobbies, they think they're actually just regular nice guys on the inside. And know they're SO much smarter than the cops they don't worry about getting caught. Only one of his books I disliked was one where the writer/protagonist is getting Alzheimers and can't remember what he did yesterday and whether he might have killed someone like a character in one of his books. Forgetfulness hits too close to home for me to enjoy that one.
A quick search brought up this article on O'Reilly's inaccuracies:https://www.thoughtco.com/5-biggest-m...
I've read quite a few others at different times & I don't think all of these were his biggest. I don't mind historians putting forth theories, so long as they make it clear it is a theory & give some time to opposing views. Even "We don't know." is perfectly acceptable at times. He apparently tells a good story & doesn't let the facts get in his way too much, though. I'd prefer to read the truth as best we know it.
A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History by Nicholas Wade was pretty good, but quite repetitious. His main points were the existence of human races & our continuing evolution, both points that are too often denied now since they're not politically correct. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Actually, that was the first O'Reilly book I had ever read.I found it okay. I have read other books on Lincoln, of course. This book might be a good starting place for someone just starting reading about the assassination. Yes, I did notice O'Reilly did speculate about the conspirators' motives and thoughts. But when I read those, I knew it was only a theory.
Jim the link you posted mention a major mistake about Mary Surratt. I have read on her execution and there is to this day some controversary about her.
Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool by Clara Parkes was a disappointment. I'd hoped to learn a lot more about wool from the sheep to finished skein, but she didn't deliver. I gave it a 2 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board was a fun romp through various schemes to gain an advantage. Many of the examples are from declassified Cold War documents & Houghton provides interesting background about the times, people, & problems. Still, it's a fast read. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Natural History of Color: The Science Behind What We See and How We See it by Robert DeSalle didn't fit into an interest niche that I can think of. It's too detailed for the layman & not enough for the professional. I gave it a 3 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am able to read but restricted to only use my left hand. Just released from the hospital after almost three weeks. Fell and broke my collarbone and two ribs and had pneumonia. Still recuperating with physical therapists visits daily.
I'm sorry about your injuries, Nina. I hope they heal up as quickly as possible.
What to Think About Machines That Think: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Age of Machine Intelligence is a collection of 200 short essays written in response to an Edge question & edited by John Brockman. It's fantastic & very dense. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate was quite an enlightening look at container ships. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us wasn't just about nutrition, but also the scientific method & how food headlines are generated. It's short, topical, & explains the scientific method in the real world. Very well narrated & highly recommended for all. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong was long, repetitive, & had too much preaching in it, but it was still really good in a lot of ways, so I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe is a must-read. It's a tribute to Paul Harvey, written in the style of his show, with anecdotes from Rowe's life, too. It made for thoughtful & amusing reading. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished one of the latest of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s most recent books, Quantum Shadows. It was an interesting SF story steeped in mythology & religion that was a little too much like the US political situation to be anything but depressing. Good story, though. I like that sort of blend. Still, I only gave it a 3 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle is one of the best books I've read in years. Just a fun adventure story from beginning to end, and even has a small local connection - that I almost missed at first. Great Circle intertwines the story of Marian Graves, an aviator in the mold of Amelia Earhart, and Hadley Baxter, an actress cast to play Marian in a modern biopic. I really enjoyed this one, and I hope you all do too.Great Circle
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution's Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life's Biggest Problems by Matt Simon was a very funny take on some of evolution's works & quirks. It would be great for a teenager to learn just how fascinating it can be. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Since 2014, I've summed up my year's reading in the year on Goodreads. I update it occasionally through the year with the books that really strike me & I always list quite a few. 2021 on Goodreads was no exception, even though I wasn't able to read nearly as much as usual. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel C. Dennett was a really interesting look at the evolution of consciousness. I gave it a 4 star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem by Bill Nye the Science Guy was my third book by him & my least favorite so far. It was a little too long, strident, & superficial to really blow any wind up my skirt. I gave it a 3 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fighting Misinformation: Digital Media Literacy is a short Great Course that everyone should listen to. It's geared toward those who use Facebook & Twitter without understanding the dangers. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach was another fun look at some issues I hadn't known about before. Told with her charming wit, it was perfect for all the time I've spent waiting for doctors. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am reading a can't put it down book, "The French Baker's War."Also so glad to see this email messages again.
We Are All Stardust: Leading Scientists Talk About Their Work, Their Lives, and the Mysteries of Our Existence by Stefan Klein was a really interesting dive into the scientists responsible for many outstanding scientific achievements. Highly recommended. I gave included the ToC in my 5 star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem by Bill Nye the Science Guy was my third book by him & my ..." I am wondering if any of you read, "The Lincoln Highway." I think it would make a good selection for a book club as there are so many different comments from my reader friends. I thought well written but didn't like it as well as "The Gentleman in Moscow." by the same author.
Hi All!Currently reading, "The Road to Little Dribbling" by Bill Bryson. Quite funny and interesting about Bill's revisit to England.
The Prologue had me in stitches. Laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. First thought was so glad not to be reading this book in a quiet doctor's office.
Enjoyable.
I've had that on my TBR list for a while, Linda. Maybe I'll get to it now. Thanks.
We are reading this book for the Book Chat club at local Senior Center and will be discussing in September. Will be fun to hear how other readers felt.P.S.: How've you been?
Nina wrote: "Jim wrote: "Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem by Bill Nye the Science Guy was my third book ..."I'm currently in 2 book clubs. Will recommend "Lincoln Highway"
Bad news today - the Brooklyn library is no longer allowing out of state lending. For $50/year, I was getting access to twice as many audiobooks than my local library has. Does anyone know of another big library that allows it?
Jim wrote: "I've had that on my TBR list for a while, Linda. Maybe I'll get to it now. Thanks."See you read and liked the book. The book club members all enjoyed the book, too.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem (other topics)The Lincoln Highway (other topics)
Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem (other topics)
We Are All Stardust: Scientists Who Shaped Our World Talk about Their Work, Their Lives, and What They Still Want to Know (other topics)
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Bill Nye (other topics)Bill Nye (other topics)
Stefan Klein (other topics)
Mary Roach (other topics)
Bill Nye (other topics)
More...
