What are you...reading?

[BraveHat]

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Totally blows my mind. I have no idea why I'm only reading it now. It absolutely is helping me become a better Christian, or if not a better Christian, at least to a healthier way of approaching and applying Christianity.

[AcidFast]

I have see Malcolm Gladwell's name a few times, and I must say I am a fan.

Blink
The Tipping Point
Outliers
What the Dog Saw

I continually find myself eagerly awaiting his next book.

I also read Guns, Germs and Steel, which I found fascinating, Collapse not so much.

I loved Freakonomics, hated The World is Flat - Friedman annoys the crap out of me and I couldn't finish it.

If you are interested in Anthropology at all, The Cave and the Cathedral was good.

I always have several books open, and pick one depending on my mood when I sit to read.

Currently open are:

The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (I'm a big fan of Pinker's, also).
The Accidental Mind by David Linden
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell

And I recently finished Where Men Find Glory by Krakauer which was immensely interesting.

[JohnyFake*]

I am a big Gladwell and Diamond fan. If you liked them as well, I'll have to try Pinker, Linden, etc.

I have found these books (Gladwell, etc.) can be a dry read, but make for an enjoyable listen. These books have made my commutes more productive.

[AcidFast]

I've only just started the Linden, but it seems promising. Pinker is a linguist and cognitive... er.. something.... I love language and linguistics, but if you don't, you may find it dry.

[BraveHat]

"god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens. I've already read Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and now my interests take me into the Debate. After Christopher Hitchen's book, I would like to read his brother Peter's rebuttal/religious autobiography "The Rage Against God". Following that, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, and then "The Dawkins Delusion" by Alister McGrath. Hopefully, I'll get to "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris, against which I don't yet know of a theist rebuttal publication and "Godless" by Dan Barker, which seems more like an autobiographical chronicle than an argument. The reverse of Joe Ezsterhas's "Crossbearer", which I've already partially read.

[AcidFast]

Just received an Amazon package with "Democracide" and "Moral Calculations."

Started reading both of them and both seem very promising and I'm very excited to read them.

[jesternl]

Gladwell gets alittle repetitive after a while though..

very much enjoying listening to Red seas under red skies, part 2 of the gentlemen bastard series.

[Pablo]

[Sentran]

I read different books at home and at work so I don't hae to bother with transporting a book back and forth. At work I'm reading Burnt Offerings, the 7th book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. At home I'm reading Edge of Shadows, book 2 of the Night Angel trilogy.
I usually stick to scifi/fantasy genres.
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Sentran
"Speaking of double negatives, I haven't read greylab yet today." - Lifeinmomland

[AcidFast]

Democracide - America on the road to Fascism and Bankruptcy
by Nathaniel Gilbert

A Mind of its Own - How the Mind Distorts and Deceives
by Cordelia Fine

[Chaz]

I like Audiobooks. I obtained a copy of "The Selfish Gene" but it's just a text to speech program reading the book. It makes it unbearable.

Anyone want to read it on a tape for me? =D
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The enemy's base is down.

[Chuck]

I have a microphone around here somewhere and could borrow the book from the library. Would a WAV file be all right?

[Pablo]

[Chaz]

[Scurra]

[Pablo]

[mv*]

Now that you two are agreeing on three things, order has been restored.

[wordcross]

Finished "The Hunger Games" trilogy just recently. It was interesting and fairly morbid, yet it is very obviously targeted at the older teen market. (It's even sold in the Young Adult section at most bookstores).

It's first-person present tense, which done correctly is effective, but here it is not. It suffers mostly from a narrator that is not credible. Her assumptions are too often obviously incorrect to the reader, which means that when the only information we have about another situation is just her assumption, it's impossible to tell if we should take it at face value. And it seems she is incapable of learning from her mistaken assumptions as she repeatedly makes the same judgement calls despite getting burned.

Yet despite this we are to believe that she has what it takes to survive a long-term no holds barred battle to the death in deadly and changing terrain.

She never exhibits any strong emotion that's actually genuine, and half of the plot even hinges on this very fact. It makes it very difficult to become invested in the main character. I found myself much more interested in some of the tertiary characters.

Still, the overall story is fairly interesting. Conceptually the plot has definitely got hooks and a few of the twists are genuinely surprising. A few of the characters actually seem to be engaging and they evolve over the course of the story. Just not the important ones. I did find myself, at times, reading longer because I wanted to know what happened next, so these aren't entirely unreadable.

I might suggest this book to younger readers, but probably not. There's just so much better available.

Do we do stars for books like we do for movies? If so, I'll go 2.5 out of 5.
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Poisonium]

Which should I read first, James Joyce's Ulysses or John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat?
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[Death Mage]

The Walking Dead.

Yea yea, 'comic book' blah blah. But it's managing to make me want to keep reading. I think they've done a really good job with the characters in it, and how the stress is changing them. It's even being made into a TV series (though I have NO idea how they're going to convey some of the real brutal violence in it).

May not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm enjoying it, and that's what matters.
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[Hitchhiker]

BraveHat: I highly recommend Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett. I find him much less abrasive than Dawkins or Hitchens.

For a faith-based perspective, I'd recommend anything by Bishop John Shelby Spong -- he's most famous for Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile but I've enjoyed everything by him that I've read, including Liberating the Gospels and Living in Sin. Excellent researcher, excellent writer, and by all accounts a fine human being.

(Posting this instead of PM'ing in case anyone else is trying something like BraveHat's self-imposed curriculum there.)

[Hitchhiker]

I just finished reading Gladiatrix by Russell Whitfield. Full of sex and violence and not-too-badly mangled Roman history. I liked it. Apparently it's a fact that some of the ancient Roman sports fans preferred girl-on-girl battles, and some slave trainers made a lot of money with their "gladiatrices."

Plot is basically:

"Here's a slave girl we pulled out of a shipwreck. We can make her a fighter!"

"Um, no, excuse me, I'm a free Roman citizen, there's some mistake...I'm from Sparta? Have you heard of it? I'm one of the warrior-priestesses there and I'm sure they'll ransom me..."

"Tough. You're a slave now."

"Fine, then I'll use my Spartan warrior skills and kick everyone's ass."

The portrayal of the Greek minority in Rome was fascinating. There's a sort of Greektown in the larger cities, where men have beards (most Roman men go beardless) and the temples use the older names of the gods.

...But really, that's not why you'd read this. Read it for Lysandra of Sparta wreaking havoc on Celts in woad and Germanic barbarians in fur loincloths, before she meets her match: a woman of the fearsome Amazon tribe. Plenty of girl-on-girl action. Oh, and fighting.

[BraveHat]

Thanks for the rec, Hitch! Miss you

[Chuck]

To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust, a fantasy novel about the revolt in heaven. I've always wanted more details.

[Pablo]

Another one for dog lovers!
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All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[jesternl]

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. The only book I know of with a trailer.
Not sure what to say, it Stephenson, so it's is somewhat rambling at times, and long, yet strangely interesting. The link will give you a better synopsis than I can.

[Pablo]

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All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.

[j_s*]

Fablehaven

Its a 5 book series, with children as the main characters, but it is awesome. If you like fantasy (with some humor), definitely read. We picked up the first in the library and then ended up buying the whole series to keep. Its so good.

[Poisonium]

I'm currently reading Ulysses by James Joyce for when I feel like focusing, and Timeline by Michael Crichton when I don't.
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[Antrax]

You seriously enjoy Ulysses?
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Poisonium]

I'm an aspiring writer myself, and reading such litterature helps me develop my own writing. That's the main purpose of reading it.
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[Antrax]

It certainly helped me as well: "never ever write something this unreadable. Ever. If the length of the footnotes exceeds the length of the text, rewrite the text". Then again, you're in good company as English majors tend to really love it. I never got past chapter 2, and I tried. Three times.
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Poisonium]

I'm at seven now. Someone said that the first three chapters are harder to get through than the rest of the book. As I recall, 4 and 5 were actually rather entertaining.
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I tried apt-get install lifebut it only returned E: Couldn't find package life

[wordcross]

I was an English major, but I've never read Ulysses. In fact, there are quite a few "classics" that I've never read. I suppose the fact that I avoided some of the more involved lit classes has something to do with that...
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[jesternl]

It's going to be a good month for reading.. in the span of 2 weeks 2 sequels I've been waiting for will be released..
Wise man's fear on March 1st and
The Republic of Thieves (part 3 of the gentleman bastards) on February 17th.
oh goodie.. I only hope they will be in Audiobook right away too, otherwise I'll never get around to actually reading them.

\Edit, although it seems the feb 17 date might be very insubstantial

[MatthewV]

[Quailman]

I just read Call Collect; Ask For Birdman. It's the story of James Vardaman's attempt in 1979 to see over 700 different species of birds in North American (north of the US-Mex. border). I had read The Big Year a few years ago. It's about three birders who set out to break the record in 1998, after Al Gore had invented the internet. They didn't have to rely on birders around the country phoning in their sightings of rare birds like Mr. Vardaman did. They also had the good fortune of an unusually strong El Nino, which brought loads of vagrant species from Siberia to Attu and the Pribilofs, as well as ushering several pelagics close to shore. The latter was much more entertaining, as the three all knew about each other and would avoid eye contact when passing in airport terminals or popular birding locales such as High Island, TX or the Dry Tortugas.

The Big Year is being made into a major motion picture starring Jack Black, Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, among others. It's scheduled to be released later this year. I'll keep you posted.

[Antrax]

Don't mature people read for fun? I mean, I don't spend my time reading books about computering (nor about my hobbies, other than bridge textbooks).
I'm currently this comic book series:

You guys would love it, it has a government conspiracy!
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Death Mage]

I read the Castle/Nikki Heat books.
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* These senseless ramblings brought to you by Insanity™. If you just can't figure the dang thing out, it must be Insanity™.
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[Pablo]

"The God Delusion" by Dawkins
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All religions are the same - Guilt....just with different holidays.