What are you reading?

[Tech 68]

 

[mach7]

"On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini"
By Barton Hacker and James Grimwood

 

[vcp]

I recall that years ago 'Wool' was a topic of discussion here. I notice that at the moment 'Wool' and the entire Silo series are available on Kindle for $2,

Amazon Best Sellers: Best Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction

Discover the best Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction in Best Sellers. Find the top 100 most popular items in Amazon Kindle Store Best Sellers.

www.amazon.com

 

[Peartree]

"Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity" -Unlocking New Testament Culture
by David A. DaSilva

 

[dpower]

I finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky a few weeks ago. It's a pretty interesting hard sci-fi, describing the evolution of a spider society and its interaction with the remnants of humanity who are trying to find a new home after Earth is destroyed in a global nuclear/biological war. The author did a really good job of world-building and thinking about how various aspects of a society would play themselves out. He also does a good job of not telegraphing the resolution to the plot. You really don't know how it's going to end until the last few pages.

I really enjoyed that book also! The 2nd in the series, "Children of Ruin" was every bit as good, and I've just started the 3rd, "Children of Memory".

 

[burkefj]

 

[Pappy]

picked up a card story at the airport, parallel tale of enders game, title eludes me. also a niven/pournelle fantasy thing called burning city.

 

[dhbarr]

picked up a card story at the airport, parallel tale of enders game, title eludes me. also a niven/pournelle fantasy thing called burning city.

Ender's Shadow, probably?

 

[lakeroadster]

Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War by Nathaniel Philbrick

It's a good read.

 

[Antares JS]

"The Historical Jesus" by Gary R. Habermas.

Very interesting deep dive into the reliability of the New Testament books as historical documents, other non-biblical historical documents that point to the existence of Jesus and/or corroborate events discussed in the Gospels, and most of all, what facts we can know for sure about the life of Jesus from this documentation and not from any religious faith, and how certain other alternative hypotheses about Jesus's life fall flat in the face of the facts known from these documents.

 

[Thundercloud]

I am reading Einstein, his Life and Universe. It is long but good. I find it interesting to learn about his relationships with other scientists, and how their ideas contributed to Einstein's theory of Relativity.

 

[John Kemker]

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

 

[Dotini]

I've just finished The Curse of Oak Island, by Randall Sullivan. It's a comprehensive, straightforward and skeptical history of the Island and its mystery.

Anyone else following the series on TV? Anyone have any strong ideas on who built the complex network of tunnels and shafts on the island?

 

[hobie1dog]

in my quest to get rid of most everything, I just looked around and I have 5 books to my name.

 

[Antares JS]

"Lord of the World" by Robert Hugh Benson. A novel about the end times from a Catholic perspective. Originally published in 1907 so some of the book's notions about the future are a bit quaint.

 

[bobby_hamill]

It is a short 2 pager titled "the insides of my eyelids"

 

[prfesser]

"Archie Meets Nero Wolfe", by Robert Goldsborough. It's a prequel to the Nero Wolfe books and short stories authored by Rex Stout, explaining how Archie Goodwin got involved with Wolfe. Stout passed away in 1975, just after writing his last book, "A Family Affair". Even if you don't like mysteries very much, Rex Stout is an absolute master. He writes first-person from Archie's view, and !witty!! (Archie is a likeable smartass). There was an A&E series of Nero Wolfe mysteries back in the early 2000s, with Timothy Hutton doing a pretty decent Archie. It's on YouTube, and worth watching.

Goldsborough has written other Nero Wolfe books. He does a fair imitation of Stout, though even I can tell that he's trying too hard.

 

[Peartree]

Several "books" from the Dead Sea Scrolls, "The Community Rule," "Some Works of the Torah," and "commentary on Habakkuk."
"The Sayings of the Fathers" (Pirke Aboth) - (a small part of the ancient Jewish Mishnah)
And some other articles on the origins and beliefs of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Essenes.

 

[hobie1dog]

my first book in over 2 years, a biography of Steve McQueen. well how was reading it on my wife's Kindle but I only made it about 3 hours until the battery went down.

 

[lakeroadster]

 

[Dotini]

"Archie Meets Nero Wolfe", by Robert Goldsborough. It's a prequel to the Nero Wolfe books and short stories authored by Rex Stout, explaining how Archie Goodwin got involved with Wolfe. Stout passed away in 1975, just after writing his last book, "A Family Affair". Even if you don't like mysteries very much, Rex Stout is an absolute master. He writes first-person from Archie's view, and !witty!! (Archie is a likeable smartass). There was an A&E series of Nero Wolfe mysteries back in the early 2000s, with Timothy Hutton doing a pretty decent Archie. It's on YouTube, and worth watching.

Goldsborough has written other Nero Wolfe books. He does a fair imitation of Stout, though even I can tell that he's trying too hard.

My dad was a huge fan of murder mysteries and detective novels. I inherited this habit and read the genre voraciously. I read all the Nero Wolfe stories and they were my favorite - along with Sherlock Holmes.

I will buy a copy of "Archie Meets Nero Wolfe". Thanks for the tip!

Edit: Ordered!

 

[Dotini]

Just finished, The Curse of Oak Island by Randall Sullivan. Well-researched complete history with photos by professional writer (the book reads fast and easy) who is thorough and skeptical of unlikely theories. Current through 2017. The TV series of the same name has been going for 10 seasons, with the mystery still unsolved.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

I've been reading some rather subversive literature by a gent named Albert Jay Nock. Two books in particular (more lined up). They are "The Disadvantages of Being Educated", a book of essays, and "Out Enemy, The State". In the first book, in the eponymous essay, he makes the point that there are a great number of young people that would be better served being "trained" rather than being "educated". In the second book, he differentiates between "government", and "the state". Government serves and protects all members of society equally, while the state benefits some at the expense of others. Sounds like a modern day libertarian, doesn't it? The first book was written in 1932, the second in 1935. Unfortunately, both are as relevant today as then.

 

[hobie1dog]

another back issue of "Rockets" magazine

 

[mach7]

I just started a re read of H.G. "Wells The War of the Worlds"

 

[bjphoenix]

I don't read books very often except to use them for reference but right now I'm reading "Unix-A History And A Memoir" by Brian Kernighan.

 

[John Kemker]

Just finished Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis Taylor Jr. Starting on Manxome Foe by the same pair.

 

[lakeroadster]

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Just finished Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis Taylor Jr. Starting on Manxome Foe by the same pair.

I don't know if I liked this series, or if it just pissed me off. I think Ringo is a boson.

 

[John Kemker]

I don't know if I liked this series, or if it just pissed me off. I think Ringo is a boson.

I'm enjoying it so far. Don't know what you mean by being a boson, but I've liked Ringo's novels, so far.