What are you reading now?

[Bada0Bing]

Does he have a new one coming out? What's it about?

Apparently Pariah has me on ignore.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1875219&postcount=1148

 

[Louis]

Does he have a new one coming out? What's it about?

Apparently Pariah has me on ignore.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1875219&postcount=1148

Just in case he does.

Pariah, Outliers: The Story of Success is out on hardcover November 18, 2008.

Just above my post is Bada's with the Amazon review.

 

[dodie53]

batman: knightfall

 

[AZZenny]

Outliers sounds good - I saw him on CNN the other night and was intrigued and impressed.

I've heard interviews with the authors of two new books that are going on my list:

The Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson. Listening to the history and cycles of US Depressions was actually fascinating in the interview, because he's got a good sense of wit and language both. It's a popular 'sweep of history' work, so will have its limitations, but it was being published before the current crisis broke -- as he was predicting:

Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What’s more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history.

Through Ferguson’s expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world’s first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer. The rise of India and China as world powers due to new financial developments is explored.

With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial institutions and concepts by showing where they came from. What is money? What do banks do? What’s the difference between a stock and a bond? Why buy insurance or real estate? And what exactly does a hedge fund do?

Yet the central lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts—sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers, sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that’s why, whether you’re scraping by or rolling in it, there’s never been a better time to understand the ascent of money.

Then I heard this author and was very impressed -- this book sounds incredible, and is getting extremely high praise.

Giants:The parallel lives of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick C Douglass:

"John Stauffer's collective biography of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln stands apart from other biographies by focusing on how each man continually remade himself, with help from women, words, self-education, physical strength, and luck. In the process Stauffer gives us the texture and feel--a "thick description"--of the strange worlds that Douglass and Lincoln inhabited. The result is a path-breaking work that dissolves traditional conceptions of these two seminal figures (Lincoln the "redeemer" president, Douglass the assimilationist). He reveals how Douglass towered over Lincoln as a brilliant orator, writer, agitator, and public figure for most of his life. He shows us how words became potent weapons for both men. And he tells the poignant story of how these preeminent self-made men ultimately converged, despite their vastly different agendas and politics, and helped transform the nation."

 

[Louis]

The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products That Are Fattening the Human Race by Barry Popkin

-----------------------

This book kind of sucks. It's a history of sorts on the human diet.

My wife got an advanced reader and let me have at it for the week.

Did learn one thing, milk wasn't a part of the early human diet after we were finished with breast feeding.

 

[Linderbee]

In Defense of Food just came up for me at the library; need to go pick it up.

 

[TheObserver]

In Defense of Food just came up for me at the library; need to go pick it up.

The book is not edible.

 

[abomb]

In Defense of Food just came up for me at the library; need to go pick it up.

I have the mp3s if you want them.

 

[Mulli]

I have the mp3s if you want them.

mp3 sound delicious!

 

[Mulli]

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Stoned-Savages-Through-Islands/dp/0767921992

Just picked this up. Seems pretty funny so far.

 

[JGKoblenz]

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, Machado de Assis.

 

[JGKoblenz]

And read priviously "Philosopher or Dog?" from the same author.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Get Agent Zigzag. It is awesome!

6 months later, I am finally checking this book out from the library.

You'd better be right or I'll quit being a member of your book club.

 

[Linderbee]

I have the mp3s if you want them.

Just saw this; thank you. I am trying to read it. I really want to make a concerted effort to exercise my brain more; work on my memory. I'm about 15 pages in, and had to read just about each paragraph 3 times to get any retention/comprehension going on. It's horribly frustrating, but I'm determined.

If I give up, though, I'll give you a shout.


OT: I sat at the computer at the library today to search for books on improving memory...by the time I got done putting in my card # & password to log on (about 30-45 seconds), I had forgotten what I wanted to search for...lol...it's sad, but I laughed when I finally remembered.

 

[Mulli]

6 months later, I am finally checking this book out from the library.

You'd better be right or I'll quit being a member of your book club.

I am reading "Get Stoned with Savages" now. J. Maarten Troost. The guy moves to the South Pacific with his wife. Good stuff. Easy read for those of us learning to read good.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I read the first 50 pages or so last night talking about him growing up. It is just about to get to the good stuff I imagine.

 

[IAWarnerFan]

You must be registered for see images attach

I'm about 3/4s the way done with it, but haven't felt up to reading it for a while now. I do plan on finishing it when I feel up to it.

 

[AZZenny]

You must be registered for see images

Marine Sniper - 93 Confirmed Kills -- the biography of the great Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock -- 93 confirmed kills in Viet Nam, 300-400 unconfirmed (no body retrieved), and until a few years ago, held the long distance single-shot kill record. A really interesting guy and fascinating story, very well-written -- an enjoyable and informative read.

 

[Louis]

Just bought

My Boots on the Ground By Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman by Mary Tillman

Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives by Jim Sheeler

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Sheeler (Obit: Inspirational Stories of People Who Led Extraordinary Lives) pays eloquent tribute to the soldiers who have died in Iraq and their devastated families. The author spent two years shadowing Maj. Steve Beck, a marine in charge of casualty notification, as he delivered the news of battlefield death to families. Sheeler puts readers in Beck's shoes as he walks up to houses, delivers the knock on the door so dreaded by military families and tries to comfort distraught spouses and parents. Sheeler provides intimate sketches of the fallen soldiers—like Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Holder, who died while drawing enemy fire away from an injured comrade—and follows up as grieving families try to put their lives back together. The children left behind are often the most tragic figures: the young son of army PFC Jesse Givens asks if he can be a little boy again when he goes to heaven so that he can play with his dad. Dedicated to everyone who opened the door, Sheeler's book is a devastating account of the sacrifices military families make and should be required reading for all Americans.

The Collect Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: Volume 6

----------------------------------------------------

All gifts for family this holiday season.

 

[Mulli]

I read the first 50 pages or so last night talking about him growing up. It is just about to get to the good stuff I imagine.

bump

 

[earthsci]

Watchmen

 

[mojorizen7]

7 seconds or less.........

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

Just started "Andromeda Strain". After that I will read "Prey". I really like Michael Crichton. Although I knew he had written Jurrasic Park, I really hadn't thought about him until I read "Timeline". Then I had to read more. I enjoy the science in his novels.

 

[jstadvl]

90 minutes in heaven, Got the wife the DVD Last Lecture, you should ALL read the book or see the film, also this present Darkness and The Federalist

 

[PortlandCardFan]

'Sunset Warrior' by Eric Van Lustbader. Trilogy series...