What are you reading now?

[Ronin]

Moneyball: The art of winning an Unfair game

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Moneyball: The art of winning an Unfair game

Read that awhile ago, great book.

 

[Ronin]

Read that awhile ago, great book.

I'm readinig it for my sports marketing class, but I like it so far. Especially the part where Billy Beane takes the phone from one of his scout's and throughs it against the wall, After the scout selected Jeremy Bonderman with one of Oakland's picks.

 

[Zeno]

I just finished "One Second After" By William Forstchen

Novel about an EMP attack on the United States in the near future and how it effects the country and more specifically a small town in North Carolina. A good read, very likely worst case scenario but a good story nonetheless.

My only complaint was the lack of editing....too many "should of", "could of" and "would of"...versus the proper should've, could've and would've

 

[TBaslim]

I just finished Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

I'm surprised I never got to that book before, its been out for like 20+ years. It was a very good read, kind of hard to imagine children acting or talking that way but it was a good read nonetheless.

A sci-fi classic. Great book. There is a whole series of them, but the original is best.

 

[TBaslim]

Currently re-reading Plato's Republic among a pile of other things. Read it back in college, but wanted to revisit after all the election year fun.

 

[TBaslim]

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It had its interesting points. The teeth shape discussion was interesting. So was the fingerprint discussion. I learned lots of tidbits that make sense when you think about the evolution of our species. It also explained why some diets work better for some people than others.

I don't agree with his philosophy that everyone fits neatly into one of his six categories. I see it more as a long spectrum that people have tendencies to fit into some categories more than others. I am mostly a Nomad, but I could have easily fit into two other categories if I answered the questionnaire slightly differently.

The author has a blog that I plan to add to my weekly reading. Looks interesting if you enjoy reading about the science behind your diet.
http://www.dadamo.com/B2blogs/blogs/index.php?blog

The guy (who is a naturopathic doc, not an MD) paints a readable theory, but just be aware that he has very little real science backing it up. The whole blood-type diet thing has gotten lots of mainstream scientific criticism for a lack of clinical evidence supporting the claims. It gets heat both for the diet side of things, and the anthropological side (how mankind developed re: blood types).

Much of his diet advice probably works for folks because he cuts out many of the empty carb foods (white flour, refined sugars, etc), regardless of blood type. However, if taken literally, his advice can be really unhealthy for folks. Type 0, for instance, is ~40% of the US population - and he recommends none of them eat much if any beans or whole grains. Based purely on blood type - not family history, genetics, etc. etc. There is TONS of scientific evidence showing the benefits of whole grains and legumes as part of a healthy diet, regardless of blood type. Sure, some folks have gluten issues, but that is a minority, and not due to blood type.

He's also gotten even more criticism for his assumptions about how blood-types developed and the blood-type lifestyle stuff. Most anthropologists believe all four blood types have been around since the 'hunter-gatherer' days vs evolving as mankind's diets evolved, thus negating his main arguments. Also, some of his generalizations about personality and suitability for different roles in society (leadership, nurturing, etc) - based only on blood type, nothing else - are pretty ridiculous when you consider what blood type actually describes, and how it is determined genetically.

So, if it works for you - great! If not, don't sweat it...

 

[Zeno]

I'm now reading Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Published in 1959 about the aftermath of a nuclear war, probably the first post nuclear apocalypse novel written.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

"Leading With My Chin" by Jay Leno. It won't cause world peace to break out, but I'm laughing out loud.

 

[Mulli]

I'm now reading Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Published in 1959 about the aftermath of a nuclear war, probably the first post nuclear apocalypse novel written.

Sounds cool.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.

 

[Zeno]

Just finished Alas, Babylon, it was a great read. A Soviet first strike against the United States in 1959 results in an all out nuclear war. The book centers on a family in a small town in Florida and how they have to cope to survive. It doesn't look so much at the big picture or really deal with anything outside of the town but concentrates everything on one group of people. Its considered a modern classic and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in that kind of post-apocalypse story.

I was pretty surprised that I had never heard of it prior to having a friend mention it to me.

 

[Pariah]

I'm now reading Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Published in 1959 about the aftermath of a nuclear war, probably the first post nuclear apocalypse novel written.

I read it a couple of years ago.
http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1394156&postcount=694

Finished "Alas, Babylon."

It was okay...I didn't care for the structure much. It was sort of, "just there," I guess.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

"Warlord - A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874 - 1945" by Carlo D'Este

 

[Louis]

About to start God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens as soon I finish the May National Geographic.

 

[Pariah]

"Outliers," by the author without peer, Malcolm Gladwell...the guy is a f'n wunderkind. He breaks down really complex stuff so easily and so that the subject matter is engaging.

Furthermore, and I mention this because I'm listening to his book on my ipod, his reading voice is really great. Almost soothing.

 

[Mulli]

Pariah, have you read anything by J. Maarten Troost? Sort of travel books about him living in the South Pacific.

I recommend.

 

[Pariah]

Pariah, have you read anything by J. Maarten Troost? Sort of travel books about him living in the South Pacific.

I recommend.

Did he write "The Sex Lives of Cannibals"? I read that last year. I thought it was just okay, but sometimes my opinion of books are colored by my moods or what's next in the stack.

 

[Mulli]

Did he write "The Sex Lives of Cannibals"? I read that last year. I thought it was just okay, but sometimes my opinion of books are colored by my moods or what's next in the stack.

Yeah, he did. Perhaps I just like his books more than most.

 

[Pariah]

Yeah, he did. Perhaps I just like his books more than most.

Mayhaps, mortal. Mayhaps...

 

[Assface]

"Fingerprints of the Gods" Graham Hancock

 

[dodie53]

falling angel

 

[dodie53]

Contagious - Scott Sigler

 

[Louis]

Wife bought me Hellunation by Evan Wright. He also wrote Generation Kill. Should be a great read.

 

[AZZenny]

At the Mind's Limits - Jean Amery. Very intense essays exploring torture/torturers and the interaction of mind/body and individual/society. He was a German essayist and philosopher briefly tortured by the SS and then sent to Auschwitz. He had one Jewish parent but was raised Catholic, lived in France, so the shock of being re-defined by the Nazis was even greater, and gives his experience a different slant.

It's a little book, and has a Germanic thickness to the prose, but there are jewels of insights scattered all throughout. It's considered one of the best testimonies about the long-term effects of deliberate personal destruction by agents of the state.