OT: The Good Book: What are you reading right now?

[ProspectsFanatic]

My next read is going to Nietzsche, any of you have read books of him, if so recommendations of which ones to read?

 

[Saint Patrick]

Good book so far. It was written in the 1960's when the authors had access to eye witnesses, including some of the few survivors. The NYTimes called it 'engrossingly dramatic'. I don't know what book the movie is based on but they must have at least consulted this one.

It's my second book on Valkyrie, the first was written by one of the few survivors Philipp Von Boeselager. He supplied the explosives to Claus Von Stauffenberg. At one point he had been chosen to shoot Hitler but that plan was aborted. Book is called 'Valkyrie: The plot to Kill Hitler'.

I have read quite a few books on WWI and II. Best ones I find are the 'voices of' types that have first hand accounts by diary, letter or interview.

There is so much to learn I find, how many folks are aware that Hermann Goring had a brother Albert who saved Jews and dissidents during the war, similiar to Oskar Schindler. Hermann must have stuck his neck out more then once to shield what his brother was doing (from the book `The Warlord and the Renegade`).

Agreed, first accounts and biographies are my favorite too, I have a bunch on my list, one of them is Voices of Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, a bunch of first person accounts of the tragedy. But I'm adding yours to my list too.

 

[Runner77]

Up there on Runner's boi's list is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and it's been many years but that book was so funny.
It's also written by a local boy so I'm biased.

I didn't even know I had a list. But, sure. Checked the reviews on that, looks good.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Chili]

Agreed, first accounts and biographies are my favorite too, I have a bunch on my list, one of them is Voices of Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, a bunch of first person accounts of the tragedy. But I'm adding yours to my list too.

I remember seeing the book on Chernobyl, should have picked it up.

A great book that I read on WWI was `A War in Words - Svetlana Palmer'. Lots of first hand accounts from the war, got an appreciation for how big a war it was beyond the trenches in France and Belgium.

Includes the translated text of a profound letter that one of the guys sent to assassinate Franz Ferdinand wrote to his family from prison, explaining his motives.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

The best first person account/biography I've ever read is without a doubt The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European by the famous Austro-Hungarian jewish author Stefan Zweig. You get the unique perspective of a man who lived through both world wars, the disparition of his country of origin , exile, persecution, was heavily involved in the movement to try to stop both conflicts,etc . It's also a brilliant account of Europe as it was before the war, ''the world of yesterday '' that died in the first half of the 20th century. I couldn't recommend it strongly enough if you're even just slightly interested in history and mankind in general.

 

[Electricity]

I didn't even know I had a list. But, sure. Checked the reviews on that, looks good.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I went back to Page 1 and went through Keith Law's list of his 102 best books. Thanks for that suggestion.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

My next read is going to Nietzsche, any of you have read books of him, if so recommendations of which ones to read?

I read "On the genealogy of morality" for a philosophy course.

Having spent a lot of time reading on developmental/behavioral biology in the last decade, I now think it's a waste of time to read Nietzsche if what interests you is understanding human nature.

All these old philosophers who concerned themselves with human nature were geniuses for their time, but because of personal bias and a more limited wealth of knowledge, they were mostly all off the mark.

Your time would be better spent reading Sapolsky's Behave or De Waal's Age of Empathy.

 

[Runner77]

Heard UK blogger Ann Morgan today on TED Talks, who is a voracious reader having embarked on a rare pursuit -- to read at least one book from every country in the world and the obstacles she faced in attempting it. For the list of countries, she used those recognized by the UN.

For some countries, she enlisted the help of her readers -- she had several of them translate books for her where none were available in English, in certain countries. She bought the books for those who volunteered translations and they agreed to do it for free and kept their word. It took her on year to get through 196 books (read on average 4 books per week) while working full time.

Here is the list of books from every country, that she ended up reading: The list

When you look at the list, was she off the mark?

Here's her TED Talk about this:



And her blog: A year of reading the world

Her story: This woman spent a year reading a book from every country in the world. What did she learn?

I'm having trouble finishing books that are more conventional. This is just nuts, lol.

 

[Electricity]

On the surface, it sounds like a chore to be honest. An achievement, or publicity stunt more than an honest endeavor. Though I haven't watched the video.

But I'm just naturally distrustful.
Four foreign(in both style and idealogy) books a week...? It's hard for me to picture someone gaining anything from this in such a short time, other than, as she said, "the richness, diversity and complexity of our remarkable planet." But a well read person would already know that.

 

[Gravity]

My next read is going to Nietzsche, any of you have read books of him, if so recommendations of which ones to read?

Definitely interested in him as well

Let me know if you come across any good books pertaining to him.

 

[Gravity]

Has anybody read General theory of Relativity by Paul Dirac ? Only 80 pages and I wanted to know if it was good.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Bump in honor of Runner.

I continue my forray into audiobooks with The Origins of War in Child Abuse by Lloyd DeMause.

Disagree with the basic premise, although there's some truth to it. It is a factor. I doubt anyone here has read this?

 

[NORiculous]

« Sapiens » starts very well. Then a little less and then finishes good. Good read.

 

[Lshap]

There is so much to learn I find, how many folks are aware that Hermann Goring had a brother Albert who saved Jews and dissidents during the war, similiar to Oskar Schindler. Hermann must have stuck his neck out more then once to shield what his brother was doing (from the book `The Warlord and the Renegade`).

I'd never heard this story. Definitely will read up on it. Sounds like a great premise for its own film.

 

[Chili]

I'd never heard this story. Definitely will read up on it. Sounds like a great premise for its own film.

If you look up his wiki page, there have been several documentaries produced in a couple of languages. There is also another book called 'Thirty Four' by William Hastings Burke which I would like to read as well.

 

[Lshap]

If you look up his wiki page, there have been several documentaries produced in a couple of languages. There is also another book called 'Thirty Four' by William Hastings Burke which I would like to read as well.

I did exactly that. Read his Wiki page and fished around for supporting info. Some controversy about how much active help he offered, but no doubt he was on the right side of history. There are lots of video clips and at least one lengthy first-hand interview on YouTube I'll probably watch in the next few days. Thanks!

 

[dinodebino]

Reading Democracy, by Henry Kissinger, in the paper version. And Three Days in January, by Brett Baier, + Destined for War, by Graham Allison, both as Google book. I know, three at a time. Déficit d'attention, que voulez-vous!

 

[Canadienna]

Food of the Gods - Terrence Mckenna
The Golden Spruce - Jon Vaillant
Improbable Destinies - Jonathan Losos

I actually finished FOTG in April, but it's a fun read (with an open mind)

The Golden Spruce was a great read, and a real insight into the less known history of coastal BC.

Improbable Destinies I am just finishing up, it is more technical, but by far the best explanation of deterministic evolution I've found.

 

[Chili]

Thumbs up to the two books I finished lately, 'Road Trip Rwanda' and 'The Men Who Tried to Kill Hitler'.

Reading 'A Twist of Lemmon', a biography of Jack Lemmon by his son Chris.

I sat down on a back to back bench to wait for a flight at Dorval airport many years ago and when I looked over my shoulder, there was Jack Lemmon. When he realized I recognized him he gave me the type of warm smile you would give a friend you hadn't seen in many years. Reading the book, that's exactly the person he was, as his son said, he never met anyone who had a bad word to say about him.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

Thumbs up to the two books I finished lately, 'Road Trip Rwanda' and 'The Men Who Tried to Kill Hitler'.

Reading 'A Twist of Lemmon', a biography of Jack Lemmon by his son Chris.

I sat down on a back to back bench to wait for a flight at Dorval airport many years ago and when I looked over my shoulder, there was Jack Lemmon. When he realized I recognized him he gave me the type of warm smile you would give a friend you hadn't seen in many years. Reading the book, that's exactly the person he was, as his son said, he never met anyone who had a bad word to say about him.

Lemmon is one of my all time favorite actors, everybody knows he was a great comic actor but I prefer his more somber acting like in Glengarry Glen Ross (tragic) or Macaroni (tragicomic). I might pick up that book.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

Food of the Gods - Terrence Mckenna
The Golden Spruce - Jon Vaillant
Improbable Destinies - Jonathan Losos

I actually finished FOTG in April, but it's a fun read (with an open mind)

The Golden Spruce was a great read, and a real insight into the less known history of coastal BC.

Improbable Destinies I am just finishing up, it is more technical, but by far the best explanation of deterministic evolution I've found.

I heard about Improbable Destinies in a radio review, I think it was on NPR which I listen to when driving back and forth to work, I made a mental check mark but I forgot about it until I saw this.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Reading Democracy, by Henry Kissinger, in the paper version. And Three Days in January, by Brett Baier, + Destined for War, by Graham Allison, both as Google book. I know, three at a time. Déficit d'attention, que voulez-vous!

That book is probably an avalanche of BS?

Does he talk on how "democracies" prop-up dictatorships in 3rd world countries so that big corporations can take over their resources? How he helped to make Africa a violent wasteland?

 

[QuebecPride]

Currently trying to immerse myself in the Advanced hockey stats world, I'm reading Stat Shot, by Rob Vollman, Iain Fyffe and Tom Awad. It's great to have the most important advances in this domain in one book.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Currently trying to immerse me in the Advanced hockey stats world, I'm reading Stat Shot, by Rob Vollman, Iain Fyffe and Tom Awad. It's great to have the most important advances in this domain in one book.

Was re-watching Moneyball yesterday and a thought came to me... I wonder if the future will bring us something like "brainy ball" when neurobiology and scans will be advanced enough to correlate performance by better scans and differentiation of brain regions. My guess is we'll probably see something along those lines in the next 20 to 50 years.

 

[QuebecPride]

Was re-watching Moneyball yesterday and a thought came to me... I wonder if the future will bring us something like "brainy ball" when neurobiology and scans will be advanced enough to correlate performance by better scans and differentiation of brain regions. My guess is we'll probably see something along those lines in the next 20 to 50 years.

That, and with the scraping of videos/positional data we'll eventually get, the analysis will only improve.