Just posting this while I remember, since I'm not sure I'll have time later in the week.

The Making of the Fittest by Sean B. Carroll.

Finished Salman Akhtar's Objects of our desire : exploring our intimate connections with the things around us yesterday.

Started Andrew Keen's The cult of the amateur : how today's internet is killing our culture today.

I'm reading Stephen King's On Writing (I can't get the touchstone to pull up the correct book there), and Ansel Adam's Autobiography. Once those are done I'm planning on reading Living by Fiction by Annie Dillard.

I'm engrossed in Fernand Braudel The Structures of Everyday Life and looking forward to Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader.

I am almost finished reading The Sleeping Buddha The Story of Afghanistan through the eyes of one Family by Hamida Ghafour. The book is a combination of Afghan History and the lives of the author's family.
Hmm- touchstones not loading

I'm currently reading The checkbook and the cruise missile (interviews with Arundhati Roy by David Barsamian). I'm only halfway thorough, but it has been highly engaging thus far.

The only non-fiction work that I have finished this month (in my defense, it is only the fifth!) is Letter to the Soviet Leaders by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which I would highly recommended to students and scholars who have specialized in 20th century politics.

Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2007, 6:38pm.

I'm currently reading Rumspringa, a book about the Amish teenage ritual of "running around" (sowing wild oats basically) before deciding to join the church as an adult (or not). Some issues with the writing (i.e.; the author has a couple of favorite words that are over-used), but it's still interesting.

I'm reading Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine by J. Storrs Hall. I try to read a book or two per year on artificial intelligence to see where the field is at for the moment. This one was wriiten in 2007 so it's a pretty up to date overview of how things stand. It's written for the layperson, of which I am one, not the professionals in the research halls. It gives a short history and goes on from there. Pretty interesting stuff.

lindsacl, I read Rumspringa and it really made me think about how we raise our children. We tend to give them a lot of freedom when they are young and then exert "control" when they start driving and dating. Rumspringa turns that concept around 180 degrees.

>10: LynnB, that's a very interesting comment.

Already, about 100 pages into it, I do find myself thinking about parenting differences & similarities. I was reflecting last night that in some ways, parental concerns, issues, & feelings are not much different between the Amish and the "English".

I just checked and see that Rumspringa is available at one of our satellite libraries, so here's another book to add to my TBR list. Thank you. As a bibliophile, I grieve for the children whose formal education ends at the eighth grade and wonder what I would be reading (and more importantly NOT reading) had I grown up in that environment.

Remember the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis? Exquisitely filmed on location in Amish country in Pennsylvania.

Currently, I'm reading The Art Of Travel by Alain de Botton and savoring every paragraph.

Message edited by its author, Sep 6, 2007, 1:37pm.

A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester and The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond

1. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
2. Cadaver, the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
3. What Type Am I? by Renee Baron

>12: tropics, I live about 30 minutes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania where there is a large Amish community. You might also remember an Amish school shooting about a year ago; this occurred about 20 miles from my home. There are some Amish farms very near my house, including one that runs a produce market in the summer. My husband buys all of his riding gear (bridles, etc.) at an Amish harness shop. I confess to a certain voyeuristic curiosity every time we shop at one of these places. But yes, it amazes me how young family members become involved in the business (vs. staying in school).

I am reading (and nearly done with) Cass Sunstein's Infotopia: how many minds produce knowledge and Ian Ayres' excellent Super Crunchers. Briefly, the first is about the success and failure of knowledge aggregation in markets, democracies, deliberative groups, collaborative sites and the like; the second is about the brilliant and terrible use of data mining for commercial and public purposes.

Funny-- as I wrote this I realized that they are both law professors.

Storeetllr--do you mean Stiff : the curious lives of human cadavers ? I've read that--very compelling in its own sort of freakish way. I enjoyed it much more than I enjoyed her next book, Spook, although I am actually much more interested in Spook's subject matter. So she's done a book on cadavers and then the afterlife--what do you think will be next if she keeps in the same series?

I just finished listening to Horse of A Different Color about raising the Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. It's by former editor of the Chicago Tribune, James D Squires who became a Thorougbred breeder after retiring from the Trib. Would highly recommend it to anyone interested in horses or who enjoyed the Black Stallion books as a kid. An Amazon review recommends it also to people wanting to do a huge career change due to midlife crises. *grin*

#17 Yes, I did mean Stiff. I was wondering why the title wouldn't load. Doh!

I am finding it freakish how much I'm enjoying the book. As to what she'll write next if it's a series ~ the possibilities boggle the mind (but I can't wait to find out).

Edited to correct misspelled word.

Message edited by its author, Sep 8, 2007, 10:59am.

Aftermath by Farley Mowat. It is about a journey he takes to France & Italy in 1949 to visit the villages where he fought in WW2, 5 years before. IMO everyone he talks to (& also he & his wife give that impression) of being very optimistic about the future. Everyone is happily rebuilding & everywhere he goes, Mr. & Mrs. Mowat are wined & dined by a grateful population.

I'm currently reading Treatise on the Gods by H. L. Mencken.

Coming Home: the experience of Enlightenment in Sacred Traditions by Lex Hixon

Just finished Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres and now into It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium by John Ed Bradley.

I'm just about to start A concise history of Christian thought. A new, expnded edition's out, and our county public library is carrying it.

I think I need to grab that Stiff book about the cadavers. This is why I love Librarything! I always see some of the coolest stuff here. :D

But at the moment, I just finished up Akbar Ahmed's Islam Under Siege : Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World (no touchstone for some reason); and have just started Believing women in Islam : unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an by Asma Barlas. I'm curious to see whether it is much the same as Amina Wadud's Qur'an and Woman or covers entirely new ground, or both, or etc.

Stiff is really enjoyable and actually funny, which surprised me, given its rather grim-seeming subject matter.

Did anyone read her follow-up Spook? I heard it was not as good as Stiff.

>24, Essa, what did you think about Islam Under Siege and Qur'an and Woman? I have been interested in both of those books for a while now.

Yeah, I read Spook, and thought it was ok. It was enjoyable enough, so I'd say give it a go.

I've just started Marion Nestle's What to Eat. She's using a tour of supermarket as an outline, and I like her informative but dispassionate tone.

Since I'm living in the Czech Republic nowadays, it's not all of it apropos, but a lot of it still is. 'Sides, I don't expect that things will have changed much by the time I get back.

Essa, what did you think about Islam Under Siege and Qur'an and Woman? I have been interested in both of those books for a while now.

I found both books interesting and enlightening, with some reservations. Islam under Siege I read fairly quickly -- to me, it seemed more like a surface-level recap of material rather than an in-depth exploration of anything. But, to quote Ahmed in his Introduction,

"...I will try to make sense of a changing, complicated, and dangerous world. I will attempt to explain what is going wrong in the Muslim world; why it is going wrong, and how we, because my explanation involves Muslims and non-Muslims, are to move ahead if we wish for global stability and even harmony in the future."

I think he succeeds fairly well in that; and it's always interesting to read Ahmed's views. As for Qur'an and Woman, it's a very interesting and, I feel, much-needed alternative reading of the Qur'an, albeit one that is, alas, probably not sweeping through the majority of the Muslim world at this point.

My only gripe with the book -- as with her book Inside the Gender Jihad -- is the writing style. Honestly, when I read one of her books, I feel as if I am swimming through molasses. :-/ I'm not sure why that is. But for some reason I find her writing style to be difficult and nigh-unapproachable. Nevertheless, it's a slim volume packed with a lot of insight and worth reading, in my opinion.

I've finished Rumspringa, which was interesting but some of the writing got on my nerves and in the end, I was not sure what point the author was really trying to make. Still a good book if you're interested in Amish culture.

I am now reading Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, which has been recommended by many LTers.

Message edited by its author, Sep 9, 2007, 3:47pm.

I just finished reading Stiff today. It was good, but I didn't like it as much as I liked Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death by Lisa Cullen

Hi, charlotteg ~ How funny, I just finished reading Stiff last night and loved it! If Remember Me is even better, well, I'm going to be looking for it to read!

Right after I finished Stiff, I started reading Justinian's Flea. I don't know too much about that period of time, and it's really fascinating. I'm also liking the writing, which tho erudite is accessible and not too academic to enjoy.

ETA: Justinian's Flea is set in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Justinian, which was right around when the Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians.

Message edited by its author, Sep 14, 2007, 10:17pm.

I liked Remember Me better because, while a lot of the information was the same, it wasn't as scientific as Stiff. Making it a little easier to read & digest. I know Stiff is incredibly popular, but I did enjoy the other one better.

Finally finished Faint Praise: The Plight of Book Reviewing in America by Gail Pool. Great overview of the process of book reviewing in modern publishing industry.

Have been enjoying The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs and Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel for quite some time. Just finished Chore Whore: Adventures of a Celebrity Personal Assistant by Heather H. Howard and am getting ready to start A Degree of Mastery: A Journey Through Book Arts Apprenticeship by Annie Tremmel Wilcox.

>34 uath
I remember Galileo's Daughter! How do you like it?
If only the other half of the letters were kept, then we'd have so much more insight. But considering those letters are 300 years old, it's pretty cool there are any left.

Just finished reading;
The Great Mutiny by James Dugan.
It's all about the mutiny of the british fleet in 1797. It is not only a great read, about the reasons for and effects of the mutiny, but also a good slice of history of world events of the day.
Also just read "Silent Steel" by Stephen Johnson. It is about the loss of the nuclear attack submarine the USS Scorpion in 1968

I am in the midst of Writing in an age of silence by Sara Paretsky which I find fascinating. Since I love mysteries and biographies this seems the best of both worlds. Incredible how her life took such a turn.

I am also reading The Clarks of Cooperstown by Nicholas Fox Weber. Although I am only to the second generation I am amazed at the lives these folks live, and the visions they had about their lives and their place in society. Fascinating.

Roots Schmoots: journeys among Jews by Howard Jacobson . I've only read the first section -- on resort'ing in the Catskills -- but he's very funny!

Just picked up The Fight for English by David Crystal - it is kind of a response to the phenomenal success of Lynn Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. While I really loved the latter and can probably be somewhat of a grammar Nazi myself, the part of me that doesn't always get things right is really interested in what Crystal has to say on the subject. :)

Galileo's Daughter and The Know-it-all were both good books. I enjoyed both of them very much.

I am really enjoying Galileo's Daugher, it's the one that travels in the car with me so it will probably take awhile to finish.

The Know-It-All just makes me laugh out loud sometimes, Jacobs is a hoot!

Wow, a lot of these books sound really interesting. The know-it-all is such a great title. That might be worth it! My wife read Galileo's Daughter for a class and really enjoyed that one as well. I may get around to reading that.

Recently, I finished 1491, which was, I felt, phenomenal. I thought he did an excellent job synthesizing a lot of research from many disciplines, and outlining the controversies still present amongst the specialists. Not only that, what he had to say was fascinating. I'm still completely blown away by the idea of how populated Amazonia could have been, and the level of cultural complexity still not understood. It boggles my mind how long its taken to uncover and interpret the little that we have and that there is so much more to do! And how in the world did corn... happen? How neat would it be if knots and textiles (the khipu) were another form of record keeping that we've completely overlooked?

Right now, I'm working on The name of war: king phillip's war and the origins of American identity by Jill Lepore, which is really interesting -- making a case that its not just that the 'winners' write the histories, but also shape the identity of the outcome. Really goes into the differences of identifying with land, property, religion, expectations of captivity etc. between the Algonquin and the English colonists.

Also, stilll working on Team of Rivals, which I'm also liking a bunch. I'm only about 5 chapters in so far, but for some reason, I'm having a really hard time distinguishing between the careers and philosophies between Chase and Seward. It was neat hearing that Seward lived for a time in Auburn, NY, as I have some family roots there as well.

#42 bfertig ~ As you progress with your reading of Team of Rivals, the differences between Chase and Seward will become blazingly apparent.

I loved loved loved that book! It's one of the few I've read in my life to which I would give a 10-star rating.

The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler

Team of Rivals is another Goodwin masterpiece. But it's only one of several books I'm either reading or listening to right now, so I do it in small bits. I'm about 250 pages in, and loving it. I'm listing to Mayflower in the car, and it's fascinating to at one moment be there at the beginning of the American chapter of this great nation, but to read about how it nearly fell apart again two hundred and fifty years later.

I just received Brian Mulroney's Memoirs for my birthday and can't wait to get at it. I've been scanning the index for names of people I know!

But, I have to read A Fine Balance for one book club and I'm only on page 205 of 803. Also have to read Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson (231 pages) and The Last Mughal (468 pages) for 2 other book clubs and finish Old Filth (about 100 pages to go) all by Hallowe'en.

Even I (someone who reads well over 100 books per year) is feeling slightly daunted....but only slightly.

The Song Of The Dodo: Island Biogeography In An Age Of Extinction - David Quammen.

Heartbreaking.

So.. even though I'm still only 11 discs into Team of Rivals (just leading up to the Republican nomination, and still wildly enjoying it) my audible credits were available again, so I've got Under the Banner of Heaven, Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers and The Know-It-All.

While listening in the lab, I realized that one of the Team of Rivals discs was too messed up to listen to, so I temporarily switched to whatever was on my iPod, which happened to be Mao:the unknown story. I only got about an hour into it - but wow! Is it ever biased and unobjective! The first sentence is something about how ruthless he was and how many people he killed, before even mentioning that he was born (which was the 2nd sentence)! Knowing next to nothing about the time or the person, I'm looking for some bit of general background or history on which to ground myself. I'm afraid this is not it. Even with my lack of understanding or reference, this just appears to be completely partial and revisionist history making. It's definitely peaked my curiosity, but that will just mean I'll need to read something else as well. Any thoughts on this book? Any suggestions for more objective background reading?

Winds of change by Eugene Linden. It is about climate change which is the new pc term for
"global warming' A well-written book, but a little unsettling as changes seem to be happening faster than we become aware of them.

I just got The Great Masters about the great painters (16 of them). To my non-artistic mind it seems to contain a lot of good information.

I'm reading A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain.

Am currently reading Justinian's Flea by William Rosen. Set in late-antiquity & centering on the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). Really good so far!

The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker