I love looking at people's personal lists of Dewey books, but the thread about specialty areas made me realize that we're probably reading a lot more books that other members of the group might want to hear about, that aren't being recorded in categories that we've already finished. Or, in my case, I start reading lots of books that I don't get all the way through, so they never make it onto my list.
So, what are you reading now (excluding 813 and 823)?
155 Differential psychology; Differential & developmental psychology: Come On People by Bill Cosby and Alvin Toussaint
I'm also currently reading a 320 (political science) and a 510 (mathematics), but those are both numbers for which I've read tons already.
edit: no touchstones. poopy.
Message edited by its author, Mar 10, 2008, 4:08pm.
but those are both numbers for which I've read tons already
But that's the whole point! Other people may be looking for a 320 or 510, and they'll never be able to see your current books in your list.
Oh, I think I may have known that.... How far along are you in GEB?
Not very, I'm afraid - maybe chapter 3? (I'm on campus right now, so I can't check). I think I've mostly decided to wait until the semester is out so I can put more attention into it - it's too involved to really be nightstand reading.
Oooh, I need a 624!
>8 I agree, it's really not a book to read when you're busy. Maybe this summer will be the time I actually finish it.
>9 Thanks for the suggestion! The 600s are definitely a priority category for me, one of the two that I haven't read a single book in....
Can a lurker join in? I'm reading The Toothpick by Henry
Petroski which is a 674.88 book. So far, I'm enjoying it enormously.
Of course you're more than welcome to join in, hailelib! That sounds like a great book in a challenging category, too.
I already have a book in this category, but I'm reading
The Great Cat Massacre by Robert Darnton. It's in 944: General history of Europe; France & Monaco.
>10, 11:
I'm sure there are easier 624s out there, if you're just looking to tick off the category. If you actually want to know something about structural mechanics, it's a really clear, readable, mostly nonmathematical explanation. Plus, it tells you why chicken feathers would be better than paint as a surface for cars and why dams would work better if they had a line of statues along the top :)
>17 Nope, not just looking to tick off the category. I'm hoping to actually learn something too :)
I love learning things as long as it's as readable as you say.
Currently reading:
160 Logic
Being Logical: A Guide to Good thinking (Though, to be fair, it's been a Current Read for a very long time)
155.2 Differential and Developmental PsychologyPersonality: What makes you the way you are
133 Parapsychology and Occultism
Witchcraft Myths in American Culture-which it absolutly is not. It's a historiography of how American's have viewed witchcraft through its history, not actually about witchcraft
081 General Collections, America Our Dumb World: The onion's atlas
422 English Etymology
Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and spudsI'll probably snatch something else off the shelf before any of these gets finished LOL
Finished in the last 2 days (yay Spring Break)
820 English Literatures (should be 809, IMO)
Don't tell the grownups809 Literary History and CriticismWhy not Catch 21?
231 God God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to answer our most important problem--why we suffer
Thanks for reviving this thread!
I'm currently reading
The Origins of Greek Thought in 938 History of ancient world; Greece. I'm not very far in, but it's so far managing to be both interesting and readable.
I just started a 385 --
Conquering Gotham. Still a book on New York history, but takes care of a subject heading well outside of the 900's.
330 - Freakonomics. I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't read it yet.
I haven't read Freakonomics either. For some reason I was under this delusion that the revised and expanded edition would eventually come out in paperback, at which time I would purchase it and read it, but I'm starting to think that that will never happen.
I've not read Freakonomics either, and I too am waiting for the paperback revised edition. Oh well.
I'm reading
The World Through a Monocle, about the New Yorker's importance to middle-class (mostly white) people after WWII. It's for 51: General serials and their indexes-American. It's reading a bit like a dissertation but is fairly interesting.
Yay, this is a great thread!
I've been picking up a lot of books lately and starting new ones before finishing old ones. The goal is to finish them all, but I keep getting the itch for new beginnings.. a lot of these will be duplicate numbers for me, but since some folks may be looking for suggestions, I'll include them all:
SO,
597 -
The founding fish - My first John McPhee experience, I'm listening to this, and its a pretty laid back book about fishing shad in MA.
909 -
1968 - Another really interesting book by Mark Kurlansky, one of my favorite world history authors.
920 -
Dearest friend: a life of Abigail Adams - this biography reads really quickly so far and relies heavily on her letters and such, but I wish there were footnotes.
972 - I, Rigaberta Menchu - first person account of this Quechu Indian and the strugges she and her community faced in Guatemala in the 60's-80s. Directly translated from interviews, and only put into slim chapters as a modicum of order.
978 -
Bury my heart at wounded knee - fascinating stories from the Native Americans point of view.
I'm slowly working my way through two dewey books.
860 -
Borges: Collected Fictions - I'm likely to be reading this ginormous collection for months, but it is pretty interesting. Some of the short stories are brilliant others aren't Borges A-game, even so its edifying.
198 -
Fear and Trembling - I can't really figure out what to think of this. It's meant to be a philosophical evaluation of the Biblical sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham from all possible angles. The thing is some of the arguments from certain angles aren't good philosophy at all. But since Kierkegaard is playing devils advocate (and not identifying which arguments are sincere) I can't figure out if he actually believes his shoddier arguments are sound or if he's just making sure all arguments are presented, regardless of legitimacy.
Of course he does take a little time to knock Hegel which I always like.
Message edited by its author, Oct 19, 2009, 2:26pm.
Bfertig, thanks for bringing this thread back to life!
I recently read
Letters to a Young Mathematician in 510. It's a pretty accessible discussion of what mathematics is, etc., and even though I disagreed with a lot of what he said, I still find myself thinking about it afterwards.
I've been working on this one for awhile -
420
Made in America by Bill Bryson - a look at some American history, especially that of the English language and how in changed (in pronunciation, words that were added, etc.). It's fascinating, but slow going since I'm reading a couple of other books as well, including a book of author interviews that (darn it!) is in with the super-easy 823 category. :-)
Sure thing, Zoe, thought it would be fun to keep it going - it works so well for discussion in other groups, like the 999 and 1010 challenges.
Since I posted, I finished 'I, Rigoberta Menchu', and will finish 'Dearest Friend' today, and am about halfway through '1968'.
Next up, I think (subject to change of course!), is
966 -
A long way gone, which is probably a repeat for me, in both the DDC and my All-Africa challenge, but several people have recommended it to me.
Also, I am excited to have just received
621 -
The boy who harnessed the wind as a gift, and want to dig in right away..
though I also will be starting
823 -
People of the book for the group read in the 50 book challenge.
that Fear and Trembling book sounds interesting.. I'll have to keep that in mind..
>34 I know, I've always been jealous of the other groups' threads! I hope this one can survive.
I'll be interested to hear what you think of both
A Long Way Gone and
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, since I've read both in the past month.
I have various books in (slow) progress:
069 -
Museums in Motion It's informative, as badly written textbooks on museum studies go, but I'm only reading it because I need to for a particular job.
330 -
The Byzantine Economy Useful but very short (c. 250 pp.) overview of Byzantine economic history.
359 -
The Wooden World Readable and interesting, if possibly slightly panglossian, social history of the British Navy of the mid-18th century.
737 (presumably) - something not published yet, about Admiral Vernon medals. This one is very much a repeat category for me.
943 -
Before France and Germany Nearly finished with this one; overview of Merovingian history, with as much sociocultural analysis as political.
>35 I think the subject of Fear and Trembling was ripe and Keirkegaard's decision to come at it from all angles has a lot of merit...But it's definitely a challenging read. He's got that antiquated writer thing going where his words were never really intended to be clear and straight forward.
I don't think the concept of clear and straight forward writing occurring to anyone before Mark Twain.
(back to top)
