October 2008: What non-fiction are you reading?

Last night I took up Endless Universe in an effort to avoid the novels calling to me. The latest Scientific American had an article that denied the big bang because the minimum quantum of space would not allow singularities. This book denies the big bang on principles of string or M theory and, again, no singularities.

Robert

I just got a copy of Margaret Atwood's Payback Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.

Currently reading The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

Am reading This Is Your Brain On Music. I'm only one chapter in and he's already managed to explain music theory such that I understand for the first time. Fascinating how the brain hears too.

I'm reading Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks.

Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer. As we used to say back in those days, "like, heavy, man!"

I'm on the October chapter of The Year 1000. Trying to quickly finish it up so I can send the book along to a friend.

I have read Walking Through Walls and am now reading Fowl Weather a sequel to Enslaved by Ducks which I read a week or so ago.

Working on The Portable Atheist edited by Christopher Hitchens

Reading Last Night I Dreamed of Peace by Dang Thuy Tram.

I'm reading a cute little book called A Decent Cup of Tea by Malachi McCormick. It's all about ... tea!

I've been away from the group a while, but still reading.

Right now it's The World Without Us and Going Global. In that order: first down, then up. Hoping my mood will follow.

SqueakyChu (11): I read A Decent Cup of Tea and it was charming. Had a copy once, but it's not in my catalog. Maybe I gave it away? For a time I was in the habit of scooping up Malachi McCormick's books at holiday fairs and giving them as gifts.

I just started Tales From Nowhere, Unexpected Stories From Unexpected Places today - the first few stories have been pretty good.

The Secret Lives of Saints by Daphne Bramham, which is an examination of Canada's polygamous Mormon sect.

I've just acquired two non-fiction books that will probably take precedent over all others: Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Gellman, and Cannibals and Christians a little known title by Norman Mailer. Particularly appropriate as the political campaigns heat up.

I just started two non-fiction books this afternoon: Descartes' Bones and The Green Beauty Guide.

I finished Endless Universe two nights ago and started Whitehead's Theory of Reality. The latter turns out to be slow going, mostly on account of lots of new technical terms to be assimilated, so it's going to be a one-chapter-at-a-time book. Having read the second chapter last night, I picked up The Void by Frank Close to read about a third of it; so far it seems fairly weak.

Robert

I'm about to start Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron for a book club.

Just started Cecil Beaton by Hugo Vickers which is a real treat - beautifully researched and written and fascinating stuff. Nice to see the Bloomsburies popping into the story now and again (I collect mid-20th C biographies but started with the Bloomsbury set)

Recently started a Teaching Company lecture by Elizabeth Vandiver called Classical Mythology.

I'm still undecided about what to read in non-audio format. Picking a book off the shelf was almost easier before I discovered LT. Now I have lots of different ways to make the choice right at my fingertips. Sometimes it's overwhelming.

After finally finishing the Imperial Presidency. I've started Power Play The Bush Presidency and the Constitution by James Pfiffner

My husband and I just finished Letter to a Christian Nation (it was a quick read, we read it out loud in the car on the way to a wedding). We really enjoyed the start, but I think he generalized a little too much about Islam at the end (he is very careful in explaining exactly which Christians he is addressing, so why couldn't he do the same for Muslims?).

I am also mere pages away from finishing Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order but the biology section is so patently ridiculous that I can only bear to read a few sentences at a time.

Currently engrossed in A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

I'm just starting The Man Who Loved China

#24 Let me know what you think of it. I've been eyeing it at the store.

Finished Musicophilia, started Anne Frank Remembered and In the Heart of the Sea.

I'm working on The Harlot By The Side of the Road

Nearly finished Cecil Beaton which has been marvellous and I don't want it to finish. Vickers is easily the equal of my other favourite biographer, Michael Holroyd, and I'm going to look out for more of his.

I'ts reminded me, too, that I'm excited about the forthcoming Holroyd about Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, and the Clarissa Eden one, which are on my Christmas and BIrthday wishlists!

After spending a week or so immersed in fiction (The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, well worth a read especially if you like historical fiction), I returned to the nonfictional world with The 9/11 Report, A Graphic Adaptation and am now reading Who Owns History, a book of essays by Eric Foner. He's going to be at the Key West Literary Seminar this year (which focuses mostly on historical fiction but will also include some historians) so I thought I should read up a little. This is the first work I've read by him and I'm VERY impressed with the quality of his writing, as well as his thoughtful approach to the subject.

I finished 'The Accidental Tourist' last week and I'm currently reading 'The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier' by Thad Carhart.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this book.

29 - how funny - I'm reading The Piano Shop on the Left Bank too - isn't it wonderful!

I read about three quarters of Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Robert Porter last night. Perhaps I'll get to the novella tonight.

Robert

Reserved for anything else I might want to say at this place in the thread.

The House by the Thames by Gillian Tindall about that row of houses (well one in particular) on the Southbank between the Globe and the Tate Modern.

Currently reading Colossus: How The Corporation Changed America edited by Jack Beatty.

Very enjoyable so far.

I am about half way through Constantine's Sword by James Carroll

Am slowly getting through The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale. Not sure whether it's because of the book itself or because I am extra tired this week, but I seem to be falling asleep within 1/2 hour of opening it. (I usually read for at least 2 hours before turning off the light.)

Anybody else find this book heavy going?

I didn't find it heavy going, and my data for the book says it took me four days to read (obviously, not four days nonstop!) which is slightly longer than average for me. It did seem to bog down for me in spots, as I recall, which is why I knocked it down to 3.5 stars. So I can see where some might have trouble keeping focused on it.

Thanks Doc ~ I think you nailed it and it does bog down in spots. Maybe I am extra tired and, when I hit those spots, my exhaustion just gets the best of me. :) Last night was the third night since I started it, so, if I manage to finish it tonight, that'll be right in line with your 4-day experience.

We are currently doing the "biggest loser" at work, so I'm reading "Losing It-and Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time" by Valerie Bertinellii. I borrowed it from my local library:)

Last night I got a good start in The Gulag Archipelago. My cynicism can get comfortable there.

Robert

#36 I also thought Whicher bogged down in the middle. It took me much longer than 4 days to finish, as I would go that long without reading. I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to pick it up and read. Once I forced myself, though, it moved along quite nicely to the end. So my advice would be don't give up.

ROFL #32! I hope you don't hold the copyright on that phrase... 'cause I plan to steal it.

Ahh, um... borrow it. You won't even know it's missing. Honest. I'll put it right back.

#41 Thanks, sj, I finished it last night and posted a review on my 50 Book Challenge thread (http://www.librarything.com/topic/26393) that pretty much agrees with what you wrote.

Finished Harry S Truman by Margaret Truman Thursday night.

Read Warren G. Harding: The American Presidents Series by John W. Dean, which was only 170 pages, so a very quick read.

Started Fatal North by Bruce Henderson today.

Bought 4 Non-Fiction books yesterday at Goodwill, so will probably read The Code Book by Simon Singh next, or They Met at Gettysburg by General Edward J. Stackpole, both which were in those purchased.

Bill Masom

I've started reading The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs . So far its pretty amusing !

I finished This is Your Brain on Music this weekend. I found it fascinating and my commentary inspired my husband to pick it up the second I finished.

The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years' Investigation of Borley Rectory ... by Harry Price

I have had this on the shelf for ages, but never read it. I have no idea what inspired me toda, but it looks pretty good.. tis the season for it in any case.

#44, I really enjoyed The Code Book. It was interesting and I learned a few things.

I finished Stasiland - about East German secret police.

I'm working on Mao's Last Revolution

Having recently visited the archeological ruins at Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico, I'm reading the controversial Man Corn: Cannibalism And Violence In The Prehistoric American Southwest by Christy G. Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner.

Currently reading The File on the Tsar by Anthony Summers and Tom Mangold. After that, I will be moving on to April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik.

#48 LynnB,

Just finished The Code Book, and really liked it. Have you read any of the other Simon Singh books? I have read Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe and truly loved it. I will have to look for he other ones as well.

Regards,

Bill Masom

Today over lunch I started Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard. I've been wanting to get to this one for quite a while, but other books were more insistent. Only through chapter 1, but so far, so good.

#52: I second the recommendation of Simon Singh's books. Fermat's Enigma is excellent.

No, Bill, I haven't read any other of his books. Maybe I'll add one to my Christmas wish list -- I'm trying not to add to by TBR shelves right now, although my early review book came in, and I had a 20% off coupon for a local bookstore that was about to expire, so.......

Just started Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). He claims he's a convert from early merging to late merging because of the research he's done. I'm an adamant early merger and am eager to shoot holes in his argument! 8^}

#56 If he's one of THOSE, I hope you shoot holes in more than his argument!

and my husband and son would agree with both #56 and #57....is this a male/female thing?

I go through a choke point every day to get home from work, and the drivers shooting past everyone else to merge late are almost always male. So are the drivers of trucks blocking them from doing so...like me!

Traffic appears to have lots to say about gender-related driving differences. It's one of the things I'm looking forward to reading in the book.

I'm reading The Pope's Daughter, but I'm not overly impressed. There's an awful lot of speculation and not much fact, and the author hasn't given me a reason to care much Felice. I'm hoping it will get better, but I'm about a third of the way into it, so hope is looking slim.

#58 I prefer to think of it as being a considerate person/selfish asshole thing. I don't know if gender plays a role in the early/late merger distinction. But, I will definitely be watching for drneutron's comments about this book, especially as it relates to gender differences - it sounds interesting.

After a long hiatus, I'm back. This month, I've picked up where I left off a while ago, with The world without us and have also gone through the beak of the finch.. and now am ploughing through hot, flat, and crowded.

I was lent a copy of the Lucifer Effect; Understanding how good people turn Evil by Dr. Zimbardo. Its the first book on psychology I have ever read, and it has stunned me. It lead me to the books website where I found a piece on the Banality of Heroism- also very interesting.

Oohhh, the Borley Rectory book sounds interesting. I'm not a "believer" but find "haunted" houses fascinating for some reason.

I recently finished Neither East nor West: One Woman's Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran, by Christiane Bird, which was both enjoyable and fascinating, and have started slogging through Khaled Abou El Fadl's Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women, which is interesting, but dense, and makes for much slower reading.

Last night I started The Gulag Archipelago, volume 2. This is compelling reading. I took to bed with me three other non-fiction books (History of the Goths, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, and What's Next? The Experts' Guide) and having just finished 600 pages of the Gulag took the 650 page second volume to dive into without break instead of one of the others. People are fully capable of doing bad things to other people.

I intend to reread the first chapter of Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes in the next evening or so, and I have a primer on Alfred North Whitehead that I'm taking a chapter every few nights.

Part of this non-fiction compulsion is a matter of avoiding reading Birds Without Wings for my Church's book group in a week and a half.

Robert

I read Heart in the Right Place yesterday. It is a wonderful book, one that I will read again. Good people, good story, plain old good book.

Currently reading Visions of Jazz by Gary Giddins and Rome 1960 by David Maraniss.

I'm reading Lauren Bacall's autobiography, By Myself.

67: alcottacre- Visions of Jazz sounds like a winner. I hope you like it. I just picked up A 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die and that has a lot of jazz and world music in it. I also have Rome 1960 in my tbr. I have heard very good things about it.
I just finished Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz and thought it was an excellent book

67: alcottacre, I've been reading Visions of Jazz little by little for a year or so. I don't generally read books like that (a long series of individual essays on different subjects, in this case each on a different musician or group) straight through, as I find all that information becomes overwhelming. Instead, I'm reading it an essay at a time along with several other such "between books," as I call them, between each full-length novel or history I read.

Anyway, that's a long way of saying that I have been enjoying the essays very much, and learning a lot. Giddens' writing style is very good. I do find that his discussion of the music itself can go off in relatively technical directions that tend to lose me. Even the chapter on Ella Fitzgerald became more technical than I needed it to be. Still and all, a terrific resource and a very good read.

With my newly acquired library card, I brought home Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations and Maps: Finding Our Place in the World to read.

Ooooo. Those sound good, flee.

>72 drneutron:
That second book was written in conjunction with the map exhibits that were recently shown in Baltimore and Chicago.

Library card....what a concept! I buy everything I want to read.

We don't all have that luxury.

I already pay through the nose to support our library and other infrastructure so I'm determined to get my money's worth...8^}

There was a map exhibit in Baltimore and I missed it. Grrr. I'll have to see if I can pick up the book.

I've just finished Gastroanomalies by James Lileks. It's hilarious and I'll be looking for more from this author.

Yay for having a library card! See, we're not obsolete!

Far from obsolete, I hope. I was kind of poking fun at myself....I use the library extensively for books for my kids, and regularly attend the annual fundraising dinner for our public library. So why do I buy so many books? Which I often donate to the library after I've read them.

This month I've read Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me by Pattie Boyd which I absolutely loved and I just finished A.J. Jacobs's The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I just bought his other book The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World and I can't wait to start it!

-71 Oh, I love maps! I have a huge map of Africa from 1938 on my living room wall, probably one of my favorite possessions. You'll have to let us know if the books are any good!.

I am reading The Great Transformation - The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong as part of a group read with the Pro and Con Religion group. I take exception to many of Armstrong's views and assumptions, but it is always interesting to learn a little more about ancient religions.

Living Agelessly by Linda J. Altoonian for LTER.

I'm reading Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System by Roberto Saviano. It's not just a journalistic account. The author grew up there and offers personal insights and opinions. It is bloody, violent, interesting, and fascinating all at the same time. It doesn't just cover the crime angle but the economics and entrepreneurship of 'cutting edge capitalism'. The fingers of these financial empires extend all over the world including into your neighborhood clothing stores.

I've just finished Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Some selections were over my head, and I struggled with the excerpt from Iamblichus, but others were fascinating. I want to read more of the sermons of John Chrysostom and track down a translation of the pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus. This book was a treasure of stuff I'd never heard of before.

I'm flying through The Great Derangement by Matt Taibbi. It is fairly bleak, but I'm enjoying it. I like his "voice" and his knowing take on how money makes the political world go around. Worth the read for the peek into how to read a Congressional budget alone.

nancyewhite--I have read The Great Dreangement--I found it quite good...glad you're enjoying it!

mamachunk

#44 Bill Masom - I'm another Simon Singh fan. I really enjoyed both the Code Book and Fermat's Enigma. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis was a lovely maths read too. Has anyone read Simon Singh's book on alternative medicine Trick or Treat?

I'm in the middle of the Edwardians by Roy Hattersley and quite enjoying it. It's much lighter reading than the Second World War by John Keegan, which I loved but the military parts of it were quite hard work. I'll defiinitely look for some of his other books but need a rest first!

rdurick I have the Gulag Archipelago in my TBR pile but need to be in the mood...

>87 cushlareads:
I also liked The Code Book. I've flipped through Simon Singh's Trick or Treatment at the library, but I haven't read it.

I'm currently between non-fiction reads. I need to decide which book to start tonight: The Wars of the Roses by Desmond Seward or The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu.

I'm half way through Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and have just started The Mists of Avalon for the group read.

>87 cushlareads: i enjoyed Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture a lot, too.

I finished The Gulag Archipelago, volume 2 last night, and now I have to read a novel, Birds Without Wings, by Wednesday for a book group. No non-fiction until well into November! It is uncomfortable.

Robert

>>91 Mr.Durick:

I hope you survive rdurick. A good non-fiction read together with Birds Without Wings might be Twice A Stranger.

#70 rocketjk: I cannot read too much of Visions of Jazz at one sitting either, so I am splitting it into 50 page chunks. I am enjoying the book, but like you, tend to get a bit overwhelmed in the technical aspects. One thing I have been doing while reading is going out on to YouTube and seeing if the particular recording that he talks about is out there. That way I can listen to what he is discussing in the book. I think it is really helping me understand when he gets into the technicalities of the music. Too bad some of the early pioneers of jazz cannot be represented on YouTube.

92> marieke54, thank you for the recommendation. It is likely that I would prefer Twice a Stranger to the novel, but I think it is not reasonably attainable for reading by Wednesday.

By the way, the cat pictured on your profile looks like serious business. I imagine it to be an ascetic scholarly cat, but then again it is likely more cat-like than that.

Robert

Just read The Terrible Hours: the greatest submarine rescue in history by Peter Maas. It takes place in 1938 when a U.S. sub sinks during a trial run in the North Atlantic. It was a very exciting read. Tho, the last part of the book is more biographical about the man who invented the rescue equipment, the difficulties in getting the navy to accept his ideas, and his later career. All interesting, but it was the first part of the book that was so gripping I couldn't put it down.

I'm reading History of the Norwegian People. I've been working on it for several months now.

# 94 rdurick,
she is half devon-rex / half sfinx, she was left behind in a hostel for cats and is the most intelligent creature we ever met among cats. If this old lady was still young she would be able to learn to read.

Currently reading Human Smoke and continuing on with Visions of Jazz.

Marine Geology: Exploring The New Frontiers Of The Ocean - Jon Erickson

And a frontier, it certainly is. A recent newspaper article revealed that approximately 1/3 of the world's fish catches are being processed and fed to farm-raised fish, pigs, and poultry.

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/world_039_s_fish_catches_...

Against happiness by Eric Wilson. The Dutch translation.

Thanks to all that recommend the math books; I had my hands on Fermat's Enigma at a book sale last week and put it back down to pick up a 4 volume set on The World of Mathematics. Guess I should have kept Fermat too!

Since school's in session, I'm reading textbooks. Right now I'm digesting The Gamma Function; it's short but it's filling (copying each equation down by hand to understand). It's applicable to a couple of classes I'm in right now and dovetails nicely with a short Euler bio I had to write (used Euler Through Time: A New Look at Old Themes as one of my references for that).

I look forward to seeing other nonfiction math books recommended.

Finished Human Smoke, continuing with Visions of Jazz and now have also started The Souls of Black Folk.

Just started "Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War" by Robert Roper.

It's starting off very good.

I'm reading Thanking the Monkey by Karen Dawn. I took it out of the library just to thumb through it, but decided to read it because it quickly caught my entire attention. It's an entertaining book dealing with the real issue of animal rights.