Posted on 01/08/2008 7:59:25 AM PST by MplsSteve
It's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" inquiry.
I'm always curious as to what Freepers are reading and what they're recommending to others.
It can be anything...a classic novel, a scientific journal, a magazine, a cheap pulp novel...anything.
Do not deface this thread with a smart-ass answer like "I'm Reading this Thread". It became very un-original a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm reading "The Great Deluge: Hurrican Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast" by Douglas Brinkley.
This is a full account of Katrina striking the Gulf Coast. The book starts 48 hours before landfall and finishes one week after landfall. It a very good book.
Trust me, no one comes out of this looking good. Ray Nagin doesn't. FEMA doesn't, etc.
Well, what are YOU reading now?
“McCampbell’s Heroes” by Edwin Hoyt. It’s a history of Air Wing 15 (the “Fabled Fifteen”) during its six-month deployment aboard USS Essex in 1944, led by Navy Ace of Aces Capt. David McCampbell.
Empire by Orson Scott Card.
1945 by Robert Conroy.
Still reading the same pile as last summer and try to never recommend.
Great book, just finished it a few days ago.
I am a slow reader. I like true stories.
Mitch Rapp rocks!
I don’t recommend much, but read Euclid in the original language. The Almagest is probably bogus, but it was about the only astronomical reference generally available in Europe until Copernicus.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll see if I can find it on CD today.
I don’t recommend much, but read Euclid in the original language. The Almagest is probably bogus, but it was about the only astronomical reference generally available in Europe until Copernicus.”
I agree. Reading Euclid in Greek would be bad-ass for sure. That is definitely a goal. If I were an educator, I would also push in that direction. However, from my vantage point here and now, I have to make due with the Heath translation.
Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies
by M. Stanton Evans (Author)
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition (Hardcover)
by Edward R. Tufte
The Amazing Maurice and his educated Rodents - Terry Prattchett, Disk World book
The Bible
Mark’s Story - Tim LaHaye
Oh,you will love Executioner’s Song and,of course,In Cold Blood by Capote is bone chilling.
I like true crime books too and read often for escape and fun but also love to take on something challenging.Someone suggested Confessions by St Augustine.I think I will look that one up on my next expedition to the library.
Oh,I forgot to mention The Onion Field by Wambaugh.
Just finished America Alone - Mark Steyn
Go for it,Neo.And get back to me after the journey!
1. Indian Summer, a history of Indian independence. Interesting but a little gossipy.
2. Embracing Defeat. A book about Japan immediately after the war by a liberal historian. Much that I could dispute, but I learned a lot.
3. The Siege of Mecca. A fascinating account of the seizure of the Grand Mosque in 1979 by the original Sunni Islamist extremists, and a terrific guide to where what we face now came from. I highly recommend it.
4. The Wages of Wins. A book about what determines success in team sports, using econometric techniques. A frill, basically.
5. The Victory of Reason, about Christianity and capitalism. I am reading it for a book I am writing myself.
I have just reread:
1. The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom's 1987 lamentation about our elite universities. About 70% of it still rings true, I think.
2. From Dawn to Decadence, Jacques Barzun's magisterial history of 500 years of Western culture, the last 100 or so years of it outright decline.
Your points are well taken and one must admit that the liberal viewpoint today is ubiquitous and to pick a conservative book is almost an act of rebellion against modernist culture.
Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind was one of the best books I have ever read on academia and modern society.What struck me is that his critiques of the modern university-training grounds for managers for corporate America rather than places that encorage truth seekers-mirrored lots of Leftist criticisms.
I have read many of this series. I really got a kick out of it in the 90’s, when he added President Blanton. One character seemed to be a parady of Maxine Waters.
Yes,strange coincidences in the dates of your deceased loved ones.
No one can replace moms.But kudos to her long life!
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