in the middle of this:
with this on deck:
Posted on 07/07/2011 12:57:12 PM PDT by MplsSteve
Hi everyone! I hope your 4th of July was a good one.
it's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread. As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the most well-read of those of us on the Internet and I like to see what other Freepers are reading these days.
It can be anything - a classic novel, a trashy pulp romance, a technical journal, etc. Please do not deile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became very unfunny a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm just finishing "Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls of the Brave" by Ernest Furgurson. It's OK. Nothing to rave about though.
Well, what are you reading now? Let's hear about it!
here are the top items of my current list:
1) Halfway through James Calvell’s Asian Saga novels, in time setting sequence (in Gai-Jin right now);
2) Starting “Empire of the Summer Moon” by S.C. Gwynne (a gift from my wife);
3) “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” by U.S. Grant;
4) “From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America” by James Longstreet;
5) “The Delight Makers” by Adolph Bandelier;
6) “Dog Sense: How the New Science of Behavior Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet” by John Bradshaw;
7) and getting ready to start my annual trek through Tolkien’s War of the Rings Trilogy...
Love my Kindle!!
“The Big Sky” by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
Bruce Catton’s Civil War histories, “Stillness at Appomattox” and such. My favorite so far is “This Hallowed Ground”, a single-volume overview of the Northern victory. Catton seems to, as I do, respect Grant both for his straightforward generalship, and for the way he treated the vanquished Lee.
Rereading Thomas Carlyle’s “The French Revolution.”
For later.
Just finished “Nelson’s Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World” by Roy Adkins. Excellent, The best account of the battle I have yet read.
Haven’t decided on the next book. Will decide tonight. Lots to choose from.
Inside of a Dog
What Dogs See, Smell, and Know
Alexadra Horowitz
Modern China
Rana Mitter
What’s so Great About Christianity
Dinesh D’Souza
“The Spy” ostensibly by Clive Cussler (”with” his collaborator on the Isaac Bell series, whose name escapes me)
First in a trilogy, set around WW1.
I finished re-reading the core Ender series by Orson Scott Card, and am moving on to all the sequels and related books and short stories that were written since the original. I figured I’d take in the whole Ender universe at once.
‘Criminological Theory”, “Criminology Today”, “Handbook of Criminology”, “The General Theory of Crime”, and Woodward’s “Obama’s War”
Teaching a new class in, you’ll never guess, criminology, and I have to pick the textbook. I also have to start getting ready for my comps next Spring.
I do hope to fit in “Moonwalking with Einstein” and “The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture” by David Mamet before the summer ends as well as several technical books on malware.
I’m reading “The deliberate Dumbing Down Of America” by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt.
It’s free to read online in PDF at: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=the+deliberate+dumbing+down+of+america+pdf&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
It documents the actions, papers, methods, books and names, over many decades, of those who used “Progressive Education” to teach Americans to stop thinking.
I did NOT know she'd come out with another installment! I'd say it's been more than six years.....unless there was one that I missed in the meantime.
Oh lordy, so many great suggestions on this thread and so little time.
Reading Game of Thrones, by George R.R.Martin, again, after watching the HBO series. Actually, it’s being read to me by Roy Dotrice, a masterful narrator. Helps greatly in making Atlanta traffic disappear!
I think I actually may have heard it about it for the first time on the last “What are you reading?” thread. :)
Anyway. I have to confess I have yet to check out the Freeper Book Club. But if there’s a way there to discuss books some of us are reading, I sure would like to get people’s thoughts on TFT.
"Bad Science" - Ben Goldacre. Brilliant debunking of quackery and pseudoscience.
"The Armada" - Garrett Mattingly. This one comes around in my re-read queue every few years. One of the best histories ever written.
In the on deck circle is "Quartered Safe Out Here" by George MacDonald Fraser. I have been loath to crack the cover on this one because it is the only book by GMF I have never read, and when I reach the last page there will be no more. Ave atque vale...
For insance, there is an instructive quote from President Woodrow Wilson responding to criticism that there was no national interest in our entry into WWI -- he said, (paraphrase) "There is also no selfishness in it." To me, this explains a lot. To a liberal, national interest in war is "selfish"; while no national interest is "noble". See how it works?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.