Book(s) You are Reading

Vanity Thread | 1/28/2019 | Me

[Republic_Venom]

Freepers, what books have you read recently and would recommend them for the rest of us? My list includes:

1. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt 2. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari 3. Stand Out of Our Light by James Williams 4. The Feminist Lie: It Was Never About Equality by Bob Lewis

[Maine Mariner]

Not yet-I got all three for Christmas and plan to read the Count of Monte Cristo after finishing the other two.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Currently reading the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, also THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH.

I would rather read than watch TV.

Others I’ve read in the last two years...

MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS by Dunn Jr
ON THE BORDER WITH CROOK by Bourke,
THE INDIAN WAR OF 1864 by Capt Ware
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
MOBY DICK,
SHORT TALES OF THE ARCTIC by JACK LONDON
WASHING OF THE SPEARS by Morris
I CLAUDIUS and CLAUDIUS THE GOD
Homer’s Odyssey, Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid.
DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS,
DEATH IN SILENT PLACES,
MANEATERS by Capstick

[folkquest]

Beneath a Scarlet Sky
By: Mark Sullivan
Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

[Republic_Venom]

Some, no not some...lots of great recommendations. Some surprising titles, some predictable. This should keep most of us busy this entire year. I thank you all for your time to reply to this thread.

[Republic_Venom]

Have you built anything yet? My 10 year old wants to build all sorts of things. Would this be too advanced for him? He’s a robotics freak...can make and program all sorts of robots.

[cld51860]

I have seen that series, and own a few on dvd. Haven’t watched them in a while. I really liked Ioan Gruffudd as HH, thought he was perfect. I was bummed when they did not continue with that series!

Gradation stories! Forester was an absolutely brilliant story teller.

[El Laton Caliente]

SCiFi reader, currently finishing everything ever written by David Weber and John Ringo.

I would rate Weber’s Honorverse as one of the top SciFi series of all time, but be ready. There is about thirty-eight total works in the series.

John Ringo’s writings are more varied. He writes humorous SciFi, Hard SciFi, Zombies and Techno Thrillers. So far I think my favorite is the Troy Rising series (too bad it is only three books!) with the Posleen Wars series a very close second. I really liked his Kildar series also, but it is more thriller and has scenes that are R to X rated.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I've got three projects underway for remote vacation house monitoring - garage door position; did somebody ring the doorbell; and is the furnace responding to a thermostat call for heat (I prefer to know early rather than when the thermostat is reporting the house is too cold). They are in various stages of bench prototyping right now and the first is almost ready to install.

Arduino is a SUPER platform for young people. There are numerous "getting started" books and you can buy all sorts of complete kits. If your kid is already into robotics, these might be too elementary for him. But there is no upper limit to what he can learn. If he has an aptitude and interest in this field, the Internet of Things and Robotics is a fantastic career track and you won't wind up being obsolete. In my opinion, you can't go wrong nudging him in this direction and supporting his interests.

Check Amazon Arduino Kit for Kids and you'll find a huge variety of kits. Here's one typical kit created around the Arduino Uno R3 which is the best platform to get started.

There are many online stores specializing in robotics and IoT. He can Google these to find their sites. What is really amazing these days is how inexpensive everything is. Not long ago the systems hobbyists are using cost a thousand times more than they do today.

• Adafruit Industries
• Sparkfun
• IC Station
• Tindie
• DigiKey
• Arduino Store
• Element 14
• Seeed Studio
• Sunfounder
• PHPoC
• Circuit Specialists
• Pololu Robotics and Electronics
• Solarbotics
• ElectroDragon

The field blends so many disciplines (embedded systems, micro controllers, electronics, software, object oriented programming, radio, telemetry, data management, control systems, mechanisms, motion control) that it is almost impossibly large. It is often labeled "Mechatronics" (aka mechatronic engineering) which is the multidisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the engineering of both electrical and mechanical systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, computer, telecommunications, systems, control, and product engineering.

[miss marmelstein]

The glorious Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen and Wars I Have Seen by Gertrude Stein.

[Republic_Venom]

Thank you! Very useful information.

[Republic_Venom]

You are going to love reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks . That's what Jared Diamond sez, as well. I have my doubts:

Sapiens goes on to retell the history of our species from a completely fresh perspective. It explains that money is the most pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised; that capitalism is the most successful religion ever invented; that the treatment of animals in modern agriculture is probably the worst crime in history; and that even though we are far more powerful than our ancient ancestors, we aren’t much happier...

• We rule the world because we are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our own imagination, such as gods, states, money and human rights.
• Sapiens are ecological serial killers – even with stone-age tools, our ancestors wiped out half the planet’s large terrestrial mammals well before the advent of agriculture.
• The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud – wheat domesticated Sapiens rather than the other way around.
• Money is the most universal and pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised. Money is the only thing everyone trusts.
• Empire is the most successful political system humans have invented, and our present era of anti-imperial sentiment is probably a short-lived aberration.
• Capitalism is a religion rather than just an economic theory – and it is the most successful religion to date.
• The treatment of animals in modern agriculture may turn out to be the worst crime in history.
• Individualism was fostered by states and markets as a way of breaking up families and communities.
• We are far more powerful than our ancestors, but we aren’t much happier.
• Sapiens will soon disappear. With the help of novel technologies, within a few centuries or even decades, Sapiens will upgrade themselves into completely different beings, enjoying godlike qualities and abilities. History began when humans invented gods – and will end when humans become gods.

[Republic_Venom]

You don’t have to agree to enjoy the book....right?

[SunkenCiv]

If I could find it as an audiobook, I might go for it (fills in the dead time during commutes), but when there's that much agenda, and it is what is being emphasized, I find it hard to believe there's anything of any real value in the book.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I’ve seen you around here promoting blogs frequently.

[ctdonath2]

No.

Nationalism regards the citizens of a country having a mutual (national) identity, and respected for acting (morally) in the interest thereof.

Neo-racism regards those who ostensibly pursued MLK’s “dream”, only to abandon it when they realized achieving it didn’t automatically redistribute wealth from their betters - so they returned to race-centric tribalism to destroy their way to prosperity (which won’t work either).

[sparklite2]

That’s not the impression I got from googling new-racism, but it’s the first time I ever saw the word, so have no opinion one way or the other.

[sparklite2]

From some of your reading choices, I think
you might enjoy Blood Meridian. And, to a
lesser degree, I'd recommend The Discovery And Conquest Of Mexico .

[SamAdams76]

I’m currently reading “I Am The World’s Biggest Cuckold” by Mitt Romney. It’s a heavy tome but it makes those train rides home fly by.

[ctdonath2]

You didn’t find it because I made it up.
Seemed fitting.