Whatya reading currently?
 

I need something.
I am now officially tired of racking my brain with physics problems.

Nonfiction preferred.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar

http://www.amazon.com/Plato-Platypus...3715291&sr=8-1


And then the follow up

Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington

http://www.amazon.com/Aristotle-Aard..._bxgy_b_text_b

Sea of Glory, by Nathaniel Philbrick.

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Glory-Disc...3715733&sr=8-1

The story of The U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842). The search of the Southern Hemisphere for new lands (mostly in the Pacific Ocean). It similar to the Lewis and Clark Expedition (I prefered Stephen Ambrose's, Undaunted Courage) except on a broader scale. I am only a third of the way through, but it is very good.

Philbrick also wrote the excellent, In the Heart of the Sea. The story of the whaleship Essex, which was also a good read.

I just finished "1776" and liked it enough that I am going to pick up a copy of John Adams.

http://www.amazon.com/1776-David-McC.../dp/0743226712

ive been reading a Post American World by Fareed Zakaria when im at home. On the way to work and at lunch ive been rerading Economic facts and fallacies by Thomas Sowell

Thank you very much.

Please keep em coming.

I just finished Tuesdays with Morrie, I know a few years too late but hey.

derbytrail.com

Shantaram by Gary Roberts.
"Autobiographical" novel
about a guy who
escapes from an Australian prison, goes
to Bombay, gets involved with
the Mafia there,
spends a couple years
in prison there
and winds up fighting
for the Afghans agaisnt the Russians.

900+ pages. First fiction of any kind I've
read in years.
Very good.

Sorry I am going to extend this based on STS comments.

Something you have currently finished reading that
was very good. Nonfiction preferred.

Three Strides Before the Wire by Elizabeth Mitchell
Little Chapel by the River
Anything by Tim Dorsey (fiction)

Everything by Lee Child

Not recently but one of may favorite books about the state of the world:

Jehad vs. McWorld

The God Delusion

I just finished, An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. It is the first of a trilogy and I will definitely be reading the next two.

http://www.amazon.com/Army-Dawn-1942...3788714&sr=8-1

mccullough is excellent.
i also recommend alexander hamiltons bio by ron chernow. fantastic book, great subject.
also have a couple by joseph ellis, his majesty george washington and founding brothers. both very good.

i am taking john adams on vacation, as well as the last cavalier (the last dumas) and a book on sarah churchill, duchess of marlborough.

but at the moment, i'm reading the second book in a trilogy by bernard cornwell. that guy is fantastic!! great historical fiction for those who like lots of action, battles, etc

have considered getting that-let me know if it's good.

It's a little old now...and it's been a while since I read it, but "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy is one of my all time favorites.

haskins tc book..good storys...

Golden Gate PPs. Trying to figure if this chalky thing in the 3rd can be tossed.

i got stumped trying to figure out the last thing I read on personal time that wasn't PP's, the racing form, or horse racing message boards or blogs.

Joey The Hitman
Classic

People that can concentrate on one thing for long periods of time amaze me.
This is of course why I like this board so much. We got people who can think horses 24/7.

I gotta take a break on almost anything I do for too long.

it's very good. . .

Is this by Dawkins, Richard Dawkins the evolutionary biologist?

I just picked up They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David Maraniss.

I looked it up and it is.

The Selfish Gene was one of the most influential books
I ever read. Now that I look back upon it, it was over the
top. But the ideas were astounding. A completely diff. way
of viewing life.

Dawkins is very well known for pricking at religion. He thrives
on it. Climbing Mount Improbable, practically all his books
rake religion.

I did not know he was having another go at it.

oh i take forced breaks from horses all the time. its called my job. otherwise its horses.

looks like i'll be adding to my library....

I've been reading The Berenstain Bears, good stuff.

Seriously though, the last book I read was Ishmael. That was about a year and a half ago before my kid could walk and talk. Now I'm too tired to read.

God bless you for reading to your kid(s).

If you like the book hockey mentioned,
you may have to add The Blind Watchmaker.

And anyone please add as I am still pondering.
It is also interesting to see what people are interested in
outside of horses.

"The Great Thebby" by F. Mortimer Fitzgerald

I recommend the great thebby....though it is an incomplete work....


i just finished a great book (sent to me by a very generous sometime DT'r)

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Horbacher

and am half way through

Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the AMerican West by Deanne Stillman

also have to recommend Beautiful Boy: a Father's Journey through his Son's Addiction by David Scheff...and with it you have to read his son's book Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines

they are all good and non-fiction.

what's the blind watchmaker?

It's by Dawkins as well - The God Delusion is a little more interesting in my opinion. . . The Blind Watchmaker focuses mostly on evolution. . .

It is mainly about evolution (as mentioned above) having no ultimate purpose
or direction. Thus implying the big guy (God), making those precise
Watches, went about it in a blind way.

So I guess the God Delusion would be the next fit.

Dawkins is a Brit who pulls no punches.
He will tell you how he feels and more.
His American atheist audience is huge.

Stephen J. Gould and Dawkins both excellent writers
on evolution. Gould did not try to rile quite as much.
RIP. Gould was one of my all time favorites. A harder
read than Asimov, but very good.

I gotta go with something Historical. The Adams book sounds
good.

Stuff like that is okay, if that is the kind of stuff you like. I'm not going to tell people what to read, but if you are really interested in history I would suggest reading stuff written by actual historians instead.
Neither McCullough nor Chernow are trained historians and it shows in their work. They are both good writers, and that is why they win awards like the Pulitzer, but the quality of their scholarship is more than questionable.
Ellis - who you also mentioned - actually IS a PhD and his work is (not surprisingly) a little bit better.
If you are really interested in something like the American Revolution and Early Republic however, I would reccomend reading the stuff from real scholars like Rosemarie Zagarri, Woody Holton, T.H. Breen etc. It might not always be as cleverly written as the stuff the journalists like Chernow produce, but the level of analysis dwarfs anything these untrained people attempt.

What was written by Miraja above is a huge problem in Science.
But writers like Asimov, Gould, Dawkins, are all writers
that have done real science. Same for Sagan. Even though
he got a little maudlin at times with the sci fi. Also RIP.

Sagan wrote a great book on what science is and is not
that should be read by all who like the power of logic and
reasoning, "The Demon Haunted World". Of course one could
conclude that the book is terribly flawed, look who recommends it.
:zz:

Love Sagan. . . Have you read Smolin's "The Trouble with Physics"? I have it but can't decide if I feel like reading it yet. . .

i read a little bit of everything, minus science fiction and romance novels. i have some history books here as well, both american and european.

i forgot to also recommend the two books on hitler, 'hubris' and 'nemesis' by ian kershaw. also 'constantine's sword' by james carroll.

i have american creation by jos. ellis, but haven't read it yet. one of the books i'll take on vacation.