So what is everyone reading?

[BrianG]

Just finished Ford County by John Grisham, a bunch of short stories with typical tripe about corrupt lawyers, greedy insurance companies, incompetent doctors, scam artists, southern bigots and an AID's victim returning home, without any of the depth of his novels. Not sure what I'll read next, time to go to the bookstore.

 

I got David Roth's Expert Coin Magic by Richard Kaufman for Christmas, well illustrated with a wonderful section on the Okito box illusions, I love that book.

[CerebralEcstasy]

Currently reading The Sorcerer: Metamorphisis - Jack Whyte

 

Book overview - thanks google!

 

Throughout the widely praised Camulod Chronicles, Merlyn Britannicus has been driven by one sacred dream--to see Britain united under one just, powerful king. In The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, it is time for the Sorcerer to fulfill his promise--to present the battle-proven Arthur as the Riothamus, the High King of Britain. When Arthur miraculously withdraws the Sword of Kingship from the stone in which it is set, he proves himself the true and deserving king--sworn to defend the Christian faith against invaders, and to preserve Britain as a powerful, united force.

 

The Sorcerer has fulfilled his promise. The King is crowned, Britain is united--and the face of history and legend is forever changed.

[stereologist]

Just started reading Into the Niger Bend by Jules Verne

[Tormod]

Just finished "Decoding the Heavens" by Jo Marchant.

 

Amazon.com: Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-Old Computer--and the Century-Long Search to Discover Its Secrets: Jo Marchant: Books http://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Heavens-000-Year-Old-Computer-Century-Long/dp/B002U0KOJK/

 

An interesting popular science account of the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism, a fabulous clockwork artifact from 87 BCE. The book was okay but not incredibly engaging.

[CerebralEcstasy]

I just finished reading the rolled up portion of my coffee cup for Tim Horton's Roll Up The Rim to Win contest. Sadly, I was informed that I needed to 'Please play again.'

 

Life is not fair. :eek:

[CraigD]

Though I’m rarely much pleased by techno-thriller stories, occasionally one catches my interest enough to read. Usually, I’m not much impressed – stories in this genre tend to be testosterone-y wish-fulfillment fantasies with little realism beyond using the names of real people, places, and things – but I found Daniel Suarez’s 2006 novel Deamon a delightful exception.

 

I recommend it highly for anyone who’s deeply interested in agent-based simulations, especially the idea that practical AI and “personhood” may require far less computation and sophistication than traditional Turing-test-driven approaches suggest.

[Jay-qu]

Currently reading "The History of Rome" by Michael Grant, even though I wouldnt call myself a history buff it is thoroughly interesting. At times the clunky sentence structure gets to me but it doesnt take away too much from the book.

[Pyrotex]

I just finished reading Robert Heinlein's "Beyond the Far Horizon". It is an enjoyable, if not very challenging, read, that lacks any elements of "hard" science fiction. It is a time travel fantasy.

 

The heroine of the thick novel, Maureen, (who appears on the jacket as an incredibly gorgeous, naked, red-haired woman standing on a seashell a la Venus) is the mother of Lazarus Long, the long-lived main character of several of Heinlein's earlier novels, including "Methusulah's Children" and "Time Enough For Love".

 

Maureen is born in the late 19th Century in rural Missouri, to a pair of very progressive minded folks, who just happen to be members of the "Howard Family", a secret enterprise devoted to selective breeding of humans for the purpose of increased lifespan. By "progressive", I also mean that Maureen's parents instill in her an honest and open relationship with her own sexuality.

 

By the tender age of sixteen, Maureen decides that she is in love with her father, but his sense of ethics and decorum forbid him to take Maureen up on her very generous offer.

 

Maureen then proceeds to get married, have about 15 babies over the following 40 years, one of whom (Lazarus) comes back as a young adult from the future in a time machine, falls in love with Maureen, beds her, and eventually enlists her in the Time Corps, from which she sets out on several missions (mostly to her past) where she straightens out kinks in one or the other of the known timelines, with her cat, Pixel, who can walk through walls.

 

Unfortunately, she has run afowl of villains in a hitherto unknown timeline who are aware of the Time Corps and have set a trap for Maureen, and while incarcerated, and threatened with death unless she joins the villains, she proceeds to reminisce about her life, which basically starts at the first sentence of the novel, and proceeds through 40 or 50 or 77 years of her life's minutiae, including quite a few staggeringly entertaining sexual exploits, not a few of which involve incest to one degree or another, and eventually ends with her rescue at the end of the novel, her return to Time Corps HQ in the distant future, just in the nick of time to whiz back through time one last time to rescue her father from a Nazi bombing raid over London, so that Maureen can marry and bed HIM, thus fulfilling her lifelong romantic/erotic fantasy.

 

That may be the longest sentence I have ever written.

[preity]

I am reading yatra2yatra, a book on hindu pilgrimage places. It has really nice images as well.

[annabie]

Eclipse - the twilight saga

I have read it several times, but still like it ♥

 

___________

[adobetony]

The Kindly Ones--very graphic, very long, but a very good read.

[Ken]

Just finished:

Deep Simplicity - Chaos, Complexity and the Emergence of Life by John Gribbin, and

Many Lifes Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss

 

Both are good.

 

 

Sort of surprised to find this thread in the recent posts. :)

 

Lately its been mostly fiction.

 

I'm a great fan of both Arthur Conan Doyle and Rex Stout. For the past 20 or so years I've been writing about the failure of Sherlock Holmes to identify Jack the Ripper. :rolleyes: Its about 3/4 complete but no rush since its solely for my own enjoyment.

 

Every year or two, since the late '60s, I go completely through the Corpus (as its called among Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe devotees). I have the stories shelved in chronological order by copyright date and start at the beginning and go all the way through.

 

One of the great but not widely known advantages of increasing memory loss among folks my age is that often familiar stories look brand new. :D

 

I've been spending far too much time in Physician's waiting rooms lately and I use my Droid phone to carry reading material. Currently re-reading the old Jeeves and Wooster stories.

[Jay-qu]

On the plane home from the US I started reading Snow Crash. Its being on my reading list for a long time, since a recommendation from CraigD :) I got about half way through the book before I fell asleep :P It is an excellent read, brining together history, religion and scifi in a unique and interesting way. Thanks Craig!

[asmi18]

Was reading the Sharpe series, last one I read was Sharpe's Eagle. Originally started with the TV series before finding out about the books. By niave I suppose :D

[Tekime]

Currently reading 30 Years That Shook Physics by George Gamow (an old but fun read)

 

Recently finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - IMO a superb science book for any nerd level.

 

Couple other books finished lately that I enjoyed:

 

The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D.

 

The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser

 

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

[sobermonkey]

Currently I'm reading mostly fiction:

The name of the Rose - Umberto Ecco

American Psycho - Bret Easton Elis

The Colorado Kid - Stephen King

[PopularScienceReader]

I'm currently reading Robert Trivers' new book "The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life".

 

I recently came across a nice site by the way that provides daily updates of new popular science books: http://twitter.com/popsciencebooks