What are you reading?

[Circe]

Just finished "The Codebreakers" by David Kahn. From now on this book ought to be given to students, and perhaps have a few new chapters added. Very interesting and gave me a perspective on how information is affecting all of us.

It took a while getting through, but then again, I'm not used to read that kind of english terminology.

"The Codebreakers – The Story of Secret Writing (ISBN 0-684-83130-9) is a book by David Kahn, published in 1967 comprehensively chronicling the history of cryptography from ancient Egypt to the time of its writing. The United States government attempted to have the book altered before publication, and succeeded in part."
Wikipedia

Interesting that you liked that. You may be mathy. I got into the Voynich Manuscript mystery (14th-15th century illustrated coded manuscript) and the book "Codebreakers" was highly recommended. I'm more interested in the message in the clear and am not especially mathy, so I think I'll read a couple more Voynich works and let it go.

 

[ErikViking]

Just finished "The Codebreakers" by David Kahn. From now on this book ought to be given to students, and perhaps have a few new chapters added. Very interesting and gave me a perspective on how information is affecting all of us.

It took a while getting through, but then again, I'm not used to read that kind of english terminology.

"The Codebreakers – The Story of Secret Writing (ISBN 0-684-83130-9) is a book by David Kahn, published in 1967 comprehensively chronicling the history of cryptography from ancient Egypt to the time of its writing. The United States government attempted to have the book altered before publication, and succeeded in part."
Wikipedia

Interesting that you liked that. You may be mathy. I got into the Voynich Manuscript mystery (14th-15th century illustrated coded manuscript) and the book "Codebreakers" was highly recommended. I'm more interested in the message in the clear and am not especially mathy, so I think I'll read a couple more Voynich works and let it go.

I'll look up Voynish! I find myself opening books by chance rather often. I didn't plan to read Codebreakers, and it was pretty hard for me to get through some parts, not being very mathy either!

Thanks!

 

[Circe]

As a child I used to read continually. In the middle, life got in the way so I had to do some other things too. Now that I'm retired I read if not continually, still it's a major life theme: I'm trying to figure out patterns in the world as it is.

Not that pattern-finding really explains the escapist fiction.....

My goal for the past three years has been 100 nonfictions and 100 fictions per year (nine a month allows for easy achievement, but I'm a month and a half ahead on fiction this year). I keep careful track of what I read and I have reading projects of one topic at a time, since it is crucial to read many books on a subject, or it's impossible to really understand it.

I try to alternate a reading project with "neutral" books so I don't burn out. I'm doing the French Revolution now and Thomas Cromwell (first minister for Henry VIII); I have done WWI (but have 5 shelf feet more on that, and 2014 is near!!) and C.S. Lewis revisited, and 16th century Tudors. The Grail is coming up -- I've read several works on that already. Also a history of the Commedia d'elle Arte and all it developed into: pantomime, Punch and Judy, puppetry, etc. There is more of all that still around than you might think. The problem is that everything leads backwards! Especially history, but everything else, too, such as literature and art. I only started the Grail readings to lead into a study of Malory: but I'll be lucky to get back to Malory in 2014. WWI was supposed to be just a quick introduction to WWII ---- but that was six years ago.

For fiction I like really well-written anything with an actual plot. Sci-fi, alternate realities, thrillers, murder mysteries, fantasy. Nothing cliched or hack: no vampires unless they are classic and meaningful (Dracula, The Historian). There is so much bad fiction! Find a good author, read her up, it's the only defense. Or him.

I read a lot of magazines and such; Wall Street Journal in print, Economist in print, New Yorker, Weekly Standard -- I don't like reading magazines on the apps they have. The rule is, unread magazines and catalogs MUST be in one stack below the window sill level at my reading table by month's end, or what a thought, the excess has to be thrown out.

Media: I have run out of bookshelf space. Horizontal stacking has started to happen and that is so wrong. So I LOVVVVVEEEE my iPad's Kindle app. The best things about the ebooks is that the print is never too small. Some of my old yellow paperbacks I can no longer read comfortably, if I ever could. And that you can put 500 samples (or many more)on from Amazon and thus never, never have to pay for them or feel guilty about them until they are paid for and started, but they are there on the virtual shelves, a private library. No book review is ever forgotten. On a trip one can load up in advance and carry one iPad full instead of a heavy cloth bag. And you'd better: the most horrifying moment of my iPad career was when we went to a Pennsylvania ski resort on a mountain ---------- and it didn't have 3G coverage!!!! No cell phones for the girls, no book downloading for me, Horrors!!
The girls found a hotspot on top of a ski run, but I had to be driven down the mountain to a fast-food wifi.

A lot of older books aren't yet out on ebook. Or even in reprints. It is amazing how many you can get used for 1 cent, plus $3.99 shipping, however, in hardback so the print is nice and big. And then there are remainders, like from Daedalus, cheaper than ebooks, which are not all that cheap.

Here's a huge "reading" opportunity that will hit the news soon, I think: it's the fastest-growing part of Amazon currently, perhaps. Audiobooks, their Audible division. Earphones and an iPhone in the pocket allow listening to their huge complement of books while gardening, doing housework, driving, whatever. And the readers are a lot better than I am: I read for the story, what's happening, an immoral vice, of course. The readers are professional actors and they really know what they are doing: they slow it down and bring out things I never thought of before in books I've read 20 times. And the names they are pulling in! Reading audiobooks has become a regular employment for older actors: Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, many. Famous authors have started reading their own works this year: Stephen King, Neil Gaiman. They aren't as good as the professional readers, but it is interesting. The books are unabridged (if they aren't, the reviews are just one big howl of protest from indignant buyers!) so these audiobooks definitely count as reading books. I found it best not to buy audiobooks on mathy, technical economic subjects because you need to see the charts, but otherwise, nearly everything is better heard and Amazon is exponentially increasing their offerings on Audible.

Oh, what am I reading now ---

Parzival, the Mustard and Passage translation in paperback; I compared it with the Hatto and the Edwards and think it's the best.
The Great Fear of 1789, paperback, by an older French historian, widespread panic at the beginning of the French Revolution
Alchemists, ebook, a study of the most recent three important central bankers since 2008, very lively
Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks, sci-fi, one of his light Culture novels with the amusing Ship Minds, usually an excellent series
The Tenth Chamber in paperback, out of print but Audible is promoting it as part of the Amazon plan to provide "content" of their own; it's a (better) Dan Brown sort of thriller. With echoes of the Voynich Manuscript, which seems to be following me around. I didn't want to listen till I found out if the author is any good, so I bought it used from England, 1 cent plus $3.99. How do they do that?
Napoleon on Audiobook, a short biography.
Spring-Heeled Jack on ebook, a steam-punk alternative reality, very thoughtful but lively, I like it, Mark Hodder is the author.
Pompeii by Richard Harris, audiobook and SOOOO much better than the awful hackwork "Medicus" which is also about a professional in Roman times. Pompeii is set in a certain week in 79 AD, so it's explosive.

 

[Circe]

On average I read two or three a week. My wife got a Kindle from her employees a few years ago .....she had to go get another.
We use to go down to the book swap store where you return books for credit towards new titles.
But being able to finish a book,and start reading a new one without leaving the couch is pretty sweet. And no more piles of books laying around waiting to be swapped out.
And best of all....you can actually see and use my nightstand.

As far as titles and genre goes? I read a lot of fiction and my all time most memorable series had to be Lord Of The Rings. It was what really got me interested in reading.

Beyond that I'll read most anything that isnt to dry. Love getting National Geographic every month and dont believe I've missed a month in forty some odd years.

And of course the daily newspaper. Thats the one thing that will stay in paper print.
Cant seem to break that coffee and the newspaper in the morning habit,and I really dont want to.

You realize you would easily make a hundred-a-year goal if you cared to set one. Not that anyone has to have a goal, of course, I'm just looking at your arithmetic.

Yes, the Lord of the Rings is wonderful; I was rereading The Two Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, that was creepy. Audible has it read aloud, finally (it was hung up for awhile, as was The Hobbit, but they're out now and I am eager to start listening!)
.
I too much prefer magazines in print as you do, but books I actually prefer in ebook, and the availability is increasing exponentially.

 

[FA_Q2]

I just can’t do audio books. If I want to read, I read. If I want to have someone else tell me the story, ill go to a movie.

I think part of the problem is a concentration thing though. In order for me to read a book, I want to be totally engrossed with 110 percent of my attention focused there. If the story is so riveting that I am going to drive at the same time, I might as well get another book…

 

[National Socialist]

Great posts all! There are a couple titles I will check out. We ought to keep the thread going to give me a place to hide from flamethrowers and check out books. I think I'm going to start a list of books that turned out to not be the worth the effort (so likeminded others can avoid them!). I have some real stinkers gathering dust on the bookcases. Now if I only had a fireplace......

No don't throw them away! Hell send them to me! lol...books I don't want I give away for free or take to a used book store.

I am almost always reading 4 or 5 books. I have over 1500 books inmy library, mostly non-fiction.

I started collecting Louis L'amour books 25 years ago and my kids have read them all 2-3 times. I need about 15 more to have them all. Yeah, I know, cheap westens, but they are fun.

Wow...I probably have 500 or so...most of mine are in containers because I have no where to put them.

I'll try to take a photo of my library at home soon ....

Would love to see it! Most books I read I keep I have several copies of some of them..got 3 kids so try to get at least 3 copies of each book...The books I have bought or got somewhere recently I keep in a cabinet above my bed to read soon...lost a few books from library so having to read what I got left from there.Pay the fines off and just read what I got here...Does anyone else use Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia

 

[Circe]

I just can’t do audio books. If I want to read, I read. If I want to have someone else tell me the story, ill go to a movie.

I think part of the problem is a concentration thing though. In order for me to read a book, I want to be totally engrossed with 110 percent of my attention focused there. If the story is so riveting that I am going to drive at the same time, I might as well get another book…

High concentration is a good quality, though --- I don't have wildly good concentration or focus, and get bored, which is why I am reading nine books at a time (plus a couple I'm not supposed to be reading....). You are fortunate to have good concentration.

However, I see your point about better not drive if you are concentrating entirely on the book......[

I don't think audiobooks are the same as movies! The unabridged audiobook is exactly the same as the printed version, just read by a more expressive reader than I am. Movies of whatever, say "The Count of Monte Cristo," are something entirely different, abridged, changed radically. I was shocked to read that some teachers give points for students watching a movie of a book or event --- I thought that was pretty awful, until I realized that at the lower end of the IQ scale, that's probably about the best a lot of people can do, and more than they normally would do, so let them watch Romeo and Juliet with Leo and call it an accomplishment. A lot of people really can't read, and that's that.

 

[FA_Q2]

I read cat mysteries. Midnight Louie and The Cat Who. I'm going through the Game of Thrones books. I have a lot of books, but no print books. Not one. I use a Nook and carry my library with me. I can't imagine reading a print book any more. I can adjust the size and font to suit my reading.

Looking forward to taking on the game of thrones books as well. The show was excellent, I have high expectations for the books.

 

[FA_Q2]

I just can’t do audio books. If I want to read, I read. If I want to have someone else tell me the story, ill go to a movie.

I think part of the problem is a concentration thing though. In order for me to read a book, I want to be totally engrossed with 110 percent of my attention focused there. If the story is so riveting that I am going to drive at the same time, I might as well get another book…

Wow. I could not do that. I can’t really put one down and then start another, it annoys me that I had not finished the last one.

This is REALLY bad when I start an incomplete series. Usually, I’ll restart the entire thing before starting the book that just was released. It is one reason that I rarely start an incomplete set of books. Then there is the fact that the first time I did that, the damn author never finished the series.

I am still waiting for the third Ring of Charon book to come out and I finished that series like 5 years ago. I will likely never read that author again though, nothing make me angrier than having an author churn out another 5 or 10 books before finishing the set they started.

High concentration is a good quality, though --- I don't have wildly good concentration or focus, and get bored, which is why I am reading nine books at a time (plus a couple I'm not supposed to be reading....). You are fortunate to have good concentration.

However, I see your point about better not drive if you are concentrating entirely on the book......[

I don't think audiobooks are the same as movies! The unabridged audiobook is exactly the same as the printed version, just read by a more expressive reader than I am. Movies of whatever, say "The Count of Monte Cristo," are something entirely different, abridged, changed radically. I was shocked to read that some teachers give points for students watching a movie of a book or event --- I thought that was pretty awful, until I realized that at the lower end of the IQ scale, that's probably about the best a lot of people can do, and more than they normally would do, so let them watch Romeo and Juliet with Leo and call it an accomplishment. A lot of people really can't read, and that's that.

They are not the same as moves. I just meant that I don’t have much draw to having someone else tell me the story. I get what you are saying with some people and reading though now. I think that parents have MASSIVELY failed this generation in that respect. My son was reading at a young age and reads every day. He loves his books A LOT and we tried to foster that as much as possible. People are NOT doing their kids a service by not ingraining that world into them as soon as they can. We started him before he was even a year old.

One of my bosses saw me reading once and asked me why I would bother reading. I was astonished that anyone could utter that at all let alone in front of 15 people. He did not even understand why I thought that statement was so asinine. Most of the people there were in agreement!

 

[FA_Q2]

(plus a couple I'm not supposed to be reading....).

BTW – What does that mean!?!?!

There are no books that you’re not supposed to read

 

[Circe]

(plus a couple I'm not supposed to be reading....).

BTW – What does that mean!?!?!

There are no books that you’re not supposed to read

Very true!

I meant that nine at once is supposed to be my upper limit. How did that extra one or two sneak in early? They will do it.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

On average I read two or three a week. My wife got a Kindle from her employees a few years ago .....she had to go get another.
We use to go down to the book swap store where you return books for credit towards new titles.
But being able to finish a book,and start reading a new one without leaving the couch is pretty sweet. And no more piles of books laying around waiting to be swapped out.
And best of all....you can actually see and use my nightstand.

As far as titles and genre goes? I read a lot of fiction and my all time most memorable series had to be Lord Of The Rings. It was what really got me interested in reading.

Beyond that I'll read most anything that isnt to dry. Love getting National Geographic every month and dont believe I've missed a month in forty some odd years.

And of course the daily newspaper. Thats the one thing that will stay in paper print.
Cant seem to break that coffee and the newspaper in the morning habit,and I really dont want to.

You realize you would easily make a hundred-a-year goal if you cared to set one. Not that anyone has to have a goal, of course, I'm just looking at your arithmetic.

Yes, the Lord of the Rings is wonderful; I was rereading The Two Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, that was creepy. Audible has it read aloud, finally (it was hung up for awhile, as was The Hobbit, but they're out now and I am eager to start listening!)
.
I too much prefer magazines in print as you do, but books I actually prefer in ebook, and the availability is increasing exponentially.

I never really thought about setting a goal. I just flat out like to read and never really paid much attention to numbers.
Although I have thought about a total. I started reading heavily in the fifth grade.
I came up with around 4000 books based on two books a week so it's probably a bit higher.
And yes the ebook is the shit!!! No way I'll ever go back to print.
And I also found that I still prefer the old Kindle even after trying the new fancy ones.
You can charge it up and go two weeks without a recharge,instead of the four hours you get on the newer models that do way more then i'll ever need.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland (Hardcover)

Shlomo SandThe Invention of the Land of Israel*deconstructs the age-old legends surrounding the Holy Land and the prejudices that continue to suffocate it. Sand’s account dissects the concept of “historical right” and tracks the creation of the modern concept of the “Land of Israel” by nineteenth-century Evangelical Protestants and Jewish Zionists. This invention, he argues, not only facilitated the colonization of the Middle East and the establishment of the State of Israel; it is also threatening the existence of the Jewish state today. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1844679462/ref=mw_dp_mdsc?dsc=1&qid=1372961013&sr=1-2]The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland:Amazon:Books[/ame]

 

[Circe]

This is REALLY bad when I start an incomplete series. Usually, I’ll restart the entire thing before starting the book that just was released. It is one reason that I rarely start an incomplete set of books. Then there is the fact that the first time I did that, the damn author never finished the series.

I am still waiting for the third Ring of Charon book to come out and I finished that series like 5 years ago. I will likely never read that author again though, nothing make me angrier than having an author churn out another 5 or 10 books before finishing the set they started.

Stephen King did that, wrote other books before he finished his long series, The Dark Tower. Someone sent him a postcard with a picture of a teddy bear and wrote, "Finish the Dark Tower or the bear dies!" And he loved it; he kept it posted by his computer till he finished the series. He has a GREAT way of dealing with this: he finished the series (and the last book is good, I mean to listen to it for a reread) and now he has started to interpolate new books INSIDE the series. And why not? That's quite a good idea. Then you don't leave readers hanging, and you can still use your ideas for later volumes.

I too have to start a whole series over when a new volume comes out, and this is getting unmanageble. Tad Williams is particularly challenging that way -- long volumes AND long series. I never had an author die on me so far, but I live in terror of it -- I was so worried Dorothy Dunnett wouldn't finish either of her two great historical novel series, the Crawford of Lymond one or the Niccolo one. Both have a lot of volumes and she was getting older and older.....she did, though. When she finally finished the second series, she was sort of memorialized in a portrait double-page ad in the New Yorker, everyone was so relieved.

They are not the same as moves. I just meant that I don’t have much draw to having someone else tell me the story. I get what you are saying with some people and reading though now. I think that parents have MASSIVELY failed this generation in that respect. My son was reading at a young age and reads every day. He loves his books A LOT and we tried to foster that as much as possible. People are NOT doing their kids a service by not ingraining that world into them as soon as they can. We started him before he was even a year old.

One of my bosses saw me reading once and asked me why I would bother reading. I was astonished that anyone could utter that at all let alone in front of 15 people. He did not even understand why I thought that statement was so asinine. Most of the people there were in agreement!

I think about this issue a lot because my granddaughters do read and my niece does but her twin brothers do not, at all. They weren't allowed TV or video games or anything in the hopes of forcing them to read for recreation, but nothing worked and I wonder if they aren't sort of culturally deprived since they didn't do ANYthing! My relative did EVERYthing to force them to "want" to read, but I think reading has to be a type of rebellion or escape from parents for kids to really want to. If it's just one more job or mom gets mad, what's the good of that. The escape can just be that parents leave them alone since they aren't getting in trouble reading, or being annoying; or it can be content rebellion: some here can remember when we weren't supposed to read comics or science fiction, it would rot our brains ----- yeah, that really worked. [:-/ Now both genres are major art, movie, and literature themes. People of every age have to be let alone on WHAT they read. It's about quantity, not quality.

If kids are to read for fun, it has to actually be their idea, not something their parent makes them do. It is obvious to us here that chronic readers know more and do better, but ---- nobody reads for fun because they have to.

 

[Ropey]

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Strange Horizons Reviews: Two Views: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed by Victoria Hoyle and Paul Kincaid

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Strange Horizons Reviews: Two Views: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed by Victoria Hoyle and Paul Kincaid

Thats a good one.

 

[Ropey]

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Strange Horizons Reviews: Two Views: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed by Victoria Hoyle and Paul Kincaid

Thats a good one.

I agree. It's one of my slower reads. I'm on the second round.

When your dreams are of some world that never was or of some world that will never be, then you will have given up.

 

[FA_Q2]

I think about this issue a lot because my granddaughters do read and my niece does but her twin brothers do not, at all. They weren't allowed TV or video games or anything in the hopes of forcing them to read for recreation, but nothing worked and I wonder if they aren't sort of culturally deprived since they didn't do ANYthing! My relative did EVERYthing to force them to "want" to read, but I think reading has to be a type of rebellion or escape from parents for kids to really want to. If it's just one more job or mom gets mad, what's the good of that. The escape can just be that parents leave them alone since they aren't getting in trouble reading, or being annoying; or it can be content rebellion: some here can remember when we weren't supposed to read comics or science fiction, it would rot our brains ----- yeah, that really worked. [:-/ Now both genres are major art, movie, and literature themes. People of every age have to be let alone on WHAT they read. It's about quantity, not quality.

If kids are to read for fun, it has to actually be their idea, not something their parent makes them do. It is obvious to us here that chronic readers know more and do better, but ---- nobody reads for fun because they have to.

Yes. Forcing the issue is impossible, that is how to get people to HATE things rather than love them. We instilled it in our children by reading to them at a young age. They naturally took it upon themselves after that.

One of our punishments when he misbehaved was also not getting his bedtime books. Kids always love the things that you take away as a punishment

There are, of course, kids that will never like to read no matter what you do. Nothing wrong with that but they sure are missing out on a LOT.

 

[oldfart]

am I being too grandiose? am I asking too much??????????? heck

AM I????????????????

"Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess."

 

[numan]

'
I have a reasonably large library and can easily spend the remainder of my life re-reading the best that has ever been thought or said.

I prefer the classics, and keep up my Greek and Latin with Horace, Plato, Homer, Pindar, and so on. There has never been, as far as I know, a more exquisite language than ancient Greek, and not even Shakespeare can match the glory of classic drama.

Since I have also studied ancient Chinese, there are available to me the works of the most sophisticated and subtle civilization which has ever existed on the face of the Earth.

I prefer essays to fiction, and since little of merit has been published since modern civilization collapsed in 1914, I do not bother much with contemporary writing, though there are a few embers of civilization at which one can warm one's mind. Noteworthy are the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Aldous Huxley, both of whom I love to re-read. I cannot resist fine writing, even if it be modern.

As much awareness as I care to have of contemporary barbarism and the lies of modern mass-media brainwashing are available to me on alternate news websites and in my local public and university libraries. I would not dream of actually buying any mass media magazines or newspapers, since that would be supplying financial aid and comfort to our enemies.

In general, the ancient historians illuminate political reality with greater insight than the incoherent propaganda of modern flacks ever could.
I suspect at least one reason for the collapse of Latin and Greek in the modern curriculum is the deliberate policy of our rulers. Students would learn far too much about the way politics really work.

I rarely watch television at all, except in the somewhat less toxic form of documentary DVDs. Even that I do with caution, knowing full well that I am imbibing poison purely for the sake of entertainment.
.

.