What are you reading?

I'm reading this book

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I like philosophy :)
This is a great book.

It explains the evolution of European thought from the time of the ancient Greeks when rational thinking (called Philosophy) was first beginning to evolve from Greek polytheist superstition to the pure Philosophy of Renee Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and on to the modern British Empiricists.

Although Europeans have always been fairly superstitious about Religion, being either Catholic or Protestant for the most part, pure Philosophy has enabled them to set aside Religion and eventually separate Church and State, and Church and Science, although it did take a very long, long time.

(koshergrl has inspired me to use better punctuation. Not that she always does herself, but now that I have seen she can and that she is a profession writer, I don't want to seem dumb.)
I love Greek philosophy too! More than Asian philosophy!
.....


To say that is to misunderstand both.
 
I've been reading a lot of fiction lately. Here are the last 5 .....

"Life and other near death experiences" Camille Pagan
Funny, poignant, and very entertaining. I read this in one sitting. I recommend for anyone to read.

A 4 book Sci Fi series by Arthur C Clarke

  1. "Rendezvous witth Rama"
  2. "Rama II"
  3. "The Garden of Rama"
  4. "Rama Revealed"
Here is the description of the first book:

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door
I loved these 4 books and went straight from one to the next. They really transported me to another time and place and the science is believable. . I highly recommend for fans of hard Sci-Fi.

Anyway, I've set a 52 books reading goal for 2017- at 14 so far.
Just a wee bit behind!

:thup:
You use goodreads?

Yep.
 
Just started reading some Steinbeck today.

I completed Tortilla Flat, and The Red Pony this morning. Tonight I'll read Of Mice and Men.

Then I'll finish Cannery Row, The Moon is Down, and The Pearl over the next day or two.

The think I like most about Steinbeck is he is short and sweet. He gets right to the heart of the matter without a lot of fluff. He sets a framework for the story and your mind fills in the rest. It's quite a talent.

I really loved Tortilla Flat. Hated to say goodbye to Danny and his Paesanos.....

:thup:
 
I'm reading this book

View attachment 99712

I like philosophy :)
This is a great book.

It explains the evolution of European thought from the time of the ancient Greeks when rational thinking (called Philosophy) was first beginning to evolve from Greek polytheist superstition to the pure Philosophy of Renee Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and on to the modern British Empiricists.

Although Europeans have always been fairly superstitious about Religion, being either Catholic or Protestant for the most part, pure Philosophy has enabled them to set aside Religion and eventually separate Church and State, and Church and Science, although it did take a very long, long time.

(koshergrl has inspired me to use better punctuation. Not that she always does herself, but now that I have seen she can and that she is a profession writer, I don't want to seem dumb.)
I love Greek philosophy too! More than Asian philosophy!
.....


To say that is to misunderstand both.
Well that's possible I'm just an amateur "philosopher" :biggrin: :smile:
 
Of Mice and Men. Somehow I never read this! I now know why this is a classic.

Even though I knew the ending, this short powerful novel packs a real emotional punch. I wanted George and Lennie to get that farm, and raise those rabbits.......they could take Candy with them. And even old Crooks. They all wanted to live that simple, beautiful, oh so human, dream. Maybe in a parallel universe?
 
Of Mice and Men. Somehow I never read this! I now know why this is a classic.

Even though I knew the ending, this short powerful novel packs a real emotional punch. I wanted George and Lennie to get that farm, and raise those rabbits.......they could take Candy with them. And even old Crooks. They all wanted to live that simple, beautiful, oh so human, dream. Maybe in a parallel universe?



No, they couldn't. That was the point.
 
Just started a second reading of Lord of the Rings.

I loved reading them the first time. Then I saw the films. Then I tried to read through one a second time (Maybe The Two Towers) and I was like, "can we just get to the good parts already?" and stopped. I like books, but I -love- movies. I've yet to see a film based on a book and found myself to be disappointed in the film. Granted, I may just be lucky :). The only series that I've read through twice was the Dune series. Granted, I didn't have much to do at the time, but I really did like reading them twice. I liked the 2 films based on the Dune series, but the Dune books is the one example where I can definitely say that I would have missed a -lot- if I hadn't read the books (for one, it's a series of books, not just one).
I read the entire quadrilogy (trilogy plus The Hobbit) about a dozen times in high school and college and grad school.

Did not go see the movies though.

By then I was too old to appreciate kid actors with kid anxieties in a kids' flick.

Because now, yay though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for there is nothing on this Earth that I cannot kill.

I read the Hobbit too. Wow, a dozen times. Seriously, you seen it that many times, I think you might like Lord of the Rings. And remember, it's not just kids. Gandalf and Saruman aren't exactly young :p. In fact, the guy who played Saruman (famous actor who liked playing bad types) has now passed on.
 
Book review:

Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader

Total garbage. Sub-childish attempts at poetry.

Don't waste your time reading this book like I did.
 
Working my way through Jewish Supremacism by David Duke its FILLED with information and I read a few pages here and a few there. On the 5th book in the Going Home Series by Angery American. I devour one about every 3 or 4 days.
 
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Currently, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

[ame=[URL]http://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/0385513534]The&tag=ff0d01-20[/URL] Lost City of Z[/ame]


From Publishers Weekly:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.

John Grisham's review for Amazon.com:

In April of 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett launched his final expedition into the depths of the Amazon in Brazil. His destination was the lost city of El Dorado, the “City of Gold,” an ancient kingdom of great sophistication, architecture, and culture that, for some reason, had vanished. The idea of El Dorado had captivated anthropologists, adventurers, and scientists for 400 years, though there was no evidence it ever existed. Hundreds of expeditions had gone looking for it. Thousands of men had perished in the jungles searching for it. Fawcett himself had barely survived several previous expeditions and was more determined than ever to find the lost city with its streets and temples of gold.

The world was watching. Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian adventurers, was financed by the Royal Geographical Society in London, the world’s foremost repository of research gathered by explorers. Fawcett, then age 57, had proclaimed for decades his belief in the City of Z, as he had nicknamed it. His writings, speeches, and exploits had captured the imagination of millions, and reports of his last expedition were front page news.

His expeditionary force consisted of three men--himself, his 21-year-old son Jack, and one of Jack’s friends. Fawcett believed that only a small group had any chance of surviving the horrors of the Amazon. He had seen large forces decimated by malaria, insects, snakes, poison darts, starvation, and insanity. He knew better. He and his two companions would travel light, carry their own supplies, eat off the land, pose no threat to the natives, and endure months of hardship in their search for the Lost City of Z.

They were never seen again. Fawcett’s daily dispatches trickled to a stop. Months passed with no word. Because he had survived several similar forays into the Amazon, his family and friends considered him to be near super-human. As before, they expected Fawcett to stumble out of the jungle, bearded and emaciated and announcing some fantastic discovery. It did not happen.

Over the years, the search for Fawcett became more alluring than the search for El Dorado itself. Rescue efforts, from the serious to the farcical, materialized in the years that followed, and hundreds of others lost their lives in the search. Rewards were posted. Psychics were brought in by the family. Articles and books were written. For decades the legend of Percy Fawcett refused to die.

The great mystery of what happened to Fawcett has never been solved, perhaps until now. In 2004, author David Grann discovered the story while researching another one. Soon, like hundreds before him, he became obsessed with the legend of the colorful adventurer and his baffling disappearance. Grann, a lifelong New Yorker with an admitted aversion to camping and mountain climbing, a lousy sense of direction, and an affinity for take-out food and air conditioning, soon found himself in the jungles of the Amazon. What he found there, some 80 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, is a startling conclusion to this absorbing narrative.

The Lost City of Z is a riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.

I'm about halfway through it and I must say it is quite interesting and very well written.

I have an obsession with The Mitford Sisters and also I love the writings of Evelyn Waugh. The Mitford Sisters also as quite a number of my family knew two Mitford Sisters extremely well, especially in the 1930s and 1940s and we have many photographs among our family photographs of them.

Also the second Mitford Sister my family knew, she stay in contact with my family until she died in 2003 at age 93 years, she never forgot to send us all Birthday and Christmas cards and vice versa and presents and vice versa, a charming, elegant and beautiful woman still up until she died.

I am reading this.

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Back cover of the book.
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Another in the medieval surgeon series by Mel Starr: "Lucifer's Harvest". Short, amusing, but very good about putting archaic English words back into employment at least for a short while. Now I shall don my coathardie and liripipes and go coppice the stump in the back of the manse.
 
Currently, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

[ame=[URL]http://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/0385513534]The&tag=ff0d01-20[/URL] Lost City of Z[/ame]


From Publishers Weekly:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.

John Grisham's review for Amazon.com:

In April of 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett launched his final expedition into the depths of the Amazon in Brazil. His destination was the lost city of El Dorado, the “City of Gold,” an ancient kingdom of great sophistication, architecture, and culture that, for some reason, had vanished. The idea of El Dorado had captivated anthropologists, adventurers, and scientists for 400 years, though there was no evidence it ever existed. Hundreds of expeditions had gone looking for it. Thousands of men had perished in the jungles searching for it. Fawcett himself had barely survived several previous expeditions and was more determined than ever to find the lost city with its streets and temples of gold.

The world was watching. Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian adventurers, was financed by the Royal Geographical Society in London, the world’s foremost repository of research gathered by explorers. Fawcett, then age 57, had proclaimed for decades his belief in the City of Z, as he had nicknamed it. His writings, speeches, and exploits had captured the imagination of millions, and reports of his last expedition were front page news.

His expeditionary force consisted of three men--himself, his 21-year-old son Jack, and one of Jack’s friends. Fawcett believed that only a small group had any chance of surviving the horrors of the Amazon. He had seen large forces decimated by malaria, insects, snakes, poison darts, starvation, and insanity. He knew better. He and his two companions would travel light, carry their own supplies, eat off the land, pose no threat to the natives, and endure months of hardship in their search for the Lost City of Z.

They were never seen again. Fawcett’s daily dispatches trickled to a stop. Months passed with no word. Because he had survived several similar forays into the Amazon, his family and friends considered him to be near super-human. As before, they expected Fawcett to stumble out of the jungle, bearded and emaciated and announcing some fantastic discovery. It did not happen.

Over the years, the search for Fawcett became more alluring than the search for El Dorado itself. Rescue efforts, from the serious to the farcical, materialized in the years that followed, and hundreds of others lost their lives in the search. Rewards were posted. Psychics were brought in by the family. Articles and books were written. For decades the legend of Percy Fawcett refused to die.

The great mystery of what happened to Fawcett has never been solved, perhaps until now. In 2004, author David Grann discovered the story while researching another one. Soon, like hundreds before him, he became obsessed with the legend of the colorful adventurer and his baffling disappearance. Grann, a lifelong New Yorker with an admitted aversion to camping and mountain climbing, a lousy sense of direction, and an affinity for take-out food and air conditioning, soon found himself in the jungles of the Amazon. What he found there, some 80 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, is a startling conclusion to this absorbing narrative.

The Lost City of Z is a riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.

I'm about halfway through it and I must say it is quite interesting and very well written.

The book I reread before was "The Bridge At Andau" a very moving account of our very brave Patriotic Hungarian brothers and sisters during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising against the Communist human filth.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 - Wikipedia

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"The Bridge at Andau is James A. Michener at his most gripping, the classic nonfiction account of a doomed uprising as searing and unforgettable as any of his bestselling novels. For five brief, glorious days in the autumn of 1956, the Hungarian revolution gave its people a glimpse at a different kind of future--until, at four o'clock in the morning on a Sunday in November, the citizens of Budapest woke to the shattering sound of Russian tanks ravaging their streets. The revolution was over. But freedom beckoned in the form of a small footbridge at Andau, on the Austrian border.

By an accident of history it became, for a few harrowing weeks, one of the most important crossings in the world as the soul of a nation fled across its unsteady planks."
 
Shattered,Its an account of Hillary Clinton's campaign and its struggles. Its shocking at times and at times not so surprising. They KNEW why they lost Michigan but they ignored it again in the general election. I am almost done with it and then will read a book I bought about the Trump campaign

I am also still working slowly through Jewish Supremacism I am around page 175 or so. I pick it up in the morning and read a few pages here and there. Its a fascinating fact filled book.
 
Is no one reading anything!? I am reading Hacks by Donna Brazile and its SHOCKING to say the least. The corruption,egoism,misogyny,ignorance in the Clinton campaign was shocking to say the least. A lot of stuff bordered on illegal and certainly was immoral and unethical. Brazile saw it all coming and no one listened to her. I am also reading Dark Soul of the South its about Joseph Paul Franklin a serial killer who targeted mixed couples and jews.
 
I read every night. Variety of things.
 

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