Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Moving on from Complete works of Ayn Rand into Emperor's New Mind. Might prove useful as I'm heading into AI R&D. It deals with topics about artificial intelligence and if intelligence is - or can be - even computed.
That said I would really like to get through Tolstoy - Dostoyevsky - Zamyatin again...
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Fiction: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Non-fiction: The complete book of the SR-71 Blackbird - Richard Graham
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
On Kindle, *Samurai! The Autobiography of Japan's Greatest Fighter Pilot* by Saburo Sakai (pub. 1957). Very fine account of aerial combat in the Pacific Theater during WWII from the perspective of a Japanese Ace (several times over).
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Among others currently on the night table..
Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle the Moon, Mars, and Beyond.
Christopher Wanjek
Fred
Say good night Gracie...Enjoyin' Tignanello 2017
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
I've just finished what was the number 1 book on Amazon.co.uk when I purchased the hardback copy: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
Richard Osman is the co-host of the BBC show "Pointless" and he is also host of his own BBC show: "Richard's House of Games." He is also a TV producer.
This is his first book and a second one in this series is available for pre-order for September 2021.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. For Crime procedural/Thriller readers it's more of a "Midsummer Murders" or "Columbo" type than being edgy and specifically scary/gory. The characters were all very nicely written and the whole story was well paced, easy to follow, and hard to put down.
The next book is on my wanted list. :)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Summer by Ali Smith. I love everything she writes.
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Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
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Fred
Tell Me Something Good
Tell me that you love me ...
Tell me something good
Tell me that you like it...
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Aristotle's Way by Edith Hall
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Intrepid: the Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship, by Bill White and Robert Gandt. History of the aircraft carrier that fought in World War II and Vietnam, was the recovery ship for America's first astronauts, and is now a museum in New York City.
Just starting John Grisham's A Time for Mercy, the third book featuring his original protagonist Jake Brigance.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
I'm currently reading The Buried Giant by Booker Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.
It's very different to the type of books that I usually read and I would be very interested to find out if anyone has read it and what they thought of it. :)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BlkWhiteFilmPix
A Time for Mercy is on my list to buy as a Kindle book very soon. :)
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Was unable to put it down - finished it the next day. Jake Brigance is one of my favorite characters. Grisham still has the magic.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger.
An orphan, his brother, and a mute young man of Sioux heritage flee an Indian Training school in 1932 Minnesota. They encounter a noodler.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Fiction: Fatherland by Robert Harris (alternative history: Nazi Germany won the war, and in 1964 POTUS J.Kennedy visits Berlin for A. Hitler’s 75th birthday)
Non-Fiction: Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BlkWhiteFilmPix
Was unable to put it down - finished it the next day. Jake Brigance is one of my favorite characters. Grisham still has the magic.
I've read the other books with the character Jake Brigance so I will definitely read this, but it's currently expensive in the UK even as a Kindle. It will reduce in price soon enough and it's not like I don't have other books to read while I'm waiting.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Finally finished Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (a few days ago, in fact). It had taken me probably three years. His lengthy introductory section really drew me in, and I got about half way through before bogging down. I got through the final section, on religious melancholy, mainly by grim determination to read the whole thing. Even there, though, there was some food for thought.
Part way through The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo. It's a first hand account of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, by one of the men who was actually with Cortes. A year or two ago I had read Conquest, by Hugh Thomas, a modern historian writing about the same events, and thought it would be interesting to go back to one of the primary sources. It is interesting, and the author has a very engaging and straightforward style. He wrote this many years after the events, relying partly on his memories, partly on his journals and other documents from the time. Still, he often admits frankly that he doesn't recall some name or other detail. His sniping at another historian, Gomara, who was not there, is amusing.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
Oh, and I usually try not to have the two most recent posts in any given thread, but what the heck. I read A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, for the first time in many years. Not sure what happened to my parents' complete set of his works, but I don't have it, so I downloaded a free copy from Project Gutenberg. I must send them a donation. Will do that right after I post this.
Anyway, a great story if you're willing to take it on its own terms and not overanalyze it (a frequent tendency of mine). And when a story is familiar to most people through other media, it's a good idea to go to the original at least once.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
*A Year with G.K. Chesterton: 365 Days of Wisdom, Wit and Wonder* ed. by Kevin Belmonte. I completed this book several years ago. Saw it on the shelf in late December and decided to read it again beginning January 1st.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
After having seen all movies over the years, I finally read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll in a beautiful edition with illustrations from Salvador Dali - a rather fitting combination. Discovered a nice one: “the best way to explain it is to do it”.
Re: What Was the Last Book You Read?
The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes - by Michel Pastoureau.
It's a very small but delightful paperback. I've never read anything quite like it. The author otherwise writes books on medieval history, and as he has been doing research over the decades and noticed the context in which stripes were used, this book has taken form in his mind. It is a personal, yet rather well considered view of one of the most important elements of visual symbolism. It's also great fun. I picked it up on Amazon.