What books are we reading at the moment ?

[mark]

"Annapurna", by Maurice Herzog. As the title suggests, the book describes the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950 by a French expedition. Right now I've just finished the part where they realize that their maps are inaccurate, and Dhaulagiri is well beyond their capabilities, so they've decided to find Annapurna and climb it.

[Ray 6701]

Fallen angel (The passion of Fausto Coppi)

By
William Fotheringham

[David Martin]

a history of western philosophy - Bertrand Russell
Slow going

[Frenchie]

"Annapurna", by Maurice Herzog. As the title suggests, the book describes the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950 by a French expedition. Right now I've just finished the part where they realize that their maps are inaccurate, and Dhaulagiri is well beyond their capabilities, so they've decided to find Annapurna and climb it.

Sounds like a possible future read for me.

[clarion]

a history of western philosophy - Bertrand Russell
Slow going

But fantastic.

[αdαmsκι]

I've just finished The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan, which is bizarre and nightmarish, but compelling.

[geraldc]

I'm working my way through Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels.

Awesomely violent. Makes Jack Bauer from 24 look like a little girl.

[Mr Larrington]

Being incredibly anal and scouring twenty year old motorcar wank mags for information concerning the genesis of the Lamborghini V12.

[Really Ancien]

Being incredibly anal and scouring twenty year old motorcar wank mags for information concerning the genesis of the Lamborghini V12.

I saw a Lambo cyclinder head stripped down in a motor engineers in Canterbury once, I was picking up a mate's BSA Thunderbolt head after a Helicoil job on a stripped spark plug thread. The surprising thing was that the inlet ports were between the twin cams, so as to give a lot of downdraught. This Youtube video of a rebuilt engines shows that.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/47LNMZ1CA_g&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/47LNMZ1CA_g&rel=1</a>
I'm reading 'Holidays in Hell' by P.J. O'Rourke. Interesting to see the gonzo style of journalism evolve in the mid 80's and to see which of the world's trouble spots are still active. It's funny as well.

Damon.

[onb]

Saturday by Ian McEwan.

[David Martin]

a history of western philosophy - Bertrand Russell
Slow going

But fantastic.

Not really a history bokok, more of a 'Russels opinion on western philosophy'

..d

[clarion]

a history of western philosophy - Bertrand Russell
Slow going

But fantastic.

Not really a history bokok, more of a 'Russels opinion on western philosophy'

..d

Which is what makes it all the better

[Spinners]

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

After finishing the book I took away on holiday I found this in our holiday cottage and blasted my way through half of it in a day before having to leave it behind. I found it riveting so it's off to the library on Monday...

[her_welshness]

Just finished reading 'A Quiet Flame' by Philip Kerr. Yet again, brilliant writing, great black humour and an opportunity to learn about aspects of WW2 that are not talked about very much.

[Quisling]

Non-violence.The history of a dangerous idea, by Mark Kurlansky.

Excellent stuff.

[RW]

The Trouble with Spain - Martin Lloyd

A book about riding a bike around Spain, which I've become increasingly bored with.  I didn't buy it, Polly picked it up from Mannings Heath Village Hall, where they have a book lending scheme. 

I've nearly finished it and quite frankly I don't give a damn if he gets back over the Pyrenees or not.  (He will though - he's written the book) and I'm certainly not interested in whether he gets dinner in a Spanish hotel and  I'm hugely irritated by his smug cleverness.

Here's a quote

"But I suspect that you are all wondering about breakfast, aren't you.

I shal not say a word about breakfast.  That would be to trivialise my achievements."

and another -
"I remind them that I travel alone because nobody will cycle with me anymore....."

I wonder why

[Flying_Monkey]

I am now burying myself in permaculture and gardening books, in preparation for next year... currently going through one of my favourites: my old teacher, Patrick Whitefield's How to Make a Forest Garden (which is exactly what I plant to do). Great stuff.

[andygates]

The incredibly bad Majestic, by Whitley Streiber.  I've discovered that if you read if with Johnny Depp's Fear and Loathing voice as the narrator's, it's a lot of fun.

[clarion]

I'm really excited by a book I've found on the shelves at work.

Our Street by Jan Petersen (7Seas).  No cover, which is how I'd missed it before, and it's quite fragile, as it's published in 1960, and not awfully well bound.  But that's aside.

It's the true story of a single street in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and their resistance to the coming of the Nazis.  I'm afraid I'd never heard of the book or the author before, but it promises to be a gripping read.

[Tim Hall]

Part one of my Dad's autobiography.  He's been writing this gradually over the past few years and has finally got part one (birth to moving to where he lives now) done.   Printed off and bound, a copy to each member of the family.

Gulp.

[mark]

Just finished Nazi Nexus, by Edwin Black. It's a disturbing account of how various big American corporations (General Motors, IBM, Ford Motor Company and others) did business with Nazi Germany before and during WWII, raking in enormous profits while enabling Adolf Hitler to carry out his plans.

I'm now part way into The Cyclist's Manifesto, which is far more enjoyable reading.

[Quisling]

Just finished Nazi Nexus, by Edwin Black. It's a disturbing account of how various big American corporations (General Motors, IBM, Ford Motor Company and others) did business with Nazi Germany before and during WWII, raking in enormous profits while enabling Adolf Hitler to carry out his plans.

Interesting, this gets a mention in the book I'm reading "Non-violence.The history of a dangerous idea", by Mark Kurlansky
Clearly it was helpful to the Allies (prior to the Nazi's signing the non-agression pact with Stalin) to support the Nazi's since fascism was preferable to communism.  Suprising how quick friends become enemies - especially if you've sold them arms.

[Mrs Pingu]

Canal Dreams by Iain Banks.
Much better than his newer stuff. Gory, bloody, violent and with a great balsy female protagonist. The way he used to write them back then.

[Rhys W]

I liked Iain Banks's stuff, The Bridge is my fave I think (ripped off by Irvine Welsh in The Marabou Stork Nightmares imo). I've got a big black and white section of my bookshelf!

Currently for me it's "What I Saw At Bethesda", an account of the "Streic Fawr", the quarrymen's strike at the turn of the last century.

[mark]

Just finished Nazi Nexus, by Edwin Black. It's a disturbing account of how various big American corporations (General Motors, IBM, Ford Motor Company and others) did business with Nazi Germany before and during WWII, raking in enormous profits while enabling Adolf Hitler to carry out his plans.

Interesting, this gets a mention in the book I'm reading "Non-violence.The history of a dangerous idea", by Mark Kurlansky
Clearly it was helpful to the Allies (prior to the Nazi's signing the non-agression pact with Stalin) to support the Nazi's since fascism was preferable to communism.  Suprising how quick friends become enemies - especially if you've sold them arms.

That's not the impression I got from "Nazi Nexus". In spite of the strong isolationist and anti-Communist feelings prevalent in the US, the Roosevelt administration seems to have figured out very quickly that A. Hitler & Co. were very bad news indeed for the rest of the world. The book cites a New York Times article from 1933 calling Hitler a menace to the rest of the world, and claims that by 1934 the US War Department was expressing misgivings about selling any technology wiith military applications to the Germans. My impression from reading Edwin Black's books is that Charles Watson (IBM) and Alfred Sloan (GM) would have jumped at a chance to do business with Stalin, Hitler and the Allies simultaneously, before or after the German-Soviet non-aggression pact was signed. As it is, both men and their corporations did a pretty good job of making money off the Allies and the Nazis simultaneously, throughout WWII.