Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ?  (Read 836151 times)

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #250 on: 13 October, 2008, 05:39:34 pm »
"K2: The Savage Mountain", by Charles Houston. An account of the 1953 American expedition to K2, in which the party is pinned at 26,000 ft for quite a few days by a severe storm. One team member, Art Gilkey, develops thrombophlebitis in both legs and later an embolism in his lung as a result of many days spent immobile in a tent during the storm, combined with the usual thickening of the blood due to increased hemoglobin produced by the body to compensate for lack of oxygen at altitude. While his teammates are starting the process of lowering him over thousands of feet of technical terrain, Gilkey disappears over a cliff. The official explanation is that an avalanche swept him away while his teammates were preparing to lower him further and tending to other injured party members. It's now widely accepted that Gilkey figured out his odds of survival, factored in the odds for anyone who stuck around and tried to help him, and launched himself over the cliff.

onb

  • Between jobs at present
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #251 on: 13 October, 2008, 05:42:13 pm »
The reluctant fundamentalist.
.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #252 on: 14 October, 2008, 10:59:38 am »
Open Up And Bleed ~ Paul Trynka.  'tis a biography of Iggy Pop.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #253 on: 14 October, 2008, 12:11:48 pm »
Neal Stephenson's latest, Anathem.  Buckets of indulgent and whimsical word- and history-play. 

Previously: Edison's Conquest of Mars, an unofficial sequel to War of the Worlds.  The great man is a dab hand with a disintegrator.
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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Analog Kid

  • aka noquitelance
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #254 on: 15 October, 2008, 07:06:49 am »
Almost finished Chistopher Brookmyres "Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks".
Books are for tourists...

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #255 on: 15 October, 2008, 10:29:17 am »
'Disgrace' by J.M Coetzee: disturbing but not a difficult read. Recommended - I'm already looking forward to re-reading

Started 'Eugene Onegin' by Alexander Pushkin. It inspired Vikram Seth's 'The Golden Gate', which I loved. They're both written in tetrameter, which gives a light, tripping (but not trippy), full-of-fun feel

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #256 on: 18 October, 2008, 08:22:00 pm »
Runemarks by Joanne Harris. It's quite different to her other stuff. It's a bit like Chocolat and The Lollipop Shoes in that it's about magic, but she's created a whole new world and (so far) the whole book is about magic, gods, belief etc. I'm enjoying it very much.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #257 on: 18 October, 2008, 08:41:53 pm »
"Dreaming of Jupiter" by Ted Simon.   Repeating his earlier round the world motorcycle trip (Jupiters Travels) at the age of 70.

So far, excellent.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

IanDG

  • The p*** artist formerly known as 'Windy'
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #258 on: 19 October, 2008, 08:46:50 pm »
Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land (again)

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #259 on: 19 October, 2008, 08:50:42 pm »
I just started 'midnights children' by Salman Rushdie and it seems much better than another of his which was far too clever for its own good.

And Mrs Mike bought me the Man Booker winner White Tiger, which I started last night and is fantastic.

So that's two books about India, one which (so far) is about the build-up to Independence and the other about the current state of the nation.  Great stuff.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #260 on: 19 October, 2008, 08:54:39 pm »
The blessings of a good thick skirt, by Mary Russell - about women travellers through the ages - and L'invitée by Simone de Beauvoir, because I'm doing evening classes and need to practise reading.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #261 on: 22 October, 2008, 03:42:35 pm »
"Around the world by bicycle" by Heinz Stucke.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, he is the most travelled man in history - he left home in Germany in 1960 on his three-speed bike and has been travellijng nearly non-stop since.  A friend picked up the pamphlet from him when he was in the UK a couple of years ago.  You might remember that he had his bike nicked when he was in Portsmouth (it was later found).  The text is in the above link, but the photos appear to have been scanned, so they are quite poor by comparison.

Some hilarious quotes, showing a real mastery of understatement:

Quote
When you are visiting a country where there is political turmoil, or if you are unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of a local revolution, you can have plenty of difficulty and it can even be extremely dangerous.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #262 on: 22 October, 2008, 03:56:41 pm »
In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy

The story of twelve of Rome's most successful generals including Scipio Africanus and Trajan. I am studying this carefully with a view to launching a puscht  to bring down the republic that is YACF and install myself as sole emperor. I guess I might find myself stabbed in the back by WoW and Clarion next spring of I do though.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #263 on: 22 October, 2008, 05:17:20 pm »
Quote
he is the most travelled man in history - he left home in Germany in 1960 on his three-speed bike and has been travellijng nearly non-stop since.  A friend picked up the pamphlet from him when he was in the UK a couple of years ago.

Shared a room with him when I was travelling in Chinese Turkestan in '91. A very decent man indeed. Sadly, this was before I took up cycle touring, otherwise I'd have kept him up even longer asking him questions  :D

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #264 on: 22 October, 2008, 06:22:05 pm »
Quote
he is the most travelled man in history - he left home in Germany in 1960 on his three-speed bike and has been travellijng nearly non-stop since.  A friend picked up the pamphlet from him when he was in the UK a couple of years ago.

Shared a room with him when I was travelling in Chinese Turkestan in '91. A very decent man indeed. Sadly, this was before I took up cycle touring, otherwise I'd have kept him up even longer asking him questions  :D

He gave a slide show to my school when I was nine or ten.  I remember the nutty German bloke and his bike with the board in the frame.

Fruityloop!
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #265 on: 22 October, 2008, 06:28:19 pm »
I've just finished "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow.   It's marketed as a "Young Adult" book.  At 44 I enjoyed it anyway.

Set in a very near future San Francisco which has been locked down by the Department of Homeland Security  after a terrorist attack.

It reads very like a Heinlein juvenile for the Facebook era, so similar I think it must be deliberate homage.

Lots of information about the use & misuse of security technology and some brief history of the US civil rights movement.   

Bad points, the hero's are too good, the baddies too bad.

Recommended for anyone geekie, into IT, with libertarian or subversive tendencies.

If you don't want the dead tree version it's available for free download at the authors website

http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #266 on: 22 October, 2008, 08:26:41 pm »
Quote
Fruityloop!

So maybe our encounters with him sowed seeds that bore fruit in both of us, Charlotte?  ;)

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #267 on: 22 October, 2008, 08:36:46 pm »
Skullduggery pleasant.

My daughters latest reading book.

nuff said.

..d
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #268 on: 22 October, 2008, 09:45:39 pm »
He gave a slide show to my school when I was nine or ten.  I remember the nutty German bloke and his bike with the board in the frame.

Fruityloop!

That must've been quite a school you went to, Charlotte - about the most interesting speaker we had was the local fire chief telling us about the dangers of fireworks.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #269 on: 23 October, 2008, 09:26:51 am »
He gave a slide show to my school when I was nine or ten.  I remember the nutty German bloke and his bike with the board in the frame.

Fruityloop!

That must've been quite a school you went to, Charlotte - about the most interesting speaker we had was the local fire chief telling us about the dangers of fireworks.

If Charlotte went where ISTR she went then it would have been quite an unusual event. (Same school as my wife, just a few years later).

..d
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #270 on: 02 November, 2008, 01:12:45 am »
He gave a slide show to my school when I was nine or ten.  I remember the nutty German bloke and his bike with the board in the frame.

Fruityloop!

That must've been quite a school you went to, Charlotte - about the most interesting speaker we had was the local fire chief telling us about the dangers of fireworks.

We got Benny from Crossroads.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

zzpza

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #271 on: 02 November, 2008, 02:42:49 am »
Neal Stephenson's latest, AnathemBuckets of indulgent and whimsical word- and history-play. 

have you not read Cryptonomicon then? ;)

I've just finished "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow.   It's marketed as a "Young Adult" book.  At 44 I enjoyed it anyway.

...snip...

If you don't want the dead tree version it's available for free download at the authors website

http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

awesome! thanks :)

i tend to have a few books on the go at the same time. usually one or two 'core' books and several other that i pick up and but down every now and then. currently the list is...

A Hero of Our Time - Mikhail Lermontov
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Consider Phlebas - Iain M Banks (reread, last time i read it on a plane to tokyo)
Rainbows End - Vernor Vinge
Games People Play - Eric Berne, M.D. (psychology book on transactional analysis)
The Art of the Renaissance - Peter and Linda Murray

also if i'm taking a train anywhere, i have the complete works on my ipod in text format. currently rereading hamlet. also, an audio book on there too... Matter - Iain M Banks. all 17 hours of it(!)

i see that quite a few people are reading Spook Country by William Gibson. any good? the sprawl trilogy was his best work, followed by the bridge trilogy. it's all been downhill since then imho. :( but i still hope...

Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #272 on: 03 November, 2008, 12:58:38 pm »
i see that quite a few people are reading Spook Country by William Gibson. any good? the sprawl trilogy was his best work, followed by the bridge trilogy. it's all been downhill since then imho. :( but i still hope...

In my view, it's miles better than a lot of other post-9/11 novels, but still not Gibson at his visionary best.

Jacomus

  • My favourite gender neutral pronoun is comrade
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #273 on: 03 November, 2008, 03:55:17 pm »
Dawkins - The God Delusion



Thanks go to Charlotte for her, rather blunt but impassioned, recommendation of the book.

Extremely interesting, if a little slow going due to Dawkins very academic style combined with a typeface that kicks my dyslexia into hyperdrive.
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #274 on: 03 November, 2008, 04:15:52 pm »
George Orwell's '1984'

I read it quite a few years ago, and didn't really enjoy it, but in light of recent history, particularly the last 5-7 years, I thought I'd give it another go.

Reading it now, it's an interesting exercise to see what Orwell got right, even if his timing is some 24-30 years* out

* Allowing for trends in mass-survellance technology.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche