What are you reading?

[JohannaK]

Here and everywhere. Except All Other Games.

 

[Joecoolyo]

From the tavern thread:

Blew through Fatherland, and I have to say I ended up really liking it, if not only for the last third. The first 2/3rds of the book were ok, interesting but nothing special, but once you get to the last third it really picks up and takes some interesting turns. Would recommend.

Now I've got City of Thieves in my possession, looks interesting, and should be another one to easily blow through in like a week.

Spoiler :

pc+1

 

[Antilogic]

Reading Neil Fergunson's Civilization

Is this book from before or after he started being a professional idiot on television?



My up-to-date readings are all in the tavern thread, won't copy-paste here.

 

[Dachs]

Is this book from before or after he started being a professional idiot on television?

After.

I think the only book he wrote before that was his two-part work on the j000000s Rothschilds.

 

[Antilogic]

It's a sad thing--my only experience with his writing besides misleading editorials is The Ascent of Money, which leaves much to be desired.

 

[Phrossack]

The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook. It's alright so far; a dry academic piece on the Khazar khaganate, and it thankfully covers Khazar society as a whole rather than just Judaism. Good source of info on the topic.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Finished City of Thieves; short, sweet, and sometimes pretty funny. Not much else to say about it.

Of course, the main library here has just about all the books I want to read checked out or not available (Battle Cry of Freedom ), so I decided to go with Carthage Must be Destroyed. Its not the time period I really want to get into at the moment, but Carthage has always seemed pretty interesting, so learning more couldn't hurt.

Spoiler :

pc+1

 

[Flying Pig]

Advance warning that I intend to take CV Wedgewood's The Thirty Years War with me to South Africa as aircraft reading, so will let you people know how I find it in approximately one month's time.

 

[Tahuti]

I've just begun with Dante's Purgatorio.

 

[Antilogic]

Advance warning that I intend to take CV Wedgewood's The Thirty Years War with me to South Africa as aircraft reading, so will let you people know how I find it in approximately one month's time.

That's the one I read! Based on a previous conversation (w/ Dachs?), I heard the work was somewhat dated and Peter Wilson's identically-titled book (okay, different sub-title) is better, but I forgot the reason why.

Nonetheless, since I didn't know squat about the war except for a few wikipedia articles' worth of knowledge, I still felt like I gained something from it.

 

[Flying Pig]

Yes; the blurb warns that it is dated, but believes that it's the most readable 'good' account out there - which is a bonus when travelling! I'm in a similar boat to you, so hoping it will give me some background at least, and kill some time: plus, and more to the point, it was in the charity shop.

 

[Borachio]

I've just begun with Dante's Purgatorio.

You're a glutton for punishment.

You can read Italian, I take it?

--------------------------

I'm just reading the Tao Te Ching, for about the tenth time. (It is very short.)

No nearer to understanding anything about it.

 

[Antilogic]

Yes; the blurb warns that it is dated, but believes that it's the most readable 'good' account out there - which is a bonus when travelling! I'm in a similar boat to you, so hoping it will give me some background at least, and kill some time: plus, and more to the point, it was in the charity shop.

Oh, I know the feeling all too well. For a good traveling book, I'll take a well-written and more "pop-history" account over something that requires too much concentration.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I just started "wool" and am liking it.

 

[Dachs]

Wilson's book doesn't require all that much more concentration. It's just larger and more inconvenient to carry around while traveling. That sort of thing tends to happen when you put facts into your book.

Reading H.M. Scott - The Birth of a Great Power System. It's okay, but a lot of it is very general stuff that I could've gotten elsewhere. I was kind of looking for something that was better on what actually happened instead of the broad sweep.

 

[nerdfighter13]

I'm reading All quiet on the Western Front for english class.

 

[Agent327]

You're reading a German book for English class. Alright then. (Very good book, by the way. For German class it's a good introduction to the real thing: Im Westen nichts neues.)

Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes, The Short 20th Century (Got stuck in last chapter/Epilogue, which was becoming a bit repetitious, so I started on: )

The Age of Revolutions, 1789-1848 (Also started in: )

The Age of Imperialism, 1871-1914

Apparently 'the long 19th century' isn't so much a book by Hobsbawm, but a concept he developed with his 19th century trilogy, covering 1789-1914.

I'm just reading the Tao Te Ching, for about the tenth time. (It is very short.)

No nearer to understanding anything about it.

That's probably because it's rather cryptic and can be taken to mean lots of things. (Sun Tzu's The Art of War is similarly vague; I wouldn't recommend it for a military hand/textbook.)

 

[Singularity]

Peter F. Hamilton - The Great North Road

Newcastle-upon-Tyne AD 2142... northerners everywhere...all 1100 pages.

 

[ParkCungHee]

You're a glutton for punishment.

You can read Italian, I take it?

--------------------------

I'm just reading the Tao Te Ching, for about the tenth time. (It is very short.)

No nearer to understanding anything about it.

Have you tried reading any commentaries on it?

 

[Agent327]

Yes, the commentaries take up far more pages than the book itself.