Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Joecoolyo]

He's got the small, 200 page one which covers the entire war (which I assume is the one you picked up, its pretty decent albeit it short IMO). And then he has a massive 1000 pager one that covers only the build up to the war, the first part of three planned books I think.

I really wish he wrote a middle option between those two extremes , with a bit more depth than the 200 page one, but not nearly to the extent of the big one.

 

[Cutlass]

This printing is 340 pages.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Yeah, 200 pages was just an estimate on my part. I read that around three-four months ago, and my memory isn't the sharpest

 

[emzie]

Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt

It's the most approachable book of its kind I've yet read, but I can't help but feel ontology is, on its own, a giant circle jerk.

 

[madviking]

Sigmund Freud's Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (500 pages!)

It's one of the more interesting books assigned in my classes.

 

[1889]

Taking a break from History and Poli Sci to read something a little lighter, The Longest Walk by George Meegan. Some dude I happened to meet who walked from the southern tip of Argentina to Nome, Alaska in the 1970's. It's a fun read so far.

 

[ParkCungHee]

The Damnable Question.

Fairly decent for republican nationalist claptrap.

 

[Antilogic]

I got the Strachan "The First World War" from the library the other day based on recommendations.

I don't think you'll be disappointed, it's probably the best modern overview on the subject. Plus it pays attention to more than the Western front, which seems to have been seriously overplayed in older accounts of the war.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Why everyone reading real books?

Try some Jack Reacher novels or Terry Pratchett books.


Or maybe Snow Crash with Hiro Protagonist, world's greatest swordsman

Won't ever forget "Reason"

 

[Antilogic]

Can't speak for everyone, but I lost my interest in fiction in American middle and high school, but had the good fortune to take a class on nonfiction literature during my final semester. I've never looked back.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I just said I'm reading Republican history. That fills all the need I have for fiction.

 

[Antilogic]

I just said I'm reading Republican history. That fills all the need I have for fiction.

I did a quick search and know the book is on English-Irish relations, but can you narrow that down a little more for those of us who aren't familiar with his work?

 

[ParkCungHee]

Fairly standard GLORIOUS IRISH REVOLUTION WAITING IN THE WINGS FOR DECADES stuff you can hear in any Irish pub. Slumbering people, periodic revolutionaries trying to wake them, Secret Societies laying the seeds for the future, ghost of Cuchulain and Karl Marx fighting alongside Irish patriots nationalist stuff.

It's well written and informative, but doesn't shake the paradigm of Irish Republicanism a bit.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Can't speak for everyone, but I lost my interest in fiction in American middle and high school, but had the good fortune to take a class on nonfiction literature during my final semester. I've never looked back.

Ah yes, the public school system strikes again!


Killed reading enthusiasm by making you read borrrring fiction yes?

War and Peace can snuff out any anyone.

To Kill a Mockingbird and The Giver and the others like it are all so ... limited.

 

[Antilogic]

Ah yes, the public school system strikes again!


Killed reading enthusiasm by making you read borrrring fiction yes?

War and Peace can snuff out any anyone.

To Kill a Mockingbird and The Giver and the others like it are all so ... limited.

Basically, and a handful of my teachers were not that enthusiastic themselves. However, the class I took in my last semester was with an excellent teacher, and we read books like In Cold Blood by Capote, The Right Stuff by Wolfe, Isaac's Storm by Larson, and a few others. Between books, we read plenty of articles from the last century on everything from medicine to the atomic bomb. Awesome class.

 

[Luckymoose]

 

[Arakhor]

Stephen Lawhead's doorstopper, Byzantium.

 

[Luckymoose]

 

[Smellincoffee]

Pedaling Revolution: how Cyclists are Changing American Cities. It's rather encouraging.

 

[Ajidica]

Why everyone reading real books?

Try some Jack Reacher novels or Terry Pratchett books.


Or maybe Snow Crash with Hiro Protagonist, world's greatest swordsman

Won't ever forget "Reason"

I still read a fair amount of fiction books. Whenever I want a truely epic story I turn to Demon by John Varley.
Anyhow, I abandoned my attempt to read a book on the War of the Roses (whenever I opened it up I felt the urge to go to bed) and switched to the last years of the Soviet Union. Currently working through "The Last Years of the Soviet Empire" by Vladimir Shlapentokh. It is a collection of articles the author wrote during Gorbachev's leadership accompanied by a short retrospective about each article.