Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Glassfan]

I'm still working my way through Strachan's The First World War, Volume I, I'm more than halfway through!

It is an absolutely stupendous book.

To Arms?

I've just completed his The First World War, a short survey (only 364 pages) and it's quite good. Excellent pictures and maps, fine analysis. Looking forward to the trilogy.

 

[Kozmos]

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson. I love his stuff.

 

[Masada]

History of Mexico - Phillip Russel
God's Chinese Son - Jonathan Spence
Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences - Steve Keen
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang
Seeing like a State - James C. Scott
A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia's Search for Stability - Adam Schwarz

 

[Jan H]

Vanished Kingdoms: the History of Half-Forgotten Europe - Norman Davies

 

[Birdjaguar]

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson. I love his stuff.

I enjoyed too. He writes great books.

Just finished "Pillars of the Earth"; now reading "World without end" both by Ken Follett.

 

[Arakhor]

Those are real phonebook-sized novels. I enjoyed the first one so much that I bought the second brand new (rather than for 80p from my local charity shop).

 

[Birdjaguar]

With good story telling, the longer the better. Have you read "Otherland" by Tad Williams?

 

[Arakhor]

No, I haven't. I do recall that Tad Williams wrote a monstrously long trilogy (that spilled into more than three books), considerably before Robert Jordan and George Martin did the same.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Otherland is about virtual reality.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2fy8hkge8k_b

 

[JohannaK]

I agree with Arakhor.

 

[bhsup]

No, I haven't. I do recall that Tad Williams wrote a monstrously long trilogy (that spilled into more than three books), considerably before Robert Jordan and George Martin did the same.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower). Outstand trilogy. The middle book drags some, but I find that to be the case with most trilogies. personally, I was cheering for Ineluki

 

[Kozmos]

Are those other books any good? I read his Shadowmarch series and was somewhat left with a sour taste at how bland it was. There was maybe one interesting character in the whole thing.

 

[Antilogic]

History of Mexico - Phillip Russel
God's Chinese Son - Jonathan Spence
Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences - Steve Keen
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang
Seeing like a State - James C. Scott
A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia's Search for Stability - Adam Schwarz

I'm really interested in what you think on the bolded titles. I've been looking for a good history of Mexico, kind of like an in-depth overview of the subject or something along the lines of the Oxford History of the United States series.

The other two I added to a list to track awhile ago, maybe because I saw an interview on TV with the author. But I've haven't gotten around to obtaining a copy to read yet. Are they worth a look?





I just finished Miller's The President and the Assassin last night. It's a book, much like Candice Millard's Destiny of the Republic, that focuses on a 19th century Republican US president who doesn't get a lot of modern attention and his eventual assassin. Miller's work alternates POV between chapters between McKinley's foreign policy and depictions of the battles while the other half of the book looks at the anarchist speakers of the time, Leon Czolsogz, and the suffering of the poor that aren't quite as privileged as the men on the top. Eventually, these two collide, spoiler alert, McKinley is shot, dies, then his assassin is tried and executed.

Both Miller's and Millard's books were released around the same time, and were structured similarly focusing on both the president and his eventual assassin, and the conclusion of each assassination. Miller's book was, on average, rated more highly than Millard's, but I think this masks important differences between the works. Given McKinley had a full term before he was assassinated, Miller takes more time to focus on the first term, the wars, and the emergence of the US as a global power. The assassination occurs, and everything following is resolved within the final 50-60 pages of the book, whereas the lead-in is nearly 300 pages. Compare this to Millard's book on Garfield, who was only in the office for about three months before being attacked. As a result of this short tenure, Millard focuses more on the development of medical science and the doctors trying in vain to save Garfield before his untimely death due to medical malpractice. Millard also has more sections devoted to Alexander Graham Bell trying to develop a metal detector to find the bullet.

So better or worse on an absolute scale, I think, is not the appropriate metric. Neither book is dry or unreadable, I found both enjoyable. The difference is in what you want to read in the bits that aren't directly about the assassination. If you like traditional political/economic-type histories, then you'll probably prefer Miller's book. If you prefer medical devices, invention, and the story of a suffering dude who had a lot of potential to be a good president, then you'll probably prefer Millard's.

In any case, the theme of Gilded Era -> Progressive Era Republican presidents continues! Digging into Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris now; this is the second volume of his 3-part series that deals exclusively with his time as President of the United States. Picks up where Miller left off. Also plugging away on Rise and Fall of the Whig Party when I have the time (on pg. ~410 out of 985 of the core book, excluding notes, bibliography, etc.).

 

[Masada]

I've been looking for a good history of Mexico, kind of like an in-depth overview of the subject or something along the lines of the Oxford History of the United States series.

Pretty good so far as I can tell. Then again, I like zero knowledge of Mexican history outside of the Manila Galleon Trade/Silver.

The other two I added to a list to track awhile ago, maybe because I saw an interview on TV with the author. But I've haven't gotten around to obtaining a copy to read yet. Are they worth a look?

Only if you have a sound grounding in economics. I wouldn't recommend them otherwise. Keen in particular would be a fairly hard slog otherwise. I'd also recommend getting Keen in hardcopy because the charts and tables don't translate well over into ebook.

 

[Azale]

Chang isn't too bad I love that guy.

If you want a good Mexico book, look into Enrique Krauze and James Cockcroft. The former does really well written great person type history. Cockcroft wants to give you a breakdown of what the power and economic relations within Mexico look like and he doesn't pull many punches.

 

[Antilogic]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look them up.

 

[sophie]

Chang isn't too bad I love that guy.

If you want a good Mexico book, look into Enrique Krauze and James Cockcroft. The former does really well written great person type history. Cockcroft wants to give you a breakdown of what the power and economic relations within Mexico look like and he doesn't pull many punches.

Yeah, Krauze is excellent. We read him for my Mexican History class.

 

[Luckymoose]

Recently completed George Marsden's "Fundamentalism and American Culture" and Michael Lienesch's "In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement." Both are wonderful. Since the semester is nearly finished, I'll start chugging through the Complete Sherlock Holmes version by Barnes and Noble that I bought myself. I'm super excited.

 

[Flying Pig]

To Arms?

I've just completed his The First World War, a short survey (only 364 pages) and it's quite good. Excellent pictures and maps, fine analysis. Looking forward to the trilogy.

Reading that at the moment. Very interesting, certainly shifting my perspective on the war.

 

[Phrossack]

Lithuania Ascending. One of the very few English-language books that covers the rise of the Grand Duchy. Potentially informative but pretty dry.