Time 4 "What R U Reading these Days?"

patio34

Hi all,

I've been reading some very interesting books and would like to know what others are reading. And what your all-time favorites might be. It's been quite a while since we've had a thread like this, so here goes my list:

1. The End of History and The Last Man by Francis Fukuyama. A very upbeat look at the world scene and a reason to be hopeful for the trend of the world. A definite cure for counteracting the Jeremiad gloom the WTBS spreads!!

2. Get a Grip on Evolution by David Burne. A basic primer for evolution 101. It's written in short sections you can pick up and put down and lots of comical illustrations.

3. The Idiot's Guide to the Middle East Conflict Not highly recommended because it's too detailed. But it does give a good history of the situation.

4. The Wisdom of the Ages by Wayne Dyer. Excellent for living wisely and is written to do one thing a day.

5. The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron. I've been doing the morning pages and have had several break-thru ideas that are influencing my life much for the better.

6. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses by Mark and Heather Botting. It's too soon to tell about this one. Will update later.

Books that are on order from Amazon.com and will be reading in the next couple of months:

1. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. His style of writing and method of conveying info is very orderly and really sticks in your mind. I've loved every book of his (both of them!--The Blind Watchmaker & River Out of Eden) that I've read.

2. Steven Hassan's book on cults and mind-control. I'm a bit late in reading it!

3. Pioneer Women, The Lives of Women on the Frontier by Linda Peavy & Ursula Smith. Life in the 1800s compiled from diaries of real women and lots of antique photos. Another book on the same subject is on order.

4. Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama (already have this one). It's a not-so-cheery discussion of the consequences of the biotechnology revolution.

Some all-time favorites of mine are:
m-m-m-m, i'll have to think about that.
Oh! Theres Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve and The Red Tent.
Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond. Eminently good!
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond. Just as good almost.

All the best,

Mulan

I just bought Self Matters, by Phil McGraw (Dr. Phil) Haven't started it yet, but am looking forward to reading it.

I am currently reading "The Fiery Cross" by Diana Gabaldon, a novel, about the 6th I think, in her Outlander series. Time travel, Scotland, 'the colonies'..........a really great story.

This morning I did a quick refresher-read of "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine. His arguments don't all hold up, but it's really good reading on the problems with believing the Bible is anything but a history book. He is very specific about several issues involving timing and authorship of the individual books. It was written in the late 1700's, so a pretty amazing work.

Marilyn (aka Mulan)
"No one can take advantage of you, without your permission." Ann Landers

patio34

Hi Mulan,

I read one of Diana Galbadon's books and absolutely loved it! Time travel is one of my favorite themes. I forget which one it was--it may have been the 1st in the series.

Thomas Paine's book is pretty darned good. In that genre, i also liked Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth--it has excellent sarcastic reasoning on the Bible. The letters were from Satan back to heaven, scratching his head about humans' ideas on religion.

TTFN,
Pat

expatbrit

Last five books:

Machiavelli: The Prince.

Lonely Planet Guide to Morocco. In preparation for a trip later this year.

The Letters of Queen Victoria 1837-1861. A great way to get to know the young Victoria.

Bill Bryson: Notes From A Small Island. One of my favourite current travel authors. Delightfully sour and humourous observations on the British by an American.

The Universal Magazine, bound volume for January to June 1748. One of the books from my antiquarian collection. Everything from political essays to recipes to gardening tips to travel accounts. Fascinating.

Expatbrit

Mulan

Patio34: Another great time travel book is Knight in Shining Armor, by Jude Devereaux. I read it years ago, but loved it. One of my all time favorite movies is Somewhere in Time, another time travel theme.

Marilyn (aka Mulan)
"No one can take advantage of you, without your permission." Ann Landers

patio34

Hi again (from another thread ) Expatbrit,

Your antiquarian essays reminds me of a book i picked up on sale at Barnes & Noble recently and will be reading: World's Greatest Letters by M. Lincoln Schuster. It has the text from the actual letters of Beethoven, Michelangelo negotiating with the pope re the Sistine Chapel, Abe Lincoln, etc. Looking forward to it.

patio34

Oh Mulan, Somewhere in Time is my favorite all-time movie too! I love time travel stuff. Who is Knight in Shining Armor written by?

Mulan

I edited my last post, to include the author. Jude Devereaux.

Marilyn (aka Mulan)
"No one can take advantage of you, without your permission." Ann Landers

expatbrit

Pat:

Sounds like a great book. I'll look for it!

There's nothing like reading primary sources for really getting to know historical people (as much as is possible without meeting them anyway).

Expatbrit

one

patio34,

I have been reading this board, a good social experience no matter what.

Then i will try finish reading my own mind. Usually when i read i go to "table of content" or index and jump to any section i like. In my mind/book they both are mess up.

Sci fi movies Total Recall and The Matrix, suggested by some of you, but been to lazy to rent them, not a priority really.

Those movies may give a clue on how to Dump and then Sort
(computer terms) everything is in your mind.

CIA would love to be able to accomplish that. It is just one or two steps further from the present mundane practice of measuirng your brain activity.

If you bring B. Franklyn to watch what technology is doing, he would drop dead again.

Sorry for going off on a tangent here, cant help.

Time 4 "What R U Reading these Days?"

Share this