So, what books are you reading right now?

We have this for music, so why not for books too? Hopefully, we can get some good discussion going and expand our knowledge. :slight_smile:

I’m tempted to say ‘no philosophy books’ but I don’t really want to limit the thread. However we do have entire forums dedicated to discussing the ideas that arise from our engagements with philosophical texts, so I would ask that you only post it if you feel the book warrants some light hearted discussion and you’re reading it cover to cover.

(also, if this exists already I apologise, had a quick look and couldn’t see anything)

Anyway, I’ll start:

Martin Millar - ‘Lonely Werewolf Girl’

He keeps getting compared to Neil Gaiman. Having never read Gaiman I’m not sure if this comparison is accurate. Light hearted magical realism that I find a relaxing alternative to my other reading. Good, though not excellent (preferred one of his other books: ‘Good Fairies of New York’)

The Rape of Nanking, Sync, and Complex Adaptive systems.

I’m currently reading a Neil Gaimon book but I’ve forgotten the title!

This is my first Gaimon book. I’ve been taking an interest in the horror genre recently and it was in this context that Gaimon’s name came up.

One reason I quite enjoy Gaimon is his ‘fairy tale’ style of writing. Except that they are contemporary fairy tales, which can also be as grim as the Grimm variety.

Another reason I enjoy the book is that he’s, say, writing a story about an elderly lady Mrs Smith of Privet Drive - or some such - who just happens to go to a charity shop and who just happens to buy the Holy Grail. I like the mixture of everyday and fantasy.

I’m reading Hamlet again. This time slowly, and high.

“Being and Time” …again.

Interesting, a friend’s doing his PhD on modelling sustainable systems as a complex adaptive system.

For non-work books, I’m reading Nial Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money” and John Hull’s “Options, Futures & Other Derivatives”. Ferguson’s book is a very interesting look at how finance has evolved into what it is, would recommend it.

Yep, I like NF’s books too - read “war of the world” first then “Ascent of money” last year. Loved 'em both. CAS’s are really opening up these days across many different academic disciplines. Very interesting stuff. I’ve read a bit before, and was worrying that the new books would simply re-hash the old, but Sync so far is full of new stuff.

The Rape of Nanking was excellent, well, in a holy-shit-people-are-just-fucking-scum kinda way.

Bless Amazon.

I’ve picked up my Unabridged Edgar Allen Poe once again, though I can’t say it’s a book one should read cover to cover.

I’ve also recently begun a C.S. Lewis book called Surprised by Joy, which is an account of his early life and conversion from Atheism to Christianity. I can’t say how it is yet, I haven’t gotten far enough.

I’m not going to attempt to control how this thread develops (as that would be mildly presumptuous, this is an area for conversation after all) but I was hoping it would stay relatively clear of obvious / major philosophical texts, simply because there is ample space to discuss these all over the board, whereas there is little space to discuss the many other areas of reading in which I’m sure we all engage.

Anyway, I’ve just finished Bed Goldacre ’ ‘Bad Science’

Really, really good book. I highly recommend it to all UK residents. I personally find that his writing can be tinged with arrogance, but despite that, and within a broad-ranging attack on UK journalism, he covers a variety of issues that are really interesting. Also check out the blog (badscience.net/) for a flavour of his writing. (This is also probably good for non-UK residents, but his attack on journalism is fuelled by an analysis of the various scares that occurred in the UK up until 2008 and as such of a peculiarly national interest, the broad themes should appeal to anyone with an analytic mind though.)

Given the recommendations, I’m gonna see if I can pick up Nial Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money” at the library :slight_smile:

awesome

pynchon vineland

Currently reading The Economic Naturalist, and it’s pretty BADASS. :smiley:

The Ascent of Money was quite interesting. The BBC made several episodes with the author going through the facts and history explained in the book. TV naturally makes keeping your attention easier. I’ve had quite a strong interest in finance for the past year or so, I just finished reading A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Collapse of Lehman Brothers. It makes me lament their failure, seeing as how they were so desperately trying to compete with Goldman Sachs and how the entire financial sector is now consolidated by a few big players.

Keeping in line with the ‘I was there’ point of view trying to figure out how it is to work in finance, I’ve started reading Fooling Some of the People All of the Time. It’s a book written by a hedge fund manager who made plenty of money shorting Lehman and who describes his experience in shorting Allied Capital, a company whose accounts he distrusted, and their and the government’s campaign against him. He seems like a very very intelligent fellow, graduating with all distinctions at university, and apparently earning an average 25% net interest a year for his investors for the past 13 years. He also got a substantial 6 figure sum from his placing in a poker tournament 2-3 years ago, all of which he donated to charity. A role model if I ever had one.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Bad Science though I haven’t read it. Another book you might want to look into, which is similar in theme, is Fads and Fallacies by Martin Gardner. He goes through a set of theories and nonsensical claims which had followings of some degree or another (e.g. convex earth theory). It was written nearly 60 years ago, before the space missions, which makes it all the more interesting seeing how crackpots, idiots and gullible people don’t change. Maybe someone will look at ideas like Creationism in 60 years and pity us. Here’s a link amazon.co.uk/Fads-Fallacies- … 0486203948

I have this one Living Biographies of Great Philosophers-Green hard cover, really nice.

There’s this book Wrath of Grapes, I want to read. And also the Tequila Mockingbird.

And maybe Finding Serenity.

The only literature I currently read is Tatler magazine… it’s a life-style magazine and has many stories about the lives of the rich and famous… and sometimes the infamous :open_mouth:

“The Next Hundred Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century” by George Friedman

“On Law, Morality, and Politics” by Aquinas. A pretty interesting guide on how to use reason to warp reality in order to avoid having to draw unwanted conclusions.

Although I must say I like his style. No bullshit. Straight up arguments.

HAHAHA!
That’s great! I’m going to read that!

I read To Kill A Mockingbird last night. I’ve picked up Animal Farm this morning, though I haven’t begun it yet. I just may have to devour it this evening.

Taking my time with Only Revolutions. Great book, but I can really only read 16-or-so pages in a sitting. Unless I go into a fugue state and plow through, like 80 pages (which has happened). I loved House of Leaves and, actually, I think I like this one even better. Some of the lines are just great “I’m all school in summer: no class”. I totally use that one to describe myself now. Plus it is just fun to read. Each time I pick it up, I have to re-learn how to read it.

Re-reading “After Virtue”. Always good for me to brush up on VE. It is also a good re-read now that I know a little more about VE. It is good to go back and re-examine it.

Just started “Confessions of a Mask”. It is good to see where everything started. Both in terms of Mishima’s literary career as well as his life because the book is highly autobiographical. Fun stuff.

And, to my shame, “A Thousand Sons”. Err, the less said about that the better.