Cut the other one off (at 1347 posts) per the bosses' suggestion, here's volume II. Here's what's collecting dust on my nightstand: I won an autographed copy of this book, and put it aside for about 6 months because I thought it was gonna be a girly read, but it was quite good...probably especially interesting to New Yorkers or those with good knowledge of NYC.
Finished the book about the start of World War I (Europe's Last Summer, which was both enlightening and entertaining. There has been a lot of new scholarship in the last 40 years. Contrairy to what has been widely assumed, both Germany and Austria wanted war in 1914, but they didn't want the same war, and they weren't up-front with anybody, including each other. Austria had begun plotting to invade Serbia before the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. For the Austrian government, his death was a useful pretext that also removed the leader of the peace party in Vienna. Berlin was as paranoid about Russia as Vienna was about Serbia. They wanted Austria to go to war so that Russia would join in to defend Serbia. The Germans could then sell war to their own people by playing the aggrieved party. Kaiser Wilhelm, like his close personal friend the Archduke, was opposed to war, but the assassination caused him to waver for long enough for his ministers to go about launching the war they wanted. Now, I am about to start this: Finally, does anyone have recommendations on a translation of The Illiad?
the 7 habits of highly effective teens by Sean Covey! it was amazing and very helpful! although it had things that were only related to american teens!
Time and Man by Georgios I. Mantzaridis From the back: Man tends to see time as a factor in life that needs no explanation, and thinks that he knows what it is. But when he happens to ask questions about the nature of time, and tries to define it, he becomes aware of his inability to do so. The question of man's correct orientation in life is, in fact, a question of his correct orientation in time; and correct orientation in time presupposes a moving towards, and an examination of, the possibilities and perspectives afforded by time.
While I really like Lattimore's Odyssey (read it three times), I've never been able to get into his Illiad. Same with... what's that guy... Fitzgerald (only I didn't dig his Odyssey, either). So, while I haven't read all of it (yet), I've read good chunks of that recent version by Fagles, and it looks pretty good. Couldn't finish his Odyssey when I tried last year, but if I make a run at the Illiad, I'll go with the Fagles version. It seems to be a lot more direct and concrete. He has a good ear for the rhythm of English, but he keeps the story moving, too.
That book sucks. Trust me. I'm reading Carriers by Patrick Lynch. It's this sci-fi type novel about an abominable plague that this team of biohazard workers are trying to contain and cure. Wow - Amazon has no picture for this book. I'm shocked. Anyway, after I finish this, I'm moving on to The World According to Garp, a book I've been meaning to read for a while. When I'm done with that, it should be around my birthday, and I'll get lots more books.
we just bought "Fast Food Nation" this week, my daughters have thumbed through it and both refuse to eat out any more : )
I just finished reading Neil Stephenson's The Confunsion. My big debate with friends lately has been whether or not I could recomend someone reading that book without reading the first one in the series, Quicksilver. I'm all ears to thoughts on that one. I'm leaning toward recomending skipping Quicksilver for a friend. I've also been reading the Certified ColdFusion MX Developer Study Guide. Woo-hoo!!!
I'd recommend reading Quicksilver first, not so much because it would be hard to follow The Confusion otherwise, but moreso because I would think that most people who would enjoy reading the Confusion would probably enjoy Quicksilver as well, and if you're going to read them both, you may as well read them in order. But that's just me. How's the ColdFusion book going? I do ColdFusion development, and have found it generally pretty straightforward and not too tough to learn or to write.
Finished A Season with Verona by Tim Parks Just started The Complete Idiots Guide to The Crusades No mention about the 8th Crusade in the book however...
I just finished The Confusion last week. I don't see how it can be recommended to skip Quicksilver to jump into The Confusion, there's too much backstory in the first book to skip over. Even though I liked The Confusion much better than Quicksilver, I don't know if I would have been able to relate to the characters or their motivation without reading the first book. For one of my friends who liked the "natural philosophy" parts of Quicksilver more than the "swashbuckler" parts, I recommended that he skip The Confusion because it's a lot more "swashbuckler."
While I was visiting the ancestral homelands of Galesburg, Illinois, these past couple of weeks, I picked up a book in the public library there. Can't remember the title, something about "forgotten classics" in which several writers picked their favorite books that no one seemed to know about. One book that sounded interesting was "The Pilgrim Hawk" by Glenway Wescott. Since I'd never heard of him or the book, and since, it turns out, the library where I work has a copy, I read it last night. Quite good, and it can be gotten through in one sitting. Turns it it's in print, too. http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?product_id=35 Next up on my "Novels To Read in One Sitting" list: Albert Camus' "The Fall."
Well, I've mentioned both books on it so far, though if I wanted to show off I'd make one up that features Ulysses by James Joyce and Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann.
Finished Misadventures in the (213) last night - ended up a lot better than I thought it would be. Now onto: A few laugh-out-loud moments in the first chapter already.
The Confusion came across as being way more to the point and had a lot omre of the adventure story to it. I'm afraid that Quicksilver's repeated droning about the details of sailing or whatever may scare away some people from reading more Stephenson. I've been using since 97. I just want to make sure to kick some butt on the test so I can be a super-secret "advanced cf developer". So what prompted picking up the CF? Using it for work?
I just got done reading Tom Sawyer. I just finished another year of college, so right now my reading is getting REALLY casual...
Finished Reporting the Universe by E.L. Doctorow, a series of essays/lectures he gave at Harvard. HIGHLY recommended, though it is expensive and short. (Breezed through it in two afternoons over Memorial Day weekend.) Am now 60 pages into Moby Dick by Melville. I'm intent on tackling the great American 19th century writers - Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Dickenson & Whitman (I've already read Leaves of G. twice) - at least their better known works. Not sure why. Doctorow develops an idea that they are our true 19th century American prophets, back when America was new and raw and in need of new idea and visions. Something like that. I'll go back to Reporting the Universe to get the full idea. We'll see. Great stuff so far.
Man, this thing is making my head hurt. There's some heavy duty junk in it, and I'm only a little way into it. Good thing it's only a little over a hundred pages or nobody would get through it. Heavy stuff for sure. Chapter one heavily quoted Einstein, Kant, Newton, Maximos the Confessor, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. Bunch of lightweights
Yeah, I use it for work, have been for 4 or 5 years now. I don't have any formal training or certification or anything of that nature, though. On a side note, I don't think I've met you - do you make it to a lot of Thunder matches? We'll have to meet up for a cold beverage or two one of these times. As for books, after finishing the Confusion, I went back and read another story out of the Sherlock Holmes volume I have, and have now started on Winston's Churchill's six volume WWII history which I inherited from my grandfather and has been sitting on my shelf unread for a couple years.