What are you reading now?

I just ordered a book from defunctland.com, about all the dead attractions from Disney. I'm a huge fan of old theme parks- this makes me happy. 

I just finished the 3rd book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I know it’s beating a dead horse, but man that E36 M3 is funny. 

I'd like to read a Star Wars 'universe' book. Does anyone have a suggestion on where to start?

lonelyraven said:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
 

Be careful admitting you like that around here (assuming you do like it).

Just finished "Addicted to Outrage" by Glenn Beck.   I would recommend that to anyone, especially someone passionate about their politics. 

In reply to stroker :

That makes a lot more sense than "Addicted to Orange".

kazoospec said:

Currently working on this:

Not a "feel good" read, but it's about what might possibly be the most important single event of the 20th Century.  The losses suffered by both sides are simply mind-blowing.  A must read for any history buff.

Finally finished it.  Man was that depressing.  The waste of human life by both sides is astonishing.  Perhaps most astonishing was the survival rate for Axis survivors taken captive after the battle.  It seems no one has exact numbers, but it appears to have been significantly less than 10%. 

In reply to kazoospec :

Try reading "The Second World Wars" by Victor Davis Hansen.  IIRC the European Theater averaged about ten thousand dead per day, including civilians...

I just started The Skeptic's Guide To The Universe by the folks who do the podcast of the same name.  It explores misinformation from all sides, including neurological, philosophical, social, and all the mechanics of how we intake and process information in order to decide what is real.  It looks to be pretty interesting.

Before that I read James Dickey's Deliverance.  I've seen the movie numerous times and think it is fantastic.  The book is just as good in written form, even though it's approaching 50 years old at this point.  His descriptive writing is not ornate, but he uses unexpected ideas to make very vivid images.  It's only 250 pages and doesn't take long to read, but it feels like you're living through a harrowing few days in real time.  I recommend it.

Prior to Deliverance I read Chuck Pahlaniuk's (of Fight Club fame) most recent book, Adjustment Day.  It, on the other hand, was terrible.  Like all his work it's supposed to be an insightful satire of modern American society.  It starts off with a somewhat interesting premise about revolution, and rapidly goes downhill.  By the end, it's just stupid.  Avoid.

In reply to Duke :

Oranges are pretty tasty.

After finishing "Burning Down the Haus," Tim Mohr's history of the East German punk movement, which was quite interesting, I'm now working my way through Matthew Carr's history of terrorism, "The Infernal Machine".

Ready Player One was pretty good. I started his other book Armada today.

Currently reading “The Outsider” by Stephen King. 

Its a decent read 

They Fought Alone by Charles Glass. It’s focuses on two brothers who are SOE officers in France during WWII. It goes into organizing and running resistance cells. So far it’s been very good.

This chair is actually the most important thing to increase my reading.  New apartment.  No seated furniture besides a computer chair and a new Ikea hallway shoe thing.  It's straight up the one thing that will hopefully if it's  comfortable that will increase my reading until I can afford $500 for a decent WM sofa.

With that in mind this book will probably arrive around the same time.

On a book related note the new Jack Reacher tv series will not involve a vertically challenged actor according to the author. 

The hitchhikers guide series again. I'm up to book 3 already. I need to re-read these more often

Just finished re-reading the Harry Potter books and I'm re-reading "12 Rules for Life" by Jordan Peterson.  I also read "Mating in Captivity" by Esther Perel which I thought was very interesting.  I may have to buy that as Christmas presents for a couple of friends. 

My work makes me read a lot of scientific literature. I work as an academic writer at writinghelpessay and always strive to broaden my knowledge of new technologies and medicine in order to write high-quality content. In my spare time, I prefer reading a classic literature like Remark's novels.

Half way through...quick easy read...hope to have it done by Christmas so I can make it a bonus gift for someone.

In reply to nutherjrfan :

Hi nutherjrfan,

I’ve read both “Signature in the Cell” and “By Design”. I’m mostly interested in working out the mathematics of how much information is minimally required to achieve self-replication and estimating the probabilistic resource the universe has provided…how comprehensively does “Intelligent Design” address these topics?

"How to Build a Car," by Adrian Newey.

This book is superb. Adrian is an engineer's engineer. If you're technically inclined, which I believe a lot of us here are, you will appreciate this book. But even if not, Adrian wrote this book much like an autobiography, with a bit of reference to aerodynamics, which he explains elegantly in layman's terms. So it's easily readable. Personally, I had lost interest in F1 over the past 30 years, for various reasons. After reading Adrian's book, I now have a better understanding of what I missed during that time.

RossD said:

I'd like to read a Star Wars 'universe' book. Does anyone have a suggestion on where to start?

Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire", and the following two novels if the first grabs you.  

In reply to RX Reven' :

oops haven't started it quite yet.  trudging through this epic of loathing below.

don't expect much insight from me on the Dembski book as I'm a bit of a dummy. 

Just finished "Self Made Man" by Norah Vincent.  Lesbian columnist poses as a hetero man for about 18 months to see the difference in the worldview.  You can argue about how well she did, but I think she gave it an honest and sincere try to see beyond the superficial differences.  I found some of her observations very thought-provoking.