What are you reading now?

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

Based on Gary's advice above I just finished "The Perfectionists" by Simon Winchester.

A very interesting read. The march of machinists from accuracy of 1/10" to 10 to the 36th power.  I enjoyed it a lot.....

Based on Gary and your suggestion I also read(listened actually) this, very good. I also listed to "The professor and the madman" by Simon Winchester as well which was about the making of the OED and the editor and one of the major contributors.
 

And since I drive so much and a friend was telling me about the Netflix show "The Queens Gambit" I listened to that book as well. It's a really good story but the writing isn't the best, fragmented and questionable. Entertaining though which is what I need...

Just finished "The Scientists"  by John Gribbin  2002

Suggested by a very high ranking bio-chemist I do some remodeling for.

The march of science from about 1600 to 2002.  A good read if you are into science.  Not a fast read.  But interesting reading of the battles between churches and scientists through the ages.

I get the Newton stuff but I still struggle to understand Quantum electrodynamics, and the special theory of relativity.  I figure if I keep attacking the subject I might finally get it.   

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction historical novel about the construction and operation of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World Fair) and the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, considered history's first modern serial killer, who used the fair to lure people to death inside of an elaborately constructed building.

In reply to NickD :

I read that maybe 15 years ago. It was pretty interesting and not a tale I'd ever heard. 
 

Just finished a sci-fi book called Nophek Gloss. Good read, some interesting takes on world building and more character development than the standard space opera. The descriptive writing really lends itself to a well-imagined, colorful world without being repetitive or boring. 

I just finished the 6th Expanse book. Finishing up the last maze runner series book (the last two are actually "prequels") and I have started Moby Dick. 

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen.

Tall, pretty blonde woman gets flipped off a cruise ship by her cheating husband, survives by clinging to a bale of Jamaican pot and is saved by a discredited retired detective living alone on an island.  They've teamed up to make the husband  crazy ........

An easy read, not a lot of thinking involved but entertaining.

In reply to 914Driver :

I enjoy Hiaasen books.  They are all pretty much the same plot, but nice, mindless entertainment.  Strip Tease is my favorite.  The Burt Reynolds character in the movie was less insane that how it was written...

bobzilla said:

I have started Moby Dick. 

It was nice knowing you. 
 

I just got Humble Pi by Matt Parker delivered.  Its stories of how and why math goes wrong in the real world, as well as what happens when it does.  

Sort of a whole book of who, what, where, when, and why of the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (and other lesser disasters)

Duke said:

bobzilla said:

I have started Moby Dick. 

It was nice knowing you. 
 

explain?

In reply to bobzilla :

Search this thread for the previous discussion of Moby Dick. 

It amazes me that there were any words left over for anyone else to use by the time Melville got done writing it. 
 

NickD said:

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction historical novel about the construction and operation of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World Fair) and the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, considered history's first modern serial killer, who used the fair to lure people to death inside of an elaborately constructed building.

Read that years ago, still refer back to some historical nugget from it occasionally. Excellent book.

In in the last hundred pages of the Dream Children trilogy, a subset of the Stephen Baxter Xeelee universe. 

This particular trilogy takes a very deep dive into a human hive that had formed on earth in the late 00bc era as a village hiding, trying to survive the fall of Rome. The trilogy follows from their creation and beginning of separation from the rest of humanity to the battle for the galaxy 500,000 years and 25,000 light years away, to the great transcendence 5M years away, and how everything in humanities future relied on the now familiar from other Baxter books, Michael Poole, and how he managed to come up with the idea that solved the Warming issues facing earth, thus saving humanity, who after several major powers struggle wars, realized they could leave this rock.

Some may say that I'm in a rut with the Baxter books, but the sheer number of them, combined with how they all tie together through the shared universe(and multi verse in some cases), really grabbed me hard. The detail, the entire plausibility of it, it's very clear that the author has a background in the fields, and I think that's what makes it so good, the difficulty of telling the book world from the real world. They make for a wonderful escape. 

Marjorie Suddard said:

NickD said:

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction historical novel about the construction and operation of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World Fair) and the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, considered history's first modern serial killer, who used the fair to lure people to death inside of an elaborately constructed building.

Read that years ago, still refer back to some historical nugget from it occasionally. Excellent book.

Entertaining book, but there are other historians that have written about Holmes that contradict or at least refute a lot of what's in that book.  So, take what's in there with a grain of salt.

Benswen said:

Marjorie Suddard said:

NickD said:

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction historical novel about the construction and operation of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World Fair) and the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, considered history's first modern serial killer, who used the fair to lure people to death inside of an elaborately constructed building.

Read that years ago, still refer back to some historical nugget from it occasionally. Excellent book.

Entertaining book, but there are other historians that have written about Holmes that contradict or at least refute a lot of what's in that book.  So, take what's in there with a grain of salt.

Yeah, I enjoyed the book but that's a fictionalized version of a story that doesn't need to be trumped up.

Yeah, it actually more pointed me to some choice nuggets I gleaned after it inspired me to read more about Grover Cleveland, a President I had zero interest in prior to the book, as well as the beginnings of the electrification of America. Which is typical for me: Rush right past the lurid serial killer story to nerd out.

Benswen said:

Marjorie Suddard said:

NickD said:

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction historical novel about the construction and operation of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (Chicago World Fair) and the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, considered history's first modern serial killer, who used the fair to lure people to death inside of an elaborately constructed building.

Read that years ago, still refer back to some historical nugget from it occasionally. Excellent book.

Entertaining book, but there are other historians that have written about Holmes that contradict or at least refute a lot of what's in that book.  So, take what's in there with a grain of salt.

I know that doing a little other researching, one thing that I found immediately contradicted is where Holmes buys the pharmacy on moving to Chicago. Larson describes them as an elderly couple, the husband is on his deathbed and passes away shortly after, and then the wife eventually goes missing and is hinted at as having been killed by Holmes. In real life, they were the same age as Holmes, the husband was not ill, and he did not murder either of them nor did they even go missing or even leave Chicago. 

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Electrification is an interesting story.  I read a book about the founding of Bell Labs that led me to read about a bunch of other utility origins. 

Currently reading "Streams of Silver", by R.A. Salvatore.  It's book 2 of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, and so far much more enjoyable than the 1st one.  I read the Drizz't prequels also, but this one is the best so far.

Recently wrapped up "The Trouble with Peace" by Joe Abercrombie.  I've read pretty much everything he's written, and the First Law Trilogy is maybe my favorite of all time.  His characters feel like real beings that act with their own free will, not pieces that the writer moves around to advance the story.  Also very dark, violent and funny, a combo that seems to work for me.

Considering a deep dive into the Star Wars EU again, just figuring out which ones are worth the time besides the Zahn/Thrawn books.

1634, The Baltic War by Eric Flint and David Weber. Historical fiction/fantasy at its best.

Duke said:

In reply to bobzilla :

Search this thread for the previous discussion of Moby Dick. 

I amazes me that there were any words left over for anyone else to use by the Melville got done writing it. 
 

I feel the same way with Tolstoy.... 

Since the last check-in

1984 - Good.  And oddly relevant.

Phantom Tollbooth (on a long ride with my son).  I love this book.

Replay - finally got around to finishing that.

What I am reading now is Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry.  I am not young, nor am I in a hurry, so...

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

1634, The Baltic War by Eric Flint and David Weber. Historical fiction/fantasy at its best.

 

Oooh I have some of those in actual book form....somewhere. It's been close to 15 years since I've opened them, but they were seriously good reads

The ad in the middle of the forum. Need new seat belts for the 914.