What Books have you read that you would reread or recommend?
04-28-21, 06:22 AM
#101
Covid Hermit
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 2,473
Bikes: Bilenky Tourlite, Surly Ogre
Mentioned: 18 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1379 Post(s)
Liked 651 Times
in
448 Posts
A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean
This autobiographical novel illustrates the Maclean family and their Presbyterian beliefs, especially those pertaining to nature. Its about love and family and how addictions can impact a family. It is probably one of those stories that you can read before or after the movie. Both equally have merit. I like to read this story when I am feeling blue about my brother, who, like Paul Maclean, the younger brother in the story, does whatever he damn well pleases regardless of the impact it has on anyone else.
This autobiographical novel illustrates the Maclean family and their Presbyterian beliefs, especially those pertaining to nature. Its about love and family and how addictions can impact a family. It is probably one of those stories that you can read before or after the movie. Both equally have merit. I like to read this story when I am feeling blue about my brother, who, like Paul Maclean, the younger brother in the story, does whatever he damn well pleases regardless of the impact it has on anyone else.
04-29-21, 02:25 AM
#102
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NV
Posts: 600
Bikes: 2021 Litespeed T5 105, 1990 Gios Compact Pro 105
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 166 Post(s)
Liked 320 Times
in
178 Posts
My top 10 (and more) reads of the year to date:
01 A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester 2005
02 The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, Simon Winchester 2001
03 Thunderstruck, Erik Larson 2006
04 The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, Simon Winchester 2018
05 The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson 2003
06 Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, Simon Winchester 2003 384
07 The Company by Robert Littell, 2002
08 The Great Influenza, John M. Barry 2004
09 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 1970
10 The Battle of New Orleans, Robert V. Remini 1999
11 The Last Voyage of Columbus, Martin Dugard 2005
12 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Erik Larson 2011
13 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, Erik Larson 2020
14 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936
15 The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester 1998
16 Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, Erik Larson 2000
17 The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy by Stewart O'Nan 2000
18 Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean, Simon Winchester 2009
19 Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy 2017
20 Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, Michael P. Ghiglieri 2001
21 Dark Sky (Joe Pickett #21), by C.J. Box 2021
22 Fever by Mary Beth Keane 2013
01 A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester 2005
02 The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, Simon Winchester 2001
03 Thunderstruck, Erik Larson 2006
04 The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, Simon Winchester 2018
05 The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson 2003
06 Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, Simon Winchester 2003 384
07 The Company by Robert Littell, 2002
08 The Great Influenza, John M. Barry 2004
09 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 1970
10 The Battle of New Orleans, Robert V. Remini 1999
11 The Last Voyage of Columbus, Martin Dugard 2005
12 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Erik Larson 2011
13 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, Erik Larson 2020
14 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936
15 The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester 1998
16 Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, Erik Larson 2000
17 The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy by Stewart O'Nan 2000
18 Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean, Simon Winchester 2009
19 Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy 2017
20 Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, Michael P. Ghiglieri 2001
21 Dark Sky (Joe Pickett #21), by C.J. Box 2021
22 Fever by Mary Beth Keane 2013
04-29-21, 07:14 AM
#103
Keepin it Wheel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 9,849
Bikes: Surly CrossCheck, Krampus
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 2,040 Times
in
1,487 Posts
Originally Posted by gios
19 Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy 2017
04-29-21, 07:18 AM
#104
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NV
Posts: 600
Bikes: 2021 Litespeed T5 105, 1990 Gios Compact Pro 105
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 166 Post(s)
Liked 320 Times
in
178 Posts
Originally Posted by RubeRad
I was just reading yesterday about how in the UK at Bletchley Park (where Alan Turing was top dog (mathematically), it was 'Wrens' (Women's Naval Reserve Service) that mostly staffed it and ran the 'Bombe' machines that cracked the daily German codes
Likes For gios:
Likes For canvas6:
06-09-21, 11:10 AM
#110
Keepin it Wheel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 9,849
Bikes: Surly CrossCheck, Krampus
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 2,040 Times
in
1,487 Posts
My copy of Douglas Hofstadter's Go"del, Escher, Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid has my dorm address written inside it, so I know I got it when I was a college freshman. Over the years I have not quite read it all many many times. Especially I go back to enjoy the pre-chapter Dialogues. But this summer I am going to seriously, finally, buckle down and read the whole thing, cover to cover.
Nonfiction, but an incredibly important book, if you are at all interested in the question of whether it will ever be possible for computers to attain consciousness/identity (i.e. if Artificial Intelligence could ever become Actual Intelligence)
Nonfiction, but an incredibly important book, if you are at all interested in the question of whether it will ever be possible for computers to attain consciousness/identity (i.e. if Artificial Intelligence could ever become Actual Intelligence)
06-09-21, 03:23 PM
#111
PBP Ancien (2007)
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: South Wales, UK
Posts: 269
Bikes: Cannondale CAADX (for commuting), Cannondale CAAD12, Cannondale CAAD12 Team CNCPT, Giant Contend 2
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 63 Post(s)
Liked 120 Times
in
77 Posts
'Out of the silent planet' by CS Lewis. In this age of CGI it should be perfectly possible to make a cracking film of it.
Likes For Welshboy:
06-09-21, 04:20 PM
#112
Keepin it Wheel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 9,849
Bikes: Surly CrossCheck, Krampus
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 2,040 Times
in
1,487 Posts
I LOVE Out of the silent planet and Perelandra, but That Hideous Strength is just something else. I think they could probably make a Perelandra movie, with Avatar-style alien nudity, but it would be harder to write since it's so conversation/philosophy/theology-driven
Likes For RubeRad:
Likes For bianchi007:
11-03-21, 07:07 AM
#116
Junior Member
Hey! In the near future, I want to read Generation X, this is a novel about office clerks in a time when there were no mobile phones and social networks. I myself have recently read the Tale of Two Cities. Excellent work by Charles Dickens. I think not to reveal the essence anymore, you can find out more by reading the reviews. Enjoy your reading.
11-03-21, 08:41 AM
#117
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,628
Bikes: 1996 Trek 970 ZX
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 526 Post(s)
Liked 390 Times
in
298 Posts
Dante Alighieri's "Divina Commedia" (the Divine Comedy) -- Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
A long slog, and a slow read. But it's a beautiful poem full of the imagery of a man's afterlife descent into Hell and ultimate climb to Heaven, at least as imagined by Alighieri. A book that's seven hundred years old, this year.
Read it last year.
Perhaps I'll wait until next year, for the next go of it.
A long slog, and a slow read. But it's a beautiful poem full of the imagery of a man's afterlife descent into Hell and ultimate climb to Heaven, at least as imagined by Alighieri. A book that's seven hundred years old, this year.
Read it last year.
Perhaps I'll wait until next year, for the next go of it.
11-03-21, 12:04 PM
#118
Keepin it Wheel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 9,849
Bikes: Surly CrossCheck, Krampus
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 2,040 Times
in
1,487 Posts
When you get around to Dante again, check out https://100daysofdante.com/
Baylor (and other schools) are putting together videos by professors talking about 1 canto per video (short, about 10min each), released every M/W/F, finishing up Easter 2022. The Youtube videos should then remain available forever. I've been following along, and it's been really great.
Baylor (and other schools) are putting together videos by professors talking about 1 canto per video (short, about 10min each), released every M/W/F, finishing up Easter 2022. The Youtube videos should then remain available forever. I've been following along, and it's been really great.
11-07-21, 11:37 AM
#119
Fxxxxr
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: falfurrias texas
Posts: 910
Bikes: wabi classic (stolen & recovered)
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2586 Post(s)
Liked 1,068 Times
in
806 Posts
Originally Posted by Hiro11
Neil Stephenson's "Anathem" is a monster of a book. Superficially, this is a sci-fi book or perhaps "speculative fiction" as Stephenson terms it. Like a lot of the best science fiction, the laser guns, spaceships and other cool stuff it contains is just window dressing for what the book is actually about. It contains a blizzard of philosophies, scientific theories, startling images, inspiring architecture, engineering and sociology. Like all of his books, Stephenson spent years researching the contents of this book and displays a deep understanding of the underlying concepts. The result is as much a academic thesis as a novel.
I'll stipulate that purely as a work of fiction, the book isn't remarkable. The plot is rudimentary, the characters are thin and the pacing is plodding in places... but you can reread this book for years and continue to discover new ways of understanding it. Ultimately, this is a book about ideas, not a book about plot.
This is a book that contains lengthy, allegorical discourses on the conflict between Platonic realism and nominalism but also contains the most epic, thrilling and realistic orbital action sequence in any novel ever. It's a book that values well-earned and deeply understood knowledge and disdains fast/cheap/emotional garbage. Like Lord of the Rings, this is a book that requires a user to learn invented languages, understand thousands of years of imagined history and grasp the geographies of the world it's describing to better understand what's happening. This is also the type of book the reveals what's actually happening slowly. Only after careful, close reading can the reader fully understand the true motivations of characters and the true meaning behind various critical plot points. That eventual understanding drives a reinterpretation of everything the reader thinks they understood about the book.
This book is work, but if you put in the effort you'll find a world to inhabit in its pages. It's the perfect book to disappear into for a few weeks.
I'll stipulate that purely as a work of fiction, the book isn't remarkable. The plot is rudimentary, the characters are thin and the pacing is plodding in places... but you can reread this book for years and continue to discover new ways of understanding it. Ultimately, this is a book about ideas, not a book about plot.
This is a book that contains lengthy, allegorical discourses on the conflict between Platonic realism and nominalism but also contains the most epic, thrilling and realistic orbital action sequence in any novel ever. It's a book that values well-earned and deeply understood knowledge and disdains fast/cheap/emotional garbage. Like Lord of the Rings, this is a book that requires a user to learn invented languages, understand thousands of years of imagined history and grasp the geographies of the world it's describing to better understand what's happening. This is also the type of book the reveals what's actually happening slowly. Only after careful, close reading can the reader fully understand the true motivations of characters and the true meaning behind various critical plot points. That eventual understanding drives a reinterpretation of everything the reader thinks they understood about the book.
This book is work, but if you put in the effort you'll find a world to inhabit in its pages. It's the perfect book to disappear into for a few weeks.
__________________
Nothing is true---everything is permitted
Nothing is true---everything is permitted
11-08-21, 04:56 PM
#120
Senior Member
There was some discussion earlier about historical fiction. I really liked The Coffee Trader, it's a great look into life and the economics of a few hundred years ago. You'll never look at commodity trading the same way. It's not an exciting read, the main character is a Jew, which is to say he was in a difficult position to begin with, which became spectacularly difficult after he made a couple mistakes. Which was depressingly easy to do back then.
What I am reading now is Walkable City, and it's really, really good. Want to know why some European cities are great places to live, and why so many of our cities suck ass? And how to fix them? Enthusiastically recommended...
I am always reading The Expanse, when I finish one, I move onto the next. I think it's going to be a classic, something that transcends it's genre.
What I am reading now is Walkable City, and it's really, really good. Want to know why some European cities are great places to live, and why so many of our cities suck ass? And how to fix them? Enthusiastically recommended...
I am always reading The Expanse, when I finish one, I move onto the next. I think it's going to be a classic, something that transcends it's genre.
11-08-21, 05:41 PM
#121
Keepin it Wheel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: San Diego
Posts: 9,849
Bikes: Surly CrossCheck, Krampus
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 2,040 Times
in
1,487 Posts
I've heard The Expanse is even better than the TV series (which is how it works, great books get made into at best good video adaptations).
Don't remember if I mentioned it above, but in terms of Historical Fiction, I read Michener's Centennial in preparation for a vacation to CO, it was very enlightening, I felt I learned a lot of significant history despite the fictional veneer
Don't remember if I mentioned it above, but in terms of Historical Fiction, I read Michener's Centennial in preparation for a vacation to CO, it was very enlightening, I felt I learned a lot of significant history despite the fictional veneer
11-11-21, 04:15 PM
#122
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 1,728
Bikes: Argon 18 Gallium, BH G7, Rocky Mountain Instinct C70
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 712 Post(s)
Liked 348 Times
in
226 Posts
RubeRad I too have heard good things about The Expanse. Once I finish making my way through Mad Men, I think The Expanse is my next go-to.
11-19-21, 02:00 PM
#125
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,628
Bikes: 1996 Trek 970 ZX
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 526 Post(s)
Liked 390 Times
in
298 Posts
Originally Posted by Cyclo_Tron
The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
Make sure you put aside some time, though.
Make sure you put aside some time, though.
For lovers of non-fiction and histories, it's an eye-opener. One of my favorite glimpses into an ugly aspect of the modern world. Whatever else a person might think of the subject, it's a fascinating history of how it all came about.
