Whatya reading currently?

[jcs11204]

Joey The Hitman
Classic

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

i got stumped trying to figure out the last thing I read on personal time that wasn't PP's, the racing form, or horse racing message boards or blogs.

People that can concentrate on one thing for long periods of time amaze me.
This is of course why I like this board so much. We got people who can think horses 24/7.

I gotta take a break on almost anything I do for too long.

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Danzig

have considered getting that-let me know if it's good.

it's very good. . .

Originally Posted by hockey2315

it's very good. . .

Is this by Dawkins, Richard Dawkins the evolutionary biologist?

[Cajungator26]

I just picked up They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David Maraniss.

Originally Posted by pgardn

Is this by Dawkins, Richard Dawkins the evolutionary biologist?

I looked it up and it is.

The Selfish Gene was one of the most influential books
I ever read. Now that I look back upon it, it was over the
top. But the ideas were astounding. A completely diff. way
of viewing life.

Dawkins is very well known for pricking at religion. He thrives
on it. Climbing Mount Improbable, practically all his books
rake religion.

I did not know he was having another go at it.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by pgardn

People that can concentrate on one thing for long periods of time amaze me.
This is of course why I like this board so much. We got people who can think horses 24/7.

I gotta take a break on almost anything I do for too long.

oh i take forced breaks from horses all the time. its called my job. otherwise its horses.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

it's very good. . .

looks like i'll be adding to my library....

[herkhorse]

I've been reading The Berenstain Bears, good stuff.

Seriously though, the last book I read was Ishmael. That was about a year and a half ago before my kid could walk and talk. Now I'm too tired to read.

Originally Posted by herkhorse

I've been reading The Berenstain Bears, good stuff.

Seriously though, the last book I read was Ishmael. That was about a year and a half ago before my kid could walk and talk. Now I'm too tired to read.

God bless you for reading to your kid(s).

Originally Posted by Danzig

looks like i'll be adding to my library....

If you like the book hockey mentioned,
you may have to add The Blind Watchmaker.

And anyone please add as I am still pondering.
It is also interesting to see what people are interested in
outside of horses.

[geeker2]

"The Great Thebby" by F. Mortimer Fitzgerald

[paisjpq]

I recommend the great thebby....though it is an incomplete work....


i just finished a great book (sent to me by a very generous sometime DT'r)

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Horbacher

and am half way through

Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the AMerican West by Deanne Stillman

also have to recommend Beautiful Boy: a Father's Journey through his Son's Addiction by David Scheff...and with it you have to read his son's book Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines

they are all good and non-fiction.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by pgardn

If you like the book hockey mentioned,
you may have to add The Blind Watchmaker.

And anyone please add as I am still pondering.
It is also interesting to see what people are interested in
outside of horses.

what's the blind watchmaker?

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Danzig

what's the blind watchmaker?

It's by Dawkins as well - The God Delusion is a little more interesting in my opinion. . . The Blind Watchmaker focuses mostly on evolution. . .

Originally Posted by Danzig

what's the blind watchmaker?

It is mainly about evolution (as mentioned above) having no ultimate purpose
or direction. Thus implying the big guy (God), making those precise
Watches, went about it in a blind way.

So I guess the God Delusion would be the next fit.

Dawkins is a Brit who pulls no punches.
He will tell you how he feels and more.
His American atheist audience is huge.

Stephen J. Gould and Dawkins both excellent writers
on evolution. Gould did not try to rile quite as much.
RIP. Gould was one of my all time favorites. A harder
read than Asimov, but very good.

I gotta go with something Historical. The Adams book sounds
good.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by Danzig

mccullough is excellent.
i also recommend alexander hamiltons bio by ron chernow. fantastic book, great subject.

Stuff like that is okay, if that is the kind of stuff you like. I'm not going to tell people what to read, but if you are really interested in history I would suggest reading stuff written by actual historians instead.
Neither McCullough nor Chernow are trained historians and it shows in their work. They are both good writers, and that is why they win awards like the Pulitzer, but the quality of their scholarship is more than questionable.
Ellis - who you also mentioned - actually IS a PhD and his work is (not surprisingly) a little bit better.
If you are really interested in something like the American Revolution and Early Republic however, I would reccomend reading the stuff from real scholars like Rosemarie Zagarri, Woody Holton, T.H. Breen etc. It might not always be as cleverly written as the stuff the journalists like Chernow produce, but the level of analysis dwarfs anything these untrained people attempt.

What was written by Miraja above is a huge problem in Science.
But writers like Asimov, Gould, Dawkins, are all writers
that have done real science. Same for Sagan. Even though
he got a little maudlin at times with the sci fi. Also RIP.

Sagan wrote a great book on what science is and is not
that should be read by all who like the power of logic and
reasoning, "The Demon Haunted World". Of course one could
conclude that the book is terribly flawed, look who recommends it.

[hockey2315]

Love Sagan. . . Have you read Smolin's "The Trouble with Physics"? I have it but can't decide if I feel like reading it yet. . .

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by miraja2

Stuff like that is okay, if that is the kind of stuff you like. I'm not going to tell people what to read, but if you are really interested in history I would suggest reading stuff written by actual historians instead.
Neither McCullough nor Chernow are trained historians and it shows in their work. They are both good writers, and that is why they win awards like the Pulitzer, but the quality of their scholarship is more than questionable.
Ellis - who you also mentioned - actually IS a PhD and his work is (not surprisingly) a little bit better.
If you are really interested in something like the American Revolution and Early Republic however, I would reccomend reading the stuff from real scholars like Rosemarie Zagarri, Woody Holton, T.H. Breen etc. It might not always be as cleverly written as the stuff the journalists like Chernow produce, but the level of analysis dwarfs anything these untrained people attempt.

i read a little bit of everything, minus science fiction and romance novels. i have some history books here as well, both american and european.

i forgot to also recommend the two books on hitler, 'hubris' and 'nemesis' by ian kershaw. also 'constantine's sword' by james carroll.

i have american creation by jos. ellis, but haven't read it yet. one of the books i'll take on vacation.