What are You Reading?

[[-project.rattus-]]

Jasper Fforde - Shades of Grey.
Outstanding, as is everything by JF.

On other news I read Andrzej Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy and the Witcher Saga.

 

[Raziel]

Currently reading:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Got my new signature from it.

 

[I. Kant]

On other news I read Andrzej Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy and the Witcher Saga.

What, they've translated it? Into what? German, English?

Regardless, take heed everyone, if you can get your hands on the Hussite Trilogy - do, and read it. Really, really good - and I mean really good.

 

[NoxNoctum]

The Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Best historical fiction EVA! (also his Arthur series is amazing)

 

[LemoN]

The Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Best historical fiction EVA! (also his Arthur series is amazing)

Yup, I read all his books.

ALL OF THEM!

 

[Lt_Kettch]

My university book is: The Unleashed Globe by Ilija Trojanow atm (there is no English title so I translated the German title for you).

Not too interesting but small and light so I can always carry it around.


Before that I read Darwin by J

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

What, they've translated it? Into what? German, English?

German.

And I find the Hussite Trilogy quite straining to read at times, as there are certain history exposition chapters that leave you dazzled by sprouting out strange names and locations with no actual impact on the story. Shows it's well researched, but is also quite a bore (even though I am interested in history).

Still a good read overall though.

 

[Unterscharfuhrer]

You guys should read Kurt "Panzer" Meyers "Grenadiers" its a fascinating book about all german fronts in WW2!

 

[Nimsky]

Yesterday I finished 'The Greatest Show On Earth' by Richard Dawkins. Now I'll continue to read 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson.

I'm kind of a science geek.

I'm not really into fiction tbh. Well, sometimes it's enjoyable. I will probably read that Mass Effect book at some point, I heard it's quite good. Oh, and I also want to read Starship Troopers. Actually, I guess what I read is more of a mix between non-fiction and fiction, but mostly non-fiction.

 

[Lt_Kettch]

Yes you should read Starship Troopers and Bryson is good sh*t.

 

[Dr. Pierre Chang]

Currently reading HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Have a ton of other books to read for school but those are all nonfiction.

 

[SheepDip]

Currently reading HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Have a ton of other books to read for school but those are all nonfiction.

The Aubrey-Maturin books are all excellent.

 

[Dr. Pierre Chang]

The Aubrey-Maturin books are all excellent.

Yes they are, it took me a while to get into them but once I got past all the immersion and naval dialogue (I bought a nice lexicon called A Sea of Words which helped me understand a lot of the jargon) I've found them fantastic. I own the first three and need to get the rest. I really enjoyed the film and that's what got me into the books. O'Brian really has a way of making you feel like you are in the early 19th century that I haven't found with other historical writers.

 

[EvilAmericanMan]

I'm working my way through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturing series... great reading, especially if you like naval warfare stuff, or history.

I'm also reading Napoleon's Buttons for MatSci...
From amazon: "Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of seventeen groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration, and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous alterations in the properties of a substance-which, in turn, can result in great historical shifts."

It's pretty darn neat getting to see how these various molecules evolved and were discovered/improved, etc... and how tremendous an effect they have had (and are having) on world history.

Many :IS2: to you sir. After reading your post I went and bought that thing on Amazon for about $15. Good deal!

 

[Shadrach]

Machine Of Death ([URL]http://machineofdeath.net/[/URL])

The machine had been invented a few years ago: a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. It didn’t give you the date and it didn’t give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die.
The problem with the machine is that nobody really knew how it worked, which wouldn’t actually have been that much of a problem if the machine worked as well as we wished it would. But the machine was frustratingly vague in its predictions: dark, and seemingly delighting in the ambiguities of language. OLD AGE, it had already turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or shot by a bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machine captured that old-world sense of irony in death — you can know how it’s going to happen, but you’ll still be surprised when it does.

Makes me laugh, cry and think about life, death and our existence. Highly recommended.

Also, Droidmaker (http://www.droidmaker.com/contents.html)
Really interesting but tends to get a bit dry and techy at times.

And Kant - a dissertation on the homo-erotic aspects of the Warhammer universe would be great

 

[SheepDip]

Yes they are, it took me a while to get into them but once I got past all the immersion and naval dialogue (I bought a nice lexicon called A Sea of Words which helped me understand a lot of the jargon) I've found them fantastic. I own the first three and need to get the rest. I really enjoyed the film and that's what got me into the books. O'Brian really has a way of making you feel like you are in the early 19th century that I haven't found with other historical writers.

I went through them all in uni, for some reason the library on the tech campus had them all

Only own the first 3 myself, I could have used something for reference at the start, there's so much stuff I've wikipedia'd in the middle of a chapter - Been meaning to pick up the rest but I've got bogged down in classic ski-ffy instead!

 

[CrazyThumbs]

"Hitler's Pre-emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940" by Henrik O. Lunde
Interesting book on an area of WWII that I know next to nothing about. He's very critical and examines decisions made by both sides, which can lead to some dry moments.
The research is very well done though, and it still is an interesting read. About half way through it so far.

 

[hockeywarrior]

I'm actually re-reading an excellent book called The Greatest Battle by Andrew Nagorski.

It's about the battle of Moscow and argues that it was one of the, if not THE most important battle of WWII, and I tend to agree with him. Really excellent book that is chock full of great information. It really is unbelievable just how much life was lost around Moscow -- it would prove to be the bloodiest battle of the war.

 

[Shepherd]

Last three books I read:

Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
Good read, very witty. Probably his best and the basis for all his following work.

The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
Expected a horror novel, got a story about a young Scottish autist who's in fact A GIRL OH WOW I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING. Very disappointing.

The Whalestoe Letter, Mark Z. Danielewski
Already read House of Leaves so it wasn't that exciting, still a good read if you want to get into his work.

 

[smokeythebear]

Right now I'm reading Mao: the unknown story. I just finished reading the classic Of human bondage and before that The tracker by tom brown jr.