I've listened to a good bit of "Fighting The Flying Circus" and may not finish it. It doesn't hold a candle to a serious biography like the one I just finished. While it's entertaining, it's more like an "Adventure Stories For Boys" kind of thing. That's not always bad but not what I'm looking for right now.
Yeah, it's pretty lightly written--I read it at lunch one day.
Whoomah!
Admitting defeat: I quit "The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood" by James Gleick halfway through. It wasn't enjoyable enough to continue, so back to the library it went.
I thought it would be a history of information creation and distribution similar to "The Men Who United The States" by Simon Winchester. And it is, sort of, but the interesting historical tidbits such as two under the spoiler tag are few and far between, unlike in Winchester's book(s). Instead it's a book about numbers and mathmatics and codes. I think it would appeal more to people more interested in the philosophy of mathematics than in history. People who can program a computer with punch cards would love this book.
It wasn't a bad book; I'm just not brainy enough to understand most of it.
Two of several cool things I learned from this book:
Spoiler:
Started re-reading 'E-Myth Revisited' by Michael Gerber. I think this is the fourth time I've tried getting into this book. Got pretty far last time, and could've picked up where I left off, but decided to just start again from scratch. Hopefully I'll stick with it this time.
Just started "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson. Story tracks the adventures of a group of souls that are continuously reincarnated near each other through an "alternate history" that assumes that the Black Plague killed off 99% of Europe, leaving the Chinese and Middle Eastern cultures to explore and conquer the rest of the world. Neat stuff.
Whoomah!
^^^ that sounds like a story I would like. It's on my library list as of now. Thanks.
And one back atcha for the reincarnation thing. I've probably mentioned it before several times, but if not, try "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. It's one of my all-time favorites, and the only novel I can remember reading in which someone drives a...
Spoiler:
Last edited by George; October 18th, 2014 at 06:44 PM.
I'm currently working my way through A History of Archaeological Thought by Bruce Trigger, which is pretty awesome - Where else are you going to learn about archaeological practices and thinking in Tsarist Russia.
Also, I just starting L.A. Confidential on my re-read-through of The L.A. Quartet and the Underworld USA Trilogy by James Ellroy. This was spurred by the release of his newest book, Perfidia, which has a bunch of the same characters during WWII. I'm still not sure how I feel about the new one - I finished it a few weeks ago, and it seems both unnecessary and very risky, even though I enjoyed it overall. Therefore, I'm re-reading the others to place it into context and figure it out.
-Formerly Stabulator
"On Writing" by Stephen King
Next up is "Under The Dome" by the same author on thirty audio CDs from the library.
I've started reading through the Jack Ryan books again from Red October onwards in release order. Currently on The Sum of All Fears. Other than the movie it's maybe been ten or fifteen years since I read the book.
Started reading 'Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life' by Kevin O'Leary. He is a star investor on the hit TV show 'Dragon's Den' in Canada, and the US equivalent 'Shark Tank'. O'Leary is badass. He shares his life story and his philosophy on money, business, and life in general.
I read 50 pages last night and couldn't put the book down. Very interesting. Can't wait to resume tonight. Been watching Dragon's Den a lot recently on Netflix, and he's my favourite dragon by far. He's ruthless.
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