What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Locked
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Sue Grafton, V is for Vengeance. Enjoyed it, a good read, neither a particularly good or particularly bad book in the series.

One thing I found annoying. Increasingly frequently, I will notice that a book has a scene in it that seems to be written from a cinematic point of view, as if the author actually had a screen treatment in mind. Here, there is such a scene--the shootout at the warehouse. I think she even confesses to this when she says something like "It was almost like watching a series of short film clips."

The plot was, as usual, too tangled for me to figure out. Her fictional detective, Kinsey Millhone, solves crimes by writing details on index cards and moving them around to get brain working on seeing relationships and connections. I don't know whether detective work that way, but I feel certain that she is describing how she herself works out her plots!

I can't remember how her other books do this. This one, rather confusingly, shifts back and forth from an omniscient point of view in which she reports what characters are doing unbeknownst to Kinsey, and then to Kinsey's first-person point of view. She seems to have abandoned the framing device she used to use, of opening and closing in the form of a report, always ending "respectfully submitted."

I guess I can't quite buy her characterizations in this one--specifically, the good gangster and the bad gangster, brothers in fact. The good gangster is an honest, upstanding, man-of-his-word loan shark who. I think the good gangster only kills people who deserve it, whereas the bad gangster kills people when it isn't really necessary... I dunno.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
pennstater2005
Posts: 2509
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:50 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by pennstater2005 »

"The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism." John Bogle

Good so far……...
“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Trader of Secrets" by Steve Martini.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

A Night of Long Knives, the second of a series of books by Rebecca Cantrell portraying a young journalist trying to survive in Nazi Germany.
Gordon
User avatar
camontgo
Posts: 329
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:46 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by camontgo »

Inspired by this thread, http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73748, I just started reading the 1973 edition of A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I was able to find a copy of the 1973 edition in very good condition for $4 (including shipping!) on Abebooks.com.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful." - George E. P Box
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"high Profile" by Robert Parker.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
User avatar
OldOne
Posts: 199
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:02 pm
Location: Texas

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by OldOne »

The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
User avatar
norookie
Posts: 3016
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:55 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by norookie »

:D reading as much as I can!
Last edited by norookie on Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
" Wealth usually leads to excess " Cicero 55 b.c
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

norookie wrote:QUICK! for me anyway, another "The end of wall street as we know it" -Dave Kansas! initially, a good addition to an individuals financial literacy. :wink: Chaz reads to much.
I enjoy reading books and surfing the internet since retiring - better than working.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
lucky3
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2012 9:21 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by lucky3 »

Nelson DeMille's The Panther just came out and I bought it...one of the best suspense and crime authors.

Lucky 3
MP173
Posts: 2607
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:03 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by MP173 »

Is The Panther by Nelson DeMille a John Corey series book?

I am currently reading Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men."

Ed
GregV
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:42 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by GregV »

Just finished 1491 by Charles Mann. After a short detour to read Black List by Brad Thor, I'm currently reading Mr Mann's followup book, 1493. Interesting and entertaining.
Five Scoop
Posts: 179
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:21 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Five Scoop »

Common Sense by Thomas Paine
communipaw
Posts: 179
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:15 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by communipaw »

Not Taco Bell Material [Adam Corolla] - a very bad family life and youth that he basically has overcome. Well written, funny --- but sad.
Fallible
Posts: 8795
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

chaz wrote:
norookie wrote:QUICK! for me anyway, another "The end of wall street as we know it" -Dave Kansas! initially, a good addition to an individuals financial literacy. :wink: Chaz reads to much.
I enjoy reading books and surfing the internet since retiring - better than working.
No such thing as reading too much (of which there is too little), only reading too little (of which there is too much).
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"A Wanted Man" by Lee Child.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
User avatar
Topic Author
randomwalk
Posts: 312
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:12 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished Titan by Ron Chernow.

Now reading King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo. Not bad, kept me reading... if you like novels that describe the interior lives of unhappy writers, you'll like this one. Made me laugh out loud a couple of times. The passage where he remembers his picky-picky academic parents--always renter of housing from other academics on sabbatical--shopping for a Christmas tree:
Sometimes, just as it seemed a sale was imminent, Griffin's mother would sigh and say "There's a hole...." Griffin remembered one old guy who said, after his parents had rejected a dozen trees, "Lady, maybe there's something you don't understand. Those holes you keep seein's the space between the g*****n branches. Wasn't for the spaces, the tree would be solid f*****' wood....

Once the tree was upright, Griffin's father would pick the lock on the closet where the owners stored the stuff they didn't want ruined or broken, see what they had by way of Christmas decorations and berate their bad taste.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Fallible
Posts: 8795
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

nisiprius wrote:That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo. ...The passage where he remembers his picky-picky academic parents--always renter of housing from other academics on sabbatical--shopping for a Christmas tree:
Sometimes, just as it seemed a sale was imminent, Griffin's mother would sigh and say "There's a hole...." Griffin remembered one old guy who said, after his parents had rejected a dozen trees, "Lady, maybe there's something you don't understand. Those holes you keep seein's the space between the g*****n branches. Wasn't for the spaces, the tree would be solid f*****' wood....
...
I know I'm being picky-picky too, so forgive me, but a "hole" in a Christmas tree is usually where the space between branches is uneven and can't be covered up by decorations. I'm not even sure that in a large tree lot with hundreds of trees, it wouldn't be unusual to find a dozen or more trees with unacceptable "holes." I ended up wondering more about the lot salesman than the picky parents, who, btw, could be Bogleheads. :)
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
User avatar
tludwig23
Posts: 1665
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:27 pm
Location: 48deg46"23"N 122deg28'21"W

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by tludwig23 »

Currently reading Mortality by Christopher Hitchens. A very humorous account of a not very humorous subject.
That's what I do: I drink, and I know things. --Tyrion Lannister
rmark1
Posts: 359
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:43 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by rmark1 »

'Roundball to Rimfire, a history of Civil War small arms ammunition' - working on v.1 which covers muskets and rifles, later I'll move on to v. 2-3 carbines and handguns.
Five Scoop
Posts: 179
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:21 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Five Scoop »

Just finished reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine. It was always one of those works that I heard about in school but never got around to actually reading. I am impressed with the clarity of thought displayed in this work. Mind you, it is not very long (only 86 pages on my Kindle edition) but was still very powerful.
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Hell's Corner" by David Baldacci.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, by W. Somerset Maugham, which I'd never read... pretty good, although an awful lot of the protagonists commit suicide. The story "Rain" is, of course, sensational, one of those stories I'd heard of but never actually gotten around to reading.

Now I'm alternating between reading bits of The Magician, by W. Somerset Maugham, featuring a character loosely based on Aleister Crowley (of whom I know little), and The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, by Alexander McCall Smith. They balance pretty well, The Magician being just too, too dark-toned and creepy and The Limpopo Academy being just too, too saccharine.

Oh, The Magician has investing relevance:
'I am astonished that you should never have tried such an interesting experiment yourself,' said Arthur to Oliver Haddo.

'I have,' answered the other calmly. 'My father lost his power of speech shortly before he died, and it was plain that he sought with all his might to tell me something. A year after his death, I called up his phantom from the grave so that I might learn what I took to be a dying wish. The circumstances of the apparition are so similar to those I have just told you that it would only bore you if I repeated them. The only difference was that my father actually spoke.'

'What did he say?' asked Susie.

'He said solemnly: "Buy Ashantis, they are bound to go up."

'I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation, and they went down steadily. I sold out at considerable loss, and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow.'
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair by Michael A. Ledeen.
Gordon
User avatar
blacktupelo
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:43 pm
Location: St. Louis Missouri USA

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by blacktupelo »

"Garlic Ballads" by this year's Nobel Literature prize winner Mo Yan. A story of love, and the struggles in China by the poor peasant farmers. Like nothing else I've read in its setting and description of life.
Larry
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, by Alexander McCall Smith. The mixture as before. Readable, enjoyable, but he's probably written too many, it's beginning to sound a little formulaic. It really bothers me how McCall Smith neglects the two kids, Motholeli and Puso, that Mma. Ramotswe and J.L.B. Matekoni adopted, fairly early in the series. Click, click, yes, the very second book in the series, The Tears of the Giraffe. Motholeli is confined to a wheelchair. They do get mentioned from time to time in the series, but they play an astonishingly small role in the life of Mma. Ramotswe; on the testimony of amount of time the book spends describing it, one would think that bush tea was more important to Mma. Ramotswe than her kids.

Jack London hired Sinclair Lewis to write plots for him. I do sometimes wish McCall Smith would hire someone to work out slightly better plot gimmicks to explain how Mma. Ramotswe extricates people from difficulties and solves mysteries. But one must suspend disbelief. I did see a TV documentary in which McCall Smith explains how he deliberately underplays some of the dark aspects of life in Botswana; HIV is never mentioned, and until I saw the documentary, it had never occurred to me to wonder how the orphans in the orphan farm had become orphaned.

Have started Rifleman Dodd, C. S. Forester's novel of the Peninsular War.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
denismurf
Posts: 544
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:29 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by denismurf »

Just finished God and the New Physics by Paul Davies. No answers here, but plenty of astonishing facts and plausible speculation about the universe, at one end of the size scale, and quantum mechanics, at the other end.
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by market timer »

1Q84 by Murakami.
User avatar
Blues
Posts: 2500
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:58 am
Location: Blue Ridge Mtns

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

Just finished "Into The Fire" by Dakota Meyer...

...and now starting "Sutton" by J.R. Moehringer
Fallible
Posts: 8795
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

nisiprius wrote:...
Jack London hired Sinclair Lewis to write plots for him. ...
I didn't know that and it sounds a bit like Shakespeare's plays using plots from various historical and other sources. I wonder how common this is in fiction, but I suppose it doesn't make that much difference since it's mainly what you do with what you borrowed that counts. Interesting though and I'm glad you mentioned it.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
MP173
Posts: 2607
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:03 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by MP173 »

The Price of Politics by Robert Woodward was read this week.

Now reading Extreme Productivity by Rober Pozen.

Ed
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26297
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard P. Feynman.

Funny, inspiring and informative.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

The One from the Other by Philip Kerr. This is the fourth Bernie Gunther novel, written in 2006, some fifteen years after the third.
Gordon
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Fallible wrote:
nisiprius wrote:...
Jack London hired Sinclair Lewis to write plots for him. ...
I didn't know that and it sounds a bit like Shakespeare's plays using plots from various historical and other sources. I wonder how common this is in fiction, but I suppose it doesn't make that much difference since it's mainly what you do with what you borrowed that counts. Interesting though and I'm glad you mentioned it.
Jack London apparently had a lot of trouble with plots, and admitted that "Expression, you see—with me—is far easier than invention." He was accused of plagiarism or at least stealing ideas on a number of occasions. I think most creative people "borrow" ideas to some extent, and work and rework our great cultural commons; it's part of what Pete Seeger calls "the folk process."
Last edited by nisiprius on Mon Nov 05, 2012 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Default User BR
Posts: 7502
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:32 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

ruralavalon wrote:Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard P. Feynman.
Did you get to the part about the dollar?


Brian
Fallible
Posts: 8795
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

nisiprius wrote:
Fallible wrote:
nisiprius wrote:...
Jack London hired Sinclair Lewis to write plots for him. ...
I didn't know that and it sounds a bit like Shakespeare's plays using plots from various historical and other sources. I wonder how common this is in fiction, but I suppose it doesn't make that much difference since it's mainly what you do with what you borrowed that counts. Interesting though and I'm glad you mentioned it.
Jack London apparently had a log of trouble with plots, and admitted that "Expression, you see—with me—is far easier than invention." He was accused of plagiarism or at least stealing ideas on a number of occasions. ...
From the wiki link, it appears that only "The Bishop's Vision" contained blatant plagiarism, but it's not clear whether Harris got the 1/60th royalties he wanted.
Plagiarism to one degree or another may be tolerated more in the world of fiction than in, say, academia or journalism, but I think in this case London crossed the line, wherever the line may be.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Death in Paradise" by Robert Parker.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26297
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

Default User BR wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard P. Feynman.
Did you get to the part about the dollar?
Brian
Huh? I must not be that far yet.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
Default User BR
Posts: 7502
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:32 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

ruralavalon wrote:
Default User BR wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard P. Feynman.
Did you get to the part about the dollar?
Huh? I must not be that far yet.
According to the Table of Contents on Amazon, it's a bit less than halfway in.


Brian
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Which is the book in which he relates an incident in which agrees to accept a speaking invitation at a state university, on condition that he will not have to sign his name more than thirteen times, including the check?
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished Plain Murder, by C. S. Forester (best known for the Horatio Hornblower books). It's very good, although the ending isn't too satisfying. I wish he'd written more of his psychological murder "mysteries" (in quotes because this is the genre, like Columbo, in which there is no mystery, you know from the beginning whodunnit, you just don't know how they are going to be brought to justice).
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Bungo
Posts: 1138
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:28 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Bungo »

Just started The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.
Fallible
Posts: 8795
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:44 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

Read David Freedman's "Wrong." "Why experts keep failing us - and how to know when not to trust them" after Nisiprius nicely referred to the book in a previous thread (http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... &p=1520583). Would especially recommend reading Chapter 9 on "rules for not being misled by experts" and even writing them down for reference and application the next time a new expert forecast comes along.

Now starting on "Bull by the Horns," (neat subtitle: "Fighting to save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself") by former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, once referred to (as she rather proudly mentions and details here) "The Skunk at the Garden Party."
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
Patience
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2012 6:11 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Patience »

Few pages into The Accidental Investment Banker, by Jonathan A. Knee, and is very interesting and edifying!
User avatar
Tim_in_GA
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:42 am

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Tim_in_GA »

Currently reading "Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone."

After visiting Yellowstone for the first time this year I wanted to read more about the history behind the first explorers and the names behind the various valleys and mountains. It really gets into the backgrounds and adventures of men like Jim Bridger and Nathaniel Langford as well as the struggles with the Indians. But sometimes it goes on a little long and dry and you wish they would just get to the point. It's been slow to get through it but there are enough fascinating parts to keep me going. Hopefully I can finish before it has to go back to the library.
bungalow10
Posts: 2311
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:28 am
Location: Chicago North Shore

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by bungalow10 »

I'm currently reading The Source by James Michener. So good!

I have a request for this group - I just found out I'm absorbing a small team at work - they will all be reporting to me on Monday. I haven't had direct reports in a few years, so I feel I'm a little rusty. Anyone have any book suggestions on helping them (and me) with this transition, as well as a book or two on managing people in general? These are knowledge workers, but they have jobs that are fairly uninspiring and the group isn't very self-motivated. Motivating them will be important.
An elephant for a dime is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a dime.
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26297
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

In the Heart of the Sea, The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Just started this, but already learning a lot about 19th century whaling from Nantucket.
Last edited by ruralavalon on Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26297
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

nisiprius wrote:Which is the book in which he relates an incident in which agrees to accept a speaking invitation at a state university, on condition that he will not have to sign his name more than thirteen times, including the check?
Thats in this one, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
westcoast
Posts: 207
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:50 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by westcoast »

Just started Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. First few chapters have been very good, hard to put down the kindle.
Locked