What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

[Blues]

"The Cold Cold Ground" by Adrian McKinty. Needed something relaxing to read during the holidays.

[Elsebet]

...
Currently reading:

Sea of poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Beyond Good and Evil: the philosphy classic by Nietzshce (first book I'm reading by the author)

Since it's your first exposure to Nietzsche, if you like Beyond Good and Evil, and especially if you don't like it, I'd suggest The Gay Science [alternate translation: The Joyful Wisdom], in the Walter Kaufmann translation, as a follow-up.

Thank you. I must admit I'm struggling with staying interested in Beyond Good and Evil. It's a shame because the introduction left me very curious and eager to read the actual content. It feels more like work than enjoyment so I may just try "The Gay Science" as you suggested. Thanks!

[yankees60]

I purchase the Kindle version (ebook) for easier storage in my library.

New or used?

Unless I consider it a reference book I almost always buy used with a desired price of no more than $9 delivered.

Hopefully they were closer to $10 than $15 and you got some bargains on some.

[Chv396]

I have found that Amazon will sometimes discount certain titles between 15-40% off for a certain length of time.
I just purchased a title I wanted for $1.99 (discounted from $10.99.) The strategy I use is to visit and browse the website 2-3x a week and see what’s on “sale.” If it’s a title I want, I purchase immediately as I’ve seen that the title can revert back to the original price in a few days. Not all titles go on sale, however. Your mileage may vary.

I purchase the Kindle version (ebook) for easier storage in my library.

Hopefully they were closer to $10 than $15 and you got some bargains on some.

[yankees60]

I have found that Amazon will sometimes discount certain titles between 15-40% off for a certain length of time.
I just purchased a title I wanted for $1.99 (discounted from $10.99.) The strategy I use is to visit and browse the website 2-3x a week and see what’s on “sale.” If it’s a title I want, I purchase immediately as I’ve seen that the title can revert back to the original price in a few days. Not all titles go on sale, however. Your mileage may vary.

Hopefully they were closer to $10 than $15 and you got some bargains on some.

I get a daily email from here:

https://booksbutterfly.com/signup/subgenres/

It lists lots of books that are free that day and also deals for the day.

I've got many free that were later selling for regular prices.

[rockstar]

I have found that Amazon will sometimes discount certain titles between 15-40% off for a certain length of time.
I just purchased a title I wanted for $1.99 (discounted from $10.99.) The strategy I use is to visit and browse the website 2-3x a week and see what’s on “sale.” If it’s a title I want, I purchase immediately as I’ve seen that the title can revert back to the original price in a few days. Not all titles go on sale, however. Your mileage may vary.

Hopefully they were closer to $10 than $15 and you got some bargains on some.

Amazon runs daily, weekly, and monthly bargains on books. This is why I set price watches for the authors I read. Also, about half a dozen Star Trek novels go on sale every month for around $1.99. I’ll read a couple next year.

I’m currently finishing up the Autobiography of Santa Claus and Lincoln Lawyer. And I’ve started The Women.

[Chv396]

This is good information, appreciate it.

I have found that Amazon will sometimes discount certain titles between 15-40% off for a certain length of time.
I just purchased a title I wanted for $1.99 (discounted from $10.99.) The strategy I use is to visit and browse the website 2-3x a week and see what’s on “sale.” If it’s a title I want, I purchase immediately as I’ve seen that the title can revert back to the original price in a few days. Not all titles go on sale, however. Your mileage may vary.

Amazon runs daily, weekly, and monthly bargains on books. This is why I set price watches for the authors I read. Also, about half a dozen Star Trek novels go on sale every month for around $1.99. I’ll read a couple next year.

I’m currently finishing up the Autobiography of Santa Claus and Lincoln Lawyer. And I’ve started The Women.

[jaqenhghar]

Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin

[Artful Dodger]

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve been meaning to start this for some time and downloaded the Kindle version Saturday. Enjoying it quite well and starting chapter 2.

Still working my way through The Power Broker. It's very interesting and readable.

Also listening to Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings", a fantasy book and first book of his Stormlight Archive series. It's good. Not as good as Some other contemporary fantasy books I've read (Wheel of Time, A Song of Fire & Ice) but good enough to keep listening (in 11 hours with 25 more to go).

Still reading The Power Broker.

I'm upping my initial estimation of The Way of Kings. I took a while to really warm up to it, but it finished strong. I'm a little way into the second book of the series, Words of Radiance.

[Halicar]

I just finished The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford. It was...OK. I'd say the main takeaway is to be skeptical about statistics, but not too skeptical. Statistics can certainly be used to deceive, but sowing skepticism about statistics can also be used to deceive--a notable example is the tobacco industry.

The most interesting part for me was learning that Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in the use of statistics in healthcare. I really didn't know anything about her other than vaguely knowing that she was an important figure in nursing history and now I'm interested in learning more.

[jebmke]

Just finished "Los Alamos" by Joseph Kannon

[rockstar]

I’m a third of the way through the Women, and I don’t recommend. I’ll finish it up for bookclub, but it’s not good. No idea why there is so much hype around this book. MASH (the book) is far better. Or watch the TV show China Beach.

[yankees60]

I just finished The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford. It was...OK. I'd say the main takeaway is to be skeptical about statistics, but not too skeptical. Statistics can certainly be used to deceive, but sowing skepticism about statistics can also be used to deceive--a notable example is the tobacco industry.

The most interesting part for me was learning that Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in the use of statistics in healthcare. I really didn't know anything about her other than vaguely knowing that she was an important figure in nursing history and now I'm interested in learning more.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Just bought the Kindle version for $6.99.

[JPM]

"Writing About Your Life" by William Zinsser. In retirement, like a lot of old guys, I am writing a memoir. Funny how more and more memories to ponder come as I write. This is a breezily written guide to memoiristic writing.

[GG1273]

Just picked up a new release and I like history
Henry V by Dan Jones was suggested to me

[bikefish]

Finished reading, "The Stranger in the Woods". Not a bad read. Hard to believe he could survive so long in Maine living like he did.

[MrNarwhal]

Finished reading, "The Stranger in the Woods". Not a bad read. Hard to believe he could survive so long in Maine living like he did.

I am reading One Man's Wilderness and would recommend it to anyone with interests in wilderness survival, carpentry, or Alaskan flora and fauna. Dick Proenneke was the real deal and lived without poaching or stealing. The book doesn't describe the financial mechanics of his interactions with the outside world, but he presumably had some retirement income.

Arctic Daughter is good, too, although the couple in the story were a lot less prepared and took some big risks.

[yankees60]

https://www.amazon.com/Yankee-Way-Untol ... op?ie=UTF8

The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era

163 Reviews at Amazon have an average grade of 4.6
341 Ratings at Good Reads have an average rating of 4.4

All kinds of glowing Editorial Reviews

My grade?

C- / D+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a New York Yankees fan since 1960 and bill myself as the Biggest Yankees Fan in the State (of Massachusetts).

I follow just about every game, having both the radio and TV broadcast on at the same time, plus having the pre- and post-game shows on. As a reader I have read innumerable books and articles about the Yankees. I know a lot about the Yankees.

At the end of this book the author thanks the book's two researchers and factor checker (I may have reversed how many of each).

NONE of those three people should ever be allowed to work on any book again as this was at the top of the most shoddily researched books I'd ever read.

The author tried to tie everything around this concept he called "The Yankee Way". That led him to shoehorning so much into being part of that concept. I did not buy any of it.

Getting back to the research and fact checking.

There were many glaring factual errors. I also could not understand how he could get so much wrong that I knew from memory alone while he had three people working to make sure that for a book all was correct.

I think I read the book over four sessions. During each of those sessions I'd be sending about 20 emails to a fellow Yankees fan complaining about something I'd just read.

This book changed from a book I went into with great anticipation that I'd be learning so much about my beloved Yankees to a book that was quite annoying to read.

[jebmke]

https://www.amazon.com/Yankee-Way-Untol ... op?ie=UTF8

The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era

163 Reviews at Amazon have an average grade of 4.6
341 Ratings at Good Reads have an average rating of 4.4

All kinds of glowing Editorial Reviews

My grade?

C- / D+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a New York Yankees fan since 1960 and bill myself as the Biggest Yankees Fan in the State (of Massachusetts).

I follow just about every game, having both the radio and TV broadcast on at the same time, plus having the pre- and post-game shows on. As a reader I have read innumerable books and articles about the Yankees. I know a lot about the Yankees.

At the end of this book the author thanks the book's two researchers and factor checker (I may have reversed how many of each).

NONE of those three people should ever be allowed to work on any book again as this was at the top of the most shoddily researched books I'd ever read.

The author tried to tie everything around this concept he called "The Yankee Way". That led him to shoehorning so much into being part of that concept. I did not buy any of it.

Getting back to the research and fact checking.

There were many glaring factual errors. I also could not understand how he could get so much wrong that I knew from memory alone while he had three people working to make sure that for a book all was correct.

I think I read the book over four sessions. During each of those sessions I'd be sending about 20 emails to a fellow Yankees fan complaining about something I'd just read.

This book changed from a book I went into with great anticipation that I'd be learning so much about my beloved Yankees to a book that was quite annoying to read.

The Yankees are proof that you can't buy happiness.

[heartwood]

The winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, The Vegetarian by Han Kang

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254 ... vegetarian

I slogged through the first third to half of the book before giving up today.

From Wikipedia: "The Vegetarian is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life."

Not recommended.

[bikefish]

Finished reading, "The Stranger in the Woods". Not a bad read. Hard to believe he could survive so long in Maine living like he did.

I am reading One Man's Wilderness and would recommend it to anyone with interests in wilderness survival, carpentry, or Alaskan flora and fauna. Dick Proenneke was the real deal and lived without poaching or stealing. The book doesn't describe the financial mechanics of his interactions with the outside world, but he presumably had some retirement income.

Arctic Daughter is good, too, although the couple in the story were a lot less prepared and took some big risks.

Thanks for the suggestions. The two books look like something I would enjoy reading.

[yankees60]

https://www.amazon.com/Yankee-Way-Untol ... op?ie=UTF8

The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era

163 Reviews at Amazon have an average grade of 4.6
341 Ratings at Good Reads have an average rating of 4.4

All kinds of glowing Editorial Reviews

My grade?

C- / D+ !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a New York Yankees fan since 1960 and bill myself as the Biggest Yankees Fan in the State (of Massachusetts).

I follow just about every game, having both the radio and TV broadcast on at the same time, plus having the pre- and post-game shows on. As a reader I have read innumerable books and articles about the Yankees. I know a lot about the Yankees.

At the end of this book the author thanks the book's two researchers and factor checker (I may have reversed how many of each).

NONE of those three people should ever be allowed to work on any book again as this was at the top of the most shoddily researched books I'd ever read.

The author tried to tie everything around this concept he called "The Yankee Way". That led him to shoehorning so much into being part of that concept. I did not buy any of it.

Getting back to the research and fact checking.

There were many glaring factual errors. I also could not understand how he could get so much wrong that I knew from memory alone while he had three people working to make sure that for a book all was correct.

I think I read the book over four sessions. During each of those sessions I'd be sending about 20 emails to a fellow Yankees fan complaining about something I'd just read.

This book changed from a book I went into with great anticipation that I'd be learning so much about my beloved Yankees to a book that was quite annoying to read.

The Yankees are proof that you can't buy happiness.

To the contrary they've had unparalleled success on the field.

All those World Championships.

Since 1993 32 straight winning years.

Not in the post season only 5 of the last 30 years.

No other team comes close to matching any of the above.

I'm not one of those Entitled, Spoiled, Whiny Yankee fans who consider the season a failure if they do not win a World Championship. I'm there for all the spring training games, the regular season, and the post season.

But back to the book ... my overall criticism of the book is that it was too contrived. Trying to fit all that was in it into the concept embodied in its title: The Yankee Way.

My fear is that those who will only know what is in the book could be persuaded that the author is speaking truths, when he is not.

[Barkingsparrow]

But back to the book ... my overall criticism of the book is that it was too contrived. Trying to fit all that was in it into the concept embodied in its title: The Yankee Way.

My fear is that those who will only know what is in the book could be persuaded that the author is speaking truths, when he is not.

I grew up in the Midwest and was a fanatic of the Big Red Machine years, from 1970 through 1977 before they started breaking up the team, although I continue to follow them closely through 1981 or so. I also played: Little League, Pony League (Jr High), and Varsity for 2 years before injuries ended my so-called 'career'.

Your posts about the Yankees brought to mind as to what is my favorite baseball book, "The Summer Game" by Roger Angell, a series of essays covering baseball from 1962 through 1971. It's a sentimental reminder of what baseball used to be, when it still had that mystique. Now? I don't care much for baseball anymore nor do I watch it. The mystique has been gone for a while, replaced by corporate greed and analytics.

[yankees60]

But back to the book ... my overall criticism of the book is that it was too contrived. Trying to fit all that was in it into the concept embodied in its title: The Yankee Way.

My fear is that those who will only know what is in the book could be persuaded that the author is speaking truths, when he is not.

I grew up in the Midwest and was a fanatic of the Big Red Machine years, from 1970 through 1977 before they started breaking up the team, although I continue to follow them closely through 1981 or so. I also played: Little League, Pony League (Jr High), and Varsity for 2 years before injuries ended my so-called 'career'.

Your posts about the Yankees brought to mind as to what is my favorite baseball book, "The Summer Game" by Roger Angell, a series of essays covering baseball from 1962 through 1971. It's a sentimental reminder of what baseball used to be, when it still had that mystique. Now? I don't care much for baseball anymore nor do I watch it. The mystique has been gone for a while, replaced by corporate greed and analytics.

I am almost certain I read that book.

My baseball interest is at its peak since in my early days as a Yankees fan living in New England I was only able to listen to games on radio (only seeing them on TV when they played The Red Sox) and with limited access to articles about them. Now I get all games on TV at any time I want to see them and have access to tons of written information about them.

I have a lot of current baseball books accessible to me but don't read that many. History / politics is more of an interest to read.

As I stated ... I went in quite excited to read the book on the Yankees that I just read. Unfortunately, it turned out to mainly an author's exercise of coming up with a story and then making everything somehow related to his purported story.

[Jazztonight]

I'm about 40% through Saxophone Colossus, by Aidan Levy. It is a giant biography of jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins.

Well-written, nicely documented, and never boring. Lots of photos in the center section. Every major jazz artist of the last century is mentioned at some point.

[jginseattle]

The Uncertainty Solution. How To Invest With Confidence In The Face Of The Unknown, by John M. Jennings (2023). It's both wise and entertaining.

[yankees60]

The Uncertainty Solution. How To Invest With Confidence In The Face Of The Unknown, by John M. Jennings (2023). It's both wise and entertaining.

Thanks!

Just bought the Kindle version for $9.99:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXYLBXRS/?r ... l_huc_item

The Uncertainty Solution: How to Invest with Confidence in the Face of the Unknown

[vv19]

You weren’t supposed to see that by Josh Brown.

A good read on the post pandemic economy and economic landscape.

[yankees60]

You weren’t supposed to see that by Josh Brown.

A good read on the post pandemic economy and economic landscape.

Put is on my Amazon Wishlist. Too expensive to buy via any format (Kindle or paper) for me to make an impulse purchase of it.

But thanks for making us aware of its existence.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/180409059X/?r ... l_huc_item

You Weren’t Supposed To See That: Secrets Every Investor Should Know

[Halicar]

Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer from Oxford University Press's Very Short Introduction series, supplemented with the entries on Marx and Hegel from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/. Obviously a major figure in 19th and 20th Century philosophy, economics, and politics, and someone that I think everyone should have some familiarity with. I will probably read the Very Short Introduction volume on Hegel next.

[Robot Monster]

The winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, The Vegetarian by Han Kang

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254 ... vegetarian

I slogged through the first third to half of the book before giving up today.

From Wikipedia: "The Vegetarian is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life."

Not recommended.

I found that book quite disturbing! (Even more disturbing than Yoko Ogawa’s dark stuff, IMO). A better book to start with of hers is The White Book, but that one isn’t for everyone either. It’s like a book of interconnected prose poems. It’s still dark, but not dark-dark-Vegetarian-dark.

[Ricola]

We The Living by Ayn Rand, written in 1936, is quite relevant today and a reminder of what early communism in the Soviet Union was like.

[Mr. Rumples]

Put Grant by Chernow aside for a while, but will come back to it. Now reading Sacks' Letters.

https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Oliver-S ... 0451492919

[Nicolas]

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, Vol. 1 — Carl Sandburg (1926)

I’d long wanted to read the classic six volume set of Sandburg’s Lincoln, the first two volumes being The Prairie Years and the last four The War Years. But the unabridged set seems to be out of print and no library near me has them. Currently for sale are abridged versions which I have no interest in. But thanks to the internet I find I can read all six unabridged volumes for free on Archive.org

[yankees60]

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, Vol. 1 — Carl Sandburg (1926)

I’d long wanted to read the classic six volume set of Sandburg’s Lincoln, the first two volumes being The Prairie Years and the last four The War Years. But the unabridged set seems to be out of print and no library near me has them. Currently for sale are abridged versions which I have no interest in. But thanks to the internet I find I can read all six unabridged volumes for free on Archive.org

Thanks for letting us all know about that.

[nisiprius]

The Space Masters, by E. E. "Doc" Smith and E. Everett Evans. It's a shortish novel that's been published as a separate book, so I'm going to count it as a book although I actually read it in an anthology of stories that were published in "If: Worlds of Science Fiction." Like most of E. E. "Doc" Smith's work it is... oddly readable. It's sort of awful the way junk food is awful, yet tasty. Plus of course it is endlessly fascinating to see the extremely awkward way, and fifties-gender-stereotyped way, that romance and gender and courtship are handled.

Smith's books always have the problem that his descriptions of interstellar battle, war, explosions, etc. constantly need to top themselves over and over again, even within the same book. Every couple of chapters something needs to happen that's a thousand times as big and intense as the last time. The authors don't succeed, but they do try.

I was going nuts because simple web searches say the book was published in 1976, yet E. E. "Doc" Smith died in 1965 and Evans in 1958. But the notices in the anthology say it appeared in "If" in 1962. A cursory search hasn't turned up anything about the circumstances of the book's development. I must say it reads much more like early 1950s than 1960s.

"You've convinced me, Jarve." Sawtelle stood up and extended his hand. "And that throws it open for staff discussion. Any comments?"

"You two covered it like a blanket," Bryant said. "So all I want to say, Jarve, is deal me in. I'll stand at your back 'til your belly caves in."

"Take that from all of us!" "Now we're blasting!" "Power to your elbow, fella!" "Hoch der BuSci!" "Seven no trump bid and made!" and other shouts in similar vein.

At once point, a characters says "What a load of stuff!" Since the first place I encountered the phrase "the right stuff" was in a "Doc" Smith novel, this suddenly made me wonder if "stuff" is a euphemism, and if all the test pilots in Tom Wolfe's book were really saying something different.