What are you reading?

[Watser?]

Oh yeah, I have Blood Music lying around here too. Already read the sort story in an anthology. I read Slant too, also Hegira, which is in another universe and is very different.

Oh and I have Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children. Darwin's Radio is very good (but also pretty science-heavy). The sequel I didn't like as much.

[Deadlokd]

My Forensic Science textbook. Plot is a bit thin, lacks character development, but man, the crimes and twists! Awesome!

[Crumb]

[wildernesse]

I just finished In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and am still reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by E. Morris. I am heartily enjoying the Roosevelt book, and will probably read Theodore Rex after I finish this one.

Or I might read The Road again--I read it after Christmas last year, and it creeped me right out! I wanted to read it again, after I had time to process a bit, but I think I might have waited a little too long.

[Lady Brik]

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck.

[Adam]

As a whole, interesting enough. It's my first exposure to quite a bit of the pre-WWI modern history of the region, so the first third or so of the book was my favorite. It's quite obviously written from the American perspective, and the stated goals of American administrations are taken at face value. The final chapter is particularly bad. I learned that there was no significant opposition to Bush's invasion of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had WMD's, and that Francis Fukuyama and Thomas Friedman were war critics. The author appears to have relied quite heavily on Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack for his account of the Bush administration's Middle Eastern policy, if the bibliography is to be believed.

[SharonDee]

Originally Posted by Watser?

Speaking (well, typing) of Science Fiction, I'm reading Eon by Greg Bear again. It's pretty hard SF (as in a lot of science), so you may not like it, Sharon.

I wasn't able to find that book at the library but I did find Darwin's Radio. Hard sci-fi is right; I'm having a tough time understanding a lot of the science in there. The Neandertal discovery was interesting in the beginning but the whole SHEVA thing is kinda ... duh? The rest of the story is pretty interesting and well-written; too bad the science parts are slowing me down.

Maybe I should stay with the easy-peasy stuff like Ray Bradbury ...

[Caligulette]

I am jumping between three books - Falling for Science - which I like a lot so far, PS by Studs Terkel - not so much, and the Everything Cat Book which does not seem to apply to this particular cat.

[Qingdai]

I'll give you my cat book. I can't remember the name of it, but I have no use for it.

I am reading Polity Agent by Neal Asher and trying to read Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but she is pretty pedantic.

[Caligulette]

Isn't she, though? Reminded me of some foruii where people get all grammar-y at you in the middle of an actual conversation.

[Qingdai]

I wonder which one that is, *cough*

[Caligulette]

And then go on to crow about how they're Grammar Geeks. And then the big nerd-off begins. Eventually someone mentions how they "smell" words or some such and the discussion turns to medications...

Anyhoo - I bought the big Oxford Dictionary that's in two volumes and comes with a magnifying glass today. I used to have one, but left it with a friend in California. I spent a fair bit of the afternoon (breaks at work) looking things up. Turns out fewer people use "praxis" correctly than even I thought.

[Caligulette]

sorry

[Qingdai]

Ahh. Double post night!
I have yet to come upon a time when praxis comes up in conversation, although I did in college. The "here are some Marxist concepts defined" conversation.

[Caligulette]

It's been mostly anarchists - "He has no concept of praxis". Come to find out, neither did she...

[Watser?]

Originally Posted by SharonDee

I wasn't able to find that book at the library but I did find Darwin's Radio. Hard sci-fi is right; I'm having a tough time understanding a lot of the science in there. The Neandertal discovery was interesting in the beginning but the whole SHEVA thing is kinda ... duh? The rest of the story is pretty interesting and well-written; too bad the science parts are slowing me down.

Maybe I should stay with the easy-peasy stuff like Ray Bradbury ...

Yeah, it gets pretty technical, well, biological. I think I even started a thread on it or posted in an existing one to ask the Lone Ranger about some of it.

[Ymir's blood]

Originally Posted by Caligulette

and the Everything Cat Book which does not seem to apply to this particular cat.

It is difficult - during the cat selection process - to determine if said cat is an everything or a particular.

[Caligulette]

Oh, this cat is all that, but the writers of the book seem to have taken a rather stereotypical view of the animals. He has done very little of what they say he Will Do.

I have abandoned it in favour of Bennett Cerf's Laugh Day.

[Crumb]

Don't bother reading this book. It's even worse than the other Rama books.

[curses]

I just picked up Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Dr Michio Kaku. I've seen him several times on various programs on the Science Channel and have quite liked him, hope his book is equally enjoyable.

[Ymir's blood]

The Green Man: Tales From the Mythic Forest anthology. Or at least I tried to at work but a -loud- coworker in the next room ran his mouth all day.

[SharonDee]

Blood Music by Greg Bear, based on posts by Pan Narrans and Watser? It's easier to keep up with than Darwin's Radio was but just as weird when the science steps aside.

[Crumb]

[Caligulette]

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes.

[ceptimus]

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling.

Very short book and not much good really (IMO) but of interest to Harry Potter fans.