What are you reading? - Page 60

Crumb · #**1476** 05-19-2009, 04:25 AM

I'm finding it very good. :thumbup:

It is interesting and well written. I find that there is a lot of bad writing in many history books. I am finding Tuchman to be a very good story-teller which keeps it from being dry. :yup:

Anastasia Beaverhausen · #**1477** 05-19-2009, 05:30 AM

Cool. Maybe I'll get it at the library.

Demimonde · #**1478** 05-19-2009, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waluigi

The Great Bridge by David McCullough. I'm about 200 pages into it, and it's good so far.

I love David McCullough. I was fortunate to hear him give a lecture last fall just before the election. Inspiring to listen to. I haven't read the Great Bridge, but it's on my list.

I am eagerly awaiting the book he is currently working on which profiles Americans living in Paris.

Waluigi · #**1479** 05-19-2009, 01:22 PM

My father is a big McCullough fan, it's actually his book that I'm borrowing. One of these days I'll get around to reading 1776, which is apparently excellent.

livius drusus · #**1480** 05-19-2009, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crumb

I'm finding it very good. :thumbup:

It is interesting and well written. I find that there is a lot of bad writing in many history books. I am finding Tuchman to be a very good story-teller which keeps it from being dry. :yup:

I found the same. In fact, I went on a bit of a Tuchman spree after I read TGoA. The Proud Tower and A Distant Mirror are even better, imo.

Adam · #**1481** 05-19-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, (Souter, J., dissenting), and Nixonland.

How's Nixonland? I keep meaning to pick that one up.

Also, I know I say this every time it pops up in this thread, but there must be something wrong with me. I think I'm the only person in the world who finds Tuchman's writing style very dry and uninteresting.

livius drusus · #**1482** 05-19-2009, 04:03 PM

Yup. There's something wrong with you. Severely.

Crumb · #**1483** 05-19-2009, 04:35 PM

It's you, Adam. :sadyup:

SharonDee · #**1484** 05-23-2009, 06:40 PM

Scary stuff about what might happen if a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere over the continental US caused an electromagnetic pulse, which stopped all our modern devices in their tracks. Not only cars, computers, cell phones, and other luxuries; but airplanes in flight, medical equipment, pacemakers, etc.

It's an interesting fictional study in how this stoppage causes communications breakdowns, accompanied by breakdowns of civilization as we know it.

I really need someone to tell me the chances of this happening are slim to none. Please? Pretty please?

ceptimus · #**1485** 05-23-2009, 06:49 PM

I wouldn't be so sure. I read that when one of the early H-bomb tests was scheduled, the scientists weren't quite confident that it wouldn't initiate a chain reaction fusing all the hydrogen locked up in the atmosphere and oceans. If this had happened, the resulting explosion would have vaporized the entire earth. A general in the US armed forces decided to press on with the test saying, "If it goes wrong, it will be my responsibility."

SharonDee · #**1486** 05-23-2009, 07:07 PM

So ... are you saying this couldn't happen or that it could happen? I'm having trouble parsing your post.

:suckthumbscared:

ceptimus · #**1487** 05-23-2009, 07:15 PM

An electromagnetic pulse from a nuke detonated in space wiping out electronics is a reality. Military electronics are supposedly shielded/hardened to withstand such a pulse.

Much of non-military electronics is also shielded - not specifically against an EM pulse, but to minimise other interference or just incidentally because it is mounted inside a conductive (e.g. metal) enclosure.

So a pulse taking out some things is very likely, but everything across the whole of the USA? No.

SharonDee · #**1488** 05-23-2009, 10:54 PM

I've finished reading the book. This Forstchen guy didn't do too badly with his wiped-out-US scenario but I believe Stephen King's The Stand did a better job. Forstchen kept his storytelling to one town and one family, while King related the effects on many characters in many US cities and towns. You really felt that it was a nationwide catastrophe.

Of course, keeping the focus so tight in One Second After probably helped the reader understand the isolation you'd likely feel if the entire US electronic grid went by the wayside.

As for the probability of this happening for reals, the author includes a forward by Newt Gingrich--"It is like a super lightning bolt striking next to your house and taking out your computer, except infinitely worse, for it will strike our entire nation, most likely without warning, and could destroy our entire complex electrical grid and everything attached into that grid."--and an afterword by some US Navy guy, Captain Bill Sanders--"Our technologically oriented society and its heavy dependence on advanced electronics systems could be brought to its knees with cascading failures of our critical infrastructure."--that sounded pretty convincing to a non-science geek like me.

Caligulette · #**1489** 05-24-2009, 05:43 AM

I am reading Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Well and it's silly enough, so all right I like it.

Just found out that the author of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is coming to my store. I hope to have it finished by then - it is amusing, I have just been distracted.

I am also reading The Shipyard by Onetti - which I like a lot. I have lost the copy, though, so am going to switch to another of his until I find it again.

Anastasia Beaverhausen · #**1490** 05-24-2009, 05:48 AM

Sounds good, Sharon. The Stand is one of my most favoritest books.

Waluigi · #**1491** 05-25-2009, 12:25 PM

I just read Storm Front, book 1 of the Dresden Files. It was really good, and I already have book 2 ready to go. I may read something in between the two, though.

Adam · #**1492** 05-26-2009, 05:56 PM

And not only zombies, people, there are ninjas involved. If a pirate shows up, I may pick up some of this Austen chick's other books when I'm done.

Watser? · #**1493** 05-26-2009, 06:58 PM

Still reading Bass Culture about reggae music.

I never realised King Tubby was such a neatness freak. He kept his studio spotlessly clean, everything polished.

Quote:

But his shoes...bwoy, King Tubby's shoes, well clean and shiny. Everyday. And it difficult to keep your shoes clean in Jamaica, so much dust. He always stopping if he see something on his shoes - not if he doing a mix, but otherwise, if he look down and see a speck, he reach back, pull out him hanky and dust it off.

...

there are even entertaining, though probably apocryphal stories of his going to the bank to exchange the used notes in his pocket for crisp, sequential new ones.

He was a nerd! An engineer by trade and a nerd by inclination. The man who was almost single-handedly responsible for inventing dub and dj versions and thereby one of the early contributors to electronic dance music was a nerd. :nerd:

Caligulette · #**1494** 05-27-2009, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam

And not only zombies, people, there are ninjas involved. If a pirate shows up, I may pick up some of this Austen chick's other books when I'm done.

I tell you, it's a lot better than I hoped.

Waluigi · #**1495** 05-27-2009, 09:50 PM

I'm currently reading Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling.

I'm only two chapters in. So far, it's okay, but a little one-sided.

Adam · #**1496** 05-27-2009, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caligulette

I tell you, it's a lot better than I hoped.

Me too, although I didn't really know what to expect. The study questions at the back are hilarious.

Caligulette · #**1497** 05-30-2009, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caligulette

I tell you, it's a lot better than I hoped.

Me too, although I didn't really know what to expect. The study questions at the back are hilarious.

They are. I am awaiting with dread all the copycat "books" which will come out as a result, though. But this one - this one is darned good.

Qingdai · #**1498** 05-30-2009, 06:09 AM

I just finished World War Z, it was pretty good.

Are zombies going to be the next vampires? It is worrisome.

Dingfod · #**1499** 05-30-2009, 06:24 AM

Caligulette · #**1500** 05-30-2009, 11:38 AM

They are already, it seems. I have sold a number of copies of Zombie Blondes, a young adult book, to school libraries. It is alarming how many zombie books there are of a sudden. Most of them damned stupid.

World War Z was very good, I thought. I entered with a bit of trepidation, wondering if young Brooks was just capitalising on his dad's name. Turns out he deserves his publishing contract. The guy has talent.