Jump to content

What Book Are You Reading?


Wolfbane

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished "Last Days of Night" by Graham Moore.  It's a fictional account of the patent wars between Edison and Westinghouse told through the eyes of a young patent attorney. It also has Dave Mallett's hero, Nicholas Telsa.  A fun and informative read.  Sometimes historical fiction can be flesh out history in ways a dry tome wouldn't.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just finished The Undoing Project.  It's fascinating, albeit tedious at times.  The powerful friendship between Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman is chronicled.  Their ideas and contributions color decisions regarding the predicted success of everything from Israeli fighter pilots to NBA draft choices.  Michael Lews also wrote   Moneyball, The Big Short, and The Blind Side, among others.

 

Just started Never A Dull Moment, an interesting look at rock music in 1971.

 

image.jpeg

image.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

For those who like Roman historical fiction, Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series.  Also the “Eagles” trilogy by Ben Kane and Empire series by Anthony Riches. Together give an interesting view of the Roman military.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, MC39693 said:

For those who like Roman historical fiction, Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series.  Also the “Eagles” trilogy by Ben Kane and Empire series by Anthony Riches. Together give an interesting view of the Roman military.

Colleen McCullough's Rome series is also excellent and very well researched.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leadership In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  It’s an interesting comparison of the circumstances confronted by Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and LBJ, and their respective leadership styles.

 

I plan to read One Giant Leap before the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

21 hours ago, ssh said:

Chris A,

I had Mortimer Adler's book on a shelf in my English classroom. A student with a puzzled look asked, "Don't you know how to read a book?" I simply replied, "Yes, I do".

SSH

I'll reveal a poorly held secret: I basically don't read fiction.  I get a lot of that in real time through the Klipsch surround sound system and flat panel TV in the form of acting: movies and other cable/TV entertainment.  I find that I really don't equate taking the time to read a book with reading fiction.

 

I instead read to "enrich myself" on how to make better sense of that that I already see and have to deal with.  Favorite subjects include "how did we get to this point today",  "why do we (collectively) believe what we believe?".  I find these subjects are useful to spend some time on...that is, reading in codex format. 

 

Nowadays, I rarely come across books of high-enough value to mention, and curiously even less so as time goes on with the general quality of writing noticeably deteriorating over time.  I attribute this to much lower levels of expertise by the authors on the subjects being discussed.  Ostensibly this is because it is so much easier to publish a book nowadays, i.e., any fool can publish a book now.  The last dozen or so books that I've acquired via Amazon have not been good, so I've become much more selective of late. 

 

However, Guns, Germs, and Steel is one such "rare" book, IME, Management and Machiavelli is another.  Sources of Power--How People Make Decisions is yet another...with many later authors having ripped-off the ideas from this book, including Thinking, Fast and Slow (by a Nobel Prize winner...if you can believe it), Blink (a very poor ripoff) and The Tipping PointThe Wisdom of Crowds however is in part a very good read that draws on related but new ideas of how people think and make decisions.  It's always mystified me how people make decisions.  There's a lot of bad decision making in the world--really bad. 

 

41+QzjkaTVL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

 

More recently, I've taken to the subject of music reproduction in small rooms, a subject that I've approached like a new profession for ~5 years now.  Toole's book is a good start that includes how we hear (psychoacoustics) but it's really severely limited.  Also Acoustics by Beranek, Elements of Acoustical Engineering by Olson, and Recording Studio Design by Newell--the last three of which are usually available in complete text online in PDF format). This is my current passion...especially how to design and implement better loudspeakers, and not just different designs. 

 

31n5emqE0UL._SX312_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg   41eVpJQPzuL._SX249_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg 51AB292AHAL._SX404_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A great deal of my decision making is distilled from reading poets, novelists, and playwrights who, in my opinion,  have captured and shared the repetitive nature of humanity throughout history. To each, his/her own, I guess.

SSH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
On 5/21/2017 at 9:22 AM, thebes said:

I just finished "Last Days of Night" by Graham Moore.  It's a fictional account of the patent wars between Edison and Westinghouse told through the eyes of a young patent attorney. It also has Dave Mallett's hero, Nicholas Telsa.  A fun and informative read.  Sometimes historical fiction can be flesh out history in ways a dry tome wouldn't.

Bought it today, it better be good.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
On 6/28/2019 at 1:43 PM, ssh said:

A great deal of my decision making is distilled from reading poets, novelists, and playwrights who, in my opinion,  have captured and shared the repetitive nature of humanity throughout history. To each, his/her own, I guess.

SSH

Give me a short list please.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...