Books

14 Comments

1. 

   Omir the Storyteller on August 28, 2008 at 3:06 pm

   I recommend Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother

2. 

   tampopo on August 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm

   Very much appreciated Terry Olsen’s Skinny Berry. Growing food – research & design – profits – greedy people – caring people – a good read.

   What I want to read is On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not by Robert Burton, MD. A review in Skeptical Inquirer states:

   The insights in this book can be applied to every human interaction from marital squabbles to terrorism. There are implications for politics, religion, and every sphere of human activity. It may be frightening to recognize the limits of our knowledge and will be hard for some to give up their cherished certainties, but Burton says he has gained an extraordinary sense of inner quiet born of acknowledging his limitations.

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     ejmw on August 28, 2008 at 3:36 pm

     I second Skinny Berry.  I loved it.

     Other than that, I’m not going to be much help in this effort…I’ve been going back and reading some of the classics I never got around to before, like Huck Finn, Last of the Mohicans, Moby Dick, etc.  Probably not the type of stuff you’re looking for to drive ad revenue 🙂

3. 

   eagleye on August 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm

   “Gypsy Jazz,” by Michael Dregni.  An amazing, very well-written look at the life of Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and the development of Gypsy jazz in France, 1920’s thru the 50’s.

   http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/PopularMusic/Jazz/?view=usa&ci=9780195311921

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     RollaMO on August 28, 2008 at 3:54 pm

     Django’s was the first music my son danced to at the age of 2.

4. 

   Mac G on August 28, 2008 at 3:42 pm

   Suskinds new book and Jane Mayer’s Dark Side are both a top my list.

5. 

   chicago dyke on August 28, 2008 at 3:56 pm

   i don’t really read “political” books; i figure blogreading and newsreading is more than enough of that sort of thing.

   i just finished “four horses for trishy” by CQ Yarbro this afternoon. i’m in the middle of “the last of the wine” by mary reanault, and SN Kramer’s “the tablets from sumer.”

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     Joyful Alternative on August 29, 2008 at 11:31 am

     I always feel that I should read such books, but my unpaid reading time is on the elliptical trainer or in bed. Mostly I read hardboiled and/or noir crime fiction.

     Plus, I don’t read new books much. Right now I’m reading a lot of Ross MacDonald–I finished The Doomsters recently and have another one on the ET bookholder.

6. 

   rae on August 28, 2008 at 4:07 pm

   I really enjoyed “Dark Ages America” by Morris Berman.  I don’t know how much I buy his argument, but he pulls together a lot of interesting ideas.  Very erudite.

7. 

   DaveW on August 28, 2008 at 5:37 pm

   I’m attempting to start “I Am a Strange Loop” by Douglas Hofstadter. It promises to explain all about thought and consciousness. It’s gonna be a long, hard slog, but in this political season, consciousness seems like a nice break.

8. 

   Alice on August 28, 2008 at 5:58 pm

   “The Great Turning: From Empire To Earth Community” – David Korten

   Amazon sez

   The threat of continued warfare to the future of humanity has become dire. “The Great Turning” explores that threat in detail and provides an equally detailed plan for meeting — and overcoming — it. Written in the author’s trademark clear, compelling style, this timely book uncovers the roots of Empire in ancient Athens and charts the long transition from the institutions of monarchy to those of the global economy as the favored instruments of imperialism. Korten then discusses the promise of early America as a democracy dedicated to spreading liberty and freedom — and the failure of the “American experiment” through the contemporary takeover of the U.S. government by corporate plutocrats, religious theocrats, and neoconservative militarists in pursuit of naked imperial ambition. Korten draws on sources as varied as evolution, developmental psychology, and the wisdom of religious mystics to make the case for “Earth Community” — a people-centered, community-based future that is both possible and necessary.

   “Skinny Berry” – Yay! Loved it.

   Always a bit behind the times, I’m simultaneously reading “The Audacity Of Hope” – it’s very nice, too.

9. 

   janinsanfran on August 28, 2008 at 7:57 pm

   The most important book I’ve read lately was Ahmad Rashid’s Descent into Chaos. Since our coming hot wars are likely to be in Afghanistan, and if we remain as unlucky as we have been, in Pakistan — this is the pre-primer for Americans on those places.

   Rashid is a journalist, a furious Pakistani who let himself hope that the US invasion of Afghanistan would lead to something better for people. He is pissed.

10. 

    Isis on August 28, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    I recently read Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine and found it enlightening in all its darkness.

11. 

    bfranky on August 29, 2008 at 11:51 am

    “The Department of Homeland Decency: Decency Rules and Regulations Manual.” It’s a hilarious satire of the Moral Majority, Bush, The Patriot Act, Fox News, etc. The motto from the book: “You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. You have nothing to hide if you have nothing to fear. So fear nothing and you need not hide. Hide nothing and you need not fear.” It’s laugh-out-loud funny.