What are you reading now?

To Fly and Fight-Memoirs of a Triple Ace by Col. Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson (USAF-RET)

You are a stud to be a triple ace, and when Chuck Yeager does the intro to your memoirs you might define stud.

16 confirmed kills, unknown possibles.

This book, as the father of two middle school girls is scaring the E36M3 out of me...

In reply to stroker :

I wouldn't worry about that.  Looks to me from the description that it's a "pink is for girls blue is for boys dammit" manifesto.

Your kids will sort their own sexuality out when it comes to them.  The important thing is to let them know they are your kids no matter what.  Failing to do that (or worse) is where the "irreparable damage" comes from.

Just finished:  John Connoly's The Gates which is a light-hearted young-adult-ish novel about a portal to Hell being opened in suburban England.  Features an Aston Martin.  Funny and quick read.

Just about to start:  William Gibson's The Peripheral. Thanks, ShawnG!

I just restarted Clancy's Without Remorse.

Duke said:

In reply to stroker :

I wouldn't worry about that.  Looks to me from the description that it's a "pink is for girls blue is for boys dammit" manifesto.

Your kids will sort their own sexuality out when it comes to them.  The important thing is to let them know they are your kids no matter what.  Failing to do that (or worse) is where the "irreparable damage" comes from.

Just finished:  John Connoly's The Gates which is a light-hearted young-adult-ish novel about a portal to Hell being opened in suburban England.  Features an Aston Martin.  Funny and quick read.

Just about to start:  William Gibson's The Peripheral. Thanks, ShawnG!

 

It's not.

Little Failure - Gary Shteyngart

How not to be wrong.

The hidden math of everyday life

Just finished Andy Weir's new book, "Project Hail Mary" a few minutes ago.  I won't give away any of the plot, but thoroughly enjoyed the book.  If you like The Martian, you'll probably like this one too.

One interesting point, almost no cussing.... (maybe none, I can't remember exactly).

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

Was it better than the moon one? (Artemis?)  Because that was good, but not great.

I've been on a tear of fiction novels about private investigators that are more or less involved with the paranormal. Of course I'm fully caught up with The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Probably one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read. I'm currently in The Daniel Faust series by Craig Schaefer which has crossovers from the Harmony Black series by the same author.  Those books are just too easy to finish one and go buy the next for the kindle. 

The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee 

Makes me sad, disappointed, cheated, angry, and frustrated.

Duke said:

In reply to rob_lewis :

Was it better than the moon one?  Because the was good, but not great.

 

I thought it was. Much closer to The Martian book in style.

-Rob

I just finished Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen Ambrose about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. And I started Without Remorse by Tom Clancy, which is one of the few Ryanverse books I have not read (ignoring the ones where it shifts to Jack Ryan Jr because those ones, well, suck)

In reply to ShawnG :

I should probably read that, at very least, out of curiosity

Just realized I forgot to post here about it, but I finished reading The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee earlier this year and holy E36 M3. Best book I ever read. To the point that it kind of ruined all other books for me. Cannot recommend it highly enough, and can't wait to read more of Dr. Mukherjee's work. But in the meantime I'm (admittedly very slowly) reading Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

"Winning in Reverse" by Bill Lester.  Worth checking out if you like books about racers by racers.  I found a copy at the local library.

Educated  by Tara Westover. I'm about 30 pages in and it's pretty interesting so far.

NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:

Educated  by Tara Westover. I'm about 30 pages in and it's pretty interesting so far.

That was pretty good, a lot of people said she took liberties for a "real" story but it made for a smooth read.

Nicole Suddard said:

 I finished reading The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee earlier this year and holy E36 M3. Best book I ever read. 

Just requested from library, thanks.

I'm going down the "Adverse Childhood Events" rabbit hole with "The Deepest Well" and "Childhood Disrupted." The authors make a convincing argument (backed by a number of peer-reviewed studies) that bad things that happen to us in our childhood have a large impact on our health and happiness later in life. In otherwords, our biography becomes our biology.

As a father, it's suddenly fascinating reading.

A bit of background on this. My interest in this book was piqued by an article in another car magazine. (No names, but there’s an ampersand in the title. Surprisingly, after going through many other publishers after John and Elaine, and mostly crappy content, although I always liked Sam Smith, who is now writing on Hagerty, the current Aug/Sept issue is arguably their best in quite awhile ... and even a good article by Peter Egan). So A.J. Blaine did a nice synopsis of this book, and it gave me the incentive to purchase it. Anyway, it arrived today and I'll start reading it tomorrow ... after cleaning up the storm damage.

stroker said:

This book, as the father of two middle school girls is scaring the E36M3 out of me...

Until just a few years ago, gender dysphoria—severe discomfort in one’s biological sex—was vanishingly rare. It was typically found in less than .01 percent of the population, emerged in early childhood, and afflicted males almost exclusively.

LOL.  No.  It wasn't rare, it went unpronounced and caused untold mental issues.

Also, "trans-epidemic"?  berkeley that lady.

I was recently reading one of the very best books I've ever read. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. It's like a longer-running D-Day Thru German Eyes. Halfway through, I recommended it to a bunch of people but then basically the book started weighing on me with its darkness. I mean, what else to expect from the losing side? But his storytelling itself, especially his tale about being on leave, was just rich. 
 

Mr_Asa, I'm curious about the idea of it being drastically underreported. That seems like something very hard to even research when that sort of thing happens. Where did you come across that info?

Recently I went back and dusted off two classics.  I read Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' great book 'Everglades, The River of Grass'.  Obviously she was fairly accurate in predicting Florida's future from the 1950's forward.  I found her recounting of the history of Florida up to her time as being very informative.  It gave me a better understanding of the State's history from early Spanish invasion up through the Seminole Wars.   I enjoyed it more than when I first read it 50 years ago.  Still an outstanding book for pointing out our errors in abusing the environment.

In that same vein I just reread John Steinbecks's 'Travels with Charley'.  No question as to why he won the Nobel Prize for literature.  A great road trip essay, both in descriptions of his vision of the country and his own thoughts on aging.

If you are into pirates, especially the story of possibly the most famous and the one who changed the face of world commerce and set the stage for Britain to build an empire; I recommend 'Enemy of all Mankind' by Steven Johnson.

Into WWII history?  Just finished Malcolm Gladwell's 'The Bomber Mafia'.  I have read all of Gladwell's stuff.  This one takes a completely different tangent.  When I first finished it I wasn't that impressed, but a week later I sort of understand his message.  Also learned a lot about bomb sight technology.  :)

The Road Between by Courtney Peppernell. I lack the focus to follow books right now but poetry is easier to follow. A lot of hers is well thought out and full of feelings. A small plus to reading this, she seems to be big with somewhat nerdy, single women and they all feel compelled to say something to me and at least recommended more books.