Books! How do you read and what do you read?

I read less and less fiction each year. I'm currently reading Rationality by Stephen Pinker (a bit boring) and Dreams of El Dorado by H.W. Brands, which is a history of the American West. It's well-written but it covers too much familiar ground. I took a historical novel out of the library which is entitled The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, about a boy going West in 1849 with his ne'er do well father. It looks pretty good, I'm looking forward to getting into it.
 
Reading Tony Robbins' Life Force which is about precision medicine and longevity. It just came out. There's a page in there where they showed how they grew an actual ear from cells. They are growing organs now. Fascinating.
 

Just finished The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture by Matthew Stewart; what a great book! Here's one of my favorite quotes (among many) from it:

"Real progress is not, for the most part, a story about what humans have done with their gadgets. It is mostly a story about what they have been able to do in collaboration with one another. The measure of progress is not to be found in the domination of human beings over nature but in the relations of human beings to other human beings. The beginning of all progress lies in the recognition of human equality, and its practical foundation is justice."
 
@moviequeen1, I just finished "The Bone Code," a new one. Technical stuff sort of over my head but good story line well written. Touches on viruses and and the frailties of vaccines so don't go there if you're in Covid overload or susceptible to conspiracy theories. :unsure:
 
Lately I've been reading several books dealing with Human Migration.
I have often wondered why people would leave a known place and strike out for the unknown.
Was it purely economics? Cultural pressure? Mix in a little 'what's on the other side of the hill?'

Our library has a lot of books on the subject, from early man to present day.

A list of a few that I've read that were very good at trying to explain the WHY.

Atlas of a lost world: travels in ice age America - Craig Childs

Sea People: the puzzle of Polynesia - Christina Thompson

The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World - Lincoln Paine

The Great Departure: Mass migration from Eastern Europe and the making of the free world - Tara Zahra

Dry at times, but I managed to get through them and picked up some gems of knowledge.
All I can ask for in a book.
 
Feelslikefar said:
Lately I've been reading several books dealing with Human Migration.
I have often wondered why people would leave a known place and strike out for the unknown.
Was it purely economics? Cultural pressure? Mix in a little 'what's on the other side of the hill?'

Our library has a lot of books on the subject, from early man to present day.

A list of a few that I've read that were very good at trying to explain the WHY.

Atlas of a lost world: travels in ice age America - Craig Childs

Sea People: the puzzle of Polynesia - Christina Thompson

The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World - Lincoln Paine

The Great Departure: Mass migration from Eastern Europe and the making of the free world - Tara Zahra

Dry at times, but I managed to get through them and picked up some gems of knowledge.
All I can ask for in a book.
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I think it's just human curiosity that makes us want to see what is over that hill or at the other side of that ocean. I find it intriguing that there seems to be no record of Japanese and Chinese explorers. The Vikings and the Phoenicians seem to have been the most curious.
 
Horses Don't Fly

In a firsthand account of the air war over France during World War I, American cowboy-turned-ace-pilot Frederick Libby describes his enlistment in Canada's Royal Flying Corps and his daring exploits in the air over enemy lines. Reprint.

True Story.....Highly recommend
 
helenbacque said:
@moviequeen1, I just finished "The Bone Code," a new one. Technical stuff sort of over my head but good story line well written. Touches on viruses and and the frailties of vaccines so don't go there if you're in Covid overload or susceptible to conspiracy theories. :unsure:
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Hi Helen thanks for this, I usually wait until the book comes out in paperback Sue aka MQ
 
Feelslikefar said:
Lately I've been reading several books dealing with Human Migration.
I have often wondered why people would leave a known place and strike out for the unknown.
Was it purely economics? Cultural pressure? Mix in a little 'what's on the other side of the hill?'
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Wars, as in, "If you stay we're going to kill you! Better not see you anywhere around here anymore!"
 
moviequeen1 said:
Hi Helen thanks for this, I usually wait until the book comes out in paperback Sue aka MQ
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Hey, Sue. I wish I could still read 'real' books but arthritis makes even paperbacks hard to hold. I read with a kindle downloading my books from the local library and am in a queue for her more recent one. It's a long line so it'll be a while.

Happy reading! "So many books, so little time." :)
 
Camino Winds by John Grisham
A hurricane makes landfall on Camino Island.
After its is over 3 friends find one of their friends dead.
At first it appears a large branch hit him.

Looking closer it appears he was murdered.
Lots of twist & turns in this novel keep you guessing.

Near the end lots of substance abuse & or shady doings in nursing home come to light.
Does make you wonder about how safe / regulated 'care homes ' are.
 
I have gone the lazy route…I have Audible…I lean back and let someone read for me..right now I am into The Akashic Records..
 
Starting to read Graham Hurley's British detective stories. Book one, still developing main character.
Hope they are as enjoyable as the Peter James books.
 
I'm reading The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That's Pulling Apart by Noreena Hertz; it's pretty good so far but I'm wondering if it's going to finish up like all or most of these books: long on why this has happened but short on what to do about it. I've even noticed that the books, like this one, that specifically have "How" in the title even, never seem to really say how (or don't have a realistic solution); maybe because it can be such a hard thing to fix.
 
The book I started yesterday is 'The Last Romantics' by Tara Conklin
Its about the Skinner family who live in fictious town of Bexley, CT. The 4 siblings, Caroline, Rene,Joe,Fiona,{narrator of book} the sudden death of their dad age 34,how they&their mother cope as they grow up and leave home. I'm enjoying it
 
The Wife Upstairs - Rachel Hawkins .. different.
Before She Disappeared - Lisa Gardner .. yet to be read.
Quiet In Her Bones - Nalini Singh .. yet to be read.

The Punch - Noah Hawley .. about two grown brothers.
Before The Fall - Noah Hawley .. current read.

I don't like to disclose too much about the stories, as you can see.
 
Pinky said:
The Wife Upstairs - Rachel Hawkins .. different.
Before She Disappeared - Lisa Gardner .. yet to be read.
Quiet In Her Bones - Nalini Singh .. yet to be read.

The Punch - Noah Hawley .. about two grown brothers.
Before The Fall - Noah Hawley .. current read.

I don't like to disclose too much about the stories, as you can see.
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I hear they plan to make a movie of Before the Fall; the only info. I can find on it just says "in development." I wonder if Hawley will be the one writing the screenplay, he's done other screenplays.
 
Just finished The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen. Not one of her Rizzoli & Isles, but a mystery and romance with a ghost off the coast of Maine.
 
officerripley said:
I hear they plan to make a movie of Before the Fall; the only info. I can find on it just says "in development." I wonder if Hawley will be the one writing the screenplay, he's done other screenplays.
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I've read that he's writing the screenplay for Before the Fall.
 

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