The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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On my second time through of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (audiobook). Love this book for multiple reasons.

It wasn't what I was expecting (was looking for more of a human history rather than a scientific history of the galaxy, earth and life itself). I wasn't sure if I would enjoy that kind of content but it is written in a way that is entertaining as well as informative.

The audiobook (read by Jack Hawkins I think) is also the perfect thing to sleep to. It's technical enough to make my brain work (and exhaust it) but because it isn't plot driven you don't wake up later and get anything spoiled. Just veers off into light little anecdotes of scientists who made discoveries back in the 1800s etc.

Can anybody recommend anything that is also entertaining / informative? An interesting history book? Something more human that scientific perhaps.
 
Sketi said:
On my second time through of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (audiobook). Love this book for multiple reasons.

It wasn't what I was expecting (was looking for more of a human history rather than a scientific history of the galaxy, earth and life itself). I wasn't sure if I would enjoy that kind of content but it is written in a way that is entertaining as well as informative.

The audiobook (read by Jack Hawkins I think) is also the perfect thing to sleep to. It's technical enough to make my brain work (and exhaust it) but because it isn't plot driven you don't wake up later and get anything spoiled. Just veers off into light little anecdotes of scientists who made discoveries back in the 1800s etc.

Can anybody recommend anything that is also entertaining / informative? An interesting history book? Something more human that scientific perhaps.
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This may not qualify as from memory there is a lot of science but I just looked up the title the other day as I want to reread it myself.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar

It tells of the period in the early 1900s when physics was working towards what would become quantum mechanics but instead of simply retelling the science Kumar does it by looking at the scientists and the history of how they worked together. Including taking what was known, like their letters etc, and creating fictional conversations that retell the story (in a simailar way to Shindlar's Arc/List, which if you haven't read is also well worth it). It is as much biographies and history as it is a science book.

It's been a while since I read it but I really enjoyed it the first time around.
 
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Quokka said:
This may not qualify as from memory there is a lot of science but I just looked up the title the other day as I want to reread it myself.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar

It tells of the period in the early 1900s when physics was working towards what would become quantum mechanics but instead of simply retelling the science Kumar does it by looking at the scientists and the history of how they worked together. Including taking what was known, like their letters etc, and creating fictional conversations that retell the story (in a simailar way to Shindlar's Arc/List, which if you haven't read is also well worth it). It is as much biographies and history as it is a science book.

It's been a while since I read it but I really enjoyed it the first time around.
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Thanks! I'll check them out.

Edit: Quantum looks great.
 
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Sketi said:
Thanks! I'll check them out.Edit: Quantum looks great.
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It does doesn't it.... but it might not be the book I was thinking of, when I checked my previous posts in here it looks like the one I was trying to remember was actually The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics was Reborn by Louisa Gilder.

The write ups for Quantum sounded so familiar I assumed that was the book I was thinking of (I'm almost positive I've read Quantum as well). Either way Quantum has jumped to the top of my re-read/possibly-first-read pile, it just might not be as biographical as I first suggested... see The Age of Entanglement for that one :sweatsmile:.
 
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Currently reading The Origin, Career and Destruction of the Kelly Gang - I didn't realise this was a contemporary account written shortly after the hanging of Ned Kelly (within a decade I believe). Is clearly a subjective piece taking the side of the police in the 30 or so pages I've read so far but still an interesting read nonetheless.

Since I last posted I've read the following;

American Gods - I didn't get into this at all. Started out with an interesting premise but quickly fell away and the last 150 or so pages was a slog to get through. Wednesday was a great character but I really didn't like Shadow, seemed very one dimensional. One of the most interesting parts of the book I found was when he was holed up in the country town where the kids had been going missing but it seems a lot of readers felt that was a diversion story. I only gave this one star on goodreads.com and probably would've given it 0.5 but I don't think that's an option.

Death of the Fitzroy Football Club - this was OK, covered a lot of ground that most footy tragics already know about. I was hoping for more of a historical account but a lot of it (all of it?) was interviews/statements from players and others associated with the club at the time. What might have been had they been able to hang on to Osbourne, Lynch, Pert & Roos - it absolutely decimated them.

The Sicilian - sequel to the Godfather and a completely different book. Was a good read but not as good as it's predecessor. I liked the story and location but most of it had little to do with the original.

A History of Victoria (Blainey) - I really loved this book, didn't go into too much detail as it had to cover almost 200 years of colonisation but was very good for an overview of the history of the state. Recommend to any Victorian interested in history and would like some recommendations for similar books covering other Australian states.

A Farewell To Arms (Hemingway) - I liked this one, it dragged a little at times but overall was a good read. Not as good as the Old Man and The Sea the only other Hemingway I've read. Next Hemingway on my list is For Whom The Bell Tolls.

Up Where, Cazaly? (Sandercock) - A great read of the development of the VFL up to the early 80's. Looks mainly at the off field/financial side of things and is a great companion piece to Football Ltd by Gary Linnell which picks things up in the early 80s to the development of the national comp in the late 80s.

Kill The Morans (Bert Wrout) - written by Lewis Moran's long time associate and the man who was shot next to Lewis when he was gunned down, is a bit of a rough read, contains some insights but most of it is long one long pub yarn and you're not sure what to really believe. Clearly has an axe to grind with Lewis and the Moran family (though was kind to Mark) - I guess you would like it if you're interested in the Underbelly Gang wars to add another perspective but it feels like more of a cash in than a tell all.

Ten Caesar's - Emperors from Augustus to Constantine (Strauss) - I loved this book, not being a great aficionado of Roman history it gave a great entry level overview of 10 of the most important Caesar's to rule between the death of Caesar and the fall of the Roman Empire in 476AD. A chapter each is dedicated to Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Diocletian & Constantine with some overview of the Caesar's who came between them in each chapter. Would highly recommend for someone looking to delve into Roman history but with not much knowledge of it. Want to read his book the Death of Caesar next.

The Dry - the book that spawned the movie currently playing at the cinema. I really liked this book, was an easy read and was really relatable as someone catching up with high school friends/acquaintances from years past. Would have given it 5 stars for the first 3/4's due to how much I enjoyed it but I wasn't a huge fan of the ending (won't give away anything). Was an easy read and enjoyable and it really did give you the feeling of a town on edge and what it must feel like to live in a small farming community with the spectre of drought and potential bushfire hanging over you. The "end each chapter with a cliffhanger" became a bit predictable but it did make me want to keep reading so it worked :)
 
I finished The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K Jemisin. Honestly, I thought it was utter horseshit and an absolute struggle to get through the 3 books. I kept waiting for it to get better and grip me but it just never happened. Her prose is terrible, the characters were for the most part pretty bland, and the fact that over 3 books there is only really one character she could make me care about is pretty poor. The world and magic system could have been so much better and more interesting if handled by a better author. It sucks because the premise is quite interesting. Also, knowing how much of a s**t campaigner she is makes it even better.


I am currently almost finished with the first book in The Dresden Files and I am enjoying that quite a bit. I just need to work out if I am going to split up the series or read all the way through in one go.
 
Ambrose Burnside said:
What's this about?

I read The City We Became and didn't get the hype for the author (no idea if that is meant to be one of her better books or not though, it was the only one the library had).
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tl;dr: There was a college student in America who was saying one of the books they had to read in class should not have been on the reading list and the author of that book attacked her. Then Jemisin and a few other female authors went absolute ham on this student without looking at the context and why the student said what she did. Then when they all copped a massive amount of backlash and abuse from the public, they all put out piss-weak apologies that were not really apologies but a poor attempt to save face.

If you want to learn more:




The original article:



I can't find Jemisin's original tweet since she deleted it but her piss poor apology trying to pass the buck to others:







 

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ChubbMuff said:
Ready Player Two
Enjoyed Player One, it was a fun, light romp. Two is interminably dull. Just avoid it.
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I haven't really seen anyone say anything other than it is terrible and should not have been (or needed to be) written.
 
Demonic Ascent said:
Just started Infinite Jest after buying it a year ago about 100 pages in.

This is meant to be a modern classic yeah? 10% of the way through and I have no idea what's going on and it's a bit of a slog to get through. Hoping it gets better.
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I got through about 50% and struggled to follow in most parts

Granted that I was reading it standing on my morning commute with music playing so there were lots of distractions
 
Gigantic said:
I got through about 50% and struggled to follow in most parts

Granted that I was reading it standing on my morning commute with music playing so there were lots of distractions
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Yeah the last couple of times I've sat down to read I've probably been a bit tired and distracted but there's nothing that's really gripping me so far. I'll keep going and maybe it starts to come together but it's all a bit meh so far (early days, granted).
 
Finished the Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman. Not bad for generic teen dystopian fiction. Some interesting ideas regarding immortality, AI and population control in the future.

Couldn't finish A Scanner Darkly, to be honest I find Phillip K. Dick difficult to get into. I have also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and The Man in the High Castle and whilst I appreciate the genius of his ideas relative to his time there is something about his writing I struggle with. A bit emotionally detached? Anyway, didn't happen for me.
 
Demonic Ascent said:
Just started Infinite Jest after buying it a year ago about 100 pages in.

This is meant to be a modern classic yeah? 10% of the way through and I have no idea what's going on and it's a bit of a slog to get through. Hoping it gets better.
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I've tried a couple of times to get through this, but 100 pages was about my limit, and didn't finish it either time. Just don't get the appeal, and can't understand the acclaim for it.
 
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Always liked this author although probably not his best work I still enjoyed this book

What separates the writer from the pack is he loves medieval engineering , so no magic swords or magic at all really but if the technical aspects of getting your ballista to outrange the enemies lined up outside the gates appeals to you then jump in

Interesting enough world building but it all is just presented as the reality of the world without much explanation , in this land the black people rule the roost and the ‘ milkfaces ‘ are the lower caste but It didn’t really mean much to the story besides maybe humans are humans and it doesn’t really matter which race is on top as the world would be pretty much the same regardless

The Hero is a bit of a coward really and his 1 wood is he’s a good judge of human nature and he’s pretty sneaky

It took me maybe 2 weeks to finish which is a bit slower than usual and is a pretty reliable guide to how much I enjoyed a book so it’s like a 7/10 for me


Sent from my iPad using BigFooty.com
 
Shane Sheridan said:
The Cave, about the rescue of the kids in Thailand a couple of years ago. Engrossing story.
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The one by Liam Cochrane?

There's an audiobook version with him reading it, it's very good.

There was a radio station playing a chapter or so every night on the graveyard timeslot.
I managed to catch it a number of nights, thanks to insomnia. Great listening.
 
scout said:
The one by Liam Cochrane?

There's an audiobook version with him reading it, it's very good.

There was a radio station playing a chapter or so every night on the graveyard timeslot.
I managed to catch it a number of nights, thanks to insomnia. Great listening.
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Yep, that’s the one. Also found a podcast about it ‘Against the Odds’, not a whole lot added from the book, however there is an interview with one of the Pom divers that found the kids.
 
Not far off completing Crime & Punishment, and it's probably one of the best books I've read. Great characters, great story, some really memorable scene. The psychological profiling of Raskolnokiv in particular is amazing.

Will probably end up reading it again at some stage.

Also reading Debunking Economics by Steve Keen in bursts.
 
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