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What book is everyone reading at the moment?

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A biography on C. F. von Schalburg, a Russian born into a noble family with close links to the Tsar family. After the revolution his family was forced to move to Denmark, and during his upbringing & life there he developed an insane hatred for the Soviet Union. So much that he ended up joining the Waffen SS just to get a chance to fight on the Eastern Front.
 
The Craft of Intelligence, by Allen Dulles.

It's mainly for research (something I'm writing has an espionage/sabotage angle), but also for pleasure.

So far it's been pretty good. Good place for a beginner on the subject, the Amazon, etc. reviews are correct on that. But that said, it does assume a basic understanding of the major spy cases and fusterclucks of the Cold War (pre-Ames and -Hansen), so an espionage encyclopedia might not be a bad thing to keep handy.

I'm reading this in conjunction with The Great Game, by Frederick P Hitz, about espionage in fact and fiction. It's been enjoyable, though it has a heavy emphasis on spy novels (a bibliography would have been nice) as reference. The nuts and bolts of the craft are better covered in Dulles, but Hitz is much more recent, so he goes over Ames and Hansen. It's also been interesting in that Hitz is rather critical of Dulles' role in the Bay of Pigs (something Dulles hasn't brought up yet in his own, somewhat autobiographical book).
 
Denver said:
The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson.
More of a short horror (or weird fiction) story from the early 1900s.
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Just finished that one: it was definitely 'weird'. And worth the read.

Now beginning: "The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson". A fairly thick (600+ pages) book of his stories from the early 1900s.
 
"Death From The Skies!" by the Bad Astronomer. It's a rousing '50s-style alien invasion SF yarn. These aliens seem benevolent because they end all wars and provide everyone with food and cheap power and invite anyone who wishes to visit their wonderful planet but the hero, a xenolinguist is translating one of their books and the title is "To Serve Man".
Well, I won't spoil the ending for you.




























That was a story by Damon Knight that was later adapted as a Twilight Zone episode.

Phil's book is great - not too sciency for a nonastronomer like me, but with clear explanations and footnotes and all.
 
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Jeff Corey said:
"Death From The Skies!" by the Bad Astronomer. ....
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That is waiting for me at the library. I will pick it up when I return all of the books on ices, and sorbets I checked out after getting an ice-cream maker for my birthday.

Though I am actually reading Robert Park's latest book: Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science.

What is interesting is the while jogging a tree fell on him. Two of the three people who saved him were a pair of retired Catholic priests. He now meets with those two gentlemen on that same path and discusses the issues he brings up in the book. Interesting, and I am only a third of the way through.

Recent reads include:
Predictable Irrationality (the author won an Ignoble Award!).
Mosquitos, Malaria and Man
Women Arn't Supposed to Fly (by The SkepDoc!)
Autism's False Prophets (see http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/autisms_false_prophets/ ... I participated!)
 
My Traitor's Heart, by Rian Malan. I bought a sealed box of books at a sale, and this was in it. I started reading it because I work with a guy sharing the surname and thought it might give me some insight into his country.
 
I've actually got two going at the moment - Ptolemy's Gate which is the third book in a nice little trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Not exactly intellectually taxing, but a ripping yarn nontheless.

Also simultaneously I'm reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, which is utterly fascinating.

I've got a few queued up, too. The other day I went and bought Freakonomics and Salmon of Doubt, and then I've also got both of El Presidente's books on the way. I searched bookstores for Death From The Skies and even the biggest bookstore in Canberra (Borders, in the Canberra Centre) didn't have it. So I gave up and ordered it online. And got a discount if I ordered Bad Astronomy at the same time. So that's what I did.
 
I just started it an hour ago--this must be the third time I've come across the Israeli childcare place that imposed fines for late pick up and saw an increase in late pick-ups. (It's also in "Freakonomics", Arthwollipot)

:)
 
Barbarossa, by John Keegan, in the old Ballantine "History of the Violent Century" series. I buy these when I can, and always find them useful. The WW2 volumes were written by guys who were there, or at least around and witnessing as much as they could, and they tend to put in details that later historians didn't bother with.

The one volume I doubt I'll ever buy is Hitler. Too depressing.
 
Devil's Playground.

This pulp is a Mack Bolan adventure in Mexico. Yes, a guilty pleasure. I first read a Mack Bolan story in 1969, when Don Pendleton's first few books about Mack Bolan fighting the Mafia in Massachusettes first came out. Man, this guy drinks from the fountain of youth. :p

DR
 
Two of Jaspar Fforde's NCD books (audio). Great fun!

But ...this week is opening up a new (metaphorical!) chapter in my life. I advertised in local paper and -much to my amazement seven people responded - for someone to read to me. Putting it on a formal basis which is the best thing to do I think. I have two - a recently retired English teacher and another woman of similar age who is interested in what I want to read. Well, of course, I choose. So now I am going to be able to get through:

Nation by Terry Pratchett
Coffee with Isaac Newton and Coffee with Plato.

There's a pile of another few waiting in the sidelines.
 
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