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What book is everyone reading at the moment?

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But this is somewhat beside the point. The Horgan critique is closer to what I'm interested in.

Even if there's no partying, no hedonism, no group-think: What's all that sitting *for*?

Sure, anything goes. One way of living is as (morally) good as another -- barring violence or deceit.

I'm interested in "what it's like". "What it's like" to feel some realization, some enlightenment, and then feel the aftermath, the inevitable come-down.

But again, I'm only a tourist, a bystander.
 
I've just finished Rush of Blood by Mark Billingham Billingham is a British crime writer who is probably best know for his Tom Thorne series.
This is a standalone book (with a cameo from Thorne); three British couples meet up in a Florida resort at the same time that a local girl - 13 years old and learning-disabled - disappears; her murdered body turns up weeks later. In the meantime, the three couples get together for increasingly fraught dinner parties at each others houses and another 13-year old learning-disabled girl disappears, this time in England.
Although I would have liked to have known more of their backstories, the six people are well drawn; each of them is shown to have secrets they keep from each other and it steadily becomes clear that one of them is the killer. All the way through, Billingham throws in plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing, enough so that the twist at the end came as a genuine shock - for me at least.
It was more than just a cleverly-written crime puzzle - it was very good writing that almost took it out of the crime genre altogether.
 
Double posted because of internet connectivity silliness.
 
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Annihilation by Jeff Van Der Meer. I'd read his City Of Saints And Madmen some years ago and liked it.... This is the first book of a trilogy.
Concerns an expedition into a very strange area that's formed along what we believe to be the East coast of the US.
Very odd goings-on in there. The expedition, like the expeditions before, immediately runs into trouble leaving the narrator to try to puzzle things out.
It's pretty good, surrealistic in places... You're never quite sure if what the narrator is relating is real, induced hallucination, or something else yet.
I'll likely read the further volumes.
 
David Weber's Like A Mighty Army, the seventh in the Safehold series.
Next up is Mary Robinette Kowal's Shades of Milk and Honey,
 
Been reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. Want to finish this up so I can reread Stalingrad by Theodore Plievier. A truly horrific account of the destruction of the German 6th army on the banks of the Volga. It can be in the middle of summer and I will be cold while reading this book.
 
Have just finished the novel The Abominable by Dan Simmons -- noticed in my local library, and picked up out of curiosity. Until thus happening upon said book, I had never heard of this guy: I discovered, though, that he is a very prolific author in -- and straddling -- assorted genres of fiction. I'm not in America; suspect that Simmons may be less well-known elsewhere in the world, than in his native USA.

The themes of this novel (set in the 1920s) are Himalayan mountaineering plus international spy- and covert-war-type skulduggery. To be honest, I thought it was fairly awful. The author's prose flows smoothly enough; but he's very discursive and wordy, and the book is hugely long -- 650-odd pages; I felt that it would be improved by being cut to half of that. The length is largely because of the author's indulging himself in colossal, IMO often needless, info-dumps about all kinds of subjects: with some indications that the veracity of that info, may be suspect. In all, I am not feeling inclined toward any further exploration of Dan Simmons's works.
 
The Crimean War: A History, by Orlando Figes, 2010.

I have gotten to page 141, and the war itself is just beginning.

Appalling statistic:

"The vast majority of Russian soldiers were not were not killed in battle but die from wounds and diseases that might not have been fatal if there had been a proper medical service.... during the Hungarian campaign of 1849, only 708 men died in the fighting but 57,000 Russian soldiers were admitted to Austrian hospitals. Even in peacetime the average rate of sickness in the Russian army was 65 percent." [p 119]
 
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fleabeetle said:
Have just finished the novel The Abominable by Dan Simmons -- noticed in my local library, and picked up out of curiosity. Until thus happening upon said book, I had never heard of this guy: I discovered, though, that he is a very prolific author in -- and straddling -- assorted genres of fiction. I'm not in America; suspect that Simmons may be less well-known elsewhere in the world, than in his native USA.

The themes of this novel (set in the 1920s) are Himalayan mountaineering plus international spy- and covert-war-type skulduggery. To be honest, I thought it was fairly awful. The author's prose flows smoothly enough; but he's very discursive and wordy, and the book is hugely long -- 650-odd pages; I felt that it would be improved by being cut to half of that. The length is largely because of the author's indulging himself in colossal, IMO often needless, info-dumps about all kinds of subjects: with some indications that the veracity of that info, may be suspect. In all, I am not feeling inclined toward any further exploration of Dan Simmons's works.
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He's a very wide ranging author, with a slew of well deserved awards; his Hyperion series (sci-fi) is probably his best known but Drood (based on Dickens' life) and Song of Kali (urban horror) are better IMO.

xterra said:
The Crimean War: A History, by Orlando Figes, 2010.

I have gotten to page 141, and the war itself is just beginning.

Appalling statistic:

"The vast majority of Russian soldiers were not were not killed in battle but die from wounds and diseases that might not have been fatal if there had been a proper medical service.... during the Hungarian campaign of 1849, only 708 men died in the fighting but 57,000 Russian soldiers were admitted to Austrian hospitals. Even in peacetime the average rate of sickness in the Russian army was 65 percent." [p 119]
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That was true into the twentieth century. In the Spanish-American war deaths from disease outnumbers battle related deaths by seven to one, fro example. The history of military medicine often seems to be a fascinating and tragic one of a few pioneers fighting their own military organisation to save soldiers' lives. There's a huge debt owed to people like Ambrose Pare, Dominique Jean Larrey, John Jones, Carl Reyher, Paul Leopold Friedrich, Antoine Depage, Harvey Cushing and of course Florence Nightingale.
The Crimean was (like the ACW) a 'transitional' war; technology and industrialisation allowed mass armies to be fielded but the knowledge of how to support them, especially medically, wasn't there yet.
 
_Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist_

_Buddhism Without Beliefs_

_Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil_

all by Stephen Mitchell.


For me, Mitchell is best when he sticks to autobiography, worst when he tries to write a form of existential philosophy.

I find that I don't accept his outlook. Buddhism really is religion, not psychology. There are good things to learn here, but I disagree with every single sentence, and with the overall thrust of what he says.

Overall, I was disappointed that he wasn't a more tough-minded critic of Buddhism in general and of American Buddhism in particular.

He seems reasonably smart and well-intentioned, but it seems to me he's essentially an artist-type who's spent most of his life translating sacred texts or imbibing Buddhist philosophy.

Sure, things are impermanent. Sure, there is suffering. I don't believe that there is a cure -- just temporary solutions, projects, and human relationships.

I remain unconvinced that we need to experience radical groundlessness any more than some of us already do in the ordinary course of our lives.

Mitchell is really espousing a blend of Christianity, humanism, and Buddhism. It's not bad, it's not vile. It's just not all that interesting to me.

If there is an issue here, it's that Buddhists are pretending that what they do is psychology when it's really religion/ideology. Some of the vagueness, or slipperiness, or equivocation* in Mitchell's writing is really about persuasion.
 It's not so bad -- trying to persuade readers to look at the world the way he does. It's just not some of the better philosophy I've read.

I prefer philosophy that deflates rather than philosophy that builds myths or that looks at things in terms that are too general. While that sort of deflation might have been the "historical Buddha's" project, Buddhism has been overlayed with so much religious content, and takes so much from Hinduism, that I can't accept it.

Also, Mitchell seems to love every myth and grand story he's read. I'm too literal-minded to find much value in myths, beyond entertainment.

* for example, the meaning of nirvana.
 
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The five book H. Beam Piper/John F. Carr Lord Kalvan; Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, Great Kings War, Kalvan Kingmaker, Siege of Tarr-Hostigos and The Fireseed Wars
Sort-of A Conneticut Yankee meets the Renaissance in a balkanised north America colonised by Aryans. With parachronic travellers.

Charles Oman The Art of War in the Middle Ages
James Pritchard A Bridge of Ships- Canadian Shipbuilding during the Second World War
Cassandra Parkin Lighter Shades of Grey - A (Very) Critical Reader's Guide to 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
Allen Steele V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History
Aaron Bobrow-Strain White Bread- A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf
Carol Off Bitter Chocolate- Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet
Tom Standage An Edible History of Humanity
Sarah Rose For All the Tea in China- How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History
Douglas Perry Eliot Ness- The Rise and Fall of an American Hero
David Wise Cassidy's Run- The Secret Spy War Over Nerve Gas
Ervand Abrahamian The Coup - 1953, The CIA, and The Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations
Annie Jacobsen Operation Paperclip- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
Paul A. Offit Deadly Choices- How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All
Alan Brooke & David Brandon Tyburn- London's Fatal Tree
Jim Mahaffey Atomic Accidents- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters- From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
 
Raising a Soul Surfer by Cheri Hamilton The story of Bethany Hamilton's parents (young surfer who got her arm bit off by a shark). It gives insight as to how religion plays a role in the lives of those who believe and how an accident changed the lives of a whole family. Definitely not a book for most of you.
 
My latest pile, DTF, epub and audio:

In Laymon's Terms, an anthology of stories inspired by Richard Laymon.

The David Drake/Janet Morris ARC Riders "series" of two books, moderately good time travel.

Tim Bradford: The Groundwater Diaries - Trials, Tributaries and Tall Stories from Beneath the Streets of London. Fascinating so far, history and urban exploration under London.

Kenneth Ackerman's Boss Tweed- The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York. A different kind of city building.

Jeff Guinn: The Last Gunfight- The Real Story of the Shootout at the O K Corral and How It Changed the American West. Another interpretation of those thirty seconds, focusing on the effects of the myth of the gunfight, and subsequent events, on popular society.

Jennet Conant: 109 East Palace - Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos.

Pat Brown: The Murder of Cleopatra: History's Greatest Cold Case.

Peter Watson: The Age of Atheists - How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God.

Holly Tucker: Blood Work - A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution.

Christianna Brand's Buffet for Unwelcome Guest. A collection of short stories from a somewhat forgotten mystery writer best known for Green for Danger though she also (sort-of) created Nanny McPhee.

Judith Walzer Leavitt's Typhoid Mary - Captive to the Public's Health

Louis A. DiMarco: Concrete Hell - Urban Warfare From Stalingrad to Iraq.

Elizabeth Moon's Legend of Paksenarrion series (currently Paladin's Legacy). Probably the best ever take on the paladin or holy warrior in fantasy, though Weber's The War God's Own is nearly as good.

Two by Dossie Easton and Janet W Hardy: The New Topping Book and The New Bottoming Book. BDSM

Who Thinks Evil, The latest Professor Moriarty novel by Michael Kurland.

David J Eicher: Dixie Betrayed- How the South Really Lost the Civil War. A good examination of the South's terrible political leadership.
 
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One Second After.

Totally sucked. I mean, bad.

Ostensibly about the after-effects of an EMP, it was written from a clear political standpoint (Republican, neh), which didn't necessarily bother me too much, except for its extreme cluelessness about how real people act.

I love a good apocalyptic novel like Lucifer's Hammer, When Worlds Collide, etc, but this one was not just poorly written, it was horribly edited as well. Tons and tons of dialogue, talking about events that had already happened, putting the exciting stuff in the past instead of any sense of immediate peril. All the characters say "would of", "could of", "must of", instead of "would have", etc. I might have chalked this up to a local thing, except the couple times when the same character later says "would have", in the same context. Typos, missing words, sentences that don't end.

The main character whines when society goes bad, "But, but, but, we're Americans, aren't we? We don't do that!!!"

I stuck it out to about halfway through, then started skimming. I don't remember how it ended, and I don't care. I can't believe all the highly-voted reviews on Amazon for this tripe.

I'm now reading Alas, Babylon (which was actually referred to in this book) and find it very compelling.
 
alfaniner said:
One Second After.

Totally sucked. I mean, bad.

Ostensibly about the after-effects of an EMP, it was written from a clear political standpoint (Republican, neh), which didn't necessarily bother me too much, except for its extreme cluelessness about how real people act.

I love a good apocalyptic novel like Lucifer's Hammer, When Worlds Collide, etc, but this one was not just poorly written, it was horribly edited as well. Tons and tons of dialogue, talking about events that had already happened, putting the exciting stuff in the past instead of any sense of immediate peril. All the characters say "would of", "could of", "must of", instead of "would have", etc. I might have chalked this up to a local thing, except the couple times when the same character later says "would have", in the same context. Typos, missing words, sentences that don't end.

The main character whines when society goes bad, "But, but, but, we're Americans, aren't we? We don't do that!!!"
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It's terrible dreck, there was a thread here on it last year.
Forstchen is a hack (he co-wrote a few books with that other eagar advocate of missile defense spending, Newt Gingrich) with no scientific background and no knowledge of EMP (his crap was demolished by Yousaf Butt, amongst others, years ago).

alfaniner said:
I stuck it out to about halfway through, then started skimming. I don't remember how it ended, and I don't care. I can't believe all the highly-voted reviews on Amazon for this tripe.
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Amazon reviews are utterly worthless; highly biased and subject to easy manipulation.

The writing is indeed terrible, reminiscent of Slade in the numerous grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and both Slade and Kratman in his inability to plot, write believable dialogue, create plausible characters, eschew his political bias, avoid preaching, misogyny, single minded jingoism and the Mary Sue protagonist.

alfaniner said:
I'm now reading Alas, Babylon (which was actually referred to in this book) and find it very compelling.
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It's rather good, the first of the genre really. A bit too slow and thoughtful for the Slade/Kratman/Forstchen fans.
 
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