what are you reading?

Yael Grauer · 06-09-2007, 03:29 PM

I did this on the CF boards a while ago, but just wondering what books everyone is reading now that school is out.

I'm always juggling about ten books, right now they are:

-Good Poems for Hard Times selected by Garrison Keillor (couldn't put it down at the bookstore...it's *awesome*)
-The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (one of my favorite books of all time, but it is very thick.)
-Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein (for a book discussion)
-How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci by Michael J Gelb (rereading it again)
-Tea Here Now by Donna Fellman and Lhasha Tizer (it was a gift!)

Other books by my bedside
-Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier
-Women's Strength Training Anatomy by same
-the Ross Enamait booklets of course
-Immortal Poems of the English Language
-Learning To Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts

and this other somewhat vapid book I can't admit to reading, but will say it is borrowed

Chris Forbis · 06-09-2007, 06:37 PM

Today I just finished The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek (reread). I recently finished Guns, Germs, and Steel by Diamond and The Black Swan by Taleb.

I have a huge slate planned for my summer, summer being the best part of teaching for a living. What I plan to read: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan, Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Iliad by Homer (reread), Catch 22 by Heller (reread), 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez (reread), Blink by Gladwell, The Black Swan by Taleb (reread), Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier, More Sex is Safer Sex by Landsburg, Candide by Voltaire, The Wisdom of Crowds by Surowiecki, and Don Quixote by Cervantes.

I also plan to start working through the Feynman lectures on physics.

I might be overly ambitious with the volume of these summer reading plans. Better to aim high and miss...

Joe Hart · 06-09-2007, 07:24 PM

I finished "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci (Thanks Yael), battling thorugh "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. I think I will give "Siddartha" a swing next. I have a big list of books to read.

Jay L Swan · 06-09-2007, 07:47 PM

Chris--we appear to read a lot of the same books. Some suggestions for you:

The Blind Watchmaker - Dawkins (read this in conjunction with The Selfish Gene)

The Science of Good and Evil - Michael Shermer

Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Daniel Dennett

I just finished The Black Swan and I too look forward to a reread.

Billy_Brummel · 06-09-2007, 09:21 PM

Yael,

As a fellow fan of Brothers Karamozov, might I suggest The Brothers K by David James Duncan. I enjoyed it immensely.

Chris Forbis · 06-09-2007, 10:17 PM

I'm also currently reading The Dangerous Book for Boys (Thanks Yael). Such a cool book.

And now I'm going to have to at least investigate reading all these other books (and rereading some Dostoevsky). Maybe my goal should be to have all this reading done by the start of next summer.

Yael Grauer · 06-10-2007, 12:35 AM

Chris--I tried to read Guns, Germs and Steel but never made it through... was looking at Blink yesterday--it looks so good!! I decided to read his first book (the name escapes me) before picking that one up. I like Crime and Punishment just as much as Brothers K and it's a lot shorter, btw..

Billy--I'll look for it!

I forgot to say that I'm also reading Sex In Your Garden, which is about the reproductive processes of plants.

Gittit Shwartz · 06-10-2007, 02:12 AM

I'm also reading "The Selfish Gene" and "Thinking Like Leonardo".
I recently read the Edge Effect by Eric Braverman and was intrigued. It's about how neurotransmitter deficiencies/imbalances can affect your personality and your life, and some strategies for correcting them (among them nutritional). I would have liked it to be less simplistic and you do get the feeling that the whole book is an advertisement for Dr. B's practice... it was a bestseller... Guess I'll have to do further reading on the subject myself. But I do recommend it for the idea.
Somebody borrowed my "Sleep, Sugar and Survival" before I got a chance to read it... But I have his Science of Sports Training by Thomas Kurz. It has a chapter on coordination that is golden. I work with 3-8yo's doing gymnastics + Capoeira + "coordination development" and I reread this part over and over again.

Scott Kustes · 06-10-2007, 05:54 AM

Currently finishing up "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel Dennett. Next up is "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. I'm planning to pick up "The Blind Watchmaker" and "The Selfish Gene" by Dawkins sometime soon. My Amazon wish list is about 100 books long, so I need to figure out what I'm going to be reading soon.

I've read all 3 of Jared Diamond's books and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Robb Wolf · 06-10-2007, 07:44 AM

Bunch-o-smarty-pants!

Great reads. Paul Kayley sent me the Biology of Belief. Really good, very different. I only get to read that while on the loo...otherwise its papers for the book.

fun summer ahead!