What books are you currently reading?

[MadArchitect]

Once again, I'm reading more books than I'm really capable of juggling, which means that it takes me longer to get through any particular book. Here's the rundown; if any catch your fancy, find a copy and open a thread. I'd love to have someone to discuss with.Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. Carson's "The Sea Around Us" is one of my favorite books of science/nature writing, but she's probably best known for this, the first book to really bring ecological disaster into public debate. If you've never read Carson before, you owe it to yourselves as scientifically-inclined person's to give her a run through. She's one of those writers gifted with a tremendous ability to translate her interest in a topic into prose that infects the reader with her enthusiasm, and she renders scientific information intelligible without writing down to the lowest common denominator.The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. In middle-school and high-school I made abortive attempts to read both "Cosmos" and "Contact". I've read some of Sagan's technical papers, but this is my first adult brush with his attempts to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the popular perception of science. Frankly, I have my issues with the way that he polemicizes "superstition" and "pseudo-science", and I think that writers like C.P. Snow and Jacob Bronowski have made much more concise and elegant arguments for a fuller public embrace of science. But I'll hear Sagan out, at least.The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest, by Francis Jennings. I stumbled on this one by accident, and in all honestly, my decision to read it was probably heavily influenced by our discussion of the Native American Church v. Snowbowl Ski Resort. So far, it's an incredibly astute analysis of the motives that went into the European conquestion of North American, the ways in which they justified that conquest back home, and how the clash of the Amerindians and the Euramericans (the terms are Jennings') affected the future of both. Really fascinating stuff, and I hope someone else will track down a copy of the book so we can discuss it.Momento Mori, by Muriel Sparks. A group of elderly people are harrassed by crank calls that say only, "Remember that you must die." I need hardly mention that this is dark comedy, or better yet, satire. Sparks is an interesting figure in the world of fiction, always choosing off-kilter plots that are difficult to pigeonhole, and I've been meaning to tackle one of her books for a while now, so this one is about due.Ride of the Second Horseman, Robert S. O'Connell. I think I suggested this as a quarterly reading several quarters back, and I've only just now gotten around to reading it. The book purports to be an inquiry into the cultural and biological origins of war, and it covers some fairly interesting ground in a number of disciplines. The first chapter makes a brief attempt at situating some archaelogical data into a narrative of the earliest examples of war in human culture, while the second chapter looks at war-like ant behavior, including slave raids and slave revolts. Interesting stuff, and I'm finding O'Connell to have a really open yet balanced approach to the topic.The Prophets: An Introduction, by Abraham J. Heschel. Heschel examines the prophets of Israel from the perspective of people caught up in a moral vision and compelled to confront society on both its behalf and the behalf of God. Pretty fascinating stuff, and I appreciate his effort to break down the reader's assumption of familiarity, making it possible to see the prophets as the radicals they no doubt were.The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople, by Jonathan Phillips. The subject matter is fascinating -- how did a Crusade intended to "liberate" Jerusalem from Saladin instead end with the decimation of the Christian capital of Byzantium? -- and Phillips presents the major figures and events clearly, but I can't help but think there must be a more scholarly and better reasoned book on the subject. I'll probably follow this one up by reading Villehardouin's first-hand account of the Crusade.The Copernican Revolution, by Thomas Kuhn. Okay, okay, I haven't really started this one just yet, but I don't intend to wait. Kuhn's a pioneer in the history of science, and the development of astronomy was his forte, so I'm really eager to see how he handles the theme.Any takers?

[JulianTheApostate]

I'm recently started P. W. Singer's Children at War, a depressing account of child soldiers in modern wars taking place in Colombia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Myanmar, and other places. Since we discussed Ender's Game previously, some of you might be interested in the horrible life that real child soldiers face.

I'm almost done with another depressing book, Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It describes the pro-corporate reduced-government policies pushed through around the world, how those policies were pushed through in times of national trauma against the wished of the population, and their negative impact.

As a lighter read, I'm most of the way through Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir. Sapolsky describes his experiences as a young field researcher in Africa, investigating the behavior of orangutans and interacting with the African natives.

Last week, I finished Chaim Potok's The Chosen. That novel center of two Orthodox Jewish adolescents in Brooklyn, dealing with personal, family, and international issues during and after World War II. Though I'm now an atheist, I was brought up Jewish, and it's good to read some classic Jewish novels. Plus, it's a compelling story.

[geansecret]

Currently I'm reading Having it All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams by John Assaraf. (He was one of the teachers from the hit movie "The Secret") Great book for laying out your goals and understanding how the brain works in achieving them.

[Chris OConnor]

I loved The Chosen!

[annaisabella]

i'm currently reading Demian by Herman Hesse and a Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The books that are on my list to read rite now are:
1. Conversations with God volumes 2 and 3
2. Steppenwolf and Magister Ludi by Hesse
3. The lost continent by Bryson

[jales4]

I am reading Crow Lake by Mary Lawson The main character was immediately likeable and real. I had cried by the end of the second chapter. I love books that can invoke so much emotion, no matter what that emotion may be.

The story, narrated by 26-year-old Kate Morrison, is set in the eponymous Crow Lake, an isolated rural community where time has stood still. The reader dives in and out of a year's worth of Kate's childhood memories--when she was 7 and her parents were killed in an automobile accident that left Kate, her younger sister Bo, and two older brothers, Matt and Luke, orphaned. When Kate, the successful zoologist and professor who is accustomed to dissecting everything through a microscope, receives an invitation to Matt's son's 18th birthday party, she must suddenly analyze her own relationship and come to terms with her past before she forsakes a future with the man she loves. Kate is still in turmoil over the events of that fateful summer and winter 20 years ago when the tragedy of another local family, the Pyes, spilled over into their lives with earth-shattering consequences. But does the tragedy really lie in the past or the present? Lawson's narrative flows effortlessly in ever-increasing circles, swirling impressions in the reader's mind until form takes shape and the reader is left to reflect on the whole. Crow Lake is a wonderful achievement that will ripple in and out of the reader's consciousness long after the last page is turned.

and

The Stuff of Thought by Pinker, which is our current non-fiction read here at BookTalk. I am finding this one a bit of a struggle to read. If it weren't one of the book discussion choices I would have given up by now, but being able to read other people's thoughts on it has kept me plowing on. And there are plenty of good bits.

and for light reading

How the Cadillac Got its Fins and Other Tales from the Annals of Business and Marketing by Jack Mingo

What makes it an excellent book is that these intriguing stories are about products that most of us are very familiar with, the chapters are a manageable length for busy folks, the subject is handled with much humor, and it's so fun to see some of the illogical corporate decisions of the past.

[bolsen1]

Currently, I'm reading Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Excellent.

[Daisy]

I've just finished:

1. Escape by Carol Jessop

http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Carolyn-Je ... 702&sr=8-1

2. A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life by Nancy Peacock

http://www.amazon.com/Broom-Ones-Own-Wr ... 769&sr=1-2

I'm finishing up Barbara Walter's Audition

And the next book to start is James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning.

[Daisy]

Finished Bright Shiny Morning, which I would be glad to discuss with someone, and also Sunday's at Tiffany's. I really enjoyed Sunday's at Tiffany's, and I have been reading Welcome to your Brain periodically as well.

[seeker]

I just finished THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Is there anyone out there who has read it and wants to discuss it?