First, of literary interest, last night I discovered a "Classic Tales" podcast that features readings of classic stories. I haven't figured out how to access their archives prior to February, but just on the front page are performances of Around the World in 80 Days and Shakespeare's Coriolanus. I'm going to try my first tonight.
This last has been a relaxing week, filled with mostly fiction and the steady working-through of The Vikings. After discovering a free Kindle book, I read my first Ayn Rand in Anthem and found it largely engaging save a bit of preaching at the end. It's hard to mess up a good man vs state story, though. The Danes were successfully taken on, and that's another victory over the mighty To-Be-Read list.
- Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Vikings, Robert Ferguson(6/7/14)- Power, Inc; David Rothkopf
- An Edible History of Humanity, Tom Standage
- Small-Mart Revolution, Michael Shuman
The World Until Yesterday, Jared Diamond(5/29/14)- Fighting Traffic: the Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, Peter Norton
- Earth, Richard Fortey
- Age of Empathy, Frans de Waal
- Galileo's Finger, Peter Atkins
Power, Inc may be next. It's going to have competition, though, because yesterday I made my usual library raid and brought home a small pile. I went in with a focus on working out a series of American Revolution readings, though, so they won't surface until closer to the end of the month. Closer to the fore will be Jihad vs. McWorld, by Benjmain Barber, and White Trash: Race and Class in America, ed. Matt Wray and Annalee Newtiz.
Quotable:
We stood together for a long time. And we were frightened that we had lived for twenty -one years and had never known what joy is possible to men.
I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity . I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.
Rand, Ayn . Anthem
Well, until next week -- may your characters engage, your plot twists thrill, and your claims be thoroughly footnoted! Happy reading.
I have a War of Independence book coming up. Been meaning to read it for ages - it's from the British PoV of course.... [grin]
ReplyDeleteBy a strange coincidence, I'm going to be in that direction as well! I've just placed an interlibrary loan order for "The Men Who Lost America", and it focuses on British politicians and generals during the revolution and war. I don't suppose we're reading the same one?
ReplyDeleteNope. Mine is "Fusiliers - How the British Army lost America but Learned to Fight' by Mark Urban (2007)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely the same theme though...... [grin]