What book are you reading atm??

positron

summerskin wrote: »

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman.

It reveals so much about the way we think, how we process information, how we make mistakes and bad judgments without realising it - it's a real eye-opener, written by a psychologist who won the Nobel prize for Economics.

The basic premise is that human beings are much less rational that we believe, and the human mind is much less reliable than we believe. Essentially, our minds need to save energy - they can't expend energy thinking rationally about everything, and so have to make quick, energy-saving decisions. The book gives innumerable examples of the biases and errors which this thinking gives rise to - many of which are illuminating and throw a great deal of light on our behaviour. You will never think of yourself as a rational person ever again.

This is in my 'To Read' list. From your description, I think you might enjoy Irrationality, but Stuart Sutherland (Amazon

HalloweenJack

Fordlandia by Greg Grandin.

It's about Henry Ford's failed attempt to build a rubber plantation in the Amazon jungle. It's a fascinating read, really well written too.

summerskin

positron wrote: »

This is in my 'To Read' list. From your description, I think you might enjoy Irrationality, but Stuart Sutherland (Amazon

looks interesting, just added it to my amazon wish list, thanks for the recommendation.

Custardpi

Currently making my way through Laurence Sterne's 18th Century classic "The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy". Ostensibly the memoirs of the eponymous character it delights in absurdities & endless tangents to the tale so as to turn it into a sly commentary on various aspects of the epoch's morality, customs & politics.
Much of the first four volumes is taken up with the birth of Tristram, a slow rate of progress which the author apologises for repeatedly, having been distracted from his main task by musings on various subjects e.g. the importance of noses in determining one's fortunes in life, the nature of language as used in excommunication documents, the possiblity (both from a medical & theological point of view) of intra-uterine baptism & a consideration of the various aspects of siege warfare.

It's not the easiest book I've ever read, but it's endlessly fascinating & although I've struggled through some dense passages in it the overall comedic talent of Sterne comes through & makes it well worth the effort.

Duck's hoop

Shryke wrote: »

The Crow Road.

Very disappointing after the likes of "Walking on Glass" and "The Bridge".

Martin_ie2012

Started Badfella by Paul Williams, ok so far bit hard to get into, but its very interesting and shocking to read some of the info particularly the stuff from the 70's and pretty much government collusion with the IRA.

Barna77

Custardpi wrote: »

Currently making my way through Laurence Sterne's 18th Century classic "The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy". Ostensibly the memoirs of the eponymous character it delights in absurdities & endless tangents to the tale so as to turn it into a sly commentary on various aspects of the epoch's morality, customs & politics.
Much of the first four volumes is taken up with the birth of Tristram, a slow rate of progress which the author apologises for repeatedly, having been distracted from his main task by musings on various subjects e.g. the importance of noses in determining one's fortunes in life, the nature of language as used in excommunication documents, the possiblity (both from a medical & theological point of view) of intra-uterine baptism & a consideration of the various aspects of siege warfare.

It's not the easiest book I've ever read, but it's endlessly fascinating & although I've struggled through some dense passages in it the overall comedic talent of Sterne comes through & makes it well worth the effort.

I had to read it in college. I gave up.... Thank you York Notes

The Amazing Spiderman

The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. Needless to say I am enjoying it immensely!

M_Bovary

I've been re-reading a lot of Henry Miller's work recently. I just finished "Tropic of Cancer" and I'll be reading Capricorn next.

WinterSong

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. I'm only about fifty pages in but I'm loving it so far.

Pilotdude5

The Amazing Spiderman wrote: »

The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. Needless to say I am enjoying it immensely!

Also reading this again after 10 years. I keep hearing the Movie soundtrack in my head.:)

LostBoy101

I've just finished reading Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose and it convinced me to buy the TV series.

I'm going to start on reading 'Mafia Inside the Dark Heart' by A.G.D Maran and looks interesting enough.

orchidsrpretty

Started reading 50 shades of grey. About 60 pages in and still waiting to read some porn. Nothing so far, the writing is pretty bad so if something juicy doesn't happen in the next forty pages I don't plan on finishing it.

Red Hand

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaimen. He seems fairly influenced by Terry Pratchett in this compared to American Gods.

Custardpi

Barna77 wrote: »

I had to read it in college. I gave up.... Thank you York Notes

Like I said, not the easiest book I've ever read but I've got hold of an edition with very good notes (The Penguin "Florida" Edition) so that's a great help at understanding the many (to modern readers) obscure references contained in the book. Beyond that the difficulties in reading TS are the same as those for any book written several centuries ago i.e. the many changes in language there have been since then. I personally love discovering the different ways in which language has evolved over time, whether in spelling, sentence structure or the disappearance/replacement of once commonplace phrases & words. In addition the book contains some passages in French (reproduced in the original format without modern "correction" in my edition) so one can also note such changes in that language.

the GALL

Sharpe's Escape-
Book 10 in the Sharpe series written by Bernard Cromwell. Not very taxing on the brain and a good easy series to read before bed.

Wereghost

Red Hand wrote: »

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaimen. He seems fairly influenced by Terry Pratchett in this compared to American Gods.

I'm reading American Gods for the first time. (Great book, first one in a while that's consistently made me look forward to getting back to it.) I did notice a few Pratchetesque moments, something that I wouldn't have attributed to Gaiman before. Augurs well for Anansi Boys.

Waterfordlass

grindelwald wrote: »

I wonder how many times she bites her lip ?


That's got to be one if the highest recurring sentences.

And 'rolls her eyes', we can't forget that.

Sauve

Waterfordlass wrote: »

grindelwald wrote: »

I wonder how many times she bites her lip ?


That's got to be one if the highest recurring sentences.

And 'rolls her eyes', we can't forget that.

Don't forget 'how his trousers hang off his hips' :pac:

al28283

The brief and wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Pretty damn good so far

phasers

Sauve wrote: »

Don't forget 'how his trousers hang off his hips' :pac:

I don't get that one. Is he wearing baggy clown trousers?

And how the fcuk do you glance up at someone through your eyelashes? I've tried but my eyelids open when I look up

Sauve

phasers wrote: »

I don't get that one. Is he wearing baggy clown trousers?

And how the fcuk do you glance up at someone through your eyelashes? I've tried but my eyelids open when I look up

Heh - the trousers one makes him sound a bit scrawny tbh.
As for the eyelases - I've just sat here like a complete retard trying to do it. I can't see my eyelashes when I look up. Now I'm dizzy.
Thanks phasers :mad:

:pac:

Ant695

Just finished XO by Jeffrey Deaver last week and started reading Angels and Demons again untill I pick up something new.

jcf

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis , quite a good read, clears up some issues left in the film ...

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

ArphaRima

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, by Richard McGregor.
Seeing as I live in China it is bloody interesting.

Collie D

Aquila wrote: »

Plato The Republic

How are you finding that? I was thinking of buying Macchiavelli's "The Prince" but was wondering if I'd struggle with something translated from 15th century Italian.

Shenshen

"A history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters" by Julian Barnes

Fantastic book, I would thouroughly recommend it.

Plumpynutt

Mr. Nice

Martin_ie2012

Anyone got any good reccomenfations for a good esy holiday read. Something not very taxing on the brain, maybe autobiography or crime/thriller type book