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What are you reading these days?

I'm re-reading Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" in the Penguin Modern Classics edition, last read in 1976. I wish I weren't. My English isn't up to this, never mind my German. Only 250 pages left.
 
Anna Karenin

I am sure I have read this splendid novel before, but it must have been a long time ago and when I was smoking a lot of pot as I have no recollection of it at all.

I can happily re-read most books without having much recollection. But then I can watch an episode of Midsummer Murders twice in a month and have no clue whodunnit.

I think the bit of my brain that stores stuff like that just has shonky wiring.
 
We were clearly twins separated at birth. I recently watched almost all of the Inspector Morse episodes. Apart from one episode, which I have on DVD and have watched a few times, the answer of whodunnit was a revelation.
 
Black Gold by Jeremy Paxman - the story of the UK coal industry. Some horrific stuff in there about working conditions, child labour and disasters. Also lots of familiar local places (I am based in West Yorkshire).
 
Black Gold by Jeremy Paxman - the story of the UK coal industry. Some horrific stuff in there about working conditions, child labour and disasters. Also lots of familiar local places (I am based in West Yorkshire).
My grandad had those 'blue' marks on his arms and fingers from where he was in cave-ins in the pits. On one such cave in (he was a canary man at the start) he was buried up to the chest for hours in stifling heat. Luckily he never ended up with any fibrosis and lived to over 90, but he sometimes had nightmares about being buried decades after.
 
The Affluent Society by Galbraith. Old, but in present circumstances well worth a read. Indeed, I think I'll probably be reading more of his work. (The title is misleading. Mention that in case you don't already know.) Wry humour as he shows why so much 'conventional wisdom' is tosh. 3rd edition, but also have the first that includes the chapter about defence which got dropped later on.

Also reading the "Inspector West" books by John Creasey

Chalk and cheese, eh? :)
 
Been on a bit of a Michael Connelly kick recently (Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller/Renee Ballard). Not exactly highbrow fiction, but perfect light summer reading.

Now back with one of my favourite authors. Iain M. Banks' "Matter".
 
Hollywood Eden by Joel Selvin:
"From surf music to hot-rod records to the sunny pop of the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, the Byrds, and the Mama's & the Papa's, Hollywood Eden captures the fresh blossom of a young generation who came together in the epic spring of the 1960s to invent the myth of the California Paradise."
 
I have recently re-read Lovelock's "The Revenge of Gaila". Overall, good stuff. Really thoughtful and considerate. Wish more people have paid heed long ago.

But marred a bit by his support at that time for Nuclear power as the only option. Decades on, clearer now that that dog won't hunt. Still too many delays, 'unforseen' problems, and lack of any final repository for waste. And wind power now far more competitive than he assumed back then. Green tech has moved on. But he was still spot on about the basic problem we have created, and the likely consequenses of "Business as usual"!
 
"Bad Actors" by Mick Herron. Although the book stands on its own feet, it does help to have read the previous books and novellas. Characters and situations introduced before have a nasty habit of turning up again in later books.
 
I have recently re-read Lovelock's "The Revenge of Gaila". Overall, good stuff. Really thoughtful and considerate. Wish more people have paid heed long ago.

Without blowing his own trumpet, he makes the point that some scientists are creatives and work best alone, much like an artist or writer. This is discouraged both then and now by the establishment. Not having private means, he was often sponsored by private individuals. A surprising state of affairs.
 
There is a tendency in academic science to work in a 'group' of some kind. This can aid getting funding and let the work be divided into parts that people can specialise in. It also can then become an 'old boys club' as some get to positions where they can affect who gets funded. Thus may then sometimes actually starve another person or group that is not so favoured or 'connected'.

The group can support creative work, and also discssions that spark novel ideas.

All that said, simply having the chance to spend time thinking about a puzzling problem without being distracted can be a great way to get a really good idea or understand something - particularly when you feel the 'conventional wisdom' is wrong and need to spend time trying to solve the riddle you can see that others don't seem to notice.
 
Currently reading The Clockworm and Other Strange Stories, by Karen Heuler, published by Tartarus Press, a favourite publisher of mine:-



Mick
 
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
About changes in Sicilian life and society during the Risorgimento.

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The Matter with Things, Our Brain, our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist, In which he updates the old left/right brain hemisphere conceit of the '60s. His academic qualifications are of the highest order and conclusions suitably disconcerting. The book The Master and His Emissary is less academic on a similar theme.
 
Was told by a pal "you must read The Leopard" and given a copy.
He's correct - it is a must read!

Now reading Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman.

This is a book I have written, detailing stories from my past in which I behaved like a jackass.
I also hold forth on topics like meat, mirth, and Megan Mullally.


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“The Douglas lighthouse engineers, how did they build them?”

This subject fascinates me. The design of them and the skill and bravery of the men who assembled them on dangerous reefs is mind blowing.
 


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