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What's on your reading list?

What do you plan to read this summer? What are you reading now?
I am currently reading "Degrees Kelvin" by David Lindley, published by Joseph Henry Press. The biography of Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. He was a 19th century physicist probably best known for dicsovering the temperature at which atoms cease to move: -273.15 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Kelvin or absolute zero). He also performed a lot of the early groundwork for theories of electromagnetism and thermodynamics. Lord Kelvin devised a new compass for ships that would work well when surrounded by steel as the world's ship building began to move from wooden to iron vessels. A fascinating figure from history.
slipknot1
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Hey Rufusfolks - I love Vachss writing. If you have not yet, check out his early Burke novels.....GREAT stuff if you like that gritty revenge, anti-hero, moral crisis stuff. I like the way he writes. Check out his site too if you have not already. He's a pretty amazing individual! You can even see my dog, Jax, in his "Backup Pack"!

Marco
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Hey Marco, are you really Wheezer from the Little Rascals?

Jax looks like Pete the Pup!

And the way you photographed her with Chilla they look like they could be waiting for Stymie, Furina, Dickey Moore, Spanky and the rest of the gang for a hike out in the wild Los Angeles woods.

Beautiful lighting and cast shadows!
crazy4blues
243 posts
 
The Davinci Code--only to properly deride it, just like Brown's other terribly popular books. I just read Angels and Demons, and I can't believe people like this stuff! How is it that Brown makes a beautiful, female Italian scientist, a german policeman, an Italian priest, and WASP Harvard professor sound, think, and react to situations in exactly the same manner? Sheesh! The characters on Scooby Doo are more ably drawn!
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Jax is (was 3/6/90 - 6/9/03) the same breed as Petey! Pete the pup was the first dual-registered Amstaff/Pit Bull. Acorging to Ripley's Believe it or Not, the original Petey did have a black circular ring around one of his eyes. The ones that followed in his paw prints had the circle painted in by the talented SFX crew! Those dogs are amazing, wonderful and devoted creatures! It's a great shame that people use them for less than noble purposes. Careless breeding and poor training makes things much worse. Hey, kind of like you and me, eh, Dean!?

I ain't no Wheezer, I'm the Boogie Man!

Thanks, but God created those shadows in my back yard. I just had the dogs sit there and photographed them. They were huntin' pussy at the time, and used those masks get'sum! That image ran as an Avanti Press card for five years. The birthday card has been running for over ten years and is still available. It was with Avanti Press for five and now is sold through my stock agency, Graphistock.

Marco
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Crazy4blues, I agree. DaVinci Code was a real letdown but taking a side trail, I read a The Templar Revelation, which while a bit heavy-handed, is a thought-provoking read (check the Amazon reviews for more).

Rhyno, in the same market vein, I would recommend "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Taleb (and if professionally interested in the subject and derivatives, his earlier "Dynamic Hedging" is among the best out there). I disliked Niederhoffer's "Education of a Speculator" so much that while I will normally read new books in the genre, I have avoided PS. In a less 'practical' vein, I heartily recommend "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefevre. I make it a point to read it every year or so. I'm waiting on his "Sampson Rock" now.

For the several people who enjoy detective novels, two European detective writers (as hard-boiled but less flashy than Vachss) I like very much are Michael Dibdin and Ian Rankin.

For the next month or so, I have both of the above-mentioned Steingarten books and "1421: The Year China Discovered the World" waiting for me.
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