What are you reading?

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus (although he had one diary last week, and promises to return in August!)

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

I've not been doing as much reading as usual..... there's this daily Kos addiction, and I am trying to get my statistical consulting business going.... but I gotta try to do more book reading, too.

Just the usual list this week

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson.  Having finished Cryptonomicon, I decided to re-read this sort of prequel to it.  This is the third of three books in the series, and I'm almost done.

Digital Dice: Computational solutions to practical probability problems by Paul Nahin.  The subtitle tells it.  This one has been on hold

Understanding jazz by Tom Piazza.  A nice book on jazz, with  a good accompanying CD

Leibniz: A biography  by EJ Aiton.  Fascinating guy.  One of the towering intellects of European history.  The book is kind of dry, though.  

Matter by Iain Banks.  SF, just started.  Good, but requires a lot of attention

One to nine: The inner life of numbers by Andrew Hodges.  Popular math.  Looks good.  Just started.

Dr. Tatiana's sex advice to all creation by Olivia Judson.  All about the sex lives of animals.  Did you know there are animals with spines on their penises, to scrape out other sperm?  How about hermaphrodites that simultaneously impregnate each other? Ever wonder how often lions copulate?  This is the book for you

Pump Six and other stories by Paolo Bacigalupi.  SF short stories.  Very good - but kind of depressing about the future of our species.  I'm not feeling like reading depressing stuff right now.

UPDATE I forgot one.  I am also reading Two for the dough by Janet Evanovich.  Lots of fun about a New Jersey woman who, more or less by accident, becomes a bounty hunter.

•  Tip jar

  tips, comments, recommends....

  what are you reading?

  by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:04:22 AM PDT

  •  John Varley

    finished up Rolling Thunder a couple days ago .. I liked it best of the three (so far .. looks like he can continue if he wants). He's getting more Heinlein-like as he gets older ;)

    by zeke7237 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:31:27 AM PDT

    •  Varley is the most consistently

      excellent SF writer currently writing. (IMHO of course)

      by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:32:57 AM PDT

      •  Um...mumblemumble Le Guin mumble...

        by escapee on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:41:21 AM PDT

        •  Opinions differ :-) n/t

          by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:10:03 AM PDT

    •  Love Varley--

      to me, the short stories and novellas are about as good as sci fi gets. Suff like "The Pusher", "The Persistence of Vision", "Picnic On Nearside" are choice.  Also love the Gaia trilogy, although I know that's a minority taste.  Still read the new stuff but for me there's a falloff.

      by imperturb on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:40:24 AM PDT

      •  I like the Gaia trilogy a lot

        I didn't know that our view was the minority view.

        I think Persistence of Vision is amazing; and Press Enter is one of the scariest things I've read.

        I think what's great about Varley is how he plays with our expectations.  I mean Persistence of Vision is a beautiful story - about a post-apocalyptic world.  And much of his writing is about a future where humans have been wiped out on Earth --- but that's not really important in the stories.

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:44:57 AM PDT

        •  It may not be a minority view--

          but the trilogy has never really attained canonical status within the genre.  Also, I rarely see it shelved in bookstores.  Doesn't matter much, though, and Sirocco Jones is one of the great scifi heroines.

          by imperturb on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:56:00 AM PDT

          •  I often see one volume of the trilogy

            on shelves --- and a different one on different shelves.

            Maybe booksellers don't know it's a trilogy?

            by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:59:57 AM PDT

  •  I just got the "Dark Side" yesterday by

    Jane Mayer.

    by MadAsHellMaddie on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:44:10 AM PDT

    •  I just avoided buying it today,

      mostly becaused I am still struggling with "The Shock Doctrine" and feared that it would affect me the same way.

      by RunawayRose on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:53:42 PM PDT

  •  Moon: the life and death of a rock legend

    by Tony Fletcher.  Eldest Son gave it to me four years ago, but I could not bear the last part, Keith's demise, until now.  I am a little stronger these days.  For anyone who values THE WHO (shouting is intentional), this book is important.  Warmest regards, Doc.

    by Translator on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:53:35 AM PDT

•  Just bought Mayer's "The Dark Side"...

  and I'm finishing up "The Shock Doctrine"

  "Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Effort, Concentration, and Wisdom"

  by Dood Abides on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:08:49 AM PDT

  •  Shock Doctrine is soo good!

    The end is really good.

    Me, 3 books.

    I once again, picked up Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent and found a captivating chapter 2. Back in the 80's,4 nuns were raped and killed in el Salvador by national forces, analyzing the media, they found that even though evidence supporting this was right in the media's face, the media was complicit in covering this up because both the Carter and Reagan administrations supported that regime and were trying to conduct arms sales to the government.

    The exact opposite was the case in an incident where the MSM wanted to connect a different crime to a government which opposed US policies.

    Its a very interesting breakdown, scientifically, of the media, one that is really intelligent. Now I can't put it down.

    Second, considering that so much is happening in the middle east, there was a link of the main page today that seems to be promising: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has come out with The New Arab Diplomacy: Not With the U.S. and Not Against the U.S.that has some interesting points:

    Arab countries are undertaking diplomatic initiatives that clearly contradict U.S. policy, because they no longer trust the U.S. capacity to contend with escalating regional crises. Even Arab countries traditionally aligned with the United States are no longer willing to follow Washington’s lead on policies toward Iran, Lebanon, or Hamas, concludes a new paper from the Carnegie Middle East Program.
    ...
    Key Conclusions:
    • While new Arab diplomatic initiatives may contradict current U.S. policy, they may not contravene long-term U.S. interests.
    • Arab regional diplomacy lacks an overarching vision and is instead based on a desire to reduce imminent threats.
    • Influence in the Arab world has shifted to the Gulf and the change is likely permanent due to increased oil wealth and the crises engulfing other regions.
    • The United States and Saudi Arabia, historically close allies, often hope for the same outcome in regional conflicts but pursue different strategies. In trying to contain Iran, Saudi Arabia seeks to avoid confrontation through diplomatic engagement, while the United States favors isolation. Saudi Arabia promotes reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas as a necessary step in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, while the United States refuses to recognize Hamas.
    • Qatar and the United Arab Emirates unexpectedly emerged as extremely active participants in the new regional diplomacy. Qatar’s success in negotiating the Doha agreement between Lebanese rivals prompted other initiatives among other Gulf countries.
    • Egypt, consumed by domestic challenges and a looming succession crisis, has refrained from intervening in regional issues unless directly affected, such as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
    • Aid-dependent Jordan remains a quiet ally of the United States, neither opposing the initiatives of other Arab countries, nor embarking on any of its own.

    The authors conclude:

    “The question going forward is whether the new assertiveness and diplomatic activism, and with them the divergence from U.S. policies, will continue. This is a question of great importance to the new U.S. administration. Except in the case of Egypt, the foreign policies of the countries discussed depend heavily on the position taken by individual leaders, so they could easily change. However, Gulf countries are now richer, more developed, and courted by many for their oil, gas, and investment, and thus are less likely to simply follow the U.S. lead without questions. Whether the policies of these countries will diverge from those of the United States depends as much on U.S. choices as on theirs.”

    by borkitekt on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:45:17 AM PDT

•  Something I would very rarely have to say -

  I am too busy campaigning to be doing much reading at the moment.  And I miss it.  Hardly even have time to check out Kos and TPM.  Only found the time this morning because the VAN system that I was inputting lists into broke down.  And for that I got up early!

  by Question Authority on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:18:38 AM PDT

•  The latest Mother Earth News.

  then I`ll get back to "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew.

  by Wino on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:18:59 AM PDT

  •  Good ole' SFG

    Have tried to adapt the principles for, what, maybe 20 years.

    by rock the ground on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:34:38 AM PDT

•  Just started

  "Experience" by Martin Amis a couple of nights ago.

  by Sven at My Silver State on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:22:18 AM PDT

•  Good Morning

  Hi plf
  I see you are up & at it early as usual !
  Hope your day goes well !

  by eeff on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:24:00 AM PDT

•  A Leap in the Dark

  The Struggle to Create the American Republic, by John Ferling

  His next book should be The Struggle to Keep the American Republic

  by LI Mike on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:26:12 AM PDT

  •  . . . and should we elect McCain,

    The Struggle to Regain the American Republic.

    by GOTV on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:29:44 AM PDT

    •  Almost HR'd this

      because I read it as "We should elect McCain."

      Coffee is my friend -- it just hasn't kicked in this morning!

      by billssha on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:40:14 AM PDT

•  O'Neill's play

  Long Day's Journey into Night, a more than semi-autobiographical work by the great American playwright.  

  by GOTV on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:27:57 AM PDT

•  Still plugginng thru

  The Gerat Terror, by Robert Conquest.  Terrifying, actually.

  by bugscuffle on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:31:53 AM PDT

  •  One thing good about reading about Stalin

    is that it reminds us that there are leaders worse than Bush.  

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:34:59 AM PDT

    •  Only because

      it reminds us that there are leaders worse than Bush.  

      they were competent in their endeavors.  Incompetent evil is never quite as bad as competent evil.

      by Grannus on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:37:37 AM PDT

      •  Oh, I dunno.

        Much as I hate Bush (and I hate him quite a lot) he isn't Stalin, Hitler, or Mao.  Or Pol Pot or Mugabe

        Part of this may be because the structures constraining the American president are more powerful than those constraining the others.  

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:40:29 AM PDT

    •  also just finished

      Mao's Hungry Ghosts about the great leap forward and the millions that starved while grain rotted in state warehouses.  that was one EVIL man.  

      by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:28:06 AM PDT

      •  History is unfortunately full of really nasty

        people who attained great power.

        If you somehow multiply nastiness by amount of power, Mao may be the worst ever, simply because there were so many people in China.

        Hitler and Stalin are runners up

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:23:55 AM PDT

  •  Oops. The GREAT Terror, I meant. nt

    by bugscuffle on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:42:09 AM PDT

•  I just started Good Omens

  by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.  I'm not sure how I missed it the first time around.  It's been out since 1990.

  It seems to be about a bungled apocalypse so far.  I keep expecting Murphy, founder of Murphy's Law, to show up any time.

  by Grannus on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:34:03 AM PDT

  •  no murphy

    just the REAL four horsemen of the apocalypse...on harleys.

    i LOVE pratchett!  good omens got me hooked when it first came out and i've read it many times since.

    sadly i hear mr. Pratchett has alzheimer's disease and is having a rough time getting aricept from National Health.

    by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:24:26 AM PDT

    •  Would that be

      just the REAL four horsemen of the apocalypse

      Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp? :)

      by Grannus on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:48:15 AM PDT

      •  LOL!

        by Pandoras Box on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:11:12 AM PDT

      •  ROFLOL

        no, just hangers on like:

        Things that still don't work after you've thumped them" (really, that's his name!)
        Embarassing Personal Problems
        Really Cool people
        Grievous Bodily Harm

        aka
        Pigbog
        Skuzz
        Big Ted
        and Greaser

        by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:37:12 AM PDT

        •  What about the demons?

          The demon of missing socks
          The demon of tangled cords
          are two

          by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:12:43 AM PDT

          •  sister mary loquacious! :-) n/t

            by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:56:04 AM PDT

      •  nyuk nyuk nyuk

        The history of the world may be summed up in one word:

        Ooops!

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:11:29 AM PDT

  •  Murphy is an English word for

    Morpheus, God of Dreams, from like the 18th or 19th century, so it's funny you say that.

    by SteamPunkX on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:00:55 AM PDT

•  Tim Powers "Three Days To Forever"--

  not quite on the level of "Last Call," "Expiration Date," or "The Anubis Gates", but still quite good.  Anything Mr. Powers chooses to write, I will choose to read.

  by imperturb on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:47:50 AM PDT

•  reading, mostly not for fun

  I've been unemployed for some months, ( as a result of the housing collapse), so I'm reading SQL Server Database Administration, as well as C# Programming (alternating).  I have the benefit of lots of free time, although an hour on one of these subjects has a soporific result.

  Stable employment in IT can have a poisonous effect, since the technology is likely to move forward while your employer stagnates, whereupon you find yourself with skills in need of updating.

  I relieve the mind-numbing effect of this technical reading with Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.  I strongly endorse the recommendation from a former commenter on Neil Stephenson.  I've read every novel he has written.

  by pogoStPete on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:50:23 AM PDT

  •  Patrick O'Brian is great

    as is Neal Stephenson

    I know almost nothing about the other reading you're doing.  Good luck with jobs

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:54:11 AM PDT

•  I'm getting back into The Art of Leading Yourself

  Not exactly light reading, but short -- and important for my personal progress.

  by SciVo on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:52:36 AM PDT

  •  What's it about? n/t

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 03:54:35 AM PDT

    •  A Scandinavian summary of emotional intelligence.

      I've read a lot of other books on the topic, but I started out kind of dumb, so I need more. (EQ is more like physical fitness than IQ in terms of being trainable.)

      by SciVo on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:15:35 AM PDT

      •  I think you just won the most links

        in two sentences prize :-)

        I should read some about this, myself.  My own EQ is probably about half my IQ :-)

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:17:08 AM PDT

•  reading No More Tomorrows

  the story of schapelle corby imprisoned in bali for drug smuggling.  she's been adjudicated and sentenced to 20 years...for 4.2kg of weed.  murderers in bali get maybe 7 years and with good behavior get out in 5.

  guilty or not 20 years is excessive...it's just WEED for goodness sake.

  by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:10:34 AM PDT

  •  I guess Balinese law is just as stupid

    as ours on this issue.  

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:15:50 AM PDT

    •  worse

      her she could have gotten the death penalty.  

      her guilt or innocence is really impossible to prove either way, but hell 20 years for possession of pot is just insane!  three maybe...probated...but 20?  what a world!

      by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:18:12 AM PDT

      •  an American president responsible for

        far more mayhem and demonstrable harm than this poor woman, not to mention Indonesians that were slaughtering the East Timorese, get off scot free. Justice is not only blind, it's retarded.

        The War on Drugs is just an excuse to fund the prison-industrial complex.

        by NoMoreLies on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 10:59:56 PM PDT

        •  i concur wholeheartedly! n/t

          by labwitchy on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 09:29:23 PM PDT

•  also just finished

  The Case for Murder against George Bush - Bugliosi
  The Great Derangement - Taibi
  The Uprisiing - Sirota
  Fearless Fourteen - Evanovich

  by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:16:22 AM PDT

  •  Evanovich!

    I forgot that I am reading one of hers now.  I just found out about her and am now on Two for the Dough.  Nice stuff.

    The other three you're reading look a lot more serious --- are they good?

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:18:31 AM PDT

    •  i've woken my husband up

      trying NOT to laugh out loud in the middle of the night with those.

      oh...if you like funny books, try Pat McManus, an incompetent outdoorsman (to hear him tell it).  the Modified Stationary Panic in his books is priceless.

      by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:20:48 AM PDT

      •  Evanovich is good stuff

        a little sex, a little mystery, some comedy, and all lightly done.

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:21:48 AM PDT

  •  Which ones of those would you recommend? NT

    by Ann T Bush on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:44:41 AM PDT

    •  begin at the beginning

      with One For The Money and just follow the series.  it's up to 14 now.  that way the stage is set or the rest of the series.  

      also there are "in between" books from evanovich...Plum Lovin', Plum Luck, Visions of Sugarplums

      those are sort of holiday books, and are quite short but fun...try to imagine Diesel...he sounds sexy as hell!  ROFL

      by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:41:43 AM PDT

•  I've just started a good one..

  Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks.

    I read somewhere recently that there is a part of your brain that actually gains mass with the learning and performance of music and that no other endeavour produces this effect. I don't know if Dr. Sacks discusses that in this book, but it's already fascinating.

  He is the famous neurologist and author of Awakenings , upon whom Robin Williams' character in the movie of the same name was based.

  I must find more time to read. It makes life better.

  by jnhobbs on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:24:17 AM PDT

  •  Awakenings - one of Williams best performances

    ever.

    by Pandoras Box on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:13:37 AM PDT

•  Rereading some 1984

  It's double-plus good!

  by humblecritic on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:24:31 AM PDT

  •  For the past year I've kept that handy

    to reread between books, Since Fisa passed, I've picked it up to read a few more chapters again.  

    by Ann T Bush on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:59:07 AM PDT

•  sachs is GOOD n/t

  by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:25:12 AM PDT

  •  Do you mean Saks?

    Or perhaps Sacks?
    Of course, you might mean sex....

    (that's in ascending order of quality)

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:14:47 AM PDT

    •  take your pick LOL

      by labwitchy on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:58:50 AM PDT

•  Bed book, etc

  Not quite ready for a bike book till I get the basement stairs carpeted!

  Bed book is "Kushiel's Chosen" by Jacqeline Carey, and I sometimes peek ahead into "Kushiel's Avatar".  I'm grateful to my youngest sister for suggesting these books.  Very strange yet familiar world.

  Still inching my way through "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein.  Very good book, but maddening to read due to the subject matter.

  by RunawayRose on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:28:49 AM PDT

•  Just finished

  Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".  I had never read it, and really enjoyed it.

  Still doing Browning's "Poetry" and Whitehead's "Process and Reality".  The Whitehead came very highly recommended but I'm breaking my head on it and, so far, not ejoying the experience.

  by rock the ground on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:32:47 AM PDT

•  "Sleeping With Cats"

  by Marge Piercy.  A difficult memoir; at the same time she tells you a lot and nothing.  

  "Dropping the Habit", Marion Dante: another ex-nun book.  

  And a lot of rereads scattered around the house.

  by escapee on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:46:01 AM PDT

•  Charles Stross

  Just finished reading "Missile Gap" about an alternative 1976. Great short book and one can download a free copy from his website.

  by igneous on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:46:41 AM PDT

•  I am reading The Family

  by Jeff Sharlet.  I keeep waiting for it to get better.  Anyone know if it will?  I'm only on Chapt. 2.

  by Ann T Bush on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 04:51:20 AM PDT

•  I LOVE the Janet Evanovich bounty

  hunter series.  It's brain candy - but it's GOOD brain candy!  Fun, silly - an easy romping good read!  I'd love to see a movie!  Now, let's see...who would make a good Stephanie Plum?

  by Pandoras Box on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:08:14 AM PDT

  •  Michelle Pfeiffer n/t

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:17:29 AM PDT

    •  does she have the comic timing for it?

      here is a whole webpage with a discussion on the subject...with pictures!

      http://www.grupthink.com/...

      by Pandoras Box on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 10:43:25 AM PDT

      •  I would never have imagined a web page for that..

        The Rock as Ranger... that's a natural; Monique as Lula, too.

        Pfeiffer might be too old to play Stephanie.... who is supposed to be 30.  

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 11:07:56 AM PDT

      •  Also, Plum is supposed to have problems with her

        weight.... I dunno

        by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 11:22:09 AM PDT

•  Terry Pratchett - Making Money n/t

  by TooFolkGR on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:19:24 AM PDT

•  Right now I am tackling Ulysses

  by publicv on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:26:41 AM PDT

  •  Bravo!

    A tough nut, but a great one.

    by rock the ground on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:37:43 AM PDT

    •  Yes it is, with all that impromptu rambling

      that needs to be figured out.

      by publicv on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 07:09:29 AM PDT

  •  Tackling is the word for it!

    good luck

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:17:53 AM PDT

•  A golf scorecard.

  by SpamNunn on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:34:13 AM PDT

  •  Ah golf, the only sport I get along with because

    it's the only sport during which a stranger might offer you a drink while you play it.

    by SteamPunkX on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:58:51 AM PDT

  •  A good walk spoiled

    was, I believe, how GB Shaw described golf....

    My brother and father both play, but I do not.

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:19:00 AM PDT

•  Still chugging throug "Inda"

  by Sherwood Smith. Very interesting fantasy novel with all sorts of intrigue to make it interesting. As I mentioned last week, all the different names and titles and relationships, not to mention shifting points of view, make it a bit challenging to get into. But once you do, it's really fun.

  Very much looking forward to reading #2 in the series.

  by billssha on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:36:16 AM PDT

•  Help me pick one of two books

  The campus bookstore is pissed at me for not giving them my Fall 2008 book orders. So, I just finished reviewing two books for my Fall courses - Health and Society. I have already picked two other books for the course (see below) but I need one on health insurance (or lack of). So I reviewed:

  Sick: The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis and the People Who Pay the Price by Jonathan Cohn.

  Second Opinion: Rescuing America’s Health Care by Arnold Relman

  Neither book is by a sociologist but both reference several.

  Cohn is a senior editor at the New Republic gets his points across by telling the sad stories of Americans who had their lives ruined due to no or inadequate health insurance. The stories are not about the poor and unemployed but about hard working middle class folks with jobs who had played by the rules and then got hurt not only by illness but by the rules of their health care insurance. There is the retired elderly couple who lost everything when his company went back on their promise to cover retired workers, the ex-nun who had to fight a Catholic hospital for unfair charges, the young couple who lost a child because of poor insurance coverage, etc. The stories were interesting and went into some detail on how insurance policies work, relevant court cases (like allowing companies to cut promised benefits to retired workers), and legal details of health legislation. It is a easy read and my students will be able to identify with many of the people in the book.

  My worry about the Cohn book is that in the last chapter he goes on a 10-page rant bashing Republicans. Not that they don’t deserve it, but I’m hesitant to assign the book because of the blatant partisan politics. The rest of the book is not in this tone, so ....

  The second book I’m considering is Second Opinion: Rescuing America’s Health Care, by Arnold Relman who a big time doctor with an internationally renowned reputation as a policy expert and past editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. This book is short (200 pp) but a great overview of how health care policy has changed in the U.S. since the 1930s. He is very objective and explains in clear language why we are so far behind other industrial nations in terms of life expectancy and infant mortality. It has more of an academic flavor but lacks the personal stories of the Cohn book.

  If this course were only on health policy I’d use both but I have other issues to cover and I’ll be using two other books too plus several journal readings.

  My other books for this course are The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman. I’ve used this before and the students just love it. It is a good read and I’d recommend it. My third book is Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement by Phil Brown. Brown is a leading health sociologist and the book is about all those things in the environment that make us sick and how citizens can (try) to improve the health of their neighborhoods.

  I have not read Brown’s book but I’m familiar with Brown’s work and I wanted a book that was about more than doctors, nurses, and insurance. I often pick a book that I want to read but might not if I didn’t assign it. I don’t understand teachers who use the same books/texts for 10 years just so they won’t have to work as hard. Teacher need to keep learning too.

  by SocioSam on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:49:06 AM PDT

  •  You might want to ask nyceve or DrSteveB

    two kossacks who are experts in the whole health care area.

    by plf515 on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 08:20:21 AM PDT

•  I'm reading The House By The Sea

  by May Sarton.  Soothing book.

  by BluejayRN on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:50:41 AM PDT

•  OMFG BEST FICTION I'VE READ IN YEARS!

  Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is some of the best fiction I've ever read, I simply cannot recommend this incredible character-driven, history and fairy tale inspired novel enough!

  by SteamPunkX on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 05:57:33 AM PDT

•  A Fraction of the Whole

  by Steve Toltz

  by voila on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:02:11 AM PDT

  •  The reviews on that ...

    ... sound good. How do you like it? :-)

    by edison on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:31:01 AM PDT

    •  just getting started

      but partner™ was driving me batty, reading great bits out loud, 'til I put my little foot down.

      by voila on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:34:47 AM PDT

•  Neil Gaiman Rocks

  And this one is great!
  Thanks plf!

  by edison on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 06:22:12 AM PDT

•  Reading journalism books:

  News Is a Verb by Pete Hamill and re-reading excerpts from A.J. Liebling's The Press; it's an oldie, but classic.  
        Lieblihg watched and commented on the press for decades in first half of the 20th century, with the constant perspective that monopolies on the news business were bad for the country.  In a sense, he saw what the future would bring, but if he were around to see it today....I can't imagine.

  by WisCheez on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 07:03:04 AM PDT

•  Step on a Crack

  by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.

  Well, just finished it.  A good read !

  by Schwede on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 07:12:56 AM PDT

•  Currently reading

  Then We Came To The End, a novel set in a big Chicago ad agency that's losing all its clients during the current economic downturn.

  It's mostly written in first person plural(We did this, then we did that), which is sort of strange. The timeline is also discursive, so the story is constantly circling back to describe things that happened weeks or months earlier. The most irritating thing about the book, though, is that the people in it don't act like real people - they act like, well, characters in a book. Y'know, the 60-something copywriter from the days of "Mad Men" who turns out to have a giant totem pole in his backyard, the people who have dramatic breakdowns that involve removing clothes in public, blah blah blah.

  by milkbone on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 07:25:50 AM PDT

•  hi

  Here is what I said at Bookflurries:

  I just finished The Mosiac Crimes by Giulio Leoni, a Dante Alighieri mystery, a ficton story set in Florence in 1300.  For a poet who wrote love poems, he sure was surly in this story, but in the end I will recommend it as having a lot of twists and turns and red herrings and an interesting conclusion.

  I have just received a book in the mail by DKos author John De Herrera called The Kingsnake in the Sun.  I will be reading that next and then I will share my thoughts. :)

  I hope you all have a great weekend!!  I know they are having fun in Austin. :)

  by cfk on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 11:12:05 AM PDT

•  I just read "Train Time"

  by John Stilgoe, a Harvard professor, which makes the compelling argument that we are about to experience a seismic shift in US transportation, one in which the railroads are about to come roaring back and displace much of our air and highway transportation paradigm. He weaves accounts of how incredible our railroad system once was (120 mph passenger trains, fast freights, service to everywhere) and how these are being used as models for the rebuilding, such as in Massachusetts and Maine, where railroads abandoned since the 1950s and 1960s are returning.

  by NoMoreLies on Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 10:56:58 PM PDT