Just the usual list this week
cfk has bookflurries on Wednesday nights
sarahnity has Books by Kossacks, on Tuesdays
If you like to trade books, try bookmooch
Just finished
The Coldest Winter: America in the Korean War by David Halberstam. History writing doesn't get better than this. Highly recommended. Halberstam not only gives views of the war at all levels, from the generals down to the sergeants and corporals, he also traces the personalities that shaped the war, and its effects on American politics.
Now reading
Godel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid by Douglas Hofstadter. I am doing a series here on this book. Wonderful.
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. A fantastic survey by a hero of mine.
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives by Joseph Mlodinow. A wonderful, non-technical introduction to probability, and many of the counter-intuitive ways it works.
Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. A good, old fashioned thriller.
The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester. Joseph Needham was a biochemist, a linguist, a believer in 'open marriages', an expert on Morris dancing and many other things .... but what he is best known for his the monumental book Science and Civilization in China, and for opening the eyes of westerners to the glories of Chinese history.