For those who are new ... we discuss books. I list what I'm reading, and people comment with what they're reading. Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.
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Note: I'm on vacation. I've queued this up, but not sure if I will be looking on or not.
[[UPDATE]] I am NOT on vacation YET. I thought I clicked on Wednesday morning. But here it is SO..... What are you reading?
Just finished
Old Man's War by John Scalzi.
It's the distant future. Earth is teeming and vastly overcrowded. But we've moved into space as well. But all space travel and colonization is controlled by the Colonial Defense Forces. You can only join by enlisting, and you can only enlist when you are 75 years old. They give you a new body and a new life, but you can never go home again. And you have to enlist for 10 years. John Perry does.
Not bad. But not great. The humor and the darkness in this novel don't play well together, and the basic premise requires a big suspension of disbelief, but the pages fly quickly and Scalzi is basically a good writer.
Now reading
Charming Proofs. A book of beautiful (or charming) proofs in mathematics, nearly all of which require no advanced math.
Mr Speaker! The life and times of Thomas B. Reed, the man who broke the fillibuster by James Grant.
Reed was a Republican in the Gilded Age (back when Republicans were the good guys) from Maine, and rose to be speaker of the House. He was way ahead of his time, being a proponent of women's suffrage and equal rights for Blacks, among other things. As speaker, he broke the ability of the minority party to fillibuster in the House. House members used to be able to prevent a quorum by sitting in the House but not giving their names in roll calls. Reed started recognizing people himself. He also resigned from the House on a matter of principle - he opposed the USA starting and fighting in the Spanish American war.
God's Arbiters:Americans and the Phillippines: 1898-1902 by Susan K. Harris. I am only a few pages into this book, but it looks good. It is an advance copy sent to me by the publisher, with rather fortuitous timing since Cryptonomicon deals a lot with the Phillippines, and Mr. Speaker deals with the same time period, and I just finished The War Lovers, which is about the other part of the Spanish American war - the part that was fought in Cuba.
Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Julius Norwich. It's what the subtitle says. The good, ,the bad, and the ugly of the papacy. Norwich writes very well, and strikes a b nice balance.
Just started
Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell. Really just started, so I can't say much, but Darrow was one of my father's heroes, and the first few pages of this look good.