Your Reading List

[blusky]

While we are clearly not blessed with the weather this spring what do people read in the meanwhile - fiction, history, etc?

Anything recent titles not to miss?

Recommendations appreciated!

Thanks.

[SFlowers]

I'm working my way through a few Kathy Reichs books at the moment though some of them have taken some getting into. I was reading Brian Cox's "Everything that can happen does happen" but have gotten a bit bogged down in clocks so it's not really light reading!

[George Jones]

I am reading: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks for my book club; a book for laypersons about "practical" uses for gravitational lensing, Einstein's Telescope The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe by Evalyn Gates; a couple of more technical physics and maths books for some work that I want to do.

I'm working my way through a few Kathy Reichs books at the moment though some of them have taken some getting into. I was reading Brian Cox's "Everything that can happen does happen" but have gotten a bit bogged down in clocks so it's not really light reading!

I read the first six or so novels by Kathy Reichs, and I picked up Cox's book a couple of weeks ago, which is the subject of some controversy among physicists, but I probably won't get to it for a while.

[JamesF]

I read perhaps the first half-dozen of Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan books and enjoyed the first few, but started to find them a little repetitive. In a similar vein I've enjoyed some of Jeffery Deaver's books, particularly the LIncoln Rhyme series, and Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller series.

Just finished reading "Decoding the Heavens" by Jo Marchant, about the Antikythera mechanism and I'm idly dipping into the 2001-2005 Sky at Night book at the moment because I was sent it for free.

I've read Brian Cox's "Why does E=mc^2?" and very much enjoyed it. Not tried "Everything that can happen does happen" yet. Might have to add that to my next Amazon order.

James

[Bryan196]

At the moment I'm reading "The Greatest Show on Earth: Evidence for Evolution" then hoping to read "The first three minutes" by Steven Wienberg

[Marki]

Reading Neil English's "Choosing and Using Refracting Telescopes" at the moment. Fascinating intro on the history of telescopes (well, refractors, obviously), and its really made me appreciate the effort that goes into good optics. Up to the section on triplet APOs now...and wishing for a lottery win!

For slightly lighter reading, I;ve been working my way through the Commisario Brunetti books by Donna Leon - kind of lightish, detective novels set in and around Venice (somewhere I've never been and another reason to wish for that lottery win ).

[blusky]

Anything not related to stargazing at all?

(hopes not to anger too many people)

[zedds]

Currently reading "To War with Wellington: From the Peninsula to Waterloo" by Peter Snow. Made up of first hand accounts by those who were there. A great read.

[SlipperySquid]

I have kicked books into touch at the moment and now use audio book 99% of the time, just load them onto the ipod and listen to them at work.I have the usual fair of Terry Pratchett novels but find the recent ones a bit boring which is a shame. Probably my favorite up to now has to be "The Dresden Files" series by Jim Butcher, though his fantasy sword and sourcery set (Furies of Calderon) I found mind numbingly boring and never bothered past the first book. I also love true war novels, if that's your bag a couple to look out for are "House to house"(David Bellavia) and "No true Glory"(Bing West) both of which are fantastic and describe events during the Iraq war. For the British prospective of the same war try "Sniper One" (Sgt Dan Mills). I would also recommend "Fly Boys: A true story of courage" by James Bradley about American fliers in WWII, a group of which where shot down captured by the Japanese. A must read I think for anyone interested in WWII history.

Matt

[jason.p]

Brian Greene's "Elegant universe" till my brain start hurting:

Stephen King's "Dark Tower" till I fall asleep .

[JamesF]

Anything not related to stargazing at all?

There are quite a few there that aren't related to stargazing, but here are a few (some not-so-recent) more that I think are worth reading:

Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science"

Anything by Richard Dawkins, but perhaps starting with either "The Selfish Gene" or "The Ancestor's Tale"

Levitt and Dubner's "Freakonomics"

Mark Lynas's "Six Degrees". Keep a pinch of salt available, but it's still an interesting read.

Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat"

Pretty much anything by PG Wodehouse

The complete Sherlock Holmes collection

Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

Dava Sobel's "Longitude" (and "Galileo's Daugher" and "Letters to Father", though tangentially related to stargazing)

Giles Milton's "Nathaniel's Nutmeg"

Pretty much anything by Bill Bryson

Pretty much anything by PJ O'Rourke, but particularly "Republican Party Reptile"

Malcolm Gladwell's "What the Dog Saw"

Plato's "Republic"

The pre-television "Morse" and "Frost" series

and if you'll allow a few closer in topic to stargazing:

Asimov's "The Tragedy of the Moon"

Larry Niven's "RIngworld"

Arthur C Clarke's "Fountains of Paradise"

Must be a few month's worth there

James

[JamesF]

Oh, I meant to add "A Clockwork Orange" and, in my thoughts because he died this week, Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451".

James

[sologuitarist61]

Just finished 'Make every Photon Count' which was very informative and well written, but in the main I tend to read SF and science books (almost any subject) - a strange combination I must admit.

[Pete Presland]

Oh, I meant to add "A Clockwork Orange" and, in my thoughts because he died this week, Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451".

James

i read "a clockwork orange" a few months ago, i enjoyed it but found it took a little getting used to

[JamesF]

Yes, it's not the easiest read in the world, I can't disagree there.

James

[JamesF]

It's terrible. I keep thinking of more

Alan Bennett's "The Clothes They Stood Up In" and "The Uncommon Reader".

James

[Disco]

The BBC big read top 100 list was a good challenge at work and contained some fantastic books, we manage to pool our books together and get most of the list for people to read and tick off.

I am currently reading The Stainless Steel Rat omnibus (sci-fi) by Harry Harrison and have just bought Turn left at Orion which is just a great book that shows what you really will see with a telescope.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The Sailor]

Some of the books on my shelf:

Strumpet City by James Plunkett

The Third World War by Gen Sir John Hackett

Sniper One by Sgt Dan Mills

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Dubliners by James Joyce

Just a few of many

Jim

[Alastair Rae]

I've just finished reading The Universe: a Biography by John Gribbin. Great stuff if you can keep up with all the quantum physics. Before that I read his In Search of Schrödinger's Cat which helped. (Sorry, I'm going through a science binge at the moment).

[JamesF]

If you're stuck for ideas on what to read I think those sorts of lists are really useful. About fifteen years ago I was commuting from Twyford to central London (St. Paul's) for a year and used the travelling time to read books from the current best-sellers list. Sadly many of them were actually pretty average, but some were outstanding.

And another to add: Iain Banks' "The Wasp Factory"

James

[JamieW]

Plato's Republic is a great read as is Cicero's roman variant De Res Publica.

I'm currently reading a biography of Captain Beefheart.

Oh, and everyone should read the Essays of Michel de Montaigne.

And Dostoevsky - no where near as difficult as he is made to sound. Crime and Punishment is a ripping yarn.

[David JM]

Where to start...

I tend to have 3+ books 'on the go' at any time, currently Book 2 of The Saga Of Seven Suns is in the car for a re-read as I remember roughly what happened and it doesn't matter if I go a few weeks without picking it up.

The Story Of The Heavens [1890s]

The Moon [1890s]

Frank's Book Of The Telescope [1950s]

for a bit of the history of astronomy.

Flashman, because I have heard R4 adaptations but missed most of the episodes

The MotoGP Techbook second edition

I've just finished Prelude To Space by Clarke, and I have finally found an old edition of Chocky.

A word of advice, never, EVER bother with The Dragon's Nine Sons. I'm one of many to have slated it on Amazon-I didn't get it from there as they stopped using the post office to deliver and it's cheaper for me to pay full price locally rather than drive to the courier depot [ironically slightly further away than Amazon's head office] . A truly awful book, althogh not quite as bad as the film Skyline.

[JamesF]

Plato's Republic is a great read as is Cicero's roman variant De Res Publica.

I'm currently reading a biography of Captain Beefheart.

Oh, and everyone should read the Essays of Michel de Montaigne.

And Dostoevsky - no where near as difficult as he is made to sound. Crime and Punishment is a ripping yarn.

I found "Republic" quite a demanding read, but fascinating nonetheless. I wasn't aware of the Cicero one. I see the Michel de Montaigne works are downloadable from Project Gutenberg, so that's an easy start

James

[jason.p]

If you're stuck for ideas on what to read I think those sorts of lists are really useful. About fifteen years ago I was commuting from Twyford to central London (St. Paul's) for a year and used the travelling time to read books from the current best-sellers list. Sadly many of them were actually pretty average, but some were outstanding.

And another to add: Iain Banks' "The Wasp Factory"

James

I've read all of Iain M Banks "Culture" series, but didn't get far into "The Wasp Factory". Too much sadistic cruelty for my liking. Oh well. Each to his (or her) own.