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Post by musik on Oct 7, 2019 23:18:33 GMT
Utopia for Realists - excellent political book Good Omens- big fan! On my list this year.
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Post by lawrieleslie on Oct 8, 2019 7:35:55 GMT
Marine A Al Blackman. Story of his battle against PTSD and wrongful murder conviction. Great read.
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Post by deadwait on Oct 8, 2019 9:01:42 GMT
How were the British coping twelve years after surrendering to Nazi Germany in World War 2. Another masterpiece thriller by C J Sansom.
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Post by deadwait on Oct 8, 2019 9:04:17 GMT
How were the British coping twelve years after surrendering to Nazi Germany in World War 2. Another masterpiece thriller by C J Sansom. Apo0logies never gave the title--------Dominion
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Post by musik on Oct 16, 2019 11:36:29 GMT
"The Uninhabitable Earth" by David Wallace-Wells [2019. 367 pages, the last 105 pages is the bibliography]
Now I've finished reading this one and I must say if you haven't read it yet, do.
I'm astonished about many of the mentioned figures and sums in this book.
Some examples: "A global heath increase by 3.7°C would lead to damages and cost us $551 trillion, which is almost twice as much as all the total economical assets in the world today."
"Our immune system is without a chance when these pre-historic diseases rise above the ice. Several microbes have already been revived in a laboratory environment: a 32000 years old extremophile bacterium was woken up in 2005, an 8 million years old bacterium was given new life in 2007 and a russian researcher injected a 3.5 million years old bacterium into himself by curiousity, just to find out what would happen (he survived). In 2018, a research team revived a larger organism - a worm that had been frozen in the permafrost for the last 42000 years." Research shows we can get the return of the Black death and the spreading of the Zika virus on our hands, for example.
"Burlaug --- born in 1914 ---developed a new set of high productive, resistant [against pesticides] forms of wheat that today are considered having saved the life of billions of people around the world." No wonder people (like myself) get gluten intolerance. When not even pesticides can break down the wheat, how the hell should the human body be able to do so. This is gluten intolerance: be able or not to break down.
Geo-engineering was also an interesting field to read about. That is a technique how to take the carbon out of the air. It is expensive and involves enormously large, and so many and ugly machines all around the globe. It would require so much, many believe it's an impossible mission.
Statistics indicates warmer weather leads to more health issues and lots of crime. It surprises me a bit, since everyone seems so happy where I live when it gets a bit warmer. On the other hand, we have a lower degree as a starting point up north.
At the end of the book he severly diminishes the problems with pesticides and genetically modified crops (as they almost are a blessing), the insect death and plastics. These won't affect the global heath he argues, and he's ALL into global heath. So he doesn't care enough for other environmental issues.
I'm one of those guys who are skeptical about just everything(!), in any field. That's why my next step is to do a thorough examination of the sources to this book, when the time allowes me to.
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Post by musik on Oct 16, 2019 13:20:26 GMT
Now on to my two books in quantum physics, to be returned next week.
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Post by musik on Oct 16, 2019 19:25:10 GMT
But today I also borrowed lilfraise's favourite
"Utopia for Realists" by Rutger Bregman (2014)
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Post by somersetstokie on Oct 17, 2019 16:10:57 GMT
Reading a cracking 19th century book by Charles Darwin entitled: On the Origin of Species. All about how life theoretically might have developed by way of small changes and improvements. According to this Guy, Port Vale fans, for example, might actually have evolved from a more primitive life form, rather than appearing as fully formed Neanderthals.
Thats his theory anyway. Make of it what you will.
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Post by musik on Oct 17, 2019 19:34:27 GMT
Reading a cracking 19th century book by Charles Darwin entitled: On the Origin of Species. All about how life theoretically might have developed by way of small changes and improvements. According to this Guy, Port Vale fans, for example, might actually have evolved from a more primitive life form, rather than appearing as fully formed Neanderthals. Thats his theory anyway. Make of it what you will. I will read that one too. Someday.
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Post by musik on Oct 17, 2019 19:43:39 GMT
But today I also borrowed lilfraise's favourite "Utopia for Realists" by Rutger Bregman (2014) Just started, but ... it seems as the reason for the suggestions of free borders, citizen basic income and only 15 working hours per week, according to Bregman, is that we've now reached a materialistically high standard - compared to how it was in the earlier centuries. Just started reading this, as I said, but if the climate continues to get worse each year, we will end up in this solution anyway - but not as a happy solution, but as the result of climate migration.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2019 20:05:46 GMT
John Grisham is my favouritest author for fiction. Always riveting books and difficult to pinpoint my favourite TBH. Haven't read anything else by him but I am meaning to, what would you recommend next from him? Off the back of my English degree where everything has got a bloody deeper meaning, I just loved his no frills style, you can see why it made such an excellent film. The Chamber is my favourite.
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Post by Dutchpeter on Oct 20, 2019 21:48:51 GMT
Just finished ‘I’ll be gone in the dark’ by Michelle McNamara. Currently on ‘Rolling Stones 69’ about...er..The Rolling Stone in ‘69. Next up is ‘Too good to go down’ about Manchester United’s relegation in 1974. Followed by Dominic Sandbrook’s ‘Who dares wins’ - another instalment in British post war history. Then, ‘Chernobyl- history of a tragedy’ by Serhii Plokhy. Then, last but not least ‘Diary of a lost cause - Bradford Park Avenue 1966-70’. I fucking love a good book queue.
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Post by musik on Oct 20, 2019 23:50:23 GMT
Just finished ‘I’ll be gone in the dark’ by Michelle McNamara. Currently on ‘Rolling Stones 69’ about...er..The Rolling Stone in ‘69. Next up is ‘Too good to go down’ about Manchester United’s relegation in 1974. Followed by Dominic Sandbrook’s ‘Who dares wins’ - another instalment in British post war history. Then, ‘Chernobyl- history of a tragedy’ by Serhii Plokhy. Then, last but not least ‘Diary of a lost cause - Bradford Park Avenue 1966-70’. I fucking love a good book queue. And always non-fiction?
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Post by raythesailor on Oct 23, 2019 7:25:58 GMT
Haven't read anything else by him but I am meaning to, what would you recommend next from him? Off the back of my English degree where everything has got a bloody deeper meaning, I just loved his no frills style, you can see why it made such an excellent film. The Chamber is my favourite. Not read your earlier posts but having read almost all of his books I would say the two best are; His first “The Firm” and “A Time to Kill”
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Post by partickpotter on Oct 23, 2019 7:29:47 GMT
The Chamber is my favourite. Not read your earlier posts but having read almost all of his books I would say the two best are; His first “The Firm” and “A Time to Kill” A Time to Kill is a superb book.
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Post by murphthesurf on Oct 23, 2019 23:13:21 GMT
Dunner worry, murph. Trollope is easier to read than Dickens and all those other Victorian authors. You’ll get through it owrate in next to no time. Becky Sharp rivals Lizzie Bennet as my favourite heroine of that era and you just have to enjoy her. Plus, size isn’t everything, you know 😎. Eh - EH - EH - Who are you callin' a trollop? Oh. sorry, Linxy - I see what you mean! Misunderstood you there for a mo. xxxx Um……….. VF was written by Thackeray…….. but going by the length of the book he had verbal diah dierhh dioor you-know-what so I still haven't tackled it yet. There's a theory, which I recently saw on line somewhere, that the two greatest books ever written were 'Vanity Fair' and 'War and Peace'. Did the latter for A-level English so thought I'd better buy the other. I've never really been into Dickens - my grandmother bought me a lovely Webberleys leather-bound copy of David Copperfield for passing my Eleven-Plus, and I did read it but never developed an interest for more Dickens. Amazingly, the new Jane Tennison book I've got on the go continues to be a disappointment so far - I've hardly picked it up in the last few days, and each time I've had another go at it I've given up after a very short time as it's basically boring - eg. I'm now on page 100 (chapter 7 started on p. 84) and basically bugger all has still happened yet. Normally when I read Lynda La Plante's books I literally can't put them down but this one's gobsmackingly devoid of interest so far.
Re. 'size isn’t everything'……… oh yes it is!
I mean, just think of chocolate bars and how much they've shrunk in recent years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's more like it! 'Dead at First Sight' - a Roy Grace book - by Peter James. Can't believe it, but I'm still struggling with the Lynda La Plante book. Up to page 144 (of 490) now & still feel as though nothing's really happened - only lightweight, boring nondescript stuff, so much so that I've virtually not even picked it up for a week & don't really feel at all inclined to return to it.
Instead - joy of joys! The above brand new Roy Grace book arrived two days ago, and I've just finished it. As per usual with Peter James/Roy Grace books, from the first moment of starting to read it, couldn't put it down. The main crime flavour of the book is a very topical subject - the £ millions being made internationally by internet scammers & fraudsters by using fake IDs on dating websites. It's basically a huge & very widespread search for three or four of them who turn to murder when their targets start getting suspicious and stop paying up - or words to that effect. Not a huge amount of blood'n'guts & violence in it - but that's not always a bad thing - and, on second thoughts, actually there is quite a bit. At the back of the book there's the first 4 chapters of Peter James's other brand new book, 'The Secret of Cold Hill' which was also published at the beginning of this month and is a follow-up to his book 'The House on Cold Hill' which I read a couple of years ago. These are nothing to do with Roy Grace & are more a creepy or modern ghost story sort of book - I normally avoid creepy stuff but I coped with the first one so I reckon I'll give the new one a go and have just ordered it. There's a 'look inside' link here if anyone's interested: smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1509816240/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2Q97T4F6QM4F6&psc=1.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2019 5:37:48 GMT
Eh - EH - EH - Who are you callin' a trollop? Oh. sorry, Linxy - I see what you mean! Misunderstood you there for a mo. xxxx Um……….. VF was written by Thackeray…….. but going by the length of the book he had verbal diah dierhh dioor you-know-what so I still haven't tackled it yet. There's a theory, which I recently saw on line somewhere, that the two greatest books ever written were 'Vanity Fair' and 'War and Peace'. Did the latter for A-level English so thought I'd better buy the other. I've never really been into Dickens - my grandmother bought me a lovely Webberleys leather-bound copy of David Copperfield for passing my Eleven-Plus, and I did read it but never developed an interest for more Dickens. Amazingly, the new Jane Tennison book I've got on the go continues to be a disappointment so far - I've hardly picked it up in the last few days, and each time I've had another go at it I've given up after a very short time as it's basically boring - eg. I'm now on page 100 (chapter 7 started on p. 84) and basically bugger all has still happened yet. Normally when I read Lynda La Plante's books I literally can't put them down but this one's gobsmackingly devoid of interest so far.
Re. 'size isn’t everything'……… oh yes it is!
I mean, just think of chocolate bars and how much they've shrunk in recent years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's more like it! 'Dead at First Sight' - a Roy Grace book - by Peter James. Can't believe it, but I'm still struggling with the Lynda La Plante book. Up to page 144 (of 490) now & still feel as though nothing's really happened - only lightweight, boring nondescript stuff, so much so that I've virtually not even picked it up for a week & don't really feel at all inclined to return to it.
Instead - joy of joys! The above brand new Roy Grace book arrived two days ago, and I've just finished it. As per usual with Peter James/Roy Grace books, from the first moment of starting to read it, couldn't put it down. The main crime flavour of the book is a very topical subject - the £ millions being made internationally by internet scammers & fraudsters by using fake IDs on dating websites. It's basically a huge & very widespread search for three or four of them who turn to murder when their targets start getting suspicious and stop paying up - or words to that effect. Not a huge amount of blood'n'guts & violence in it - but that's not always a bad thing - and, on second thoughts, actually there is quite a bit. At the back of the book there's the first 4 chapters of Peter James's other brand new book, 'The Secret of Cold Hill' which was also published at the beginning of this month and is a follow-up to his book 'The House on Cold Hill' which I read a couple of years ago. These are nothing to do with Roy Grace & are more a creepy or modern ghost story sort of book - I normally avoid creepy stuff but I coped with the first one so I reckon I'll give the new one a go and have just ordered it. There's a 'look inside' link here if anyone's interested: smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1509816240/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2Q97T4F6QM4F6&psc=1. Murph, I've read a few of the Roy Grace books and have enjoyed most of them. On occasion I felt parts of the plots were slightly far fetched and a little bit too "rushed" to enable the author to finish the book off. I haven't read any of his most recent Roy Grace books, so I don't know if he still has his friend and colleague (can't remember his name - calls Grace "old timer" etc) but I found their relationship a little bit over the top. Maybe it's changed since the last book that I rwadead. Overall though an enjoyable read. Have you ever read any of the Inspector Banks books by Peter Robinson ? I know a few were adapted for TV a few tears ago, with Stephen Tompkinson as Banks (not very good adaptations and he didn't portray the character how I'd imagined him in the books) but the books are quite a bit "grittier" than the Roy Grace series. I much prefer these myself. Have you ever read any by Robert Goddard ? These are usually mysteries set in more provincial towns and involve the lead character (always different in each book) discovering a long standing conspiracy which had been kept secret, by word of mouth or historical documents. They can be a bit of a ramble but there are usually several twists and turns before the final reveal. There's over 20 books and I found his last three of four had changed "style" to a more thriller based book and weren't as good IMO.
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Post by mattador78 on Oct 24, 2019 11:52:18 GMT
Not read your earlier posts but having read almost all of his books I would say the two best are; His first “The Firm” and “A Time to Kill” A Time to Kill is a superb book. And a decent film adaptation
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Post by musik on Apr 1, 2021 2:15:24 GMT
Michail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita". I got it for Christmas from a friend of mine.
Started to read it, and it has a good language. Translation from russian to swedish by Lars Erik Blomqvist.
Many jumps in the story. 525 pages.
Popular book apparently. Have you read it? I know Mick Jagger has.
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Post by musik on Apr 2, 2021 22:57:17 GMT
paper books - sound books - e-books
what format do you prefer?
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Post by lordb on Apr 3, 2021 8:17:21 GMT
paper books - sound books - e-books what format do you prefer? At home, paper When travelling e-book
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Post by marylandstoke on Apr 3, 2021 11:05:15 GMT
paper books - sound books - e-books what format do you prefer? Paper books, and use your libraries.
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Post by musik on Apr 3, 2021 11:23:10 GMT
paper books - sound books - e-books what format do you prefer? Paper books, and use your libraries. me too 😊
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Post by AlliG on Apr 3, 2021 11:29:19 GMT
paper books - sound books - e-books what format do you prefer? Out for my morning walk or travelling by train - audiobooks. (My library currently has a choice of about 4,500 to download for 3 weeks (for free), so at 2 hours a day I am unlikely to run out of choice anytime soon!) On holiday or when I know I will be waiting around somewhere for a while or casual reading - e-books For serious reading, reference books, history or nature, or novels I want to keep - paper books
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Post by Dutchpeter on Apr 3, 2021 12:08:54 GMT
Just about to finish ‘Life and Fate’ by Vassily Grossman. A great, sprawling novel about an extended family and their tribulations during the Battle for Stalingrad and beyond. It’s an absolutely fantastic and absorbing read, and I’ve definitely become a huge admirer of Grossman as a writer and a man. To put very thinly veiled criticisms of communism into his plots would have been a courageous thing to do back in that era (1930s to 60s). I’m looking forward to reading more of his work.
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Post by innocentbystander on Apr 3, 2021 12:29:41 GMT
Dodgers by Bill Beverly.
A group of black teenagers who have grown up with LA drug gangs are sent into white mid west rural America to perform an assassination. Great story.
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Post by marylandstoke on Apr 3, 2021 13:52:52 GMT
Just re read Johnny Marr’s book. Cracking read.
Presently, just, started re reading Artie Lang’s second book.
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Post by FbrgVaStkFan on Apr 4, 2021 14:59:14 GMT
Currently 2/3rd of the way through: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and OkinawaA very good memoir of a U.S. Marine (E. B. "Sledgehammer" Sledge) fighting and surviving in the Pacific during WW2. Brutality and inhumanity on both sides.
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Post by themistocles on Apr 4, 2021 15:35:26 GMT
Most recent books I've read.
Meditations Marcus Aurelius Greenlights Matthew Mcconaughey Wake up Piers Morgan The Daily Stoic Ryan Holiday Starship Troopers Robert Heinlein Call Sign Chaos Jim Mattis
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Post by themistocles on Apr 4, 2021 15:36:58 GMT
Currently 2/3rd of the way through: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and OkinawaA very good memoir of a U.S. Marine (E. B. "Sledgehammer" Sledge) fighting and surviving in the Pacific during WW2. Brutality and inhumanity on both sides. Very good 👍
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