A place for the discussion of all things not closely related to the sport and its competitive side. (Locked down several times a year during the major championships)
26mi235 wrote:I have to finish The Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson (later 1970s). It is one of the best books that I have read and one of the most difficult (600+ pages of small type, long sentences and paragraphs, technical material and when I took high school biology the stuff in the book had not yet all happened). Daisy has been reading it at the same time (but certainly with much more background and greater ease).
Here was my earlier take:
Daisy wrote:I've been working my way through 'The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology' by Horace Judson.
This is not a recent book but it is timeless in laying out the players and discoveries that kick started molecular genetics. It really brings out the character of the scientists involved as well as a genuine behind the scenes look at the work that goes into producing the polished papers that end up being published.
Yikes! I've drifted too far away from intellect/entertainment rotatation, and run through a half-dozen Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries since I last picked up one of my hardbacks. Tonight!
lonewolf wrote:Just finished Tom Clancy's Threat Vector. If computer science is really capable of the stuff he describes, it is time to worry.. about everything.
Well, there is news about the ability to now determine who 'anonymous' donors of DNA are using mainly public data, AND to determine who their (male) kin are without their even having provided DNA.
This is one of my favorite threads on this board, maybe my number 1 thread. I am not sure it is correct to say that it has changed my life, but it certainly has affected my reading and the amount of reading that I do. It also provides yet more depth to the posters on this board, and it is the nature of the posters on this board that make the board what it is (and gh is number one in that regard).
Being momentarily between books, I am currently pursuing my sporadic intent to read every issue of my National Geographic collection. My late father-in-law, a 50 something Spanish-American vet, gave his twenty something bride a $50 lifetime subscription to NG when they married circa1918. I inherited her NG collection which she enjoyed for more than 70 years. I have personally subscribed since 1957 so I have a (nearly) complete 1918-2013 collection.(missing Oct 1928, which one of their sons apparently used in a school report) I have browsed around in the older issues but have to keep backing up to check out the references in letters to the editor so I am starting with January 1918 and coming this way.
Airplane reading right now is Don Thompson's "The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art." He gets a few things wrong, but a whole lot right--and provides very lively insight on the flamboyant carnival of the high-end contemporary art world.
Am also a bit amazed that, completely by chance, I've been 20 minutes ahead of at least one "cool new thing." In December, I picked up one of the Richard Stark (Don Westlake) "Parker" mysteries purely on a whim--I'd actually never heard of the series before. I liked it and promptly started reading them all in order. Have blasted through the first 11 so far, with the rest waiting in a bedside stack. So....the recent media blitz on the new "Parker" movie, with Jason Stratham (sp?) was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea this new movie was in the works and will enjoy seeing it. Based on the books, Stratham could be a near-perfect Parker...
OK, I'm back to the hardback world, and up to my eyeballs in recrudescence.
Now in the middle of Spillover (Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic), which is all about the wonderful world of Ebola and its cousins and how they got from critters to us.
I had never heard of the Parker series until a blurb in the Entertainment section of the paper this morning touting the move. Now I will have to add them to my Clancy, Ludlum, Cavell, LeCarre, Forsyth, etc collection. Different and sundy genre but I think I have every Michner book, except the Japanese print book. His writing deteriorated in his last books, imo, but, in his early books, he was uncannily accurate in his assessment of the future for SE Aisa .
Last Sunday's N.Y. Times had an article about Jason Straithan and his latest movie, "Parker." I'm a big fan of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder novels, and picked up "The Outfit", a Parker novel by Westlake under his other pen name, Richard Stark. I prefer the Dortmunder novels but this is O.K. A fellow I know works in the publishing industry in Manhattan. He was in the elevator at work, and Ed McBain walked in. The guy looked at McBain and said to him, "you know you look like two of my favorite authors."
Michael Johnson's Gold Rush Running with Kenyans The Lopes Lomong (US 5000m runner) autobiography Born to Run (about Tarahumara Indians) Usain Bolt's autobiography (this is surprisingly the best one)
spammer wrote:Michael Johnson's Gold Rush Running with Kenyans The Lopes Lomong (US 5000m runner) autobiography Born to Run (about Tarahumara Indians) Usain Bolt's autobiography (this is surprisingly the best one)
Better than Born to Run? I thought that book was great.
I never knew, until now, that the first Parker film was John Boorman's excellent Point Blank from 1967, with Lee Marvin as the Parker character, though not under that name.
From the T&FN Favourite Olympic Moment Poll Results. More 2 Votes thread
John G wrote:
nevetsllim wrote:Mump - Sonia vs. Szabo (one of mine) was included in the one-vote list or is this a revised result?
I had this one as well. Sometimes, 5000m can seem a very long way - and it did that night for Sonia. She was really struggling at times and IIRC was even dropped from the leading group on one occasion. You could see her physically grow in confidence however as it entered 'her territory' with a couple of laps to go and in the end she was oh, so near.
Incidentally, her autobiography is the best I've read by a runner in quite some time.
I'm reading "A Safeway in Arizona" about the Gabby Giffords shooting. Having lived in Tucson I am finding his (Zoellner's) view of Tucson and Arizona as a whole rather interesting. I also finished a book called "Empty Cradles" (Margaret Humphreys) which is a book about the amazingly true and amazingly awful history of the U.K.'s sending children to the colonies (especially Australia), children who were supposedly orphans but 2/3's of whom were not. Many were abused or neglected in Australia. A movie about it, "Oranges and Sunshine," was released recently.
jeremyp wrote:I'm reading "A Safeway in Arizona" about the Gabby Giffords shooting. Having lived in Tucson I am finding his (Zoellner's) view of Tucson and Arizona as a whole rather interesting. I also finished a book called "Empty Cradles" (Margaret Humphreys) which is a book about the amazingly true and amazingly awful history of the U.K.'s sending children to the colonies (especially Australia), children who were supposedly orphans but 2/3's of whom were not. Many were abused or neglected in Australia. A movie about it, "Oranges and Sunshine," was released recently.
When did you live in Tucson? It was a world apart from now when I lived there in early seventies.
jeremyp wrote:I'm reading "A Safeway in Arizona" about the Gabby Giffords shooting. Having lived in Tucson I am finding his (Zoellner's) view of Tucson and Arizona as a whole rather interesting. I also finished a book called "Empty Cradles" (Margaret Humphreys) which is a book about the amazingly true and amazingly awful history of the U.K.'s sending children to the colonies (especially Australia), children who were supposedly orphans but 2/3's of whom were not. Many were abused or neglected in Australia. A movie about it, "Oranges and Sunshine," was released recently.
When did you live in Tucson? It was a world apart from now when I lived there in early seventies.
I was there from 1996 to 2005. Zoellner is pretty negative about Tucson's lack of "family values" but I saw a different city: a city with a small town mentality to be sure, but quite diverse and in some ways like L.A. circa early 1900's. Liberals, right wingers, survivalists, Hispanics both legals and illegals, East Coaster retirees. A microcosm of today's growing America. I'm further along into the book and find it deals with a number of issues I find interesting: mental illness/treatment; politics; diasaffectedness; right wing radio propaganda; and of course a history of Tucson I knew nothing about.
gh wrote:OK, I'm back to the hardback world, and up to my eyeballs in recrudescence.
Now in the middle of Spillover (Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic), which is all about the wonderful world of Ebola and its cousins and how they got from critters to us.
Be afraid my friends, be afraid!
OK, finally finished this sucker, and I've revised my conclusion: Be very afraid my friends, be very afraid.
As somebody with a microbiology background and huge respect for hard science, understanding zoonosis truly makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. There are things out there that by definition defy any particular control by us.
Just finished David Hackett Fischer's "Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States." The central theme of the book is extremely interesting, although it could probably have been handled in about half the total number of pages.
I'm a mystery and relationships novel specialist, when it comes to fiction!! None of that high-brow F. Scott Fitzgerald crap!!
I love "series" novelists....meaning one's who write about the same characters book after book. Here's a list of my favorite "series", with a brief synopsis:(In no particular order!!)
Jesse Stone (Robert B Parker): He's a former LA-detective, a drunk, who becomes small town Paradise MA Police Chief, warts and all. Divorced from Jenn, who he still is hung up on. Love the "cozy" feel in these books. (Several made-for-TV movies available, with Tom Selleck as Stone. All good stuff!!)
Spenser (Robert B Parker): As with Jesse Stone, this series "ended" when Parker died. However, both are continuing with books written in Parker's style by various mystery writers. Maybe THE series to start with!!
Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton): As "gh" has noted, Grafton sort of hooks you in!! Her "alphabet series" is a classic, with W, X, Y, and Z to go!! For those Grafton virgins out there, Kinsey is a 30'ish Private Detective who gets involved in murder after murder. Two great parts of her books are her 90'ish neighbor and landlord, and Rosie's diner, where she often eats.
Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich): Considered more a "woman's" series, this is hilarious and highly entertaining stuff. She's a former sales clerk turned bounty hunter...and she's as competent as a......sales clerk!! She has two guys she loves, high school sweetie Joe Morello, and fellow bounty hunter, Ranger, who is as mysterious as the black clothes he always wears. Try to count the number of cars she's lost due to fire and explosions and such!! Her Granny is a HOOT!!
Finally, author J.A. Jance has three series going. My favorite is Sheriff Joanna Brady of Bisbee Arizona...one of Jance's two homes!! Her husband, also a sheriff, was killed on duty, so she becomes the Sheriff, and first female, getting all the standard sexist shit thrown at her....until she slowly gains everyone's respect. Has a precocious daughter, and gets remarried during this excellent series!!
Next is J.P. Beaumont, a boozing Seattle Homicide Detective, who becomes rich from a woman who tried to kill him (!!) in one of the best books of the series, and switches later on to a state investigator's job. Two or 3 of Jance's books COMBINE Beaumont and Brady on a case!! Some sexual tension is generated. Wish Jance would write more of those!!
Finally, the 3rd Jance character I like is Ali Reynolds, a former LA TV newscaster, who after her husband is killed, moves to small town Arizona (Bisbee again!!), and gets involved in murder after murder. Her parents run a restaurant, where she's always hanging out....and/or working!!
Other "series" authors I love are Gregory Mcdonald (Fletch and Flynn), John Sandford (Lucas Davenport), and Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta).
aaronk wrote:I'm a mystery and relationships novel specialist, when it comes to fiction!! None of that high-brow F. Scott Fitzgerald crap!!
Good list!
I don't read all that many mysteries, but when I do, I definitely devour entire series. For whatever reason, I've been most interested in things from the 1940s-70s rather than more recent things. A few of my all-time favorites:
The Ross Macdonald "Lew Archer" books; the best of these haven't been topped by anything by anyone else.
John D. MacDonald's "Travis McGee" series (all the titles have colors in them, beginning with The Deep Blue Good-Bye);
The 10 books written by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, originally published in Swedish; brilliant stuff, which holds up beautifully in translation; rather hilarious having Stockholm portrayed as a dingy, depraved moral cesspool.
My current favorite is Richard Stark's "Parker" series--24 or 25 books written between 1962 and 2008. They're a bit uneven, but the best are absolutely great.
And for those who like a little psychotic spice in their mysteries: any of the major cult "classics" by Jim Thompson. If "The Killer Inside Me" doesn't derange you just a bit, you're made of stone.
Daisy wrote:We're overdue, with respect to a pandemic.
Speaking of pandemics, I just finished Zone One by Colson Whitefield, a very literary addition to the zombie genre... very chilling and funny and thought provoking...
I just finished, while on vacation, Michael Crichton's "The Great Train Robbery." It is about the robbery of the payroll train for the English troops during the Crimean War. As an American I confess to have never learned much, if anything, about the Crimean War while in school. It was pretty good read. Now I can finally see the movie. The book gives so much background information about the war and about living conditions at the time that it could have used footnotes. Prior to that I read "Comrades and Chicken Ranchers" by Kenneth Kann. I picked it up one Sunday while walking with my son's family in Brooklyn. Folks put books out on their stoops for anyone to take, an interesting practice, and it looked interesting. (I hate the idea of throwing books out.) Its an oral history of the Jewish chicken ranchers and radicals of Petaluma, California who migrated there in the early 20th century, and how the community evolved and devolved since then.
KDFINE wrote: I picked it up one Sunday while walking with my son's family in Brooklyn. Folks put books out on their stoops for anyone to take, an interesting practice, and it looked interesting. (I hate the idea of throwing books out.) Its an oral history of the Jewish chicken ranchers and radicals of Petaluma, California who migrated there in the early 20th century, and how the community evolved and devolved since then.
In my general neighborhood that are a relatively large (30 total?) locations where people have a little 'house' with a glass door front (to protect the books) with typically 10-20 books for taking/replacing with others. First there were one or two, then five then ... not certain of the total number.
As for Petaluma, my sister has lived in Point Reyes Station for more than 30 years and her husband was a teacher at the elementary school there, then the principal, then the assistant superintendent. In the process they have gotten to know the real mix of people in that area close to San Fransisco but not so close. Unlike places along 101 it is harder to commute in to SF.
