books: what are you currently reading?

[Silence Dogood]

And allow me to try again.
This is a seafaring story by an English author about an English ship when they were at war with Spain and they were in search of a Spanish galleon until they suffered a mutiny and were shipwrecked on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile.
This is the 3rd of three books I have posted here; all three 16th and18th century non-fiction. None of them "woke".
All the other books I have posted in this thread were physics books or at least science-oriented non-fiction. None were political.
In my 18+ years on this forum I don't think I have ever posted a "woke" comment here but please correct me if I'm wrong.
Is Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal now considered "woke" and/or a hipster outlet? I don't know. I'm kind of an old guy and out of touch with popular culture and not too sure about exactly what music hipsters listen to or what they do or what they read.
And please don't construe this post as an attempt to convince you to read the book.
I do at least try to be open-minded. 
 

O man, I'm genuinely sorry if I offended you.  Not my intention at all.  I also did not mean to suggest that you are woke, have posted political stuff, etc, etc.  I was (perhaps ignorantly) assuming that to get the praise of these media outlets, anything historical would need to be painted in the current acceptable political light. 

Think, for example, of any modern work of fiction set in the antebellum South.  It wouldn't be possible to just tell a story, but all Southern values would have to be viewed with suspicion, the institution of slavery would have to be fully condemned, and the villain would be someone upholding such things.  So I could picture anything "imperialist" being painted with the same type of brush. All this stuff is ruining literature, films, etc. But, hey, maybe this book is not like that!  Maybe it's just a great story on its own. Hope so. 
 

[Queequeg]

O man, I'm genuinely sorry if I offended you.  Not my intention at all.  I also did not mean to suggest that you are woke, have posted political stuff, etc, etc.  I was (perhaps ignorantly) assuming that to get the praise of these media outlets, anything historical would need to be painted in the current acceptable political light. 

Think, for example, of any modern work of fiction set in the antebellum South.  It wouldn't be possible to just tell a story, but all Southern values would have to be viewed with suspicion, the institution of slavery would have to be fully condemned, and the villain would be someone upholding such things.  So I could picture anything "imperialist" being painted with the same type of brush. All this stuff is ruining literature, films, etc. But, hey, maybe this book is not like that!  Maybe it's just a great story on its own. Hope so. 
 

No offense taken.
 

[fantex]

I'm reading My House of Memories, Merle Haggard's autobiography written with Tom Carter.

[StringPicker6]

When I was a teenager my Dad got me hooked on the Horatio Hornblower naval books by C. S. Forester. I learned a lot of history from those books.

[Myopic Squirrel]

Reading Greg Allman's MY CROSS TO BEAR. Good beach light reading.

[Silence Dogood]

This week I started Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace.  I'm still pretty early in but am hooked.  I've never seen the film (or films, since I see there was a remake within the past ten years), but after I'm done with the book will watch them.  I really enjoy doing that when I read a classic text like this and then see the film.  Doing it in reverse tends to never turn out well.

[StringPicker6]

I wonder if they will do a woke version soon and call it Ben-Her?

Sorry, too soon? Just trying to lighten the mood! 

[Silence Dogood]

I wonder if they will do a woke version soon and call it Ben-Her?

Sorry, too soon? Just trying to lighten the mood! 

That is hilarious! 

[Queequeg]

What a Fool Believes

A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald.

Doobie Brothers. Steely Dan. Chart topping soloist. Across a half-century of American music, Michael McDonald's unmistakably smooth baritone voice defined an era of rock and R&B with hit records like "What A Fool Believes," "Takin' It to the Streets," "I Keep Forgettin'," "Peg," "It Keeps You Running," "You Belong to Me".

In his candid, freewheeling memoir, Michael tells the story of his life and music. A high school dropout from Ferguson, Missouri, Michael chased his dreams in 1970's California, a heady moment of rock opportunity and excess. As a rising session musician and backing vocalist, a series of encounters would send him on a wild ride around the world and to the heights of rock stardom—from joining Steely Dan and becoming a defining member of The Doobie Brothers to forging a path as a breakout solo R&B artist.


Filled with unbelievable stories and a matchless cast of music greats including James Taylor, Ray Charles, Carly Simon, and Quincy Jones, What a Fool Believes is a moving and entertaining memoir.

[StringPicker6]

Great recommendation!

[Silence Dogood]

I just finished up a reread of THE LIGHT AND THE GLORY by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, a 1970s history book about America's founding from the discovery by Columbus up through the Revolution.  It's written from a heavily Protestant evangelical perspective and is a bit preachy for me (that's actually an understatement), but it holds a special place in the heart nonetheless.  About 20 years ago I embarked on a journey of self-education and it was one of the first books I read.  It reminds me of that season of life that holds so many fond memories for me.  Books hit me in this way possibly even more than music and movies: so many of my former experiences seem to live on within the pages of an old book that had a big impact.  I somewhat recently decided I'd try and recapture some of the wonder of those years and read some of the same books. 

[StringPicker6]

Re-reading books can be a wonderful experience. I just started The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Absolutely amazing book, and an easy read since it consists in a bunch of small chapters that are interviews of WWII vets.

[Silence Dogood]

Re-reading books can be a wonderful experience.

Absolutely.  Have you ever read the little book (a long essay, really) by CS Lewis called AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM? Not a very catchy title but if you're interesting not just in reading but more specifically readers, you really deserve to check it out. 

He goes at criticism in a very different way: rather than judging books, Lewis judges readers of books and breaks them down into types.  The "many" and "the few" is what he calls them.  The many never reread a book, and seldom even remember what they read, and almost never talk about it to others: where the few delight in rereading, recalling favorite lines, and hoping to find others to talk about it all with (something that hardly ever happens to me in real life). 

I have to admit, making it into Lewis's "few" category was a much-needed boost to my ego in a good way.  I wasn't formally educated and have done the bulk of my learning as an adult.  I'm not sure that anything one can do will place one into either category, but it's just innate.  One isn't superior to the other, but one surely loves literature more than the other.  I was naturally drawn to rereading and have reread many books over the last twenty years.  Lewis even says somewhere that reading a book once hardly settles the matter of having read something.  I have experienced that firsthand and agree with him.  The trouble is, there are just too many books I want to read. 

[StringPicker6]

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes is "I've never let my school interfere with my education."

[Queequeg]

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes is "I've never let my school interfere with my education."

"Well my lack of education hasn't hurt me none"
-Paul Simon

[Silence Dogood]

One of Franklin's old quotes comes to mind:

"He who teaches himself hath a fool for a master." 

I get that, and I can see it in certain circumstances.  But to me, books are different. I know Franklin would agree since he was a book-lover his entire life.

With a book, if one is willing to be taught rather than sit in the critic's chair, one can glean information and insight directly from a brilliant mind.  To me this is the most amazing thing about books, the fact that I can enter "The Great Conversation" and interact with some of the wisest people this world has ever known.  Why would I want to figure everything out for myself, which could take years, when someone who has already figured it out can show me in minutes.  This seems like wisdom to me. 

The old idea, "When I stand on the shoulders of giants, I can see farther than they can," comes to mind. 

[Silence Dogood]

One of Franklin's old quotes comes to mind:

"He who teaches himself hath a fool for a master." 

I get that, and I can see it in certain circumstances.  But to me, books are different. I know Franklin would agree since he was a book-lover his entire life.

With a book, if one is willing to be taught rather than sit in the critic's chair, one can glean information and insight directly from a brilliant mind.  To me this is the most amazing thing about books, the fact that I can enter "The Great Conversation" and interact with some of the wisest people this world has ever known.  Why would I want to figure everything out for myself, which could take years, when someone who has already figured it out can show me in minutes.  This seems like wisdom to me.  Or better than that, someone can open up a new idea to me that I never would have thought of in 100 lifetimes. 

The old idea, "When I stand on the shoulders of giants, I can see farther than they can," comes to mind. 

[Queequeg]

The Joys of Beekeeping By Richard Taylor
I'm a noobie beekeeper and this is an old book (1974).
Well-written, very informative and nicely illustrated.

[StringPicker6]

Beekeeping sounds like a fun hobby. I should look into it.

[Queequeg]

Beekeeping sounds like a fun hobby. I should look into it.

There's a lot to learn but it is fascinating.
PM me if you have questions.
See if there is a beekeepers club in your zip code. I joined the local club here which is very active and I got hooked up with a mentor.