books: what are you currently reading?

[jambrose]

That sounds interesting.

I saw some Chuck Swindall books below. Anyone read Charles Colsen, "How Now Shall We Live"?

[Caleb]

That sounds interesting.

I saw some Chuck Swindall books below. Anyone read Charles Colsen, "How Now Shall We Live"?

love swindoll. hes easily the best bible teacher alive, imo, of course. i also like colson, but have not read any of  his books, though they do sound interesting and id probably agree with them in their entirety. ive got a friend who knows colsons and speaks highly of him.


btw, just got done reading velvet elvis by rob bell. imo, its just more emergent church babble, with its main gripe being against anything fundamental or traditional. i dont recommend it.

[flaggerphil]

Anyone ever read "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", by Robert Heinlen, any other sci-fi buffs?

I'm a huge science fiction buff...been reading it voraciously since my early teens.

"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" is one of my favorite Heinlen books, right up there with "Starship Troopers" (nothing like the movie...thank goodness... for those who have never read the book).  I also like "Job", one of his later books.

Right now I'm reading "The Traitor" by Stehpen Coonts and just recently finished "Red Thunder" and "Red Lightning" by John Varley, which I read in reverse order.  It still worked out ok.

I'm also a big Harry Turtledove, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman and Pol Anderson fan and am waiting for a new H.T. book to be shipped from Amazon as soon as it's in.

In the wings is "Twelve Sharp" by Janet Evanovich, which is actually my wife's new book, but I enjoy the author.  Good light reading.  And while I'm not a big mystery fan I also enjoy Rita Mae Brown's work.

[jambrose]

I really recommend "How Now Shall We Live" by Charles Colsen. There are many facts and references listed providing interesting and relevant truths that conflict with what is considered mainstream "facts". Many instances of "well, I didn't know that.....that's interesting, and that helps me answer questions I had.." With basis of facts and documented evidence of facts mentioned.

"Starship Troopers"is one of my all time favorites, across all categorys. I read that the first time back in the 70s, and my two sons, now 18 and 21, read it also when they were about 12-30 yo. Both are big readers. They both continue to read sci-fi a lot.

Presently I'm reading Star Trek, "The Lost Years", about the original Star Trek group.

[didymus21]

Current List:

1.) Verbal Judo

2.) No Man Knows My History (The Life of Joseph Smith)

3.) Helter Skelter

4.) My life with Charles Manson

5.) Will you die for me? (The Man Who Killed for Charles Manson Tells His Own Story)

6.) The Pipe and Christ (A Christian-Sioux Dialogue)

7.) Wild at Heart (Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul)

8.) The Tibetan Book of the Dead

[LawDogStrgsAttach]

Jambrose,

I would recommend Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live."  Colson was highly influenced by Schaeffer, hence the similarity in title.  Great read by a brilliant apologist.

[jambrose]

Jambrose,

I would recommend Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live."  Colson was highly influenced by Schaeffer, hence the similarity in title.  Great read by a brilliant apologist.

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing. I'll have to get/read that book. I find it very interesting in these books that many details and facts, if they were more known, would shape a larger and larger part of "society's" worldview.

[robv]

just finished :
Riding with Rilke  -Edmonton  English prof bio/literaryjourney/motorcycle epic
Catch and Release -Mark kingwell (philosophy prof UofT) -philosophy/family/fishing

Am Reading:
Mortal Mischief - Frank Tallis -Set in early 20th century Vienna/ whodunit/ like a sherlockHolmes meets Freud murder mystery with Vienna as a backdrop

On deck:
Why I Hate Canadians -Will Ferguson- Light and funny I hope, I really don't think we're that hateful...
The History of Nearly Everything- Bill Bryson- which should round out my education

[Cable53]

I'm very interested in these two books.  i almost got he collapse book and still may.
Nathan Bedford Forest is someone I'd like to learn a lot more about not just for his incredible civil war career but also for his life after the civil war and his founding of the KKK et all.  please let me know if the book is excellent throughout. 

Poki,  Sorry for the delay. I took a vacation. I've just finished Nathan Bedford Forrest (Jack Hurst) and I highly recommend it. It portrays NBF with warts and all but he was such an enigma. Appropriately nicknamed "the Wizard of The Saddle".
I once spent alot of time in Memphis and North Miss. for Business purposes (including Forrest City Arkansas) so was always curious myself. Asked how he won so many battles he said: "You get there the fastest with the mostest. One thing for certain. I'd have never picked a fight with him, or wanted to meet him on a field of battle. That was one bad dude."

Collapse was also very interesting if a bit dry in spot's. He brings up many valid points and new points of view to the discussion of societal collapse. I found the section on the Greenland Norse most interesting personally because of the air of mystery surrounding their demise.
                                                  Thanks, David

[Walkerman]

Another Roadside Attraction....Tom Robbins....:-)

I do wonder if this was the inspiration for the Da Vinci Code...

[Trent in WA]

I just finished I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard, by Tom Reynolds.  It's quite possibly the funniest book I've ever read.  If you have asthma, you'll want to keep an inhaler close to hand when reading it.  It's not as unrelentingly snarky as the title suggests, but it is a pretty scathing and musically astute collection of essays on a truly frightening set of songs. 

[jeremy3220]

I'm now reading "For whom the bell tolls" -Hemingway

[Ol Achey]

Ah, I love a thread like this - full of great suggestions.

Sort of in between books at the moment, but during this year I've read: Blink - Malcom Gladwell; 1776 - David McCullough; The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason; The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl; Jarhead - Anthony Swofford; Clapton's Guitar - Allen St. John; The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini; A Death in Belmont - Sebastian Junger; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson; Memoirs Of A Geisha - Arthur Golden; Ordinary Heroes - Scott Turow; The Scorpion's Gate - Richard A. Clark; Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin; and Chronicles - Bob Dylan.

Looking forward to Vol. 2 of Chronicles. Stating the obvious: he's quite a storyteller.

And when in between books, I dip back into Dylan's Visions Of Sin - Christopher Ricks. Each sentence is pay-attention territory. Slow-going for me, but fascinating.

-- O.A.

[magnummic]

I like seeing that someone wrote in about the Giver. I used to teach that book. I just finished The Fountainhead and am currently battling The Dante Club. I don't know if i would recommend it though.

[jeremy3220]

I like seeing that someone wrote in about the Giver. I used to teach that book.

It was a good book, but left something to be desired( I don't know what though). Maybe because it was a children's book. It teaches you to ask questions, but I already question everything (even my questions  :WNK> ).

Are you a Literature teacher/professor?

[jeremy3220]

I finished "For whom the bell tolls", it was one of the best books I've read. pure genius.

I'm reading "Steppenwolf" now, it's weird but good so far.

[poki]

this is my favorite non guitar thread so i'm reviving it

"Finding Amelia -The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance" by Ric Gillespie. 
this is an extremely well done, factual and very detailed chronicle of the events surrounding Earheart's world flight attempt and the search to find her and her navigator Fred Noonan.

[D4ve]

The Last Kindom by Bernard Cornwell, It is a historical fiction about 9th century England and the wars between Saxon and Danish armies for control of England. The kingdom of Wessex under King Alfred was the Saoxn's last stand.

[Sordello]

The world events of these last few years has made me reach for Don Quixote:  I need to re-think what it is to be sane in a mad world... or is it, insane in a mad world???   

[jeremy3220]

Just finished "The Painted Veil". Maugham I think is my favorite writer.

I'm working on "Babbitt" now.