Wondering...

I like reading books with nice little stories in them, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul-type books.  They really help motivate me, and there's no cliffhangar so when I want to put it down I can without NEEDING to keep reading to find out what happens next.

Sharon

Hmmm, it seems lately all I am reading is Tri related stuff! I go in spurts with reading. I am now reading Total Immersion to get ready for the pool at my gym to get finished being built. Just got done reading the Triathlete Training Bible. It was a good book but got a little to intense for me just being a beginner. But I am sure I will use it for years to come. I am also reading a book on Photoshop, but talk about some dry reading! Oh boy! But interesting none the less. Wow, I really need to broaden my reading selections! Lol. Jack.

If not reading training books, I go back and forth between classics and sci fi. Favorites in no particular order are Hemingway, Steinbeck, Kerouac(of course, if you recognize my handle), David Brin, Clarke... Favorite book, David Brin's Earth.

JD

unfortunately i have to read cutting edge thrillers like: paints and coatings international, emulsion polymerization and emulsion polymers, textbook of polymer science. 

back in the day i used to love king, koontz and sci-fi stuff also military fiction/nonfiction.  I loved the robotech series and read all the books.  my fam went up this past weekend to a used dvd place and found the entire robotech series on dvd.  i purchased #1, episodes 1-5.  still cool for anime in the 80's..i plan to get ALL of them.  i guess if i have time a good legal thriller will do.

submarine stories, for me, are the edge of my seat thrillers...nothing more exciting then not knowing when or where that attack sub is gonna be coming from to put a torpedo through your hull.

Hi Dana,

What a cerebral thread.  I read a bit each day but don't have time for much.   I usually read what my middle daughter gives me for presents.   Very high brow stuff.  I struggle with it but it is a good thing.  Here is stuff from maybe the last year.

Modern Mind: An intellectual history of the 20th century,   Peter Watson (reading it now)

Euler:  Master of Us All,  William Dunham (great book)

What Went Wrong:  Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response,  Bernard Lewis (really a condensed version of his more lengthy writings on the falling behind of Muslim countries to western Europe from 1000 AD to 1800 AD.

Guns, Germs and Steel:  The fates of human society, Jared Diamond.

Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II,
Jennet Conant

The Secret Life of Bees. Not a middle daughter selection.  Rainy day at the lake house and just picked it up.

I recommend all of these for various reasons.  I have Living History by Hillary Clinton and Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand on the night stand to read when I get to them. 

I do read much more technical stuff than intellectual stuff.  I checked my Amazon account.  I have purchased about 100 books over the last two years.  Perhaps, I have a substance abuse problem--paper.

TW

Hi Dana,

Guns, Germs, and Steel is a very informative book.  It might be better titled Grains, Livestock, and a Viable Migration Path to Spread Them because these are the underlying factors, according to Diamond, that led to the technological explosion in western Europe that resulted in guns, germs and steel and then domination of all other indigenous cultures.  An interesting fact, did you know that of the 56 species of large seeded grasses that are potential candidates for large scale grain production, 33 occurred natively only in west Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean?   No other continental land mass had more than 6.  Also domesticatable horses and cattle natively occurred in the same area.

A good book and not hard reading. 

I am not the heady one.  It is my middle daughter's list.   She is trying to save me from engineering geekiness.   To balance out the image of her, I should tell you also that in her new apartment, she found her roommates were already subscribing to Foreign Affairs, The Economist, Newsweek and Time.  So she subscribed to Glamour and In Style to balance out the periodicals.

TW

I started reading 20 years ago in Nuc school. I couldn't sleep with all the numbers running through my head from 8 hrs a day of lecture. It helps me to relax and I read every night before bed. Of course sometimes the books get too god and you stay up later!

Love:

Just finished (11 books out so far) the Left Behind Series
Tom Clancy
Robert Ludlum
Ken Follet
Fredercik Forsythe (sp?)
Nelson Demille
Grisham
Dune Series
Lord of Rings
Brad Metzler (just discovered him and really like his books)
Dan Brown (tech thrillers)
Parker (detective)
Kellerman
Cromwell
Koontz

Used to read Stephen King until got to Gerald's Game. It was so awful, the only thing I have read since is Dream catcher and the Green Mile.

 more, just can't think of them all.
Basically:

Spiritual, thrillers (tech and spy), trial type books (Grisham, ...), detective stories, mysteries