-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
What book r u reading?
- Thread starter JIMMY12345
- Start date
jbg
Active Member
I just finished reading
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Gripping it is not. I suppose it is one of the better of the "theater of the absurd" that became popular in the wake of WWI. Other examples include Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco, of which I'll add a review shortly. Though not my favorite genre, both are classics. Rhinocéros at least had hilarious moments, which are few and far between in Godot. The genre teaches something specific about the era. Memorable from the book is the quote:
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Gripping it is not. I suppose it is one of the better of the "theater of the absurd" that became popular in the wake of WWI. Other examples include Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco, of which I'll add a review shortly. Though not my favorite genre, both are classics. Rhinocéros at least had hilarious moments, which are few and far between in Godot. The genre teaches something specific about the era. Memorable from the book is the quote:
Could the bolded be a ripoff from Shakespeare? Whether and how Godot comes I will leave to your eager eyes. Suffice to say I find more value in life as a human than does Beckett.
The Practice Manual, Prosperity without Growth, New York 2140, Being You, Principles of Perceptual Learning and Development, a Joe Pickett novel. I like to be able to choose depending on my mood
jbg
Active Member
I just finished reading The Return of Wolves: An Iconic Predator’s Struggle to Survive in the American West by Eli Francovich. This subject has always been a favorite of mine. I will give it four stars, with, as usual, my quibbles. The foremost quibble would be the end, where the author seems to hint at almost a mystical relationship among wolves, their prey and humans. The best part is his rare recognition that wolves are not an unmixed blessing to the wild.
The author focuses on eastern Washington State, an interesting amalgam of a conservative, anti-wolf minority ensconced in a deeply liberal, urban-dominated state. One of the original points he makes is that wolves may never have been as abundant as mythologized. After American Indian populations were severely reduced by epidemics of smallpox and other diseases, buffalo and wolf populations apparently had a temporary explosion, terminated by the spread of white man through the Plains and mountains to the West. While the goal of the National Park system is to "restore" nature to pre-settlement conditions, an important qualifier is that American Indians kept prey and thus wolf populations in check. The author discusses and almost advocates a system of "range-riding" on horseback to keep livestock depredations to a minimum, but at some point hints that it may be susceptible to fraud, or not scalable to widespread use.
The book, ultimately, taught me a lot but left me confused.
The author focuses on eastern Washington State, an interesting amalgam of a conservative, anti-wolf minority ensconced in a deeply liberal, urban-dominated state. One of the original points he makes is that wolves may never have been as abundant as mythologized. After American Indian populations were severely reduced by epidemics of smallpox and other diseases, buffalo and wolf populations apparently had a temporary explosion, terminated by the spread of white man through the Plains and mountains to the West. While the goal of the National Park system is to "restore" nature to pre-settlement conditions, an important qualifier is that American Indians kept prey and thus wolf populations in check. The author discusses and almost advocates a system of "range-riding" on horseback to keep livestock depredations to a minimum, but at some point hints that it may be susceptible to fraud, or not scalable to widespread use.
The book, ultimately, taught me a lot but left me confused.
VoidCat
Pronouns: he/they/it/neopronouns
I got some some but I'm currently doing homework. I recently got a batch of books on the left handed path. I'll send photos later
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama -- Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathen Thrall
Some Assembly Required was interesting as to detailing the efforts of all those who managed to unravel the codes as to why life forms as it does, and this before and after DNA was discovered. And, as per quite a few examples, persistence seems to pay, given that many of those who did discover new elements in the chain of discovery, they were not believed, even for decades. Quite readable, but to those who have a creationist mindset no evidence to change their beliefs probably, given such might simply be the technical details that God uses for them.Just finished a short one - Unconventional Wisdom: Adventures in The Surprisingly True (2020) by Tom Standage - and giving answers to those silly questions one might never ask (well I probably wouldn't).
I'm currently reading - Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA (2020) by Neil Shubin - another book on evolution that might appeal to the YEC believers, as per this one I read some time back - A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived (2017) by Adam Rutherford - what our genes, and the history of such, reveal about us. Yes, YEC believers, you might even change your minds.
exchemist
Veteran Member
I'm reading two at the moment: the biography of Evelyn Waugh by Christopher Sykes and a curious little book called "The Mezzanine" by someone called Nicholson Baker. This consists of a very minutely observed few hours in the day of an office worker. He focuses on tiny details such as tying his shoe laces, and these lead to digressions of thought on how he ties them, how he first learned to do it, what makes laces wear out and snap, etc. - all the little thoughts that most of us have, cascading through our heads as we live out our lives, but which nobody ever thinks it worthwhile to document. It's rather ingenious.
Last edited:
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Another read if Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Dao Hao Now
Active Member
Feet of Clay
By Terry Pratchett
By Terry Pratchett
exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes I re-read them every few years. Still amusing every time.
Just started reading another few books bought whilst cheap - Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It (2019) by Felipe Fernández-Armesto, which seems to be a broad speculative coverage of human thinking over the last 200,000 years - so one perhaps not for the YEC community (*).
www.standard.co.uk
The second is, The Great Apes: A Short History (2017) by Chris Herzfeld, seemingly covering what we know about the similarities and differences between humans and other such primates - so another not for YEC believers(*).
academic.oup.com
* Unless feeling especially adventurous.
Out of Our Minds by Felipe Fernández-Armesto - review
Ideas and imagination are our starting-point, argues this big-canvas historian
The second is, The Great Apes: A Short History (2017) by Chris Herzfeld, seemingly covering what we know about the similarities and differences between humans and other such primates - so another not for YEC believers(*).
The Great Apes - A Short History
I was pleased to receive this appealing and insightful work by Chris Herzfeld (translated by Kevin Frey). With cover art featuring Edouard Travies’ Orangut
* Unless feeling especially adventurous.
Into the second book of the Mahabharata now!