Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

What are you reading? June 26, 2013

For those who are new … we discuss books.  I list what I’m reading, and people comment with what they’re reading.  Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.

If you like to trade books, try bookmooch

I’ve written some book reviews on Yahoo Voices:

Book reviews on Yahoo

Just finished

(started and finished) The Bridge Bum by Alan Sontag.  Sontag is a professional bridge player. This book tells what it’s like to play bridge at the top level.

Now reading

Thinking, fast and slow  by Daniel Kahneman.  Kahneman, most famous for his work with the late Amos Tversky, is one of the leading psychologists of the times. Here, he posits that our brains have two systems: A fast one and a slow one. Neither is better, but they are good at different things. This is a brilliant book: Full of insight and very well written, as well.

On politics: A history of political thought from Herodotus to the present by Alan Ryan. What the subtitle says – a history of political thought.  

Woodrow Wilson by John Cooper, Jr. A fairly admiring look at Wilson.

Algorithms Unlocked  by Thomas Corman  A gentle introduction to computer algorithms

Robert Oppenheimer: A life in the center by Ray Monk  Oppenheimer was one of the most interesting people of the 20th century. In this biography Monk (a wonderful writer) attempts to cover both his physics and his many other interests.

Eminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France by Jean-Vincent Blanchard.  Richelieu, best known to many from The Three Musketeers was a master of the dark arts of politics. And 16th and 17th century politics was no place for wusses.

Just started

Island of the Sequestered Love Nun by Christopher Moore. Moore is one of the funniest writers alive, but I don’t think this is his best work.  I think his humor is so bizarre that it works better with a simpler plot (like, e.g. that of Lamb: The Story of Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal


3 comments

  1. iriti

    Reading a collection of articles from Popular Archeology on my Kindle, entitled Popular Archeology Discovery Edition

    Dunno what’s next. I’m in an exploratory mood and will try whatever on the Kindle hits my interest when I finish what I’m reading.

  2. or tomorrow. I’ve been borrowing from the e-library for my nook and have The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion already downloaded.

    Today I have quilt sewing to do, and writing class this afternoon, so probably won’t start it today.

    Two more things on hold at the library. I hope one or both of them come in the next few days. One is Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, and the other is Plainsong by Kent Haruf.

    I read lots of Vonnegut in my early teens, too young to incorporate it with context. So we’ll see what this sparks for me.  

  3. slksfca

    …by the actor Frank Langella. He’s got stories of his encounters with Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum, Jackie Onassis, George C. Scott, and many others. Hugely fun!

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