Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

What are you reading? April 24, 2013

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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

What hath God wrought? by Daniel Walker Howe. Subtitled “The transformation of America 1815-1848. I am reading this with the History group at GoodReads.  This is very well written; an excellent portrayal of the USA in these 3 decades.

Now reading

Cooler Smarter: Practical tips for low carbon living  by the scientists at Union of Concerned Scientists, a great group. These folk make sense, concentrating on the changes you can make that have the biggest impact with the least effort.

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.  

He, she and it by Marge Percy. Near future dystopian SF set on Earth.

Visions of Infinity by Ian Stewart. A nontechnical look at 11 famous problems of math. So far, it’s a little too nontechnical for my taste.

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

Measurement by Paul Lockhart. About mathematics and, especially, how it should be taught and learned. Lockhart is wonderful; his first book A Mathematician’s Lament was, in my view, the best book on teaching math ever written.

Just started

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Perry. The sequel to The Butcher’s Boy.  The butcher’s boy (a former hit man for the mafia) has retired to England and been living a quiet life for 10 years. But now he is recognized and comes out of retirement very fast.

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1848 US invasion of Mexico by Amy Greenberg. What the subtitle says, but very interesting. For instance, the 1848 war was the first US war to have a substantial group of anti-War Americans.  


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 22 Comments

22 comments

  2. PragmaticIdealist

    are the books on my list! I’m in rereading mode this season, mostly light stuff ’cause other things are depressing enough right now.

    Currently reading:

    • Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. A mystic foray into a semiotic world of small-press publishing and Knights Templar. If you haven’t read Eco, there’s nothing to compare.
    • The Improbably Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by John Joseph Adams (ed). Short stories proving that, once you eliminate the impossible, the truth can be mighty improbable indeed! From authors like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, and Michael Moorcock.

    Recently finished:

    • The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Murder, politics and other sins at a medieval abbey. Much better than the movie – and I liked the movie.
    • Wicked by Gregory Maguire. In which we learn that wickedness is in the eye of the beholder — until it isn’t. The novel that gave birth to the musical.
    • Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work by Tim Gunn. If you know who Tim Gunn is, the book needs no further intro. Urbane, witty, informative and insightful essays on succeeding while fabulous.
    • The Gideon Oliver books by Aaron Elkins. The first forensic anthropologist to hit the big time. Sorry, Bones!
    • The Dream Park books by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. Cross Disney World, the holodeck, and live-action role playing and you have the Dream Park.

    Coming soon:

    A little Heinlein, some comparative religion, and a whole lot of Nero Wolfe.

  3. princesspat

    by Louise Penny. This is book #4 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. I love how the story of his life and the lives of the main characters unfold from book to book…..a mystery within a mystery.

    I’m also enjoying Where the Great River Bends, A natural and human history of the Columbia at Wallula.


    Bob Carson and his colleagues tell a fascinating story through the prism of Wallula, the historic gateway to the Columbia Plateau – a striking land where the forces of geology worked on a spectacular scale, of a desert oasis where Native Americans, explorers, fur traders, promoters and entrepreneurs, and modern-day agriculturalists and wind farmers have all made their mark.

    The geology and the landscape in Eastern Wa. state is so different from the PNW where we live.

  4. HappyinVT

    Mary Boleyn by Alison Weir in which I learn we know less than we thought we knew about her.  Got Ms. Weir’s book on Ann on tap next.

  5. Shaun Appleby

    The Drift to War 1922-1939 by Richard Lamb. A very sobering read which illustrates the unwitting contribution of French and British statesmen to the rise of the Third Reich. From ludicrous French intransigence over Versailles to the trivial, subjective motivations of some British statesmen, specifically Anthony Eden, which failed to thwart and indeed encouraged Hitler’s early grasp of opportunities and power.

    Once again after reading this detailed analysis of diplomatic sources and contemporary political circumstances one is certain that at key moments such as Chamberlain’s return from Munich there were those in foreign policy circles in Britain, at least, doing world historical face-palms.

    We have rewritten this inglorious chapter of European history to protect the reputations of fools and scoundrels but the verdict is clear as was apparent to many at the time; stopping Hitler’s rise was not only possible but might have been easily accomplished if not for the purely selfish political aspirations of those whom should have known better.

    An avoidable tragedy with includes the stunning mental image of a genuinely perplexed Mussolini, prepared to stand with the West against Hitler before Anschluss, watching as the French dither and his British allies desert him.  

    A tough read, to be sure, unless inter-war diplomacy is your bag, but arguably a necessary one for historians. Which probably explains the book’s relative obscurity.

  6. slksfca

    …a fascinating book called Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. At $16.50 it was expensive for an e-book, but I’m getting a lot out of reading it.

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