The show was great, too. Maybe they'll get to finish the story one day.
What are You Reading Now?
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
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A couple of books I've read recently...
First, "Astronomy for Young Folks" by Isabel Martin Lewis, 1928.
Amateur astronomy has made my life better for most of my 75 years, and the naked eye sky and constellations are my first love. The first half of this book gives a very enjoyable overview of the sky. Written for kids, but the same sky is there for everyone.
The last half of the book is mainly out of date science, and I just skimmed most of that.
First, "Astronomy for Young Folks" by Isabel Martin Lewis, 1928.
Amateur astronomy has made my life better for most of my 75 years, and the naked eye sky and constellations are my first love. The first half of this book gives a very enjoyable overview of the sky. Written for kids, but the same sky is there for everyone.
The last half of the book is mainly out of date science, and I just skimmed most of that.
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I followed it up with Patrick Moore's "Naked Eye Astronomy," from 1966.
More up to date scientifically, and more advanced, but again concentrating on what one can see with the naked eye. A wonderful book.
More up to date scientifically, and more advanced, but again concentrating on what one can see with the naked eye. A wonderful book.
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I still recall the first couple of tries to read the book. I was torturing myself into reading it. It is so dense, and implies so many that one must devote hours of focused reading over it. I also recall the relief finishing reading it long ago. Now, with a more matured mind (?), and already knowing my whereabouts in this book, I find it easier and pleasant reading it.
(A downside while reading this book is that the bowls go by one after the other. It depletes my tobacco stock quite rapidly. )
Just finished “An Excellent Mystery,” a Brother Cadfael novel. It’s from a series of books about a Welsh monk who was formerly a Crusader in the 12th century (I think) who aids the sheriff in solving crimes in the city near his monastery. Currently reading The Early Church by Henry Chadwick and My Lady Nicotine by J. M. Barrie. I’ve got a P. G. Wodehouse book waiting on the side.
"War is a Racket" by Gen Smedley Butler, WW1 highest decorated Marine: Its in a pdf and only 80 pages
Just finished reading of Owen’s ’Mortification of Sin’ and ‘Indwelling Sin’. Now reading this jewel, ‘The Death of Death in the Death of Christ’. His ‘Communion With God’ is sitting patiently on the corner of the desk. I promise, you’re next.
I’m finishing up Rutherford’s Paris (enjoyable but not to the same level as some of his other works, like London and Princes of Ireland, imo) and I’m excited for my upcoming yearly treat: every year starting Thanksgiving weekend, I reread LOTR - slowly and deliciously.
"Maskelyne Astronomer Royal" Edited by Rebekah Higgitt 2014
There hasn't been a whole lot written about Nevil Maskelyne, the fifth astronomer royal. He came off as sort of the bad guy in the book and movie "Longitude" by Dava Sobel, and I didn't think much about it. I was prompted to read this book though, after reading other old biographies of astronomers of the time, since many of those old books often quoted entire letters. Maskelyne came off in his as a very nice guy who spoke much as one would speak in our own time.
Nevil Maskelyne wasn't what one might call a groundbreaking astronomer, but he was a great organizer and began publication of the Nautical Almanac. And he WAS a nice guy.
There hasn't been a whole lot written about Nevil Maskelyne, the fifth astronomer royal. He came off as sort of the bad guy in the book and movie "Longitude" by Dava Sobel, and I didn't think much about it. I was prompted to read this book though, after reading other old biographies of astronomers of the time, since many of those old books often quoted entire letters. Maskelyne came off in his as a very nice guy who spoke much as one would speak in our own time.
Nevil Maskelyne wasn't what one might call a groundbreaking astronomer, but he was a great organizer and began publication of the Nautical Almanac. And he WAS a nice guy.
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Re-reading, for the umpteenth time, Gordon MacQuarrie's "Stories of the Old Duck Hunters." His writing never fails to please, taking me out of my den and into his duck-blind, trout stream, or Wisconsin wilderness on a hunt, enabling me to see and feel what he saw and felt.
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Really enjoying the silent patient, almost at the end up next is the pissico heist by James patterson
Beginning with the work of John Henry Newman. Apologia pro vita sua.
M.F.K. Fisher's "How to Cook a Wolf." Ms. Fisher (1908 - 1992) was one of my favorite food-writers, and this volume joins my growing library of cookbooks.
Just finished "Radio Life" by Derek Miller. A ~500 years in the future hard science fiction story of humans on earth starting to recover via discoveries of cached information following a solar flare induced apocalypse about 100 years in our future. HAM radio is a central feature. 5/5
