What are You Reading Now?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

MartyA

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 5, 2024
116
380
74
Iowa
I just finished reading "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana. I'd long heard of this book, but figured it was a novel. Not long ago, I learned that it was all factual, telling of Dana's two year voyage working as a common seaman on a trip from Boston, down around the Horn of South America, and his trip back in the 1830's, along with his stops in California, which was then pretty much a backwater of Mexico. All very accurate, and fascinating.
I couldn't afford an 1840 copy, but managed an 1858 edition which still gave me the satisfaction of reading off of old pages, printed back when sailing was still done that way.
HIGHLY recommended!
 

Attachments

  • Two Years Before the Mast .jpg
    Two Years Before the Mast .jpg
    139.1 KB · Views: 7
Dec 6, 2019
5,028
23,074
Dixieland
download (1).jpeg

I read this one years back, doing a re-read. I was telling my wife about this book and I realized I had forgotten much of what I read...

Fort does what he does best. He shines a light on the trouble our educational and science institutions have when they are faced with new facts, and the lengths the'll go to in order to make these problems go away.

The book was published in 1919, and it still rings true today.
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,188
41,411
RTP, NC. USA
Almost finished with "3 Body Problem" series. But last half of the last book is just so boring, I put it aside. Started reading "Crazy Rich Asian" series since the movie was rather funny. But I have to say this is a rare occasion where movie was better than the book.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BCF

LongIslandPiper

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 8, 2022
260
1,201
Chaos :
By: Tom O’Neil

Description​


A journalist's 20-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history.
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order - their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the 60s. Manson became one of history's most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia - or dystopia - was just an acid trip away.
Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi - prosecutor of the Manson Family, and author of Helter Skelter - turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O'Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions:

  • Who were Manson's real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties?
  • Why didn't law enforcement, including Manson's own parole officer, act on their many chances to stop him?
  • And how did Manson-an illiterate ex-con-turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers?
O'Neill's quest for the truth led him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from San Francisco's summer of love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with shady cover-ups and suspicious coincidences. The product of two decades of reporting, hundreds of new interviews, and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, CHAOS mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. This is a book that overturns our understanding of a pivotal time in American history.IMG_0340.jpeg
 

Kobold

Lifer
Feb 2, 2022
1,420
4,956
Maryland
I read this book when I was about 10 years old. I bought most of the series.
I picked it up this week and since I have read everything in the house, I started reading this again. I'm about 5 chapters in.
Has anyone else read this series?
View attachment 323516
I read it and I think it’s really fun. My wife is super into the series and read a load of them.
 

jaingorenard

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 11, 2022
735
3,345
Norwich, UK
I'm currently reading my way through the C. J. Sansom Shardlake series, basically Tudor England detective stories, featuring events like the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Progress to the North. Great reads. I'm currently on number 4:

17207964728714185322036936979379.jpg
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,025
16,070
Chaos :
By: Tom O’Neil

Description​


A journalist's 20-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history.
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order - their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the 60s. Manson became one of history's most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia - or dystopia - was just an acid trip away.
Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi - prosecutor of the Manson Family, and author of Helter Skelter - turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O'Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions:

  • Who were Manson's real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties?
  • Why didn't law enforcement, including Manson's own parole officer, act on their many chances to stop him?
  • And how did Manson-an illiterate ex-con-turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers?
O'Neill's quest for the truth led him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from San Francisco's summer of love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with shady cover-ups and suspicious coincidences. The product of two decades of reporting, hundreds of new interviews, and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, CHAOS mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. This is a book that overturns our understanding of a pivotal time in American history.View attachment 323485

Great book...and if you liked it, I'd highly recommend this one also:

The Ultimate Evil: The Search for the Sons of Sam