Meenzer 15432 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Got in plenty of reading on holiday this last week, though several books were lugged back again untouched. Stephen King - 11/22/63 I'm not sure what happened on the eleventh of Februfebruary 1963, but there's a man who seems determined to stop it. An easy, barrelling read as you'd expect from King - suspend your sci-fi "but but but..." kneejerk reaction to all the time travel stuff and there's an effective and affecting story underneath. A bit uneven - is it a time-travel romp? a "what if?" alternative history? a nostalgic romance? it can't seem to decide - but just right as a poolside page-turner. Douglas Coupland - Player One I'm not sure what happened on the ninth of November 2001, but Coupland seems to think it's the only thing of importance in the last decade and a bit. The book? It's Coupland, innit, same as ever, you either like/get/tolerate it or you don't. I appreciate it insofar as I bounced off it at an admiring angle without really engaging with it. Some cute insights, often way too cute for its own good, but ultimately the fact that the word count is (by definition) limited helps it come across more sharply than most of his recent output. A reasonable diversion. Jonathan Wilson - Inverting The Pyramid Eduardo Galeano - Football In Sun And Shadow Two of the four football books that Lewisham Library furnished me with for the trip (the Glanville World Cup history and I Am The Secret Footballer will have to wait), and both well worth the effort. I've been meaning to get round to the Wilson for ages, and for all I like his football writing generally, for some reason I was worried it would become too technical and stat-/theory-heavy when paired with the topic of pure tactics. Nonsense, of course - Pyramid could scarcely be more readable and deserves the plaudits it's received over the last few years. Galeano is a Uruguayan football purist with a very clear sense of what he likes and doesn't like, and Sun and Shadow is basically a collection of short essays on the theory, history, practice and standout figures from a century of the game. When the prose flows, it really flows - but there are a few horrible translation bloopers that I struggled to get past. Hire a proofreader who knos a thing or two about football, for heaven's sake! (I'm not saying it has to be me.) Robert Wringham - You Are Nothing Intriguing little book detailing the near-misses of the near-epic comedy troupe Cluub Zarathustra. Rather like that book on Chris Morris from a few years back, it suffers from a certain distance from its subject and is probably closer to an extended university dissertation than a Serious Intellectual Tome, but it'll be of interest to fans of 90s post-alternative comedy and its various strands and offshoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I love those books by Wilson and Galeano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Still piling through all the Culture novels I ain't read.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Currently reading this. Proper wrong 'un like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15432 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 A Belgian troll on a Eurovision forum once had the cheek to lecture me about the evils of British colonialism. Aye, nice try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir. Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars. Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there. It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?(less) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Flash Boys - A Wall Street Revolt Same fella who wrote Moneyball and The Blind Side. About a fella who saw that the market was rigged against investors and set up his own system where information cannot be bought or sold a milisecond faster than others get it, or where information on your trades is not sold to other parties without your knowledge so they can make trades based upon that information which no-one else bought. It's proving more and more popular with investors demanding an equal footing. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/canadian-at-centre-of-spat-over-soundness-of-us-markets/article17839483/ Also looking to get The Divide by Matt Taibbi. He's done all the Rolling Stone coverage of the financial crisis and recently moved to The Intercept. This book is about the lack of criminal investigation and punishment for massive crimes of the wealthy Wall Street Bankers compared to the punitive approach to pety crime that sees America jail more poor people than any other country...and most combined. http://www.npr.org/2014/04/06/297857886/in-books-trial-of-u-s-justice-system-wealth-gap-is-exhibit-a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Flash Boys - A Wall Street Revolt Same fella who wrote Moneyball and The Blind Side. About a fella who saw that the market was rigged against investors and set up his own system where information cannot be bought or sold a milisecond faster than others get it, or where information on your trades is not sold to other parties without your knowledge so they can make trades based upon that information which no-one else bought. It's proving more and more popular with investors demanding an equal footing. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/canadian-at-centre-of-spat-over-soundness-of-us-markets/article17839483/ ...and the opening page is... A man got to have a code. —Omar Little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJS 4375 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 In the middle of "By blood we live" by Glen Duncan. Ive been struggling for two or three years to find decent horror stuff and have drifted towards Sci-fi (mainly enjoyable) but this book which is the last of a trilogy has reminded me of why horror has always been my favourite genre. He did have a couple of excellent books out a few years ago like I, Lucifer but this trilogy is his best work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 32826 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 My favourite football autobiography is probably...... about...... Genuinely funny read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddockLad 17124 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Just finished Catrine Clay's biography of Bert Trautmann. What a life he had, from full blown Hitler youth/Nazi paratrooper to fa cup final hero. Brilliant read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 42129 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Found an old (1965) school atlas at my Mams this afternoon. That was me absorbed for an hour. Yes, I am a map nerd. I love 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 42129 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I was just wondering whether map making is still done "old style", with on the ground surveyors and such. Not for much longer if it is, I'd imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15432 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Found an old (1965) school atlas at my Mams this afternoon. That was me absorbed for an hour. Yes, I am a map nerd. I love 'em. Me too. Surprisingly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 42129 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Read a book years ago which was a description of old Newcastle in the early 1800s. Had some fantastic maps in it. Can't remember the title but I'll see if I can find it online and let you know. It was written, I think, by a Doctor on his travels around the UK at the time. You'll love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 42129 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Found it. "The History of Newcastle Upon Tyne: Or, the Ancient and Present State of that Town. By the Late Henry Bourne, ... Published 1736" So, not a doctor and 100 years out, http://books.google.co.uk/books?printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Henry+Bourne%22&ei=sGtRU_jaJMG1POSMgJgE&id=B1wJAAAAQAAJ&output=html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmag 336 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Me too. Surprisingly enough. Me three. Can still waste many an hour reading an atlas. The bairn has got a huge interactive world map for his Leap Reader and we spend ages finding countries and learning about the children that live there. He WILL be a nerd and proud of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 42129 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Bogtrotting heathen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Reading some book on the fall of the USSR. Fascinating stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Reading the Glenn Greenwald book on the NSA Leaks by Snowden. First couple of chapters are excellent. All The Presidents Men style subterfuge as the main players dart around the US, Brazil, UK and Hong Kong trying to outrun the media scrum, the intelligence angencies, hotel staff and other news agencies looking for the scoop but hitting a brick wall of legal arguments against publishing. You can guarantee the Hollywood movie will come soon and concentrate on these chapters that end with Snowden in a safe house and greenwald on his way back to Brazil. I'm halfway through chapter 3 now (the whole book is only 5 long chapters) and it's got very dry I'm afraid. It's looking at the details of the leak and it's a lot of the stuff I read over and again in the reports last year. No doubt anyone that didn't follow the story would be appalled by everything in this chapter, such as Microsoft doing all they could to help the NSA around their own encryption, even as they touted the security to punters, or the sheer volume of data archived ("collect it all"), but it's all old news now. I'd say this chapter should have come sooner to build to the exciting bit, but a lot of people might not have got through it, more likely to be pulled in by the much more thrilling, unheard story. Last couple of chapters are supposed to be Greenwald going after the establishment media with venom and naming specific names, so that should return to something a bit more juicy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44498 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Finally got round to reading Moneyball. Really good stuff, I'm about halfway through at the minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Finally got round to reading Moneyball. Really good stuff, I'm about halfway through at the minute. Really recommend that Flash Boys from my post above (same author). The largest banks in America didn't understand what the High Frequency traders were doing or how or why. Their own trading departments just sat back and watched a rigged market play against them and investors, only looking to get faster, believing that with speed they could do better. they couldn't. Lewis does a great job of explaining complex financial concepts from the point of view of small group of nerds from disparate backgrounds who get together and teach each other all they know, determined to get to the bottom of what's going on and restore balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44498 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I've got that as well actually, it's next on the list. As you say, even in Moneyball, he takes a concept which could be a bit dry and spins it into an interesting story that gets you hooked. Looking forward to Flash Boys. Been looking around on the Internet for info about people that have tried to apply the moneyball concept to football. Apparently Commoli had a few stats that he obsessed about, and there's a report floating around about managers and when is the right time to sack them. Only came across them while at work today so haven't been able to read anything, but gonna have a better look at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30370 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Reading the Glenn Greenwald book on the NSA Leaks by Snowden. First couple of chapters are excellent. All The Presidents Men style subterfuge as the main players dart around the US, Brazil, UK and Hong Kong trying to outrun the media scrum, the intelligence angencies, hotel staff and other news agencies looking for the scoop but hitting a brick wall of legal arguments against publishing. You can guarantee the Hollywood movie will come soon and concentrate on these chapters that end with Snowden in a safe house and greenwald on his way back to Brazil. I'm halfway through chapter 3 now (the whole book is only 5 long chapters) and it's got very dry I'm afraid. It's looking at the details of the leak and it's a lot of the stuff I read over and again in the reports last year. No doubt anyone that didn't follow the story would be appalled by everything in this chapter, such as Microsoft doing all they could to help the NSA around their own encryption, even as they touted the security to punters, or the sheer volume of data archived ("collect it all"), but it's all old news now. I'd say this chapter should have come sooner to build to the exciting bit, but a lot of people might not have got through it, more likely to be pulled in by the much more thrilling, unheard story. Last couple of chapters are supposed to be Greenwald going after the establishment media with venom and naming specific names, so that should return to something a bit more juicy. Oliver Stone has bought the rights to the Harding book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44498 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 HF, as a relative layman could I pick up and enjoy this Greenwald book or is it gonna bore me? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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