Spring/Summer 2016 Reading Thread

[wlu_lax6]

March is not fall....new thread

Only 3 chapter's in, but really good. Combines some deep inside Simpson's references with a perfect amount of math. Not a text book with the underlying proofs, but history of the math topic. Also some great history on the Simpson's writers and why the math jokes are in. Just makes you realize how smart some of the jokes you miss are.



Also have this (great quote from my 6-year old daughter "that is a lot of words and pages about kicking a ball in the goal with no defenders in front of you").

and

[Pruitt]

Brain can't seem to focus on novels these days.

But these stories are fantastic.

[howard]

I've put it off for too long. And since I pretty much only read it on the subway, and I only ride two days a week, it may take a while. Maude translation. Please, no spoilers (it's barely been 200 years).

[Rush2112]

*Starred Review* Painter is the author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (1996) and several other scholarly works on the history of slavery and race relations in America, most recently Creating Black Americans (2006). Her latest selection examines the history of “whiteness” as a racial category and rhetorical weapon: who is considered to be “white,” who is not, what such distinctions mean, and how notions of whiteness have morphed over time in response to shifting demographics, aesthetic tastes, and political exigencies. After a brief look at how the ancients conceptualized the differences between European peoples, Painter focuses primarily on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There, the artistic idealization of beautiful white slaves from the Caucasus combined with German Romantic racial theories and lots of spurious science to construct an ideology of white superiority which, picked up by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other race-obsessed American intellectuals, quickly became an essential component of the nation’s uniquely racialized discourse about who could be considered an American. Presenting vivid psychological portraits of Emerson and dozens of other figures variously famous and obscure, and carefully mapping the links between them, Painter’s narrative succeeds as an engaging and sophisticated intellectual history, as well as an eloquent reminder of the fluidity (and perhaps futility) of racial categories. --Brendan Driscoll

[The Sybian]

Listening to Five Families, by Selwyn Raab. A very thorough overview of New York's mafia families. The audiobook is 35 hours long, so it has been quite a slog at times. The hard copy as an appendix of all the characters, which I need to keep track of the timelines and connections. Way too much information, and often repetitive, almost to the word, when retelling an event while discussing a second person involved in the event. Around the 25 hour mark, the book starts focusing on the 1980s, and the writing becomes much better in bringing the subjects to life. Particularly John Gotti, Raab vividly portrays his personality and goes through his history. The book is a good editor away from being a great book.




Previously listened to Artie Lange's Crash and Burn. Much different than anything Artie has discussed before. It goes through his drug and alcohol addiction in pretty gruesome detail. Unlike in the past, he doesn't make light of his drug induced fuckups. It is powerful stuff and worth the read if you are an Artie fan, or want to know what the life of an addict is like, or what it is like to be involuntarily confined in a psych ward. I felt horrible laughing at a lot of this shit when it happened on the show, particularly the tapes of Artie calling in sick when everyone knew it was drug related. Knowing what he was going through when he made those calls is pretty horrible.




And reading Ambitious Brew, the Story of American Beer. Not all that great, it details the growth of the first macro brews in the late 1800s

[Rush2112]

And reading Ambitious Brew, the Story of American Beer. Not all that great, it details the growth of the first macro brews in the late 1800s

I felt the same way. Really surprising there isn't a really great beer history book. I enjoyed "The Brewer's Tale: A History of the World According to Beer" and "The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution," but neither was fantastic. I've heard great things about the Pete Brown series, supposedly he's Bill Bryson like (with even more beer drinking I suppose.)

There's one I read a few years ago linking community and local brewing that was really great, but the title escapes me and a quick googling didn't provide a title. I'll take a look at my reading list.

[Moreta]

I haven't been reading much of late but when someone you know writes a book there's some obligation.