[Jithero]

I'm currently in the middle of Jim Hightower's  Thieves in High Places , but it's been slow going as he puts a lot of his odd "character" into his writing.  I guess it's meant to be funny/endearing but I would have preferred something a bit more straightforward.  I also stopped in the middle of  Milk: The Deadly Poison by Robert Cohen, as it is a bit TOO straightforward (lots of scientific information) and VERY repetitive.. as if he didn't really have information to fill a whole book.  Before that I finished off Return of the King, which I had read about half of back in 4th grade but wanted to finish in time for the film's release.  My favorite book of the past several years, though, is probably  You Are Being Lied To , a collection of socio-political essays by several authors.

[Jithero]

Rtpoe that sounds like an interesting book.  I used to work at an art materials company where we manufactured and sold a special Lapis Lazuli watercolor paint.  You can also taunt your vegan friends by letting them know that the sizing (glue that holds the cotton fibers together) in most paper is made from animal products.

[homevintner]

Yesterday I pollished off  Bootleg Skies by Paul Berge. The main character is a barnstormer that gets involved flying whiskey over from Canada during prohibition. A well written tale by a guy that knows his airplanes.

Currently working on Panzer Aces  by Franz Kurowski, translated by david Johnston. The accounts of six German tank commanders.  

[homevintner]

Just finished  Band of Brothers  by Stephen Ambrose.  

[Jithero]

Just want to revise my review of Milk: The Deadly Poison.  The last half of the book has some good info.  Just skip the first half (unless you're preparing a case against Monsanto...)

[100ProofBE]

Glad this thread got resurrected...

Recently:

- Siddharta by Hermann Hesse (one of my all-time fav books... not a Buddhist, but a wonderful story that I can read any time and enjoy)

- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (85 bazillion people told me to... I had no choice. However, from a person who works in this field, I can tell you that Dan Brown is fairly well read in the current trends of religious scholarship in addition to being a pretty good action/suspense/thriller writer... actually reading his Angels and Demons at the moment)

- A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey by Kevin Murphy (Ex-MST3k actor (Servo, Bobo) feeds his need for cinematic sadism by going to the movies every single day for an entire year. More a commentary on the state of modern cinema than a collection of reviews. Some very funny stuff as well as some very sharp criticism of the modern moviegoing experience)

Other than that, I've mostly just been reading religious scholarship books while doing research for my doctorate thesis... I assure you, there aren't many page-turners in that group.

Proof out.  

[Dick_Woods]

Jane is really into *the DaVinci Code*....I am almost finished with The Lion's Game, by Nelson DeMille...we are both diggin them in a big way...

-D  

[Windlord]

Just finished "Playing god" and "Fools War" from Sarah Zettel. I liked both, specially the first.
 

[rtpoe]

"April 1865" by Jay Winik.

Remember the "origins of the Civil War" thread? This book tells how it ended - and how things could have gone very, very, differently.

rtpoe

[suicidebomber]

The most recent book I read was Michael Crichton's TimeLine. It is a fantastic story written by a master storyteller. Pity the film took bloody liberties with the book!

Crichton does a lot of research for his novels, which really showed in this book. The Quantum Physics stuff is fascinating.

[tommy]

kurt vonnegut BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

curtis white THE MIDDLE MIND

eric schlosser FAST FOOD NATION

all highly recommended by me. i got a B in english.

seriously all three are great.  

[homevintner]

The other day I finished  Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays  by Stephen Hawking.  

[rtpoe]

Thanks for bumping this up, so I didn't have to.

Foul Ball by Jim Bouton

It's a diary about his attempt to save Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, MA.

From the introduction:

"A historic ballpark soon to be abandoned, a government that  ignores its citizens, a newspaper at war with its readers, the curious involvement of General Electric, and the shots are being called by a guy in Denver?"

A tale of small-town corruption that is lightened a bit by Bouton's wry humor. Ask for it at your local bookstore.

rtpoe

p.s. He had to publish it himself, for reasons discussed in the last chapter. And that's the most upsetting part of the entire story....  

[rtpoe]

*gratuiutous bump*

[RandomX]

Methings Rtpoe is trying to get to 2k tonight