Note: I will not be around this morning, but will be back in the early afternoon.
For those who are new ... we discuss books. I list what I'm reading, and people comment with what they're reading. Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.
If you like to trade books, try bookmooch
I've written some book reviews on Yahoo Voices:
Book reviews on Yahoo
Book Readers schedule
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
Just finished
Now reading
A Behavioral Theory of Elections by Jonathan Bendor et al. Traditional "rational choice" models of voter behavior don't mesh all that well with how voters actually behave, in particular, they don't do well with predicting turnout. This is an attempt at a different formulation. This will interest election geeks.
Cooler Smarter: Practical tips for low carbon living by the scientists at Union of Concerned Scientists, a great group. These folk make sense, concentrating on the changes you can make that have the biggest impact with the least effort.
Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman. Kahneman, most famous for his work with the late Amos Tversky, is one of the leading psychologists of the times. Here, he posits that our brains have two systems: A fast one and a slow one. Neither is better, but they are good at different things. This is a brilliant book: Full of insight and very well written, as well.
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Dan Sylveste is intent on figuring out what happened to the Amarantin civilization, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Lots of other stuff going on as well, with a lot of interesting hard-SF ideas.
A re-read of Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. A towering but very unusual book. Full review
Just started
The First World War by John Keegan. This is widely regarded as the best single volume book on WWI. I am only a little way into it, but so far it is very good.
Alien in the Family by Gini Koch. The continuing adventures of Katherine (Kitty) Katt, defender of the Earth from evil aliens, fiancee of one of the good aliens. Pretty silly, but fun. Lots of sex (but mildly described), lots of violence (Kitty kicks ass), not a lot of explanation or profundity.