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
Readers and Book lovers schedule
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
Just finished
The Code of the Woosters by P G Wodehouse. Wooster and Jeeves.
Now reading
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.
On politics: A history of political thought from Herodotus to the present by Alan Ryan. What the subtitle says - a history of political thought. But he should add the adjective "Western" or something as he doesn't discuss other traditions or writings.
The Year's Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois. My favorite of the annual collections of SF.
The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt. How the discovery of an ancient book helped create the modern world. Fascinating.
The Blood of Tyrants: George Washington and the Forging of the Presidency by Logan Beirne. Washington wasn't quite the paragon of virtues we learned about in school; Beirne covers how Washington did things and how that could affect how later presidents did things.
Just started
A Wicked Company by Philipp Blom. About the radicals of the European enlightenment, especially Holbach and Diderot. Interesting. These two were the ideological ancestors of atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, more than 200 years ago.