Just wondering ... what is everyone reading now?

[Kathleen]

Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I've just started it but it is a good read so far.

 

[GotGarlic]

Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I've just started it but it is a good read so far.

I read that last spring and really enjoyed it. It's been made into a mini series on Apple TV. We don't subscribe to that, so I haven't seen it, but it's gotten good reviews.

 

[Wan]

I recently checked out Nicholas Wade's "A troublesome inheritance". A very good read, would recommend.

As a rule, I tend to go for non-fiction. The only reason I have fiction/novels in my home is because they came from the fill-up-a-bag-with-one-dollar bin from libraries.

 

[Andy M.]

Just finished Lessons In Chemistry. I really enjoyed it. Thanks Kathleen and GG for the recommendations.

 

[mseaglecook]

I am reading : The Confessions of Con Cregan" by Charles James Lever

Here is a synopsis of the book.

"The Confessions of Con Cregan"" is a novel written by Charles James Lever and published in 1894. The book follows the life of the titular character, Con Cregan, who is a young Irishman born into poverty in the mid-19th century. Con's mother dies when he is young, and he is forced to fend for himself on the streets of Dublin. He quickly learns to be a skilled pickpocket and thief, and he eventually joins a gang of criminals.Con's life takes a turn when he is caught stealing from a wealthy family and is taken in by the family's patriarch, Sir Terence O'Fay. Sir Terence recognizes Con's potential and decides to educate him and help him turn his life around. Con becomes a well-educated and respected member of society, but he still struggles with his past and his criminal tendencies.The novel is a coming-of-age story that explores themes of class, identity, and redemption. Lever's writing is witty and entertaining, and he creates a vivid portrayal of 19th-century Ireland. ""The Confessions of Con Cregan"" is a classic of Irish literature and a must-read for anyone interested in the genre.

I love all of Lever's works.

I quit buying books when I discovered a cool library online called: Dr. Widger's Library it is part of Project Gutenburg.

I have learned so much about Ireland by reading Lever's books.

Really cool stuff.

 

[CharlieD]

William Kent Kruger. He has a series of 18 books about a police sheriff. I love it. I usually watch TV when I go to bed,. I've stopped. I'm reading. It is not your typical detective stories. Well, you just have to read to understand.

 

[Kathleen]

I've been reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Currently I am reading the first part of the series. If you like science fiction, and enjoy novellas from the 40s and 50s, you will enjoy the series. In a nutshell, without giving much away, a futuristic Galactic Empire's days are waning. Hari Seldon, a mathematician, spends his life developing a theory of psychohistory, which is a new science where the math of sociology is studied. He foresees an ending to life as it is know, but believes he has a way to limit the devastation by 9 fold. The books started as a series of novellas published in a magazine. I'm enjoying it very much but it was difficult to get into as I was not giving it my full attention.

 

[dragnlaw]

Kathleen, I read the Foundation Series eons ago! Have considered Asimov a ... don't know a word for it, revelation? Everything he wrote was wonderful!

mseagle - amazing you should mention "Gutenburg" I proof read quite a bit when they started transposing written books to the digital world. Read things I would never have picked up. Was great fun.

 

[Rascal]

Wife bought the sugar bag years. A nz author on the depression in the 30 s

Russ

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I'm in line for Lessons in Chemistry but I keep passing it to the next person in line because I have just started reading a different book. Eventually it will be the only book on my list so I can check it out.

The village library book for March is "It Starts With Us". The second in a series, I just finished reading the first book, "It Ends With Us". I'm also reading "The Last Devil to Die", the 4th book in the Thursday Murder Club series.

I've also recently read "Someone Else's Shoes" by JoJo Noyes and "Devil's Bargain" by Joshua Green. I tried to stay with "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" because it has been favorably reviewed, but I could make it only 35% of the way before giving up.

 

[CharlieD]

I've been reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

Red a brief article about Asimov. What a fascinating life he had. What a fascinating person he was.

 

[rodentraiser]

I'm trying to read a Helen MacInnes book and I have to say, it is soooo boring. I read one she wrote in 1943 called While Still We Live and I think that book is fantastic. But I've tried numerous other of her books and they all fall flat.

I need to order some more books from eBay. Half the ones I want can't be gotten in the library and I've read all the ones I have in storage.

 

[dragnlaw]

Library's often exchange between themselves. Have you also given thought about their e-books on the library's website?

Then again, perhaps amazon/kindle for e-books. Don't take up space on the shelf and usually much cheaper.

 

[GotGarlic]

With a library card, you can often join another, larger system if your local library doesn't have what you're looking for. I joined the Southeastern Virginia Library System (or something like that) and have a lot more choices for borrowing ebooks.

I'm still working my way through the Outlander series. I'm on book 6 of 10. I loved learning about some of the history of Scotland. Now they're in the mountains of North Carolina just before the American Revolution begins and it's fascinating learning about the influences of the Celtic traditions on the origins of the Revolution, as well as how the colonists lived day to day. I hadn't known before that a lot of colonists came from Scotland after a failed rebellion against the English there. Whole villages left for the New World.

 

[pictonguy]

Another Asimov fan.

 

[Andy M.]

I use Kindle on my phone and laptop to read e-books. I get them all from either a local library consortium of surrounding communities. When that wasn't't enough, I got an electronic library card from the Boston Public Library, they have a MUCH better selection. It use the Libby app to search the library databases and download books. It's easy, free but best of all, i have a huge selection of books to choose from.

Another tip, If I'm curious about a book, I look it up on Amazon. They offer a synopsis and an option to read a few pages.

 

[pictonguy]

Right now I'm reading for the second time a book by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph Tanzi called "The Healing Self" Chopra, is an expert in integrative medicine and Tanzi who is a pioneering neuroscientist and discoverer of genes that cause Alzheimer's Disease.

I'm very much a person who believes that our body and mind can't be independent disciplines, which is what western medicine is, a reductive attempt to " deconstruct complex biological processes into their component parts" Then attempts to isolate those symptoms and then medicate, not exactly the best course of action imo.

Chopra looks at our bodies and mind as an integral part of the universe derived of electrical energy and we work in a synergistic and harmonious way within that universe which is all electrical energy. looking at our cells under a microscope that fluid that holds those cells together and the rest of our being is electrically charged and connected to our whole being routed through our nervous system and everything is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons.

The rotation of the moon around the earth and the earth rotating and spinning on it's axis around the sun is connected to us while being grounded to the earth where simple things like early morning light that helps set our main circadian clock which is based in the hypothalamus which is a cluster of nerve cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These cells get input from the optic nerve in the eyes and send out signals about the time of day so that all the body’s clocks run on a uniform schedule, our circadian rhythm and every single cell in the body has an internal clock. This is just one aspect of his basic philosophy to which there are many. Anyway there I go off on another tangent, sorry. I highly recommend the book.

 

[Andy M.]

Just finished reading the third installment of the Thursday Murder Club. An English murder mystery with a group of seniors in a retirement community working to solve murders.

 

[GotGarlic]

Right now I'm reading for the second time a book by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph Tanzi called "The Healing Self" Chopra, is an expert in integrative medicine and Tanzi who is a pioneering neuroscientist and discoverer of genes that cause Alzheimer's Disease.

I have a visceral negative reaction when it comes to Deepak Chopra. I couldn't remember exactly why until I found this:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/q-and-a/Deepak-Chopra-has-never-been-sick

Chopra’s work evinces a consistent skepticism toward the scientific consensus—he has called into question whether evolution is merely a process of the mind—and a firm belief that mental health can determine physical reality. He has written of a place called “perfect health”—the title of one of his books, and now the slogan for one of his wellness retreats—in which human beings can go somewhere internally that is “free from disease, that never feels pain, that cannot age or die.” These beliefs have made him controversial among doctors and scientists. In 1998, Chopra was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize for “his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness.” A random Chopra-quote generator is popular online, and Chopra has been called out for tweeting and writing phrases that, in the words of one paper, “may have been constructed to impress upon the reader some sense of profundity at the expense of a clear exposition of meaning or truth.” (Example: “Attention and intention are the mechanics of manifestation.”)

He's a consummate bullshi**er.

I'm very much a person who believes that our body and mind can't be independent disciplines, which is what western medicine is, a reductive attempt to " deconstruct complex biological processes into their component parts" Then attempts to isolate those symptoms and then medicate, not exactly the best course of action imo.

My long experience with chronic illness, multiple surgeries, and doctors in several different specialties does not support this. My doctors work hard not just to list and treat symptoms but to identify the causes of illness and try to treat the cause. They know that a person's mental health influences their physical health. They understand, though, that the body is made up of several systems that are very complex and no one person can be an expert in all of them, so they don't make claims they can't back up.

Chopra looks at our bodies and mind as an integral part of the universe derived of electrical energy and we work in a synergistic and harmonious way within that universe which is all electrical energy. looking at our cells under a microscope that fluid that holds those cells together and the rest of our being is electrically charged and connected to our whole being routed through our nervous system and everything is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons.

Chopra is a classic pseudoscientist who combines facts and jargon in ways that seem to make sense but can't be proven, so whether you believe the whole of what he talks about is a matter of faith, not science. For one thing, there are several other types of energy in the universe besides electrical.

The rotation of the moon around the earth and the earth rotating and spinning on it's axis around the sun is connected to us while being grounded to the earth where simple things like early morning light that helps set our main circadian clock which is based in the hypothalamus which is a cluster of nerve cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These cells get input from the optic nerve in the eyes and send out signals about the time of day so that all the body’s clocks run on a uniform schedule, our circadian rhythm and every single cell in the body has an internal clock. This is just one aspect of his basic philosophy to which there are many.

The facts in that paragraph are not his philosophy. He didn't discover them and he doesn't do any research to try to understand them better or to understand how they might be connected to other phenomena. He combines them with stuff he makes up that appeal to people with a romantic nature or who are desperate to believe in something, especially if they're facing some terrible tragedy or other life circumstance. Not saying either of those apply to you or that they're the only reasons why people follow him. Just saying that imo, he's a snake oil salesman.

 

[dragnlaw]

A bit jaded with watching TV lately (no, it won't last long) but have taken up my tablet and have slowly started reading all my old books from Kindle.

Funny thing - or not so funny as it caused me no end of frustration trying to find them... Evidently I was purchasing books from Kindle before they were purchased (or taken over) by Amazon. Then later, started purchasing from Kindle thru Amazon, now they go somewhere else. So they reside in two different places on my computer and tablet. Very weird but there yuh go...

Took about 3 hours to figure that one out (plus one tecky and his senior). Then I couldn't read them without the internet. Well, what's the purpose of a table if you can't read your book without Wi-fi... Another 2.5 hours with a tecky and his senior. Hopefully, we - well, actually I - have now figured out how to toggle between.

Thursday Murder Club sounds good Andy. I'll have to see if my library has them.