What are you reading?

[Warhawk]

I haven't, and I wasn't really searching this one out. This was the first book of hers that was available on the Libby app to read so I started with that one. I'm reading something else right now, but my next book will be her How the South Won the Civil War. It is already downloaded and waiting on my Ipad.

Just finished this book and again, it is interesting some of the things you learn from a book like this about American history that you would never cover in a classroom.

Another well-written book somewhat focused on the history of slavery, class oppression, racial rights disparity, and efforts to deny certain groups the right to vote in America from the Civil War through fairly recently (maybe 2017 or so). There is obviously some heavy overlap at times with To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party, so if you read both, be prepared for that.

 

[Warhawk]

While waiting for other books to become available on Libby, I read one I downloaded for free from Amazon on the Kindle app (book-of-the-month thing for Prime members - I keep forgetting I have like 15 of those queued up on the iPad). The book was Androne by Dwain Worrell - he has a very interesting concept with a twist in the middle that was pretty cool, but the writing style was just a bit off (hard to describe why, some characters were strange and the lack of explanation on some things, including the meaning of the epilogue, just rubbed me a bit wrong) and there are some serious plot holes in the story (for one: high tech warfare and the military can't track anything they are using during battle ?!?!?). Nonetheless, a story revolving around warfare using remotely-piloted mechs and is only really interesting for the very unique plot device used. I'm glad it was free.

 

[kingsboi]

Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht

a great perspective of the history and origin of world religions

 

[Warhawk]

I just finished Fluke by Brian Klaas, who dives into a discussion on random chance, determinism, how seemingly random events can greatly affect both people's lives and whole societies. The examples provided were very illustrative and entertaining to follow (for example: how a couple's vacation caused the deaths of 100,000 people, how someone's interest in meteorology led to advances in computer modeling and developing the concept of the "butterfly effect", how a bout of food poisoning in 1939 led to discoveries in evolutionary biology, and how the first two examples I gave affected the last one).

 

[Warhawk]

One of the authors I like, Douglas Preston, took part in a project. The result was the book Fourteen Days, a fictional story about tenants in a Lower East Side (Manhattan) apartment building in the early days of COVID who started gathering on the roof each night to share stories about their lives since everyone in NY was essentially quarantined as conditions spiraled out of control. It is, essentially, a celebration of stories.

The "project" part was that the book was written by the Authors Guild and each of the 14 days of stories were written as a collaboration by several authors - a total of 36 authors contributed, including Preston, John Grisham, RL Stine, and Margaret Atwood. This charitable project has proceeds going to benefit the Authors Guild in order to "foster and empower writers of all backgrounds and stages of their careers".

This book is a different approach to storytelling and quite an interesting read, as each of the 14 days of stories drew from different backgrounds and histories, including Shakespeare, rural Mexico, Florida, the deep South, and even a story set in the Murphys area east of Stockton.

 

[Warhawk]

Just finished this book and again, it is interesting some of the things you learn from a book like this about American history that you would never cover in a classroom.

Another well-written book somewhat focused on the history of slavery, class oppression, racial rights disparity, and efforts to deny certain groups the right to vote in America from the Civil War through fairly recently (maybe 2017 or so). There is obviously some heavy overlap at times with To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party, so if you read both, be prepared for that.

I just finished reading Richardson's most recent book, Democracy Awakening, and it is a truly great read.

After reading To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party and How the South Won the Civil War, some of the material is repetitive as she strives to put things in historical context (and the context is American history), but the focus of each book is different and similar information is often presented in somewhat different ways to help keep the topic fresh.

This book focuses more on recent events than the other two, but is adept at drawing clear parallels to our past in doing so. She is a one of our era's best historians that isn't afraid to point fingers at either party when warranted.

Highly recommended, and if you only read one of these three books, this one may be the best purely because it is the most recent and focuses on democracy itself.

 

[kingsboi]

Material World by Ed Conway

some real eye opening aspects of Earths resources and how its used in every single item, road, buildings, etc. on the planet. Not done yet, but its a great read thus far.

 

[Warhawk]

Material World by Ed Conway

some real eye opening aspects of Earths resources and how its used in every single item, road, buildings, etc. on the planet. Not done yet, but its a great read thus far.

That actually sounds interesting. Thanks!

 

[kingsboi]

That actually sounds interesting. Thanks!

let me know what you think if you decide to give it a read

 

[Warhawk]

let me know what you think if you decide to give it a read

I put a hold on it in Libby. Says it might be a month or so until it is available. I'll definitely check it out. I'm an engineer, so this sounds like an interesting read.

 

[Warhawk]

I also had missed that! Thanks for the update!

BTW, it appears that the production team for this series may already be in line to do The Dark Forest (link, about 80% down).

Needless to say, I've just cleared my calendar for the rest of the year - it could be released any time!

I didn't realize that Prime had a Chinese version of this (3 Body Problem) series already (apparently with subtitles) and a LOT of episodes. I haven't checked it out yet.

Digging into the Netflix series and it seems to be pretty well done. I haven't read the books in a while so I likely can't comment on how close they stick to the source material, but I'm really enjoying it. It's got some faces in there you will recognize.

 

[kingsboi]

I put a hold on it in Libby. Says it might be a month or so until it is available. I'll definitely check it out. I'm an engineer, so this sounds like an interesting read.

what kind of engineer?

 

[Warhawk]

what kind of engineer?

Civil.

 

[kingsboi]

Civil.

do you like what you do?

 

[Warhawk]

I do. I spend most of my time helping design bridge and retaining wall foundations. The real fun part is when I can go watch the piles being driven, footings/pile shafts excavated, etc., and verify that my analyses were correct and then see the finished product afterwards. I've helped design bridge, retaining wall, and other structure foundations for over 25 years everywhere from Crescent City to the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe to Santa Barbara to the San Bernardino desert areas. Each has their own challenges - no two projects are the same.

 

[kingsboi]

I do. I spend most of my time helping design bridge and retaining wall foundations. The real fun part is when I can go watch the piles being driven, footings/pile shafts excavated, etc., and verify that my analyses were correct and then see the finished product afterwards. I've helped design bridge, retaining wall, and other structure foundations for over 25 years everywhere from Crescent City to the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe to Santa Barbara to the San Bernardino desert areas. Each has their own challenges - no two projects are the same.

its the non tedious aspects of a job that keeps the mind fresh and sharp

 

[Warhawk]

I just wrapped up a breezy fiction novel by James Rollins - Kingdom of Bones. I've read a lot of his stuff previously and this is in the same vein, but I just didn't "feel" this one as much. They all weave in bits of historical truth and science fact in some ways to make the implausible seem more possible, but I found this one a little less gripping for whatever reason. Not bad, just not quite as interesting.

Material World is up next, as it just became available today for download.

 

[Warhawk]

Material World by Ed Conway

some real eye opening aspects of Earths resources and how its used in every single item, road, buildings, etc. on the planet. Not done yet, but its a great read thus far.

I just finished this one and it was truly an interesting examination of both the history and current state of the art in mining/obtaining, purifying, and manufacturing/using 6 of the most important elements in use today. While I knew some bits and pieces of some of the information covered, this book did a good job of detailing sources and routes taken around the world to actually get from raw materials being mined in various countries to the finished products. It also detailed how these basic items heavily influence just about every aspect of our lives.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[kingsboi]

I just finished this one and it was truly an interesting examination of both the history and current state of the art in mining/obtaining, purifying, and manufacturing/using 6 of the most important elements in use today. While I knew some bits and pieces of some of the information covered, this book did a good job of detailing sources and routes taken around the world to actually get from raw materials being mined in various countries to the finished products. It also detailed how these basic items heavily influence just about every aspect of our lives.

Thanks for the recommendation!

glad you enjoyed it. we truly are intertwined with every single element around us.

 

[Warhawk]

Extinction by Douglas Preston was just released recently and it is a quick and easy work of fiction to plow through. Basically a variation of Jurassic Park, it does raise some interesting points about bringing back to life certain extinct species. Some characters are a bit thin in depth, but this author's fiction is a good palate-cleanser when switching to a different genre. I always enjoy the little discussion after the end of the story addressing the science at the center of the book.

 

[kingofkings07]

Rev. Ike's Secrets For Health, Joy and Prosperity, For YOU.

 

[Warhawk]

I don't have any books queued up on Libby at the moment, so I read one of the Amazon monthly free books I got a while back on the Kindle app. On a whim, I had picked up The Fires, a novel about a female vulcanologist living in Iceland and a serious eruption on the island/her family. The writing is well done and is interesting in that the author doesn't use quotation marks to designate conversation text - you just kind of figure it out/interpret it from the writing style. The engineer in me appreciated the geology discussions around the volcanic activity and the "human" part of the story might play out well on screen if they ever made a movie out of this. A little bit of a "chick flick" if this were indeed a movie, but well done overall.

 

[Warhawk]

I am home today recovering from a minor outpatient surgery yesterday and I finished up another Amazon freebie special, The Hanging City. An easy fantasy read with a young woman with special powers, giant trolls, an evil father, and so on - you get the idea. It was fairly entertaining with a couple of unexpected twists thrown in. If you are up for a quick distraction of a read like this, it isn't bad.

 

[kingsboi]

Humble Pi by Matt Parker. A mixture of comedy and mathematical/engineering miscues both past and present. Hawk may like this one since its up his engineering alley

 

[Warhawk]

I'm reading The Breakers Series (books 1-3) by Edward W. Robinson. I've been looking for some new authors, and stumbled upon this in the "free" section of books for my Nook. I'm rapidly becoming addicted to eBooks and this series is one of the best I've come across (especially being free ).

In the Breakers series, humanity faces not one apocalypse, but two: first a lethal pandemic, then a war against those who made the virus. This collection includes the first three books and is over 1000 pages (350,000 words) of post-apocalyptic survival.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-breakers-series-edward-w-robertson/1116251161?type=eBook

I just started book 1 of this series based on this recommendation (I had picked it up for the Kindle a long time ago and hadn't gotten around to it yet). I miss Christine.

 

[Warhawk]

I just started book 1 of this series based on this recommendation (I had picked it up for the Kindle a long time ago and hadn't gotten around to it yet). I miss Christine.

OK, so I'm two books into this series of 6.

I read the first book, Breakers, and it tells the story of:

Spoiler

a virus that wipes out about 99.9% of the human population followed up by an alien invasion, somewhat Independence Day-style, but their mother ship doesn't have the massive weapon of the movie. Ends up the virus was sent by the aliens to wipe out human life but wasn't 100% successful. I still don't know for sure why the aliens are doing this, as that part is hinted at in the second book but hasn't fully been discussed.

Now, I'm only two books in (I also read book 2, Melt Down) so I don't know how the rest of the series goes, but the first two books were written in a somewhat interesting way:

• Book one (Breakers) focuses mainly on two individuals/small parties, (I'll call them A and B). These parties have separate stories but they somewhat "come together" at the end in the LA basin area.
• Book two (Melt Down) does the same, with parties C and D. Again, separate stories, somewhat following the same events, one event more so than the other, but they again somewhat "come together" at the end. This book starts to tell the story of life post-crises from Breakers, focusing on the areas of Redding and northern Oregon.

But, the kick is you also find out that one of the nameless characters with a bit part (literally maybe is involved in a handful of pages in total) for party A in Breakers ends up being party C in Melt Down. That brief interaction between them is described from different points of view in the two books.

It kind of reminds me of the Ender's Game parallel series: Shadow Saga, which tells the same story from the point of view of other characters. In this case, they are telling somewhat different stories that "cross paths", for lack of a better phrase. Melt Down covers a little less run up to the crises that Breakers covers directly but covers a longer time frame after Breakers ends. I'd say the books overlap chronologically about 75% or so, to make a guess, but the overlapping story between parties A and C is only about 1% of each book. One of the main story points of Breakers is only tangentially addressed in Melt Down, but it is still a major story driver for the overall series so far. It is an interesting approach to storytelling, and the epilogue of Melt Down hints that more crossover between characters, etc., may take place.

 

[Warhawk]

Just finished the Breakers series book 3, Knifepoint, and it carries on the story of one of the previous characters in parallel with a new main character. Unlike the first two books, this book starts later in the timeline and doesn't re-hash that story yet again from another point of view. Entertaining, with a main character that is a bit odd, but enjoyable for what it is. Again, the two main parties in this book (party A and party E) wind up in close proximity (Catalina island and LA basin areas) but don't actually come together. It is a bit of a strange way to tell a story with two parallel plots going on that don't "resolve" themselves together, but he's done that in 3 books now. Party D also plays a bit part with both A and E separately, and seems to be key to the ongoing story, but we'll see.

Edit - looks like he wrote two more books after the first 6, so he's up to 8 total. I just bought those from Amazon and will keep plugging through the series.

 

[Warhawk]

Breakers series book 4, Reapers, continues the trend of two parallel stories that come close to meeting at the end, but don't. Similar to Knifepoint, the story takes place after the events of books 1 and 2. The author is delving into different after effects of post-apocalyptic life. There are brief references to the twin causes of the apocalypse, but in general the stories appear to be more character development. Parties F and G in this book appear to wrap up their stories after spending some time in New York on different quests, and while it isn't impossible, it seems like they won't continue in the book series. If so, are the few bits and pieces of the larger storyline hinted at in this book all we get to take further into the series? The epilogue has a short section addressing one of the previous parties from book 2 that is in Hawaii, and this appears to be a major upcoming plotline in the series.

I just noticed there was a novella (side story) to this series that takes place between books 2 and 3, apparently, and appears to be an origin story for one of the people in party G in this book. I'll catch that now and then get back into the larger series.

 

[Warhawk]

Get a library card (if you don't have one) and download the Libby app for your iPad or whatever (my wife and I just got the Apple 2021 10.2-inch iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB) for less than $300 a while back just for reading and watching stuff on Netflix/Prime/etc. - works perfect for that). You can borrow electronic books from the local library for free (3 weeks). Also download the Kindle app and get the free Prime book once a month.

I just saw this and thought I would share. If your carbon footprint is a concern, if you read a lot (and obviously I do) an e-reader of some type may be beneficial.

 

[Warhawk]

Breakers series book 4, Reapers, continues the trend of two parallel stories that come close to meeting at the end, but don't. Similar to Knifepoint, the story takes place after the events of books 1 and 2. The author is delving into different after effects of post-apocalyptic life. There are brief references to the twin causes of the apocalypse, but in general the stories appear to be more character development. Parties F and G in this book appear to wrap up their stories after spending some time in New York on different quests, and while it isn't impossible, it seems like they won't continue in the book series. If so, are the few bits and pieces of the larger storyline hinted at in this book all we get to take further into the series? The epilogue has a short section addressing one of the previous parties from book 2 that is in Hawaii, and this appears to be a major upcoming plotline in the series.

I just noticed there was a novella (side story) to this series that takes place between books 2 and 3, apparently, and appears to be an origin story for one of the people in party G in this book. I'll catch that now and then get back into the larger series.

Book 5, Cut Off, seems to be getting some of the story lines to coalesce into clarity. The story focuses on Hawaii and the South Pacific, with a couple of the parties mentioned previously eventually joining forces to start wiping out enemies in various locations. There is more discussion on goals and what the next apocalypse was going to be, and how it was to be achieved. This book may have been the most "satisfying" so far in the series by starting to pull together some of the loose threads.