What are you reading?

[Michchamp]

"A Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman.

about 1/2 way through.

good

 

[biggunsbob]

biggunsbob[/color]]I decided to read the Book "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' instead of seeing the films.. I normally don't read these type of books but I have to say it is pretty darn good 300 pages in... Plus it was a cheap $5.99 now....Trying to get it finished so i can go watch the movie... Not sure if I should watch the foreign version or the American version.. Both look good...

Read the second book and I thought it was better then the first one. waiting for the paperback of the third book coming out in February..

 

[food4thought]

Just finished Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, 13th book in the Wheel of Time series.

Aside from the sad fact that it wasn't the last book in the series as I thought it was, I was very happy with it. Main characters stayed in character, lots of good storylines and moved the main story ahead towards the end very well.

 

[biggunsbob]

Just finished the third book of the dragon tattoo series.. Sad that the author died because i liked all the characters and would read more.

 

[Thumb]

Just started: In Cold Blood, by Capote.

Something I always planned to read just never got around to it.

 

[redandguilty]

"A Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman.

about 1/2 way through.

good

Is it better than his NYTimes articles? Talk about a waste. The guy has a Nobel, but he either sees his platform as a good place to push an agenda like FOX news for liberals or he thinks readers are too stupid to handle any difficult ideas. Did you see that article he wrote where he quoted the stupid republican that said something moronic? That means Keynes fixes everything!

I would love <s>to read</s> to have read some Krugman where he actually writes about what he knows...in spite of his <s>terrible</s> better than average (I googled it, but average is worse than a coin flip) track record making predictions, I'd like some exposure to that perspective. The Soros book is going nowhere.

 

[redandguilty]

LOL! Krugman popped up on my google news page just now. Guess what? A republican said something stupid and austerity measures are a terrible idea!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/opinion/krugman-what-greece-means.html

 

[Michchamp]

"A Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman.

about 1/2 way through.

good

Is it better than his NYTimes articles? Talk about a waste. The guy has a Nobel, but he either sees his platform as a good place to push an agenda like FOX news for liberals or he thinks readers are too stupid to handle any difficult ideas. Did you see that article he wrote where he quoted the stupid republican that said something moronic? That means Keynes fixes everything!

I would love <s>to read</s> to have read some Krugman where he actually writes about what he knows...in spite of his <s>terrible</s> better than average (I googled it, but average is worse than a coin flip) track record making predictions, I'd like some exposure to that perspective. The Soros book is going nowhere.

you're wrong about that. He's been consistently correct each step of the way, going back to calling out the Obama stimulus for being too small and ineffectively designed, to criticising the flimsiness of the "Bush Boom" and the massive real estate fraud and easy credit that facilitated it, and the whole "jobless recovery" bullshit from 2002-2006.

but you have some weird axe to grind with Krugman, so there's no sense even pointing this out to you.

His book was okay, BTW, but Joe Stiglitz's "Freefall" was much better. more scholarly, and an in depth look at the bad economics underlying the GOP & Conservative policy recommendations (which have also been adopted by many Democrats as they've moved to the center right, like Obama).

EDIT: also, there are some commentators out there who are the liberal equivalent of Fox News types on the left. Krugman is not one of them.

It's a lazy man's approach to sound "above it all" to dismiss some commentators out of hand like that. Whenever I hear someone lump Rachel Maddow in with Glenn Beck, I know they're not really worth discussing politics with, because they are just that uninformed. You can look at hacks like Ed Schultz or Chris Matthews... okay, those guys would be well suited to Fox. But that doesn't mean everyone on MSNBC or Current or the NYT is just the flip side of the partisan political experience.

 

[Michchamp]

now I'm also reading "Best American Short Stories 2011." I previously read the 2008 version, which was edited by Salman Rushdie. that was better than '11.

 

[redandguilty]

Is it better than his NYTimes articles? Talk about a waste. The guy has a Nobel, but he either sees his platform as a good place to push an agenda like FOX news for liberals or he thinks readers are too stupid to handle any difficult ideas. Did you see that article he wrote where he quoted the stupid republican that said something moronic? That means Keynes fixes everything!

I would love <s>to read</s> to have read some Krugman where he actually writes about what he knows...in spite of his <s>terrible</s> better than average (I googled it, but average is worse than a coin flip) track record making predictions, I'd like some exposure to that perspective. The Soros book is going nowhere.

you're wrong about that. He's been consistently correct each step of the way, going back to calling out the Obama stimulus for being too small and ineffectively designed, to criticising the flimsiness of the "Bush Boom" and the massive real estate fraud and easy credit that facilitated it, and the whole "jobless recovery" bullshit from 2002-2006.

but you have some weird axe to grind with Krugman, so there's no sense even pointing this out to you.

His book was okay, BTW, but Joe Stiglitz's "Freefall" was much better. more scholarly, and an in depth look at the bad economics underlying the GOP & Conservative policy recommendations (which have also been adopted by many Democrats as they've moved to the center right, like Obama).

EDIT: also, there are some commentators out there who are the liberal equivalent of Fox News types on the left. Krugman is not one of them.

It's a lazy man's approach to sound "above it all" to dismiss some commentators out of hand like that. Whenever I hear someone lump Rachel Maddow in with Glenn Beck, I know they're not really worth discussing politics with, because they are just that uninformed. You can look at hacks like Ed Schultz or Chris Matthews... okay, those guys would be well suited to Fox. But that doesn't mean everyone on MSNBC or Current or the NYT is just the flip side of the partisan political experience.

Yeah, I do have an axe to grind, but I think I've laid it out there already. I don't know why you think there's no point in pointing out his record; I had already changed and edited that position before you posted (and left my misconception up there, crossed out, in an effort of...I don't know, intellectual honesty). Maybe it would have been better if I had said he's a smart liberal willing to sink to FOX News tactics. It's just more difficult to recognize because he's more intelligent. It's one thing for there to be Glen Becks and Rush Limbaughs out there...it's frustrating that so many other people listen to that garbage, but I don't. Then there's Krugman. I want to know what this guy really thinks, but he always holds back, he speaks authoritatively without explaining himself, and he focuses most of his attention arguing against stupid extremes. That there's always a republican out there stupid enough to give him the argument he needs (so he doesn't have to invent straw men) is another issue. My axe with Krugman is that I have higher expectation for him because he's capable of more. He should be addressing tough questions, not the dumbest thing said by a republican each week. Krugman vs. Palin is a waste of Krugman, but that's where he focuses his attention.

 

[Michchamp]

but he DOESN'T sink to Fox News tactics... just because he's arguing a position, doesn't mean he's being shamelessly partisan, or otherwise intellectually inconsistent with what he argued when Bush was president.

He writes a column Monday & Friday, and blogs throughout the week, in addition to his academic work. the fact that occasionally he dedicates a post to something dumb a republican politico or the Heritage Foundation says doesn't mean he's stooping to Fox's level.

You intellectually lazy, false equivalent arguer.

 

[redandguilty]

but he DOESN'T sink to Fox News tactics... just because he's arguing a position, doesn't mean he's being shamelessly partisan, or otherwise intellectually inconsistent with what he argued when Bush was president.

He writes a column Monday & Friday, and blogs throughout the week, in addition to his academic work. the fact that occasionally he dedicates a post to something dumb a republican politico or the Heritage Foundation says doesn't mean he's stooping to Fox's level.

You intellectually lazy, false equivalent arguer.

Find a stupid strawman argument, imply that the stupidity of one side means the opposite approach is correct, rinse, repeat. He's not sinking to their level, but he is using one of their tactics, over and over again. Smart liberals fail to recognize it because they agree with him.

 

[Michchamp]

but he DOESN'T sink to Fox News tactics... just because he's arguing a position, doesn't mean he's being shamelessly partisan, or otherwise intellectually inconsistent with what he argued when Bush was president.

He writes a column Monday & Friday, and blogs throughout the week, in addition to his academic work. the fact that occasionally he dedicates a post to something dumb a republican politico or the Heritage Foundation says doesn't mean he's stooping to Fox's level.

You intellectually lazy, false equivalent arguer.

Find a stupid strawman argument, imply that the stupidity of one side means the opposite approach is correct, rinse, repeat. He's not sinking to their level, but he is using one of their tactics, over and over again. Smart liberals fail to recognize it because they agree with him.

But he doesn't do that, goddamit!!!! AAAAARGH!!!

 

[byco42]

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

 

[Michchamp]

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

is that the auto-biography he wrote just prior to death?

what do you think of it?

 

[byco42]

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

is that the auto-biography he wrote just prior to death?

what do you think of it?

It's superior literature. A lesson in humble leadership. Written in the most trying of circumstances. Grant was ill with throat cancer and broke, after he lost his wealth in a 19th-century ponzi scheme, perpetrated by some slime-worm named Ferdinand Ward. Grant then approached Mark Twain to help him publish his memoirs, and the book has never been out of print in 127 years.

 

[biggunsbob]

I picked up the 1995 Book called ' The Hot Zone' by Richard Preston and it was really a good page turner and based off some real life outbreaks.... Freaking viruses.. Marburg, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Reston..Even talked how we might have been able to contain HIV if we had acted upon it.

Marburg acts like Nuclear radiation on the. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus and it is themilder sister of the two Ebola's

Preston describes Ebola Zaire as 'a human slate wiper" Killing 9 out of 10 people in the book and stands at 83% over 27 years. Anyway not bad for a $3.99 book... This stuff is really scary!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola


The movie Outbreak does not even do the book justice and was pretty stupid and bad with decent actors in it... Not saying it was not entertaining in some way for that time but nowhere near as good as Contagion...

 

[food4thought]

Non-fiction:

Wavelength by Jeff Petherick (with Karl Nilsson): written by a fairly average guy about his experiences when he decided to get serious about God. A good read about Christian life and experiences of the Holy Spirit... even skeptics might find this interesting

Fiction:
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson: book 13 in the enormous Wheel of Time series. Getting very close to the end with supposedly only one more book to go. Jordan died several years ago and Brandon Sanderson was hand picked by him to write the final part of the series... was supposed to be one more book; but surprise (lol) it got stretched into three. Still very good stories, well fleshed out characters that stay in character yet evolve and grow up (and still recognizable as the same characters despite the change in authors), and an immensely detailed alternate reality. If you haven't read this series yet, or gave up partway through because of the slow pace of book releases, it is well worth the long trek through the 13 books so far, and the final book should be out within a couple years. Highly recommended.

Will be getting A Dance with Dragons shortly... sad to realize the next book is probably at least three years away

---------------------edit----------------------
just realized I'd already posted about Towers of Midnight... sorry. I'll leave it here because this supplies a bit more info

 

[KAWDUP]

Two Nations - Andrew Hacker

Quick and easy read. He makes a case for the existence of racism in all facets of "white" society even from those who are not outwardly racist. Read it to help my wife with a paper on the subject. He is a little biased, but overall he backs up many of his generalizations.

 

[Michchamp]

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran