Blades upon Books - Traditionals

Third time 'round.

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Zieg
 
BoDiddly01 said:
Brutal book. I did the audiobook, voice actor was top notch if you havent tried that version.
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Indeed, he did a terrific job. I have read it twice, as well. Now I'm intrigued by the various commentaries on it, hence the Notes on Blood Meridian by Sepich. There is a map of the company's travels in Sepich, but I'm also interested in how much time is spent in each location, so I'm making a rudimentary timeline to go with the map.
 
Here's a book I read last month. The author, who is a couple of months younger than me, has been on the staff of The New Yorker for over 40 years, and has also written 10 books previous to this one. So he's an accomplished writer, but he admits that he struggled with mathematics in high school and wouldn't have passed algebra and geometry tests if he hadn't sat near students who "got" the math and had legible handwriting.

As he neared his retirement, he decided he should try to learn algebra and geometry on his own. The book is a description of his somewhat unsuccessful pursuit of that goal. The book was quite interesting to me because the author reveals some very strange (to me, at least) ideas about himself, mathematics, and his relationship to math. In addition to trying to master concepts and skills of algebra, geometry, and eventually calculus, he also did some research into topics related to the history and philosophy of mathematics. He generally does a nice job of discussing those historical and philosophical ideas, IMHO.


- GT
 
5K Qs said:
Here's a book I read last month. The author, who is a couple of months younger than me, has been on the staff of The New Yorker for over 40 years, and has also written 10 books previous to this one. So he's an accomplished writer, but he admits that he struggled with mathematics in high school and wouldn't have passed algebra and geometry tests if he hadn't sat near students who "got" the math and had legible handwriting.

As he neared his retirement, he decided he should try to learn algebra and geometry on his own. The book is a description of his somewhat unsuccessful pursuit of that goal. The book was quite interesting to me because the author reveals some very strange (to me, at least) ideas about himself, mathematics, and his relationship to math. In addition to trying to master concepts and skills of algebra, geometry, and eventually calculus, he also did some research into topics related to the history and philosophy of mathematics. He generally does a nice job of discussing those historical and philosophical ideas, IMHO.


- GT
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This is a book for me!
 
I'm working on reading (usually re-reading) the Jack Reacher novels in the order in which they were published. In the past, I read them in a somewhat random order. But I happened to notice that my library had the very latest Reacher book available, so I grabbed that and read it for the first time, and will re-read later as I approach the end of my "read in order" plan.

The new novel is titled The Secret and, like several of the most recent Reacher novels, is allegedly co-authored by series originator Lee Child and his brother Andrew Child who is scheduled to take over the Reacher franchise on his own soon. The book is a "flashback" to 1992 when Reacher is still an Army MP. I tend to enjoy the several past novels that go back to Reacher's Army days. In The Secret, Reacher represents the military on an investigative task force that also includes reps from FBI, CIA, and some other agency I can't remember because the person hardly did anything until near the end of the book. They're trying to figure out who is killing a bunch of scientists who had all worked together in India in 1969.

Pretty good story; maybe a bit predictable at times. I think I've mentioned in the past that the jointly-authored novels seems to have more British terminology in them than was the case when Lee Child wrote them alone. "Hose-pipe" instead of "hose" is the one that stood out to me in this book.


- GT
 
I probably read much more fiction than nonfiction for my recreational reading, but here's a nonfiction book I read earlier this month. The author is apparently renowned for his "macro adventures", although I'd never heard of him. (Maybe Jack Black Jack Black knows something about the author.) He wrote this book to help "weekend wannabes" design some short, inexpensive, not-too-strenuous "micro adventures" of their own. Although all of his own micro adventures described in the book took place in England, they can inspire readers to plan similar outings in their own locales. There are several chapters at the end of the book about general issues involved in almost any of the adventures described (cooking, sleeping, midges and ticks, equipment, clothing, etc.) that I thought were quite informative. His writing style is fairly entertaining as well.
Book cover:


Dust jacket blurb:


A page from the chapter about sleeping outside, including a reassuring pull quote:


- GT
 
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5K Qs said:
I probably read much more fiction than nonfiction for my recreational reading, but here's a nonfiction book I read earlier this month. The author is apparently renowned for his "macro adventures", although I'd never heard of him. (Maybe Jack Black Jack Black knows something about the author.) He wrote this book to help "weekend wannabes" design some short, inexpensive, not-too-strenuous "micro adventures" of their own. Although all of his own micro adventures described in the book took place in England, they can inspire readers to plan similar outings in their own locales. There are several chapters at the end of the book about general issues involved in almost any of the adventures described (cooking, sleeping, midges and tics, equipment, clothing, etc.) that I thought were quite informative. His writing style is fairly entertaining as well.
Book cover:


Dust jacket blurb:


A page from the chapter about sleeping outside, including a reassuring pull quote:


- GT
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Nice idea.
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Picnicking Hemingway style would be a macro adventure for me.
 
Picnic Gourmet looks a lavish spread Jer...those period clothes set the scene too ;) All that nice food laid out....just wait until flies and a horde of insects descend:eek::D That grass looks like it might harbour rodents, snakes even wild-dogso_O

A picnic is a really attractive IDEA but the reality is often less idyllic once uninvited guests show up...then there's wind......and which knives to choose 🤣
 
Will Power said:
Picnic Gourmet looks a lavish spread Jer...those period clothes set the scene too ;) All that nice food laid out....just wait until flies and a horde of insects descend:eek::D That grass looks like it might harbour rodents, snakes even wild-dogso_O

A picnic is a really attractive IDEA but the reality is often less idyllic once uninvited guests show up...then there's wind......and which knives to choose 🤣
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I totally agree.
But maybe there are fewer bugs on the water.
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Certainly in the winter.
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My wife is fond of "true crime" books, TV shows, and podcasts, especially those involving murders (multiple preferred). :eek:
I happened to see this book in the public library in April and checked it out for her. I ended up reading it myself, too. It was a quite interesting "memoir" of the female author's career in law enforcement, especially the FBI, where she was an early participant in the newly-formed Behavioral Science Unit that attempted to "profile" serial killers. This book had a number of photos related to people, places, and events discussed in the book. The photos of the author always "surprised" me, since from high school through middle age, she looked like a stereotypical cheerleader with slender build, blond hair, big smile, trendy clothes.


- GT
 
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