Sunday Morning Book Thread - 5-18-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

This image is from the library at Schussenried Monestery in Germany, due north of Ravensberg, not far from the Bodensee on the border of Switzerland and Lichtenstein. It definitely looks like an interesting place to visit.

INTRODUCTION TO READING THE CLASSICS

"Classic" literature doesn't to feel impenetrable to the average or novice reader. Many of they are very accessible indeed, given a bit of effort. Some that are more dense and complicated--like Herman Melville's Moby Dick--may require the reader work up to them, but can still be enjoyable in their own right.

(Blackjack tables are in the back...password is "hot beans")

IMPROVE YOU RECALL OF WHAT YOU READ

I found this presentation a bit annoying in it's presentation style, but it does have useful advice on how to better remember what you read. If and when I teach another class, I think I will incorporate this video (or a less annoying version) into my course content so that I can help students develop a positive study habit. It might also help them on their research project for my course.

QUESTION FOR THE HORDE

Carried over from last week's comments, since I didn't have a chance to respond myself...

Question for everyone-

Is there a new book (published in the last 12 months) you REALLY like and always recommend?

Or a forthcoming book you are really excited about?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at May 11, 2025 10:25 AM (rT96s)

I can't say that there are any forthcoming books in my queue that I'm excited about reading at the moment. I suppose I could throw in the next book in Jim Butcher's Cinder Spires series, but I don't know when that will be out. He also needs to get back to his Dresden Files as he's clearly closing in on an epic conclusion. There aren't any books published in the last 12 months that would be on my "always recommend" list. Probably the closest would be the last two books in Larry Correia's Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, but that series began in 2016. Books that fall on that list tend to be books I've read multiple times over the years and I scarcely re-read books nowadays since I'm trying to whittle down my TBR pile (which keeps growing...). I do have excellent books that I can recommend again and again, but that's highly subjective. For instance, although I love the Wheel of Time novels, I understand that a lot of people don't like them at all.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

This week I finished Donald Trump's book The America We Deserve written in 1999 when he had his eye on running for President in the Reform Party.

I will say that Trump has not moved much in policy for the last 25 years. There may have been some changes in his policy on health care, but failure teaches a lot, and he has brought on some specialists in the field.
Otherwise, what he laid out in this book is pretty much what he has focused on.

The one area he has not touched in his Presidency is volunteerism, which he is a big proponent of in his book.

It is decently written, less idiomatic than The Art of the Deal but not so cleaned up to seem to be written by someone else.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 11, 2025 09:40 AM (D7oie)

Comment: It's really boggling how much people underestimate President Donald Trump, considering he's written multiple books that seem to describe his operating philosophy. All anyone has to do to figure him out is read his books. It's all right there. Yet the Left is continually "surprised" by how President Trump tackles the issues of the day, cutting through challenges like a hot knife through butter. It just takes a man of sufficient will to solve these problems and one thing that President Trump has in abundance is an indomitable will to GET THINGS DONE. He and Elon Musk are DOERS, driven by results, rather than process. I can understand why President Trump is a big proponent of volunteerism, even if it's not a part of is Presidency (yet). When that tornado swept through my town a couple of months ago, it was incredible how volunteers emerged from the woodwork to get the town up and running again in very short time. SEMA (state equivalent of FEMA) said it would be impossible to get power restored within a few weeks. The local utility company had power restored with three days, in no small part because numerous local utility companies pitched in to help. People who needed food, shelter, and other necessities were all taken care of by local charities. Lately I've started participating in my church's food pantry efforts to bring essential food to those who need it. It's a great opportunity to help others and I really enjoy the experience. I plan on doing this regularly from now on.

Eros and Gaia by Freeman Dyson is the oldest one left, published in 1992. It is a collection of lucid essays that covers science, scientists, politics, arms control, nature, humanity, climate change, physics, SETI, and manned space travel.

These essays are in a way an early autobiography of a deep thinker who had close connection to insiders and other great thinkers and doers.

He really explains how physics research works, how good projects fall by the wayside, and what actually is important. He writes in the clearest prose profound observations. He extrapolates into the future of 2010 and is often right.

I learned a lot in this book, and I will try and get it in my personal library. Just the discussion on climate change was an eye opener, as it introduced data that I had never even considered.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 11, 2025 10:15 AM (u82oZ)

Comment: The actual title of the book NaCly Dog refers to is From Eros to Gaia in case anyone tries looking it up. Sounds like a fascinating book and one that I may enjoy reading. Freeman Dyson was a great thinker, for sure. The "Dyson sphere" that's popular in science fiction was named after him. -- OK, I went ahead and ordered it, since Amazon had a paperback copy available for $6...

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Isle of Destiny by Kenneth C. Flint

I finished Isle of Destiny last Sunday. I breezed through it in about two days, as it's only 400+ pages long. Not a doorstopper. I found it to be an interesting portrayal of early Celtic life on the Emerald Isle, as Connaire Mor attempts to solidify his reign as Ireland's High King after showing up at the gates of Tara stark naked carrying a sling. His quest or destiny is to bring peace to Ireland. However, it doesn't go well as the clans are constantly engaged in low-level warfare with each other. Flint presents a reasonably balanced view of the conflict from both sides. The current kings and lords of Ireland are generally OK with raiding each other's counties and fiefdoms. To them, it's basically the equivalent of a sport. There's not much else to do, so it's a way for warriors to relieve boredom and have a bit of fun. From their perspective, they don't want peace under the High King's rule because then they feel they will no longer have a purpose in life. Connaire wants peace so that he can elevate Ireland to a new age of enlightenment and prosperity, but at what cost to the security of Ireland if they are now vulnerable to pirates and sea-borne raiders along their shores? A Spanish druid is thrown into the mix, as he attempts to stir up conflict and strife so that he can eventually rule Ireland himself from the shadows.

The details of daily life are interesting in this story, as we see the technology level available at the time (several centuries BC). Warriors ride around in chariots during conflicts, wielding spears and swords. Bows as a weapon of war are unheard of. I'm not sure they even use bows for hunting at this point in history, instead relying on spears as their primary hunting tool. Although people can and do ride horses, getting around by chariot is their primary means of transportation. The stirrup has not been invented yet (a major game-changer in history). It's definitely Bronze Age technology, with a bit of Iron Age thrown in from time to time. Steel has not yet been discovered.

Bookburners: Season 1 created by Max Gladstone and written by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, Brian Francis Slattery

This is a good example of what a professor friend of mine would call "transmedia" (no, not like that you weirdos!). Bookburners started out as a serialized fiction and radio drama created by Max Gladstone. Then it was written as a novel that reads more like a collection of short stories with an overarching story arc. In fact, it's subtitled "Season 1" because it mirrors the serialized format from the radio drama. Each short story corresponds to an episode of the radio version, basically.

The premise is that the Vatican has a secret society of operatives who hunt down magic around the world and lock it away in the Vatican's Black Archives so that people are not corrupted by the demonic forces contained in magical tomes and artifacts. It gets pretty dark at times, as each member of Team Three has their own reasons for being a part of the Vatican's "Bookburners" (a term they hate, but it has stuck). Magic is presented as inherently dangerous to humans, with rare exceptions. Demons are real, but angels do not appear to take an active role, as even Father Menchú, the clerical member of the team, denies their existence. He's seen too much to believe in angels, making him rather cynical and world-weary. Although the premise is not terribly original, the characters are pretty well-developed and we get to see how the stories unfold from each of their perspectives. It's not bad. A little bit of wokeness here and there, but not overwhelming. It's tempting to think of the female characters as Mary Sues, but they really are not because they are all deeply flawed, despite their abilities.

The George Dower Trilogy Volume 1 - Infernal Devices by K. W. Jeter

It turns out K. W. Jeter is credited with coining the term "steampunk." I did not know that. If you are not familiar with the term, it refers to a subgenre of fantasy and science fiction characterized by steam-powered technology in an alternate history setting that's often reminiscent of Victorian England. Though there's also a Japanese version of this as well. In Jeter's case, he utilizes a Victorian style of writing describing the story of a man who finds himself way, way over his head when mysterious events start happening to him after his father passes away. Strangers come looking for his father's technology and he then becomes driven to uncover some of the mysteries left by his father, a master clockmaker who created amazing lifelike automatons. George Dower, however, is not at all prepared for what he finds and he's often a fish-out-of-water when he's not a deer-in-the-headlights as he goes on many strange adventures. Everyone he encounters assumes George knows a lot more about the situation than he actually does, and when he tries to fake it, he pays a heavy price--usually being knocked unconscious in some way. It's a wonder his brains haven't been permanently scrambled. Many of the situations are almost farcical in how they are presented in the text, because George legitimately has NO IDEA what's going on around him, though everyone else has a clue.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 5-11-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Not compliant with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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