I read a lot, but I go through spells of reading and not reading. When I am in a reading mood, I average reading a book per day. My favorites are biographies and historical fact books. I have read multiple biographical books on most of our founding fathers and significant historical events and characters. I have read five different biographies by five different authors on Lyndon B. Johnson. He was one of my least favorite politicians, but I haven't been able to determine if he was a total crook, slightly crooked, or just a colorful character. I lean towards "total crook", but five different opinions still haven't provided enough evidence to convince me either way.
I can't stand to read biographies of celebrities unless they have been dead for many years and actually made a positive or negative contribution to society which stands out.
I will read anything that has a scientific or technical aspect to it. It can be based on mechanical, electrical, chemical, or theoretical science. In many ways, I enjoy those books most because they deal with the future instead of the past.
I've never read a gardening or horticulture book and I probably won't. They are simply boring to me although I love to garden.
What do you read?
Ted
What do you read?
Last edited by tedln on Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-
lorax
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1316
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:48 pm
- Location: Ecuador, USDA Zone 13, at 10,000' of altitude
Staggering volumes of plays and theatre-related literature, be it dramaturgical or technical in nature.
I also really really enjoy well-written speculative fiction (not that there's a whole lot of it out there, but hey. A girl can always rely on her Big Book of Harlan Ellison in sparse times.)
I'm also currently munching though a couple of volumes of scientific studies of the ecosystems just downslope of me, and a couple of forest-management handbooks. I love technical plant-related stuff, particularly studies on the properties of plants, as well as botanical descriptions of new ones.
And when I've got free (ha!) time, I enjoy philosophy and sociology, particularly Habermaas and Hegel, although I'm also (very slowly) working my way through Heidegger's Being and Time.
Should I mention I'm a bibliophile? When I moved to Ecuador, I left behind a lot of stuff, but I brought about 1/2 a ton of books with me (and I'm not exaggerating - the customs waybill showed about 1,000 lbs exclusively due to the cartons.)
I also really really enjoy well-written speculative fiction (not that there's a whole lot of it out there, but hey. A girl can always rely on her Big Book of Harlan Ellison in sparse times.)
I'm also currently munching though a couple of volumes of scientific studies of the ecosystems just downslope of me, and a couple of forest-management handbooks. I love technical plant-related stuff, particularly studies on the properties of plants, as well as botanical descriptions of new ones.
And when I've got free (ha!) time, I enjoy philosophy and sociology, particularly Habermaas and Hegel, although I'm also (very slowly) working my way through Heidegger's Being and Time.
Should I mention I'm a bibliophile? When I moved to Ecuador, I left behind a lot of stuff, but I brought about 1/2 a ton of books with me (and I'm not exaggerating - the customs waybill showed about 1,000 lbs exclusively due to the cartons.)
Marlingardener,
I don't know if they still exist, but years ago; rural telephone societies were everywhere. Ladies joined them like social clubs. They supported a lot of community activities and typically funded their functions by selling books of recipe collections from members. They were and possibly are the best cookbooks I've ever seen. Yep, I also enjoy cookbooks, but I rarely follow a recipe when I cook. Are you reading the John Adams book by David McCullough? That was a great book and he is a very real, very honest author.
Lorax,
I never keep books after I have read them. Our daughter takes them to a used book store and trades them for other books. She and I have similar tastes in reading material. She is also much better at remembering which books we have read then me. My family gives me a hard time because I will come home with a new book and after reading two or three pages realize I read it a few months or a few years earlier. I have a hard time remembering book titles and associating titles with authors.
I also read a lot of philosophy and sociology books, but I have a difficult time with them and often don't enjoy them. I sometimes read halfway through a book waiting for the author to begin making his or her point and realize the author is a fool, an idiot; or both. The book is then traded as quickly as possible.
Ted
I don't know if they still exist, but years ago; rural telephone societies were everywhere. Ladies joined them like social clubs. They supported a lot of community activities and typically funded their functions by selling books of recipe collections from members. They were and possibly are the best cookbooks I've ever seen. Yep, I also enjoy cookbooks, but I rarely follow a recipe when I cook. Are you reading the John Adams book by David McCullough? That was a great book and he is a very real, very honest author.
Lorax,
I never keep books after I have read them. Our daughter takes them to a used book store and trades them for other books. She and I have similar tastes in reading material. She is also much better at remembering which books we have read then me. My family gives me a hard time because I will come home with a new book and after reading two or three pages realize I read it a few months or a few years earlier. I have a hard time remembering book titles and associating titles with authors.
I also read a lot of philosophy and sociology books, but I have a difficult time with them and often don't enjoy them. I sometimes read halfway through a book waiting for the author to begin making his or her point and realize the author is a fool, an idiot; or both. The book is then traded as quickly as possible.
Ted
-
lorax
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1316
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:48 pm
- Location: Ecuador, USDA Zone 13, at 10,000' of altitude
See, and for me part of the joy of reading philosophy or sociology is that exact realization....
That 1/2 ton is my reference library, almost exclusively. I left about 2 tons of fiction and non-reference behind, much as it pained me to do so.
And as to the keeping/not keeping: I'm a bibliophile from a family with at least 4 generations of bibliophiles. It would be very difficult for me to simply discard a book, especially since I don't purchase books lightly or frivolously. Normally, if I thought a book was important enough to buy it, I'm going to hang onto it. My mom, on the other hand, is a frivolous buyer of books, and she has no problem sending them along their way when they've outlived their usefulness.
I've also been cursed with an eidetic (photographic) memory, which means that once I've read it, I'll likely remember it for quite some time.
Marlin:
Once I've got it to the printers, would you be interested in a high-altitude cookbook focussing on both traditional Ecuadorean and US recipes?
That 1/2 ton is my reference library, almost exclusively. I left about 2 tons of fiction and non-reference behind, much as it pained me to do so.
And as to the keeping/not keeping: I'm a bibliophile from a family with at least 4 generations of bibliophiles. It would be very difficult for me to simply discard a book, especially since I don't purchase books lightly or frivolously. Normally, if I thought a book was important enough to buy it, I'm going to hang onto it. My mom, on the other hand, is a frivolous buyer of books, and she has no problem sending them along their way when they've outlived their usefulness.
I've also been cursed with an eidetic (photographic) memory, which means that once I've read it, I'll likely remember it for quite some time.
Marlin:
Once I've got it to the printers, would you be interested in a high-altitude cookbook focussing on both traditional Ecuadorean and US recipes?
I'm a selective eidetic. I can't remember titles of books or usually the Author, but I do remember the details. I have no control over it. My mind remembers what it wants to remember and forgets what it doesn't want to remember.
I had a teacher in Junior high who wanted to check if I had really read a book. She read a paragraph to me and asked me the page number in the book the paragraph came from. I told her the page number and she thought I was cheating somehow. She looked behind her to see if a mirror or something was on the wall behind her.
Ted
I had a teacher in Junior high who wanted to check if I had really read a book. She read a paragraph to me and asked me the page number in the book the paragraph came from. I told her the page number and she thought I was cheating somehow. She looked behind her to see if a mirror or something was on the wall behind her.
Ted
-
engineeredgarden
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 426
- Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 11:51 am
- Location: NW Alabama
-
Charlie MV
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 11:48 pm
I have read everything by McCullochs, both David and Coleen, James Mitchner, Jean Aeul, Herman Wouk, James Clavel, William Michael and kathleen Geer, William Sarabande, John Jakes, Cromwells, both Patricia and Bernard, Michael Crighton, John Grisham Robbert Tannenbaum, James Patterson, Jeffery and Michael Sharra, Robert Vaughan, Tim Lehey and Jerry Jennings, Pat Conroy [when want to I feel suicidal] Alex Haley, Charles Dickens ,Michael Connely and John Lescroart in 2010.
Out of all of these my favorite was a Colleen McCulloch series on Roman times starting about 50 years before the birth of Julius Caesar and ending at the end of Caesar Augustus rule. It was about 9 books and 8000 pages. I read it for the second time this year.
Just to make the bibliophiles cringe, I read Cleopatra's Memoirs by Margaret George. I read in bed. It was an over sized paperback and very unwieldy. I took a big kitchen knife and cut it in half to make it manageable. I usually keep favorites but I can tape it back together and pass it on if anybody's interested. The used book store isn't.
I read a lot and I manage to get through 3 or 4 online newspapers daily. Unlike the 08 republican VP candidate, I can name my favorites. I read Washington post and Wall street Journal for balance, NY times for in depth articles and The NY Post and State Record in Columbia for giggles.
I like well documented historical fiction and a bit of pulp fiction.
Out of all of these my favorite was a Colleen McCulloch series on Roman times starting about 50 years before the birth of Julius Caesar and ending at the end of Caesar Augustus rule. It was about 9 books and 8000 pages. I read it for the second time this year.
Just to make the bibliophiles cringe, I read Cleopatra's Memoirs by Margaret George. I read in bed. It was an over sized paperback and very unwieldy. I took a big kitchen knife and cut it in half to make it manageable. I usually keep favorites but I can tape it back together and pass it on if anybody's interested. The used book store isn't.
I read a lot and I manage to get through 3 or 4 online newspapers daily. Unlike the 08 republican VP candidate, I can name my favorites. I read Washington post and Wall street Journal for balance, NY times for in depth articles and The NY Post and State Record in Columbia for giggles.
I like well documented historical fiction and a bit of pulp fiction.
My reading likes have changed through the years. In my 20's, mysteries/romance novels.
Humor is always appreciated. I enjoyed "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Commitment". Author has an interesting writing style.
I enjoy historical fiction, nature, and reading for research on a topic.
Read "7 Daughters of Eve" this summer, which was very interesting how it traced our genetics, a lot through mitochondrial DNA of mother to daughter.
Love all sorts of gardening, landscaping, greenhouse books.
Have been drawn the spiritual/philosophical for decades. It feels often that the book finds me rather than the other way around. "Care of the Soul" by Thomas Moore is one of my favorites.
Right now I'm reading a newly translated book by Leo Tolstoy.
Also enjoy a wide range of magazines, from Better Homes and Gardens to Country Living to The Smithsonian.
Guess I just like to read.
Humor is always appreciated. I enjoyed "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Commitment". Author has an interesting writing style.
I enjoy historical fiction, nature, and reading for research on a topic.
Read "7 Daughters of Eve" this summer, which was very interesting how it traced our genetics, a lot through mitochondrial DNA of mother to daughter.
Love all sorts of gardening, landscaping, greenhouse books.
Have been drawn the spiritual/philosophical for decades. It feels often that the book finds me rather than the other way around. "Care of the Soul" by Thomas Moore is one of my favorites.
Right now I'm reading a newly translated book by Leo Tolstoy.
Also enjoy a wide range of magazines, from Better Homes and Gardens to Country Living to The Smithsonian.
Guess I just like to read.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
It's sort of a social network site, but about books. It's a place where you can post reviews of the books you've read/are reading and see what your "friends" are reading and what they think of it. I'm rainbowgardener there too!
Lots of manuals, tech books, books on doing things. Music books. A number of books on physics and a bout ten or so on relativity so far. A number on quantum physics. A bunch of books on different science. Lots of books on electronics and engineering. I love to read sci-fi when I can and mysteries. Quite a few books on photography art and architecture. And of course some on gardening. I read lots of magazines. Some of the ones I would recommend to gardeners are "Birds and Blooms" and "Country Living." I read a lot of things on line like how to places like this and history.
tomf wrote:Lots of manuals, tech books, books on doing things. Music books. A number of books on physics and a bout ten or so on relativity so far. A number on quantum physics. A bunch of books on different science. Lots of books on electronics and engineering. I love to read sci-fi when I can and mysteries. Quite a few books on photography art and architecture. And of course some on gardening. I read lots of magazines. Some of the ones I would recommend to gardeners are "Birds and Blooms" and "Country". I read a lot of things on line like how to places like this and history.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lots of manuals, tech books, books on doing things. Music books. A number of books on physics and a bout ten or so on relativity so far. A number on quantum physics. A bunch of books on different science."
Sorry that I didn't copy your quote correctly, tomf. I'll keep trying. .. But, have you read any of the quantum physics books that take it a level deeper like
"The Tao of Physics", "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" or "The Field" ? Some are new, some not, but I like the sciences, too, and found these very interesting.
And I agree on your magazine suggestions, too.
"Lots of manuals, tech books, books on doing things. Music books. A number of books on physics and a bout ten or so on relativity so far. A number on quantum physics. A bunch of books on different science."
Sorry that I didn't copy your quote correctly, tomf. I'll keep trying. .. But, have you read any of the quantum physics books that take it a level deeper like
"The Tao of Physics", "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" or "The Field" ? Some are new, some not, but I like the sciences, too, and found these very interesting.
And I agree on your magazine suggestions, too.
-
Runningtrails
- Senior Member
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:52 am
- Location: Barrie, Ontario,Canada
I read a lot. I love historical fiction (victorian and medieval mostly), also science fiction and fantasy. Gardening books, but I like the historical ones more than scientific or how-to variety. Seed catalogs.
I also read a lot of non-fiction. Whatever catches my interest or eye or was referred to me. Right now I'm reading a lot about weaving and native american stuff.
I usually read Pride and Prejudice once per year, but despite my English Lit degree, I don't crave reading the classics at this point in my life.
I also read a lot of non-fiction. Whatever catches my interest or eye or was referred to me. Right now I'm reading a lot about weaving and native american stuff.
I usually read Pride and Prejudice once per year, but despite my English Lit degree, I don't crave reading the classics at this point in my life.
I tend to read "how to" books after I start something and suddenly realize I am in way over my head (low level of knowledge). I use them as a life saver to keep from drowning. I tend to dive into projects instead of sticking my foot in to see how deep the water is.Runningtrails wrote:How-to books mostly. Stacks and stacks of them from the library on whatever subject I am doing at the moment.
I rarely have the time to read anything else.
Ted
-
Green Mantis
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 931
- Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:52 pm
- Location: Alberta, Canada zone 1a
Lorax, I am the same way, If I buy a book, it's one I am going to keep! My grandmother was a great reader, my husband's parents, and now our daughter.
I have a very hard time parting with books too. I REALLY hope they never stop making *real* books!!!!
Right now I am reading books by Francis Mayes, ( she wrote under the tuscan sun, Bella Tuscany) and a bunch more!!
It's winter and I need a shot of sun and warmth through the books!!!!
I have a very hard time parting with books too. I REALLY hope they never stop making *real* books!!!!
Right now I am reading books by Francis Mayes, ( she wrote under the tuscan sun, Bella Tuscany) and a bunch more!!
It's winter and I need a shot of sun and warmth through the books!!!!
Green mantis.. I loved Under the Tuscan Sun too (and the movie)
If you like nature you may like The Big Year , it was a fun read. Was also reading Feathers at the same tme, which made them both interesting.
For those liking historical fiction, one of my favorites is an older one, Pillars of the Earth.
How many of you book lovers have a different book going in different rooms?
And then maybe a favorite that you re-read all or favorite parts of ?
If you like nature you may like The Big Year , it was a fun read. Was also reading Feathers at the same tme, which made them both interesting.
For those liking historical fiction, one of my favorites is an older one, Pillars of the Earth.
How many of you book lovers have a different book going in different rooms?
And then maybe a favorite that you re-read all or favorite parts of ?
-
Charlie MV
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 11:48 pm
You need to take a look at Bernard Cromwell. He's a wonderful historical fiction writer. His Saxon king series, the Arthur series and the grail series of books are all about the medieval era. He is to the medieval era what Jeffery Sharra is to the American civil war era.petalfuzz wrote:I read a lot. I love historical fiction (victorian and medieval mostly), also science fiction and fantasy. Gardening books, but I like the historical ones more than scientific or how-to variety. Seed catalogs.
I also read a lot of non-fiction. Whatever catches my interest or eye or was referred to me. Right now I'm reading a lot about weaving and native american stuff.
I usually read Pride and Prejudice once per year, but despite my English Lit degree, I don't crave reading the classics at this point in my life.
-
PunkRotten
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1989
- Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
- Location: Monterey, CA.
-
!potatoes!
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1938
- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:13 pm
- Location: wnc - zones 6/7 line
lots.
aside from gardening/permaculture/etc references, and the field guides, oh, the field guides, there's all of SJ Gould's essays, lots of science fiction and fantasy, biographies, various mythologies, natural history stuff, dabblings in classics (for various given degrees of classic - years ago when I rode public tranportation in chicago, I read the inferno, the iliad, the odyssey, war and peace, and the entire lord of the rings trilogy in less than a month...I was on trains and busses too much...)also salman rushdie, bill bryson, ...
and more, and more.
including a shout-out to terry pratchett. dude's done some amazingly smart writing under the guise of goofiness.
aside from gardening/permaculture/etc references, and the field guides, oh, the field guides, there's all of SJ Gould's essays, lots of science fiction and fantasy, biographies, various mythologies, natural history stuff, dabblings in classics (for various given degrees of classic - years ago when I rode public tranportation in chicago, I read the inferno, the iliad, the odyssey, war and peace, and the entire lord of the rings trilogy in less than a month...I was on trains and busses too much...)also salman rushdie, bill bryson, ...
and more, and more.
including a shout-out to terry pratchett. dude's done some amazingly smart writing under the guise of goofiness.
-
Francis Barnswallow
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 696
- Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:28 pm
- Location: Orlando