Top 10 Books

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

I'm reading a history of Babylonia and I'm currently in a chapter on ancient literature. I may grab this book at some point. It has an interesting history. The majority of extant texts are from Ashurbanipals's (an Assyrian king) early first millennium library but there are fragments of older texts in Akkadian that date to the early 2nd millennium. The Akkadian work is actually based on 4 separate Sumerian stories. I didn't know that. I thought it was a single Sumerian tale. It appears to have been widely circulated as well. Fragments of the work have been found in Palestine and Turkey.

This is the world's first great work of literature. I plan on reading the Greek classics but I don't know what I'll pick up first.

[Peter1469]

I am currently reading the Landmark Thucydides.  It is a large tome.  Next on my list is the Landmark Herodotus. 

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Thucydides-Comprehensive-Guide-Peloponnesian/dp/0684827905

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories/dp/0375421092/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-9620857-3961404

[SDML]

I'm currently reading the latest novel by William Gibson, "Spook Country". It's loosely a follow-up of his last novel, "Pattern Recognition" (loose in the sense of all of Gibson's work). As such, I should have re-read "Pattern" first, but.....

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

I am currently reading the Landmark Thucydides.  It is a large tome.  Next on my list is the Landmark Herodotus. 

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Thucydides-Comprehensive-Guide-Peloponnesian/dp/0684827905

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories/dp/0375421092/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-9620857-3961404

Thucydides is considered one of the first true historians. Let me know how that is. My signature quote is actually a verse from the Peloponnesian Wars .

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

I'm currently reading the latest novel by William Gibson, "Spook Country". It's loosely a follow-up of his last novel, "Pattern Recognition" (loose in the sense of all of Gibson's work). As such, I should have re-read "Pattern" first, but.....

I can't remember what the last piece of fiction I read was. A Stephen King story, maybe? So much to read! I should add some fiction...

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Actually, I ordered The Iliad from The Folio Society. Instead of spending yet more money I should read that first.

[Peter1469]

I am currently reading the Landmark Thucydides.  It is a large tome.  Next on my list is the Landmark Herodotus. 

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Thucydides-Comprehensive-Guide-Peloponnesian/dp/0684827905

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories/dp/0375421092/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-9620857-3961404

Thucydides is considered one of the first true historians. Let me know how that is. My signature quote is actually a verse from the Peloponnesian Wars .

Yes he was.  I have the ebook version of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War but it is very hard to understand.  Historians are not sure whether this was the common style of the time, because his work is the only surviving Athenian literature.  And you can get a free ebook version.  But I recommend paying the money for the Landmark version- it is edited to include comments to make the text clear.  There are lots of maps; drawings; and special sections to describe things like how the phalanx works, how a galley is made, etc.  As you read it you will see clear parallels to today's wars: why do States go to war?  What are the fears and the motivations?  It seems to be eerily similar then and now. 

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

I am currently reading the Landmark Thucydides.  It is a large tome.  Next on my list is the Landmark Herodotus. 

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Thucydides-Comprehensive-Guide-Peloponnesian/dp/0684827905

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories/dp/0375421092/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-9620857-3961404

Thucydides is considered one of the first true historians. Let me know how that is. My signature quote is actually a verse from the Peloponnesian Wars .

Yes he was.  I have the ebook version of Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War but it is very hard to understand.  Historians are not sure whether this was the common style of the time, because his work is the only surviving Athenian literature.  And you can get a free ebook version.  But I recommend paying the money for the Landmark version- it is edited to include comments to make the text clear.  There are lots of maps; drawings; and special sections to describe things like how the phalanx works, how a galley is made, etc.  As you read it you will see clear parallels to today's wars: why do States go to war?  What are the fears and the motivations?  It seems to be eerily similar then and now. 

I guess it's a lot like reading Shakespeare in that regard. Now that you mention it, I hope my copy of The Iliad has comments or footnotes explaining any obscure language or references/allusions. That's cool that they inject some historical notes into it too.

I'm sure the parallels are there. The technology and context may change but our nature does not. So much to read...I'll save the links.

[SDML]

Stephen King? Blah. Here's some Gibson from the book I'm reading now:

"A nation ... consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, then that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation ... Are you really so scared of terrorists that you'll dismantle the structures that made America what it is? ... If you are, you let the terrorist win. Because that is exactly, specifically, his goal, his only goal: to frighten you into surrendering the rule of law. That's why they call him "terrorist" He uses terrifying threats to induce you to degrade your own society...."

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

The Guns of August stinks. It's almost like Maureen Dowd started writing about historical topics.

I still haven't swung by the book store to pick up some fiction. Will do. Or Amazon..whatever.

I think I may start The Story of the Confederacy by Robert Selph Henry. My knowledge of US history needs some work.

[Signe]

In no particular order:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt – Edmund Morris
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass
Profiles in Courage – John F. Kennedy
Robert Kennedy: His Life – Evan Thomas
John Adams – David McCullough
Truman – David McCullough
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells
The War of the Worlds – H. G. Wells
The Time Machine – H. G. Wells
The World Set Free – H. G. Wells
Select Stories of H. G. Wells
Franny and Zooey – J. D. Salinger
Nine Stories – J. D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
Inherit the Wind – Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
A Collection of Essays – George Orwell
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
The Odyssey – Homer
Republic – Plato
The Federalist Papers – James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay
Child of God – Cormac McCarthy
No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy

I know the list is long, but it should give you a decent idea of the kind of person I am, and how my mind works.

[conley]

Interesting fact about the Federalist Papers:

" Experienced leaders can certainly blunder if their minds have rigidified (see: Rumsfeld, Donald), but the records of leaders without long experience and prudence is not good. As George Will pointed out, the founders used the word “experience” 91 times in the Federalist Papers. Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared.

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness. "


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16brooks.html?em

[Wowster]

This thread is as dumb as the Palin generator thread. lol

[Signe]

This thread is as dumb as the Palin generator thread. lol

I guess you’re not too much into that book learnin’, huh?

[OswaldTheOsprey]

This thread is as dumb as the Palin generator thread. lol

I guess you’re not too much into that book learnin’, huh?

You've got the Wowster down pat!

OswaldTheOsprey