What are you currently reading?

[thomez]

Post what it is, what it's about, your progress so far, maybe why you are reading it (work?school?pleasure?) and what you think of it.

Myself:

The World Is Flat
by Thomas L. Friedman (NYT)

about: modern globalization (past 15 years)

progress: on page 81 of 469

why: pleasure/knowledge

so far: pretty good with solid points and analysis of the new "flat" world and how it came about

[thomez]

up to page 103, time for bed

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by thomez

Post what it is, what it's about, your progress so far, maybe why you are reading it (work?school?pleasure?) and what you think of it.

The Fountainhead
by Ayn Rand

about: architecture/novel

progress: 25 pages into it (just started)

why: pleasure

so far: she and i have very similar perspectives of life as we know it. she could very quickly become my favorite author

[Slopsy]

Yeah I've heard that's a really good book.

Friedman wrote a book a while back called From Beruit to Jerusalem, have you read it? I would definitely recommend it (I have to confess it's been some time since I read it, but I recall really enjoying it). Brilliantly written, especially his first hand account of being a correspondent in Beruit during the civil war. Really good if you want some more background on events unfolding in Lebanon.

Personally, I'm reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. Basically the author tells of being sent into developing countries, convincing them (by tweaking the economic forecasts) to take on loans e.g. World Bank for massive development projects thereby giving the US political and economic leverage over highly indebted countries. He works under the guise of a corporation (MAIN) which keeps his actions at arms length from the government (and hence accountability, congressional oversight etc).

I'm really struggling to get through this book. It reads like a conspiracy theory. I'm very suspicious of books that give a one line rant, in this case the "US as Evil Empire" line, without even attempting to look like a balanced critique. It feels like it is catering for the anti-US, anti-globalisation crowd, but preaching to the converted rather than offering a rational argument(backed by evidence) to those who do not necessarily share those views. Think I'll stick to Chomsky for my left-wing perspective in future.

Anyway, anyone else read this? What do you think? (sorry if this has already come up as a seperate thread)

[Publius]

'Financial Founding Fathers' ... I've read the introduction. Leaving for work, I'll post more about the book when I get home tonight.

[Ardentfrost]

No time for books right now

I want to read Freakanomics though, that'll probably be my next book

[thomez]

Originally Posted by Slopsy

Friedman wrote a book a while back called From Beruit to Jerusalem, have you read it?

that was his first book in 1988 - haven't read it but I might try to - I also have "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" of his that I haven't read... I'm gonna be on a Friedman spree

[nerfball]

"End of Faith" - Sam Harris

this book is saying everything I have thought about religion and wanted to say out loud for years! I'm loving every minute of it.

[nerfball]

if anyone is insterested... Sam Harris, author of "End Of Faith", gives a speech at a Synagogue. approx. 90min.

http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=59050746

I would invte you to download the audio and take a listen. it was a good discussion.

IBclusterfuck

[IminWonderland]

The last book I read was Memoirs of a Geisha.

The last text book I got through was the Norton Anthology of American Literature before 1850.

I will have a nice reading list in 3 weeks when the Fall semester begins...

I am taking:

American Literature Twain to Modern
A Class on John Milton (Paradise Lost for the WIN!)
The English Novel through Jane Austen
Contemporary Novels in Enlish (This one I can't wait for.)
and the Romantic Movement in English Literature


I'll have more time for some recreational stuff after I get my B.A. this January...

[beez]

'Unsanctifying Human Life' by Peter Singer ed. Helga Kruhe
- good bioethics reading although the arguments against factory farming are pretty weak, IMO.

'Memory, Brain, and Belief' ed. Elaine Scarry and Daniel L. Schacter.
- Often dry but interesting if you're into cognitive science.

[7960]

Getting to Yes

about: principled negotiation, negotiating for everyone to win

progress: read it, re-reading it

why: boss said "you should read this" after someone said something pretty fucking dumb and I said "you're wrong" and he said "but, but........" and I said "no, you're just wrong. We're doing it this way." Apparently my new boss doesn't like my negotiating style

so far: sucks. Well, it's ok, but it's all soft skills and those suck, so it sucks by proxy.

[Publius]

"Financial Founding Fathers"

When you think of the founding fathers, you think of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin—exceptional minds and matchless statesmen who led the colonies to a seemingly impossible victory over the British and established the constitutional and legal framework for our democratic government. But the American Revolution was about far more than freedom and liberty. It was about economics as well.
Robert E. Wright and David J. Cowen here chronicle how a different group of founding fathers forged the wealth and institutions necessary to transform the American colonies from a diffuse alliance of contending business interests into one cohesive economic superpower. From Alexander Hamilton to Andrew Jackson, the authors focus on the lives of nine Americans in particular—some famous, some unknown, others misunderstood, but all among our nation’s financial founding fathers. Such men were instrumental in creating and nurturing a financial system that drove economic growth in the nascent United States because they were quick to realize that wealth was as crucial as the Constitution in securing the blessings of liberty and promoting the general welfare. The astonishing economic development made possible by our financial founding fathers was indispensable to the preservation of national unity and of support for a government that was then still a profoundly radical and delicate political experiment.

Grand in scope and vision, Financial Founding Fathers is an entertaining and inspiring history of the men who made America rich and steered her toward greatness.

[thatguyoverthere]

2/3rd's through John Erlichmann's memoirs "The Nixon Years." Yowza!

[Stylerod]

Motorcylist

[6SpeedTA95]

Fixing to read the Communist Manifesto again, followed by Wealth of Nations.