Great Books you've probably never heard of or read

Quote: Nareed

You're welcome. Let me know how it goes.

There's a third Bryson book called "At Home," which is a history of the home and the things found in it. Did you know at one time homes had no bathrooms? And that's' the least of it. But the limited focus renders it interesting mostly if you care about daily life in the old days.

Yesterday I downloaded George Gamow's "Mr. Tompkins in Paperback." The idea here is to explain modern physics, in particular relativity and quantum mechanics, by making them work in the macroscopic, slow realm we inhabit. For example, what if the speed of light were 15 miles per hour? Things like that. I've read snippets here and there and found them most interesting. I wonder why no one's made a movie of it yet, specifically why Disney himself never did...

"At Home" is one I would also recommend. It is fascinating. As Nareed said, it can get a bit bogged down in arcana, but accept it for the leisurely journey that it is, and Bryson's folksy style will get you through knowing more about how we have come to where we are now.

I will now recommend Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason, by far the best Vietnam War memoir. BY FAR. I don't often reread books. I've read this one at least five times since it was originally published in '83.

Quote:

A true story from the battlefield that faithfully portrays the horror, the madness, and the trauma of the Vietnam War

More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.

At Amazon it gets 256 5 star reviews, 32 4 star, 2 3 star, 1 2 star, and a 1 star review that praises it to high heaven, a mistake that should have been the 257th 5 star. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Quote: Mosca

"At Home" is one I would also recommend. It is fascinating. As Nareed said, it can get a bit bogged down in arcana, but accept it for the leisurely journey that it is, and Bryson's folksy style will get you through knowing more about how we have come to where we are now.

I read it after going through a Great Courses series on "Daily Life in the Ancient World." I was interested in the subject, you see. As fascinating as reading about the great sweeps of history, the history-making events on history for lack of a better term, the one thing rarely mentioned is how ordinary people went about their daily lives.

About Bryson, once I'm done with Gamow's book, I'll look up whether Bryson has written more on history. I've exhausted all there is in audio form, but as yet not all books make it to Audible.

Quote: Nareed

I read it after going through a Great Courses series on "Daily Life in the Ancient World." I was interested in the subject, you see. As fascinating as reading about the great sweeps of history, the history-making events on history for lack of a better term, the one thing rarely mentioned is how ordinary people went about their daily lives.

About Bryson, once I'm done with Gamow's book, I'll look up whether Bryson has written more on history. I've exhausted all there is in audio form, but as yet not all books make it to Audible.

Nareed, there is a whole series of scholarly works by Phillippe Ariés: A History of Private Life. I read the first one, Volume I: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. It was sometimes fascinating, sometimes a slog, but always new information for me. Unfortunately these are books that, as you've said, aren't yet on Audible. Read the reviews and see what you think.

Quote: Mosca

Unfortunately these are books that, as you've said, aren't yet on Audible. Read the reviews and see what you think.

Thanks for the tip.

I prefer audio books for non-fiction because I can focus on it while driving, cooking, travelling, waiting and working out. So my "reading" time is greatly expanded. But I can read the regular way.

Quote: Nareed

There's a third Bryson book called "At Home," which is a history of the home and the things found in it. Did you know at one time homes had no bathrooms? And that's' the least of it. But the limited focus renders it interesting mostly if you care about daily life in the old days.

No bathrooms ... and what many people think were soup turines were actually chamber pots.
Water inside the home was often resisted. And many women were opposed to the suffrage movement.

A writers guide to ordinary life showing wages, dress, tools, vocabulary and prices of ordinary items is an interesting outlook on our nation. When six pence was an average daily wage its hard to know how it would be apportioned, without reference to the song industry.

BTW for those interested in history, I can't recommend The Great Courses enough.

Their lecture series are quite pricey, but on Audible they're available for a lot less. Of course, through Audible you get only audio. You don't get video, course guides, reading lists and all that. But for most things that's enough. Currently I pay one credit per title, which amounts to $15 paid as a monthly subscription fee (well worth it). I've bought additional credits now and then, too, at a discount (they're offered sometimes).

I've listened to one series on Relativity and Quantum physics, too. it was good, but the lecturer does make many references to the unavailable material.

Just bought 2 books for my kindle due to suggestions here

The End of Eternity. Thanks Nareed. I probabbly read this allready but dont remember it at all. If I dont remember, then its a new Asimov classic to enjoy. Its considered an Asimov masterpeice so really looking forward to it.
Chickenhawk. Thanks Mosca. Looks like a fun read,

Got a flight to Vegas Saturday AM from Tampa so all set for reading material on the plane :-)

Quote: terapined

The End of Eternity. Thanks Nareed. I probabbly read this allready but dont remember it at all.

It's a hard book to forget, as it is quite unique in its treatment of time travel.

When you're done, if you like it and are interested, There is an earlier, shorter, much poorer version of it, written as a novella for the pulps. It can be found in a book called "Alternate Asimovs."

I'm halfway done with season 4 of Babylon 5. By this point, most of the questions raised through the series have been answered. But in typical fashion new questions arise. More new questions come up as the series wraps up in 1.5 more seasons.

Some of the answers are found in 11 books written after the series wrapped up. These are:

"To Dream in the City of Sorrows," here we see what exactly Jeffrey Sinclair did after he arrived in Minbar. We get Marcus' origin story, so to speak, plus some revelations about the coming war and its protagonists.

"The Shadow Within." I don't recommend this one as a novel, but it tells what happened when the Icarus landed in Z'ha'dum. You get to see Morden pre-Babylon 5.

The Psi-Corps trilogy. In brief it tells about the first telepaths, how the psi-corps forms, and eventually what happens with Alfred Bester. I don't much care for it either.

The Centauri trilogy. Without spoilers: what happens to Vir, Londo and Centauri Prime after the series is over.

The Technomage trilogy. By far the best work. This is the crown jewel. Aside from telling you all you ever wanted to know about the technomages (but were afraid to ask), we get a great deal about Kosh and through him about the Vorlons. We get a lot about Ana after Z'ha'dum, alas. We get to visit what I call a Shadow interface world (where they deal with other races), and we get to see the parts of Z'ha'dum not shown to Sheridan in the show. Very good read all around. Very interesting new characters, too.

I always wondered what Mark Twain's voice
sounded like, but no recording of him
survived. But there was a young man who
lived next door who became a great
actor and would impressions of Twain.
It's exactly like I thought it would be, gave
me goose bumps.