Whatcha reading?

When summer approaches, I always think of a teacher I had in high school who rhapsodized about reading War and Peace. He said he loved it so much, as he approached the end he rationed the pages to a set number per day to make it last longer. Wouldn't it be great to have a week or two (or a month or two) to do nothing but read War and Peace, and love it that much?

Truth is, I can't sit still for that long. The older I get the antsier I get. So I guess that's why I have a tendency to read several books at the same time. Well, not literally. That would be clumsy. What I mean is there are always three or four books around with dogears in them. Well, not literally. The dog would never go for that.

At the moment, here's the lineup:
The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki. This is my new Tipping Point book experience, the kind you look forward to at the end of the day, always some revelation, and you want to tell everybody about it.

I, Claudius by Robert Graves. When the HBO series Rome ended I was headed for a some serious withdrawal so quickly started this to take the edge off. It's intriguing but needs a little more zip. Needs Titus Pullo to bite somebody's tongue off. Should pick up when Caligulua shows up.

A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization by Jonathan Kirsch. I learned that our modern concept of Satan was entirely created by the nutjob who wrote Revelations, and that the Bible would be a lot more fun if they had just left this part out. I blame the editor. Probably an alcoholic.

So what are you reading?...

Comments

Bryce said…
I read a brief from The Wisdom of Crowds, and immediately lost interest. In it the author used a popular TV game show to illustrate a point. Each time he put a "?" after Who Wants to be a Millionaire, even though the TV show (which I never watched) did not have a "?" in its official title. I imagine because it was rhetorical. While that may not have tainted the author's viewpoint on a bigger issue, I expect better attention to detail.
May 22, 2007 at 1:35 PM
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