Books Saturnfan Read 2012, Plus The Rest Of Us

[saturnfan]

1. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
2. Outliers - Max Gladwell
3. Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt
4. The Bell Curve - Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein (new)
5. Jacksonian Era - Robert V. Remini (new)
6. What is history? - Edward Hallet Carr (new)


I am loving the fact that this thread has been named after me.

Anyways, the last three books I have read have all been great. However, one remains far more controversial than the rest. I don't want to hijack the thread into an IQ debate, but anyone interested in the intelligence debate should check out this book. Not sure if I accept all the conclusions, but it has made me more interested in the topic.

The other two books were read were read in preparation for my masters exams. One of my questions deals with Jacksonian personalities and rivalries (content, not historiography) and Remini, a distinguished historian of the Jacksonian period, has written an excellent summery of the period with an accompanying bibliographic essay.

The other book is a great introduction to the methodology of writing history. Carr was a little too sympathetic to Marx and Engels for my tastes, but overall made a lot of great observations about the nature of writing history.

[SwooshBear]

Over the summer I'll have more time to read what I want, but for now I'm stuck reading books for school. Finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I disliked the book at first but I started to slightly enjoy it more due to class discussions. Would I read it again or buy it? No, but it wasn't torture to read.

Reading The Kite Runner right now, and I'm enjoying it so far. Also, I'm excited to actually get through some of my books instead of books for school.

[o.pwuaioc]

I think I'm going to skip out all the books I've read for my studies, and just list the more accessible ones. Who really cares that I read Zaidman and Pantel's Religion in the Ancient Greek City?

Thus:

1. Bonfire of the Humanities by Hanson, Heath, and Thornton
2. Fashionable Nonsense by Sokal and Bricmont
3. Who Killed Homer by Hanson and Heath

Currently reading Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, which ought to be required reading for everyone.

[Michi]

1. Too Many Cooks-Rex Stout
2. The Doorbell Rang-Rex Stout
3. Fer-de-Lance-Rex Stout

The first Nero Wolfe book down. Working on the second book now. Well, technically it's the second half of the book since they printed the first two books together, but you know what I mean.

[SwooshBear]

1. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
2. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

I really liked the Kite Runner. Probably in the top 5 of the best books I've had to read for high school. It's a story about two boys who grow up in Afghanistan and how their lives turn out after certain events (not gonna spoil) happen during their childhood together. Some parts were a bit graphic, but other than that it was a good read and I recommend it.

[Michi]

Finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I disliked the book at first but I started to slightly enjoy it more due to class discussions. Would I read it again or buy it? No, but it wasn't torture to read.

That was probably one of the few books I didn't mind reading in school. Another was To Kill A Mockingbird. We had that one for summer reading. The first few chapters were kind of slow, but it picked up after that and I really enjoyed it.

[Pulsar_t]

[Key-Glyph]

I lurked a lot on 2011's thread but I totally want to participate this year.

1. The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches us About What it Means to be Human -- Brian Christian
2. I, Robot -- Isaac Asmiov
3. Seriously... I'm Kidding -- Ellen DeGeneres

Currently reading:
4. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind -- Julian Jaynes

CCFJR: Did you finish 11/22/63 already? Because that book is a ten-pounder.

[o.pwuaioc]

Currently reading:
4. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind -- Julian Jaynes

Ew! Ew! No! No! Why!? That book is, to quote Dawkins out of context, "complete rubbish."

[Key-Glyph]

Ew! Ew! No! No! Why!? That book is, to quote Dawkins out of context, "complete rubbish."

Because I like all books about the brain regardless of whether or not I agree with their theses, and because I try to read books myself before I pass final judgment on their content. Even when the book in question is Twilight. *shudder*