What are you reading and book reviews

[SCM]

Halfway through Robert Jordans - A Crown of Swords Wheel of Time book and slowly getting closer to catching up before buying the newly released book 12 in the series

[Mondo]

Just finished One Day by David Nicholls - It follows a story of a boy and girl from the last day in university in 1988 over the course of 20 years. The book takes you through the times in the late 80's, through the 90's and early 2000's. The characters just jump out at you and really well drawn, the writing is funny and I found myself smiling and laughing at times out loud.

Well worth a read, it's like I have 2 new friends from reading the book. No doubt this will be made into a movie when the book is published in America, they'll make it set in NYC or Chicago or something.

What more can I say..... i just finished it and I am still kinda speechless.

[Glaucus]

The Maya

"A clear and intelligent description of the development and organization of Maya civilization." —Natural History

The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. In these pages Professor Coe distills a lifetime's scholarship for the general reader and student.

Since the publication of the sixth edition of The Maya, new sites have been uncovered and further excavations in old sites have proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Among the many new discoveries is the chance find of extraordinary murals dating to ca. AD 100 at San Bartolo in the Petén. New epigraphic, archaeological, and osteological research has thrown light on the identity of the "founding fathers" of such great sites as Tikal and Copan, and their close affiliation with Teotihuacan in central Mexico. The previously little known center of Ek' Balam in northeastern Yucatan has turned out to be a regional kingdom of major importance, with extraordinary stucco reliefs and a plethora of painted inscriptions.

It has now become apparent that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preclassic period, above all in the Mirador Basin of northern Guatemala, where the builders of gigantic ancient cities (interconnected by causeways) erected the world's largest pyramid as early as 200 BC. All of these finds suggest that we must rethink what we mean by "Classic."

The seventh edition also presents new evidence for the use of wetlands by the Classic Maya, and fresh perspectives on the catastrophic demise of Classic civilization by the close of the ninth century. 175 illustrations, 17 in color.

Only twenty pages in so not sure what it's like yet.

[Rich_L]

Manage to pick up all six of the Dune books at the awesome little local 2nd hand bookshop for £10, they do a good deal, £2 each or 5 for £8.

Just finishing No 5, quite enjoying them, sometimes they go a bit weird but the whole mythology is quite cool

Also if you like cooking, Heat by Bill Burford is a fun read

[Jonny69]

I am reading Materials and the Environment, Ashby, 2009. Materials book with environmental content as per current scientific direction.

[Kitten]

Originally Posted by Mondo

Just finished One Day by David Nicholls - It follows a story of a boy and girl from the last day in university in 1988 over the course of 20 years. The book takes you through the times in the late 80's, through the 90's and early 2000's. The characters just jump out at you and really well drawn, the writing is funny and I found myself smiling and laughing at times out loud.

Well worth a read, it's like I have 2 new friends from reading the book. No doubt this will be made into a movie when the book is published in America, they'll make it set in NYC or Chicago or something.

What more can I say..... i just finished it and I am still kinda speechless.

excellent review! Shall be keeping an eye out for this.

Just read 'A prayer for Owen Meany'. Very odd, but fabulous book. Hard work, but well worth it.

[Jonny69]

I am just starting Prosperity Without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet by Tim Jackson.

This is a pretty controversial brand new book on post-capitalist economics and sustainable development by Professor Tim Jackson of Surrey University. It explains the economics of how CO2 emissions and resource depletion are a result of capitalisation and how technology can't resolve current global problems.

I did a masters course module on this as part of my doctorate but I want to get a better understanding of this subject so I've got the book. At the moment when I get into environmental related conversations with people I trip up when I bring this subject up because I can't explain it well enough and it's all pretty new material. Basically I need to be able to explain it in simple terms and not be branded a socialist outlaw

[Jonny69]

I'm struggling a bit with the economics side of things. Economies are a lot more complex than we see them. So I've had to look a bit closer at capitalism and why economic growth matters to it.

So we have Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity by William Baumol

Only got two chapters in an ebrary format as there's no point reading the whole book. 2. Capitalism: the different types and their impacts on growth and 4. Why economic growth matters should do the trick.

[Glaucus]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

It explains the economics of how CO2 emissions and resource depletion are a result of capitalisation and how technology can't resolve current global problems.

Thing is I expect (although I haven't even looked a it) that it forgets things like renewable resources and space mining. There isn't finite resources and is just a matter of technology and price before we start tapping other stuff.

[Jonny69]

No it doesn't, renewable resources become finite when they are over-exploited and technology by itself can't resolve current global problems, especially with a population this size. Here isn't the place to discuss it though, we should start a new thread for that