21–30 of 128 posts
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
A fascinating and intimate history about the people who developed particle physics and how it led to the atomic age. It really highlights what the scientific mindset is like.
Fiction :
Expeditionary Force series of books by Craig Alanson
I'm 12 books into this relatively new series and it is still going strong. If you like sci-fi and geopolitical dramas, this is the series for you.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’m feeling old, so I’ll add: Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote (1609! The more things change, the more they stay the same) Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (I thought I knew the story until I actually read the book—whoah, that opened my eyes to our relationship with technology and industry and how we use energy) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (from Blindboy’s podcast episode “Paddy Dr…
Can confirm, the novel is very unlike every film adaptation I'm aware of. It also, incredibly, hits its themes even harder than those do.
1) Collected Fictions by Borges
2) The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka
3) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
4) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
5) 9 Stories by J.D. Salinger
6) 60 Stories by Donald Barthelme
7) 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
8) The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman (more famously known for the Guns of August). Nonfiction, but really entertaining. A must read because it's insightful on how different but similar human beings can get. It's more than just a history imo. Also a period of European history people think is important, but rarely read up on.
So, would recommend depending on the individual - if you know you have an appetite for thick and detailed history books, this one is great. A sardonic and entertaining writing style for sure.
I will throw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series out there. It was good entertainment that challenged some of my notions about human nature. Nothing super profound but just enough to remain engaging beyond typical pop literature.
People take issue with them, but picking something off Adler's or Harvard's (five-foot-shelf) or Bloom's Great Books lists will almost never lead you wrong. But, here we go anyway (and yeah, some of these are just off those lists): 1) Shakespeare's big four tragedies are, in fact, out-fucking-standing. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. IMO Hamlet reads the best of those. Any would be fine to watch, as well, and ma…
Thanks for the recommendations. I’m feeling old, so I’ll add: Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote (1609! The more things change, the more they stay the same) Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (I thought I knew the story until I actually read the book—whoah, that opened my eyes to our relationship with technology and industry and how we use energy) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (from Blindboy’s podcast episode “Paddy Dr…
Will have to check out the others!