Does anyone read? Part II

[piqaboo]

Reread The Andromeda Strain. Got quite annoyed w Michael Crichton more than once.

Have previously read Keeper of Cats by Elizabeth Boyer, so was looking forward to The Wizard and the Warlock . Feh.
Nothing new except the Scandinavian setting, and the editor hadnt done his job, so there were sloppy inconsistencies all through-out. Disappointing.
The effect of sunlight summer vs permadark winter on the waging of war was interesting tho.

Dragon's Fat Cat - still hilarious.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Skippyjon Jones! Actually, there are several of them. Howlingly funny childrens books. All parents, get them! Read them! To the kids and yourselves!

I wanna be a Los Chimichango.

[Giant Communist Robot]

"A Captain's Duty," Phillips

Phillips tells his story: captain of a ship attacked by Somali pirates, he exchanged himself for guaranteed safety for his crew. In the end, Navy Seals took care of the pirates and rescued Phillips.

"Extreme Stars," Kaler

Really about stellar evolution.

"You Must Remember This," Dolby

mnemonics.

"Blind Descent," Tabor

Story of two cave explorers with different approaches and similar goals. I had no idea cave exploration was so dangerous. Everytime they go to that cave in Mexico someone dies.

"The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur," Peloza

Many adapted recipes

"The New Book of Lists," Wallechinsky and Wallace

Trivia

"Hawaii Plantations Pay System," Kaukali and Subica

Photos and facts from the old days.

"Saturn," Mortillaro

New information about Saturn

"The Complete Chile Pepper Book," DeWitt and Bosland

These guys know their stuff. I'm gonna grow some of my own.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Great Recession," Gorman

Guide.

"The Battle of Nu' uana 1795," Dukas

A guide complete with maps and descriptions of battles from Kamehameha's invasion of Oahu. Wander around Honolulu and visit the battle sites. Then, up to Nu'uanu where Kamehameha threw some 400 Oahu warriors off the 2,500 foot cliffs.

"Ant Encounters," Gordon

Colony behavior, etc. Just how do ants get things done without some leader to tell them what to do? This sounds like it could have been a model for Marx.

"Everyone Communicates, Few Connect," Maxwell

This is how effective people communicate? OK.

"Shore Fishes of Hawaii," Randall

Why no tilapia listed he'ah? I see them in the streams of Aiea.

[Shapley]

["Shore Fishes of Hawaii," Randall

Why no tilapia listed he'ah? I see them in the streams of Aiea.

Aren't they called by another name? Cichlid's or some such?

I know Mahi-Mahi are commonly called 'dolphin'. Restaurants and stores call them 'Mahi-Mahi' because people get ballistic about them serving dolphin. Apparently a lot of people are not aware that there are both sea mammals and fish that are called 'dolphins', and the Mahi-Mahi are the non-endangered fish variety.

[Giant Communist Robot]

I found the problem. Tilapia are fresh water fish, and the book is shore fish. I'd always assumed that those streams were rather brackish and the tilapia swam in from the ocean. Not so. It's really quite surprising how widespread tilapia are here considering the streams are so anemic.

[Schmeelkie]

Skippyjon Jones! Actually, there are several of them. Howlingly funny childrens books. All parents, get them! Read them! To the kids and yourselves!

I wanna be a Los Chimichango.

Picked up the first one at the library this weekend - Holy Frijoles, it's funny! And I get to have fun with a Spanish accent! Thanks for the recommendation! Bella loves it.

Just finished half reading to Pumpkin - he read a bunch himself (I kept having to catch up), The Tail of Emily Windsnap. Fun book - mermaid fantasy - he said his K or 1st grade teacher had read some of it to his class - he noticed the audio version in the library, so we found the book.

I'm rereading Orson Scott Card's Empire as I picked up the sequel Hidden Empire a week or so ago. Started reading sequel and thought, as it's been a couple of years, it might make more sense to reread the first book to get reoriented. I've read enough to be reoriented, but can't stop reading anyway. Haven't read a Card book I don't like yet... Also got Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys - he's a quirky writer - I read Stardust recently, thought I'd try another...

[Giant Communist Robot]

"A beginner's Guide to Reality," Baggott

I had low expectations for this book, but I liked it more than I thought I would. Most of the book is long and tedious discussions of how philosophers from the past looked at reality. The author likes to talk a lot about movies, too. The good part begins when he comes to the Copenhagen Interpretation; where Pauli, Bohr, and Heisenberg came to consensus about the relationship between quantum theory and physical reality. There's also a small amount on local realism (which is what most people believe). A fair sized section on Bell's Inequality, but barely a mention of the Bell-Aspect experiment--which nailed it for me.

I remember, while taking a break from my job as a lowly entry level manager for a major hotel chain during the 70's, reading about Bell experiments. I was shocked. When I read about Aspect's experiments, I was convinced that reality isn't much like we think it is, and local realism was wrong. As Einstein said

Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one

[jamiebk]

Currently reading "The last Dive". A riveting account of a father/son dive team who died researching a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. They were mentioned in the prior book called "Shadow Divers" which is the story of John Chatterton and Richie Kolar...the guys who found the sub. The father/son team was aboard the search vessel and perished on what could have only been called a crazy risky dive to 230 feet to the sub.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Currently reading "The last Dive". A riveting account of a father/son dive team who died researching a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. They were mentioned in the prior book called "Shadow Divers" which is the story of John Chatterton and Richie Kolar...the guys who found the sub. The father/son team was aboard the search vessel and perished on what could have only been called a crazy risky dive to 230 feet to the sub.

I read Shadow Divers and I remember that Father/Son incident. Some accident and they had to surface quickly or drown; the father gave his life trying to save his son, but the bends got them both. The father died on the dive boat and the son, I think, in the helicopter on its way to the hospital.

[Giant Communist Robot]

The author of Shadow Divers also wrote a book about the Three Stooges. I read that one, too.

[DavidS]

The father/son team was aboard the search vessel and perished on what could have only been called a crazy risky dive to 230 feet to the sub.

The underwater version of Daedalos and Icarus.

[Schmeelkie]

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys was a riot - HIGHLY Recommended! Picked up his American Gods at the library - happy to see Mr. Nancy make an appearance. The idea being that when people immigrated to America, they brought their gods with them, but now new American gods are appearing and are threatening the olds gods. This is much more serious, but with some funny bits. It's also quite graphic - both in violence and sex, so be warned. It's a little too much for me at times, but on the other hand, I really want to find out where he's going with this (and what other old gods we'll meet), so I'm continuing to read. Have to keep reading to see what other impossible sounding things he can come up with - my favorite so far being the wake for the leprechaun being held in the funeral home owned by three Egyptian gods (Mr. Jacquel/Anubis, Mr. Ibis/Thoth, and a cat who might be Isis, in Cairo, MS) where the leprechaun's ghost keeps interrupting the story of his life while helping to finish some Jameson's whiskey. At this point, our mere-mortal protagonist is just going with the flow and so is the reader.

[Giant Communist Robot]

The underwater version of Daedalos and Icarus.

I've always said we are Greek by proxy.

[piqaboo]

Rereading Patrick O'Brian's Aubry/Maturin series.
I cant put them down. I'm glad I've done some sailing so its not complete gibberish, and I've got the globe at my side, but
I am being lazy w unfamiliar non-nautical vocab. I could really extend my vocabulary if I kept www.dictionary.com open too.

[DavidS]

I've always said we are Greek by proxy.

Obviously, with towns named Philadelphia, Athens, Memphis...

[DavidS]

Rereading Patrick O'Brian's Aubry/Maturin series.
I cant put them down. I'm glad I've done some sailing so its not complete gibberish, and I've got the globe at my side, but
I am being lazy w unfamiliar non-nautical vocab. I could really extend my vocabulary if I kept http://www.dictionary.com open too.

Hey, thanks Piq for the dictionary link - I will definitely find it very useful and interesting.

[Giant Communist Robot]

I've always said we are Greek by proxy.

Obviously, with towns named Philadelphia, Athens, Memphis...

actually I meant Western civilization

[jamiebk]

I've always said we are Greek by proxy.

Obviously, with towns named Philadelphia, Athens, Memphis...

actually I meant Western civilization

LOL

[Shapley]

An Island To Oneself by Tom Neale.

Mr. Neal spent a total of six years, in two visits of three years each, on the atoll of Suvarov in the South Pacific. Moving into a shack left behind by aircraft spotters who had been stationed there during the war, he settled into the lonely life he preferred. He was forced to evacuate due to a back injury after three years, and had to wait six years until the opportunity returned presented itself.

He describes his longing to begin his adventure, the preparations he made before going, and the beauty and drudgery necessary to live his dream. All in all, an enjoyable read.

While I was in Hawaii, I also picked up the five volume set War In The Pacific by Brig. Gen. Jerome T. Hagen (Ret.). I am only part way through the first volume, but it has been quite interesting. I had the opportunity to meet Gen. Hagen and to have him sign my copies (he shipped four of the volumes to my home, so I only had to carry vol. 1 with me as I traveled).

Originally started as a series of newspaper ariticles which ran to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, each chapter is a separate article on an event or aspect of the war. It consists of a lot of recounting of casualty numbers, but he pulls no punches in unmasking some of the fictions that have surrounded the war. I found the chapter on the U.S.S. Juneau, in which the five Sullivan brothers died, particularly interesting. I had not heard before that one of the brothers had survived the sinking, only to perish when the survivors were left unaided for days in their rafts with no food or water. George Sullivan, driven mad after five days afloat with no food or water, tried to swim to a non-existent island and, like so many of the other survivors of the sinking, was devoured by sharks.

The Juneau was in the company of other ships, including the U.S.S. Helena, but they steamed on after her sinking, having scanned the area with binoculars and reporting no survivors. A PBY Catalina saw the survivors and, without breaking radio silence signalled the Helena of the existince of some 150 survivors. The Helena acknowledged the signal, but steamed on. Three days later, the same PBY again spotted the survivors, now only about 100. Unable to break radio silence, he reported their sighting upon return to base. The report was filed as 'routine', and no effort to recover the survivors was made. Finally, after a third report by the PBY of the presence of survivors still in the water, rescue efforts were made. Only ten were found. The Captain of the Helena was instantly releived of command, and other heads reported rolled. The pilot of the PBY was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the intelligence officer with whom he filed the report was, according to Gen. Hagen "never heard from again".

[Giant Communist Robot]

All National Academies Press PDFs are downloadable for free now. They are the publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, etc., etc.