I'm reading "Against the Day" by Thomas Pynchon... definitely one of the best book (if not the best) during the past decade of my life.
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What book are you reading right now?
- Thread starter princealfie
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Michael Crichton's Next. Pretty good book all about genetic patents, transgenic experimentation, stuff like that. Of course his dialogue is awful (it always is), but the scenarios and questions he asks are all pretty cool.
A few books, Blink by Malcom Gladwell, about split-second and subconscious decisions and how they can affect our conscious decision making process as well as how accurate or inaccurate they are. And Politics Lost by Joe Klein, about how the eloquence and humanity of people like Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, or Bobby Kennedy have been replaced by politicians unwilling to show any personality or say anything that hasn't been tested on focus groups or pre-digested by their campaign staff - it's very well written, imo.
The World Is Flat-Thomas Friedman (finding it very repetitive, but I'm an econ major so maybe that's why I feel like he doesn't need to drill it into my head so much)
Next:
Tales of the South Pacific-Michener (friend gave it to me, must return it soon)
Communist Manifesto-Marx (He was good at predicting what capitalism will do, but bad at knowing whether those things were necessarily bad)
Next:
Tales of the South Pacific-Michener (friend gave it to me, must return it soon)
Communist Manifesto-Marx (He was good at predicting what capitalism will do, but bad at knowing whether those things were necessarily bad)
Mein Kampf.
To my credit, it's the 2nd biggest seller of all time.
Second to the Bible?
I'm not reading much of anything. Just finished grad school, and I'm tired! Save for a few articles or short stories on sailing and such adventures.
You can't have bought that in Ulster surely?
lol
If only more people had read this book here, maybe we wouldn't have had as many problems as we did/do Richard Dawkins put together a 2 part series on Channel 4 in January which I thought was very good, my friend decided to buy me this book along with one of his other books, 'The Blind Watchmaker' for Christmas, interesting stuff.
Yes, second only to the bible. Interesting contrast, huh? I wonder what else is up there... World Books are in almost every home, aren't they? And then The Purpose Driven Life is big... Anything else?
Gangster by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Apaches by Lorenzo Carcaterra, and
Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
I like Lorenzo Carcaterra books
Apaches by Lorenzo Carcaterra, and
Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
I like Lorenzo Carcaterra books
The Top 10 Bestselling Books of All Time:
1. The Bible
"No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. The Bible Societys attempt to calculate the number printed between 1816 and 1975 produced the figure of 2,458,000,000. A more recent survey, for the years up to 1992, put it closer to 6,000,000,000 in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the bestselling book of all time."
2. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book)
"Chairman Maos Little Red Book could scarcely fail to become a bestseller: between the years 1966 and 1971 it was compulsory for every Chinese adult to own a copy."
3. American Spelling Book by Noah Webster
"First published in 1783, this reference book by the American man of letters Noah Webster (1758-1843) remained a bestseller in the U.S. throughout the 19th century."
4. The Guinness Book of Records
"First published in 1955, The Guinness Book of Records stands out as the greatest contemporary publishing achievement. There have now been 37 editions in the UK alone (it was not published annually until 1964), as well as numerous foreign-language editions."
5. The McGuffey Readers by William Holmes McGuffey
"Published in numerous editions from 1853, some authorities have put the total sales of these educational textbooks, originally compiled by American anthologist William Holmes McGuffey (1800-73), as high as 122,000,000. It has also been claimed that 60,000,000 copies of the 1879 edition were printed, but - since this is some 10,000,000 more than the entire population of the U.S. at that time - the publishers must have been extremely optimistic about its success."
6. A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
"Now forgotten, Hubbards polemic on the subject of labor relations was published in 1899 and within a few years had achieved these phenomenal sales, largely because many American employers purchased bulk supplies to distribute to their employees."
7. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock
"Dr. Spocks 1946 manual became the bible of infant care for subsequent generations of parents. Most of the sales have been of the paperback edition of the book."
8. World Almanac
"Having been published annually since 1868 (with a break from 1876 to 1886), this wide-ranging reference book has remained a constant bestseller ever since."
9. The Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
"This tale of sex, violence, and drugs by Jacqueline Susann (1921-74), first published in 1966, is perhaps surprisingly the worlds bestselling novel. Margaret Mitchells Gone With the Wind, which has achieved sales approaching 28,000,000, is its closest rival."
10. In His Steps: "What Would Jesus Do?" by Rev. Charles Monroe Sheldon
"Although virtually unknown today, American clergyman Charles Sheldon (1857-1946) achieved fame and fortune with this 1896 instructive religious treatise on moral dilemnas."
Source: http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/bestsellerFARQ.html
BUT! That list differs from this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
I was simply going off of the site I got it from: http://www.hitler.org/writings/
Which states:
Mein Kampf - Hitler's Autobiography, written in Landsberg prison after the putsch and exceeded in popularity by only the Bible.
1. The Bible
"No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. The Bible Societys attempt to calculate the number printed between 1816 and 1975 produced the figure of 2,458,000,000. A more recent survey, for the years up to 1992, put it closer to 6,000,000,000 in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the bestselling book of all time."
2. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book)
"Chairman Maos Little Red Book could scarcely fail to become a bestseller: between the years 1966 and 1971 it was compulsory for every Chinese adult to own a copy."
3. American Spelling Book by Noah Webster
"First published in 1783, this reference book by the American man of letters Noah Webster (1758-1843) remained a bestseller in the U.S. throughout the 19th century."
4. The Guinness Book of Records
"First published in 1955, The Guinness Book of Records stands out as the greatest contemporary publishing achievement. There have now been 37 editions in the UK alone (it was not published annually until 1964), as well as numerous foreign-language editions."
5. The McGuffey Readers by William Holmes McGuffey
"Published in numerous editions from 1853, some authorities have put the total sales of these educational textbooks, originally compiled by American anthologist William Holmes McGuffey (1800-73), as high as 122,000,000. It has also been claimed that 60,000,000 copies of the 1879 edition were printed, but - since this is some 10,000,000 more than the entire population of the U.S. at that time - the publishers must have been extremely optimistic about its success."
6. A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
"Now forgotten, Hubbards polemic on the subject of labor relations was published in 1899 and within a few years had achieved these phenomenal sales, largely because many American employers purchased bulk supplies to distribute to their employees."
7. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock
"Dr. Spocks 1946 manual became the bible of infant care for subsequent generations of parents. Most of the sales have been of the paperback edition of the book."
8. World Almanac
"Having been published annually since 1868 (with a break from 1876 to 1886), this wide-ranging reference book has remained a constant bestseller ever since."
9. The Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
"This tale of sex, violence, and drugs by Jacqueline Susann (1921-74), first published in 1966, is perhaps surprisingly the worlds bestselling novel. Margaret Mitchells Gone With the Wind, which has achieved sales approaching 28,000,000, is its closest rival."
10. In His Steps: "What Would Jesus Do?" by Rev. Charles Monroe Sheldon
"Although virtually unknown today, American clergyman Charles Sheldon (1857-1946) achieved fame and fortune with this 1896 instructive religious treatise on moral dilemnas."
Source: http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/bestsellerFARQ.html
BUT! That list differs from this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
I was simply going off of the site I got it from: http://www.hitler.org/writings/
Which states:
Mein Kampf - Hitler's Autobiography, written in Landsberg prison after the putsch and exceeded in popularity by only the Bible.
Just finished "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespeare, going to re-read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Kundera one of these days.
Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson, ony 600 pages left to go, followed by 2 more books in the series
Ahh, working your way through the tower. Might want to read Hearts in Atlantis before the last book. Fills in some details on one of the characters.
Ahh, working your way through the tower. Might want to read Hearts in Atlantis before the last book. Fills in some details on one of the characters.
"The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good"
A mixed bag of stuff right now:
Just starting "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by Joyce
Still working through "The New Spaniards" by John Hooper
And listening to "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris
Just starting "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by Joyce
Still working through "The New Spaniards" by John Hooper
And listening to "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" by Amy Sedaris
"The Emporers of Chocolate" - facinating read about the history of candy and chocolate in the US and the behind the scenes itidbits on the Mars and Hershey empires.