Halfway down the Danube

I am not at home near my book collection but off the top of my head here are some potentially engaging books for you to consider.

In the non-fiction/pseudo fiction catagory

"Longitude" by Dava Sobel. Excellent historical research flushed out and interpersed into a good story.

"Eight habits of the heart :the timeless values that build strong communities--within our homes and our lives" by Clifton Taulbert, caught my eye in an airport and it was filled with insights and universal wisdom from the fasinating perspective of a black man who grew up in the segragated south. But the truths he discusses are cross cultural.

In the fiction catagory:

In the biology and what makes a human theme...

Jean M Auel's book "Clan of the Cave Bear" has great character development amid speculative conflict between prehistoric peoples, but skip the rest of the series, it goes downhill fast.

"Nop's Trials" is a must for any animal lover. Well paced story, interesting pov and perspectives, done quite well in my opinion. Part of the story is from the dog's pov, but it isn't overly anthromophized. (sp? I need a better spell checker in my brain) The dog thinks in very realistic dog terms.

In the exploring/commenting on current western culture genre...

Don DeLillio's (sp?) book "White Noise" is worth a read if you like that kind of book. I wouldn't read it a second time, but it had some interesting ideas and themes, and was a quick read.

Classics catagory...

If you haven't read "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, you should.

And even though it goes against your restrictions... both a comfort author, mystery and possibly humor... And I haven't read it yet to know if it is good...
I picked up a new Mark Twain book the other day, and I mean New... legal copyright battles kept it out of print for over 50 years. So if you enjoy Twain you might want to check it out.

That is what I have come up with in a few minutes.

If I think of anymore I will post again.

You might try Tim Cahill's Lost in My Own Backyard, which is a brief but entertaining book about Yellowstone National Park.

I'm not sure if it was the style or the "story" of the Flashman novels you couldn't stand, but you might want to have a glance at the McAuslan short stories by the same author (there's a collected edition, of which the NYPL has a few copies); semi-autobiographical (about his time in the Army, immediately postwar), and quite different. Very enjoyable reading, though; I've successfully thrown them at a good few people who didn't like Flashman and written off GMF as a result.

Can't think of much else, though; my interesting-non-fiction reading has been pretty sparse of late, the balance sf or Work.

I have nothing to offer, since I'm pretty sure you've already read every damned thing I'll ever get my hands on.

But on that note, a question for you, Doug and Claudia. What did you all think about KSR's "The Years of Rice and Salt"?

"Third, no humor. (This is because I dislike most humor.)"

Hmm. Anthony Bourdain's _A Cook's Tour_ has plenty of bits I found funny, but I don't think it can be classified as a humour book overall. More of a _religious_ book, actually, describing Bourdain's various pilgrimages to sacred sites in the world of food. Strongly recommended, anyway. My idea of cooking is putting frozen things in a microwave, but I still found it completely engrossing.

Ohhh boy. Well let's see here.

Second Bernard's recommendation about the McAusland books. These are earlier Fraser, and rather different from the Flashman books. I think I know what you dislike about Flashman, and, well, some of that is here, but they're still interesting if only for historical interest. Quick reads.

But if you don't think you can tolerate another paean to the glory days of lost Empire, then go right now and check out a copy of _The Siege of Krishnapur_, by J.G. Farrell. Who, if he hadn't fallen out of a boat at the age of 36, would be a major, major novelist today. _Siege_ is a tale of the Raj, alright, but wog-stomping there is very little. Takedowns at the Lytton Strachey level, but better because they're done deadpan.

I can't remember if you've read the Jasper Fforde books yet -- _The Eyre Affair_, and so forth. If not, do. Brit humor, somewhere between Terry Pratchett and Bridget Jones, with a solid dollop of Jonathan Lethem. Well worth a look. Okay, fantasy, sue me.

As long as I'm breaking the no-fantasy rule: "The Filth", by Grant Morrison. Much weirder than his Doom Patrol stuff, and much darker. It's /not/ surreal, which makes it all so much worse. Recommended.

Similarly, it's time and past time that you read _The Corrections_, by Jonathan Franzen. Trust uncle: you will enjoy this book.

You will also enjoy _The Bridge Across the River Drina_, by Ivo Andric. He won the damn Nobel Prize for literature for this book, and nobody remembers it.

If memory serves, I've been pushing both of those at you for a while now.

Those for starters.

Doug M.

Correction, Doug, the McAusland rec was Andrew. However, I may pick up a copy of "The Corrections" myself. Read "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"?

And since we're breaking rules, I'll toss in Sedaris' quite funny "Me Talk Pretty One Day".

Working out of order:

Andrew, it's not only the Flashman books. I've tried Black Ajax, The Pyrates, some others. The only things I've liked by Fraser have been his memoirs and his book on the Borderers, The Steel Bonnets.

Gareth, I'm not a big Bourdain fan, though I do generally like good food writing.

Josh, I read Cahill up to his third book. Don't know why I stopped.

Doug, the way to entice me into reading something is not to describe it as "somewhere between Terry Pratchett and Bridget Jones, with a solid dollop of Jonathan Lethem". The Andric is on my to-read pile, after Waugh's Scoop. I'm looking for especially charming books, and I'm not sure whether a novel with a graphic impalement scene really fits that criterion. I'll guess that The Siege of Krishnapur isn't going to fit either.

Lynette, I think my tastes are more in the White Noise range. (DeLillo also wrote one of the few good gridiron novels, End Zone, in rather the same vein.)

Bernard, yeah, that's the problem. What do I think of The Years of Rice and Salt? That Robinson is a smart guy; and that he should stick to writing funny stories about yetis.

Aaagh! Sedaris was one of the people I had specifically in mind regarding 'no humor'.

And had I known Eggers was going to be mentioned, I would have made a rule just for him. (And David Foster Wallace. And a few others. But mainly Eggers.)

Hmmnn. "Angela's Ashes" too book-of-the-month-club for you?

Cliff Wright's _A Mediterranean Feast_

Alfred Döblin's _November 1918_ (Tetralogy)
Der Zusammenbruch
Verratenes Volk
Heimkehr der Fronttruppen
Karl und Rosa

Uh, and _War Against the Weak_
Edwin Black's improved recapitulation of Daniel Kevles' _In the Name of Eugenics_

How about Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy? If you haven't read it and like it, you then have the Levant Trilogy to look forward to. (Both about a British couple being blown hither and yon by the winds of WWII, and if I recall correctly the first novel takes place in Bucharest, so it should be interesting to you just for that -- but it's also a splendid read, and made an excellent BBC miniseries called "Fortunes of War.")

White Mughals was a heartbreaking history book about the introduction of official racial discrimination in India around 1810; Krakatoa has lots of interesting Batavian ethnography and splendid volcano descriptions.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities is my current solid reading matter; basically contrasting a sort of middle-class muddling-through with bureaucratic centrally-planned paternalism.

Best thing I read recently was

Popular Music from Vittula
Mikael Niemi

If you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in the northernmost tip of Sweden. Really nice little novel

You might want to check out my "best books" selection - my 60 picks from the 850 books I've reviewed over the last ten years. There are quite a few biology books in there.

Dude,

Screw your guidelines. Here she goes:

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," by Toby Young. It's not humor, it's ... way too true. You will love this book, Carlos.

"Chain of Command," by Seymour Hersch. Black black humor, sort of like "Heathers," really, and one of the reasons why much as I love Bernard I'm afraid of punching him should we talk politics.

"America: The Book." Not humor, just humorous. Imagine if the fellows at The Onion lost their inhibitions. Plus it has pictures.

"Irrational Exuberance," by Robert Shiller. Lest you think it outdated, wonder why my nose bleeds every time I talk to realtors. Or why I've put so much of my savings in euro-denominated bond funds. But I suspect that you've read it already.

"Casino Moscow," by Matthew Brzezinski. Humor? The first line is: "Funny, the things that flash through your mind when you're about to die. I was thinking about smoking." But I mean, c'mon, I actually remember the first line years after I read the thing, so how bad can it be?

Anything by the soon-to-be junior Senator from Minnesota. But clearly humor. Sort of. Perhaps best left as an audiobook --- didn't we listen to most of it in New Mexico?

"The Running Mate," by Joe Klein. I can't be the only person in America to have liked this book. A pick-me-up for days when you fear for the future of the Republic. Not that I was thinking that the first time I read it.

"The Natural," by the same fellow. Non-fiction, strong thumbs up.

Allow me to second "The War Against the Weak" and "The Corrections."

And that's what comes off the top of my head, while in Mexico away from any bookshelves that might inspire.

Oh, "The Power and the Money" and "The Politics of Property Rights," obviously. Great beach reading, both of 'em, really.

I'll be in NYC around the 20th, so I'd be happy to lend you my copy of most of the above, assuming they're still in my possession.

I am compelled to recommend Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanigan. Not charming in a Webbian sense but I can see plenty of Carlos appeal.

More charming would be just about anything by David Lodge, especially How Far Can You Go? and Changing Places but are these Carlos books, in his present mood? Perhaps not.

I've never read any of Cahill's other books, so I can't say if Lost has whatever it is that you weren't getting out of his stuff.

Let me second Noel's recommendation of America: The Book. Although I don't really know if I'd describe it as "charming".

Ever read any of Larry McMurtry's essays? My taste for fiction has pretty well dried up, so I have no opinion about his novels, but I'll buy any non-fiction he writes sight unseen. I'd recommend both Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen and Film Flam, although you really can't go wrong with any of them.

Oh, and for something completely different, try Stephen Herrero's Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. It's an academic study of bear-human interaction, but it's got some great stories too.

Dear Everyone:

What seems so interesting to me is that this little plea for "Reading Help," has generated so many fine responses. None of Doug's great pieces not Claudia's justified rants on adoption and abortion generated this kind of traffic.

I just find this...interesting, maybe even a significant area for study on Social Interaction.

Be that as it may...History is always nice, if only because we get to keep re-writing it.

The Boxer Rebellion by Diane Preston was a recent happy read and relevant to today's issues in startling ways. This out break of violence in China in 1900 is little known or understood in the West...it is good to know these things.

Someone mentioned Krakatoa...it also was a very good read. Was the discovery of Plate Teutonics really that recent? Amazing.

Anything by the early Tim Cahill...Jaguars ripped my Flesh, Pecked to Death by Ducks, etc. I am not sure that his most recent book, Hold The Enlightenment, measures up to his earlier writing.

And if possible, Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile...it will open your eyes on Afghanistan and the Russian war there and our...mind boggling...involvement.

We are an erudite bunch...lol

Best Wishes,

Traveller

What seems so interesting to me is that this little plea for "Reading Help," has generated so many fine responses. None of Doug's great pieces not Claudia's justified rants on adoption and abortion generated this kind of traffic.

Ah, but you see, that's because everyone agrees with us, and all our readers are book pushers.

I'm fine with both of these facts.

:-D

Claudia

I am enjoying The Cook and the Gardener: A Year of Recipes and Writings from the French Countryside by Amanda Hesser right now. She went to Burgundy to be a chef at a 17th century chateau and is taught about gardening by the old-time gardener there, who is quite a character. Full of recipes too.

Traveller,
"This out break of violence in China in 1900 is little known or understood in the West...it is good to know these things."
Hmmnn. Along those lines, I've recently enjoyed "God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan" by Jonathan Spence. I selected it for other-than-entertainment purposes, but it's pretty cool.

Noel,
While the fact that you're using Hersch as anything other than fireplace kindling probably does indicate a widening political gulf between us, I'll note that I've never managed to get into fisticuffs with my Green, "Bush planned 9/11", anti-immigrant brother-in-law, who dislikes productivity improvements despite the fact that he works 4-on/3-off for a chip manufacturer. I attribute this wholly to my near-superhuman tolerance of diversity and my naturally bubbly & gregarious personality at parties. It also helps if you're buying the beer. ;^)

Bernard "You don't start nuthin', there won't be nuthin'" Guerrero

While I must admit that you do indeed have a bubbly personality, I must also say that the only thing which prevented fisticuffs between myself and my moderately Republican cousin was the thick cloud of mota which hangs over all Maurer family gatherings.

After all, I have come to the conclusion that Republicans are all unpatriotic, anti-democratic Iranian agents. So I must admit to slack-jawed incredulity at your continuing support for those populist incompetents in the White House and Congress, much as I like you as a person.

I suppose it's watching them lie constantly, cause people to die for no good reason, and govern with consummate irresponsibility that makes me so humorless about the GOP and its supporters these days. The fact that I used to be a Republican makes me even less comprehending. Changing facts and all that.

Of course, maybe you want to provoke a serious economic crisis in the hope that it leads to the dismantling of all federal social insurance programs. Fair enough. Of course, I can't pretend to respect that position, and I don't think that you would expect me to.

Gentlemen, gentlemen. We can have this debate after the incumbent gets what Kitchener did to the Mahdi. By then tempers will have cooled, and I will have a bitchin' new inkwell.

Sorry to hear it, Noel.

No worries, Carlos.

Changing tracks ... Carlos, allow me to strongly second Traveller's recommendation of "Charlie Wilson's War." It is a great book, and actually does read like a spy novel.

One book I really liked was called "Ella Minnow Pea", but I can't remember the name of the author. Quite strange, but very cleverly written.

Carlos here again, post Packer victory. Wow! a lot of possibilities. I think I am going to go for Dennis's suggestion of Popular Music from Vittula and Carrie's of The Cook and the Gardener for now, with Language Hat's choice of The Balkan Trilogy coming in third.

(LH, I think I've had breakfast in the Bucharest hotel Manning describes, mainly spent gawking at the film people. There's also a Zukofsky &/or Niedecker post in the works.)

Year-end reading round-up coming shortly. Thank you all for your suggestions!

C.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

PS Noel, you forget, I've seen the fellows at the Onion lose their inhibitions. Cossack dances, fistfights, and fishbelly male nudity not even copious drinking can erase the memory of.

And a former Onion guy is now Jon Stewart's producer anyway.

death on credit - louis ferdinand celine (sometimes translated as "death on the installment plan")
journey to the end of the night - louis ferdinand celine

both are amazing.

anything by "lyall watson" if you want something vaguely thought provoking and sciency.

my favorite set of books recently has been the baroque cycle by neal stephenson. "quicksilver", "the confusion" and "the system of the world". lots of fun, fictional history - sort of real events, with some real characters very entertaining.

Hope I'm not too late.

One I can recommend to you specifically is 'The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China' by Timothy Brook ISBN 0520221540. It's about 5 years old, so you may have read it. Quite good, but it's about culture, not economics.

Reay Tannahill's 'Food in History' is fun.

I found an odd historical novel in London last year called 'Imperial Governor', written as if by Suetonius Paulinus, the crusher of Boudicca. A bleak, no-nonsense take on the Roman Empire in Britain.

Allan Massie's Roman novels can be uneven. 'Augustus' and 'Anthony' are the best I think.

Hope you find something in here you like.

James, I've been fishing in the Brook already (you may have noticed the bits I used on Ming newspaper culture). Hard for me to resist a book that starts with Jean Nicolet mistaking Green Bay for China. That will never happen again.

Do you know of any good ones that _do_ deal with Imperial economics?

Bernard, Elvin's The Pattern of the Chinese Past is still useful, but it should be read with Pomeranz's more recent The Great Divergence. Von Glahn's Fountain of Fortune is the best account I know of imperial China's tumultuous and arcane monetary history.

In the nonfiction category, I've read all but one of Tim Severin's travel/history/archaeology books (haven't found _The Oriental Adventure_ yet) and would recommend just about all of them, although some of the earliest ones are kind of dry. The three best, IMO, are _The Brendan Voyage_, _The Spice Islands Voyage_, and _Crusader_.

David Crystal's _The Stories of English_ is a bit heavier going, but also very good.

There's also a Zukofsky &/or Niedecker post in the works.

Yay!

per your... "Proofs from THE BOOK, by Aigner and Ziegler. THE BOOK is Paul Erdos's name for the place the Supreme Fascist (i.e. God) keeps the most perfect mathematical proofs. This book is an Earthly approximation to that ideal. (The 'o' in Erdos should have two little hash marks over it. Not an umlaut, but one of those Hungarian deals.)

"Between PFTB, Lawvere and Schanuel's Conceptual Mathematics, and Schneier's Applied Cryptography, I can render an average college student completely unemployable in a matter of weeks. Huzzah!"

as I am currently reading Conceptual Mathematics, (and btw I thank you for pointing me to Proofs From The book), may I suggest two fascinating books:

1) Collective Electrodynamics by Dr. Carver Mead

2) A Different Universe by Dr. Robert Laughlin

plus optionally (from Cornell for $58 plus shpping) a photocopy version of Goldblatt's Topoi, The Categorical analysis of Logic

Also: a "change as exchange" puzzle when you get extra severely bored...

If you are in an emergency circumstance such as being in a burning building x with a door to hopeful safety y & to save your life you thus have a goal Ox and a complementary intention 1y (where of course "Ox" means wholly "going away from x" and "1y" totally stands for "coming towards y",
which of these four combinatorials "OOx", "1Ox", "11y" and "O1y" would logically be a must not, a must, a should and a should not for such an "emergency emerging"? Regards, YL

PS Per Erdos' good-natured "Supreme Fascist" remark, if there were a hypothetical (delightfully heretical) God and Nature's Operating System, and that kind of not always kind "THE OS" (or "GNOS") were 1 and O fractal strings of comings and goings of comings and goings... per each change from x to y, might not Erdos' God be less of a fascist and more of a Newtonian "ruler" (per Newt's Scholium) with not only "musts" and "must nots" imperatives, but also free-will "shoulds" and "should nots per the diagrams at http://winstone.us/cae.htm? :-)

Hi YL! Thanks for your comments.

I have a lot of time for Carver Mead, so I will definitely check out his book, even though it does sound a little cranky. And the Goldblatt is something I have been meaning to Xerox off myself.

Dunno if you've seen Gregory Chaitin's website; he has a new popular book coming out this fall, but the site has copies of some of his more technical papers. Some very interesting things about the Omega number there.

And there's an English translation of Konrad Zuse's Calculating Space out there on the Web, which you might be interested in. Sort of a prefiguration of Fredkin and Wolfram.