What Are You All Reading?

Testing this book link thing.

I just finished .

It wasn't nearly as compelling as the first in the series, A Madness of Angels.

ETA : Well, that didn't work.  Let me try this

<a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/8574792">The Midnight Mayor</a>.

I guess I need to be pointed to where I can learn how to link a book title.

Well, I do know how to post images

I recently finished reading The One-Straw Revolution by Msanobu Fukuoka, and I also started and finished Holy Cows and Hog Heaven by Joel Salatin.

I am now reading The Road Back to Nature by Masanobu Fukuoka. Right now, I think it is just quite interesting from the prefaces how much Masanobu Fukuoka has grown and developed since he wrote The One-Straw Revolution.

Dave Burton wrote:I recently finished reading The One-Straw Revolution by Msanobu Fukuoka, and I also started and finished Holy Cows and Hog Heaven by Joel Salatin.

I am now reading The Road Back to Nature by Masanobu Fukuoka. Right now, I think it is just quite interesting from the prefaces how much Masanobu Fukuoka has grown and developed since he wrote The One-Straw Revolution.

When we first moved to the Ozarks in 1973, and soon thereafter, several books helped shape our thinking about self-reliance and sustainable agriculture.  One was One Straw Revolution, going out as a hardbound Christmas present this year, along with Larry Korn's biography, One Straw Revolutionary.  We actually grew tiny amounts of wheat, all the way to bread, once or twice.  (Lodging was a major problem.)  So Gene Logsdon's Small-Scale Grain Raising was also inspirational.  And Ruth Stout, the Nearings, and Jethro Kloss.  And the few glances I managed through someone else's Farmers of Forty Centuries, which I reread a few years ago.  (Now I try to pick up every blade of grass we track in and dutifully get it into the compost bucket and back into the garden soil.)  I don't remember what started us on "French Intensive Gardening", or on companion planting, but both were a huge part of life.  Most often, though, the struggle was to create any topsoil at all, much less double dig it.

And parallel to these were the broader cultural inspirations:  Seven Arrows, Black Elk Speaks, Ishi, Last of His Tribe,  and other First Nations books, including two from my father's boyhood, Manabozho and Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children.  Also inspiration from Japan: a book of Hiroshige prints, and Harold Henderson's Introduction to Haiku.  And soaking up local Ozark history, from the library, from neighbors, and from the river.  And National Geographic.

PS--

And since we had no power nor even money for batteries (most of the time) for radio or tape decks, we read The Complete Sherlock Holmes out loud, by kerosene lamp.  

I've been reading Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming by Frank Holzman.

I am still working in reading The Road Back to Nature by Masanobu Fukuoka. At the moment, I find this book to be one of those where I kind of need to read with a few grains of salt, because Masanobu Fukuoka frequently inserts his own personal spiritual beliefs . I do appreciate his insights and practices for improving the soil and reading the landscape, and I am glad that he sees sacredness in the natural world. The book seems to be written as a personal journal of sorts from his travels, so, I'm not sure what I was expecting. I still think the practical points in the book are worth putting up with some of the more preachy aspects of it.

I am currently reading a recipe/instruction book on how to use an "Instant Pot". I bet you can all guess why!

The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook, by Coco Morante

New storm bearing down on the northern Plains of the US. I’m cozying up with “Repair and Maintenance Manual: MTD 8/24 two-stage walk-behind snowblower”.

👍

There's probably some high drama in that manual.

I was on Google, looking at the most popular sayings by Christopher Hitchens. Lots of them are quite biting, but sometimes they are just funny.

He was not fond of people who don't really care, asking, "how's it going?" So he habitually responded, "a bit early to tell."

One thousand white women by Jim Fergus, and the sequel, Vengeance of mothers.

The Goodreads reviews are all over the map so don't come complaining if you try it and don't like it

Braiding sweetgrass comes next.

I am currently reading
Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World
By Bill Plotkin
I am really enjoying the book. It goes thru the different stages of life one faces and shows the difference between egocentric and soulcentric development.
It shows how one can go on to become an elder!

I am also reading The Fat Of The Land by Vilhjalmur Stefansson


I am also interested in reading Fields of Farmers by Joel Salatin.

I am rereading the book "Be Here Now". Its' author, Richard Alpert aka Ram Dass transitioned out of his body last week. I discovered it when I was pretty young and it changed the way I saw the world and how I thought.

I recently came across the book The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer - a spiritual book - here is a link as to its content

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379

I was delighted to discover that the book is available free, in audio form on youtube!  

It's just over 6 hours long and, of course, is best assimilated by being dipped into in small intervals.
I am now almost 2 hours into it and it's getting more interesting.  

Initially it seemed overlong in describing the incessant internal 'chatter' that is familiar to those doing meditation and the dynamics of this.  However, it has now moved on to the heart (something which is my current focus) and energy....so great!  
Has anyone here read this book?  If so, what did you think of it?

Here is the youtube link for anyone wishing to hear (rather than read) this book

https://youtu.be/pP63bPfIVjM

I have just read this.  I loved it. It is the story of a guy who ends up walking the camino de Santiago.  Funny and well written.  
https://www.amazon.com/Camino-Sinners-Guide-Eddie-Rock/dp/082530881X/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=a+sinner%27s+guide&qid=1578477519&s=books&sr=1-13
I have met Eddie Rock as he now lives in Galicia. He is now drug, alcohol and tobacco free.

Reading Effin' Birds, by Aaron Reynolds.  Cussing fun.

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. A well written and entertaining memoir by a scientist. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Fascinating. Both of these books are available as audio books on Overdrive which I check out through my library.

"Capital in the 21st century" - by Thomas Piketty
"Unsettling of America: culture and agriculture" by Wendell Berry
"Our towns : a 100,000-mile journey into the heart of America" by James Fallows

denise ra wrote:Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. A well written and entertaining memoir by a scientist. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Fascinating.

I've enjoyed both of those.  Lab Girl was a bit uneven, but The Hidden Life of Trees was wonderful!  In fact, I used your word when I reviewed it: "Fascinating!  Some of what he writes is hard to believe.  Can't quite tell if wishful thinking stretches the science.  But his ecology of coastlands makes all kinds of sense.  I hope people who can adopt these practices are listening."

I'm indulging myself with a re-listen of The Martian, by Andy Weir while in the car.
At home I've started A Soil Owner's Manual, and will probably just jump to Chapter 5 - 'How do I restore the health of my soil?

I’m continuing reading The Road Back to Nature by Masanobu. I’m starting to come around to his personal writing, thoughts, anecdotes. I find it’s kind of an extension of his philosophy that he doesn’t make much of a distinction between the different aspects of his person- philosophical, spiritual, science, etc.

A Confederacy of Dunces. Can't believe I hadn't come across it before. Really funny.

After the flyby of Oumuamua, there was a lot of talk about Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.  Finally came by a copy.  Started up on that one while still finishing up Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America. Both are fun in different ways so far.  

I just read Small Homes: the right size  by Lloyd Kahn. Well, mostly read - it is a picture book after all! Almost all the featured houses were between 400 and 1200 square feet and there are lots of ideas about efficient layout and efficient use of space.

Laurence Tribe, To end a presidency, The power of impeachment

Bob Flowerdew, simple green pest and disease control

Joachim Peterson, Beekeeping

Making It - radical home ec for a post-consumer world, by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen

A bunch of it is stuff I've already done, but it would be good for beginners on the path to living a little lighter on the planet. It has convinced me I should try making home-made mayonnaise. I know that my mom made it when I was a kid, and we have our own chicken eggs. I wonder what it would be like with a duck egg?

I am currently reading Life Admin: How I Learned to do Less, Do Better, and Live More by Elizabeth Emens.

If you love history AND science, I cannot recommend more strongly The St Mary's Chronicles, by Jodi Taylor.  I have just finished the fourth book in the series and I have been absolutely gripped.  I listen to my books on audio so I can wile away the hours getting the chickweed and nettles out from the garlic and onion patches.  
Dave - am going to have a look at that one - looks very interesting.

Most books I "use" are practical books which you don't read from cover to cover but pick them up whenever you want to look something up, like my wonderful new sourdough book.

Currently I am reading "H is for Hawk" by Helen MacDonald.
It is an autobiographic piece about the time when the author loses her father and takes on training a goshawk. It is written in a very poetic but also intellectual style. I love it.
I started reading English books almost 40 years ago and don't mind if I come across a word I don't know once a page or so. But here, the unknown words come in clusters. Most have to do with terms of falconry or the wildlife but they don't spoil the reading pleasure. I really enjoy it.

Apart from that, I mostly have some of Oliver Sacks` books by my bedside. Both fascinating and interesting to read, and he was such a gentleman, scholar and philantrope, with a great deal of knowledge and curiosity.

Has anybody read Lloyd Kahn's latest, The Half-Acre Homestead: 46 Years of Building and Gardening? Trying to decide if it's worth buying given everything else on my reading list.

Nice thread, now that we actually have more time to read these days.

I just finished reading

Fields of Farmers by Joel Salatin

And i am about to finish reading

You can farm by Joel Salatin

Next after finishing those is either

Eithical Meat Handbook by Meredith Leigh ( Which I won here on permies! thank you!)

Or

Holistic Management Handbook by Allen Savory

I had to go back and look at some of my lists for Titles and finally found a partial listing.
I like to read! Westerns = 148 books with most of Louis L'Amour's in inventory. Also, I found another 48 listed of various "New Age" type categories including Hal Lindsey's books, Zacharia Sitchen's books. Those listings are only about 1/3 of my inventory.

Some notable series - which MUST be read in order: Jean Auel's series starting with "Clan of the Cave Bear", B.L. Cathie's "Harmonic 33" and Harmonic695: UFO's and Anti-Gravitry", author unknown - "Gold of the Gods", Brandon Sanderson's series "The Mistborn Trilogy" plus the follow on "The Alloy of Law", Peter Rothfuss's series "Day One : The Name of the Wind" and "Day Two : The Wise Man's Fears", Patrick Taylor's series which include "An Irish Country Village" and An Irish Country Christmas" and maybe more, and of course I cannot leave out the multi-book series from W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear's "People" books about Pre-history and early Indian societies in America.

Also, two outstanding books by Ken Follett are "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" about 13 Hundreds England life revolving around the building of a Cathedral and the local Monastery. I highly recommend taking time out to read both of these - in order, of course. DO NOT watch the videos of this until you have completed the book reads.

On top of those I have read many books on Pyramids and love very well written Science Fiction. Specific books of this genre that I like are "The Hollow Earth" by Raymond Bernard, Ph. D., "Our Mysterious Spaceship Moon by Don Wilson, "The Spaceships of Ezekiel " by Josef F. Blumrich, "Earth in Upheaval" by Velikofsky, and "Creatures From The Inner Sphere" by E. W. Holiday.


Like I said above, "I LIKE TO READ", however, I just cannot stand dry, boring, books, textbooks, or manuals where you need to have a lawyer, secretary to take notes, linguists, and 5 dictionaries available to make sense out of those.

Recently I did some "retro style" reading, i.e. getting out books which I hadn't read in a long time.

For example, I wanted to re-read Mrs. Todd's Shortcut by Stephen King (because we had chatted about shortcuts over dinner), so I took out Skeleton Crew and read a bit.

Then my son asked me about a book by Isaac Asimov and while I thought I had that book with shortstories (which I didn't, but several others of him) I had mixed it up with a book of shortstories by George R.R. Martin.
I have never watched Game of Thrones or read Song of Fire and Ice, but I did like that book with shortstories.

I particularly liked "For a single yesterday" but did not read it again, so I started flipping through the book and started reading "Night of the Vampyres".
This was really eerie - shortly after the killing of George Floyd, and this story goes about a dystopic America that very quickly is falling into chaos into riots about racism. I can only recommend this - it was published in 1977.

I generally read for pleasure, the books acquired through flea markets or thrift shops.

I must concur with the Jean Auel, Clan of the Cave bear series, read and reread countless times. I add the Diana Gabaldon series Outlander - in both books there is a lot of anecdotal herbal, medical and off grid (due to the era's they take place in) ingenuity that tickles my fancy.

I to have a penchant for british writers, and have dozens of Catherine Cookson titles that take place in Britiann primarily in the 1800's, in the farmsteads, manors, and coalmines but focusing on the poor and how families cared (or didn't) for one another. Not to forget the Yorkshire vet, James Herriot.

Then there are the "epics" by James A. Michener, Wilbur Smith, Ayn Rand, and Farley Mowat. Followed by the mysteries and/or evilness created by Joy Fielding, Jeffery Deaver, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cromwell and David Baldacci.  

Permie related, I am reading The Complete Book of Composting. A thousand-page handbook published in 1971. Very informative and enjoyable to read. Best of all, I got it from the library book sale for just $1.

I know my selection is a little strange, but this morn I pulled my ancient copy of Country Women off the shelf.  It keeps me grounded from a historical perspective.  It is neat to reexamine  the combination of determination, naivety,  and joy the authors reveal as they attempt to homestead.  Although my route was different, i can certainly identify with them.

IF ancient mysteries intrigues you - you might try this web site for a real treat!

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/luna/esp_lunaiapetus01.htm

Iapetus is one of the strangest objects in our solar system. This is a 6 Part commentary with photos of this strange moon!

I just started the most recent of the Dresden Files books.

-CK

I’ve mostly been listening to podcasts, because audio is currently the medium that speaks to me right now.

I did recently read The Dark Mountain Manifesto, and I think that it did a good job of explaining how it would be useful to change the narrative in works produced by humans to describe humans as one of many species in this world than as the center of anything- a keystone species with potential to improve or degrade things, though still one of many species, not separate from Nature in any way.

These are some of the podcasts I’m currently listening to:
-Paul Wheaton’s Permaculture and Homesteading Podcast
-Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me by NPR
-The News Quiz by BBC Radio 4
-Seriously... by BBC Radio 4
-Star Talk by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
-The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4
-Throughline by NPR