What Are You All Reading?

Two days ago, I finished reading "Discourses and Selected Writings" by Epictetus.
It's a philosophy book. Epictetus was a former Roman slave who was given his freedom, and went back to Greece to found a philosophy school. By Penguin Classics.
Pretty easy to understand. Easy and quick to read. Agreed with a lot of what he had to say.

I am now starting "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
It's a non-fiction work by a former prisoner of the Soviet gulags, which won a Nobel Prize. He basically documented the change of a nation from mostly normal people to a nation with ten thousand paid torturers in their employ. It's fascinating how the culture of a country changes; changes happen slowly and, before you know it, you're living in an oppressive, corrupt, dictatorship, where everybody is afraid of everybody.

I love reading history books and books that look at human character and spirit.

I haven't read the whole thread so I am hoping this is a repeat;

The Secret Teachings of Plants: On the Direct Perception of Nature by Steven Harrod Buhner

He's an amazing character and has some great technical herbals about antibiotics and antivirals as well as an awesome book called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, that talks about the history and significance of.brewing as well as offers recipes/techniques.

This is one of his philosophical texts about our relation to nature but it also emphasizes and explains a technique of reacquainting with your heart centered perception. Its been a heavy book to read, especially with small children as part of my life, because each paragraph is so dense. Its also reminded me of levels of subtlety that I'd forgotten and I've found the practices for reorienting toward heart-centric perception to be really rewarding

[The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization] "Finger Prints Of The Gods", by Graham Hancock, 1995 - Random House

Just for fun cause I have a twisted sense of humor.

"Blood Sucking Fiends" "Bite Me" and "You Suck" (a love story) by Christopher Moore
""Stormy Weather" and "Double Whammy" and "Bad Monkey" by Carl Hiaasen

Right now "Castles of Steel" by Robert K. Massie, nonfiction about the great battleships of WW1 and I hope it goes on to WW2 where it might culminate with the demise of the HMS Hood and Nazi Bismarck. And ultimately the extinction of battleships in general due the arrival of aircraft carriers.

Mark Reed wrote: "Bad Monkey" by Carl Hiaasen

I love things like this when I've spent a week unsnarling something nasty, like a genetics textbook or a paper that attempts to renegotiate the laws of statistics (or logic)... Hiaasen is one of my favorites for this.  

You might like Christopher Moore as well. The three I mentioned are my favorites. I forgot another good one of his "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove". All just fun fast reads. Also recently reread "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" that one's a little heavier.

Just finished reading The Good Food Revolution By Will Allen. He left the corporate world and followed his dreams to start urban farming. His passion grew to a large nonprofit. A nice inspiring story that chronicles his life from childhood growing up on a farm to a professional basketball career to corporate management then back to the land.

I just finished "reading" (read: listening) to:

- Animal Farm, George Orwell's fairy tale, the Ralph Cosham narration. I quite enjoyed it; both the text and the performance. Since we're not in Cider Press, I'll end there.

- Against the Grain. About ancient states promoting grain farming vs. hunting-gathering (i.e. Forage Gardening). I quite enjoyed it, as well. Since we're still not in Cider Press, I'll end there, too.

Dr. Leo Sharashkin was on a "permies" forum a couple of months ago for a week to answer questions about raising bees.
SO, I got interested and purchased his book, "Keeping Bees With A Smile" and have read it cover to cover very quickly. The book covers almost all aspects of keeping bees in horizontal hives as well as gives drawings/dimensions of the hives so you can build one yourself is so inclined. You can also purches the hives either from the web site or at the seminar site if you choose to attend one.

I was so interested in the Horizontal Hives that I went onto the HorizontalHive.com web site and saw that they had a two day seminar, Oct. 3rd & 4th covering "Natural Beekeeping In Horizontal Hives". (They also have other seminars during the year.) I registered and attended the seminar and I can highly recommend that if you're interested in keeping bees - this seminar and the horizontal hives might be for you, especially if you don't like lifting up to 80 lb boxes of honey from a vertical hive to check on the brood in the lower boxes. The horizontal hive, per Dr. Sharashkin, is better for the health of the bees - and the lifting of the frames is maybe at most 10 to 12 lbs.

"Keeping Bees With A Smile" is a great book just to learn more about bees in general too!

There is a virtual event October 10, 7pm with the author Tim O'Brien - The Things They Carried. On FB, link below.
https://www.facebook.com/events/240521544047154/?sfnsn=mo

I noticed that several people mentioned the book while reading through the thread.

I got a bit teary this week when I pulled out a book from my shelf that I wanted to reread.
It is the German edition of The Fat of the Land and I am a Stranger here myself by John Seymour. It had a dedication from my grandma from the year 1981 that she wished me joy with the lecture - I was 13 years old then. I wonder whether this was already a marker for my future interests which made me so much more interested in sustainability and food growing than my two brothers.

Parts of the book were written 60 years ago and it is very sad how much has come true and gotten worse. The alienation of big parts of the population from land and food production, the tinsel and diversion that distract us from the real life. But if I try to see the positive it is that there are people who want to turn their backs on the showy superficial lifestyle and appreciate the good handmade things in life vs. those mass-produced in factories.

It was a quick read so I am done with it already.

Currently I am reading Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin. Not sure yet if I like it.

Currently reading "The Art of Not Being Governed" by James C. Scott which outlines the common template all/most civilizations use-- namely the concentration of food production in the richest agricultural area possible and the maintenance of a dense population (usually by force) to generate a food surplus to feed an army and an elite class that shouldn't have to work. We haven't evolved much from this basic model
Next in line is "History: Science or Fiction?" book 2 by Anatoly Fomenko. This 8 volume series goes into the excruciating details of how our history has been falsified and stretched out by 1000 plus years, apparently in order to justify the claimed right to rule over humanity by a handful of people that wanted to rule and own the world. I believe they still do.

I'm currently reading Team Human, by Douglas Rushkoff.

So far it's pretty focused on how progress in communication technology from writing, to printing presses, to TV, to the internet which could have "improved" humanity, have instead been used to isolate people and stress "independence" rather than cooperation, teamwork, and social connectivity. I've had that opinion for a long time - for all my local modern "conveniences", it's really hard to form a sense of "community" which has been shown world-wide to be an important contributor to happiness and satisfaction with life.

I'm really hoping the book develops solutions to the problems it identifies beyond, "Hey, guys, turn off your cell phones and help a neighbor plant a garden, or invite them over for tea and a card game."

I've been slowly reading through Mythos by Steven Fry. It's a retelling of the greek myths. It's a pretty easy read and humorous at times while still being incredibly educational. I've known most of the stories, but I've never read through them all like this, and it's quite satisfying.

I plan on reading Neil Gaiman's Norse myths next.

Facebook for Dummies.

It's been a long while. I've stayed off the internet these last few months; was a lot harder than I thought. Really need to reacquaint myself with the art of killing time. I've been skyping with my nephew and sister lately, and we all decided to read together. Mainly as encouragement to my nephew. We zeroed in on William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Didn't know Golding was Cornish until I picked this up; I just plainly assumed he was British. Seems like so many dystopian novels were written during the mid- to late -twentieth century, including Lord of the Flies, of course. And many enjoyed mainstream publication and attention as well. Hard to think of anyone writing dystopian works today - that seems to have become film/cinema's forte now--television included. Nonetheless, reading this, I can't help but wonder what a post-AI, post-nuclear dystopian novel or film would be like.

Someone on this site recommended “The Stranger in the Woods” by Michael Finkel.  I bought it.   It is an interesting read about a hermit.  Some of the statements drive me crazy. The cover states the book is about the last true hermit .... how does anyone know how many hermits there are?  Nevertheless, it is a decent read, and it is a book I keep going back to.

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

It's the tale of the journey of a NC town after an EMP takes out all electronics. Very scary stuff and a must read!!

"The spell of the sensuous" and "Hurricane Island:The town that disappeared". Usually a nonfiction consumer but as a poet I also regularly read the likes of Joy Harjo, John Trudell, Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver.

I started reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the dozenth time. I find a lot of my favorite books give me different experiences every time I read them because I change a lot in mindset between readings.

I'm reading The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Fascinating!

I'm reading, "essential Rainwater Harvesting" by Rob and Michelle Avis.  

I've got big tank envy in a bad way!  Yes, in a perfect world we will keep trying to improve our soil, but we've been essentially in a drought since Feb, and are now getting higher than average temperatures as well, yet last Nov. we were drowning. I'd so like a fleet of big tanks!

Elizabeth Bear - Ancestral night. Classic space sci-fi but without the pew pew. An imaginative and reliable author.

Ooh, I forgot this thread! So many good books have been published recently (or I've had the luck to hear about them, later). Here are a couple faves.

I loved Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, by Isabella Tree. While this family has resources and connections (and energy!) that I certainly don't, it's inspiring that they're using it to try to restore their 3500 acre estate to a pre-agriculture environment.

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my favorite SciFi writers, and The Ministry for the Future, his latest novel, did not disappoint. He presents a possible world future in which realistic (and fairly optimistic) actions lead to some change, diverting total societal collapse. I've listened to it twice, and will almost certainly give it a third listen.
by Kim Stanley Robinson

Louise Erdrich's newest novel, The Night Watchman, was just awarded the 2021 Pulitzer for Fiction, is as good as all of her writing. For me, it offers a small glimpse into a different world that exists and existed in the United States, Native American history, pride, culture, ways of being.

Finally, I'm sure it's recommended here somewhere, but another book that's merited two listens is The Overstory by Richard Powers. For me it was a little longwinded in sections, but the gems made it all worth that. Plus I liked the reader, which helps a lot.

Crt Jakhel wrote:Elizabeth Bear - Ancestral night. Classic space sci-fi but without the pew pew. An imaginative and reliable author.

Followed by the next book in the series, Machine. Very enjoyable if you grew up on scifi and believe space will have to eventually be our future.

This is my current reading stack!

Umbellifers of the British Isles - a very dry, academic book that has been great at improving my knowledge of this famously dangerous (and difficult) group of plants.

David Copperfield - surprisingly funny and not at all dry, as some classics of the era have a tendancy to be. The second Dickens' novel that I've read and, so far, I'm really enjoying it. It is a nice flavour of London in times past with a gripping, lighthearted story to keep you interested.

The History of the Countryside - I've actually finished this one but I keep returning to it. Stunningly rich, interesting and full of fascinating and useful trivia about the UK from pre-human times to present. There are discussions on the wild wood (or old growth forest, as it is called in the USA), Roman roads, elm trees, wood pasture, heath and marsh, common land, mediaeval house construction and endless topics between. The author was a Cambridge professor and was deeply knowledgable about the natural history of this country.

Rebirding - an interesting proposition of how to rewild for ecotourism and birdlife. Some good points but I found the style a little trying at times. Raised, repeatedly, a very good point about the need for larger "landscape scale" habitats and areas of conservation here in the UK, rather than piecemeal reserves. I want to acknowledge this when I get to work on the land I am buying and create corridors between the various sections of similar habitat.

The Book of Trespass - I'm absolutely loving this. A history of vagrancy, trespass, the UK's enclosure, involvement with the slave trade and of property rights in general. Beautiful illustrations. Very likeable author.

I just scanned through this thread - some wonderful books. I’ll definitely return when I need some inspiration. I was drawn here with the picture of ‘Name of the wind’. I guess Patrick Rothfuss has been spending the past half decade hanging out with George R R Martin. I love them both for the amazing books they’ve written, but I also wish they’d knuckle down and get the next ones written!

I’m currently reading ‘Ready player two’ - as a child of the 80’s who grew up gaming, ‘Ready player one’ was such a joy to read. Both my teenage boys have also read it and loved it even without all the esoteric references to my teenage years.  

I’m currently listening to ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ which I could happily leave on a loop running all day every day!

The title doesn't need much explanation. Whatever you are reading, tell us, and we all may find new good reads.

A couple of us just started reading The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Grab it quick, and join in, if you'd like. I am up to chapter 16.

Today I finish reading "The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World" written by Andrea Wulf. It's a wonderful, inspiriting book, very informative and easy to read. There are many reviews: Wikipedia The_Invention_of_Nature; or in NYT and more.

I am reading - Hear Yourself: How to Find Peace in a Noisy World by Prem Rawat


https://www.amazon.com/Hear-Yourself-Peace-Noisy-World/dp/006307074X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3ONPSZSQL1PR2&dchild=1&keywords=prem+rawat&qid=1633867711&s=books&sprefix=prem%2Caps%2C353&sr=1-1

For those of you who have read Follett's books, "Pillars of the World" and "World without End", I've found that he has written both a prequel and a sequel to this series. Check them out at your favorite book store. GREAT READING.