What Are You Reading? Mar 30, 2011
Another Wednesday, Another WAYR
A reread of Shibumi by Trevanian. A very strange novel, mostly because of its voice, which is extremely sardonic. It's the story of Nicholai Hel, born prior to WWII of a White Russia mother and a German father in China, raised in wartime Japan, and now living in th Basque country as the world's foremost (and most interseting) assassin.
Hel is a master of go and caving and a martial art called naked-kill. He lives with a concubine, he's arrogant yet simple. And his enemy is the Mother Company, a (fictional?) consortium of the world's largest energy companies.
Trevanian makes nasty fun of everyone, but somehow (at least for me) carries it all off.
For last week's Science, Math and Statistics books I reread surely you're joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Now reading
Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases ed. by Kahneman, Slovic and Tversky. A collection of now classic works on how people reason under uncertainty.
Washington: A life which I am reading on my new Kindle 2 (my old Kindle broke). So far, it's living up to the hugely favorable reviews, although the beginning was a bit repetitive about some aspects of Washington's personality.
Dark Fire by CJ Sansom. The second in the Matthew Shardlake series. I like this one too. (spoiler alert). In Dissolution, Shardlake has been disillusioned with Cromwell (that's Thomas, not Oliver), having learned that he did a lot of foul things. But now he is drafted by Cromwell again.
Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. Subtitle is "tales of music and the brain" and that describes it well. Written with Sacks' typical clarity and humanity.
Charming Proofs. A book of beautiful (or charming) proofs in mathematics, nearly all of which require no advanced math.
The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. The second volume of the Baroque Cycle, which starts with Quicksilver.
Just started
For science and book lovers: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, although this may have to wait a week.
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Published by Peter Flom
I am a statistician, working with a wide variety of clients, mostly researchers in psychology, education, medicine, social sciences and other fields. I also have given talks and written articles on learning... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentGreat choices, Peter! Thanks for sharing!
Great list. I am always amazed at what winds up on your list. Your reading makes my head hurt it is so intellectual. LOL
Amazed, as always, by your reading lists. Thanks for sharing (and challenging)...
I have to sign in as a guest because, for some reason, this site seems to be down except for viewing content. Anyway, thanks for your wonderful book reviews.