Ermagerd. Berks!

[pickdropper]

Such a good author. He's actually from Des Moines, where I live. (Although it's kind of a Hemingway/Oak Park situation where he hated it here and wanted nothing more than to get away, so he hopped on a plane to Europe as soon as he was old enough and never looked back - but we still proudly claim him anyway!)

I spent most of my childhood in Oak Park and I often laugh about this.  He called Oak Park "The land of broad lawns and narrow minds."

That said, Oak Park is now very progressive and bears little resemblance to the town he strongly disliked.

[EBRAddict]

I've been on a long string of zombie/post-apocalypse fiction serials: Arisen, The Remaining, The Tide, V Plague, The Last Town, The Gathering Dead, Extinction Cycle, Zombie Fallout. Plus a lot of programming and computer science books.

[timbo_93631]

Top-Bar Beekeeping - Les Crowder
The Market Gardner - JM Fortier
Born Again Dirt - Noah Sanders

There is a bit of a theme here...

[aion]

I spent most of my childhood in Oak Park and I often laugh about this.  He called Oak Park "The land of broad lawns and narrow minds."

That said, Oak Park is now very progressive and bears little resemblance to the town he strongly disliked.

Yeah, Oak Park is easily my favorite neighborhood in the Chicago metro. Frank Lloyd Wright houses are probably viewed a little more favorably today than when Hemingway was growing up, and that neighborhood basically belongs to him, which is most of the charm for me.

[Frag Magnet]

If anyone's into historical fiction, I strongly recommend the Marching With Caesar series by R.W. Peake.*

The books are written from the first person perspectives of (now a couple) Roman legionaries in a very honest and frank manner.

Peake is a retired Infantry Marine with a History degree and really nails what it's like to be a soldier on top of paying the real history as much due diligence as possible while still telling an engaging story (where Peake deviates from known history or makes some conjecture on his part, he spells out in the forewords).

*NOTE: I've linked to what's now technically the second book in the series, Conquest of Gaul, because there's a lot of redundancy between it and Birth of the 10th Legion and I think it makes more of an impression. If you think you may need to ease into the blood and guts, Birth of the 10th Legion may be more your speed.

[culturejam]

I'm about halfway done with The Joy of Home Distilling. I recently finished Vonnegut's Player Piano.

[matmosphere]

Vonnegut is one of my absolute favorites! Cat's Cradle  and Breakfast of Champions are both classic. I'm also a big fan do Phillip K Dick. Nobody does dystopian future like Dick, and apparently I like me some dystopia.

I used to really enjoy reading Stephen Hawkings and Brian Green, but it's been a while since I've picked up any pop-sci books.

I've got a few math books, and a biography  or two waiting on the shelf but it's nearly impossible for me to find time for that stuff between kids and my job.

[alanp]

I think the last actual-paper book I read was an English translation of the Kalevala, very fun read, that was.

[stringsthings]

Kurt Vonnegut was one of my favourite authors.  In school, we read Slaughterhouse 5 and I was really knocked out.
That was one of those school moments when you secretly say, "sometimes this school thing is pretty cool". 
I read several of his other books and they were also excellent.

I guess I got lazy here in my middle-old age and haven't picked up a book recently.  oops.
( I do read things on the net to keep up my skills .... heh )

[alanp]

This thread reminds me... I've got a list of books to get and read somewhere on this desk. Why these ones? Because I'm horribly nosey and want to see what the fuss is about.

Heidegger
Nietzsche - Zarathustra
Kierkegaard
Clauswitz
Epictetus
Plato - The Republic
Hobbes - Leviathan
Confucius - Analects
Heraclitus - Fragments
Schopenhauer
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Machiavelli - The Prince

I want to get them in good Penguin Classic editions -- I've found those to be very readable, with fascinating forewords on the historic context and stuff. Yes, I know about Project Gutenberg. No, I want them in hardcopy

[midwayfair]

This thread reminds me... I've got a list of books to get and read somewhere on this desk. Why these ones? Because I'm horribly nosey and want to see what the fuss is about.

Heidegger
Nietzsche - Zarathustra
Kierkegaard
Clauswitz
Epictetus
Plato - The Republic
Hobbes - Leviathan
Confucius - Analects
Heraclitus - Fragments
Schopenhauer
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Machiavelli - The Prince

I want to get them in good Penguin Classic editions -- I've found those to be very readable, with fascinating forewords on the historic context and stuff. Yes, I know about Project Gutenberg. No, I want them in hardcopy

I wasn't a philosophy major but I have had the chance to read at least part of most of the things on your list in my life (no Heraclitus, Clauswitz, or Epictetus, though).

I humbly suggest adding the Tao Te Ching, read right after Confucius, and possibly The Tao of Pooh (yes, really) to go along with it. It can be read in about an hour and understood either in a lifetime or in ten minutes, I'm not sure which.

I also think that despite being dry, adding Aristotle's Analytics and/or Ethics to the list will help contextualize all the other Western philosophy. But I wouldn't blame anyone for just skimming it, so it might not be worth a purchase.

[mjg]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it. 

[matmosphere]

I read Ready Player One a few months back. It was somewhat problematic and difficult to get into, but once it got going it was fun and imaginative. The pop culture references were handled in such fun ways. But ultimately it seems like it came together as a stream of ideas that was looking for a plot to hold them together, and unfortunately that plot is no where near as good as the ride.

[pickdropper]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it.

I'll have to check it out.

I finally decided to dig in an read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I'm currently on book 6.  I should finish the series sometime around April.

[jjjimi84]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it.

I'll have to check it out.

I finally decided to dig in an read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I'm currently on book 6.  I should finish the series sometime around April.

April of 2023?

Isnt there like twenty or so books in that series, I remember wanting to start reading that in high school and at that point there was an alarming amount ofbooks. Thatwas over fifteen years ago when i had long hair.