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Current Non-Fiction reads

sparkchaser said:
Any good? I used to follow her off of Geekpress but haven't read any of her stuff in a long time.
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I haven't heard of her before, but I guess she did some work at Reason. She claims that there are two groups who want to hold back technological progress. The first group doesn't want to see anyone fall behind economically, or to see anyone lose their jobs. She claims that these people can be retrained to earn more money and that new jobs and industries are being created all the time. I was more interested in her take on *reactionaries* such as Pat Buchanan, who long for some stable, wholesome past. These folks are pushing V-chips for t.v.s, stronger FCC regulation of television programming, as well as for regulating the world wide web. Many liberals are in the first group while a lot of conservatives fall into the second and that creates interesting bed fellows when it comes to issues concerning technology. She is a typical libertarian who believes that government is in the way and that bureaucrats can try, but will ultimately fail, when it comes to controlling the internet and change. The book has some great stories about politicians cooperating on different bills whom you would think, would never be able to agree. On that point, it is interesting to see politics work. The rest is essentially a primer on libertarian thought.
 
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. I have some concerns about Krakauer's style, but the content is so fascinating that it takes me a while to put down the book.
 
Columbine by Dave Cullen.

I don't care for the author's style that much; he jumps around a lot. That aside, though, it's very interesting to learn the truth about what happened that day (and in the years leading up to it.) Forget everything you heard in the media about the "Trench Coat Mafia" and Christian martyrs.
 
Fenster said:
Columbine by Dave Cullen.

I don't care for the author's style that much; he jumps around a lot. That aside, though, it's very interesting to learn the truth about what happened that day (and in the years leading up to it.) Forget everything you heard in the media about the "Trench Coat Mafia" and Christian martyrs.
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I read about this in some updated recent news stories over the last couple of weeks.

There was an interview with a kid who was in the supposed "Trench Coat Mafia" at Columbine, I don't remember what television network I saw it on. There were two things about the interview that jumped out at me - one was that the kid said in a huff, "they aren't trench coats, they're DUSTERS", and secondly the kid never said a word about Dylan or Kliebold being in their group or even associated with it.
 
Hugh said:
I read about this in some updated recent news stories over the last couple of weeks.

There was an interview with a kid who was in the supposed "Trench Coat Mafia" at Columbine, I don't remember what television network I saw it on. There were two things about the interview that jumped out at me - one was that the kid said in a huff, "they aren't trench coats, they're DUSTERS", and secondly the kid never said a word about Dylan or Kliebold being in their group or even associated with it.
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There was a Trench Coat Mafia, but neither killer (Eric Harris or Dylan Kliebold) were part of it, though they did know some of the people in it. They also borrowed the name for a video project they made for a class, and in that video they wore trench coats (or dusters or whatever.) However, the reason they wore the coats that day was purely practical - the coats covered up all the weapons they were carrying.
 
I've been steadily reading Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa. It's a more complex look at folding than most other books on the topic. It's very interesting! I suggest if you are an avid folder to look into it.

For class I'm reading The Virgin Queen by Christopher Hibbert, although I find it very boring...I was told it would be an entertaining biography but I don't really care much for Elizabeth I.
 
I'm reading Forbidden Archeology by Cremo and Thompson. They have an interesting thesis sure to produce outrage in some quarters: there's long-neglected evidence that man is much older than we presently believe.

This is the kind of a book I tend to read at odd moments in between other books, so I'll probably be at it a while.
 
I am about to start Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is about the author's personal journey in life to different places in Italy, India, and Indonesia to find herself.
 
Mer_Blackwood said:
I'm reading Forbidden Archeology by Cremo and Thompson. They have an interesting thesis sure to produce outrage in some quarters: there's long-neglected evidence that man is much older than we presently believe.

This is the kind of a book I tend to read at odd moments in between other books, so I'll probably be at it a while.
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Check this out: Scientific evidence of previous Earth civilization discovered? || kuro5hin.org

I am merely passing on a link I read several years ago.
 
beer good said:
Alan Weisman's The World Without Us. Loving it so far.
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I gotta pick that one up.

I've read:

Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange ~ memoir from the comedian/actor that's equal parts funny and sad, where he details his many addictions, successes and failures. Lange is a natural storyteller and some of them in this book are hilarious, especially the story of him scoring cocaine from a dealer and then snorting it in traffic in a full pig face prosthetic. The vision of the 2 women in the car next to him looking at a giant pig snorting coke off a car key while at a redlight had me laughing for days. On the sad side, there's his suicide attempt, his time in LA County Jail, where he got the call that his scene with Tom Cruise(who Lange despised) in Jerry Maguire had been cut, and his father's death which still affects him to this this day. This book was a surprise success and he's already working on the second one. Looking forward to it.

The Bloody Reign of Slayer by Joel McIver ~ pretty good bio of the legendary metal band.

Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper ~ an account of the recording industry's troubles that begins with a brief history of the compact disc and takes us through to the present day where the labels are barely holding on. The labels greed and their failure to adapt and embrace new technology(they even fought the introduction of the cd) gets the blame for their downfall.
 
True crime, of all things! :innocent:

The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald.

Sorry if that sounds like cheating, but it just happened. :lol:
 
Frank Cullotta:The Las Vegas Mobster who turned Government witness

As far as i can remember,i always wanted to be a ganster....The goodfellaws
 
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