Books - what are you reading just now?

  • Thread starter Deleted Member 1156
  • Start date

The Dog.

Active member
Joined
May 19, 2021
Messages
165
Location
Yorkshire
Visit site
Am reading a fascinating book at the moment called Factfulness. It is all about how the world is much better than most people think and the incredible power of facts in a "post-truth world." There are also some excellent tips on sword-swallowing as well which is always nice.

I have found it brilliant and recommend it very highly.
 

toyboy54

Challenge Tour Pro
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
1,670
Location
outskirts...glasgow&paisley
Visit site
Am reading a fascinating book at the moment called Factfulness. It is all about how the world is much better than most people think and the incredible power of facts in a "post-truth world." There are also some excellent tips on sword-swallowing as well which is always nice.

I have found it brilliant and recommend it very highly.
Is that the one by a Swedish Professor (and his daughter ) ? If it's the one I'm thinking of then it's full of things that we don't know ( and, dare I say; never really think about! )
Was loaned to me by a mate who could be Scotland's answer to SPOCK from Star Trek:alien::giggle:
 

The Dog.

Active member
Joined
May 19, 2021
Messages
165
Location
Yorkshire
Visit site
Is that the one by a Swedish Professor (and his daughter ) ? If it's the one I'm thinking of then it's full of things that we don't know ( and, dare I say; never really think about! )
Was loaned to me by a mate who could be Scotland's answer to SPOCK from Star Trek:alien::giggle:

Yes, that is it. It is more that it is full of things that we all think we know and are all wrong! The book explains why we reach the wrong conclusions and offers a plan on how to prevent this from happening in future. Very interesting.
 

toyboy54

Challenge Tour Pro
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
1,670
Location
outskirts...glasgow&paisley
Visit site
Yes, that is it. It is more that it is full of things that we all think we know and are all wrong! The book explains why we reach the wrong conclusions and offers a plan on how to prevent this from happening in future. Very interesting.
Thanks for that TD. Think I'll try and get it from the library and dazzle folk with the trivia you can harvest from it-actually there's a lot of interesting stuff in there:geek:

Why's there never a pub quiz on when you need one eh??:LOL: Could make a fortune from this tome-pay for the new shinies?:unsure:
 

Lord Tyrion

Money List Winner
Moderator
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
26,695
Location
Northumberland
Visit site
War Lord, Bernard Cornwell. The most recent of the Uhtred books. Reading each one is like putting on your favourite shoes, shirt, trousers, whatever. Instantly comfortable. I'm 100 pages in after 1 day and it immediately hooked me in, as they always do.
 

Hobbit

Mordorator
Moderator
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
18,613
Location
Espana
Visit site
Just about finished Freddie Truman’s autobiography. A tough read. Undoubtedly a world class bowler but almost every page there’s a bit about every committee/selection committee was against him, and quite often out to get him. The more i’ve read, the more I’m inclined to think, maybe, they had good reason not to favour him.
 

Lord Tyrion

Money List Winner
Moderator
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
26,695
Location
Northumberland
Visit site
Just about finished Freddie Truman’s autobiography. A tough read. Undoubtedly a world class bowler but almost every page there’s a bit about every committee/selection committee was against him, and quite often out to get him. The more i’ve read, the more I’m inclined to think, maybe, they had good reason not to favour him.
If you remember him on TMS he certainly had chips, large ones, on both shoulders. Very self centered from memory.

It is sad reading an autobiography when the individual is tough to like. It becomes a slog. I read Sam Torrance's book and really didn't warm to him. I put the book down at the end with a heavy sigh.
 

Fade and Die

Medal Winner
Joined
Apr 12, 2014
Messages
3,810
Location
Hornchurch
Visit site
Just finished “Ready player two” a follow up to “Ready player one” by Ernest Cline, it’s pretty much the same as the 1st book but without the originality.

Also reading “This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor” Brilliantly funny and sad at the same time. Unbelievable the pressure that is put on junior doctors. It’s an insight into the best and the worst of the NHS.
 

stefanovic

Medal Winner
Joined
Oct 21, 2016
Messages
1,613
Visit site
Novacene by James Lovelock.

He wrote this for his 100th birthday in 2019.
I agree that prediction is very difficult especially when it comes to the future, but you have to read this one.
 

rudebhoy

Q-School Graduate
Joined
Sep 3, 2015
Messages
4,454
Location
whitley bay
Visit site
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

The story of an "unrepentant aristocrat" who is sentenced to house arrest in a Moscow hotel for the rest of his life by a Bolshevik court shortly after the 1917 revolution.

Not the type of character I would normally sympathise with, however it is really well written with a lot of humour and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
 

pendodave

Tour Rookie
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
3,154
Visit site
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

The story of an "unrepentant aristocrat" who is sentenced to house arrest in a Moscow hotel for the rest of his life by a Bolshevik court shortly after the 1917 revolution.

Not the type of character I would normally sympathise with, however it is really well written with a lot of humour and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Just finished this. Read it by accident really - was one of my wife's old book club subjects and I had a long journey and grabbed it on the way out.
You've described it exactly as I would have!
Weirdly relevant in some ways to the last 18 months.
 

Hobbit

Mordorator
Moderator
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
18,613
Location
Espana
Visit site
If you remember him on TMS he certainly had chips, large ones, on both shoulders. Very self centered from memory.

It is sad reading an autobiography when the individual is tough to like. It becomes a slog. I read Sam Torrance's book and really didn't warm to him. I put the book down at the end with a heavy sigh.

I so wanted to like the guy but finished, as you say, thinking he took arrogance to another level.

I read lots of autobiographies, and the odd biography. Robin Cook’s was excellent, and what a loss to the country when he was taken far too early. Tony Blair’s was very revealing, more so about Gordon Brown.
 
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
611
Location
Lombardy, Italy
Visit site
I've got the last ever Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther [Metropolis] to read - been holding off
As that is set n the late 1920s and takes place before all the rest I may then go and read all the others - in the right chronological order [not order of publication]
Some are just cracking
Can't believe I read the 1st 30 years ago - when life was all in front of me [bad then good then ...??]
 
Top