What book are you reading at the moment and what do you recommend?

Currently reading: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. A fun, quick read about something I knew nothing about.

I'm sure you'll get all the classic HN recommendations so I'll pick two that are a little different:

* Nobody's Perfect: Writings From the New Yorker, by Anthony Lane. Lane was responsible for writing reviews of many prominent movies from the 90s. We now know which of those movies hold up (Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction) and faded away into cultural oblivion despite insane amounts of hype (Godzilla from 2000, Pearl Harbor), and I enjoyed reading contemporary treatments of both. Why spend the time to read such reviews? Because Lane is a master of his craft. The blend of dry British humor, insightful critiques, and his surprising accessibility makes for really enjoyable prose. Also, the pieces are quite short, so I can read two or three before bed and have natural points.

* Meet Me in the Bathroom -- an oral history of the NYC music scene from 2001 to 2011. You can make the argument that the Strokes are directly responsible for the money-soaked Manhattan we have today. The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, and TV On The Radio were hugely inspirational to me growing up so it was really neat to watch them look back on this crazy time in their own words. But really, it's a story about transitions. New York transitioning after 9/11 to what it is today; the transition of the music industry (the author makes a compelling point that although the Strokes and Vampire Weekend were both NYC-based bands that blew up 5 years apart, their trajectories couldn't have been more different); the influence of blogs and the kids who ran them had on this global industry. It's a fascinating to reflect on what is really just the not-so-distant past and see how much has changed.

  Fiction, English

Listening: Swords in the Mist, Fritz Leiber. Third in the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser collections.

Reading: The Dispossessed, Ursula Le Guin.

  Fiction, Spanish

I’m trying to learn Spanish. I’ve picked up a few Spanish language fiction books, presently starting on Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. I’ve tried reading other books, like Jorge Luis Borges’ Ficciones, but I’ve found it to be above my present level. I’ve restarted four or five times and made it further each time, but always stalled out.

  Non-fiction

The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman.

I have other books started lying around the house, but these are the ones I’ve been actively engaged with in the last couple weeks. When I can type properly again (two to three weeks) I’ll resume Lisp in Small Pieces, Christian Queinnec. And at the office I have The Pragmatic Programmer, I’ll be back there next week and bring it home so I can continue with it.

I very recently listening to the audiobook of the Carls series[0] by Hank Green. Some top notch fiction, some sci-fi, very 2020-like society, young adult, accidental parallels to 2020 events, discusses social media, money, and empathy, in a very tasteful way. Yes the book was released in 2020, but the script was set in stone way before things went south.

(Tease: the audio of the second book is done with different actors and have a interview with Cory Doctorow )

Buy while supporting local bookshops:

- https://Bookshop.org

- Audiobook: http://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm208662 (referral link)

[0] with the great full names being "An absolutely remarkable thing" and "A beautifully foolish endeavour"

The 42nd parallel by John Dos Passos - really good novel about America at the turn of the century until the depression. Considered a classic

The Peregrine by J.A. Baker Englishman follows a few peregrines around the English countryside documenting everything he can. Past the first quarter or so it's just a log of his days which has no real narrative and is hard to get through. I'm not going to finish it

I just finished Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. Really good book about ancient China and it's relationship to the near present day (it was written in the late 90s and early 2000s)

Just books in general? Professional development? Science Fiction? Politics?

Can't go wrong with the classics like "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" along with "How to Win Friends and Influence People." For motivation: "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins... it's impossible to read that book and come up with a good excuse why you cannot achieve your goals.

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro is a fascinating take on how power and corruption can manifest in modern era.

Things Hidden Since The Foundation Of The World by Rene Girard explores through dialogues his theory of mimesis. Barely have made a dent into it and so am not sure if I’d recommend it yet but it’s had polarizing reviews.

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt -

Fantastic walk through his six factor model of human morality. It's as revolutionary to me as learning about the five factor model (& HEXACO) of human personality.

A Swedish thriller by Camilla Läckberg called Änglamakerskan (The Angel Maker’s Wife), I'm mainly reading it to improve my Swedish though it is fun and catching to read

Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" inb4: except for one chapter, NOTHING like the movie. One of the best books that I've read in my entire life.

NATO's secret armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe.

If you want to see the other face of Cold War and have some fun, here you go.

The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century

Seems moderately depressing so far.

Street Survival by Remsburg

The naked statistics from charles wheelan.