What are the Coolerites reading currently?

[Baldo]

I just finished Destiny Of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard. A fascinating and riveting story of the election and assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881 who was shot only 4 months into his term and who lingered in agony for 80 days as his doctors essentially killed him with bad treatment. Famous inventor, Alexander Graham Bell devised a device called an Induction Balance (a primitive metal detector) to help locate the bullet in the President's body but the incompetent doctors and metal bedsprings confounded even the genius of Bell. After his death, an autopsy confirmed that the bullet was encapsulated and harmless and that he would likely have survived had his doctors not infected him by inserting unsterilized fingers and probes into the bullet entrance wound continuously for months.

Garfield, a little-known President was the last Chief Executive to be born in a log cabin into abject poverty (he did not get his first pair of shoes until he was 4 years old). He went to college and paid his way by being the school janitor and carpenter and was appointed an assistant Professor of Literature as a soph. He ultimately became the President of the School (Hiram College). A civil war hero, he served 10 terms as a Congressman from Ohio and while in Congress produced a complete mathematical proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.

He attended the 1880 Republican Convention in Chicago and nominated Senator John Sherman of Ohio for President but he gave such an inspiring speech (extemporaneously BTW) that when the convention deadlocked he was chosen as the nominee on the 36th ballot despite trying all the way to decline the nomination.

[dislaxxic]

I'm in the middle of "The Hemingses of Monticello", a truly fascinating account of the inter-twining of the family of one of the most famous founding fathers and the slave family that was forever attached to him by blood. The tale of Elizabeth Hemings and her extended family goes from the numerous children she bore, from both white and black fathers, thru the decades that historians and the white Jefferson offspring spent ignoring and deflecting the existence of the relationship between Elizabeth's daughter Sarah (Sally) Hemings. She was 17 when, along with Jefferson and his daughters in Paris, the 47-year old Jefferson began a life-long relationship with her. With virtually no direct written account or correspondence of the relationship still extant, this author goes to great lengths to re-create the years in Paris, in Philadelphia and on the Virginia mountaintop that was their home...much of it based on an analysis of Jefferson's actions and the sparse comments about the family from succeeding generations.

Sally Hemings was the half sister of Martha, Jefferson's wife, who died when Sally was 9. That's just ONE of the fascinating family inter-connections that this story tracks and analyzes. The story of the the relationships that existed in this 18th century family are really fascinating, especially in the context of what was happening during the period of the birth of a nation...

..

[Paesan33]

Love these threads Baldo. Ive got a whole list of books that ive taken on from recommendations here at the WC.

Just finished two Stephen Ambrose books on the european theater in WWII. In the middle of Wouk's Winds of War. I never read fiction and this book is reminding me why. Then next im on to The Big Short (Michael Lewis) and then i still have to get around to John Keegan's Mask of Command or the First World War.

[Andersen]

Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by James Webb. It provides more than a few insights into American History.

[holmes435]

I'm reading schlock, but my wife just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - a pretty interesting read about medical research ethics and some cell cultures that just won't die out. Henrietta's cells were taken (without her permission) from a tumor and are an apparently immortal cell line used in a lot of research through the past few decades - something about her telomeres never shortening, which normally leads to programmed cell death or something when they do. I usually stop listening after a few minutes, so I can't tell you much more of substance about the book

Of course, it was Johns Hopkins researchers who took her cells without her permission.

[cradleandshoot]

I have just returned to my favorite author when I was in high school. I just started reading "The Grapes of Wrath" again. He was a crusty,cantankerous SOB, but John Steinbeck is still my favorite author by a wide margin

[fattylax]

Since it's the "spooky" season, forcing the kids to read Edgar. (Pretty cool that an NFL team is named after a short story)

As for other "light" reading, it's Cure Unknown-Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pam Weintraub for me.

Man, contratrian and cynical enough.....doesn't help to learn our "elite" Docs, the CDC, etc. are clueless and pretend to be otherwise. Horrible disease, not fun to live with.

[frauknees]

I could have sworn that "The Raven" was a poem.

[clockwork bluejay]

As usual, I'm reading 4-5 books at once (my Kindle facilitates my addiction). I recommend Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick, The Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan, Dennis Lehane's newest Live by Night, and How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough (good name, eh?). The Tough book is fascinating as it helps explain things like why a GED is not and will never be equal to a high school diploma.

[seacoaster]

Double Cross by Ben MacIntyre (author of Agent Zig Zag and Operation Mincemeat, both great reads). This is the story of a group of double agents who spied for Great Britain in WWII and who helped to keep the timing and location of the Normandy landings a secret from the Germans. All three of these books are absolutely worthwhile, and with winter coming on, no lax to speak of....

[randyrad]

I recommend Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick, The Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan, ...

Kaplan get's it. Good interview w/ Charlie Rose last night.

Veeck, as in Wreck is an oldie, but goodie.

[Paesan33]

I finished Michael Lewis' The Big Short, i thought it was ok, rather one-sided at times. For the casual reader though, i think it can help explain CDS and all that, things which its own creators cannot explain!

Otherwise, i just finished Laura Hillebrand's Unbroken. Gotta tell ya, might now be the best book ive ever read. What a story. Almost feels fabricated at certain times, its so dramatic! Its like a soap opera that the best would struggle to write, yet its somehow real.

Other than that, the story of survival and resilience is exceptional. It really made me believe how strong the human will can be, both physically and mentally. Unbelievable story. Very sad at times. In many ways, its almost Forrest Gumpish. Will have to pick up Devil at My Heels, however, i think there are two books under that title and will have to do some digging...

[shrimpngrits]

Waging Heavy Peace - Neil Young

Iconic songwriter/musician, definitely out there, but something of a Renaissance man. Interesting factoids:

+ Has had many health issues, most recently a brain aneurysm.

+ Intimated that he wrote every song while high. Has been sober for a couple of years.

+ Wrote 3 of his biggest songs - Cinnamon Girl, Cowgirl in the Sand and Down by the River the same afternoon while in bed with a 103 fever.

+ 3 kids, 2 sons are disabled.

+ Really into model trains, used to own a chunk of Lionel. Kids loved the trains.

+ Into tech, projects include hybrid/bio-diesel cars and developing an audiophile-grade ipod system.

If you're into his music, don't miss it. No ghost writer here, conversational in style, all over the map, but a fun read.

[Hot Air]

I'm reading or re-reading a number of FREE Classics and other books on my new Kindle. I know, I must be Scottish.

Thanks again to Frauknees and ClockworkBluejay for the recommendation on Kindle!

[SClaxattack]

Waging Heavy Peace - Neil Young

I enjoy some of Young's stuff, but I'd never be able to get through it. I'd read every sentence as if he were singing it to me. Migraine in less than an hour.

[tech37]

Waging Heavy Peace - Neil Young

Iconic songwriter/musician, definitely out there, but something of a Renaissance man. Interesting factoids:

+ Has had many health issues, most recently a brain aneurysm.

+ Intimated that he wrote every song while high. Has been sober for a couple of years.

+ Wrote 3 of his biggest songs - Cinnamon Girl, Cowgirl in the Sand and Down by the River the same afternoon while in bed with a 103 fever.

+ 3 kids, 2 sons are disabled.

+ Really into model trains, used to own a chunk of Lionel. Kids loved the trains.

+ Into tech, projects include hybrid/bio-diesel cars and developing an audiophile-grade ipod system.

If you're into his music, don't miss it. No ghost writer here, conversational in style, all over the map, but a fun read.

Have you read Shakey?...an earlier Young bio...good stuff!

Currently I'm reading Matterhorn...Vietnam account.

[shrimpngrits]

Shakey was very entertaining. WHP more of a hugfest, but some great 60's/70's tales...

[minkhoo]

Matterhorn is great. Highly recommend.

Now reading Back to Blood, latest from Tom Wolfe. Not his best at all.

Also, Year of Meteors, about Election of 1860. Early in, very promising.

Also started Black Box, newest Harry Bosch novel from Michael Connelly. Maybe moving to top of pile for a day or two (all I need for a Bosch).

[dmaclaxnut11]

By Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Amanda Knox's upcoming memoir has a title, a cover design and a new publication date.

HarperCollins announced Wednesday the book is titled "Waiting to be Heard." It will come out April 30, two months later than originally scheduled. The date was changed out of deference to a court in Italy that scheduled a March 25 hearing for the prosecution's appeal of the former exchange student's acquittal in the 2007 murder of her British roommate.
The 25-year-old Knox returned to her native Seattle last year after spending four years in a jail in Perugia, Italy. Her ordeal made international headlines. Her book deal was announced in February and reportedly was worth $4 million.
The cover features a close-up of an intense, unsmiling Knox. The picture was taken earlier this year.

Will be reading this one when it comes out. Although well documented, I'm sure it will be interesting to hear what Amanda has to say about this ordeal. I don't believe this girl had any more to do with the murder of her room mate than did the Dahli Lama.
The prosecutor in this case was as legit as the prosecutor in the fabricated Duke rape case.

[oldhopper]

Started tonight: Monty and Rommel - Parallel Lives by Peter Caddick-Adams, Overlook 2012.

614 pages of fine print history that may be great or not. Time will tell shortly.

Yeah, I am somewhat of a glutton for punishment.