It’s fun how the tables turn. I used to read some books for pleasure, and some because they were coming up in a class I was teaching. (There was often pleasure in that, but it was also a professional obligation.) For additional pleasure I’d go off into various kinds of nonfiction. Now, I find that the three books I’ve most recently finished are
Easements and Reversions, Donald Wilson,
Brown’s Boundary Control and Legal Principles, 6th edition, and
Bleak House, Charles Dickens.
I’ve just started Land Survey Systems, by John G. McEntyre.
It's hard to say that I'm doing any of this reading for anything but pleasure, through there is an academic obligation at work some of the time.
Cheers,
Henry
Try the series by Michael Aye or Alexander Kent. Some VERY good books there.
Mostly I read westerns, surprisingly I'm not a fan of L'moure or Zane Grey.
My most recent read was "The housing boom and bust" by Thomas Sowell. Very informative.
Anything by David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, and am reading several books concurrently by Stephen Ambrose (one in car, one in the 'reading room'). Great historian with interesting commentary and observations.
"Bligh : William Bligh in the South Seas" by Anne Salmond
very interesting history and analysis of a complex character
Brunel: The Man Who Built the World by Steven Brindle
"Brunel’s originality was matched by his breadth of mind: excelling as architect, surveyor, civil engineer, mechanical engineer and ship designer."
The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
"Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public."
Acts of Faith Philip Caputo> Very good, highly recommend!!
Titan, the life of John D. Rockefeller> I don't read very many bio's but this was extremely interesting..
just finished "Drift" by Rachel Maddow, next up is "Barefoot Bandit" by Bob Friel.
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Non-fiction
William Zinsser
Actually an audio book I picked up for a long road trip.
The author must be familiar with my usual writing style as he has stressed more than once the importance of brevity - almost beating me over the head with the concept.
