Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle

Unlike his other more famous book, Beagle is a delight to read, covering his travels around the world, a journey which provided the seed for his evolutionary theories. It's filled with terrific scenic descriptions, and manages easily to instill wonder over old bones, and otherwise dry zoology.

" These precipices must have been some thousand feet high, and the whole formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent than anything which I have ever before beheld." Writing about Tahiti, ol' Charlie is a man in love with Mother Earth. A great man, and a great book,

Did you ever read "The Map that Changed the World," by Simon Winchester? I'm not especially fond of non-fiction, but I think it'd be a nice follow up to Darwin's book.

It tells the story of the man who made the first geological map of England. Sounds dry, but it shook up the religious establishment, in the same way that Darwin did, since it proved that the earth was much older than Biblical "scholarshi" believed possible.

I am re-reading A History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 1 by Mircea Eliade.

Finished "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. Meh. It was alright. The story is poignant, but I found the style distracting. The main character is on of the Lost Boys of Sudan. It is essentially a true story, but, unecessarily, imo, leaves a bunch of loose ends. Not something I would run out and buy, but I learned a bit about the political issues involved.

Just started "Sacred Games" by Vikram Chandra. Anybody read it?

Just starting on "Wolf Moon" by Charles de Lint, a werewolf novel.

quote:

Posted by kendocubano
Did you ever read 'The Map that Changed the World.'

Nyetsville, but I liked Winchesters' 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne.' So, one day, one day....

The Children of Hurin

J.R.R. Tolkien

Consciousness Explained
by Daniel Dennett

and

The Conscious Mind
by David Chalmers

Dennett is on of the champions of the reigning materialist definition of consciousness, and Chalmers is one of the last defenders of a dualistic theory of consciousness. Chalmers argument is one of the best surviving rational arguments for a soul.

If you're reading Dennett and Chalmers, you should wander over to the Friendly Talk on Religion thread sometime. You would undoubtedly have some interesting perspectives to add to the discussion.

I'm reading Catch-22. Great classic

Hi all!
I'm new here and this is my first post. I just finished Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris. Has anyone either read it, or have a desire to read it? I'll give my opinion of the book after a few replies, as I don't want to spoil it for anyone!
Thanks and happy to be here

Hi Sarah. Welcome to a very friendly and thoughtful forum. You'll love the guys here.

Haven't read 'Hannibal Rising'.....not too sure I want to....Red Dragon was Harris's peak for me..

Welcome Sarah. I never read Hannibal Rising. I read Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, and kinda lost interest after that. To be honest, though, Harris isn't really my genre.

What have been your thoughts? How do you think it compares to his older work?

quote:

Originally posted by Tevildo:
The Children of Hurin

J.R.R. Tolkien

I've been reading reviews, and they seem quite mixed. I loved Tolkien 30 years ago, when I last read him, but found The Simarillion long, dull and off-putting. I haven't decided, yet, whether I'm going to plough into this one. Have you finished? Was it worth it? Do you have to be a Tolkien freak to read it?

Started this week on a sci-fi fantasy, "The Amphora Project" by William Kotzwinkle. I think this is my fourth or fifth Kotzwinkle novel. My favorite, so far, is "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" from a few years back.

Currently reading 'Unspeak' by Steven Poole.

A thorough and exacting analysis of political euphemism and propaganda through language, primarily British and American.

If you love Orwell, well, here's a disciple who will show you exactly how we are being manipulated and lied to by those in power.

I hope you don't believe we are all sheep around here. Orwell was old hat when I was a babe. By old hat, I mean that we drank him like mother's milk and evolved far past what he could know before we were potty trained.

Oh, i think there are a few things even a wise old owl like you could learn, marky-san...

a) did you know we are involved in a war on a abstract concept? i.e. 'Terror'

Next week I'm going out to fight indifference

Started going back through High Fidelity. I just like the book way too much to not read it every couple of years.

Thank you all for the warm welcome!!

Well okay, my opinion of the book is that, well, I should have waited for the paperback, after all, I would'nt have had too wait too long for it to come out in PB. Silence and Red Dragon are far more colorful and detailed works of Harris.

In Hannibal Rising, unless you are extremely familiar of what took place in Europe duing WWII toward the end of the Hitler Regime, you won't (like myself) exactly get it and find it very hard to follow.

So if your a diehard Harris fan and are dying to read this book, I would suggest getting a high school History text to brush up upon before reading this book!