A novel that sparks my interest and will soon be added to my library is: Britannia's Fist: From Civil War to World War: —An Alternate History--Peter G. Tsouras

I have been a Civil War buff for many years and am always looking for different scenarios that might have produced alternate directions for future historical outcomes.

Lone Survivor - Marcus Luttrell Also Culture Of Corruption - Michelle Malkin

The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) - Not worth the time or the money.

The Machine (Joe Posnanski) - OK, but not great. Some good anecdotes and a more in-depth look at Griffey and Foster than most other books about this team, but 90% of what's here is stuff you've probably read/heard many times before. I expected more from Joe, whose writing I generally think is fantastic.

The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins) - Exceptional. Best book I've read in at least 5 years. Whether you're a devout believer or an atheist, Dawkins will make you think.

The Holy Bible,

yea I know, I'm a little eccentric...

Doesn't mean I'm a saint though, tis the sick who needs a doctor...

Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth. I highly recommend it.

Bright Shiny Morning - by James Frey (Author of Million LIttle Pieces)

What would happen if Richard Dawkins was pitching and Josh McDowell was the batter?

'Outliers' by Malcom Gladwell because I want to and a Financial Accounting text....because my professor says I have to.

Professors can be such dishrags sometimes :)

I was not a big fan of Outliers.

Quote: Originally Posted By mensu1954 on 10/27/2009
Just started The Original Curse: Did the Cubs Throw the 1918 World Series to Babe Ruth's Red Sox and Incite the Black Sox Scandal? by Sean Deveney.

Never heard about this one, sounds interesting.



Last book I read was maybe Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders.

I enjoyed all three of Gladwell's popular books.

I read The Bible regularly.

Just finished Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong. I read all of his Inspector Chen mystery novels. Chen is a poet and a cop in Shanghai. Fun stuff if you like mysteries and have an interest in literature and contemporary Chinese culture. (O.K., that's probably all of one person on this site - me.)

Reading Oedipus Rex by Sophocles right now, and I'm surprised by just how entertaining it is. (All right, the choruses are a drag, but the scenes just drip with irony.)

Quote: Originally Posted By biglenr on 10/27/2009

I'm a freak for alternate history... Just finishing Harry Turtledove's Days of Infamy, about Japan following up Pearl Harbor with an invasion fleet and taking Hawaii.

By the way, I would bet money that Turtledove has used this site. Old time baseball players keep popping up in his books, in different roles. Mordecai Brown as a 3 fingered construction worker, Granny Hammer as a medic in WWII, Lou Gehrig as a running back in a world where baseball didn't catch on, and he named a pirate in another story Brickyard Kennedy. You don't just come up with a name like "Brickyard Kennedy".

I have many of his books, probably 15-20 - I'm not into the really weird stuff, just the alternative history.

Not a Turtledove book but I recently finshed "Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America" a fun read

A very nice book I recently finshed was "Flood" by Stephen Baxter - think of a serious prequel, not a comic book type like the the B- Kevin Costner movie "Waterworld" - oh, it's not about global warming either... amazon says "a fascinating apocalyptic vision"

The Match King.....The true story of the first Bernie Madoff. Except it was the 1920's

Bill Simmons' Big Book of Basketball

is hilarious as ever...and as an avid history student/poly sci student. its nice to see all the footnotes