What Book Are You Currently Reading? page 9

[Kylex286]

Love, love, love that book. The sequel is equally awesome. Hmmm, may need to re-read those.

I'm almost finished with it. It's definitely made my top two favorite books, but it doesn't beat The Warded Man By Peter V.Bret or its squeal, The Desert Spear...

I actually haven't read those, I'll add them to my ever growing list of books I'm supposed to read.

[onalark]

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic & Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Loved that book. Even if Larson does go to some liberties, still -- loved that book!

I remember watching the episode of Supernatural with H.H. Holmes in it and thinking, "Hah. Some script writer just read Devil in the White City."

[katemary]

11/22/63 by Stephen King. After skipping his books for a few years I went for this 800 + page novel. It's about a man who gets the chance to change history and embarks on a mission to stop the assassination of JFK. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and so far I think it may be his best novel. He reminds me of a modern day Charles Dickens. Hope I still am as happy with it when I'm done.

yes!

[Mike in Virginia]

I understand that I don't want productive activity and trade controlled by an arbitrary metal.

I'd heartily recommend Debt: The First 5,000 Years, but only if you're ready for a challenge.

Hi Rojo. I'd hardly say that gold is arbitrary: it was freely used through the ages because people found that it worked. And what could be more arbitrary than a fiat currency that is manipulated by a central bank? Gold has retained its purchasing power for many centuries, while the US dollar has declined dramatically in less than 100 years. Which one is really arbitrary?

If the book you are recommending is based on Keynesian economics, then no thanks. I've read Keynes's "General Theory of Money and Credit". I concluded that Keynes was really writing a parody; I just can't believe that he expected people to think it was serious economics. The internal inconsistencies are just too great.

[Rojo]

Hi Rojo. I'd hardly say that gold is arbitrary: it was freely used through the ages because people found that it worked. And what could be more arbitrary than a fiat currency that is manipulated by a central bank? Gold has retained its purchasing power for many centuries, while the US dollar has declined dramatically in less than 100 years. Which one is really arbitrary?

If the book you are recommending is based on Keynesian economics, then no thanks. I've read Keynes's "General Theory of Money and Credit". I concluded that Keynes was really writing a parody; I just can't believe that he expected people to think it was serious economics. The internal inconsistencies are just too great.

I wouldn't say it's based on Keynesian economics. It's much deeper than that. He questions why there is even an "economics". His view is that divorcing material transactions from other forms of human interaction is a big mistake.

Maybe "arbitrary" is the wrong word for gold. There's history there. But there was a long history of silver use too, until they found too much of it.

I go back to Aristotle's view of money -- it's what we want it to be. It's a human creation to measure out relative values (you can't trade half an egg, e.g.) For hundreds of years in medievel Europe, people conducted business in Roman currency -- a Roman currency that was no longer actually being minted or circulated.

[Mike in Virginia]

I wouldn't say it's based on Keynesian economics. It's much deeper than that. He questions why there is even an "economics". His view is that divorcing material transactions from other forms of human interaction is a big mistake.

Maybe "arbitrary" is the wrong word for gold. There's history there. But there was a long history of silver use too, until they found too much of it.

I go back to Aristotle's view of money -- it's what we want it to be. It's a human creation to measure out relative values (you can't trade half an egg, e.g.) For hundreds of years in medievel Europe, people conducted business in Roman currency -- a Roman currency that was no longer actually being minted or circulated.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Rojo. I'll check it out...always looking for fresh pursuits and ways of looking at things.

[wiltondeportes]

The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind

[waterjen]

I was listening to a lot of audiobooks for a while and damn, are those pricey. And they don't seem to drop the price as time goes by like they do for paper books, either--the Clan of the Cave Bear books were like $20 a pop and those have been around for 20+ years!

I am a big fan of recorded books. I tend to get them from my library, which makes them FREEEEEEE!

[waterjen]

Right now I'm finishing Travels with Charley by Steinbeck. Next up?? Not sure. I hit a used-book store today seeking primal/paleo cookbooks and walked out with 8 sci-fi (eg Card/Heinlein/Clarke) and 5 regular fiction (eg Atwood/King/Irving) books. I have some choice choices in my immediate future -- OK, in about 40 pages, at any rate.

[jay_fm]

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli.