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Robert Cosgrove
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: 11 March 2016 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | 1
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Just finished The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin. When this came out and was a bestseller a few years back, I had it out of the library, but my reading time was limited, and I had to return the book largely unread. I picked it up on remainder a year or so ago, and finally returned to it, finishing it with great pleasure. The big surprise for me was the extent to which I left the book liking and admiring Taft, a warm, generous, and forgiving spirit, who seemed to me a better man than Roosevelt in many respects.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133415
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| Posted: 11 March 2016 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | 2
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Inspired by my own mention of it in another thread, I am plunging into STAND ON ZANZIBAR by John Brunner, the Hugo Award winning sci-fi novel I haven't read since the first time, when I was 19.
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Paul Gibney
Byrne Robotics Member.
Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1083
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| Posted: 11 March 2016 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | 3
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Jack of Eagles by James Blish. Read it about once a decade, I guess.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133415
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| Posted: 12 March 2016 at 7:32am | IP Logged | 4
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There's one I haven't read since high school! I recall only one scene, where the hero becomes fixated on the legs of a woman who's sitting on a desk while they have a conversation. He notes that they are perfectly ordinary legs, but he cannot break eye contact with her in order to simply look at them. Blish exactly captured the kind of obsession that can kick in, momentarily, at a time like that.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17700
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| Posted: 12 March 2016 at 9:49am | IP Logged | 5
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Myth INC in Action
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133415
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| Posted: 12 March 2016 at 10:23am | IP Logged | 6
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Continuing with LEONARD, William Shatner's memoir about Leonard Nimoy, and just now noting another instance of Shatner playing to popular misconception. The first time was in one of his autobiographical tomes, when he referred to the Enterprise model being filmed hanging in front of black velvet (there's those infamous "shoddy special effects" again). This time it's a reference to Roddenberry setting TOS "three hundred years in the future." TOS made reference to its time period a couple of times -- two hundred years hence.
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James Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 890
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| Posted: 12 March 2016 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | 7
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Now starting:
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36010
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| Posted: 13 March 2016 at 2:37am | IP Logged | 8
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Just read NOTHING LASTS FOREVER by Roderick Thorp, the book that DIE HARD was based upon. Not great. The writing was pedantic at best and the ending was abysmal. Although I enjoyed seeing the bits that they took to write the MUCH better screenplay, it was a chore to get through the 256 pages it took to finish it. If you're interested it checking it out, don't unless your curiosity is too hard to ignore. Can't recommend it at all.
I need to wash my metaphorical mind out with some narrative nonfiction now...
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133415
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| Posted: 13 March 2016 at 10:16am | IP Logged | 9
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Shatner now provides the THIRD version (that I know of) of how Nimoy came to be cast as Spock!
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Andrew Bitner
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7526
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| Posted: 13 March 2016 at 11:13am | IP Logged | 10
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How is LEONARD? It looks pretty interesting.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133415
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| Posted: 13 March 2016 at 12:57pm | IP Logged | 11
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I'm enjoying it, despite the heavy tilt toward urban legends.
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Paul Lloyd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 May 2004
Location: Wales
Posts: 486
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| Posted: 13 March 2016 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | 12
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The Indian Mutiny: 1857 by Saul David. A history of the First War of Indian Independence / the Sepoy Rebellion. It's a bit biased - for example, the author talks about the mutineers' "sinister" ends, when their ends were the overthrow on colonial rule. But it's still very interesting. And underlines how quickly and unexpectedly things can go to pieces.
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