What Book Is Everyone Reading Right Now?

[bdouglas]

Anybody here read "Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer"? A very interesting bio of Newton with emphasis on his lifetime of alchemical studies. Alchemy was really an obsession with Newton but the point of the book is that in some very important ways these alchemical studies led and influenced his great discoveries of Mechanics, etc. It made me think of Joseph Smith and his interest in and early belief in magic. I agree with Richard Bushman that Joseph Smith's early forays and belief in magic evolved into what he did down the road, influenced these accomplishments in important ways.

Edited December 28, 2012 by bdouglas

[Maidservant]

Just finished

1215: The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham

Now reading

blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

[volgadon]

Anybody here read "Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer"? A very interesting bio of Newton with emphasis on his lifetime of alchemical studies. Alchemy was really an obsession with Newton but the point of the book is that in some very important ways these alchemical studies led and influenced his great discoveries of Mechanics, etc. It made me think of Joseph Smith and his interest in and early belief in magic. I agree with Richard Bushman that Joseph Smith's early forays and belief in magic evolved into what he did down the road, influenced these accomplishments in important ways.

I haven't read that one, but I am familiar with that aspect of Newton, and I happened to be reading a summary of his efforts in an unrelated book today.

[volgadon]

I have never been able to get through "Murder In the Cathedral" and I have never seen it performed. It may be good poetry but I don't think it works as theater. But I do like "Becket" by Jean Anoulli (spelling?). Certainly not as deep Eliot but it is good theater.

I guess it boils down to different aesthetic preferences. Personally, poetry is very important for me in judging a work's merits. I'm also keen on medieval and allegorical drama which I realise might not be to everyone's tastes. That being said, I like all sorts of styles. Becket is fun..

[Stargazer]

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters?*

The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, betrayal, and obsession. These fascinating tales follow every element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, and in the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. THE DISAPPEARING SPOON masterfully fuses science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, and discovery--from the Big Bang through the end of time.

*Though solid at room temperature, gallium is a moldable metal that melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. A classic science prank is to mold gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch guests recoil as their utensils disappear.

This sounds like a book I need to get. I love the Periodic Table!

Gallium isn't poisonous is it? I hope nobody drank their tea after their spoon melted in it!!

[Stargazer]

World War Z.

If I don't hear one more word about Zombies for the rest of my life, I could die happy.

Zombies make me want to load up my shotgun.

Oh. Wait...

[bdouglas]

I have also made 2-3 attempts to read "The Wasteland" by Eliot but have never succeeded in getting very far before giving up. But I would be interested to know if it's true that when someone asked Eliot what "The Wasteland" meant, he said he didn't know. I have used this example once or twice when someone has brought up the Zelph incident in JS history—i.e., JS was a tool that God used to give us the BOM, but it doesn't necessarily mean he (JS) understood it perfectly.

Edited December 29, 2012 by bdouglas

[volgadon]

I have also made 2-3 attempts to read "The Wasteland" by Eliot but have never succeeded in getting very far before giving up. But I would be interested to know if it's true that when someone asked Eliot what "The Wasteland" meant, he said he didn't know. I have used this example once or twice when someone has brought up the Zelph incident in JS history—i.e., JS was a tool that God used to give us the BOM, but it doesn't necessarily mean he (JS) understood it perfectly.

I find "The Waste Land" one of Eliot's harder works. In many ways it isn't even entirely his. Ezra Pound famously called himself its midwife, and Eliot's wife also had her say in what was removed as some of the verses were deeply personal. Its details are not meant to be easily understood, but the gist seems to be that the world is not pretty, nor easy, but a place of sufering, of mockery, of failure, and despair, yet it still anticipates redemption. "The Waste Land" is a phase in Eliot's life, reflecting an outlook of confusion and despair, yet out of it comes a dawning recognition of God beyond the suffering and pointlessness. As a certain midrash on Abraham relates a parable, a man sees a city burning and wonders if there is a ruler. The ruler lets him know that he is present, not absent.

[Alan]

Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley.

[3DOP]

Right now I am reading "War and Peace" for the third (and last time).

When War and Peace, the Musical appears, you know you are going to have to cleanse your palate with a 4th reading. Actually I have not heard of a musical version, but one never knows. Anyway, great choice. Next time will be my fourth. Do you agree with Tolstoy's view of history? I do not. For those unfamiliar, Tolstoy perceives Napoleon's tidal wave breaking over the gates of Moscow and receding as an inevitable movement of peoples as opposed to the more popular view that it was the will of one man, Napoleon, and thus a wave that could have been averted. But he makes his arguments and he was no fool.

It seems like in his private life Tolstoy was rash, thrashing around looking for an ideal upon which to dedicate himself, and never finding it. Those may correct me who may know better, but to pique anyone's curiosity about why one might be drawn to re-read a book of colossal length multiple times, I must say that it is so you can brag about it of course.

Secondly, and I was jesting, he was a great story teller and I think it was made easier because he was telling his own story. A lot of our greatest authors probably "cheat" that way. Like the author of Ecclesiastes, born into privilege, Tolstoy had sought meaning in many places. He had been on the battlefield, he had given himself over to Bacchus, and he had sought to understand Holy Russia through the eyes of the elusive and idealized peasant serf. I am not going to run through a list of all of the main players and the themes that they sought by which they hoped to find meaning, only to eventually have to retrench and start again. But for those of us who are familar, think only of Andrei, Pierre, Marya, and I think also particularly of Natasha's younger brother whose name escapes me just now who as a young dragoon is enraptured with the person and idea of the Czar.

Looking at his long life, as a Catholic, I can not be confident that Tolstoy finally found peace with his God and his soul. I am not enthused about his actions that prompted his excommunication from the Orthodox Church at a very ripe old age. But if God rewards us for searching and not necessarily finding one must hold some hope for Leo Tolstoy. A profound and passionate soul, he is a giant at the center (not geographically) of Western literature. Believing as I do in the ultimate unification of Christendom, I am led to have tried to understand the Russian mind and it is possible to find a depth of spirit that is difficult to match as one advances west. If only so that we might understand better a phenomenon that has shaped this century, the Cold War, we would do well to acquaint ourselves with the Russian spirit through good translations of Gogol, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, and of course the works of Leo Tolstoy.

But I am happy to report that the effort is not one that can be made merely because you have the character to try to learn and understand. The books are too stinking long for that! No. We need to have fun too on a voluntary journey of such length. It has to be a labor of delight. Reading without trying too hard. I assure anyone who has enjoyed some of our own great English authors: One who loves ****ens, Austen, Hardy, Trollope, Thackeray, or Gaskell will not be disappointed by casting their gaze east. It just seems to me like the world's literary sun burns hottest and brightest where east meets west. Russia is its equator and America, good writers like Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, and others notwithstanding, is getting nearer the literary polar regions in my opinion. I believe America excels Russia in many many ways, but not in literature. I cannot be Russian and do not want to be. but an American can learn to love Russia and I think it is eminently worthwhile.

And that is why I intend to read War and Peace every so often until I die.

3DOP

Edited December 29, 2012 by 3DOP

[KevinG]

I would like to claim an intellectual tomb but my private reading is about escape and my current read is "Terminal World" by Alistair Reynolds.

[thesometimesaint]

Anybody here read "Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer"? A very interesting bio of Newton with emphasis on his lifetime of alchemical studies. Alchemy was really an obsession with Newton but the point of the book is that in some very important ways these alchemical studies led and influenced his great discoveries of Mechanics, etc. It made me think of Joseph Smith and his interest in and early belief in magic. I agree with Richard Bushman that Joseph Smith's early forays and belief in magic evolved into what he did down the road, influenced these accomplishments in important ways.

IIRC It was after Newton made his famous discoveries that he got involved with alchemy.

[Ron Beron]

Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in Arabic.

Given the emphasis on the Crusades I'm surprised it is even published in Arabic.

[bdouglas]

When War and Peace, the Musical appears, you know you are going to have to cleanse your palate with a 4th reading. Actually I have not heard of a musical version, but one never knows. Anyway, great choice. Next time will be my fourth. Do you agree with Tolstoy's view of history? I do not. For those unfamiliar, Tolstoy perceives Napoleon's tidal wave breaking over the gates of Moscow and receding as an inevitable movement of peoples as opposed to the more popular view that it was the will of one man, Napoleon, and thus a wave that could have been averted. But he makes his arguments and he was no fool.

It seems like in his private life Tolstoy was rash, thrashing around looking for an ideal upon which to dedicate himself, and never finding it. Those may correct me who may know better, but to pique anyone's curiosity about why one might be drawn to re-read a book of colossal length multiple times, I must say that it is so you can brag about it of course.

Secondly, and I was jesting, he was a great story teller and I think it was made easier because he was telling his own story. A lot of our greatest authors probably "cheat" that way. Like the author of Ecclesiastes, born into privilege, Tolstoy had sought meaning in many places. He had been on the battlefield, he had given himself over to Bacchus, and he had sought to understand Holy Russia through the eyes of the elusive and idealized peasant serf. I am not going to run through a list of all of the main players and the themes that they sought by which they hoped to find meaning, only to eventually have to retrench and start again. But for those of us who are familar, think only of Andrei, Pierre, Marya, and I think also particularly of Natasha's younger brother whose name escapes me just now who as a young dragoon is enraptured with the person and idea of the Czar.

Looking at his long life, as a Catholic, I can not be confident that Tolstoy finally found peace with his God and his soul. I am not enthused about his actions that prompted his excommunication from the Orthodox Church at a very ripe old age. But if God rewards us for searching and not necessarily finding one must hold some hope for Leo Tolstoy. A profound and passionate soul, he is a giant at the center (not geographically) of Western literature. Believing as I do in the ultimate unification of Christendom, I am led to have tried to understand the Russian mind and it is possible to find a depth of spirit that is difficult to match as one advances west. If only so that we might understand better a phenomenon that has shaped this century, the Cold War, we would do well to acquaint ourselves with the Russian spirit through good translations of Gogol, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, and of course the works of Leo Tolstoy.

But I am happy to report that the effort is not one that can be made merely because you have the character to try to learn and understand. The books are too stinking long for that! No. We need to have fun too on a voluntary journey of such length. It has to be a labor of delight. Reading without trying too hard. I assure anyone who has enjoyed some of our own great English authors: One who loves ****ens, Austen, Hardy, Trollope, Thackeray, or Gaskell will not be disappointed by casting their gaze east. It just seems to me like the world's literary sun burns hottest and brightest where east meets west. Russia is its equator and America, good writers like Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, and others notwithstanding, is getting nearer the literary polar regions in my opinion. I believe America excels Russia in many many ways, but not in literature. I cannot be Russian and do not want to be. but an American can learn to love Russia and I think it is eminently worthwhile.

And that is why I intend to read War and Peace every so often until I die.

3DOP

Thanks. I appreciate your thoughts. As to Tolstoy's views of history...I have never paid much attention to any of his theories, either at the time he was writing his great fiction or later when he turned into a primitive Christian. I think if he'd left his theory of history out of "War and Peace" it would have been a better book. The character I most relate to is Pierre. I love Pierre, and when I was a young man I also had a crush on Natasha. Like Pierre, I was in love with her.

To me Russian fiction, and also Drama (I'm thinking of Chekhov), is the best there is. I can't think of much else that compares to it.

[bdouglas]

IIRC It was after Newton made his famous discoveries that he got involved with alchemy.

I think he was doing alchemical experiments as early the time he was a student at Cambridge.

[bdouglas]

IIRC It was after Newton made his famous discoveries that he got involved with alchemy.

There is a very good book review of this book ("Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer") in the New Yorker by John Updike. It was about 10 years ago. If you have a New Yorker login you can search the archives and find it.

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

My problem is that I'll start one book and then another and another, until I'm halfway through half a dozen books piled around my mattress that take me weeks to read. Very frustrating. At the moment, I'm:

• 145 pages into Mysteries of the Bridechamber: The Initiation of Jesus and the Temple of Solomon by Victoria LePage (which is fantastic so far).
  
• 100 pages into Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes, which is nice and dense.
  
• 388 pages into Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily D!ckinson by Camille Paglia.
  
• 86 pages into The Horse, The Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony (fantastic as well, so far).
  
• 32 pages into The Art of Memory by Frances A. Yates, which is fascinating.
  

Heaven help me, I also just started page 3 of The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000 by Chris Wickham. Someone make me focus, please?

Edited December 30, 2012 by JeremyOrbe-Smith

[volgadon]

100 pages into Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes, which is nice and dense.

One of my favourites! I have to say that this is one of the best (perhaps the best) book about Russia by a non-Russian that I have read. It was fun to follow along with the books and music mentioned, in Russian. Hands down the best single-volume cultural history of Russia out there. That book I mentioned earlier, "Speak, Memory," is one of the sources for the last chapter.

Heaven help me, I also just started page 3 of The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000 by Chris Wickham. Someone make me focus, please?

My wife gave me that as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago. FUn book. It does a great job of showing how the "Dark Ages" were no such thing, and I really enjoyed the bit about the decrepit statues in Byzantium.

[volgadon]

he was no fool.

Yes, and no, and even perhaps.

What I mean is that Tolstoy could be very contradictory. Although capable of the loftiest sentiment, at times he acted so unbelievably idioticly and naively. Also, as his daughter famously quipped about the lack of running water on the Yasnaya Polyana estate, "it wasn't Tolstoy who drew the water from the well."

I'm not a fan of his so-called major works, but am very fond of Haji Murad and his short stories about Sevastopol and the Caucasus. He knew how to tell a story when he let himself do so.

Edited December 30, 2012 by volgadon

[volgadon]

To me Russian fiction, and also Drama (I'm thinking of Chekhov), is the best there is. I can't think of much else that compares to it.

I agree! Personally, though, I enjoy Chekhov's short stories much more than his plays. When I read them in Russian I was blown away by how economically and effectively he used words, there is literally not a single wasted word. It also turns out that my wife's great-great-grandparents were next-door neighbours with the Chekhov brothers. The house where his brother died is a museum which sadly hardly gets any visitors. The same town was also the setting of Ionich, but we couldn't find the grave of the Italian actress.

[Kemara]

One of my favourites! I have to say that this is one of the best (perhaps the best) book about Russia by a non-Russian that I have read. It was fun to follow along with the books and music mentioned, in Russian. Hands down the best single-volume cultural history of Russia out there. That book I mentioned earlier, "Speak, Memory," is one of the sources for the last chapter.

Thanks Volgadon and Jeremy for mentioning this book, being a quarter Russian myself I am getting more and more interested in Russian history and culture and I managed to find a copy for $10. I have been lucky enough to work with a number of Russian scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, all of whom are amateur historians, listening to them discuss Russian and world history as well as current events around the globe is a truly fascinating experience. Just yesterday I got an email from a Professor at the academy explainging to me his views on Syria, I venture to say that it is entirely different to how the majority in the west view these events. Thanks again!

[JeremyOrbe-Smith]

I'm glad to know my book-choosing skills are up to snuff, Volga and Kemara.

[ChristKnight]

I've gone to the dark side . I'm currently reading "Who Do You Think You Are-Finding Your True Identity in Christ" by evangelical (Mars Hill Church) pastor Mark Driscoll. Yes, I know he doesn't like the LDS faith. But the book is really good so far!

[bdouglas]

I agree! Personally, though, I enjoy Chekhov's short stories much more than his plays. When I read them in Russian I was blown away by how economically and effectively he used words, there is literally not a single wasted word. It also turns out that my wife's great-great-grandparents were next-door neighbours with the Chekhov brothers. The house where his brother died is a museum which sadly hardly gets any visitors. The same town was also the setting of Ionich, but we couldn't find the grave of the Italian actress.

Have you seen the film adaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya"? It's called "Vanya On 42nd Street" (by Louis Malle). I know people who don't like his plays who really liked this adaptation.

I love Chekhov's short stories too. I think he said something like "fiction is the wife I am married to, and the theater is my mistress."

[swfarnsworth]

A friend got me a used copy of "Earth in the Beginning" for Christmas, but I haven't read enough to say anything about it except that it's interesting.