Grand unified books thread

[Gups]

The quality of the writing goes seriously downhill from Book 4 as well.

[Ed Anger]

It's hard to type when your hands are caked in a melange of Twinkie, ding dong and zinger remnants.

[crazy canuck]

The quality of the writing goes seriously downhill from Book 4 as well.

[Savonarola]

The Nature of Chaos by Tom Mullin

This is an introduction to the field of Chaos Theory.  It does a decent job introducing the field and showing applications of it in various disciplines; however the book fails to explain how chaos theory causes dinosaurs to chase around Jeff Goldblum.  I found this an inexcusable weakness.

[Sheilbh]

Following on from Middlemarch I'm re-reading a couple of books I read too young: The Secret Agent and Jenkins' Gladstone.

Also the first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery because I've never read any Golden Age detective stories and I've heard Sayers is the best.

[Queequeg]

How old is old enough to read Middlemarch?

[The Brain]

Got a shipment.

Rana Mitter, China's War with Japan 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival.

Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze.

Edited by some dudes, The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanse War of 1937-1945.

I'd be interested in hearing your conclusions when you're done your reading.

I finished China's War with Japan. I generally don't care for frog historians, I find them too theory-laden and "intellectual", but the author has written a nice little introduction to the war. Focus is on the Chinese state's actions during the war, and the problems it had to face. Not extremely detailed when it comes to the actual fighting, and even less when it comes to the Japanese (which makes sense). It did make me realize that Stilwell = grumbler.

[Savonarola]

Around the World in 80 Days 

If Phineas Fogg had arranged for a steamship out of New York (and arrived after it had departed), how could he have not known the date (and actually been a day ahead)? 

Otherwise it's still a great yarn; one of Verne's best.   

[Sheilbh]

How old is old enough to read Middlemarch?

I had to read it for A-Level and I loved it then. But I think it's a book that you can come back to, having lived a little more each time, and enjoy for different reasons.

I read a lot of Victorian fiction when I was younger and I enjoyed lots of it, but I think I was a bit impatient with the prose. Lately I've been on a big Victorian binge for some reason - Gladstone, Trollope, Eliot, Newman. So I'm getting more out of reading these, for me, new Victorians - like Dickens and Trollope and Collins. That's prompted to revisit the old Victorians and so far I am generally appreciating them more.

[Razgovory]

I'm looking for a book on France during WWI.  Particularly the political aspects.  I'm curious how a democracy functions when a portion of the country has been overrun and the rest under siege.

[Gups]

"Dreadnought" by Robert Massie (rightly praised by several  earlier in this thread for his Peter the Great biog, don't bother with the Catherine the Great biog, it's 80% nonsense about here relationships with her lovers).

Dreadnought is pretty good, but overlong (>1,000 pages) and somewhat repetitive. Lots of min-biogs of key protagnists in the Anglo-German naval arms race including Bismark, Kaiser Bill, Holstein, Salibury,  Tirpotz Joey C and Fisher (who Massie kinda hero-worships) whcih are entertaining but frequyently irrelevant to the book. Good on explaining ship design and overarching diplomatic strategy. Half way through and a solid 7/10.

[Ed Anger]

make sure you read Castles of Steel afterwards. 

[The Brain]

don't bother with the Catherine the Great biog, it's 80% nonsense about here relationships with her lovers).

[Admiral Yi]

I was bored to tears by Dreadnought.

[Sheilbh]

Anyone know of a 'History of Western Philosophy' style book for twentieth century philosophers?