What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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HaHa, My husband said he liked this book and it's on Amazon. Hope this helps:

Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace Dominic Lieven (Author)



 
Ally said:
HaHa, My husband said he liked this book and it's on Amazon. Hope this helps:

Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace Dominic Lieven (Author)
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Thanks Ally. I'll see if I can find it in King Co Library. Seattle does not have it.

Ha
 
I just read The Code Book by Simon Singh, which details the science and history of cryptography. If you have ever been interested in ciphers and codes, it is a very informative and well written book. As the author explained the historical cipher systems, I found myself thinking "But what about this weakness?". Inevitably, the very next page would say something like "You may ask -- but what about this weakness? Well . . ." Step by step he explains how the code/cipher was constructed and how it was eventually broken. The important historical figures in code breaking, such as Alan Turing, are brought to life in the pages. The final chapter of the book is a discussion of the inevitable fight between a government that wants to keep an eye on troublemakers and people who want privacy. It was written in 1999, so subsequent events will inform the reader's understanding of the debate. Overall, I give it two thumbs up.
 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larson. Excellent pageturner with interesting characters, a grisly development or two, a number of Volvos, and some unpronouncable Swedish place names. I can't wait to start the sequel!
 
Gumby said:
I just read The Code Book by Simon Singh, which details the science and history of cryptography.
...(snip)...
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Sounds interesting, I'll check it out. Just wondering if there was any depth to the discussion of the math behind the named algorithms? Not that I'd follow the deeper stuff.

When I looked it up in our library system the title was:
The code book : the evolution of secrecy from Mary Queen of Scots to quantum cryptography with 402 pages, year 1999
but Amazon has:
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography with 432 pages, year 2000

Slight title differences, that's curious. Oh well.
 
Lsbcal said:
Sounds interesting, I'll check it out. Just wondering if there was any depth to the discussion of the math behind the named algorithms? Not that I'd follow the deeper stuff.

When I looked it up in our library system the title was:
The code book : the evolution of secrecy from Mary Queen of Scots to quantum cryptography with 402 pages, year 1999
but Amazon has:
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography with 432 pages, year 2000

Slight title differences, that's curious. Oh well.
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It is the second one. At least, the one I read has the same subtitle. Although the book does open with a story about Mary Queen of Scots. And yes, it does get into some of the math. Gently in the text and in greater detail in the appendices.
 
I read two really great books recently.

1. "The Long Walk" by Slavomir Rawicz. It's about seven men who escape from a Soviet laber camp in Siberia and walk to freedom.

2. "Dancing with Marmots" by George Spearing. I've read this book twice. The author is from New Zealand and hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail. He has a great sense of humor and I really did LOL several times while reading this book.
 
Colum McCann,Let the Great World Spin....mesmerizing.

Dipped into Retirement Rocks, Canadian Boomers Invest in Life Blas/Comton and The New Retirement by Sherry Cooper.
Seriously read, How to retire happy, wild and free.by Ernie Zelinski.Best book on retirement I have read so far. Believe his message - it is not about the money its about quality of life. All three books are written by Canadians so really relevant to this Canucklehead.
 
Gumby said:
I just read The Code Book by Simon Singh, Overall, I give it two thumbs up.
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+1 I enjoyed it enough to buy Code, another book on the topic which isn't as good. And, of course, Cryptonomicon, a novel by Neil Stephenson which jumps in time from code breakers in Bletchley Park to a modern day data haven - definitely a good read.
 
donheff said:
+1 I enjoyed it enough to buy Code, another book on the topic which isn't as good. And, of course, Cryptonomicon, a novel by Neil Stephenson which jumps in time from code breakers in Bletchley Park to a modern day data haven - definitely a good read.
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I read Cryptomnicon and really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed his Baroque Cycle of books. He is a very entertaining writer.
 
Lsbcal said:
Sounds interesting, I'll check it out. Just wondering if there was any depth to the discussion of the math behind the named algorithms? Not that I'd follow the deeper stuff.

When I looked it up in our library system the title was:
The code book : the evolution of secrecy from Mary Queen of Scots to quantum cryptography with 402 pages, year 1999
but Amazon has:
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography with 432 pages, year 2000

Slight title differences, that's curious. Oh well.
Click to expand...

Gumby said:
It is the second one. At least, the one I read has the same subtitle. Although the book does open with a story about Mary Queen of Scots. And yes, it does get into some of the math. Gently in the text and in greater detail in the appendices.
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Huh? I saw Gumby's post, and thought it sounded interesting so I put it on hold at our library. But it was the first on that list:

The Code Book
The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots, to Quantum Cryptography
Singh, Simon (Book - 1999)

Author is Simon Singh, so I assume this is the same, or maybe just a slightly different edition?

Ahh, a little more info:

Edition:1st ed
ISBN:0385495315

-ERD50
 
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The version I have is the "trade paperback" It has 411 pages (counting index) and is ISBN 0-385-49532-3
 
Gumby said:
The version I have is the "trade paperback" It has 411 pages (counting index) and is ISBN 0-385-49532-3
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Thanks, I see the ISBN #'s vary only by the last two digits 15 versus 23. I'll assume the content is similar, probably just a different cover style or something?

-ERD50
 
If I understand correctly, the final digit of an ISBN is a checksum. The preceding three digits identify the title and edition. So the ISBN in your post is the first edition and mine is the second edition (if I have read the code on the back of the tile page correctly), although it is noted as the "First Anchor Books Edition, September 2000"
 
Just finished reading Black Wave by Jean Silverwood, about their family sailing adventure's sudden end on a reef in the South Pacific. Gripping read, and unexpectedly interesting even before the nitty gritty of the disaster. The dynamics of the family and how they put their private dramas "out there" in the book made it very compelling reading.
I finished it in two nights. I first heard about the book from Abby Sunderland's blog. She's the teenager whose own boat came to grief in a massive storm in the Southern Ocean. I have an odd affinity for disaster at sea stories.
 
Did anyone mention 'Pacific Glory' by P T Deuterman ? Very entertaining.....
 
I highly recommend The Psychopath Test: A journey Through the Madness Industry, by Jon Ronson, author of The Men Who Stare at Goats. It is a witty, entertaining look at what psychopaths are, how they are identified and how the are or are not "treated." Jonson is a journalist with a touch of Woody Allen. He has a refreshing, self deprecating voice and his subject is fascinating.
 
donheff said:
I highly recommend The Psychopath Test: A journey Through the Madness Industry, by Jon Ronson, author of The Men Who Stare at Goats. It is a witty, entertaining look at what psychopaths are, how they are identified and how the are or are not "treated." Jonson is a journalist with a touch of Woody Allen. He has a refreshing, self deprecating voice and his subject is fascinating.
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Just thought I'd mention this book which got a good review in the Economist recently: Amazon.com: A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness (9781594202957): Nassir Ghaemi: Books

Mentioned it to a librarian and she said it'd already been ordered and she too wanted to read it too.

Also noticed this one which got good reviews: Amazon.com: The Sociopath Next Door (9780767915823): Martha Stout: Books

Hard to keep one's sanity with all these good books to read. :)
 
At the library, opened this thread and got three books.
 
I came across an interesting book, The Taint of Midas, by Anne Zouroudi. She left a lucrative career in England and moved to Greece some time back. Her mysteries feature a sort of Nero Wolfe type eccentric who solves problems and dispenses advice. She paints a nice picture of Greece.
 
I just finished my first Lee Child book Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher novel).

I enjoyed the suspense, and I want to ask, are all of his books that unrealistic and stupid?

For example, check out the thinking here:

Questions.jpg

Even if this were a reasonable way to send a message, 131 is also a prime number, and the sum of the digits is 5, so why not conclude that there are 5 hostiles?

Also, the protagonists do a lot of killing and mayhem, and the police never seem to catch up with them. Everything seems to go their way.

So, I'd like to read more of this author's books, but they have to be a little less silly.
 
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