Reading up
As folks may or may not know, it's hard for me to read just one book. As a result, I bounce around a good bit. So here's what I'm skimming through right now ...
- Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunnus - Yunnus is going to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his innovative work regarding micro-lending. It's a fascinating, yet remarkably simple concept (namely the economies of less-developed countries are not on par with those in 'First World' ones, meaning lending to individuals and/or businesses in those countries is big for them and inconsequential for us).
- Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner - I pick this up now and then and shuffle through it. It's laid out like an encyclopedia rather than a book you read from cover to cover, which is good for someone like me who bounces around.
- The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois - It's a great read, but chock full of heady stuff. Since it's set up in an essay format, it makes it pretty easy for me to work through one portion and then set it down for a while. I've always wanted to read this book, and it's been sitting on my shelf for about a year now.
- The White House Looks South by William Leuchtenburg - I got this back at Christmas and immediately dove into the passages relating to Franklin Roosevelt. It's mighty big (seriously, sitting on my nighstand it's about as thick as my Bible), but I've enjoyed it. It's pretty wonky and very historical, so it's something you need to read for a bit, and then put down to process what you've taken in.
Hoping to read soon ...
- Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell - He comes highly recommended from Matt, so I'd like to give him a try. I've listened to some of his stuff online and enjoyed it. Plus he apparently has started a micro-lending type of service up in Grand Rapids, Mich., so I'd be curious to find out how he transitioned the program to the U.S.
- The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook - I picked this up at Barnes & Noble one day, and it was awesome. The Wife claims I don't need another cookbook, but I think she's mistaken ... I'll be cooking for three soon. I need more material!
- Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - I encouraged Russ to buy this book last week when he was in town, and I realized that I need to actually read this thing. I love the man's TV show.
- Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 by C. Vann Woodward - My boss was kind enough to pass this book on to me, and I need to actually read it. I flipped through the first few pages and thought it looked interesting, but had just picked up Barack Obama's book and then rolled into Christmas which always delivers a bonanza of reading material. Hopefully I can get to it this spring.
So ... what are you good folks reading?
- Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunnus - Yunnus is going to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his innovative work regarding micro-lending. It's a fascinating, yet remarkably simple concept (namely the economies of less-developed countries are not on par with those in 'First World' ones, meaning lending to individuals and/or businesses in those countries is big for them and inconsequential for us).
- Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner - I pick this up now and then and shuffle through it. It's laid out like an encyclopedia rather than a book you read from cover to cover, which is good for someone like me who bounces around.
- The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois - It's a great read, but chock full of heady stuff. Since it's set up in an essay format, it makes it pretty easy for me to work through one portion and then set it down for a while. I've always wanted to read this book, and it's been sitting on my shelf for about a year now.
- The White House Looks South by William Leuchtenburg - I got this back at Christmas and immediately dove into the passages relating to Franklin Roosevelt. It's mighty big (seriously, sitting on my nighstand it's about as thick as my Bible), but I've enjoyed it. It's pretty wonky and very historical, so it's something you need to read for a bit, and then put down to process what you've taken in.
Hoping to read soon ...
- Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell - He comes highly recommended from Matt, so I'd like to give him a try. I've listened to some of his stuff online and enjoyed it. Plus he apparently has started a micro-lending type of service up in Grand Rapids, Mich., so I'd be curious to find out how he transitioned the program to the U.S.
- The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook - I picked this up at Barnes & Noble one day, and it was awesome. The Wife claims I don't need another cookbook, but I think she's mistaken ... I'll be cooking for three soon. I need more material!
- Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - I encouraged Russ to buy this book last week when he was in town, and I realized that I need to actually read this thing. I love the man's TV show.
- Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 by C. Vann Woodward - My boss was kind enough to pass this book on to me, and I need to actually read it. I flipped through the first few pages and thought it looked interesting, but had just picked up Barack Obama's book and then rolled into Christmas which always delivers a bonanza of reading material. Hopefully I can get to it this spring.
So ... what are you good folks reading?
posted by Jmac at 8:44 AM
10 Comments:
Have we talked about how them Lee boys are stopping in Athens on their book tour? April, I believe.
I just finished reading Kitchen Confidential and if you've ever worked in a restaurant, you will recognize yourself somewhere in the pages, and realize how true so much of that stuff is.
If you've never worked in a restaurant, it may not be as enjoyable, but you'll still get a kick out of the book. It is a very fast read.
I never worked in a restaurant unless you count Chick-fil-a and I still love Kitchen Confidential. It's very interesting and if you like Bourdain on his TV show, you'll like his writing.
Jmac, I'm halfway through the book and I'll lend it to you when I'm done. I should be done by my next visit to Athens March 15th - 19th. I'll drop it off if I am.
I just finished Marie Antoinette and have started Ya Ya's In Bloom (needed some fluff after a big serious read like that) I'm also about halfway through The Prestige. Scott is reading World War Z, a book about zombies. We are very serious literary types!
My wife chides me that, due to its “dry” nature, she dare not get a match close to my preferred reading material. Be that as it may, my recent reading list includes:
Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages by Doug Macdougall (professor of earth science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego). Kind of takes some of the ‘hot air” out of the global warming debate.
The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr (adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of Middle East and South Asia politics and associate chair of research in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School). The thesis is that the Shia-Sunni conflict is the more important issue, not Islam versus the West one, though the two are interrelated.
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn (columnist and commentator). He is concerned about the slow motion demographic suicide of most of the Western world and who will fill the vacuum.
War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today by Max Boot (senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations). Chronicles four “military revolutions” and how they affected western civilization.
Up next will probably be The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson (Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University).
Gees, I seem to have a theme going, huh?
I've been interested in the micro-lending phenomenon, too, JMAC, so I'm hoping to pick up Yunnus soon. I need to learn more, but the idea of "why can't this work here" keeps running through my head.
Doing something like that, at reasonable rates, would be a fine alternative to payday loans/title loans (the "loan shark" loans, as I call them). I know that the default rate might be higher when lending to poor people, but I think you could account for that by charging slightly higher interest rates, but without the downright usurious rates charged to poor people now. I need to learn more; I'm speaking from ignorance right now.
Darren
Darren, I'm actually working with some of the non-profits about exploring such an idea. We're very much in the brain-storming phase right now, but it's getting some traction. I think, to a lesser extent, that organizations like East Athens Development explore a similar concept.
And ... dang James, that's some heady stuff.
What can I say? I'm a policy wonk, nerdy type (. . . and I wonder why I don't get invited to those "A-list" parties).
Earth Abides by George R Stewart. Killer viruses are awesome. Just finished Lord of the Rings 1.
I'm reading Kitchen Confidential, Anansi Boys, and The Principle of Reason.
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