What are you reading - 2021?

[rosarugosa]

I too enjoyed Lessons from Lucy.
I had forgotten to post about it, but I recently finished Above All Things by Tanis Rideout. This is one of the books that had been on my list for a long time. A reviewer had described it as a cross between Into Thin Air and The Paris Wife, and I think that is a good description. Into Thin Air is one of my all-time, favorite non-fiction books and it kicked off my Everest obsession. It's a strange obsession because I don't like to be cold and I try to plan walks to minimize going uphill, so climbing Everest seems like one of the least appealing activities I could possible imagine. Then again, that's probably why I'm fascinated by those who choose to do it. Anyway, I found it pretty easy to put down, but more engaging as I got further into the book. It's historical fiction about George Mallory's climb, with a lot of focus on the relationship with his wife, and what it must have been like to be the one waiting anxiously at home. Overall, I would describe it as a worthwhile read.

[catherine]

I too enjoyed Lessons from Lucy.
Into Thin Air is one of my all-time, favorite non-fiction books and it kicked off my Everest obsession. It's a strange obsession because I don't like to be cold and I try to plan walks to minimize going uphill, so climbing Everest seems like one of the least appealing activities I could possible imagine. Then again, that's probably why I'm fascinated by those who choose to do it. Anyway, I found it pretty easy to put down, but more engaging as I got further into the book. It's historical fiction about George Mallory's climb, with a lot of focus on the relationship with his wife, and what it must have been like to be the one waiting anxiously at home. Overall, I would describe it as a worthwhile read.

Jon Krakaeur is a top-notch writer. I also read Into Thin Air, and I share your fascination about mountain climbing. You have to see the movie Free Solo. Incredible.

As far as Krakaeur books, Into the Wild was great, too. My son really enjoyed Under the Banner of Heaven.

[iris lilies]

Jon Krakaeur is a top-notch writer. I also read Into Thin Air, and I share your fascination about mountain climbing. You have to see the movie Free Solo. Incredible.

As far as Krakaeur books, Into the Wild was great, too. My son really enjoyed Under the Banner of Heaven.

I have read Into Thin Air and also Into the Wild, liked both. I also was an Everest reader for some years a long time ago. Now there are many of those books
I always get Mallory and Hillary mixed up as to which was the (assumed) first one to summit Everest.

[nswef]

I went through a spell of reading Appalachian Trail books, after reading Into the Wild. My friend hikes locally on the trail and has done all of Pennsylvania! West Virginia -which is short -Maryland and maybe 1/3 of Virginia. I just read the books, she does the travel! Her goal at 70 was to hike at least 70 times. ( I think it had to be over 5 miles to count) She did it and is on track for many more this year. Anyway, I love reading those books and I am NO hiker!! Only paved or boardwalk paths for me and not 5 miles!

[JaneV2.0]

She Come By It Natural by Sarah Smarsh, a biography of Dolly Parton.

[catherine]

I downloaded a sample of David Michaelis's biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, and it started out really good.. I'll see if the library has it, as the kindle version is kind of expensive

[razz]

Loved Into Thin Air.

Intrigued by Genius Makers byCade Metz. Would love to hear from anyone who reads this book.
Publisher's note:https://www.amazon.ca/Genius-Makers-...s%2C168&sr=8-1

From the CS Monitor https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book...src=newsletter review:


"Lee Sedol, a world champion in the Chinese strategy board game Go, faced a new kind of adversary at a 2016 match in Seoul.

Developers at DeepMind, an artificial intelligence startup acquired by Google, had fed 30 million Go moves into a deep neural network. Their creation, dubbed AlphaGo, then figured out which moves worked by playing millions of games against itself, learning at a faster rate than any human ever could.
The match, which AlphaGo won 4 to 1, “was the moment when the new movement in artificial intelligence exploded into the public consciousness,” technology journalist Cade Metz writes in his engaging new book, “Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World.”

Metz, who covers AI for The New York Times and previously wrote for Wired magazine, is well positioned to chart the decades-long effort to build artificially intelligent machines. His straightforward writing perfectly translates industry jargon for technologically un-savvy readers (like me) who might be unfamiliar with what it means for a machine to engage in “deep learning” or master tasks through its own experiences.

Metz chronicles the mad 21st-century gold rush of AI, in which American frontrunner Google has competed domestically (against rivals like Facebook and Microsoft) as well as internationally (against Chinese competitors like Baidu). Each company has spent billions on research, gobbled up startups, and attempted to lure a small pool of talent with the kind of money and urgency usually associated with top NFL prospects. China has announced plans to be the world leader in AI by 2030..."

[Yppej]

The Lake Wobegon Virus by Garrison Keillor. A cheese is being examined as a possible cause and on page 120 one of the characters says, "These people are epidemiologists, they see trouble wherever they look. If it were up to them everybody'd be locked in their homes and wearing surgical masks. It's an epidemic of ignorance is what it is."

Hmmmm.

[Rogar]

The Story Begins, a collection of short stories by Tobias Wolff.

[JaneV2.0]

Listening to The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee.
The narration is fine, and the subject matter is compelling but depressing.