What are you reading in 2012?

[fidgiegirl]

I have just finished "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin, and enjoyed it very much.

Need to read this whole thread It might take me the rest of 2012

[larknm]

THE UNCHOSEN about people who rebel against living in Hasidic communities--some leave, some stay but secretly break the rules. Good on the interior conflicts involved.

[dado potato]

Michael Holroyd's 3-volume biography of Bernard Shaw. At this time I am on page 90 of "Vol I: The Search for Love". Shaw is 25 years old, a vegetarian and abstainer, but as yet ... no love.

[Florence]

The Man who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins

This is the true story of David Millarch and his quest to save the genetic material of the world's oldest trees. He considers this of utmost importance as *these are the trees with proven survivability. *His method is to find what he calls Champion trees and clone them. *As our climate changes, these are the trees that have proven that they can survive.*

His story begins with a near death experience during after which he said he had received instructions that this was to be his purpose in life. *One would think that cloning the world's oldest trees would be a very straight forward process but it has been anything but straight forward. *To begin with, he didn't know how to clone, he didn't know where the trees were located, and had no money to do it anyway. *How he is doing it is a tribute to the virtue of perseverance.*

It is an interesting read and with the exception of a little pseudoscience, well worth reading. *

Chinese proverb:
* * *When is the best time to plant a tree? *Twenty years ago.
* * *When is the second best time to plant a tree? *Today.

[Florence]

The World as It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress by Chris Hedges

This book of essay is dedicated:
"For my children, Thomas, Noelle, Konrad, and Marina, whose joy and laughter save me from despair and for whom I must alway hope"

I was very glad to read this dedication because the book is very bleak. It's good that he does have some hope and relief from despair.

I found myself alternately avidly shaking my head in agreement and slamming the book shut determining that he's just too negative and who needs more of that!

The bottom line is that he uncompromisingly states the facts that our democracy is in jeopardy from our corporate purchased political system, to our state of perpetual war to feed the military-industrial complex, to our destruction of the natural environment which supports life on earth. *I'd love to be able to argue against him but I can't--he's right. *

If you've ever wondered about the direction of our political system, wondered why we move from one war to the next to the next, or if we are totally insane to be destroying the life sustaining systems on earth, you'll want to read this book. You may want to double up on your anti-depressant medications though.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm tired of ponderous non-fiction, so I'm taking a break with Patricia Cornwell and throwing in a little Fernando Pessoa for kicks. (Just discovered him on Refdesk. We seem to share a sensibility.)

[happystuff]

Am continuing with my free kiindle downloads. Am reading Off The Grid - which is NOT what it sounds like - LOL. It's a spy-type book. Dh also just finished Kite Runner, so I'll be starting that soon.

[rosebud]

Oh also--during that jag where I was reading biographies of women from north African countries, I read a memorable novel--Little Bee. Tragic and sad, and horrifically violent, but that's life in Sudan. Or Somalia. Or wherever that was.

Nigeria

[tyman]

The World as It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress by Chris Hedges

This book of essay is dedicated:
"For my children, Thomas, Noelle, Konrad, and Marina, whose joy and laughter save me from despair and for whom I must alway hope"

I was very glad to read this dedication because the book is very bleak. It's good that he does have some hope and relief from despair.

I found myself alternately avidly shaking my head in agreement and slamming the book shut determining that he's just too negative and who needs more of that!

The bottom line is that he uncompromisingly states the facts that our democracy is in jeopardy from our corporate purchased political system, to our state of perpetual war to feed the military-industrial complex, to our destruction of the natural environment which supports life on earth. *I'd love to be able to argue against him but I can't--he's right. *

If you've ever wondered about the direction of our political system, wondered why we move from one war to the next to the next, or if we are totally insane to be destroying the life sustaining systems on earth, you'll want to read this book. You may want to double up on your anti-depressant medications though.

Chris Hedges is a true hero. I just read Death of the Liberal Class which is good. He can be very negative, but unfortunately, I think he's telling the truth.

[citrine]

We just read "The Various Flavors of Coffee" and now I am reading "I am The Messenger"...both are for my book club and pretty interesting.