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Books..


James

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What are you guys reading now? Any good suggestions?

My last 2:

"Africa Unchained", George Ayittay

"The End of Poverty", Jeffrey Sachs

Both deal with how to end worldwide poverty, though Ayittey's book stays focused on Africa. Both are very good. Ayittay's got very tedious with statistics etc but was worth the struggle. Sachs comes from a more liberal perspective, runs around with Bono and is really a brilliant guy (though I struggled idealogically with him at times). He was an advisor to/and influential in the econonomic recoveries of Bolivia, China, Poland, Russia, India and probably a couple more I'm forgetting.

Next up: James Michener's "Recessional"

What are you guys reading??

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'Shake Some Action', John M Borak

The Book deals with the musical genre known as 'Power Pop'. Many people don't enjoy lists, and find them tedious...I can't get enough of them, and lucky me...this book is loaded with them! Mr Borack is a musician and really knows his stuff.I did find myself at odds with his Tommy Keene choice [it should have been 'Based On Happy Times' at #7] and he should have had The Hoodoo Gurus 'Mars Needs Guitars' in his top 100 Power Pop albums list...but hey, with a book this great those are tiny complaints. And you get a bitchin CD with rare choice cuts by all your favorite power poppers. I predict a Pulitzer if not a Noble Peace Prize for this life altering piece of literature and it's author.

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James,

My book I am reading is To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara. It is historical fiction about WW I. Although 98% of it is fact, the author creates converstaions among the characters and real people like Manfred VonRichtofen the Red Baron. It is very good.

You may be interested in this article in a recent Presbyterians Today about Poverty.

http://www.pcusa.org/today/cover/2007/cover1107.htm

Phil

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I've recently read The Holcroft Covenenant by Robert Ludlum. And now I'm working on Inca Gold by Clive Cussler.

I've always had a hard time reading for my own enjoyment. Teachers always tried to hammer home "it's such an important experience" and I always said "what about if I just want to be entertained?". They never had a comeback for that one. Nobody ever recommended anything I might like. Only what THEY thought I should like. And that always led to problems.

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Well now, there's one I might have to read (and I don't have much time for much reading). I love to hear other peoples views on the cosmos. Eric, how does Carl deal with the idea of 'intelligent design' in his book? Kirk.

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The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren

I grabbed this synopsis from the net: The book is intended to be read as a daily inspiration, with each of the forty short chapters read on consecutive days. Each chapter contains a personal application section at the end with a "point to ponder," a verse to remember, and a question to consider over the course of that day.

I'm enjoying it.

Wendy

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"The Portable Atheist" by Christopher Hitchens

Interesting. I'm kinda the opposite direction with some of my books. However, my next book which I'm waiting for in the mail is: Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words.

I had always loved "The Papa." Thought he was an amazing man who surpassed religious boundaries. He had "touched" a lot of people's lives. That was cool! And the fact that his mother was Lithuanian helped our family claim him right away! wink Anyway this book caught my eye. It should be interesting.

Wendy

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He fascinates me also. I've read 2 biographies on John Paul and sit tight for every documentary that comes on TV. When you look at who history has tabbed as the greatest popes (Gregory The Great, Innocent III, Pius IX & some others), it's hard to imagine Pope John Paul II not going down as the greatest of them all.

The American Catholic that fascinates me most is Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN. A ball of never-say-die fire she was/is!!

And I like Christopher Hitchens too, though I've just seen him interviewed several times... haven't read anything by him yet.

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I've just finished reading On The Edge; My Story by Richard Hammond

What a great read and extremely insightful for those dealing with head injury or family

/friends who have brain injury either through accident or stroke/medical reasons.

Hammond is a presenter of the British car program TOP GEAR and crashed a jet powered car in September 2006 while exceeding 300 mph.

While the Top Gear program is light hearted the book is not; although humour is very much present at times. His wife Mindy has written some of the book as she was the one who was there when he was in a coma.

I can strongly recommend the book as it says significant things about human nature and what we assume is "normality".

Muzza cool

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Oh... I forgot to mention that even if you don't know people with a head injury this (the book above) is a great read still and is about recovery NOT the crash as such.

Also I am now about to start an interesting looking book called The Last Open Road by B S Levy sent to me by a very generous member of this board.

Muzza cool

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