What are you reading now...or what is the last book you read?

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston

Ya.. this book will keep you up at night. It's pretty gruesome, and horrifying, and eerie and mysterious. Ebola is scary as hell and this book talks about its origins and attempts to find where it came from. The author takes a lot of creative liberty in retelling the stories in the book that span a few decades, but I believe it's also well researched and includes plenty of interviews with people on the ground in Africa, at the CDC and the US Army who are leading experts on it. Really unpleasant and sobering to read about how delicate we are to this little bastard worm of a virus.

Just finished Billy Summers by Stephen King.
I haven't ranked my King collection but I'm pretty sure this is in my top 5.
Now I need to rearrange my bookcase to make room.

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Originally Posted by Griffin

Just finished Billy Summers by Stephen King.
I haven't ranked my King collection but I'm pretty sure this is in my top 5.
Now I need to rearrange my bookcase to make room.

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I read some bad reviews about that one. Some said there was a fair bit of overexplaining and a bit of political meanderings in it.

Kings stories have always had more detail in the character building than most thus the large page count, but I've always felt that is what drew me in seeming to be in the story.
The brief political bits only place the point in time. What was mentioned probably could have been left out but nothing in the entertainment field is immune anymore. That being said he has never had anything good to say about Trump in real life so don't expect sugar coating in the books.

Few of my recent readings:

- Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson - yet another fantastic Erik Larson book about a small moment in forgotten history that is truly fascinating. The story of a major hurricane that hit Texas in 1900, just a great read. Everything this guy writes is enjoyable.
- No Time For Spectators: The Lessons That Mattered Most From West Point To The West Wing by Martin Dempsey (Author) - Amazing book on leadership with a bunch of excellent military and political stories interwoven.
- Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Clinton Romesha - another excellent military veteran's memoir. Gripping and raw, surprisingly well written and visual. Loved this read.

Wow, how do you have the time to read that much?


I just took out a digital subscription to the New York Times :d

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Originally Posted by Godfather

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston

Ya.. this book will keep you up at night. It's pretty gruesome, and horrifying, and eerie and mysterious. Ebola is scary as hell and this book talks about its origins and attempts to find where it came from. The author takes a lot of creative liberty in retelling the stories in the book that span a few decades, but I believe it's also well researched and includes plenty of interviews with people on the ground in Africa, at the CDC and the US Army who are leading experts on it. Really unpleasant and sobering to read about how delicate we are to this little bastard worm of a virus.

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I think i remember reading that, but it might have been before you were born, lol

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Originally Posted by lost in melb.

Wow, how do you have the time to read that much?


I just took out a digital subscription to the New York Times :d

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:lol: It's all bedtime reading honestly. I got a new kindle at Christmas to finally replace my first gen one, and now with the backlight I can read in bed without waking the wife. So I go to bed an hour earlier than I used to, and instead of browsing my phone for an hour, I read for an hour... or three.

The whole point was to fall asleep faster than staring at a screen, but I keep picking page-turning books so it's counter-productive :lol:

Just finishing Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Luckie, one of the characters and inspirations behind The Pacific. It's as good as With The Old Breed by Eugene Sledge for sure.

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Originally Posted by Godfather

:lol: It's all bedtime reading honestly. I got a new kindle at Christmas to finally replace my first gen one, and now with the backlight I can read in bed without waking the wife. So I go to bed an hour earlier than I used to, and instead of browsing my phone for an hour, I read for an hour... or three.

The whole point was to fall asleep faster than staring at a screen, but I keep picking page-turning books so it's counter-productive :lol:

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Great habit. And I do believe that a back light is not the same as an iPhone screen.

I'm the opposite, I find intellectual stimulation fires me up. Now before bed, I sip tea, stretch and hammer my muscles with a theragun.

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Originally Posted by lost in melb.

Great habit. And I do believe that a back light is not the same as an iPhone screen.

I'm the opposite, I find intellectual stimulation fires me up. Now before bed, I sip tea, stretch and hammer my muscles with a theragun.

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That's probably the way to go, I've been wanting a theragun too.

The kindle definitely feels less stimulating than a phone screen. I've read something about phone screens mimicking sunlight and keeping you up.

I think the trick with reading for me if I really need to get to sleep is a more technical book that I enjoy, but makes my eyes heavy. Some of the more dense history or science books I've read definitely do it, I'm out in a few minutes with those. My friend is a psychiatrist who runs a sleep clinic and whenever people tell her reading doesn't make them sleepy she goes "pick a more boring book" and if they say "I tried that" her response is "no, you can go more boring" :lol:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson... I just adored this book. It's awesome for a dumb nerd like me who loves to know a little bit about everything. He touches on the history and current scientific understandings of everything earth science related... biology, chemistry, geology and earth sciences, astronomy. It's a fun and fascinating, very accessible read. I almost stopped early on as I found the first couple of chapters a bit too rapid, but you settle into his pace and writing style and it's fantastic. It's the kind of book you could spend a few months reading slowly because you want to google all sorts of fascinating tidbits he doesn't always have time to spend chapters writing about.

60 Drudge Report headlines.. :d

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Originally Posted by Muddy

60 Drudge Report headlines.. :d

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Just the headlines :rofl:

:rofl: