What are you reading?

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greenonion
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by greenonion »

montanahiker wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:27 pm
greenonion wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:52 pm Dune! Very very good and relevant as Pilgrim has told us before. Took his advice and jumped in. Have a ways to go since I’m trading off between it and another long book on crazy person Keith Moon (but what an incredible drummer). I digress. So far highly recommend Dune
I loved Dune. Want to read it again before the movie comes out and then work my way through the next couple books in the series.

What's the Keith Moon book? Is it any good?
“Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon” It is quite good if you like The Who and are willing to subject yourself to the wild, selfish, immature, and somewhat narcissistic personality of Moon. I think it’s going to start wearing on me as he gets more self destructive a bit later in life prior to dying an early death. Lots of interesting things about the band and their experiences and history. 548 pages. He was Neil Peart’s favorite drummer which of course says a lot. As great as Peart was he is a bit too technical compared to the wild abandon and pure raw talent that Moon was. For me anyway. I got the book off Amazon but it was shipped from England so maybe hard to find?? Holler if you want it and can’t find and we can probably work something out... after I finish which will take some time. Have enjoyed going back through a bunch of Who songs focusing on the drums. Holy moly.
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Hiker Mike
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The Winter Army

Post by Hiker Mike »

I am currently reading the "The Winter Army" by Maurice Isserman. It is about the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. I am about half-way through and I can recommend it.
"Just because you love the mountains doesn't mean the mountains love you."
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by ltlFish99 »

I am currently reading stuff on this site, as usual.
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PikaSteve
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by PikaSteve »

The Next Everest by Jim Davidson
Subtitled: Surviving the Mountain's Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again

I enjoyed this just-published book documenting Jim's two Everest trips in 2015 and 2017. The first half of the book recounts the chaos Jim experienced after an earthquake ended his expedition only a few hours after leaving base camp. The second half of the book tells his story of post traumatic growth ultimately leading to a return trip to Everest.

He shared several interesting photos and videos during a virtual talk hosted by Tattered Cover Book Store earlier this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHYtCKdRcg
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Re: What are you reading?

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Just finished Endurance by Alfred Lansing the story of Ernest Shackleton’s voyage to Antarctica in 1914. The book has been touted for years and I’m sure many 14ers.com folks have read it. I purchased it years ago but for some reason never got around to starting it. I’m glad I did it’s now tied with The Emerald Mile as my favorite adventure book.

For those who are unfamiliar, it’s the story of an expedition that intended to attempt the first crossing of the Antarctic continent but got stuck in ice floes before reaching land. The ship was crushed and the crew took to the ice pulling three heavy lifeboats until they ran out of ice and put in the open water of the Southern Ocean probably the stormiest seas on the globe. Somehow they made it to the relative safety of remote Elephant Island from which Shackleton himself and five crewman embarked in a 20’ lifeboat to attempt to reach a whaling station on South Georgia Island across 700 miles of the most treacherous waters on the planet. That they even found the island was a triumph of navigation but they arrived during a hurricane and were forced to land on the wrong side. The water was too rough to attempt to sail around the island so they had to trek over 10,000’ glaciated peaks to get to the whaling station with only 50’ of hemp rope and a carpenter’s tool serving as an ice axe. Shackleton then made three attempts to return to Elephant Island to retrieve the 22 remaining crewman but was turned back by weather and ice each time finally succeeding on the fourth attempt. Amazingly, the only losses on the entire expedition were a few fingers and toes.

They endured years of sub zero temperatures and were constantly wet from sea spray and rain. They had no modern footwear or anything resembling Gore-Tex. I’ll think of those men the next time I start to bitch that the temp has dropped below 50 on a hike.
"I'll make it." - Jimmy Chitwood
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greenonion
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by greenonion »

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (author of The Martian). Very good so far. About 90 pages in.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by seano »

greenonion wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:26 pm Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (author of The Martian). Very good so far. About 90 pages in.
It's good to the end, if you like Andy Weir (which I do). I just finished Enchantment and Exploitation by William DeBuys, about the history of the Southern Sangres. Worth reading if you spend time in northern NM and want to understand how it got the way it is.
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Altitude High
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Altitude High »

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've been looking for some more good books to read. There seem to be fewer today. I think the internet is killing books.

I've placed an ILL request for Project Hail Mary. Looks interesting. It seems loosely along the lines of The Hot Zone, one of my favorites (though involving alien life, not a deadly virus).

It wasn't encouraging that the first two listings in an Amazon search were "audiobooks."
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greenonion
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by greenonion »

Altitude High wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:37 pm Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've been looking for some more good books to read. There seem to be fewer today. I think the internet is killing books.

I've placed an ILL request for Project Hail Mary. Looks interesting. It seems loosely along the lines of The Hot Zone, one of my favorites (though involving alien life, not a deadly virus).

It wasn't encouraging that the first two listings in an Amazon search were "audiobooks."
Only one thing so far in Project Hail Mary is kinda goofy…. The lead character uses occasional terminology like golly or gosh darn. A bit of a head scratcher to me as to why, but not saying it should be filled with Pulp Fiction style expletives. Just a bit old fashioned. But I would not use that as an excuse not to try it out. Very interesting story and concept. Can’t wait to see where the rest of the story goes.
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by DaveLanders »

I recently read "The Third Pole" by Mark Synott. It's about the search for Irvine on Everest. I had seen an article in National Geographic that was sort of an excerpt from the book but I didn't think the article was very good. It turned out that the book was much better.
Every village has at least one idiot. Successful villages choose someone else to be their leader.
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greenonion
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by greenonion »

Altitude High wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:37 pm Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've been looking for some more good books to read. There seem to be fewer today. I think the internet is killing books.

I've placed an ILL request for Project Hail Mary. Looks interesting. It seems loosely along the lines of The Hot Zone, one of my favorites (though involving alien life, not a deadly virus).

It wasn't encouraging that the first two listings in an Amazon search were "audiobooks."
Real quick… Hail Mary doesn’t have a deadly virus if that’s what you’re referring to. Not yet anyway 100 pages in. It’s got something but not a virus so far. Just mentioning this for the virus weary who may turn away from the book.
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madbuck
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by madbuck »

Altitude High wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:37 pm Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've been looking for some more good books to read. There seem to be fewer today. I think the internet is killing books.
I've placed an ILL request for Project Hail Mary. Looks interesting. It seems loosely along the lines of The Hot Zone, one of my favorites (though involving alien life, not a deadly virus).
It wasn't encouraging that the first two listings in an Amazon search were "audiobooks."
Goodreads is great for book recommendations/reviews.
Another vote for Project Hail Mary. And I listened to the audiobook version and quite enjoyed it -- actually the, uh, voice of the characters worked well in audio form.
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