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CountWhiteandDrawn · 12-31-2020, 12:32 PM

I'm glad I found this thread. This is my home. I'm also glad to see that most of the rest of you are also unable to constrain yourselves to reading one book at a time!

Shadowynne, your mycelium book sounds bodacious. What's the name of it?

TrivialMorose, I've added your Lives of the Necromancers to my shopping cart. Thanks for the tip!

Molster, Lorna Doone sounds GREAT! I saw the movie as a kid. Classic.

Geoluhread, The Less You Know is also going on my list. That sounds pretty trying. Recently got hold of book (not read it) called The Pleasures of the Torture Chamber. Totally different angle, but as a description of the depths of human cruelty, it sounds like a kindred title.

I just finished two books:
The Question of Animal Awareness by DOnald Griffin - this is the guy who coined the term "echolocation" in his study of bats. A lot of the emphasis is on the variety and complexity of animal communication, and the takeaway seems to be that animals possess a much deeper kind of intelligence than most would assume, but a very different kind than ours. He talks about the kinds of "waggle dances" bees do, and just how much they can communicate. In fact, when one bee finds a new site for a hive, he comes back and waggles a description of it to the other, but if another bee comes and waggles about a BETTER new site for a hive, the bees "discuss" it by exchanging waggles until all the bees are in agreement, they waggle the location of the site they've agreed upon, and then the leader waggles a signal to leave and the all move!

I also just finished "Prince of Darkness" by Jeffrey Burton Russell. It was a history of Satan from ancient through modern times, including the cultural influences that shaped our ideas about the devil. It ends up being much more a history of the evolution and decline of the church and the ways that humanity confronts evil. Bit of a muddled thesis, but very interesting.

I'm also reading Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies. A lot of overlap with the book described above, which is great. It focuses on magic books in the Western tradition and the ways religious ideologies develop and respond to occult practices. Very cool.

I'm reading through my collected Shakespeare. The history plays were my favorites by far but now I'm into the tragedies. Finished COriolanus last night. Coriolanus was an asshole who was really good at war and when Rome drove him out, he allied with its enemies. Just before they sacked Rome together, his wife and mother convinced him to make peace, so Rome's enemies kill him (sorry, spoiler) and it ends very abruptly there.

Lastly I'm reading Only a Poor Old Man by Carl Barks. It's an Uncle Scrooge comic. It's classic American literature.

12-31-2020, 12:32 PM	#3264
CountWhiteandDrawn Join Date: Jun 2020 Posts: 6	I'm glad I found this thread. This is my home. I'm also glad to see that most of the rest of you are also unable to constrain yourselves to reading one book at a time! Shadowynne, your mycelium book sounds bodacious. What's the name of it? TrivialMorose, I've added your Lives of the Necromancers to my shopping cart. Thanks for the tip! Molster, Lorna Doone sounds GREAT! I saw the movie as a kid. Classic. Geoluhread, The Less You Know is also going on my list. That sounds pretty trying. Recently got hold of book (not read it) called The Pleasures of the Torture Chamber. Totally different angle, but as a description of the depths of human cruelty, it sounds like a kindred title. I just finished two books: The Question of Animal Awareness by DOnald Griffin - this is the guy who coined the term "echolocation" in his study of bats. A lot of the emphasis is on the variety and complexity of animal communication, and the takeaway seems to be that animals possess a much deeper kind of intelligence than most would assume, but a very different kind than ours. He talks about the kinds of "waggle dances" bees do, and just how much they can communicate. In fact, when one bee finds a new site for a hive, he comes back and waggles a description of it to the other, but if another bee comes and waggles about a BETTER new site for a hive, the bees "discuss" it by exchanging waggles until all the bees are in agreement, they waggle the location of the site they've agreed upon, and then the leader waggles a signal to leave and the all move! I also just finished "Prince of Darkness" by Jeffrey Burton Russell. It was a history of Satan from ancient through modern times, including the cultural influences that shaped our ideas about the devil. It ends up being much more a history of the evolution and decline of the church and the ways that humanity confronts evil. Bit of a muddled thesis, but very interesting. I'm also reading Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies. A lot of overlap with the book described above, which is great. It focuses on magic books in the Western tradition and the ways religious ideologies develop and respond to occult practices. Very cool. I'm reading through my collected Shakespeare. The history plays were my favorites by far but now I'm into the tragedies. Finished COriolanus last night. Coriolanus was an asshole who was really good at war and when Rome drove him out, he allied with its enemies. Just before they sacked Rome together, his wife and mother convinced him to make peace, so Rome's enemies kill him (sorry, spoiler) and it ends very abruptly there. Lastly I'm reading Only a Poor Old Man by Carl Barks. It's an Uncle Scrooge comic. It's classic American literature.