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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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I just finished 'The Turner House', Angela Flournoy. It's a novel based on the Turner family. The timeline starts in Arkansas in 1944 but is mainly set in Detroit 1944-2010. I just loved this book.
Thanks for all the up-thread reviews, by the way.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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The Invention of Nature: Alexander Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf.
Fascinating biography of an immensely influential scientist and explorer that I had barely heard of. Friends with Thomas Jefferson, Simon Bolivar, and Goethe, and a huge influence on figures like Darwin and Muir. Highly recommended.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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I just finished 'Kings of the Wyld' about a bunch of old, fat, ex badasses who get back together to crush the world and their enemies again. This should go over big in this crowd. Classic grimdark fantasy with a sense of humor - of course, cause old guys are always funnier.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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^^^ Not to mention the namesake of the longest river in Nevada, and THE crucial terrain feature on the California Trail. Without which the trail couldn't have existed...
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Bruce Morris
Trad climber
Soulsbyville, California
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He's a product of Ireland, Bruce, where literacy and the literary are prized.
Yes, sycorax, writing in a foreign tongue imposed on you from the outside by a hostile conquering power means you have to get know your enemy's language well enough to fight back. Also leads to alcoholism and schizophrenia (but that's a whole different kettle of eels!) Just ask James Joyce!
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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I'd love to go to the Globe. For a good while I considered getting my doctorate in English with an emphasis in Elizabethan lit. I did get the see a touring production of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Co. a couple of years ago, which was terrific.
I just reread The Death of Ivan Ilyich this past weekend, which had as much impact, but for different reasons, then when I first read it probably 25 years ago. Tolstoy was the man. I can see why Faulkner admired him so.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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The Doomsday Machine by Daniel Ellsberg. A scary, scary book.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Fat Dad, check out The Book of Air and Shadows, a novel by Michael Gruber. I lately finished his novel The Forgery of Venus.
"...it criscrosses centuries from the glaring violence of today into the dark shadows of truth and lies surrounding the greatest writer the world has ever known." Seems that Will Shaxpur wrote an unpublished play critical of Elizabeth Rex and promoting dreaded papism.
Sub-topics include Polish film-making, cryptography and rare books.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Mouse, thanks for the rec. i'll keep that in mind.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2018 - 07:49am PT
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stepvep, That looks like an interesting read, i will add it to my list.
I only have a question to add, has anyone read The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson? My nephew insists I read it.
I searched the forum and found a post about by Tami on thread started by nutjob, Books You Acquired But Haven't Read Yet http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1339147&msg=1339182#msg1339182
There were two on that list that I never made it through, Gravity's Rainbow & Atlas Shrugged.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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The Devil in the White City was a really good read. So was the one about the Lusitania.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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^^^^. Totally agree. Thunderstruck about Tesla was good too.
Susan
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Yes, Larson is good at finding interesting historical events and balancing details and drama. Isaac's Storm is also good.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Just started Cryptonomicon... pretty engaging fiction for me so far: combines the action/spy/thriller genre with some geek conversations about math and computing that inspires me to go back and learn lots of stuff I missed in college days, and network stuff that was my bread and butter for a few decades. I'm only about 60 pages in, so not sure where it will all head. But I was turned on to it by a documentary about Bitcoins.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Soul of an Octopus based on a recommendation from Nancy Mc (Guido’s admiral)
Susan
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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I liked Devil In the White City, now being filmed by Scorcese with DiCaprio as the butcher/doctor.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Feb 27, 2018 - 07:39am PT
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i read My Absolute darling a little while ago-had mixed feelings, thee was something wrong with the story-the father was too insidious, there was no way he coulda kept on doing what he did to the kid...But if you take it as her sort of creation myth it really works.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 27, 2018 - 08:03am PT
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The Tudors, and you thought these were turbulent times?
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Feb 27, 2018 - 10:41am PT
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There's a really gripping old book by Fritz Bechtold originally published in German (the old script) in 1935. Deutsche am Nanga Parbat. I found a tattered old copy in a book store, and was so fascinated by the superb black and white photos that I looked for and found an English translation, Nanga Parbat Adventure, published by Dutton in 1936. The story of Willy Merkl's 1934 disastrous expedition in which they lost 4 "sahibs" and 6 porters. The photos, probably taken with an old folding Leica, are amazing, and the story is gripping.
This was of course when the swastika was everywhere and everything was politicized (like today - and the US seems to be on the same path), but while it is obvious that while the Nazi party must have supported the effort, the climbers are not politicized - they are just climbers, who were obligated to have a small swastika on some of their shipments but didn't mention politics on the mountain. It is from the library of Sepp Bernard, whom I believe was the brother of an expedition Dr. It has a penciled note which I can't quite make out, but appears to deal with Merkl's mother. (Merkl was killed.) Either version is hard to find, but worth the read.
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