What have you been reading lately?

It had to happen...

[grandpa]

A friend recently received an audio book version of The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 6. Like any good self help book, 'you gotta want it'. The Australian accent was unexpected.

Alongside that, I've finished one of Anne Rice's books - Memnoch the Devil. I'd give that one a 6 also. She weaves an interesting plot line, but the details got tedious sometimes. I skipped entire paragraphs, and lost little meaning or dialog. It was fun, but not my cup of tea. I was bored, and slightly ill for a few days.

On the bright side, I've been entertaining some offers to build sites. Hmm, being a lazy hippy sure is going to be hard to beat...

[Habtom]

Thanks for bringing up this topic. :)

I read "The Secret" a week back, and the concept of law of attraction was something I couldn't just throw away. I would give it a 7 though. Speaking of self-help books, probably for anyone who is not into it much, I think Stephen Covey's book is a way to start. Not easy concepts, but there is nothing much one can't agree to easily. grandpa, what is your approach on self-help books in general?

I am just reading the power of positive thinking now by a certain preacher :), I must say I am enjoying it though the stories are not much written in a convincing way. Don't tell, show kind of thing I mean, it is not reflected well in the book.

Don't read below this line:
Pride and Prejudice of Jane Austin too

[edited by: Habtom at 4:36 am (utc) on Oct. 29, 2007]

[wyweb]

"The Long Tail" - Chris Anderson.

Bought it months ago on Amazon and elevated it to required reading. Now it's months later and I'm still only halfway through it.

[buckworks]

I'm almost finished "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes. It's a fascinating, often disturbing history of Australia's origins as a British penal colony.

Last book before that was "Bit Literacy"; next on my list is "Web Analytics: An Hour a Day" by Avinash Kaushik.

[Habtom]

Now it's months later and I'm still only halfway through it.

If I don't finish reading a book within a day or two after it is bought, it is more likely to stay for months following with no end insight.

[wyweb]

The last novel I managed to finish was "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. I like John Grisham too.. Robert Ludlum...

Crime novels. I've never committed a crime and probably wouldn't be very good at it even if I tried, but I like reading about it.

[skipfactor]

"State of Denial" by Bob Woodward

[weeks]

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain De Botton

[grandpa]

what is your approach on self-help books in general

At this stage of my life, I'm hoping that I don't need much more self help. The right book, however, can either reinforce what I already know, or help push me into action with something I have either forgotten or stopped doing. I don't enjoy self help books that assume I'm a hopeless, mindless minion looking for salvation.

The Law of Attraction is a concept that I've nurtured, but the reminder (from the book) was that I had forgotten how powerful this law can be, especially when attracting the negative energies.

[wyweb]

what is your approach on self-help books in general

Don't have an approach re: self-help. I just try to help myself. Doesn't always work but that's my approach.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

'The Bomb' by Gerard DeGroot - A history of Hell on Earth.

Gripping story of the invention and building of nuclear weapons.

Was well reviewed, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it - well written.

[wheelie34]

Chicken in the Bomb squad - Hugo Fhurst

[Essex_boy]

Corruption of the curriculum - Report on Political meddling with schools.

I was Vermeer - Biography of an art forger, very good

[Monkey]

webmasterworld - trying to gain some education

[lawman]

Slick magazines with a lot of pictures. ;)

[londrum]

i'm still trying to get through last week's Beano