Whatcha Reading?

[Some Schmo]

I've been reading On Writing by Stephen King. I'm always looking to get better at it.

[Dr. Shades]

Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder by David McGowan.

What are the hidden patterns of a serial killer?

- Doc

I can’t say with 100% certainty because I haven’t finished the book yet.

[High Spy]

I've been reading On Writing by Stephen King. I'm always looking to get better at it.

Once upon a time I read it, and it were good.

[Fence Sitter]

I’m currently the fifth book deep into the Old Man’s War universe. The Old Man’s war:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man's_War

It’s light, enjoyable reading. Kind of like if Heinlein wrote it while on holiday on the Italian coast.

- Doc

Thanks for the recommendation Doc.

Both my son and I have read the 1st book, and he is most of the way through the second.

The first book was good but difficult at times for me to read. I am nearly the same age as John Perry and I lost my wife of 42 years to cancer about two years ago, so I empathized quite a bit with Perry.

[Fence Sitter]

Currently I am reading: Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise It's way too hagiographical for my tastes but it is part of a research project I am doing, plus I plan on visiting Nauvoo later on this year.

Here are the last few books I have read in no particular order.

Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath by Richard Turley. Well written but it seemed like it was trying very hard to distance BY from involvement in MMM and avoiding the obvious fact that at a minimum his inflammatory rhetoric was a major cause.

A History of the Bible by John Barton.

God, An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou. (Dan McClellan's dissertation advisor.)

American Zion by Benjamin Park,

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

What are the hidden patterns of a serial killer?

- Doc

I can’t say with 100% certainty because I haven’t finished the book yet.

When you get a chance, please update us. My wife and I watched Mindhunter a while back, and now that genre is of a small interest to us.

- Doc

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I’m currently the fifth book deep into the Old Man’s War universe. The Old Man’s war:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man's_War

It’s light, enjoyable reading. Kind of like if Heinlein wrote it while on holiday on the Italian coast.

- Doc

Thanks for the recommendation Doc.

Both my son and I have read the 1st book, and he is most of the way through the second.

The first book was good but difficult at times for me to read. I am nearly the same age as John Perry and I lost my wife of 42 years to cancer about two years ago, so I empathized quite a bit with Perry.

I’m sorry to hear about your wife, FS. I hope you’re doing well - I dread life without my wife.

You’d be happy to hear John Perry makes a comeback in The Last Colony, and, of course, plays a pivotal role in the plot.

- Doc

[yellowstone123]

Leon Trotsky by Joshua Rubenstein

The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism by Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin

The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson

[Res Ipsa]

Cixin Liu, Supernova Era.

Would it be safe to assume that if I enjoyed the Remembrance of Earth's Past series that I'd likely enjoy Supernova Era?

So, it’s a relatively short novel that (in my opinion) ended much too soon. It’s one of his early books, which he has revised over the years. The subject is interesting — like Lord of the Flies only for the whole world. Liu has interesting ideas about the kind of a world children would create after everyone over 13 is dead. The storyteller is a historian writing 40 years after the Supernova that wiped out older teens and adults, but he only tells the story of the first three years. The transition from SE (Supernova Era) 3 to SE 40 Is very abrupt and leaves plenty of room for another book (or books), as there is clearly more story to be told. I was frustrated by what seemed to me to be an arbitrary jump to the future as part of an abrupt ending. Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

[Dr. Shades]

I can’t say with 100% certainty because I haven’t finished the book yet.

When you get a chance, please update us. My wife and I watched Mindhunter a while back, and now that genre is of a small interest to us.

- Doc

I certainly will. For now, let's say that the author's findings is/are that there is much more than meets the eye to the serial killer phenomenon. Among many observations that haven't come anywhere near to being tied up into a, uh, tidy conclusion yet, serial killers are more accurately "mass murderers," with only those victims bearing specific similarities being released for public consumption. In this way, ritual murders, targeted murders, politically-motivated murders, etc. are pinned on one (usually, but not always) guilty guy who takes the fall for any number of other murders not his own.