Books

[stoutfellow]

I noticed yesterday that I hadn't gone book-shopping, in the flesh or on-line, since the first week of February. I have now rectified that, on the online front; I'll probably go visit Borders in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, the haul:
Elementary Turkish, Lewis V. Thomas. Turkish has intrigued me for a long time. I don't know whether, or when, I'll have time to start studying it, but I've heard good things about this book and want to have it around when the time comes.

Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel. Sobel's Longitude is a pearl of a book - very short, but packed with delights about the history of the effort to make good nautical clocks - and I've heard that this one is in the same league.

The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary, Robert Alter. I've read one of Alter's other books on biblical translation and interpretation, and was very impressed. I expect even more from this one.

The Golem's Eye, Robert Stroud. This is the second of the Bartimaeus books. I read the first one a couple of years ago; my to-get list is long enough that it's taken me this much time to get around to ordering the second.

America's Constitution: A Biography, Akhil Amar. This was recommended by a legal blogger - might have been somebody at Balkinization, or Orin Kerr, or publius, or maybe Dan Froomkin. Anyway, it sounded interesting.

Digger, vols. 1-3, Ursula Vernon. Such a good webcomic; Ms. Vernon deserves to have her books bought by as many people as possible.

Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy, Jacob Hacker. I expect this to be rather one-sided, but you know what? After the last eight years, I'm fine with that.

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. mawombat recommended this novel a while back, and the blurbs are intriguing.

The Archimedes Codex, Reviel Netz. I've been itching to get this for a couple of years now. I keep hearing vague reports about what has been discovered, but none of them have been clear enough to satisfy me. I'm hoping this will finally do the trick.

If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind, Vilmos Csanyi. carbonelle recommended this quite a while back, in response to a question I asked, and, again, the reviews look good. It's so easy for animal studies to slide into sentimentality, but it looks like Csanyi avoided that.

Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite, Phil & Kaja Foglio. I tried to order this a few months back, when I bought ...and the Voice of the Castle, but accidentally wound up with a second copy of ...and the Clockwork Princess. (I see the next volume will be out in just a couple of months. Can't wait....)

Should keep me busy for a while.

Comments

[kattsune.livejournal.com]

Please let me know what you think of If Dogs Could Talk and Shadow of the Wind. I'm always looking for new material! (I even find books I like, but I tend to gripe more on LJ rather than sing praises. :| )

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Sure. It may be a while, though; apparently Shadow of the Wind is quite long....

[filkferengi]

I remember 17catherines being quite impressed with the Alter a few months back.