(no subject)

[skygiants]

I told ms_ntropy that I had made a goal for myself to read more nonfiction, and she recommended me Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Trustingly, I went and reserved it at the library. Little did I know that by doing so I would be committing myself to reading a 600-page history-of-science textbook a year after escaping my last school-mandated science class! Yes, perhaps the 'Nearly Everything in the title should have been a clue.

However, despite the flashbacks to the days of midterms and problem sets I kept having while toting it around after reading it my head is full of entertaining prose (I had actually never read a book by Bryson before, and was pleasantly surprised!) and possibly a few snippets of useful information stuck there as well, so I guess I must admit it was not a bad thing really. I wish I could claim that I enjoyed it because I was Seriously Interested in Knowledge for Knowledge's Own Sake, but I am afraid I must confess that what I really enjoyed reading about most was the dead-Victorian-scientist gossip. Almost as fun as dead-author gossip for bitchiness and backstabbing! (In some cases literally; one scientist ended up curator of the donated-to-research twisted spine of the other scientist whose life he had previously dedicated himself to ruining. How is this not soap opera material?) So, real scientists may scoff, but I say, pop science histories chock full of tales of rivalry and fraud for the win!

Comments

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to start reading Bryson for a while now, but I keep putting it off.

[skygiants]

Various people have been telling me to forever, but I still might be putting it off if I hadn't realized that the book was due back at the library very shortly and that it was on hold so I couldn't renew it. *grins* Libraries are useful in this way!

[newredshoes]

I started reading one of Bryson's travelogues once, having heard that he was terrifically charming and a great read for studying Americana, but I could barely get 50 pages in: I found him smug, lazy and insufferable, which was so disappointing! (The Lost Continent, apparently.)

What I mean to say is that I'm glad he's not just like that across the board!

[skygiants]

I have heard mixed reviews of his travel stuff, for just that reason, I think - which is actually one of the reasons I went for this book, after Karen recced it, because I could never remember which travelogues people thought were good and which they thought were smug and irritating. (Uh, 'people' here in specific meaning two of my friends who read much more nonfiction than I do and who have a very low smugness tolerance threshold.)

I am not sure I would have liked this book if I were a scientist, mind. But coming to it from a very lit-majory background, I really liked the constant reinforcement of the idea of how much we don't know, scientifically speaking.

[ashen_key]

That book? Is his first, and it is BAD. I say this as a person who quite enjoys his books. The first one...still trying to find his style, still trying to BE funny, but in the others he's settled down into his own style and it works very well.

[ashen_key]

*beams*

I heart that book. I really do. ESPECIALLY THE BACK-STABBING, which is I think the main reason he wrote it.

Also, I recommend his book Mother Tongue on the history and twists of the English language.

[skygiants]

Oh man I know! I am almost ashamed of my love for back-stabbing Victorian gossip, I think it is just about equivalent to an addiction to reading the trashy magazines from the newsstands IF NOT MORE SO because there is the added entertainment value of imagining everyone involved storming about in petticoats and giant muttonchops!

Ooh, language history. *makes note!*

[ashen_key]

*cheerfully* I have no shame with this. Ever. It is the most HILARIOUS MENTAL IMAGES EVER. I mean, that (those? I can't remember) French trip to go and measure star things (it's...8:30am)? PRICELESS.

I think, although I am not sure, that the words from this icon come from that book (where he would be quoting someone else, I think). It's just. Reallly, really, really good.

[winding_path]

Mother Tongue is a good read, and a lot of fun, but not exactly . . . 100% accurate about everything it covers. Grains of salt are good things, though, and I had fun reading it.

(Also, it makes me happy to no end that you still have your Our Mrs Tudor icon.)

[skygiants]

Oh my gosh, the one where they all ended up not speaking to each other and one of them went crazy and ran off with a fifteen-year-old and refused to come back? HILARITY. I also liked the fossil-rivals who accidentally reclassified the same species of dinosaur like twenty times.

*giggles* That seems likely! I have always been fond of that icon of yours.

[skygiants]

I am good with remembering my grains of salt! A perpetual Doubting Thomas, that is me.

(Dude, I am never getting rid of that icon. *beams*)

[ashen_key]

ESPECIALLY when he says that Australians use the word 'cookies', from America. We do not such thing. BISCUITS, thank you.

[agonistes]

The one about the AT is good -- A Walk In The Woods.

[newredshoes]

AT?

[agonistes]

Appalachian Trail.

[newredshoes]

If you're looking for truly amazing nonfiction about nature and science? Go for Barry Lopez, who is a scientist. Arctic Dreams is a desert island book for me. I've got a couple other great recommendations that I can send your way once I'm at home and looking at the titles.

[skygiants]

*makes mental note and adds to list* Thanks!

[skygiants]

That is high praise indeed - and I would hugely appreciate that! I am really trying to shake up my reading habits a little and it's hard to know where to start. :D

[skygiants]

I take solemn note of this fact!

[misslucyjane]

Second The Mother Tongue. That's a great read.

[skygiants]

A double rec! Duly noted. :D

[mogget_cat]

His Notes from a Small Island, about traveling England, was a wonderful read on the flight from Chicago to London when I went to study abroad.

It was even better on the flight back four months later, because then I knew what he was talking about.

[skygiants]

That is the one I have heard the most about! I . . . can't remember what I've heard, but I know I've heard about it! *grins* And that is an excellent rec.