Recommend me a book!

[Beam]

Simon you can use Wikipedia as a starting point as it usually has quite a number of references to sites and literature.

Out of curiosity. Why 1450 and 1750 in your World History topic? I can think of some reasons of course like 1450 being in the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of the Age of Discovery but the Renaissance was already well on it's way in Italy. And 1750 just before the Industrial Revolution but excluding American Independence and the French Revolution just a few decades later.

[BCLG100]

Oh, thats a good idea but if anyone actually knows some good books that'd be good- i've got loads of unreadable books out of the library before- not fun

Well 1450 was the start of the gunpowder revoultion and the formation of nation states similar to what we see today. An example is the book im reading right now, siege of constantinople- one of the first major uses of cannons to actually do something the end of the hundred years war is another example, taken from wikipedia, '1453 Battle of Castillon Jean Bureau defeats Talbot to end the Hundred Years' War. This was also the first battle in European history where the use of cannon was a major factor in determining the victor.'

The dark ages i don't think is the reason for the start date as these ended a few hundred years earlier (starting at the decline of the Western Roman Empire), this is World History and it wasnt all that dark for Non Europeans during that time . So i fully understand the start date, the end date i can only speculate- maybe it's to get an idea of the climate before the industrial revolution and the American Revolutionary wars/civil war/French Revolutions etc.

[Whomp]

Simon--Ken Burns did a documentary on the American Civil War and it's used quite a bit in classrooms today. Very well done.

He's actually doing a series on the American condition during WWII in September. It should be interesting because it will be based on four towns. Mobile, Alabama (shipping industry and civil rights at the time), Sacramento (heavy Japanese population), a upper middle class town on the east coast (brass products) and a rural town in Minnesota. All the footage will be real and not staged like we see on History channel. No historians or Generals but more about the people who fought and sacrificed at home.

[Tubby Rower]

quote:Originally posted by Whomp

A friend of mine just wrote a book "From Fantasy Football to Fatherhood" by Douglas H. Hall.

He mocks all of us incessantly. He's a very funny guy and I'm looking forward to reading it.

It sounds like he's reading these forums. Did he mention any of us?

[Whomp]

quote:Originally posted by Tubby Rower

It sounds like he's reading these forums. Did he mention any of us?

Hehe. He did yesterday since he's in town from California. He asked how the Zulus are doing.


I get a lot of abuse and dish it right back. Here's a little excerpt...

"Bernie's preparedness has often served him well and he often shows up at the draft with more information than a counterterrorism official at a Al Qaeda Lalapollozza festival"....

later about the women in my life explaining why I won't win the big one (though I have a few times)....

"Not when he keeps insisting on letting women run his life, take away his freedom of speech and thought, and leave him mumbling to himself like a 5th Avenue wino".


Here's the Amazon link. He sent the book to Oprah and Tiger Woods since he's a father now. The book is also about how having a child truly changed his life.

http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Footba...8487162&sr=8-1

[romeothemonk]

ON the historical fiction side, I have really enjoyed Harry Turtledoves WorldWar series, and I am just now finishing up his Southern Victory series.
I realize that his literary skills are probably only a 5, but the concept is fresh and loaded with enough fact to keep me interested and thinking hard about several things.
Most notably is my theory that Roosevelt with Social Security ended the proclivity of States to rebel, especially the southern states, as they draw more heavily on government assistance. With close to half of the population on the federal dole revolt becomes nearly unelectable.

Anyway, you can check his stuff out here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove

[killercane]

quote:Originally posted by romeothemonk

ON the historical fiction side, I have really enjoyed Harry Turtledoves WorldWar series, and I am just now finishing up his Southern Victory series.
I realize that his literary skills are probably only a 5, but the concept is fresh and loaded with enough fact to keep me interested and thinking hard about several things.
Most notably is my theory that Roosevelt with Social Security ended the proclivity of States to rebel, especially the southern states, as they draw more heavily on government assistance. With close to half of the population on the federal dole revolt becomes nearly unelectable.

Anyway, you can check his stuff out here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove

I read Turtledove's WWI era "2nd American Civil War" book after finding it in a bin at a used book store. Certainly not a literary masterpiece but interesting in how he contemplates world politics in the What if? atmosphere. IIRC, he had the South allied with Germany, Mexico, and Austro Hungary and went into trench warfare and how it (would have) affected the States.

[Shabbaman]

When I was looking for a book to read I came across the brand new sequel to Pillars of the earth. I'm through 200 pages now, and so far it's pretty good. The book is quite big and heavy though, I hope it fits in my backpack for the way home. Otherwise anyone interested can pick it up for free in Christchurch.

[Darkness]

So, did any of you know that Robert Jordan has been dead since september 2007, or was I really the only one that missed it...???

Apparently the "Wheel of Time" will now be finished by Brandon Sanderson (anybody know him?), with the 12th book coming sometime next year...

[Aggie]

I hope that George RR Martin lives to finish his work on A Song of Ice and Fire...