Groups > books and reading

You wrote: "I was sad when I finished reading the book [The Denial of Death]."

Yoffy, how did the book change you? What did it say to you?

I started Michael Palin's "Sahara" (you can read them free online @ his homepage) but have been side-tracked the past few days.

I used to read more fiction but it's hard for me to find anything which really captures my attention anymore. I have very eclectic tastes and can't force myself to read something which doesn't completely captivate me.

I really loved Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles which wove history and mysticism into the plot/tone...

I recently read The Telephone Gambit by Seth Shulman. I heard an interview with him about the book on NPR and it sounded intriguing. I enjoyed it very much. It's about how Alexander Graham Bell didn't actually invent the telephone. It is interesting and reads almost like a detective story.

I read mostly history - Like J.M. Roberts "History of the World" or Bernard Lewis, "What Went Wrong". I have been reading a lot of essays on the Middle East ... trying to understand the background of current events. All very intriguing.

I'd highly recommend A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

I read a lot of fiction these days because work and family keep me very busy and I find it much easier to read fiction in small snatches--non-fiction tends to require more concentration and be better processed more of a piece. Right now I'm working on Recapturing the Constitution: Race, Religion and Abortion reconsidered. It's a bit of an interesting challenge for me because the outcomes I'd like to see ideologically and those I believe are actually justified by our Constitution are very different.

Who wroteRecapturing the Constitution? I'd be interested in reading it. I am in the midst of a graduate seminar called "The Church and Political Involvement". Based on your description this sounds right up my alley.