I'm an architecture buff and read widely on the topic, ranging from the obscure (e.g., Vitruvius' The Ten Books on Architecture) to the slightly salacious (e.g., Loving Frank).

Currently, I'm reading Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier – The Great Dialogue by Thomas Doremus, – published in 1985. I'll be co-teaching a course on Modernist Architecture this Spring with a practicing architect, while I take the role of preservationist. Reading this book started out as prep for the class, but its concentration on the similarities of these two greats of Modern Architecture, instead of their often discussed differences, has been fascinating to read!

the-popinjay wrote:

cecil47 wrote:

xcubbies wrote:

I'm reading Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides, and Spooner by the great Pete Dexter. Dexter's dry humor is up there with Charles Portis, though he is certainly a master of more serious subjects as well.

Hampton Sides is a parent at my prep school. I'm reading (sporadically) Blood & Thunder also.

Blood and Thunder is actually one of my favorite books! I think I've reread it about 3 times now! His latest one (Hellhound on his Trail) is great as well.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

John McPhee's Oranges.

I'm re-reading Fake! by Clifford Irving. It's an account of Elmyr de Hory's life as an art forger. He was active in the 50s and 60s, mostly in the US and Europe, forging oil paintings, watercolors, line drawings, etc. He forged modern artists like Picasso, Modigliani, and van Dongen. The book would form the basis for Orson Welles's pseudo-documentary F For Fake. I actually highly recommend the documentary as well, as it details how the book's author, Clifford Irving, after documenting Elmyr de Hory's artistic frauds, went on to perpetrate a fraud of his own. (Irving claimed to have collaborated with Howard Hughes in writing Hughes's autobiography. This was around 1970, when Hughes was probably hiding in a Las Vegas hotel room and using tissue boxes for shoes.)

In keeping with the season, I'm reading "Miracle on 34th Street" by Valentine Davies. I have a 1947 hardback copy with a dust jacket that looks exactly like this:

Welcome aboard, Gamma68!

gamma68 wrote:

In keeping with the season, I'm reading "Miracle on 34th Street" by Valentine Davies. I have a 1947 hardback copy with a dust jacket that looks exactly like this:

Welcome, gamma.

Glad to have you aboard.

Same here.

Really like the dust jacket.

Just finished reading "Vintage Menswear: A Collection from the Vintage Showroom" by Sims, Luckett & Gunn.

This hardcover book features more than 100 vintage pieces housed at the Vintage Showroom in London. It's divided into three sections: sports & leisure, military and workwear. Each piece is accompanied by a brief description of its features, sometimes with a little history about how the garment evolved, and great color photography--often with close-ups.

This is the kind of book that is best savored in small morsels, so you can absorb the salient details of each item. I read a handful of pages at each sitting over the span of a few months.

I found it fascinating to learn about how certain garments that we take for granted every day evolved from military items. There are also many instances, particularly in the military garb, or form following function.

I highly recommed this book if you're at all interested in the history of late-19th to early 20th century clothing and the relation to what we wear today.

gamma68 wrote:

Just finished reading "Vintage Menswear: A Collection from the Vintage Showroom" by Sims, Luckett & Gunn.

This hardcover book features more than 100 vintage pieces housed at the Vintage Showroom in London. It's divided into three sections: sports & leisure, military and workwear. Each piece is accompanied by a brief description of its features, sometimes with a little history about how the garment evolved, and great color photography--often with close-ups.

This is the kind of book that is best savored in small morsels, so you can absorb the salient details of each item. I read a handful of pages at each sitting over the span of a few months.

I found it fascinating to learn about how certain garments that we take for granted every day evolved from military items. There are also many instances, particularly in the military garb, or form following function.

I highly recommend this book if you're at all interested in the history of late-19th to early 20th century clothing and the relation to what we wear today.

Thanks, Gamma! I hadn't heard of this book, but it's right up my alley. Just ordered it from Amazon. At my stage of life, I'm more interested in how my present came to be than in what my future may become.

Billax wrote:

Thanks, Gamma! I hadn't heard of this book, but it's right up my alley. Just ordered it from Amazon. At my stage of life, I'm more interested in how my present came to be than in what my future may become.

Hope you enjoy the book, sir! Please let us know your impressions.

I just finished reading A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. It's a beginner's investing book based on the efficient market hypothesis. Very interesting for an overview of the different kinds of market analysis used on Wall Street. It's kind of a modern classic as it helped popularize buying and holding index funds that track the performance of popularly traded indexes (S&P 500, Russell 3000, etc).

I am currently rereading some Ivan Turgenev. I think that he is one of the best short story writers ever, but I am partial 19th century Russian lit.


Gamma - That vintage book looks cool. Good to see you posting in this section, too!

I'm reading the SPORTS GENE, by David Epstein. It's a fascinating read for those who wonder how elite jocks, in any sport, got that way. The completion of the Human Genome Project began the modern study of the factors at work in creating the best in any athletic field. What scientists are finding out is that genetic make-up is well less than half the reason the elite get that way. Extensive scientific testing in many domains shows that in Basketball, for example, you can't teach height, but height isn't nearly enough to be a great NBA player. Based on hundreds of research studies, this book is about all the other factors that are necessary to reach the pinnacle in any sport.

44Blue, you'd love it!

OCBD wrote:

I am currently rereading some Ivan Turgenev. I think that he is one of the best short story writers ever, but I am partial 19th century Russian lit.


Gamma - That vintage book looks cool. Good to see you posting in this section, too!

Thanks, OCBD.