I'm looking for good books to read. Suggestions?

[Pauly]

So I'm a third of the way through the third book now...

Spoiler!

Alicia has just tried to kill zero only to find out she is incapable... he launches into a 100 pages whine about his mom, Harvard, love, loss and whatever else... about half way through I couldn't understand how, after being forced to listen to all this, Alicia suddenly didn't find the strength to slit his throat.

yeah the third book is not nearly as good as the first two, but we are/were invested....

[Lurker765]

I thought the first book was great, but the second was not anywhere near as good. You aren't making me want to pick up the third one to finish the series.

[Midnight Otter]

[Midnight Otter]

[Mithrandir]

One of my all time favorites!!

[johnnya24]

I don't often recommend books, but this was a massive eye opener.

THE VITAL QUESTION, by Nick Lane

Wiki Link

[Mithrandir]

I don't often recommend books, but this was a massive eye opener.

THE VITAL QUESTION, by Nick Lane

Wiki Link

So God didn't create all living things?

[Mithrandir]

I don't often recommend books, but this was a massive eye opener.

THE VITAL QUESTION, by Nick Lane

Wiki Link

This dude thinks the book sucks:


1.0 out of 5 starsSpeculation presented as fact.
ByEdward N. Bassetton February 23, 2017
Format: MP3 CD
This book was a gift and so I felt compelled to read it. What a shame that Nick Lane bought into other scientists' speculative notions. His book, Life Ascending, is actually pretty good. The "vital question" focuses on the origin of metabolism and the first eukaryotic cell. The author posits that all eukaryotes descended from one single cell. This is an absurd hypothesis suffering from a dearth of evidence. Mitochondria vary in form and function, and not all eukaryotes have mitochondria (anaerobes simply don't need mitochondria). Of course, Lane and his muses will respond that the original mitochondrion evolved to some other functions. That's clutching at straws. The ancestral bacterium of most mitochondria is practically a dead match with an alpha proteobacterium in the Rickettsia group. (Just as the ancestor of chloroplasts is a dead match with extant cyanobacteria.) Furthermore, the evidence for some archeon being the ancestor of the nucleus is severely lacking, as we have no (none, zero) extant organisms on the planet to support such speculation. Lane is channelling Martin and Russell in this book, which was published without the peer review vetting that would be required of a "real" scientific thesis. Furthermore, how can one pretend to explain the origin of life or eukaryotes without even dealing with the evolution of information processing. This book is bad on so many fronts.

[johnnya24]

This dude thinks the book sucks:


1.0 out of 5 starsSpeculation presented as fact.
ByEdward N. Bassetton February 23, 2017
Format: MP3 CD
This book was a gift and so I felt compelled to read it. What a shame that Nick Lane bought into other scientists' speculative notions. His book, Life Ascending, is actually pretty good. The "vital question" focuses on the origin of metabolism and the first eukaryotic cell. The author posits that all eukaryotes descended from one single cell. This is an absurd hypothesis suffering from a dearth of evidence. Mitochondria vary in form and function, and not all eukaryotes have mitochondria (anaerobes simply don't need mitochondria). Of course, Lane and his muses will respond that the original mitochondrion evolved to some other functions. That's clutching at straws. The ancestral bacterium of most mitochondria is practically a dead match with an alpha proteobacterium in the Rickettsia group. (Just as the ancestor of chloroplasts is a dead match with extant cyanobacteria.) Furthermore, the evidence for some archeon being the ancestor of the nucleus is severely lacking, as we have no (none, zero) extant organisms on the planet to support such speculation. Lane is channelling Martin and Russell in this book, which was published without the peer review vetting that would be required of a "real" scientific thesis. Furthermore, how can one pretend to explain the origin of life or eukaryotes without even dealing with the evolution of information processing. This book is bad on so many fronts.

So radical new ideas meet with mocking condemnation from established dogma.

This guy sounds like his world is about to fall in ...

[Hi.I'm.Mandy]

This book was a gift and so I felt compelled to read it. What a shame that Nick Lane bought into other scientists' speculative notions. His book, Life Ascending, is actually pretty good. The "vital question" focuses on the origin of metabolism and the first eukaryotic cell. The author posits that all eukaryotes descended from one single cell. This is an absurd hypothesis suffering from a dearth of evidence. Mitochondria vary in form and function, and not all eukaryotes have mitochondria (anaerobes simply don't need mitochondria). Of course, Lane and his muses will respond that the original mitochondrion evolved to some other functions. That's clutching at straws. The ancestral bacterium of most mitochondria is practically a dead match with an alpha proteobacterium in the Rickettsia group. (Just as the ancestor of chloroplasts is a dead match with extant cyanobacteria.) Furthermore, the evidence for some archeon being the ancestor of the nucleus is severely lacking, as we have no (none, zero) extant organisms on the planet to support such speculation. Lane is channelling Martin and Russell in this book, which was published without the peer review vetting that would be required of a "real" scientific thesis. Furthermore, how can one pretend to explain the origin of life or eukaryotes without even dealing with the evolution of information processing. This book is bad on so many fronts.

I disagree

[TranaGreg]

so ... I'm heading to a cottage tomorrow for a week of R&R ...& R (reading) ... any recent recommendations???

[DMT]

Reading White Fragility: Why it's so hard for White people to talk about racism.. Very insightful read.

[revo]

Best books I've read in the last couple of years were:

Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 by Bryan Burrough
The Liberation Trilogy (3 books: An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, & The Guns at Last Light) by Rick Atkinson

[Riff Raff]

The Alchemist - may help you re think how you live life, may not
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Written from the dog's perspective. It will make you laugh, and cry.

[Fresno Bob]

fiction or non-fiction, novels or short stories or essays?

For example, I've recently enjoyed reading several of the "Best American" series. There are a bunch that come out every year, best american sports writing, best american science and nature writing, best american travel writing, you get the idea......all available at your public library!