I've just started Reading A Test of Time by David Rohl - The Bible from myth to history. It's origins in Egypt, and also the various dynastic periods. I bought it in 2001 but didn't get very far with it, and gave it to my Dad. Then I recently borrowed it. Ten years on it seems more readable.

It is a little far fetched, now that I'm into it more. The reptilians would explain the fixed rigged caste and social status lineage system (and possibly supernatural superior genes) although the theory itself is a little over the top. There is no concrete evidence for his claims or at least I don't see it.

I guess if his theories hold true, then there are millions of mere mortals or 'commoners' whom the system would never favor.

"Slow Death by Rubber Duck" by Rick Smith, Bruce Lourie

This is one scary book. Using a variety of test methods, the authors determined individual “body burdens,” or the toxic chemical load we carry. The innocuous rubber duck, for example, offers a poison soup of phthalates that “permeate the environment and humans.” From other products and food, we also have a collection of chemicals shorthanded as PFCs, PFOAs, PSOSs, and PCBs. None of them are good, and they are everywhere, thanks to Teflon (which drew the largest administrative penalty against a company ever obtained by the EPA), Stainmaster, nonflammable pajamas, tuna (hello, mercury), and, would you believe, antibacterial products. The legacy of our chemically addicted society is not just all around us but also inside us, and it is killing us, as the Teflon case proved. (Workers in West Virginia believed that “having a high-paying job often meant getting sick,” and many were reluctant to sue and possibly scare DuPont away.) Poised between chirpy green-living manuals and dense academic papers, Smith and Bruce Lourie have crafted a true guide for the thinking consumer. If readers don’t change their ways after reading this one, then they never wil. - Some review on Amazon

I think my favourite fiction is Cormac McCarthy's The Road



or One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Currently reading this:



This book is a real eye opener!
It basically debunks all the claims made by feminists against men, with plenty of evidence to back it up. My outlook has been forever changed. I'm kind of saddened by the reality presented in this book, yet I am satisfied to know the truth.

Currently reading:

Bill Bass, Jon Jefferson "Beyond the Body Farm"



Good book about forensic pathology and forensic entomology. Truly fascinating and rather morbid.

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I recently finished a book that I think many here might be able to benefit from: Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. It's pretty short (not much more than 100 pages) and is mostly an account of Frankl's experiences as an inmate in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Frankl focuses on how, even in the terrible conditions and suffering, he and some of the others were able to preserve a sense of meaning in their lives. He has a number of insights on how life can be unconditionally meaningful, meaningful even in the face of suffering and disappointment, if one chooses to make it so.

Finieshed this one yesterday, because it was fairly short. Pretty good and informative, but why author puts Tambora volcano (Sumbawa, Indonesia) in Phillipines or Java is beyond me.

"'An arresting collage of mythology, philosophy, literature and spectacular works of visual art inspired by nature's most exuberant phenomenon - Hamilton's unique and imaginative miscellany and cultural geography of volcanoes and volcanology is a veritable treasure trove."



Just started reading Clive Oppenheimer's "Eruptions that Shook the World". Love it so far.



Book Contents: Preface; 1. Fire and brimstone: how volcanoes work; 2. Eruption styles, hazards and ecosystem impacts; 3. Volcanoes and global climate change; 4. Forensic volcanology; 5. Relics, myths and chronicles; 6. Killer plumes; 7. Human origins; 8. The ash-giant/sulphur-dwarf; 9. European volcanism in prehistory; 10. The rise of Teotihuacán; 11. Dark Ages: dark nature?; 12. The Haze famine; 13. The last great subsistence crisis in the western world; 14. Volcanic catastrophe risk; Appendix A. Volcano trumps: notable eruptions of the past 10,000 years; Appendix B. Further reading; Index.

I think it's really cool that you have such a specific interest, Erebus. I'm not sure I can think of anyone else I know who, if I asked about his or her interests, would answer "volcanoes"--and I mean that, of course, as a genuine compliment (even if "normal" people wouldn't). It's always struck me as a mark of creativity and individuality to have a well-defined interest.

Thanks a lot. It started in my early childhood. I was always fascinated how Earth works. I fell in love with geology, visited Vesuvius many years ago, and this is how my interest in volcanology picked up and will stay with me forever. I am planning some foreign trips during upcoming years to see and research few volcanoes; I am actively writing articles and blog about volcanoes plus meeting/corresponding with like-minded people (there are really FEW of them). If you want to know anything about volcanoes drop me a line.

Right now I'm reading a novel called "Fall of Giants." It's a fictional work that takes place against the backdrop of WWI.

I don't like fiction / pop-literature. I only read STEM textbooks, because that's the only thing I can somewhat focus on and be interested in.

Reading "My Name Is Aram" by William Sayoran. About his life, and growing up and living in Fresno.

Recently read this one. It's a fantastic and unpredictable story about non sparkly vampires. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of thing:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Day-Soldiers-ebook/dp/B007QJBBE2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346535089&sr=8-1