"The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World", by Andrea Wulf. It's a biography of Humboldt, who was a scientist, explorer, and writer in the early 19th century whose name is not well known today, but the author shows how he influenced the modern perception of the world. Humboldt was the first major scientist to take a broad view of how whole ecosystems work, and is the father of ecology. He gave early support and encouragement to a young Charles Darwin, and was a close friend of the South American liberator Simon Bolivar. I'd come across scattered mentions of Humboldt before, but this is the first full study of him I've read, and I highly recommend it.
Thanks to all who have presented your reading choices. There are a number on this thread I will now pick up.
Loads of articles on East African Coinage... and this: I haven't been reading anything too heavy with school in session, so several comic books have also been on the docket.
Hmmmm... Battle of Agincourt: English well-trained Longbowmen famous for killing French Armor... French would capture English Longbowmen and cut off their first two fingers so that they could never draw a bow again. Today, as an insult, English use two finger in a salute like Americans using middle-finger. Basically, the two-fingers represent that "I still have them" (fingers).
I guess I'm also picking out bits from Ibn Battuta: And I'm reading through Marco Polo for about the fourth or fifth time... Guess there's more on my docket than I thought...
"The Executioner's Song" - Norman Mailer. Terrible book, but somehow I skipped it 40 years ago. Thinking of bailing out, but only have a bit more. Last one was "Our Mutual Friend" - Chas. Dickens. One that I re-read every couple of years is "Confederacy of Dunces". Maybe because my earliest memories were in the New Orleans area (that picture on the left was in 1951 Metairie), and I can relate to the dialect! Hilarious, if dated book!
I'm sure glad I don't mind buying used books. Since I started this thread 3.5 hours ago I have purchased 4 books. I think coin collectors in general and especially ancient coin collectors have a thirst for knowledge. The posts here show that to be true.
We have been taking the Godson and/or Goddaughter on Sundays, so this has been the most recent crowd favourite ...
I'm currently reading The Finest Hours by Michael Tougias, which is about a daring rescue by the US Coast Guard off the shore of Cape Cod back in the '50s. I'm only about 65 pages in but it's been a good read so far. @alde have you read any of Nathaniel Philbricks other work? A couple years back I read a book he wrote about the Battle of Bunker Hill... that was a good one. My favorite author has got to be Erik Larson though, he is an excellent writer of non fiction historical work. I highly recommend his books.
Here he is, by the way - Alexander von Humboldt along with his brother Wilhelm. This commemorative coin was issued for Wilhelm's 200th birthday but honors both. This way the government did not "have" to issue another commem two years later. Currently I am reading a book about the artist René Magritte. Just saw a great exhibition of his works in Frankfurt; here is the "Digitorial" in English. (May take a while to fully load; then keep scrolling down.) The other book is about Erika Fuchs who, for forty years (roughly 1950-1990), translated the Donald Duck stories into German. Trivial? Yeah. But it is interesting to see how her work was not just translation but finding new words and context. The book, by Ernst Horst, is also nicely illustrated - about one Ducks panel on every page ... Christian
It often feels like the only books I've read in the past four years have been children's books. And I haven't even gotten to Yertle the Turtle yet .
I always have a stack of books on the bedside table which is about 12 inches high. Sometimes I forget what is in the stack because Numismatics News, World Coin News and Numismatist always go on the top when the arrive. My current book is one of three I bought on the history of money. The other two are still in the stack.