CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[original PM]

Is this really the most recent Currently Reading thread?

Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin - seriously hard science fiction, set in China.

Good book - as are the other 2 in the series.

Currently reading Immortal by Nick lloyd...

Although I have kindle unlimited so generally plenty of choice but not so many new ones.

[Gibbon]

Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher
Visual culture was an essential part of ancient social, religious, and political life. Appearance and experience of beings and things was of paramount importance. In Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher explores the fundamental phenomena of Greek and Roman visual culture and their enormous impact on the ancient world, considering memory over time, personal appearance, conceptualization and representation of reality, and significant decoration as fundamental categories of art as well as of social practice.


The Rise of Christianity (subtitled either A Sociologist Reconsiders History or How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, depending on the edition), is a book by the sociologist Rodney Stark, which examines the rise of Christianity, from a small movement in Galilee and Judea at the (supposed) time of Jesus to the majority religion of the Roman Empire a few centuries later.

Both major sources in my just completed Masters Dissertation on the mosaics in Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

[Old Greg]

Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher
Visual culture was an essential part of ancient social, religious, and political life. Appearance and experience of beings and things was of paramount importance. In Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher explores the fundamental phenomena of Greek and Roman visual culture and their enormous impact on the ancient world, considering memory over time, personal appearance, conceptualization and representation of reality, and significant decoration as fundamental categories of art as well as of social practice.


The Rise of Christianity (subtitled either A Sociologist Reconsiders History or How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, depending on the edition), is a book by the sociologist Rodney Stark, which examines the rise of Christianity, from a small movement in Galilee and Judea at the (supposed) time of Jesus to the majority religion of the Roman Empire a few centuries later.

Both major sources in my just completed Masters Dissertation on the mosaics in Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

This is worth a read.

Edward N. Luttwak
The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third Century

[Lockhouse]

Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher
Visual culture was an essential part of ancient social, religious, and political life. Appearance and experience of beings and things was of paramount importance. In Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hölscher explores the fundamental phenomena of Greek and Roman visual culture and their enormous impact on the ancient world, considering memory over time, personal appearance, conceptualization and representation of reality, and significant decoration as fundamental categories of art as well as of social practice.

This was a real eye-opener for me. For my 50th birthday some years ago a present to myself was to have a private tour of the Uffizi gallery from a local expert on Italian Renaissance Art. We had a long discussion about symbolism in medieval paintings. It sounds boring but it really wasn't. To summarise; there were no newspapers and most people couldn't read. One of the primary ways of passing messages on to the general population was through paintings and sculpture - symbolism in art, whether it was in the Church or elsewhere. We looked at many paintings and I was amazed by the number of messages that were in plain sight once you started to look closely (aided by the local expert naturally). This included subversive, religious and political messages - and also sight gags. Fascinating.

[Gibbon]

This was a real eye-opener for me. For my 50th birthday some years ago a present to myself was to have a private tour of the Uffizi gallery from a local expert on Italian Renaissance Art. We had a long discussion about symbolism in medieval paintings. It sounds boring but it really wasn't. To summarise; there were no newspapers and most people couldn't read. One of the primary ways of passing messages on to the general population was through paintings and sculpture - symbolism in art, whether it was in the Church or elsewhere. We looked at many paintings and I was amazed by the number of messages that were in plain sight once you started to look closely (aided by the local expert naturally). This included subversive, religious and political messages - and also sight gags. Fascinating.

That was money well spent, having some knowledge of what's happening certainly makes for more interesting viewing.

[Lance]

I'm currently plowing my way through REAMDE <again> to refresh my memory before i tackle FALL.
I do like Neal Stephenson's books.

great book. Must get Fall.....

Seven Eves is also good and apparently they're making a film of it.

[woohoo]

Good book - as are the other 2 in the series.

Currently reading Immortal by Nick lloyd...

Although I have kindle unlimited so generally plenty of choice but not so many new ones.

Going to try immortal on my kindle unlimited, ta.

[woohoo]

Currently redoing the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan on book 5 of 13

Is it worth starting on the series? I looked at the amazon reviews for the first book and mixed between awful and great.

[woohoo]

I'm not really into fantasy stuff, but anything by Mark Lawrence is worth reading, especially the Prince, Emperor, King etc of thorns.

[Uncle Albert]

Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece by Patrick Leigh Fermor

I read his trilogy (A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, The Broken Road) which cover him walking from Holland to Istanbul as an 18 year old in 1933. If you have never read anything by him try A Time of Gifts. His writing is incredible.