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Permalink Reply by Swansea Jack on November 16, 2011 at 10:39pm

 

I'm reading my REFI application and wondering why the BIG BAD BANK is giving me a 3.5% (for a 15-year conventional loan) interest rate.   I remember the good old days of my first mortgage in 1973 - when all I had to pay was 14.0% APR.    

 

Now THAT may have been worth sleeping in a tent for - even after curfew hours!    

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Permalink Reply by gaabi on November 16, 2011 at 10:55pm

I started this, The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, after hearing an interview with the author, it sound really interesting.

 

 

It's non-fiction, and she researched stories about giant waves, waves 100' or higher, and went looking for them. There were a lot of stories about waves this high and higher, waves even swallowing ships, but scientists said they weren't possible, that physics prevented water from gaining that much mass while in motion (or something like that), until a research vessel in the North Sea recorded two waves over 100'.

 

Next I really want to get Vultures' Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates, and ..., has anyone read that yet! There was an interview with him on the radio this morning and that sounds really interesting, like something I want to know about.

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Permalink Reply by Swansea Jack on November 16, 2011 at 11:22pm

Think I saw a program on TV about giant waves a few months ago. Not sure what is what called - but that was not READING, so guess it doesn't count.       lol

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Permalink Reply by Swansea Jack on November 16, 2011 at 11:37pm

 

Your piece on 'wave' reminded me: Not reading it now, but one I read several years ago: 'LONGITUDE' by Dava Sorbel -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book)  - the author's nephew loaned me his autographed copy.  A fascinating story. A year or two ago I found an illustrated version of it in the Public Library, but didn't get through it. I must get it out again.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Powell on November 17, 2011 at 6:59pm

Hi Gaabi. I just read, back to back, "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff and "Tweak" by David's son, Nic Sheff. Both books are about methamphetamine addiction, from the perspectives of father and son. Also, recently, "Gitanjali" by Rabindranath Tagore and "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks. Before that, "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson, and three books by Jon Ronson: "Them", "The Men Who Stare at Goats", and "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry".

I'm just starting on "Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea" by Mark Kurlansky with "Noon: A Novel" by Aatish Taseer in queue.

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Permalink Reply by Ceri Shaw on November 17, 2011 at 8:25pm

Read the Bill Bryson a few years ago. I was impressed by his lack of determination having broken down in the Rhinogs back in 1996 whilst attempting to walk the Cambrian Way. Long distance walks are fine but its so much easier to reach your destination if you miss out the bit in the middle

 

There was some talk of a film at one time I believe.

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