Of books and beeps
Feb. 15th, 2009 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angharad_gamSo it probably wasn't the neighbours or the phone call that woke the baby up then, or the other three or four times he woke up after that. Rather it was a toy piano in his toy box which had some other toy sitting on top of it. For some reason this caused the piano to sporadically emit a strange series of chirping beeps. I did not discover this until well after the baby dragged me out of bed at 6am of course.
Feeling much better today, although still tired and coughing up muck (yummo!). I slept for two hours before lunch yesterday. Given that I'm pretty much incapable of sleeping during the day under most circumstances, this is an indication of how this bug is affecting me.
Anyway, I thought I'd make some notes about what I've been reading lately, especially since I haven't done much except reading.
Recently finished:
Books 2 and 3 in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: I quite like these, particularly the way the hero is unabashedly a man of his times; there were a few plot threads not entirely wrapped up in no 3 that I really hope will be picked up in no 4.
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson: I've read a few of these 'history of the English language' books, and this is far from the most scholarly, so I didn't learn much new; however I like Bill Bryson, and this was no exception - the chapter on names was particularly good.
Currently reading:
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Boton: I'm reading this because I liked the TV series (!). I've never been particularly drawn to philosophy before, but this is a pretty good introduction.
The Sun and Moon Corrupted by Philip Ball: An unusual book; the story has yet to entirely grab me, but this guy has a real window into the hearts and minds of physicists.
More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics by Steven E. Landsburg: I suspect my response to this book is the standard statistician's response to an economist - not enough variables in your model! Some very clever arguments to support some at times controversial arguments, but I think there are flaws in some of them.
Feeling much better today, although still tired and coughing up muck (yummo!). I slept for two hours before lunch yesterday. Given that I'm pretty much incapable of sleeping during the day under most circumstances, this is an indication of how this bug is affecting me.
Anyway, I thought I'd make some notes about what I've been reading lately, especially since I haven't done much except reading.
Recently finished:
Books 2 and 3 in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: I quite like these, particularly the way the hero is unabashedly a man of his times; there were a few plot threads not entirely wrapped up in no 3 that I really hope will be picked up in no 4.
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson: I've read a few of these 'history of the English language' books, and this is far from the most scholarly, so I didn't learn much new; however I like Bill Bryson, and this was no exception - the chapter on names was particularly good.
Currently reading:
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Boton: I'm reading this because I liked the TV series (!). I've never been particularly drawn to philosophy before, but this is a pretty good introduction.
The Sun and Moon Corrupted by Philip Ball: An unusual book; the story has yet to entirely grab me, but this guy has a real window into the hearts and minds of physicists.
More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics by Steven E. Landsburg: I suspect my response to this book is the standard statistician's response to an economist - not enough variables in your model! Some very clever arguments to support some at times controversial arguments, but I think there are flaws in some of them.
