When am I not reading? That is the question (and a very serious one at that!).

I'm balancing roughly three books right now. They are as follows:

On The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche. This work concerns the history of morals, ethics, and interpretation. This has to be one of his more difficult books, in that the arguments seem to undermine themselves as they unfold--and this method may be deliberate. Not even science escapes his criticism.

A Discourse on The Method and Meditations on First Philosophy both by Rene Descartes. The Discourse introduces an outline of his philosophical method, which he hoped would provide a stable foundation for the sciences and knowledge in general, and he also hoped it would replace the Aristotelian teachings (too much baggage, in Descartes' view). In this work, we're also introduced to the famous cogito ergo sum. The Meditations delves even deeper into the cogito. In this work, the thinker doubts all that can be doubted, and then tries to find one certainty with which he can build a firm, solid, and certain foundation for knowledge.

The contrast between Nietzsche and Descartes is startling to say the least.

I'm reading The Andromeda Strain by Crichton for a class. It's really sort of freaky when I try to imagine the technology from back then (1961) and that was state-of-the-art stuff right there. I'm dragging through, but I'm sure I'll find something else amusing soon.

That and I'm reading "textbooks". All the Laws but One by William Rehnquist is proving to be rather baffling, in a sense. I understand it all, but stories it tells is a whole other side of history usually not placed down in the books.

@:

So how is Genius Squad? I enjoyed Evil Genius well enough, but I dunno if I liked it enough to check out the sequel.

I really need to read Scott Westerfeld's stuff, argh. His series stare at me accusingly every time I go to the bookstore.

I love the Temeraire series! (Although I suck and haven't finished the third book yet.) Temeraire himself is so frigging endearing. At least, it takes some pretty remarkable writing to make me go moe for a giant reptile, haha. [/not normally into dragons]

I like the sound of the Evil Genius Timber suggested. Along the same lines is:

Soon I Will Be Invincible-Austin Grossman
Set in the realm of comic book heroes, but has a lot of realism added. The story shifts between the perspective of Dr. Impossible, the evil villian bent on destroying the world, and Fatale, a human cyborg/government project just joining a league of superheros. The story has action, but also portrays all the heroes in a very human way, flaws and all.

A more comedic story is:

The Pirates in an Adventure with Ahab-Gideon DaFoe
A comedy. One of three so far, the pirates known only by names such as The Pirate with a scarf, the Albino Pirate, the Pirate Captain, the Pirate in Green, etc. must help Ahab capture the White Whale. Their best plan is dangling the albino pirate over the side of the ship because they think the white whale got that way from eating albino squid and will mistake the albino pirate as one.

I'm always ready to recommend good books! ^^ Here's what I'm reading right now:

The Eyes Of God by John Marco - Young King Akeela of Liiria seeks peace with their longtime enemy, Reec. To seal the peace, King Karis of Reec offers Akeela an alliance by marriage to his daughter Cassandra. What Akeela does not know is that Cassandra and Lukian - the Bronze Knight, hero of Liiria, and Akeela's closest friend - begin a forbidden affair. When both learn that Cassandra is dying from a ravaging affliction, they set out to find the fabled Eyes of God, magic amulets that could save Cassandra's life. But the Eyes are also cursed, for those who wear them must never be looked upon again...

Although it has magic and most other fantasy elements, John Marco focuses more on the characters, their relationships, their imperfections. This book is the first in a trilogy, continuing in The Devil's Armor and The Sword Of Angels.

Haha, ease back into reading? No school = no textbooks! Reading for fun all the way!!

Right now I am reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and Burning Chrome by William Gibson. The former is an absolute classic of American crime fiction (of course inspiring the great movie starring Humphrey Bogart), and the latter is a collection of excellent science-fiction short stories (people will probably know Gibson as the writer of Neuromancer).

EDIT: Ugh, this totally reminds me that I need to get the Library of Loons going again. Two weeks off = no bueno.