What are you reading?

This question was posed to me by a gentleman several years ago while we were talking about what might've caused the change over from the bronze age to the iron age. I had explained to them that I didn't really know, but that I had some  ideas about the subject. By the time I was done, it sounded so plausible he posed this question. My answer was that I read a little bit of everything, no particular subject or style of writing is something I try to avoid. 

Recently this has expanded to listening to podcasts. In the course of my job I'm afforded 6 to 10 hours throughout the day where I'm not doing anything more challenging than vaccumming. Since I'm fairly picky about what music I listen to this time has been getting filled by podcasts.

So what am I currently reading, I mentioned in another post that I was reading: The Quick, by Lauren Owen. The list of my current reading is larger than this one book. So here is the full reading list of just books I have cracked open and will likely finish by August.

How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, by Daniel Smith. A book on the lessons of observation, memory practice, and deductive reasoning. The character I am playing in the vampire game is supposed to be a private detective and so I thought this book might be good character research beyond the neat concept of the book itself.

Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep, edited by Paula Guran. A collection of short stories based on the title subject. I have always liked stories about pirates and sea monsters, but sadly few titles have caught my eye. I also really like anthologies in general because at worst I only like half the stories. A novel can suck the whole way through, but an anthology can't.

A Whack On the Side of the Head, by Roger von Oech. This book is about creative thinking and how to overcome the mental blocks most of us have and don't even realize it. This was brought to my attention in a podcast by Mark Rosewater, lead designer for Magic the Gathering. I think he has mentioned it at least a dozen times over the couple hundred of his podcasts I recently caught up on. So it made the reading list.

Those are the four, and as I finish them, I will let you know what I think of them. Now the mystery of why I don't play video games becomes less so.