Books I am currently reading

I have been reading some other blogs to see how this is done and notice that there is not a lot of useful information out there. I would like to believe that this blog will be something different but so far I have not thought of a way to make it stand out.

Just to get into the habit of posting I am going to list some of the books I am currently reading. When I finish them I may get around to reviewing them. A standard format for the review would encourage me to continue with the process and maybe eventually assemble some useful information that others will find interesting.

Currently I am reading the following books:

Non-Fiction:
Short Oxford History of Europe, The Early Middle Ages by Rosamond McKitterick
The title says it all. Europe from 400-1000
The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe by W. Montgomery Watt
A series of lectures on Islamic (mostly Arab) contributuons to the developement of Europe
Warped Passages Unravelling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall
A explanation of current thinking in Physics especially cosmology and quantuum physics. I usually breeze through pop-science books like A Brief History of Time. This one is a little tougher than most but goes into modern theories in a deeper way. I will try to struggle through it to the end.


Fiction:
Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer
A story about a shipfull of aliens that come to Earth to investigate what they say is evidence of God's manipulation of Evolution. It is pro science and anti intelligent design but points out the many arguements from a physics point of view that seem to indicate that the Universe was designed to produce living things. It was entertaining, had good clear ideas and well developed characters. Good for an afternoon's reading.

These were not full reviews, just a list of books I haven't quite finished. In the future I will try to write a full review of say, one book a week.

First Post

This is my initial post of my new blog 'Surfeit'. According to dictionary.com a surfeit is :

1. 1. Overindulgence in food or drink.
   2. The result of such overindulgence; satiety or disgust.
2. An excessive amount.

and this blog is a the result of my compulsive reading in a multitude of topics with a focus on history, science and technology. Reading is one of the few things that I enjoy. My head is full of facts and opinions of others and I have reached the point of overindulgence like someone at a Roman feast. That excess has to go somewhere, and you are looking at it. The result may not come up to the standards of the inputs but the output at such a feast rarely looks as appetizing as the inputs.