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Membro: Pianojazz

ColecçõesA sua biblioteca (3,632), Em leitura (18), Todas as colecções (3,632)

Resenhas43 resenhas

Etiquetashardback (1,516), trade paper (1,467), history (957), religion (660), modern fiction (402), philosophy (359), Bible (347), paper (232), literature (185), American history (171) — ver todas as etiquetas

Nuvensnuvem de etiquetas, nuvem de autores

GruposNone

Sobre mimI am a 50-something bookaholic. I manage the largest used book store in Eastern Idaho. In addition, I play jazz piano in my own quartet--called Syzygy--and in the local big band--known as the JazzHouse. I write and arrange most of my quartet's music. I also play classical piano and I'm preparing for a series of recitals in early 2009. I teach intermediate to advanced-level pianists, as well as courageous adults.
I have college degrees in music, political and legal theory, and law. In addition to English, I speak, read and write fluent Spanish, and have a working reading knowledge of French, Italian, medieval Latin and Koine Greek. My oldest son married a Japanese girl, and I've tried Japanese as well, but the brain may be too ossified.
I have five children, four males and one awesome young lady. We males are a rather vocal, well-informed and opinionated group of soccer fanatics, and know far too many of the English soccer fight/drinking songs than is healthy for us. American soccer pales by comparison, and the songs aren't much better

Sobre a minha bibliotecaMy library grew from my university training, and consisted originally of books my wife and I had read and acquired during our undergraduate and graduate careers. Gradually I expanded my holdings to include LDS Church History (yes, we're both Mormons, my wife is the more active of the two); New Testament history, languages, commentaries, and theology; Old Testament history and commentaries. Recently I've become interested in Eastern Christianity and have expanded my holdings concerning the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Orthodox spirituality and monasticism, Byzantine history, and Orthodox theology.
Because I did my master's thesis on the roots of medieval canon law in Hugo Grotius's "De Jure Belli ac Pacis" ("On the Law of War and Peace," the seminal treatise on public international law), I have a lot of books on all aspects of public and private law. I also have books on Latin and Greek themselves. My secular histories go back as far as the Sumerians and Akkadians, and slowly work forward, although my holdings are weak in 17th-21st century Europe.
I have many books dealing with all aspects of music, particularly classical composers for piano, and technical discussions of the "correct" ways to play piano for maximum effect with minimal injury to hands and especially tendons. These books are getting the most use of late.
I have between 2,500 and 2,800 books on all aspects of medieval life: marriage, child-rearing and families, medicine (or the lack thereof), feudalism, the unique role occupied by the Catholic Church, magic, witchcraft and sorcery in the Middle Ages (especially including Jewish mysticism in the Kabbalah, the Zohar, and similar trends and ideas), the Crusades and their aftermaths, the Protestant reformation, the Counter-Reformation and the Thirty-Years War, culminating in a type of religious freedom with the Peace of Westphalia (about which I wrote my senior honors thesis at U of Utah).
For fun, I read in fiction: Patricia McKillip, John LeCarre, Susanna Clarke's wonderful book "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" (I cannot praise this great book sufficiently), my once-a-year trek through Middle Earth with Tolkein as my guide, A.S. Byatt ("Possession" is a great novel. Period.), Umberto Eco, my first guide to all things medieval in "The Name of the Rose," Arturo Perez-Reverte, a literate Spaniard whose intellectual thrillers leave his American competitors (Dan Brown in particular!!!) in the dust--"The Seville Communion" and "The Club Dumas" are my favorites and get re-read every other year or so, and Rafi Zabor, whose wonderfully witty and literate book
"The Bear Comes Home" a delightful tale of a post-Coltrane sax-playing muzzy brown bear is the most refreshing piece of jazz-related fiction I've found in years. And remember, I'm a jazzer myself.
For non-fiction, I lose myself in anything to do with medieval law. It's unnaturally alluring, and I don't know why, I just know I love it. I also love books on theology, particularly those dealing with mysticism and monasticism, books that make philosophy available to the non-specialist, and those books we find in the "New Age" section that promise an initiation into hidden and arcane knowledge reserved for the few, a la the 16th-century Rosicrucians and Illuminati. Haven't found any of that, though.
My collection fills the basement of my house, and is gradually creeping upstairs into other parts of the house, sort of like a literate Kudzu. I have about 7,500 volumes, almost all of them hardback, probably 95% of them non-fiction.

Também emWhatsOnMyBookshelf?

Adesão LibraryThing Primeiros Resenhistas/Ofertas de Membros

Nome realAlan Barber

LocalizaçãoIdaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho

Autores favoritosNenhuma

Tipo de contapública, paga

Novidades das LigaçõesNovidades das Ligações

URL http://www.librarything.com/profile/Pianojazz (perfil)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Pianojazz (biblioteca)

Conhecimento ComumSéries (374), Prémios (362), Personagens (3883), Lugares (880)

Membro desdeJul 10, 2008

Em leituraMarcion: The Gospel of the Alien God por Adolf Harnack
The ius commune in England: Four Studies por R. H. Helmholz
Joseph Story and the Comity of Errors: A Case Study in Conflict of Laws por Alan Watson
The Pianist's Guide to Pedaling (Midland Book) por Joseph Banowetz
Dictionary of Modern English Usage: Second Edition por H.W. Fowler; Revisions Ernest Gowers
Political Justice, 1793 (Revolution and Romanticism, 1789-1834) por William Godwin
Legends of King Arthur (Arthur, Tristan & The Holy Grail in one volume) (The Folio Society) por Richard Barber
Historical Foundations of the Common Law por S. F. C. Milsom
Seven Years in Tibet por Heinrich Harrer
Creatio ex Nihilo: The Doctrine of "Creation out of Nothing" in Early Christian Thought por Gerhard May
1776 por David McCullough
The Reformation por Diarmaid MacCulloch
Flamingo Watching por Kay Ryan
Spain: A History por Raymond Carr, editor
Life and Philosophy of W.H. Chamberlin por Ralph V. Chamberlin
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 por Eamon Duffy
The Glory of God is Intelligence: Four Lectures on the Rule of Intellect in Judaism. por Jacob Neusner
Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn As Told by a Friend por Thomas Mann
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