Favorite Books Catherine Aksenova, author of the book blog Prometa.pro

1. Do you have a favorite author?

Reading - it's not one something to do, and a separate area of ​​a person's life, so it is great to vary from one individual to another era.

In the early years, many phase is fast and vivid in love and in people, and in the book - then it's time to adore the most beloved writers.

My school was not my favorite writer, a favorite poet. I am passionately fond of Gumilev, I knew by heart almost all the poems, read all the available literary texts and memories. This was my first experience of systematic reading, when not simply looking for something interesting, and consistently ranks bibliography.

Now my heart is hardened, so favorite writer I do not have, but there are authors I follow and buy any new work.

For example, Andrew Solomon - publicist and author of terrific books. First Far from the Tree - enormous research all the options life situations, when the child is not the way it was expected. For example, a genius. For example, a "school shooter" - the killer a couple of dozen of his classmates.

Or a dwarf, autistic, deaf - so much of the same options. The book is based on more than 300 interviews, and all the work - surprisingly good, deep and coherent text. Really I want this book published in Russia. Seven years have already talked about it to anyone who is willing to listen to me!

This year I was very captivated two similar books of different authors - "The Creation of the Earth. As living organisms created our world"Andrei Zhuravlev and"The origin of life. From the nebula to the cells"Mikhail Nikitin.

Incredible work! Nauchpop on steroids, where instead of trying to dance about architecture and led the authors of hands in the air and poured mountains of formulas descriptions of how to actually might of the basic compound to gain self-copying molecular machine that are the basis life. I think this is the scientific and popular literature of the highest standard.

2. With a book from childhood you have associated with the most fond memories?

Series "Deadly World" Harry Harrison. How to read in third grade and is now live with the belief that the main thing - is to have a beginning and end of the plan. Recently I reread his son (with a few bills, but Harrison - very chaste writer by today's standards), and the old magic is not dimmed.

3. What books do you recommend?

I am a somewhat one-sided reader: I've lost my love of fiction, something went wrong in the perception, and I lost the ability to be interested in fictional events. From fikshena I read only what is due to its weight and influence in the real world has become, paradoxically, a non-fikshenom.

Such as Pelevin. Of course, he writes fiction, but it works every autumn become - now, of course, less - part of conversations and discussions. Or "little life"Yanagihara makes people worry and quarrel. Yet I have a deep sentimental attachment to Stephen KingWhose novels I buy immediately after the release and listening in the car. In general, in terms of fikshena I'm not an adviser.

We live in an amazing heyday of non-fikshena. For any, absolutely any topic out wonderful books.

In the English-speaking world have a tradition of learning the maximum drive through seminars and workshops on creative writng, which teaches Creative Writing. And she gave the result: a huge percentage of people that something interesting is happening or themselves something remarkable doing can sit down and write a coherent, well-read books.

• Maiden gets a job at a crematorium, and understands that the funeral business - calling her life. Clap - get a great book "When the smoke veiled eyes provocative stories about their favorite work by an employee of the crematorium». I advise you to read, really interesting.
• Young doctor learns that a little bit to live it absolutely left. He is doing everything that is necessary: ​​leads affairs in order, facilitates your schedule to spend more time with his family, he wrote the book "When breathing air dissolves in». Also a great text.
• Physicist Dean Buonomano lifetime studying rather abstract questions, and shifts the experience in a book about Nature time Your Brain is a Time Machine, which acts approximately as an unauthorized access to the Jana higher.
• Peter Vollelen, forester of the German mountains, issued by the International best-seller the secret life of trees!

I do it to anything: Now at your disposal abyss amazingly fascinating books about how suddenly and hard how the world around us, written not by some special people with a mandate, and those who are still studying it himself or experiencing.

One of our problems is that the routine daily operation of the property has a terrible perception do flat and monotonous. Built up information bubble within which every day something is happening, but from month to month all the same. News Feed, Facebook Feed - surprisingly homogeneous, overwhelming the text is not promising anything good.

But no! In this world there are big stars in this world is the sea and the mountains. In the oceans, live alien creatures with blue blood, human eyes and limbs, is equipped with a semi-autonomous brains.

The stars of the past nazhgli of hydrogen carbon, oxygen and silicon, of which done almost everything around ourselves. Dolomite and limestone mountains all made bacteria that lived a billion years ago.

Tudors Stuarts When cut, it was much more striking than confrontation Lannisters and Starks. Martin was scared to describe this: too improbable and too bloody even for him.

World dazzling, delightfully interesting works. And modern non-fikshen helps to see it, to get the antidote to the mashing brain martobrya deadline.

I think that the popularity of the book series, creating a million sparkling facets worlds generated by the human need to jump out of the information bubbles and see the big stars. Vasteras, Hogwarts and far-distant galaxies - this is it, a sense of the complexity and volume. But our real world is interesting.

Therefore it is necessary to read new books about different things. Not because you are interested in sighting the history of ancient Rome, the colonization of Ganymede or questions domesticated foxes, no. Because you need, really need to feel part of incredibly complex, a huge order of things.

And yet, because human life is short, and even the existence of the universe is finite. Through billions of years, the world is waiting for the heat death, and you need to get with it somehow reconciled.

4. How do you read?

Technically, my reading is divided into two streams: e-books and audio books. I spend a lot of time behind the wheel, and audio books save my sanity in endless traffic jams. Seriously, I can not imagine how you can still withstand the December evening, when everything around is filled red fire stoparey and you're standing, and everyone stands, and around the icy snow porridge, and it can last hours.

I really like what is now simultaneously publish any news immediately on paper, electronically, and how the audiobook. In the English-speaking world has formed a tremendous culture of readers. Sometimes people only specialize in this, sometimes the actors record books.

Here Maggie Gyllenhaal recently well-read "Anna Karenina." Very cool, according to the passage. I probably listen. Some readers are so cool do audiobooks that just for them, you can buy new. Stephen King often recites Will Patton - turns out absolutely delicious.

The audio format is best to listen to fiction and some non-narrative fikshen without figures. I've recklessly took Excellent in all respects a book of Václav Smila "Energy and civilization", which is a quarter of the comparative tables, and gave up very quickly. This can only be read, but not to listen. While reading - preuvlekatelno! But the newcomer Yuval Harari and his "21 lessons for the 21st century" obeys easily - an excellent choice for audiobooks.

What I read, I read in an electronic form. Sometimes, very rarely I buy in the paper that is not somehow an electronic version, and then regret it: still do not read - small, uncomfortable, no search, tagging difficult to do.

I always mark up books, then to write a review for your blog. Individual impressions immediately thrown into the Telegram-channel: there I read there is a direct translation.

Somewhat more complicated turns with audio books. "Bookmarks" does not seem to me particularly comfortable, I usually listen to on the go, so you have to memorize the facts and theses, which I then would like to write. It helps Easy mnemonicsAssociated with the route I remember where riding (or standing in a traffic jam), when listening to the desired part of the book, and by association with houses and avenues recall the desired point.

However, there is a side effect: sometimes, when I go to Moscow, then suddenly remember chapters and fragments that are listening here at this intersection. On the other hand, it is bad, when the city is filled with not only the places where I have lived or worked, but also valuable information about the brains of psychopaths or the nature of the global debt.