I am working my way through a meteorology course by correspondence, which is a rough way to take a math heavy course! The text is "INTRODUCTION TO THEORETICAL METEOROLOGY" by Seymour L. Hess, published in 1959 and reprinted in 1979.

On the surface, this is a very "friendly" book in that the physics and other theory are presented without being overwhelmed by the math. Unfortunately, since I am trying to use this book without an instructor on-hand, it is the detailed algebra that I most need to read. This text cuts out too many intermediate steps in proofs and has lead me to literally hours of frustration in trying to figure out the missing steps! (Fortunately, the folks presenting this material recognized this deficiency and sent an "in-house addendum" which fleshes out much of Dr. Hess' material; I was raised in the tradition of working your way through the math with a pencil and paper at hand. I like to derive the proofs myself and see if the results match those in the text. I can also email the instructor but this has a several day turn around time as "my" instructor works full time at another job and can't respond as quickly as I'd like.)

An extra irritation is that he doesn't give all the information needed for solving the end of chapter questions. On some of the questions, I have simply made reasonable assumptions and used them in solving the problems. (Given the turn around time on the "homework" I've mailed in, I'm still waiting to see how the instructor is reacting to my assumptions!)

None the less, the book is a useful one and I'm learning some interesting albeit esoteric material.

I started reading when I was ten and my parents got me a subscription to "Boys Life". There were a number of fine Science Fiction stories by A.C. Clark and others. My parents liked watching some "adult" shows in the evening, Friday and Saturday nights. (My parents were firm believers in some things being meant for adults or older teens and that elementary school kids need to wait until they were old enough before enjoying these privledges. Today's philosophy seems to be that if something isn't considered "fit" for children, then adults should be denied said items so as to avoid harming the kiddie's delicate minds by not letting them have instant gratifaction.)

So, while my parents were watching TV, my brother and I were reading "Tom Swift, Jr" and "The Hardy Boys". (These were the non-violent "Tom Swift, Jr." stories and not the somewhat violent drek spawned in the 1980s. Not that I have anything against tasteful violence, mind you, I just think it shouldn't be in a child's book! After all, I enjoy reading David Drake, S.M. Sterling, Steven Brust and other authors.)

My father was stationed in France for three years. We lived in a small village and did not have French TV. So, without TV, we (parents and two younger brothers) had to find things to do. We did a lot of reading. I read histories of World War 2 written by British, French and German authors. There was a series of stories about a Priest and his "flock", set in a small Italian village (I think it was Italian and not Greek) after "War Two". Some of the villagers were Communists and some were Roman Catholic and some were both and some were neither. I remember enjoying reading this series but can not recall who the author was or the name of the series.

I like Science Fiction, Fantasy, some history, biographies of those who served in 'Nam and WW2. While I served in the Navy, I really don't have any sea stories to tell beyond helping fight fires on my first ship, USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59). (An arsonist set eight fires on six decks within a half hour period. It was not fun to kow that someone had tried to burn down my house.)

I am opinated and don't always finish the books that I start. Right now, I'm working my way through "Dirge" by Alan Dean Foster. I like it but I'm also busy with other things and haven't had a chance to really get to read it lately. There are also several books that I've got sitting on top of the dog's kennel. Some are imcomplete series, whose last books I'm waiting to get before reading the entire series. Some of books that I just haven't had time to read.

Oh well...