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The Illuminated
The Illuminated
Joined: 20 Dec 2014
Posts: 1186
PostPosted: 07-06-2015 01:18 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Currently reading Christopher McDougall's Natural Born Heroes. It's a fast read book, similar to his first, Born To Run, which is life-changing and EXCELLENT.

This, however, despite the extensively high reviews, is a cash-in job that reads like a parody of itself.

I'm only 100 or so pages in, but I've already come across a couple of claims that are patently false, or just poorly researched.

Shame, really, he should've stopped at Born To Run, which was a truly revolutionary book




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plained
plained
Joined: 12 Jun 2002
Posts: 18772
PostPosted: 07-09-2015 07:27 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


phil ramone the producer

its pretty good



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Shambolic
Shambolic
Joined: 11 Apr 2000
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PostPosted: 07-09-2015 08:20 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook.
A twist on the usual fantasy fare in that it's told from the perspective of the bad guys.
Started out incredibly rough; so much so that I put it down for a month to read other, better stuff.
But after seeing other positive mentions online, I decided to give it another chance, and it has actually got quite good.

Next up is Charles Stross' latest Laundry novel, The Annihilation Score. The Laundry series is always a reliable read, with some interesting ideas and novel approaches to the occult, so I'm quite looking forward to it.

Also, since I last replied to this thread, I think my favourite books have been Ann Leckie's Radchai books, Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. I won't spoil them, but the first book in particular had my mind in knots for ages before I figured out what was going on. Highly recommended!




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Etile
Etile
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 07-09-2015 08:38 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste - Philip Mirowski - if you want to understand how neo-liberalism survived the financial crisis, read this

On Revolution - Hannah Arendt - if you want to understand why the French Revolution lead to the Terror, but the American Revolution didn't, read this




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Unquantifiable Abstract
Unquantifiable Abstract
Joined: 31 Dec 1969
Posts: 52132
PostPosted: 02-19-2017 12:44 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


So I am currently reading A Perfect Union of Contrary Things - it's the biography of Maynard James Keenan and what he got up to while being in life...it's really interesting and the dude is odd but brilliant. Much love for him :)




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Etile
Etile
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 02-19-2017 03:06 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


oh, this thread

Underworld - Don DeLillo

also binged recently on Hemingway short stories

both :up: :up: :up:




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Shambolic
Shambolic
Joined: 11 Apr 2000
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PostPosted: 02-20-2017 12:57 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I is currently readin' "Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow", by Yuval Noah Harari, the follow up to his "Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind".

It's not quite as snappy as the first book, and he goes over a lot of the same ground gain before getting anywhere near the point, but he's still a good writer.
Christ, does he push his vegan agenda though.

Edit:
It did make me aware of this video though, which is genuinely :olo:-worthy:




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Just another Earthling
Just another Earthling
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 12925
PostPosted: 07-09-2018 03:39 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Re: currently reading....

It's been a while since I picked up a book and started to read but recently and having the opportunity while on that little country escape, I took one from my stash old books I have grabbed over the years. You know, the ones you see and think I have to read that one. I forget where I picked this one up but I have always been fascinated in the submarine corps of any navy. I like the submarine moves too but they are few and far between these days.

U-Boat Far From Home: The Epic Voyage of the U-862 to Australia and New Zealand Paperback – 1 Oct 2008

Quote:
In late 1944, with its U-boats defeated in the Atlantic, the German navy sought new areas in which to deploy - distant waters where defences might be weaker and successes easier to achieve. Australia was one such location. U-Boat Far From Home reveals for the first time the full extent of the German plan for an underwater offensive against the southern continent. In an account that is both entertaining and enlightening, David Stevens describes the operation's strategic rationale, its practical implementation and how the Australians and their allies responded. Of all the U-boats allocated to the mission, U 862 was the only one that managed to survive.
But this story is more than pure operational history. U-Boat Far From Home takes the reader into the confined and dangerous world of a submarine at war. David Stevens examines the stresses and motivations of a young crew who for months at a time maintained a twilight existence, and whose fate ultimately depended on the ability of just one man, their captain, Heinrich Timm.
Painstakingly researched in archives around the world and illuminated with many personal accounts form both sides, U-Boat Far From Home is perhaps the most comprehensive accoutn of a U-boat's life ever published in English.


www.amazon.co.uk



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Shambolic
Shambolic
Joined: 11 Apr 2000
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PostPosted: 07-10-2018 12:13 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I'm currently reading The Stone Sky, book 3 of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin.
The trilogy is pretty good stuff, with some interesting things to say about race, persecution and the environment.

I've got a couple of things lined up after I finish this:
The Freeze Frame Revolution by Peter Watts, which I picked up on the recommendation of Cory Doctorow over on BoingBoing. Doctorow annoys the piss out of me as a person, but he's written a few solid sci-fi novels, and his recommendations are generally pretty good.

And Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk, because, well, it's a novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Everything I've read that he's written has been thought-provoking, funny and challenging.




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Cool #9
Cool #9
Joined: 01 Dec 2000
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PostPosted: 07-10-2018 12:15 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Mat Linnett wrote:
And Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk, because, well, it's a novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Everything I've read that he's written has been thought-provoking, funny and challenging.


Especially the one about the boy getting his intestines sucked out in a pool and the kid that got a piece of candle wax stuck in his dick.




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Shambolic
Shambolic
Joined: 11 Apr 2000
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PostPosted: 07-10-2018 12:29 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Exactly!
:D




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Pestilence
Pestilence
Joined: 25 Mar 2002
Posts: 15822
PostPosted: 07-12-2018 04:11 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Mat Linnett wrote:
Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook.
A twist on the usual fantasy fare in that it's told from the perspective of the bad guys.
Started out incredibly rough; so much so that I put it down for a month to read other, better stuff.
But after seeing other positive mentions online, I decided to give it another chance, and it has actually got quite good.



I've been reading this series since the mid 80s. One of my favorites. Waiting patiently on the new one due out soon.




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Just another Earthling
Just another Earthling
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 12925
PostPosted: 09-05-2018 08:44 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I am currently reading a William Shatner biography of his long time friend Leonard Nimoy. I am really liking the stories of the era having grown up with them and the TV series.

Image

A great read and if to your taste, a must read.



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The Afflicted
The Afflicted
Joined: 03 May 2010
Posts: 788
PostPosted: 09-08-2018 06:51 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Re-reading "Talk Talk" by T.C. Boyle.
Story centers on the identity-theft of a 30ish deaf woman and her struggles to privately find the intruder.

I love Boyle's work. Noone is painted naively nice from the ground. Everyone has dark secrets and skeletons in the closet. I read almost all of his books.
On the other hand, I need me some John Irwing to counter the full frontel-ness of Boyle from time to time. Haven't read his last two books. Haven't really had time and peace to read in the last 5 years if I think about it.




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Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft
Joined: 01 Mar 2001
Posts: 19998
PostPosted: 09-08-2018 07:03 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Dark Star by Alan Furst. Check him out.




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Lead Pipe Mafia
Lead Pipe Mafia
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 5943
PostPosted: 09-13-2018 03:15 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


12 Rules for Life, an antidote to chaos.




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Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft
Joined: 01 Mar 2001
Posts: 19998
PostPosted: 09-13-2018 07:05 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


:olo: :olo: :olo:




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Lead Pipe Mafia
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PostPosted: 09-14-2018 03:49 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


At least I'm reading something!




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Just another Earthling
Just another Earthling
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 12925
PostPosted: 09-14-2018 08:30 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Κracus wrote:
At least I'm reading something!


Me too :smirk:

I rarely read TBH but enjoyed and just finished my book. Just saying, if you're into Star Trek a must read for this William Shatner biography of his long time friend Leonard Nimoy :tear:

Image



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Lead Pipe Mafia
Lead Pipe Mafia
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PostPosted: 09-15-2018 02:54 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


That's funny I watched an episode of tng with spock in it last night. I used to have a shirt signed by him and gene roddenberry.




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Just another Earthling
Just another Earthling
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 12925
PostPosted: 03-15-2021 01:53 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


In readiness for my upcoming sail to The Whitsunday Islands in April :D


Image



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Who's that man, Mommy?
Who's that man, Mommy?
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
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PostPosted: 04-12-2021 03:10 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Κracus wrote:
12 Rules for Life, an antidote to chaos.


is this the peterson book?

as with any book, approach your reading with the following questions:

1. why is the book dumb?
2. how does the content relate to other books in the genre?

finding something in such a book to disagree with makes for a much more active reading experience.

an example on how to tackle the first question:

When facing an argument, ask yourself what the implicit assumptions and emotional framings are.

Here's an artificial example: "It was only when reading the operative report that she found out she had been administered an opioid during the procedure."

Sounds like something bad happened, right?

The implicit assumption would be that receiving an opioid is bad and/or an extraordinary event during an operation. (Without further context, we are even led to believe that this happened wthout consent while the patient might very much have agreed to getting "a painkiller".)

The emotional framing happens through "found out" (it puts the reader in the position of taking part in "uncovering the truth" or some kind of underdog story), through "opioid" (the reader most likely makes a connection to the opioid crisis and drug abuse) and also through the gender (this is an artificial example and I chose the gender on purpose to leverage the stereotype of woman as being vulnerable in order to drive home my point).

Popular science books and lifestyle guides like the peterson book are usually full of deceitful statements like this. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes because the authors themselves are being (mis)led by their own preconceptions when doing their research.

Don't be gullible.




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Lead Pipe Mafia
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PostPosted: 04-12-2021 06:04 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I actually haven't even read more than a few chapters of it. I actually bought it to see what all the fuss was about and honestly, I think Peterson is given a certain image by a certain politically aligned group that looks to cancel people they don't like. At the end of the day, his book is just general rules to live by that result in a general happy state of being. It's about taking responsibility for your life and ensuring you take care of your own shit which isn't some ground breaking discovery, it's just common sense shit.

I think what's more fascinating though is how Peterson was basically shut down over his raising of the alarm over speech censorship at a university and I'm actually with Peterson on this one. He reasons that censoring speech, any speech, results in the moving a bar of censorship from free speech to semi free speech and that the bar itself is moved on the basis that what they're doing is to protect a marginalized group, in this instance it was trans people.

So the left went after him and painted him as anti trans, which is categorically false. He has no issues with trans people he just doesn't want the university to censor the words he and she and other words that signify a persons gender. Instead they wanted to use a neutral word forcing teachers to stop using male or female words that denote gender.

It ALMOST sounds like what they're doing is to create an environment where trans people can feel accepted but then what's next? This is exactly how freedom of speech gets eroded piece by piece and this is over something which is statistically insignificant. If you're female and want to be addressed by male qualifiers then fill your boots, no one has a problem with that. It's the fact they want to ban those words, and make it punishable, if you do use them that's ridiculous. Obviously if you're calling a trans person by the wrong gender on purpose to be an asshole you could be reprimanded but banning the words just isn't the right move.

Ultimately when it comes to clinical psychology Peterson seems to be very well educated. His book is pretty meh but the political left's attempt to cancel him are repugnant. This mob mentality really needs to stop.




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Legend
Legend
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 16498
PostPosted: 04-12-2021 08:23 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:
:olo: :olo: :olo:


:olo:




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Etile
Etile
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 05-25-2021 12:45 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


recent reading:

Aeschylus: The Oresteia
Cormac McCarthy: The Road
Cormac McCarthy: No Country for Old Men
Epic of Gilgamesh
Euripides: Medea & Other Plays
Franz Kafka: The Trial
Hannah Arendt: On Revolution
Hannah Arendt: Origins of Totalitarianism
Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms
Icelandic Folktales & Legends
Joe Gross: In On the Kill Taker
Mark Blyth/Eric Lonergan: Angrynomics
Mervyn Peake: Gormenghast Trilogy
Nordic Tales
Snorri Sturluson: Prose Edda
Sophocles: Three Theban Plays
Tales of Japan
Tove Jansson: Comet in Moominland




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Etile
Etile
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Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 05-25-2021 12:50 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Κracus wrote:
12 Rules for Life, an antidote to chaos.


omg that's like reading Mein Kampf x Turner Diaries to the power of anything by JK Rowling, you fascist!




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Lead Pipe Mafia
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PostPosted: 05-25-2021 04:47 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I find people that pander to public opinions without investigating those opinions themselves to be uninformed. Frankly it's boring to the point that I barely read it but there's nothing in it that I'd consider provocative, it's all basic shit. The whole cancel culture surrounding Peterson is honestly the real problem no one talks about. Peterson isn't the problem here it's how groups behave using social media that's the real problem and I don't see a solution, only more problems and conflict and it's entirely a result of peoples lack of brain cells.




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The Afflicted
The Afflicted
Joined: 03 May 2010
Posts: 788
PostPosted: 06-02-2021 06:47 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Currently finished reading Paul Auster's "The Brooklyn Follies".
It had been laying around for some years, read half-through.

I enjoyed reading the latter half now. It was good fun.
I'd generally recommend Auster. He is very versatile.
"Timbuktu" written from the POV of a homeless person's dog is something different.
"Land of Last Things" is a dystopian novel about all matter falling apart and vanishing. I'd highly recommend that but it's deeply depressing up until the end.

Just bought T.C. Boyle's "The Terranauts". I expect it to be a typically cynical reaction to our reality.




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Etile
Etile
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 06-02-2021 12:20 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Κracus wrote:
I find people that pander to public opinions without investigating those opinions themselves to be uninformed. Frankly it's boring to the point that I barely read it but there's nothing in it that I'd consider provocative, it's all basic shit. The whole cancel culture surrounding Peterson is honestly the real problem no one talks about. Peterson isn't the problem here it's how groups behave using social media that's the real problem and I don't see a solution, only more problems and conflict and it's entirely a result of peoples lack of brain cells.


given the sheer breadth of your galaxy brain i assume you realised i was being sarcastic :sly:




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Etile
Etile
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34898
PostPosted: 06-02-2021 12:22 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


also, been reading a lot of Kafka recently

just read The Trial. goddamn masterpiece :up:

"Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K because one morning he was arrested without having done anything wrong."

one of the greatest opening lines ever




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Lead Pipe Mafia
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PostPosted: 06-03-2021 03:08 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


seremtan wrote:
given the sheer breadth of your galaxy brain i assume you realised i was being sarcastic :sly:


Yeah I'm just making discussion.




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Cool #9
Cool #9
Joined: 01 Dec 2000
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PostPosted: 06-03-2021 03:17 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I read The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak yesterday.


For my 4 year old daughter.
She loves it and is in stitches every time I read it. Never gets old (at least, for her).




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meh...
meh...
Joined: 23 Mar 2000
Posts: 4255
PostPosted: 06-03-2021 06:09 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser wrote:
I read The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak yesterday.


For my 4 year old daughter.
She loves it and is in stitches every time I read it. Never gets old (at least, for her).


My 7 and 9 year old still find this one hilarious, it'll be on your shelf for a while :D
Boo Boo Butt!




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Cool #9
Cool #9
Joined: 01 Dec 2000
Posts: 44131
PostPosted: 06-03-2021 07:19 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Oh yeah, I got this book from a friend when my eldest (who is 10 now) was just a wee lass and she still thinks it's funny. And my 8 yo son enjoys it as well.

I read the Dutch translation of the book and I'm actually kind of wondering what the English version of the pages with the nonsensical gibberish look like :)

edit: found a YouTube video of the english version.
That gibberish page is a great translation to Dutch actually. A lot of it is identical, some bits with some minor tweaks to make it phonetically the same. Only 'face' was translated to the dutch word 'smoel', which a somewhat slang-y very un-posh way to say face.
Boo Boo Butt is called "Poepiekont" in Dutch, which is roughly the same thing.
The song is something along the lines of "I've got a chicken head and when I see a worm I eat it"

Gosh, I'm really glad we can finally talk about some real books :D




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Messatsu Ko Jy-ouu
Messatsu Ko Jy-ouu
Joined: 24 Nov 2000
Posts: 44139
PostPosted: 06-04-2021 11:50 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser wrote:
I read The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak yesterday.


For my 4 year old daughter.
She loves it and is in stitches every time I read it. Never gets old (at least, for her).

Still hilarious over here, 8 and 11.
Tho the sport has become to let unsuspecting people read it, rather than just me.




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