currently reading....

[Κracus]

12 Rules for Life, an antidote to chaos.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

[Κracus]

At least I'm reading something!

[Whiskey 7]

At least I'm reading something!

Me too

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

[Κracus]

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.

[Whiskey 7]

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

[Pext]

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.

[Κracus]

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.

[Captain]

:olo: :olo: :olo:

:olo:

[seremtan]

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

[seremtan]

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!

[Κracus]

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.

[Ferrao10]

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.

[seremtan]

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:

[seremtan]

also, been reading a lot of Kafka recently

just read The Trial. goddamn masterpiece

"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

[Κracus]

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

Yeah I'm just making discussion.

[Eraser]

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).

[vesp]

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
Boo Boo Butt!

[Eraser]

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

[MKJ]

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.

[MKJ]

On that note.
A Series of Unfortunate Events.
We're at book 2 now. I personally never was a fan but both kids enjoy it

[Eraser]

Have you seen the TV series? That's hilarious as well, although not suitable for very young children I guess.