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I've been working on the books I got for Christmas.
Finished:
+ Show Spoiler +Black Swan Green by David Mitchell ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414-XxVUgpL.jpg) I really enjoyed this one. The main character has a stammer and his whole life basically goes to shit over the course of a year. I found myself feeling nostalgic for my school years even though I couldn't directly relate to a lot of the things Jason went through. The story takes place in England in the 80s (I think it was the 80s), so I'm sure I didn't fully understand a few jokes here and there, but my limited knowledge of English culture from watching the premier league and a few britcoms was enough for me to get most of it. I think I'll give Cloud Atlas a try sometime down the road because I really enjoyed Mitchell's writing style. Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DJDjyaoQL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) Definitely a change from the first book. I enjoyed it, but it had been a while since I read Dune so I had to google some of the terminology Herbert used. He loves to introduce new terms without really giving a full explanation. Not as much action as the first book, but still has the same overall feel. I'm interested to see where the series will go from here now that -spoiler- + Show Spoiler +
Reading now: I'm starting Catch-22 and about half-way done with You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup.
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5170%2BONGy5L._SY300_.jpg)
Just like I expected, Catch-22 is amazing so far. The Beatles book is not quite as amazing but is still holding my attention. It is a lot drier than I expected it to be, but I'm reading a chapter here and there while reading other books, so it's not a big deal. It definitely puts every member in a bit of a negative light and its making me view John, Paul, George, and Richard (The author never calls him Ringo) as the actual people there were and not the idealistic versions of them that I always imagined.
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anyone read any good books on IT/technology/programming?
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![[image loading]](http://politicalcontext.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/A-Brief-History-of-Neoliberalism-by-David-Harvey.jpg)
A classic in this thread !
Nice respite from Foucault, Harvey is very clear  I wish he expanded a bit more on one or two things, maybe it will come later, but so far I like it a lot, thanks sam 
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![[image loading]](http://www.epiphyte.net/SF/covers/freedom-and-necessity.jpg)
Just got this book in the mail from my brother. I'm not far in, but I think this might be up the alley of some of you folks in the thread.
Epistolary novel set in the mid-1800s. Main character wakes up at an inn and finds that he can't remember the last two months of his life. He also discovers that he was declared dead a while back and that there are apparently quite a few people who are after him. The story's basically just him trying to figure out wtf happened and wtf is going on and is told through correspondence with his friends/family, newspaper clippings, diary entries, etc. The novel also heavily features philosophical discussions in the letters and, apparently, Engels as a character. (Brust is a Marxist, I believe, and so none of this is really surprising.)
Marketed as fantasy (possibly because both Brust and Bull are mostly fantasy writers), but it could probably have been marketed as historical fiction instead for all the magic that appears.
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omg i just ate so much lamb vindaloo my fucking stomach is about to burst. also next time I post in the politics thread somebody just punch me. shouldn't even open the fucking thing. good thing kwark decided to take pity on me
for seminar. it's okay. could be worse.
![[image loading]](http://www.sfsite.com/gra/0502/li.jpg)
chapters from these for my other seminar. could NOT be worse. utterly pointless. some really turgid stuff. why am I taking this class. deeply regret purchasing these texts. really I didn't read them at all, just spent a few minutes skimming the first lines of each paragraph, just posting them to complain.
![[image loading]](http://19thcentury.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/leah-price.gif)
![[image loading]](https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/Books/978-0-8223-1366-3_pr.jpg)
chapters from this for my other other seminar. NOT pointless. Since I already had a copy, just going to take this as my excuse to finally read the whole thing as I have been putting it off anyway
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511BWF4JZ5L.jpg)
for this week got some selections from kant, schiller, and habermas as well. other than that still cranking away at stuff I posted earlier, I have been on a serious civ IV binge this weekend (and my sleep schedule started to creep into the early PMs so I decided to stay up all night last night to reset it so I am feeling a bit loopy, gonna drink this bottle of wine and try to finish conquering the world so I can get some sleep - I am so fucking close but this map is goddamn huge... but I just invented tanks so watch the fuck out poland
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politics thread is second best thread behind this one
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I agree but I'm so pissed off at the world right now that I have nothing constructive to contribute, all I want to do is just make sure jonny knows how much I hate his guts... better just to stay away
i think this is what they call "maturity" or something, it's a very strange feeling I'm going to try it
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I've been distracted by Herbert Marcuse while reading Ulysses:
![[image loading]](http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/one-dimensional-man/odm-cover.jpg)
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Marcuse is so hilarious. he has really aged the least well out of his cohort, unfortunately. that probably makes sense though as he is probably the most influential, pop culturally speaking
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On January 21 2014 12:05 sam!zdat wrote:
I agree but I'm so pissed off at the world right now that I have nothing constructive to contribute, all I want to do is just make sure jonny knows how much I hate his guts... better just to stay away
i think this is what they call "maturity" or something, it's a very strange feeling I'm going to try it
just a side question that i've always wondered: how old are you?
oh and can we discuss Montaigne? 
edit: why don't you focus your efforts on writing some book rather than trying to teach forumites a lesson!
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I'm 25, I don't know jack shit about Montaigne, and I don't know nearly enough about antyhing yet to write a book
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Book Log
+ Show Spoiler +And my first book for this year, Love and Math: ![[image loading]](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/19/science/19SCIB/19SCIB-popup.jpg) This was a birthday gift from my parents and I’m halfway in. It’s partly a biography of a young mathematician overcoming discrimination and finding his passion in soviet Russia. The other part is a sort of an explanation as to why he enjoys math so much. I find the biographical element really interesting, but so far the math has not been terribly engaging. I understand that he’s trying to avoid the kind of nitty gritty detail that makes people hate math in school, but it often leaves me feeling like it hasn’t really been explained. We’ll see how the rest goes. Happy New Year Folks! Finished: Love and MathThis book could have been 2 books, one of which I would gladly read, and one of which I would gladly leave on the shelf. The far more interesting part of this book was the biography of the author, who beat the odds and anti-semitism of his home country (soviet russia) to become a mathemetician. His story of working on mathematical discoveries as a side job and sneaking into the best university to read papers and attend lectures, was compelling and interesting. On the other had his presentation of mathematics was largely boring. I get what feels like a real sense of the passion that he has for math, but I find that his descriptions are too general for me to feel like they've been really explained. Part of my distaste may also stem from the fact that I don't find discussion of these sorts of concepts that interesting to begin with, so it would take a lot for the author to win me over. I would recommend the book to someone who really enjoys abstract math, but otherwise just get a good biography instead. Next I'm going to read The Stranger![[image loading]](http://www.hihimag.com/hi/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Camus.jpg) Since a lot of people on here seem to like it (I'm looking at you corumjhaelen). Should be good! Finished: The StrangerExcellent book. I had read a little bit of existentialism before this, so I wasn't unprepared for the content. That said the presentation was great. I really loved the descriptions of the protagonist just experiencing life in the moment. I don't think I need to give a detailed review of this book since half of the people here seem to have read it but, 5/5 would binge read again. I ditched sixty stories because it didn't look very good in the library (sorry sam). Instead I picked up This Side of Paradise![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/This_Side_of_Paradise_dust_jacket.gif) I've heard from some that it is actually better than gatsby. Should be good. Finished: This Side of ParadiseQuite a good book. My major criticism is that the plot doesn't move very well, but otherwise the writing is excellent. The portrait of a lost young man hits close to home. decided to pick up the screenplay, The Seventh Seal![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/716A37B9C5L.gif) I've always wanted to see the movie, but never have. My uncle gave me the book. Should be good!
Finished: The Seventh Seal
Pretty short, but also pretty good. Really left me wanting to see the movie. I also enjoyed the mildly existential overtones. Not a whole lot to say about this other than that the imagery was amazing and the story itself was the good kind of heavy.
On the topic of existential overtones, I picked up
![[image loading]](http://artfromtheashes.blog.sbc.edu/files/2012/03/images1.jpg)
except in its The Fall because I'm reading the English version (even I'm not that pompous). Should be good!
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Foreword: I got to surprise myself a Kindle for Christmas.
I have been 300% more productive ever since. It also helps me to get to read a lot of books which haven't been translated, or aren't available for sale here. Ordering the actual book from Amazon was such a drag.
David Foster Wallace: Consider the Lobster...
Some essays more compelling than others but even the worst was better than a whole day's content of online media nowadays (save for a few). Surprised to see that the Host wasn't part of the e-book but you can read that online (which means you can send it to your Kindle as well).
David B. Black: Building better software better
Short little takes on sw mgmt, it gives you a great amount of overview of stuff you should have learnt, and will experience. I was glad to find out that we are doing quite fine, if we judge our work by his standards.
Thomas Pynchon: Mason & Dixon
I wasn't aware of the stylistic shenanigans he applies here but it was a fun read.
Next up: Philipp Blom: The Vertigo Years and an account of the magnificent Pál Erdős.
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Starting: ![[image loading]](http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1359882576l/168668.jpg)
I was really interested in the rest of the book after finding a quote from the author, for a college course debate (if anyone was interested to why I was looking for quotes). From the quote I could tell that the book was about politics from a neutral perspective, and rather militant ideals that also link to the politics of a country. The quote was: "Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed, all great countries were destroyed. How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever?"- Joseph Heller, Catch 22 Which was surprising to me, because I've always had this idea in my mind; just never thought someone have written a book with similar ideas/philosophy engraved into it as well. (Yes, I know this seems a bit naive of me, to think that no one would've written something along the lines of that idea.)
+ Show Spoiler +I don't normally read because nothing from today's literature intrigues me, the only books I have ever indulged in would just be the Harry Potter series, and that's when I was still in middle school. I don't find much joy in reading unless the material can really grab me, so looking forward to finding a second book and coming back to this thread for future suggestions. :D
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On January 21 2014 17:22 Advantageous wrote:+ Show Spoiler +I don't normally read because nothing from today's literature intrigues me, the only books I have ever indulged in would just be the Harry Potter series, and that's when I was still in middle school. I don't find much joy in reading unless the material can really grab me, so looking forward to finding a second book and coming back to this thread for future suggestions. :D
bwahahahaha come join the dark side young padawan... the dark side of... LITERACY!!!
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On January 21 2014 13:52 sam!zdat wrote:
I'm 25, I don't know jack shit about Montaigne, and I don't know nearly enough about antyhing yet to write a book
If Glenn Beck and Bilbo Reilly can write a book, you can too 
So I just finished Kafka on the Shore which is now my favorite novel of all time. In fact, I loved it so much I read it again.
Do you have anything else by Murakami that you would recommend?
EDIT - Nevermind, I just remembered TOCHMY's post :D
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On January 21 2014 17:22 Advantageous wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Starting: I was really interested in the rest of the book after finding a quote from the author, for a college course debate (if anyone was interested to why I was looking for quotes). From the quote I could tell that the book was about politics from a neutral perspective, and rather militant ideals that also link to the politics of a country. The quote was: "Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed, all great countries were destroyed. How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever?"- Joseph Heller, Catch 22 Which was surprising to me, because I've always had this idea in my mind; just never thought someone have written a book with similar ideas/philosophy engraved into it as well. (Yes, I know this seems a bit naive of me, to think that no one would've written something along the lines of that idea.) + Show Spoiler +I don't normally read because nothing from today's literature intrigues me, the only books I have ever indulged in would just be the Harry Potter series, and that's when I was still in middle school. I don't find much joy in reading unless the material can really grab me, so looking forward to finding a second book and coming back to this thread for future suggestions. :D
you could be interested in "The Decline of the West" by Oswald Spengler.
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On January 21 2014 17:22 Advantageous wrote:Starting: I was really interested in the rest of the book after finding a quote from the author, for a college course debate (if anyone was interested to why I was looking for quotes). From the quote I could tell that the book was about politics from a neutral perspective, and rather militant ideals that also link to the politics of a country. The quote was: Show nested quote +"Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed, all great countries were destroyed. How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever?"- Joseph Heller, Catch 22 Which was surprising to me, because I've always had this idea in my mind; just never thought someone have written a book with similar ideas/philosophy engraved into it as well. (Yes, I know this seems a bit naive of me, to think that no one would've written something along the lines of that idea.) + Show Spoiler +I don't normally read because nothing from today's literature intrigues me, the only books I have ever indulged in would just be the Harry Potter series, and that's when I was still in middle school. I don't find much joy in reading unless the material can really grab me, so looking forward to finding a second book and coming back to this thread for future suggestions. :D
You know though that Heller maintained the idea that his books aren't supposed to say anything? So it's kind of ironic, this way, that you find his book intriguing for saying something you've thought of as well. I'd recommend Closing Time afterwards, although every other book he wrote is vastly different in setting, and plot, than C22. (Similar in tone and style but I'm not sure that is what you are looking for.)
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On January 21 2014 13:52 sam!zdat wrote:
I'm 25, I don't know jack shit about Montaigne, and I don't know nearly enough about antyhing yet to write a book
You need to live something to write an interesting book. Playing Civ, reading terrible pseudo philo books and smoking weed doesn't cut it LOL.
Btw are you playing FFH2 Sammie ? This is so much better than vanilla Civ IV. Still not enough to write a book but definitly more enjoyable. Also Montaigne is awesome and probably better than 99% of the books you have read. You know why it is better ? Because the author wasn't an academic shut-in scribbling garbage for a living.
Oh and for some weird reasons i picked a Romain Gary book (La vie devant soi) instead of Jünger's Storm of Steel and i'm like... WTF. I just can't read it. It seems that i can't read little sad books anymore 
I'm stuck.
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On January 21 2014 13:36 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 12:05 sam!zdat wrote:
I agree but I'm so pissed off at the world right now that I have nothing constructive to contribute, all I want to do is just make sure jonny knows how much I hate his guts... better just to stay away
i think this is what they call "maturity" or something, it's a very strange feeling I'm going to try it just a side question that i've always wondered: how old are you? oh and can we discuss Montaigne? edit: why don't you focus your efforts on writing some book rather than trying to teach forumites a lesson!
We can discuss Montaigne a bit I guess Only read the first part of his essay, imo he's a pretty cool guy who's wrong about a lot of things and who knows it, but he still has some great insight about life. Reading him is a bit like discussing with an old man who has seen and read it all, but who isn't pretentious at all.
Plus as the subject of the essais greatly varies from each other, you can easily read him in parallel with other stuff.
In other news, I have finished Foucault's The Order of Things. Plenty of interesting stuff, but god, what an asshole. He's got everything covered apparently, while others are idiots. He's also clearly wrong about a bunch of stuff, and has a lot of trouble working around that...
Almost finished (~10 pages left) A Brief History of Neoliberalism, excellent book, very clear and insightful.
I have bought/received about 20 more books the last 5 days, consumer society's so good, so I'm not sure what I'll start, but probably ;
A Khazar Dictionnary, Milorad Pavic.
![[image loading]](https://p.gr-assets.com/max_square/fill/books/1328814419/827265.jpg)
The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes (Mogens H. Hansen).
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EPT
