EPTWhat Are You Reading 2015 - Page 14
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IgnE
United States7681 Posts
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Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21247 Posts
Fuck the haters~ | ||
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Surth
Germany456 Posts
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/TheThreeStigmataOfPalmerEldritch%281stEd%29.jpg) | ||
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
On March 06 2015 13:36 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: Finished The Buried Giant, I quite liked it. All the reviews seem to think it sucked though. Fuck the haters~ Just remember it isn't fantasy | ||
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bookwyrm
United States722 Posts
![[image loading]](http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780553384772_p0_v9_s260x420.JPG) | ||
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Doublemint
Austria8760 Posts
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Paljas
Germany6926 Posts
I havent heard of him before, but it really made me interested into more of his work. | ||
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Sub40APM
6336 Posts
On March 03 2015 08:36 Inkblood wrote: As for the Eurocentric thing, I felt like he painted it in a kind of 'they were in the right place at the right time' kind of way. Dumb luck, if you like. Which doesn't strike me as racist. I guess if one interprets the kind of environmental determinism that he does as racist then I can see where the argument is coming from. But it didn't feel like he was presenting the environmental determinism as a reason to suppose that one kind of people is superior to another, or as an excuse for people with that mentality to use the argument to back up their bigotry. Actually, in a way you could say that the environmental determinism as to why the European end of Euroasia spawned a world altering civilization instead of the Asian end is the weakest chapter. His explanation why 10th century China didnt lift off into industrialization is quite weak. At best you can say "Well, the Europeans lucked out into being physically closer to the Americas, which allowed their easy conquest and the subsequent flood of gold bullion that allowed Europe to pay for its structural deficit with the East, which then propelled the rise of the merchant classes in the Low countries because thats where the bullion was first recycled, which eventually allowed for the Dutch conquest of England and introduction of Dutch financial practices that were then perfected in London" and I guess thats kind of an idea, but that still only gets us to the 17th century and we are 100-150 years away from European lift off. Even in 1700, the Chinese Empire is a mightier concentration of wealth -- if not technology progress and it was capable of slapping around European outposts on its periphery. Anyway -- I still liked the book, but I think its Eurocentrism is more akin to "All this lucky shit happened and then BAM" but the process of the BAM is actually poorly explained in the context of the ideas it advocated. At the time of the conquest of the Incas by a couple of unemployed losers from Spain China could have slapped all of Europe with its dick -- if it was just inclined enough to get slappin. | ||
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
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SixStrings
Germany2046 Posts
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
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maybenexttime
Poland5860 Posts
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farvacola
United States18866 Posts
On March 14 2015 08:25 maybenexttime wrote: Does anyone know a good book on the Russian Civil War? If you're looking for historical non-fiction, I can't be of much help sadly. But, if you want a more literary look into things, I highly recommend Bulgakov's first novel, The White Guard. It's nothing like The Master and Margarita, and yet you can still tell that you're reading Bulgakov. | ||
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bookwyrm
United States722 Posts
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farvacola
United States18866 Posts
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
On March 14 2015 08:25 maybenexttime wrote: Does anyone know a good book on the Russian Civil War? http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Tragedy-Russian-Revolution-1891-1924/dp/014024364X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426292471&sr=8-1&keywords=a people's tragedy | ||
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maybenexttime
Poland5860 Posts
On March 14 2015 08:29 farvacola wrote: If you're looking for historical non-fiction, I can't be of much help sadly. But, if you want a more literary look into things, I highly recommend Bulgakov's first novel, The White Guard. It's nothing like The Master and Margarita, and yet you can still tell that you're reading Bulgakov. Both, actually. But I would prefer to first read a historical book on this topic (possibly, focusing on the military aspect) to give me more of a context. At school we only covered the Russian Revolution, as in the events that led to the civil war and the outcome. The war itself was not really discussed. There always seems to be a time deficit in history classes at school. Thanks for the recommendation. I will check it out. On March 14 2015 09:22 dmnum wrote: http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Tragedy-Russian-Revolution-1891-1924/dp/014024364X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426292471&sr=8-1&keywords=a people's tragedy Thank you for this recommendation, brilliant! Looks like it covers the whole topic, but how detailed is the account of the war? How is the author's description of the warfare, tactics, etc.? :-) | ||
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
Other than that it's first caliber. Figes is fucking awesome, and anything he writes on Russia(he covers mostly 19th century-now) is worth reading. | ||
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maybenexttime
Poland5860 Posts
On March 14 2015 21:50 dmnum wrote: Well, Figes specialty lies in the cultural/political/social aspect of the time, so if you're looking for a really detailed account of warfare and tactics I think you'll be disappointed. However, it's not like there are many decent books about the Russian Revolution out there. Other than that it's first caliber. Figes is fucking awesome, and anything he writes on Russia(he covers mostly 19th century-now) is worth reading. I think this book will do just fine. It'll give me a broader perspective, which is by not means bad. :-) I read several reviews of various books on the topic and they were, indeed, very critical. I couldn't find any book that focuses specifically on the warfare aspect. Thanks again. | ||
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Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21247 Posts
On January 09 2015 10:39 bookwyrm wrote: I finished it. I thought it was really good! I look forward to reading the others. I think maybe we have different sensibilities about the plot and characters and stuff. I don't really care about that stuff as much probably. I thought it dealt with a lot of really interesting ideas. Partly I like it because it is similar to a story I was thinking about writing for a while. I've been reading the second book on and off and I'm about halfway through right now and I like it much more than the first book. Though I think from a pure "ideas" perspective it's much less inventive, and follows some more traditional action-driven sci-fi structures. The overall writing/characterization feels much stronger and there have been some interesting moments.. | ||
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