Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
Try Snow Crash next.
Which book are you reading now? Volume XI
- Thread starter NedimNapoleon
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Try Snow Crash next.
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
Started and finished The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht. Insightful. Enjoyable. Utterly fantastic.
Decoding Sublatern Politics - James C. Scott: Small tradition 4 lyfe.
Korea's Development Under Park Chung Hee, Volume 1, Rapid Industrialization, 1961-79 - Kim Hyung-A: Mostly focuses on the bureaucrats who managed the process, which is interesting considering what I do day-to-day.
Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious and Institutional Context, Prehistory to 1450 - David C. Lindberg - I read God's Philosophers and wasn't that impressed. So I decided to see if it was the subject material at fault or the author. I'm now leaning towards the former.
I also read every Dresden Files book... in about a week. I feel bad, I had a textbook to write!
Korea's Development Under Park Chung Hee, Volume 1, Rapid Industrialization, 1961-79 - Kim Hyung-A: Mostly focuses on the bureaucrats who managed the process, which is interesting considering what I do day-to-day.
Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious and Institutional Context, Prehistory to 1450 - David C. Lindberg - I read God's Philosophers and wasn't that impressed. So I decided to see if it was the subject material at fault or the author. I'm now leaning towards the former.
I also read every Dresden Files book... in about a week. I feel bad, I had a textbook to write!
It has to be his particular brand of reunification politics that's on the nose because reunification is common political currency on both sides of the border. The RoK actually has a Ministry of Unification, and the North has similar bodies. Heck lil' Kim was quoted in his New Year's address as saying: This year the entire Korean nation should turn out in nationwide patriotic struggle for reunification in unity so as to usher in a new phase in the reunification movement.Borachio said:
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
The US Embassy gave me The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Its part of some culture linking program, and since I lived in the US I got a free book, and I'll be invited to some book discussion session at the embassy, the author may come. Even though it is a "teen" book, its pretty real and doesn't spare for the use of "bad language", so far I like the book, It also has rather funny illustrations.
Core Imposter
Felon
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I read no book, I am ascended.
What tales of men could compare with the the thunderous thoughts that reverberate between my own ears?
What tales of men could compare with the the thunderous thoughts that reverberate between my own ears?
I just finished Calico Joe, by John Grisham. Short and syrupy sweet, but I liked it.
So I just finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris; I know I posted a brief amount on the book earlier in the thread, I'll add to that now that I've finished.
You definitely get the over-the-shoulder-of-a-hero feel reading the work. Alice's personality and later Edith's (his wives) don't really jump of the page like Teddy's does, some of the other political figures feel a bit underdeveloped. In particular, I'm thinking of his fellow NYC police commissioner Parker, who basically serves as his nemesis for over a year on the force before Theodore Roosevelt is promoted to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Likewise, I'm not exactly clear on why Roosevelt was so verily hated by Mark Hanna, the Karl Rove of his day (in terms of his role as the king-maker in Republican politics, not necessarily in personality). I get the impression Theodore's personality just rubbed these guys the wrong way, but I would have liked a more thorough analysis on some of the other major players in his day.
However, these are the only criticisms I have of this otherwise awesome book--Teddy had a fascinating life and the book does not disappoint. The final pages close after the 1900 election; Teddy has a somewhat boring role to serve as the head of the Senate for a few months, and then he retires to New York while Congress isn't in session. Then the assassination of President McKinley occurs, and he is elevated to the presidency; I'm really looking forward to the next two volumes. The second is devoted entirely to his two terms as president, and the later his retirement and coming out of it to form the Bull Moose Party.
You definitely get the over-the-shoulder-of-a-hero feel reading the work. Alice's personality and later Edith's (his wives) don't really jump of the page like Teddy's does, some of the other political figures feel a bit underdeveloped. In particular, I'm thinking of his fellow NYC police commissioner Parker, who basically serves as his nemesis for over a year on the force before Theodore Roosevelt is promoted to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Likewise, I'm not exactly clear on why Roosevelt was so verily hated by Mark Hanna, the Karl Rove of his day (in terms of his role as the king-maker in Republican politics, not necessarily in personality). I get the impression Theodore's personality just rubbed these guys the wrong way, but I would have liked a more thorough analysis on some of the other major players in his day.
However, these are the only criticisms I have of this otherwise awesome book--Teddy had a fascinating life and the book does not disappoint. The final pages close after the 1900 election; Teddy has a somewhat boring role to serve as the head of the Senate for a few months, and then he retires to New York while Congress isn't in session. Then the assassination of President McKinley occurs, and he is elevated to the presidency; I'm really looking forward to the next two volumes. The second is devoted entirely to his two terms as president, and the later his retirement and coming out of it to form the Bull Moose Party.
Starting The Little Ice Age: When Climate Changed History, by Brian Fagin.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
I'm reading a book called Victus, which got out in October. It's in Spanish and by a Catalan author, Albert Sánchez Pinyol, so I don't expect anybody here to know it (although he's one of the most translated and successful Catalan writers of today).
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
Yes, isn't it awesome? 
Finished Nature's Metropolis by Cronon last night, wrapping up the last of my long-outstanding books on my reading list.
Long story short, this is an awesome book. I'd nominate it for the CFC must-reads of history, alongside Battlecry of Freedom, Iron Kingdom, Strachan's First World War and the like. As I mentioned before, it's a history of the city of Chicago, but not in the chronological X follows Y sense. Instead, the book is divided into three major themes and chapters covering aspects of each: (1) the booster theories of how cities are built up and central place/trading theories, (2) production, and (3) economics and capital.
The first section was a review for me since I had a class in urban history long ago, but it's a great introduction for those who are not familiar with classic ideas about how cities are organized.
The production chapters cover the development of the grain market and elevators, the lumber industry, and the meat-packing industry and how each of these developed from classic small-scale industry into massive centralized markets, how boards of trade were formed, grading scales for goods, futures markets, how companies were reorganized around them, public protests and regulation, etc. I have a small complaint about the lumber chapter where the author appears to introduce an argument in bad faith against Marxism--it seemed pretty irrelevant, wrong based on what I remember from the "Ask a Red" threads, and is almost contradicted by the end of the chapter. Maybe there is some professional geographer beef between William Cronon and David Harvey, I don't know.
The economics section at the end is gold--the author uses bankruptcy maps and public debt maps by county to show the influence of New York, Chicago, and other cities had on the Midwest. It has a section on the development of department stores and mail-order catalogs, the skepticism with which these innovations were first received, and how they gained acceptance. Finally, the book wraps up with the World Fair of 1893 and the Great Fire of 1871, both important, identity-defining moments in Chicago history.
I skipped the epilogue about driving through the Midwest because I hate when historical nonfiction authors shoe-horn in their first-person travel experiences (looking at you, Jared Diamond, looking at you), but besides these two small complaints I loved it. It's one of the few books I would give a 5/5 rating.
So, on to my new reading list. Right now, the only book that's definitely on there is Holt's The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party--I've posted the title before and read a little bit over the winter break, now it's time to dig in. I'm through the early stage where the National Republicans collapse against Jackson and a new, broader Whig coalition is formed. The internal politics of coalition-building are well explained, thankfully, and it's somewhat refreshing to read about a time when political parties were more dynamic than today. I also picked up J. H. Elliott's Imperial Spain: 1469-1716, which originally written in the 1960s but appears to have aged well. At least, I hope it has. Might add a third or more books to the reading list, we'll see.
Long story short, this is an awesome book. I'd nominate it for the CFC must-reads of history, alongside Battlecry of Freedom, Iron Kingdom, Strachan's First World War and the like. As I mentioned before, it's a history of the city of Chicago, but not in the chronological X follows Y sense. Instead, the book is divided into three major themes and chapters covering aspects of each: (1) the booster theories of how cities are built up and central place/trading theories, (2) production, and (3) economics and capital.
The first section was a review for me since I had a class in urban history long ago, but it's a great introduction for those who are not familiar with classic ideas about how cities are organized.
The production chapters cover the development of the grain market and elevators, the lumber industry, and the meat-packing industry and how each of these developed from classic small-scale industry into massive centralized markets, how boards of trade were formed, grading scales for goods, futures markets, how companies were reorganized around them, public protests and regulation, etc. I have a small complaint about the lumber chapter where the author appears to introduce an argument in bad faith against Marxism--it seemed pretty irrelevant, wrong based on what I remember from the "Ask a Red" threads, and is almost contradicted by the end of the chapter. Maybe there is some professional geographer beef between William Cronon and David Harvey, I don't know.
The economics section at the end is gold--the author uses bankruptcy maps and public debt maps by county to show the influence of New York, Chicago, and other cities had on the Midwest. It has a section on the development of department stores and mail-order catalogs, the skepticism with which these innovations were first received, and how they gained acceptance. Finally, the book wraps up with the World Fair of 1893 and the Great Fire of 1871, both important, identity-defining moments in Chicago history.
I skipped the epilogue about driving through the Midwest because I hate when historical nonfiction authors shoe-horn in their first-person travel experiences (looking at you, Jared Diamond, looking at you), but besides these two small complaints I loved it. It's one of the few books I would give a 5/5 rating.
So, on to my new reading list. Right now, the only book that's definitely on there is Holt's The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party--I've posted the title before and read a little bit over the winter break, now it's time to dig in. I'm through the early stage where the National Republicans collapse against Jackson and a new, broader Whig coalition is formed. The internal politics of coalition-building are well explained, thankfully, and it's somewhat refreshing to read about a time when political parties were more dynamic than today. I also picked up J. H. Elliott's Imperial Spain: 1469-1716, which originally written in the 1960s but appears to have aged well. At least, I hope it has. Might add a third or more books to the reading list, we'll see.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
(We really should make a formal list of "CFC history must-reads" at some point.)
We started listing some ideas in the history book recommendation thread awhile back, but I think the list grew far too quickly and we got derailed over Lenin or Trotsky, forget which. Then we went back to ordinary book thread stuff.
But yeah, I'm down for a dedicated thread. I'll go make one in WH.
EDIT: Done, link is here.
But yeah, I'm down for a dedicated thread. I'll go make one in WH.
EDIT: Done, link is here.
bbbbbamp
Just finished China Marches West, and I have to say, it lives up to its reputation. Didn't realize how crucial the Northwest frontier was to both the rise of the Qing Dynasty, as well as its fall, and how much affect it had on it in the in between years. Its really strange how such a seemingly important "frontier" tends to get ignored in terms of world history, I knew Mongols were always a problem for various Chinese dynasties, but I didn't realize to how much extent they were. Along with how much effort was needed to quell that threat for good. Very good stuff.
Next book in line is Fatherland, mainly because The Man in the High Castle is still checked out for some strange reason. Looks to be a fun read, and not very long like the China Marches West or Power and Plenty.
Just finished China Marches West, and I have to say, it lives up to its reputation. Didn't realize how crucial the Northwest frontier was to both the rise of the Qing Dynasty, as well as its fall, and how much affect it had on it in the in between years. Its really strange how such a seemingly important "frontier" tends to get ignored in terms of world history, I knew Mongols were always a problem for various Chinese dynasties, but I didn't realize to how much extent they were. Along with how much effort was needed to quell that threat for good. Very good stuff.
Next book in line is Fatherland, mainly because The Man in the High Castle is still checked out for some strange reason. Looks to be a fun read, and not very long like the China Marches West or Power and Plenty.
I'm happy this got bumped, now I'm remembering I have plenty of book threads to update.
China Marches West is on my soon-to-purchase-and-front-queue list, largely due to the pile of good recommendations for it.
The only book I've finished recently is Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. It struck me as more narrative-focused than The Battle for Spain in the second half (covering the actual battle); I don't mean to imply he puts in a bunch of made-up dialogue, but it's covers the struggles of the individual soldiers and civilians in the city, the street-fighting tactics, the lice, starvation, disease, poor medical treatment, etc. as well as the higher-level operational stuff. The first half is a sweeping overview of the war on the Eastern front from the start leading up to the battle, which places the battle in context instead of presenting it as a stand-alone event. Long story short, it's a fast and good read.
China Marches West is on my soon-to-purchase-and-front-queue list, largely due to the pile of good recommendations for it.
The only book I've finished recently is Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. It struck me as more narrative-focused than The Battle for Spain in the second half (covering the actual battle); I don't mean to imply he puts in a bunch of made-up dialogue, but it's covers the struggles of the individual soldiers and civilians in the city, the street-fighting tactics, the lice, starvation, disease, poor medical treatment, etc. as well as the higher-level operational stuff. The first half is a sweeping overview of the war on the Eastern front from the start leading up to the battle, which places the battle in context instead of presenting it as a stand-alone event. Long story short, it's a fast and good read.
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