Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Kozmos]

It's philosophical and religious January so I'm tackling Tao Te Ching by Chubby China Dude, Book of Secrets by Indian Guru Dude and Consolations of Philosophy by Smarmy French Dude.

 

[Smellincoffee]

It's philosophical and religious January so I'm tackling Tao Te Ching by Chubby China Dude, Book of Secrets by Indian Guru Dude and Consolations of Philosophy by Smarmy French Dude.

Not to be confused with The Consolations of Philosophy by Smarmy Swiss Dude, which is excellent.

I just received The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond and am looking forward to that.

 

[Masada]

King Leopold's Ghost - Adam Hochschild. A very good book about the Congo Free State.
Five Days at Memorial - Sheri Fink. A good book about the sitaution in Memorial/Baptist Hospital in New Orleans after Katrina when the power goes out, the staff begin to crack and... a doctor begins to unnecessarily euthanize patients. God was it dark.
Thank You For Your Service - David Finkel. Another great book about the mental health of veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. I think I know understand why my grandfather wakes up screaming.

 

[Masada]

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith - John Krakauer - It lacks focus. But otherwise it's quite good.
Games without Rules: The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan - Tamim Ansary - Very good, highly recommended.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Slavoj Zizek - In Defense of Lost Causes

 

[Mouthwash]

I'm still looking for the tiny pieces of my shattered soul.

I read it on the plane back from Israel. Ho-lee crap.

Spoiler :

Wow. In the interrogation scene wasn't just using doublethink, he knew what doublethink was, like meta-programming. That's what really creeped me out.

And I will never look at authoritarianism the same way ever. Everything I've read about things like the Turkish Hat Law or children spying on their parents in the Stalin era is utterly palpable and terrifying to me now. Reading this book changes you.

 

[Smellincoffee]

This year I'll be reading a book each month on the Great War: I've started the year off with John Keegan's The First World War, which was largely impressive. Now I'm trying to get into Silent Thunder, a bit of nature journalism focused on elephants.

 

[Dachs]

This year I'll be reading a book each month on the Great War: I've started the year off with John Keegan's The First World War, which was largely impressive.

It can only get better from there.

...well, probably.

 

[Masada]

Bolivar: American Liberator - Marie Arana.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets - Sudhir Venkatesh.

 

[Smellincoffee]

It can only get better from there.

...well, probably.

Not a fan of Keegan? I've never read outside of the western front before, so I wanted to start with a general history.

Bolivar: American Liberator - Marie Arana.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets - Sudhir Venkatesh.

Venkatesh's work is fascinating -- he has another piece called Off the Books, on the underground economy of the urban poor.

 

[Masada]

Yeah, I'm familiar with it at second hand.

 

[Antilogic]

Th

That's a fine book. The Carthaginians were not themselves great historians, so the author employs a lot of parallel history and archaelogy from related cultures.

I noticed that (about 60% of the way through it now); I like how it is structured. It is a bit confusing to follow at times, though, I wish the Carthaginians had a little more variety in their given names. So many Hasdrubals and Hannibals...

Amazoned Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August - a Pulitzer Prize winner. It's combined with another fine book, The Proud Tower. I originally read these back in college but they still hold up pretty well.

Not a fan of Keegan? I've never read outside of the western front before, so I wanted to start with a general history.

The general consensus is they present an outdated version of events, focusing heavily on the Schlieffen plan that isn't backed up with modern scholarship. Hew Strachan is the current favorite on WW1 scholarship.

King Leopold's Ghost - Adam Hochschild. A very good book about the Congo Free State.

That book...

The political maneuvering to secure the Congo was quite interesting, and then the atrocities start happening and Hochschild does not pull any punches with it. I still remember some of the images from the book, especially of the one native tied down and being whipped.

 

[danjuno]

Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands.

Very long, but quite insightful into the inner working of FDR's administration.

 

[JohannaK]

Critique de la critique by Tzvetan Todorov. An interesting work on various schools of literary criticism of the XXth Century up to the 80s, when the book was written. It's basically a short overview and analysis on selected authors from different schools of thought in literature, but predominantly in criticism. Each time he begins by identifying the ties of their thought to the XIXth Century romantics, and each time reflects upon varied characteristics he finds interesting, original or wrong about each author. The book concludes with a personal thought on an ideal, "dialogic" critique.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed by Martin Evans and John Phillips, since it has been a while the last time I read about the Muslim world. I appreciate the examination of various opposing narratives of Algerian and foreign (especially French) groups on historical issues. Also, I find it interesting that one of the most influential Christian thinkers originated in what would later be among the strongholds of Islam.

I finished this...and I think I'm taking a break from the 20th century histories. Planning to read up on Switzerland's next. Hopefully that has less people getting hacked to pieces in the streets and little children's heads being smashed on light poles.

For now it's a 1934 edition of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. I'm not amused by the lack of citations.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I just started "The Luminaries" by Eleanor Catton. It is off to a great start.

 

[Masada]

I still remember some of the images from the book, especially of the one native tied down and being whipped.

I hate to say it, but I'm pretty inured to that kind of stuff now. It comes with reading a lot about imperialism, I guess. The killing and the logic behind it was novel though I'll grant it that much.

 

[Antilogic]

Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands.

Very long, but quite insightful into the inner working of FDR's administration.

That book is on my wishlist after I read about it somewhere. How is the writing? I can handle long but well-written. Long and, shall we say, meachamesque is another thing.

I hate to say it, but I'm pretty inured to that kind of stuff now. It comes with reading a lot about imperialism, I guess. The killing and the logic behind it was novel though I'll grant it that much.

I think I've had the same experience--I'm more inured to it now than I was then. But back when I was just starting to get into history and I read that book for the first time, it made a serious impression.

 

[Masada]

The shocking thing about modern world is the extent of the lies we tell ourselves.

 

[Masada]

Imperial Life in the Emerald City - Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Fantastic. But not so good for my blood pressure.
The Dark Road - Ma Jian: Solid. I don't think the translation does it justice.