Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Mango Elephant]

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of those book (series) that everyone says is really good, but I htg cannot stomach. The story is really good, though, if the TV series is anything to go by.

I'm reading Franny and Zooey. It's really good.

 

[Mouthwash]

Used to be into scifi, doesn't really hold my interest anymore. I prefer to read non-fiction almost exclusively nowadays.

You don't seem to be a fan of her, any particular reason why?

Not really any particular reason, but she's just a pundit (who goes under the name of "journalist"). You could read Glenn Beck and get the same thing.

 

[Antilogic]

Not really any particular reason, but she's just a pundit (who goes under the name of "journalist"). You could read Glenn Beck and get the same thing.

I don't think so.

 

[Mouthwash]

I don't think so.

What is it about, anyway?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The printed book I'm now reading is MLK's "Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community"


In it I came across multiple references to Nietzsche, and decided to listen to some librivox recordings of Nietzsche writings while doing other things. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone ramble on for so long while being wrong about everything, without making any points to which I could concede some redeeming value. How did anyone ever come to admire this garbage?

 

[Antilogic]

What is it about, anyway?

All the news stories her show has covered at the end of the Bush administration and Obama's first term. She has a greater focus on the drone program, NSA spying, international climate change conferences like Copenhagen, some international protests that got little attention in regular US media, etc. I just finished the section on the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The printed book I'm now reading is MLK's "Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community"


In it I came across multiple references to Nietzsche, and decided to listen to some librivox recordings of Nietzsche writings while doing other things. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone ramble on for so long while being wrong about everything, without making any points to which I could concede some redeeming value. How did anyone ever come to admire this garbage?

Are you referring to MLK or Nietzsche there?



After hearing from the 4th person off-line about What's the Matter with Kansas? and literally having a copy of the book shoved into my hands, I guess I'm reading that now too. It's blast-from-the-past lefty time!

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Obviously its Nietzsche works that are garbage.

I finally came across what briefly seemed like decent points, but then he immediately went on to explain them in the worst ways possible. Whenever he criticizes something that is wrong, it is because he wishes it was much wronger.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Smarter Than You Think, by Clive Thompson. Sub-title "How Technology is Changing our Minds for the Better". The author makes a point of clarifying that the book does not cover neuroscience. Aside from minor nitpicks I have, the author seems to have a point, giving interesting examples of how gadgets allow people to function better in society. The only major criticism I have is that the author is quick to form conclusions about human behaviour from preliminary studies (especially those psychology experiments ran on Western undergraduate students) and anecdotes.

 

[Mouthwash]

Obviously its Nietzsche works that are garbage.

I finally came across what briefly seemed like decent points, but then he immediately went on to explain them in the worst ways possible. Whenever he criticizes something that is wrong, it is because he wishes it was much wronger.

Really? I've found more genuine wisdom in these Nietzsche quotes than I've found anywhere else.

 

[bhsup]

I just read (well, re-read) Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. 3000+ pages in just under a month. Always enjoy a good fantasy romp!

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Tito Speaks: His Self Portrait and Struggle with Stalin - Vladimir Dedijer
The Yugoslav Road: CPy-LCY 1919-1980 - Josip Broz Tito
The National Question - Josip Broz Tito
The Law on the Five Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy of the People's Republic of Yugoslavia in the Period from 1947 to 1951 - Josip Broz Tito, Andrija Hebrang, and Boris Kidric
Beyond Marx and Tito: Theory and Practice in Yugoslav Socialism - Sharon Zukin
Tito and the Students: The University and the University Student in Self-Managing Yugoslavia - Ralph Pervan

So, guess what I'm researching right now.

 

[Antilogic]

*raises hand. "Oh! Ooh! I know!"

Japanese isolationism!

 

[Smellincoffee]

Midway into Stephen Baxter's Voyage, an alt-history SF story in which JFK survives being assassinated and urges America to go for Mars following the triumph of Apollo. So far Apollo-Soyuz just happened, with a joint "Moonlab" experiment, and the Mars module is still being engineered.

I've not found my next serious nonfic read: I'm trying to get into either Plagues and Peoples; Floods, Famines, and Emperors; or dirt: the erosion of civilizations.

 

[Dachs]

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Dachs]

 

[Cutlass]

I just finished An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, a recounting of the Dreyfuss via in novel form, from the perspective of Colonel Picquart, the intelligence officer whose investigations helped exonerate Dreyfuss.

I'm now reading this.

I spotted this in the library yesterday and picked it up.


Finished Engineers of Victory by Paul Kennedy. Interesting, but not quite satisfying. The premise of the book was to look at some of the behind the scenes innovations in tactics, equipment, technology, and organization, which turned the early often poor performance of the Allies into the later overwhelming power. I don't think the author covers things in enough depth, and is only picking a handful of examples, rather than looking at a broader selection. And he seems to still be convinced that the atomic bombs were the reason Japan surrendered, which I think many people don't hold that opinion any longer.

 

[Kyriakos]

For a fraction of a second i hoped it was a collective work by "Time Travelers"

 

[Antilogic]

Finished Engineers of Victory by Paul Kennedy. Interesting, but not quite satisfying. The premise of the book was to look at some of the behind the scenes innovations in tactics, equipment, technology, and organization, which turned the early often poor performance of the Allies into the later overwhelming power. I don't think the author covers things in enough depth, and is only picking a handful of examples, rather than looking at a broader selection. And he seems to still be convinced that the atomic bombs were the reason Japan surrendered, which I think many people don't hold that opinion any longer.

Yeah, I thought the modern consensus was the bombs were gratuitous and the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo/general hopelessness of the situation led to the surrender.

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah, I thought the modern consensus was the bombs were gratuitous and the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo/general hopelessness of the situation led to the surrender.

I wouldn't say "gratuitous", really. Because the American leaders didn't know where the Japanese thinking was at the time. And surrender at that point wasn't obvious. The Japanese should have been trying every possible avenue to start peace talks at least a year previous to that.