Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Gen.Mannerheim]

Just read The Art of War bu Sun Tzu. An good read but I no longer remember anything of what was in it. Just that it was a bunch of cool war stuff. Meh, what are you gonna do?

The Art of War should be renamed The Idiots Guide to Obvious Warfare. The West's obsession with Sun Tzu started in the 1980's because business men thought they could get an "edge" over their competitors.

Militarily, Sun Tzu wasn't the only person to talk about warfare in the ancient period, nor was he always universally held in high esteem with opinions on him changing even within the same dynasty.

 

[JohannaK]

Keeping in mind that a dynasty could last many a century, that is hardly surprising. What I like it for is not its supposedly instructive side as much as the oblique, quasi-poetic way in which it is written.

 

[Snerk]

Oh yeah I never approached it as an educational book of tactical warfare. More as a renowned historical text. And I too appreciated it's poetic form. Very cool.

Guess I'd read Clausewitz or something if I'd want to learn more about actual military strategy/tactics.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Sounds interesting. Shaping up to be any good?

Informative, but brief -- it's only a hair over 200 pages. There's a little bit on Russia's slaughter of the Aleutian, and of Spain trying to move in to California after they catch wind of the Russians. After that, the author moves steadily eastward, ending with Creek diplomacy in Cuba. I didn't even know they were interacting. The section on the Sioux 'discovery' of the Black HIlls was helpful in establishing why they were important to the peoples of that area. They're islands of rainfall, basically, a reserve of game and supplies in hard times. FWIW, I heard of the book through a podcast called Ben Franklin's World.

I just abandoned Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey. The plot didn't show up until page 200, and by that time (50 pages away from the end) I was tired of the stream of consciousness rambling and the obsession with boobs. I signed up for violence, not a dirty old man writing his own material.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher. Grand scale space opera. This is the first book of three. It was excellent and I pick up the second volume tomorrow.

The Owner trilogy
Probably my favorite dystopia.

I'll plan on reading Dark Intelligence though with two david weber books around the corner, probably be on a too read list for a while longer

 

[JollyRoger]

Ulysses, James Joyce

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Owner trilogy
Probably my favorite dystopia.

"Owner" trilogy? Tell me more.

 

[Kozmos]

I have started Napoleon: A Life, but have to finish Predictably Irrational first.

 

[FriendlyFire]

"Owner" trilogy? Tell me more.

I dont want to spoil to much because much of the story is discovering about the environmental crisis and what kind of dystonia government rules the world
Mix in a separate storyline about colonization of mars and you have one of the best dystopian books I have ever read.

I felt the last book was rushed compared with how fast things played out in the first two but you can read some of the alternative endings in a series of short stories

']http://forum.ucweb.com/data/attachment/forum/201502/28/024541sqqf0r5an00v5qvv.jpg [/img][/URL]

https://www.amazon.ca/Departure-Owner-Trilogy-1/dp/0330457616

 

[JollyRoger]

Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse - Shannon Thomas, LCSW

 

[shadowplay]

I recently finished The War for Late Night and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?

I'm about halfway through SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome and The Pot Book.

 

[Arakhor]

I'm about halfway through SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

By Mary Beard? I've been thinking about getting that book. What do you think?

 

[Tahuti]

The Phenomenology of Mind by G.W.F. Hegel

He will come up in class, so I've decided to set my prejudices and hostility against Hegel aside.

 

[Takhisis]

I've reread The Godfather by Mario Puzo. I'm always amazed by how much the films left out. Dirty Hollywood indeed.

 

[shadowplay]

By Mary Beard? I've been thinking about getting that book. What do you think?

It's a good read. It might be a little light for someone already well-read on ancient Rome. It's definitely geared towards someone like me with a more casual interest in history.

 

[Snerk]

Had to abandon The Thirty Years War by Veronica Wedgwood as it contained too much micro information on an historic scene I lack too much macro information. So it became hard to follow.

Started Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome by Anthony Everitt and enjoying it.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Just finished Divided Highways, a history of the interstates. Trying to get into Lost Enlightenment, a history of the Islamic golden age in Central Asia.

 

[Takhisis]

I'm about to start on the Iliad, by this Homer fellow. Ow, ow.

 

[Snerk]

I'm about to start on the Iliad, by this Homer fellow. Ow, ow.

I thought we had established that Homer wasn't a single fellow but a bunch of singers/poets or something?

 

[Takhisis]

Not by the time I started reading him, you person with a smaller postcount than mine.