Finally got around to reading The Business and Dead Air by Ian Banks.
Both were decent novels full of witty lines as usual, but not his best.
Both were decent novels full of witty lines as usual, but not his best.
Which book are you reading now? Volume XIV
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The JD Rockefeller bio, Titan is excellent.
Synobun
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I'm three quarters done. It's looking like I'll actually finish it before my borrow expires.I'm a third of the way through it now and if you liked vol 1, you will love vol 2.
The book has been excellent so far, except for one thing. How far along are you?
I'm starting chapter 71
Synobun
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Oh, I'm way ahead of you now. Okay, I won't spoil.
I'll keep you apprised of my progress. At what chapter should let you know?
Synobun
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I'm not through it myself yet. I'm at Chapter 103 right now. It will be obvious, I think, when you reach it.
I expect you are talking about Falurian. It had to happen some time so the question becomes how to work it in. I liked how it took place in a group setting in the Eld where others would see. While abrupt and perhaps a bit long, I just rolled with it.
yung.carl.jung
Hey Bird! I'm Morose & Lugubrious
So, onto something positive here: My absence from CFC and deleting all the entertainment stuff on my phone was left me reading a lot more than usual. I finished a dozen books. Some of them:
Fiction
Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard. Absolutely brilliant. I usually cannot stand literature about aristocracy or christendom, but this one is worth a read for sure. Great sceneries, fantastic characters, unbelievably vivid and relentlessly emotional. Books rarely make me melancholic, this one painstakingly so as it depicts the fall and ultimately death of a family, a culture, a way of life, a staple of Italian society.
Robert Walser - Jakob von Gunten. For an avant-garde novel, this one is almost as easy to read as a children's book, if old German isn't too much of a problem. In translation it is likely even easier. We follow the protagonist, aka the author, through a somewhat magical, somewhat stale and cold journey through a "school" of sorts, which is primarily concerned with manners and somewhat stoic virtues. The novel is clever, funny, at times enchanting and relatable, other times it has its head in the clouds. I am not sure why I enjoyed it as much as I did, or what I will take away from it, I feel almost as confused as the protagonist himself.
Samuel Beckett - Endgame. Okay, this is some weird, hellish ****. Words cannot do this one justice. I would have preferred to see it as a play, but still very good.
Nonfiction
Ernst Gombrich - The Story of Art. Absolutely disappointing, terribly even. So much of his "analysis" of anything but western Europe is bog-standard Eurocentrism, sometimes his claims are so stupid and unfounded that I genuinely cannot believe they printed this, even back in those times. Like when he says that Chinese and Japanese art stagnated for literally hundreds of years, until Europeans came along to bring them a fresh wind. Or when he opines that only European cultures ever sought to "progress" in art, while all others were content to simply do the exact same thing their masters taught them, ad infinitum. I will say that at least while describing European art, especially iconography and architecture, he is at his strongest, and makes some great observations, is easy to understand and can draw interesting parallels. The way the book is layouted and fed with pictures is also incredibly enjoyable. Sadly, the way it is written not so much. His prose is very stale and filled with cliches, even in the original German it sounds bad. No idea why this is even today considered a classic and a standard textbook for art history. I wouldn't throw it on the trash, but I certainly wouldn't uphold this book either. I hope his discussion of more recent art is more fruitful than what I've read so far (which is like 2/3rds of the book).
Peter Sloterdijk - Kopernikanische Mobilmachung und Ptolemaische Abrüstung. I am pretty sure this book doesn't even exist in English, since it's one of Sloterdijks more arcane texts. Pretty sure I found this book on a dump somewhere. Absolutely great read. Sloterdijk sometimes loses himself in his, admittedly lovely, prose, but other times he has moments of incredible lucidity. His analysis of modernism and postmodernism is sharp as a razor, though I certainly do not agree with everything he comes up with. Worth reading for everyone who is interested in these phenomena, and probably for everyone interested in philosophy in general. Great, incredibly short read.
Fiction
Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard. Absolutely brilliant. I usually cannot stand literature about aristocracy or christendom, but this one is worth a read for sure. Great sceneries, fantastic characters, unbelievably vivid and relentlessly emotional. Books rarely make me melancholic, this one painstakingly so as it depicts the fall and ultimately death of a family, a culture, a way of life, a staple of Italian society.
Robert Walser - Jakob von Gunten. For an avant-garde novel, this one is almost as easy to read as a children's book, if old German isn't too much of a problem. In translation it is likely even easier. We follow the protagonist, aka the author, through a somewhat magical, somewhat stale and cold journey through a "school" of sorts, which is primarily concerned with manners and somewhat stoic virtues. The novel is clever, funny, at times enchanting and relatable, other times it has its head in the clouds. I am not sure why I enjoyed it as much as I did, or what I will take away from it, I feel almost as confused as the protagonist himself.
Samuel Beckett - Endgame. Okay, this is some weird, hellish ****. Words cannot do this one justice. I would have preferred to see it as a play, but still very good.
Nonfiction
Ernst Gombrich - The Story of Art. Absolutely disappointing, terribly even. So much of his "analysis" of anything but western Europe is bog-standard Eurocentrism, sometimes his claims are so stupid and unfounded that I genuinely cannot believe they printed this, even back in those times. Like when he says that Chinese and Japanese art stagnated for literally hundreds of years, until Europeans came along to bring them a fresh wind. Or when he opines that only European cultures ever sought to "progress" in art, while all others were content to simply do the exact same thing their masters taught them, ad infinitum. I will say that at least while describing European art, especially iconography and architecture, he is at his strongest, and makes some great observations, is easy to understand and can draw interesting parallels. The way the book is layouted and fed with pictures is also incredibly enjoyable. Sadly, the way it is written not so much. His prose is very stale and filled with cliches, even in the original German it sounds bad. No idea why this is even today considered a classic and a standard textbook for art history. I wouldn't throw it on the trash, but I certainly wouldn't uphold this book either. I hope his discussion of more recent art is more fruitful than what I've read so far (which is like 2/3rds of the book).
Peter Sloterdijk - Kopernikanische Mobilmachung und Ptolemaische Abrüstung. I am pretty sure this book doesn't even exist in English, since it's one of Sloterdijks more arcane texts. Pretty sure I found this book on a dump somewhere. Absolutely great read. Sloterdijk sometimes loses himself in his, admittedly lovely, prose, but other times he has moments of incredible lucidity. His analysis of modernism and postmodernism is sharp as a razor, though I certainly do not agree with everything he comes up with. Worth reading for everyone who is interested in these phenomena, and probably for everyone interested in philosophy in general. Great, incredibly short read.
Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games Hardcover – September 8, 2020
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_617470_514674960_pe_r1_b2/?ASIN=1324005874
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_617470_514674960_pe_r1_b2/?ASIN=1324005874
hobbsyoyo
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Up to where I quit reading it, his entire case that Einstein had a deep connection to England was that he said some very flattering things about it and also craved approval from English physicists who were at the time the best in the world. His weak thesis would have been forgivable if it hadn't been so boring.
I tried to read more of Krantz's biography but it is just so poorly written that I get caught up more on how let down he was by his editors than on the narrative.
I read "Sea People" 2 weekends ago. The primary content about Polynesian history was very interesting and informative, but I also really liked how she treated the historiography of Polynesia as a case study in Western intellectual history.
Finished/starting.
AdamCrock
Polish Pirate
One thing I wonder about Albert is that : Did they've mentioned in His biography that he used to go for a beer with his students and than explain his theories in much less stressful environment
He was a good guy , tried to help us , too bad we were too stupid for him.
You should add GoT next term. That will give you a few months to read the books before you teach.
You should add GoT next term. That will give you a few months to read the books before you teach.
Besides, this is an online seminar, and it should be completed in the next two months
Along with my previous online lit seminar, they should be enough to provide for money (unless everyone dies/has no money due to the virus)
Time for me to finally move up in the world.
EnglishEdward
Deity
Yesterday I finished reading:
A Memory Called Empire
the debut Sci-Fi novel by the New York born authoress
Arkady Martine
I was able to predict the plot outcome in three major instances, but it was still a very good three day read.
Imagine a space based empire with the predominant culture being an amalgam of Aztec and Roman facets.
A Memory Called Empire
the debut Sci-Fi novel by the New York born authoress
Arkady Martine
I was able to predict the plot outcome in three major instances, but it was still a very good three day read.
Imagine a space based empire with the predominant culture being an amalgam of Aztec and Roman facets.
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