Anyone Read Any Good Books Lately?

[vilehelm]

Hullo Flashers, long time no chat at. Been most busy with job and wife and dogs...all aspects of life going very well. I've been reading a really good (albiet somewhat depressing) book and thought I would share, and see what everyone else is reading (besides Flash books).

"The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way In the New Century" by Paul Krugman, I was given this book by a friend at work whose one of those Harvard MBA types, "here's something to fuel your liberal rage" he said and the book has most certainly done that.

The intro alone is worth the price of admission as it dissects the Bush agenda with razor precision. The first part is devoted to macro-economics, why privatizing Social Security is a wretched idea and more to the point how the Bush camp most likely understands that.

Y'see, the fact of the matter seems to be...that crazy f**ker and his cronies are really out to dismantle the system that we've developed here in the US for the last oh...80-100 years. They really are trying to smash the framework of our modern democracy and create something that suits there little short sighted, economically elitist needs...seriously!

The second part which I've only skimmed so far (it's a collection of essays grouped by subjects) is more about some of Bush's old business dealings and how they're letting those jerks in the energy sector get away with murder.

Anyhoo...check it out if you're able, even if you just sit in the bookstore and read the intro.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393058506/qid=1085721746/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-6042630-8517654?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[cool.Marty]

American Psycho.

[snapple]

Looks interesting. Personally I make, on the whole successful, attempts to abstain from books that bang on about, right wing social indoctrination, and other psycho-social theories, etc. I tend (and i am not including you in this, because from what i can gather, you have a genuine interest in the area) to lurch towards the notion that people by those 'coffee table' books, the old 'look at me, lets make an impression book'.

I like books that you are completely absorbed in, not ones that are trying to forward a view, theory, or paradigm. Anyone read any fun, thrilling, pseudo-biographical books?

Ok - great book, Mr Nice, synopsis:


Mr. Nice is one book that will leave an image on your heart, which will not fade for years to come. This book is an autobiography of a dope smuggler. Ok so what so great about it? The reason this book is full of interesting real life instance is because that dope smuggler who wrote this book happens to be an Oxford Graduate, had links with MI6, CIA, and DEA. Also, this smuggler happens to be doing drug smuggling and money laundering of more than US$ 30 million in mid seventies.

The one thing that makes this book different from so many autobiographies is that Howard Marks has given very deep details of each and every incident. Mr. Marks tells the story of his life with so many details that it takes you to that era when smuggling and money laundering was done in all the big cities.


The other thing is, he is a really nice guy, a completely likable character!!!

Regards, snapple :)

[Jetbbal]

The Elegant Universe

[pixelwit]

Liberal... Conservative... whatever. I'm a firm believer that very few if any high level politicians are any good. It seems the higher up you go, the worse they get. It takes money to be a politician and there's very little money to be made by supporting the good and hard-working poor people. Supporting the rich and corrupt (such as large corporations) on the other hand is quite profitable. Until we find a better way of governing ourselves I'm afraid this is the way it will always be in America regardless of the figurehead sitting in the Oval office.

Telling me the people in charge suck doesn't help very much but if you can find a book telling me how to make a change for the better, then I ~might~ be interested.

About the only politically oriented book I ever read was called "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do". While it was a really good book and I agreed with just about everything in it, one of the more valuable parts was the last 40 or so pages which told you how to try to change things for the better. You might want to give it a read. It's chock full of (one on every page) excellent quotations as well. For example after turning to a random page I found a quote from Adolf Hitler stating, "The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than a small one." Seems even more relevant today.

I recommend this book because it's not just the opinion of one good man but the wisdom of many great people which all seem to point to one general conclusion...

Ain't nobody's business if you do.

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[snapple]

Pixelwit, you're definitely, irrefutably a sociologist – and if you’re not, then you should be!

Best Regards, Snapple :)

[mrfluffy]

Brave new world & brave new world revisted are very good (the first as a story the second for social/political thoughts)

[pixelwit]

Thanks Snapple, if you or anyone else would like to pay my way through college so I can become a Sociologist then I'd be more than happy to learn. ;)

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[vilehelm]

I did admit it was sometimes depressing... ;) I swing back and forth between the viewpoints, activism vs. apathy, very hard to stay motivated, I agree.

The thing is yes, the cuddling of politicians and corporations is known and money helps weild influence, however, I think it's a good argument that what the current regime is doing is omething pretty frickin radical...in a really bad way...and because the media, the public is so used to the government NOT doing anything radical it's just crept up on everyone.

I mean, yeah, they're dufuses to some degree but I don't think they're so dumb that they can't add numbers and see they're way out whack (anyone know what a ponzi scheme is btw?). They're just acting without any display of conscience...but a scary amount of belief in themselves...much like other fundamentalist movements in the world today.

I'm tellin' ya it's creepy.

So, just to prove I'm not all doom and gloom, I did make a valiant effort at Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, got bogged down in the final section and have about 200 pages to go, that damn book taunts me.

[pixelwit]

...I swing back and forth between the viewpoints, activism vs. apathy, very hard to stay motivated...

The American Apathy Party... Now that's a movement I could get really excited about!

Or not. Whatever.

:D

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[catbert303]

ponzi scheme (http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/ponzi/)

@snapple - I picked up a copy of mr nice a while back, mainly because the super furry animals mentioned howard marks in a song (and the book was being sold cheap ;)) I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it, but I seem to remember having really enjoyed it. I think I'll have to start re-reading it :)

[stealthelephant]

RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA by Author C Clarke.
Excellent sci-book, very scientific, looked like it was going to end lamely but the very last line with with about 7 words or so made it possibly one of the best endings i have ever seen.

the sequels are not written by him and are kinda lame

[McGiver]

Angela's Ashes
by Frank McCourt

The story of a boy's life who was born up in the USA and then grew up in Ireland. His father was a drinker, his mother (Angela) was forced to go begging because his father finds no work, and he always says that begging is beneath him. So most of Frank's brothers and sisters die as a resuld of their poorness.

Although the storyline is kind of tragic, he has a funny and fascinating way of writing.

[Jetbbal]

i had to read a part of angela's ashes for my english class last semester, wan't half bad

[McGiver]

I had to read a chapter (chapter 4) for an english test, and since I liked the book I read the whole thing (not finished jet)

[snapple]

I can't read :(

[petefs]

the last four books I read worth advertising:

The Baron in the Trees -- Italo Calvino
The Book of Illusions -- Paul Auster
The Trial -- Franz Kafka
Hear the Wind Sing -- Haruki Murakami

okay, so I'm a magical realism nut. I enjoy most genres, but until I've read every major magical realism work I can't read anything else :b

on a side-note, haruki murakami happens to be my favourite author, it's just hard getting my girlfriend to translate the less popular works for me ^_^

[CyanBlue]

Geez... How do you guys ever find time to read a book???
The last "book"(sorta) that I have read was my employer manual... :rolleyes:
One before that... Um... Can't even remember the name of the book but I was forced to read a couple of books for the art history class... But that probably was about 2 years ago... :eek:

[tg]

cb, park your car, and commute on the bus/train.... you'll have plenty of time to read.

i read on the train just about everyday. currently reading cryptonomicon. neal stephenson is a freak. now 'baron in a tree' is a book i've been meaning to read for a long time. i really enjoyed (years ago when i read it) 'if on a winters night a stranger' by calvino.

[petefs]

tg, my brother! An Italo Calvino fan! : ) I've read most of his work, and I actually think The Baron in the Trees is my favourite : )

plus neal stephenson is great ^_^ cryptonomicon was a bit much for me, but I have such fond memories of snowcrash ... : ) too bad there just isn't any great cyberpunk being written anymore, or at least I'm not aware of it ^^

[vilehelm]

Oh, speaking of Neal Stephenson tg, in addition to getting 3/4 through Quicksilver, I also managed to read most of "In the beggining was the command line". An early batch of related essays about the history of operating systems and the business of computing.

[petefs]

y'all need to get on some rudy rucker, then : )

[tg]

well.... you know the author has a screw or two loose, when he uses mathmatical equations and graphs to show that his character thinks more clearly after ejaculation.

[CyanBlue]

Yeah... I think commuting with public transportation definitely helps, but I cannot find any unfortunately... I am also looking for somebody who wants to share the ride with me, but I couldn't find one yet... :(

[petefs]

dye think that might have something to do with commuting to MD? : )

[McGiver]

I can't read
so how the hell do you know what we were writing about ;)

The Trial -- Franz Kafka
I read "Das Urteil" (The Judgement) from Franz Kafka, and I didn't really like it. Maybe the reason was we had to read it for school when I was 15, and the theacher asked me what I think of it and I said something like 'I read one chapter and if I had been Max Brod I would have respected the last will of a dead mean and burnt it' (that really was Kafka's last will!) and somehow she didn't find it half as funny as I, so she forced me to read the whole book and gave me a bad grade.
I read kafka's "Die Verwandlung" (the one where he wakes up as a bug) 3 years later, but I just couldn't "identify" with him :p
no, seriously, I just thought it wasn't that fascinating.

[petefs]

I have this awful habit of tending to like disowned works. I think there's something perversely wonderful about things that the author/artist thought were an abyssmal failure. Sometimes the great failures of great men are great in a different way :D

[McGiver]

somehow, many people seem to have this awful habit since the kafka works are quite popular, many critics and german theachers (especially those I had) like them.
Maybe Kafka and me just had a bad start and I should give it a third try
.
.
.
no, I seriously won't.

btw.: I don't think Kafka wanted his works burnt because he thought they were crappy, it was more like he wanted nobody else to read them, since they were a kind of coming to terms with the past.

[cool.Marty]

Howard Marks is an Arse. Sorry.