looking to expand my horizons. My last 2 books: the power of introverts and the subtle art of not giving a f*ck.
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We are legion we are Bob
I mean I’m a communist so YMMV, but I’m re-reading the Vietnamese textbook on Dialectical Materialism that Luna Oi translated. I’m re-reading it because I also have the second textbook she translated (on Historical Materialism) and I wanted to brush up before diving in to that one.
Luna Oi is a great comrade! She is doing so much for the cause!
Noice. I hope to get this sometime.
I’ve found it to be the most concise and straightforward (and yet thorough) primer on dialectical materialism that I’ve come across so far. In particular I liked how the book split dialectical materialism (the philosophy) from materialist dialectics (the tools of analysis).
Recently my favourite genre have been “2019 lesbian sci-fi debut novels about an empire, starting a series”.
A Memory Called Empire is absolutely amazing. A very close second is Gideon the Ninth and its sequels.
Lesbian sci-fi is on my radar … the best by far that I’ve read so far has been The Chronicles of Alsea series.
It’s just fantastic sci-fi, the lesbians are merely a bonus :-)
I’m currently on book 5 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I started book one In January.
The audiobooks are amazing, super-talented narrator who does a while host of voices.
Book 5 is my next read. I try and stagger them with other things to draw it out some and make sure I don’t burn out.
It’s all so good
New Scientist magazine, the paper version so that I can put it down, think about it, and come back a week later. I’m not a scientist, and not highly educated, but I’m curious about the world, and many of their articles are easy to read at my level.
If you are into fantasy, then I need to recommend you the books of Brandon Sanderson, especially the Stormlight Archive series. It’s so epic, nothing else comes close
The only thing I am reading rn is Capital but I don’t think you came here for political theory so I will recommend The Hot Zone. It’s the last book I read and it’s about the discovery of Ebola, its investigations, and how it got to the US.
Liberalism: A Counter History, by Domenico Losurdo. Mostly so far looking at how all the liberal revolutions and theorists ended up being at least lukewarm to slavery.
The blade itself is what I’m current reading (when not frantically trying to catchup on one piece)
Joe Abercrombe is great. His books only get better. I haven’t read his YA stuff but I’ve read all his other books and love, love, loved every one of them.
Non-fiction:
- The Demon-Haunted World
- The Fourth Turning is Here
Fiction:
- There is No Antimemetics Division
Demon Haunted World is very timely
Always has been :(
I had put off reading it because I assumed it would be mostly preaching to the choir, but there are some challenging chapters to think about.
Ex. the idea that all the people who believe in aliens, and reject vaccines, and wear tinfoil hats, they’re all doing the first step of science: which is to doubt. The problem is that people are generally untrained on what to do next.
The question is whether this modern era of science is an anomaly, or if there’s something about the scientific method that gives it an advantage. If we fell completely into a dark age, is it inevitable that we find our way back? Or was this time period just a fluke?
It notes that throughout history, the dominant nation has always been the one who wields science most effectively. And the US wouldn’t be the first to fall because it failed to.
I wish Carl were still around. He had a knack for cutting through bullshit we could really use right now
Did you like Antimemetics Division? I saw the Short video with Jasika Nicole (Astrid from Fringe), and it felt like a mix between bad sci fi that took itself too seriously and a dumb joke.
I did like the book, it’s not a 10/10, but it’s fun and I like weird fiction. I think both SCP and the Remedy Connected Universe are delightfully mysterious.
I hadn’t watched that short yet, just did. I see what you mean, but it was relatively true to the first chapter of the book. It’s really hard to do this genre justice in video form I think. Partly due to budget, but partly because what you didn’t like about it is a perfect description of the entire SCP universe: a giant, very serious conspiracy theory that fans swear is completely true and “THEY” don’t want you to know about it…while obviously being a absurd work of fiction. It’s like 80s horror, you have to embrace the campiness to enjoy it.
The notion of an anti-meme is interesting to think about too. Not really in a supernatural sense, but in a sociological/anthropological one. Are there things in this world that people have trouble wrapping their head around, things we can’t seem to pin down and understand and assign an easy-to-proliferate name to, but nonetheless hurt us?
I recently read (listened to the audiobook actually) Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
It’s about the life of Thomas Cromwell. The narration style is not for everyone, but it’s the best historical fiction story I’ve read.
The show is also excellent
Recently read Piranesi. Wonderful book in a unique setting. A page turner which can be finished in a day.
For non fiction I’m reading The Concept of Mind by Gilbert Ryle, and can highly recommend. Short, thought provocative, and engaging. For fiction, Children of Strife is great, latest instalment in Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series which I really enjoyed overall.
Children of Time is great. I also thought Alien Clay by Tchaikovsky was interesting. Although I’m a little skeptical about how aliens work in that one.
I was gonna say, it was a neat concept, but he didn’t really spend the time to make it convincing or explain the mechanism for how life would evolve to be like that. It’s like he just had this idea that life could be more modular, but didn’t bother fleshing it out past that. I actually enjoyed Shroud a lot more, I feel like he put more work into making it plausible. Can recommend if you missed it.
I haven’t read Shroud. I will put it on the list, thanks.
Will definitely check those out
Currently reading about all the horrors of the CIA - finished The Jakarta Method and Washington Bullets, currently reading through Killing Hope, and next on my list is Operation Gladio.
“Venomous Lumpsucker” by Ned Beauman was good. The writing style reminded me of Weir a bit.
“The Reformatory” by Tananarive Due was also pretty good.
Very different books from each other. Neither are completely without flaw, but both books were a solid B+.
Ive never read a bad Agatha Christie book.
My favorite book is “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole, and his novella “Neon Bible” was also very good.
“The Dog Stars” by Peter Heller was good.
“Godshot” by Chelsea Bieker was very good.
