Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
I’m at least a week late in updating this thread to say I have finished Peter Longerich’s ‘Heinrich Himmler’ and returned it to the library. For a tome weighing in at 750 pages progress was rather swift; a combination of both interest in the subject and eminently readable text made it so. I suspect that its readability is a credit to the translators, given Longerich’s original book was in German.
In spite of the book’s considerable length, I would have liked more on Himmler as a person. Information on the SS is woven into Longerich’s work, as are developments in the General Government and other parts of the war effort. Having read Cesarani’s ‘Final Solution’ recently much of this information was still fresh in my mind. For a man as strange as Heinrich Himmler, I would have liked more focus on him, but as a non-scholar I recognise also that there may be a limited number of sources on Himmler personally.
Reading about Himmler is something I would strongly advise, if anyone has not done so before. It is easy to view him almost as a demigod in the Third Reich’s hierarchy who could seemingly do no wrong. On the contrary, Longerich identifies failings throughout Himmler’s career as well as his efforts to consolidate his power base at the cost of other senior Nazi Party members like Göring. Regardless of his successes, in 1945 Himmler died a failure in his aims to secure a ‘Greater Germany’ and a traitor in the eyes of his Führer, and no other interpretation can be possible.
As an interesting close, Himmler’s daughter Gudrun is still alive! Born in 1929, she was present at the Nuremberg Trials and hasn’t renounced her father’s ideology. How about that, eh?
Now for something completely different: Robert M. Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. I don’t know what to think of it.
Just to add, I've found Peter Padfield's biography of Himmler on Amazon as well, so I may pick a copy up soon.
In spite of the book’s considerable length, I would have liked more on Himmler as a person. Information on the SS is woven into Longerich’s work, as are developments in the General Government and other parts of the war effort. Having read Cesarani’s ‘Final Solution’ recently much of this information was still fresh in my mind. For a man as strange as Heinrich Himmler, I would have liked more focus on him, but as a non-scholar I recognise also that there may be a limited number of sources on Himmler personally.
Reading about Himmler is something I would strongly advise, if anyone has not done so before. It is easy to view him almost as a demigod in the Third Reich’s hierarchy who could seemingly do no wrong. On the contrary, Longerich identifies failings throughout Himmler’s career as well as his efforts to consolidate his power base at the cost of other senior Nazi Party members like Göring. Regardless of his successes, in 1945 Himmler died a failure in his aims to secure a ‘Greater Germany’ and a traitor in the eyes of his Führer, and no other interpretation can be possible.
As an interesting close, Himmler’s daughter Gudrun is still alive! Born in 1929, she was present at the Nuremberg Trials and hasn’t renounced her father’s ideology. How about that, eh?
Now for something completely different: Robert M. Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. I don’t know what to think of it.
Just to add, I've found Peter Padfield's biography of Himmler on Amazon as well, so I may pick a copy up soon.
Edited by Levin on Monday 4th June 19:37
On recommendation, I am just about to start this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Spy-Tom-Marcus/dp...
Anyone read it?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Spy-Tom-Marcus/dp...
Anyone read it?
The Passage by Justin Cronin. Enjoyed the first half, and it is a book of two halves. Second part has got a bit touchy feely, totes emoshes, for me to be honest, and I'm struggling to finish the last 50 pages now. Should have been 100 pages shorter and less of the who-loves-who-and-who-doesn't b
ks.
Still not sure what the title means, dunno what Passage he's talking about.
6.5/10
ks.Still not sure what the title means, dunno what Passage he's talking about.
6.5/10
Levin said:
Now for something completely different: Robert M. Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. I don’t know what to think of it.
Be interested to see what you think - I enjoyed Pirsig's Lila latterly but Zen was read when I was too young to understand it properly I think.andy_s said:
Levin said:
Now for something completely different: Robert M. Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. I don’t know what to think of it.
Be interested to see what you think - I enjoyed Pirsig's Lila latterly but Zen was read when I was too young to understand it properly I think.200Plus Club said:
"The Handmaids tale"
Was on half price at the airport on way to hols and haven't seen tv version or read it before. A light read but not bad as an idea, and has spurred me on to watch the series with an eye on what they do in season 2 where the book ends.
I am assuming that 'not bad as an idea' means 'an interesting premise for a book' rather than 'ooh, that would be great in real life'!Was on half price at the airport on way to hols and haven't seen tv version or read it before. A light read but not bad as an idea, and has spurred me on to watch the series with an eye on what they do in season 2 where the book ends.
Finished the latest John le carre book the other day. Forget the name.
I thought it was awesome, it literally left me in awe at the feelings it created in me. So many questions and so much anger and understanding and regret and admiration. Brilliant. The core characters are as deep and well formed as aubrey and maturin, who are always my mark for whether fictional relations are real and believable. They could be people. It’s a compelling read too, I zoomed through it.
I’d really recommend it, I think it’d be more enjoyable havibg read the precursors but it would stand alone if you haven’t. But then really you need to read the older books anyway, they are great too.
I thought it was awesome, it literally left me in awe at the feelings it created in me. So many questions and so much anger and understanding and regret and admiration. Brilliant. The core characters are as deep and well formed as aubrey and maturin, who are always my mark for whether fictional relations are real and believable. They could be people. It’s a compelling read too, I zoomed through it.
I’d really recommend it, I think it’d be more enjoyable havibg read the precursors but it would stand alone if you haven’t. But then really you need to read the older books anyway, they are great too.
glazbagun said:
Other Minds by peter godfrey smith.
It's on octopus intelligence and how thay have a completely different evolutionary path to any of the other commonly thought of "intelligent" animals, which pretty much makes them the closest thing to an alien intelligence we have.
Makes one wonder what AI will be like when it finally arrives.
For £2.99 on Kindle I thought this might be worth a shot, interesting so far.It's on octopus intelligence and how thay have a completely different evolutionary path to any of the other commonly thought of "intelligent" animals, which pretty much makes them the closest thing to an alien intelligence we have.
Makes one wonder what AI will be like when it finally arrives.
p1doc said:
just finished eclectic bunch of books deep fried living-craig hamm dark Scottish comedy, flashback by dan simmons futuristic post apocalyptic mystery novel and just started rereading akira after discussion with my oldest daughter who loves anime
What's Flashback like?Really liked some of his stuff (Hyperion series, Ilium pair, The Terror), but not got on with his other works...
Akira - good call...most of my anime has been in video form, will have to dig some of the graphic novels out.
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