Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
PomBstard said:
About a quarter way into “If this is a man” by Primo Levi. Its surprisingly easy to read considering the subject matter and viewpoint, but Levi has a very deft way with words - bringing you along the journey without sermonising.
I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
I meant to add to this ages ago, and to recommend the book highly to, well, anyone. It really is one of the most extraordinary books I've read in that its subject matter is so highly emotive, and the author is recounting his experience, and yet the by taking the neutral tone of the witness, the book becomes somehow more powerful. I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
"The Truce" gives a good idea of what for me was always a missing part of the puzzle - how did everyone get home?
The version I've just read has a section of FAQs from the author at the end. There is much to be gained from reading this also, as it covers some of the post-homecoming years, and of Levi's attitude to life and Germany.
If you've not read it, please do - its a tale that deserves to be recounted and remembered.
PomBstard said:
PomBstard said:
About a quarter way into “If this is a man” by Primo Levi. Its surprisingly easy to read considering the subject matter and viewpoint, but Levi has a very deft way with words - bringing you along the journey without sermonising.
I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
I meant to add to this ages ago, and to recommend the book highly to, well, anyone. It really is one of the most extraordinary books I've read in that its subject matter is so highly emotive, and the author is recounting his experience, and yet the by taking the neutral tone of the witness, the book becomes somehow more powerful. I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
"The Truce" gives a good idea of what for me was always a missing part of the puzzle - how did everyone get home?
The version I've just read has a section of FAQs from the author at the end. There is much to be gained from reading this also, as it covers some of the post-homecoming years, and of Levi's attitude to life and Germany.
If you've not read it, please do - its a tale that deserves to be recounted and remembered.
His cousin Carlo Levi is not too shabby either.
IanA2 said:
PomBstard said:
PomBstard said:
About a quarter way into “If this is a man” by Primo Levi. Its surprisingly easy to read considering the subject matter and viewpoint, but Levi has a very deft way with words - bringing you along the journey without sermonising.
I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
I meant to add to this ages ago, and to recommend the book highly to, well, anyone. It really is one of the most extraordinary books I've read in that its subject matter is so highly emotive, and the author is recounting his experience, and yet the by taking the neutral tone of the witness, the book becomes somehow more powerful. I’ve also got “The Truce” to follow, which is apparently much lighter in tone.
"The Truce" gives a good idea of what for me was always a missing part of the puzzle - how did everyone get home?
The version I've just read has a section of FAQs from the author at the end. There is much to be gained from reading this also, as it covers some of the post-homecoming years, and of Levi's attitude to life and Germany.
If you've not read it, please do - its a tale that deserves to be recounted and remembered.
His cousin Carlo Levi is not too shabby either.
Sadly he "fell" out of a window in the late eighties. His friends believe he'd had enough of his memories although I believe the verdict was narrative?
In a similar vein, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Author escapes me. Very good read.
On a lighter note, pretty much any Carl Hiaasen novel. Great storyteller with a fabulous imagination.
^ Yeah, a must-read author.
This one this week - sparked from an excellent review on SlateStarCodex; "The predictive processing model is one of these well-wrapped packages. Unbeknownst to me, over the past decade or so neuroscientists have come up with a real theory of how the brain works – a real unifying framework theory like Darwin’s or Einstein’s – and it’s beautiful and it makes complete sense."
This one this week - sparked from an excellent review on SlateStarCodex; "The predictive processing model is one of these well-wrapped packages. Unbeknownst to me, over the past decade or so neuroscientists have come up with a real theory of how the brain works – a real unifying framework theory like Darwin’s or Einstein’s – and it’s beautiful and it makes complete sense."
Edited by andy_s on Tuesday 22 December 20:14
Prolex-UK said:
Teddy Lop said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
'MAO The Unknown Story' by Jung Chang & Jon Halliday
One cannot pretend that this is a dispassionate and unbiased historical document.
It is without doubt or pretense a scathing polemic. One that is exceptionally well researched and highly detailed.
If you find you doubt that - there are near 150 pages of references, lists of interviewees and footnotes at the end of the book as well a further detailed index.
Investigation includes not just China (by Jung) but also Russian archives and interviews (by Halliday).
Given the number of fanboy books and articles in praise of Mao, going back to Edgar Snow and Bertrand Russell amongst others, and the numerous books written by Maoist apologists, this book certainly has and deserves its place IMO.
Anyone that can read this and continue to defend Mao by the 'results achieved' would have to be seriously disillusion or ideologically possessed.
photo obtained from internet
bump, currently halfway through. (I just don't get the reading time I'd like, although our beloved leaders may just be seeing to that.)One cannot pretend that this is a dispassionate and unbiased historical document.
It is without doubt or pretense a scathing polemic. One that is exceptionally well researched and highly detailed.
If you find you doubt that - there are near 150 pages of references, lists of interviewees and footnotes at the end of the book as well a further detailed index.
Investigation includes not just China (by Jung) but also Russian archives and interviews (by Halliday).
Given the number of fanboy books and articles in praise of Mao, going back to Edgar Snow and Bertrand Russell amongst others, and the numerous books written by Maoist apologists, this book certainly has and deserves its place IMO.
Anyone that can read this and continue to defend Mao by the 'results achieved' would have to be seriously disillusion or ideologically possessed.
photo obtained from internet
absolute must read, can't put down. Yes its not written to do him any favours but it feels petty honest. The man was an absolute psychopath; if you need proof that murder, torture and genocide are features of the marxist ideology, rather than the uneccesary side effects its apologists routinely claim, here it is right here.
Read it iin stages
Him and stalin....
^ Oh, that sounds good, I'll have to keep a look out for it.
I've just finished "The Caller" by Chris Carter. A serial killer operates by phoning the best friend or partner of his victim and asking them two questions, if they can't answer them, the person gets killed. One of the victims is unfortunately the wife of a mafia hitman, though that doesn't play quite as big a part in things as I thought it might. A good book, though.
I've read something else with a similar plot device, where the baddie picks on the wrong person. I thought for a minute I might have read this book before, but I didn't recognise anything else out of it.
I've just finished "The Caller" by Chris Carter. A serial killer operates by phoning the best friend or partner of his victim and asking them two questions, if they can't answer them, the person gets killed. One of the victims is unfortunately the wife of a mafia hitman, though that doesn't play quite as big a part in things as I thought it might. A good book, though.
I've read something else with a similar plot device, where the baddie picks on the wrong person. I thought for a minute I might have read this book before, but I didn't recognise anything else out of it.
I'm currently stuck in a Hofstadter-Moebius loop reading the 'Rendezvous with Rama' series of books by Arthur C Clarke in a continuous cycle.
The first one is brilliant the rest are only adequate.
'The Martian' is also a gripping read, and the Matt Damon film is a pretty accurate dramatisation.
The first one is brilliant the rest are only adequate.
'The Martian' is also a gripping read, and the Matt Damon film is a pretty accurate dramatisation.
Prolex-UK said:
DoctorX said:
Really like those John Milton books, much better than Reacher IMO. You can buy box sets for not much on Amazon, that looks like a fancy reissue of the first one.
Plus oneRead them all.
Milton has his demons to battle which adds a bit of an edge to the story
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