I was reading one of Dala's Harlen Ellison books, but I lost it. I have literally no idea where it is. I can't find it anywhere around the house, it's not in my car, and I've looked all over work. It's like a magical book gnome had picked it up, thumbed through it a bit, and decided it was a book worth going into their magical book gnome pouch. The question is, what about that book could appeal to the gnome? Is it the variety of stories and writing styles Ellison has in that collection? Does he, sharing a similar cynicism towards humanity, feel a connection with the author? Or does he just have a friend who is a huge fan of fiction in general that he thinks will appreciate this book as a gift?
Honestly, I don't know. To be fair, the answer could be anything. Those book gnomes are a flighty bunch.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Issue 3 of "The Street Tiger." I'm gonna call the comic shop tomorrow and see if it's in. If so, I'll get two copies of it plus another copy of issue one and two because I have a friend who I think will enjoy the fuck out of it.
I'm going to the art museum with a friend today. They have a metric asston of books in their gift shop. If I get something from there, I'll be sure to share what it is on here. Maybe it'll be a book about textiles or glass blowing . . . who knows?
Reading Fractured Lands about the implosion of the Arab world after the Iraq invasion and Arab Spring. I looked really hard for the New York Times Magazine with the original article in it. Not knowing that New York Times Magazine is a Sunday insert in the paper. I was pretty pleased that the author expanded the article into a book.
If you enjoyed that, I think you would really enjoy City of Oranges written by my friend Adam. In it, he goes to the city of Jaffa, and speaks to Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families that have lived in Jaffa since before Israel became a state. He then represents each of their perspectives, perfectly even-handedly, and lets the people speak for themselves of the city and community they remember, and how it has changed. Better than anything else, it shows the deep divisions that separate these people, but - at the same time - how close they are, as well. The whole of the Middle East, summed up by three families in one small town...
I think I've read enough to have a valid opinion and see where it's going unless the author had a stroke and it becomes a YA novel about dystopian iRaq all of a sudden. Mostly it's the story of individuals, I can't remember how many (6?), and how they have been affected by the events in the region. He mentions some history and facts like Sykes Picot and the immolation of the merchant in Tunisia that set off the Arab Spring but it's not his goal to offer his opinion on anything. I love hearing stories of people who have different experiences than me in general and, as someone who was optimistic about the Arab Spring as it happened and opposed to the Iraq War to the point that I believe it was an illegal, impeachable action, it's a great book. Here's the entire original article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/11/magazine/isis-middle-east-arab-spring-fractured-lands.html?_r=0 I just wanted a hard copy because I didn't want to read that much on a screen.
Finally! I have been reading a ton in the last four weeks. I think I read more than a thousand pages (albeit in audio form). After listening to Ezra Klein's conversation with Cal Newport, I devoured his book Deep Work in two days. It's a great book if you're the kind of person who likes good productivity books. He argues that the ability to do deep work, which is the kind of knowledge work that requires concentration (e.g. writing, programming, researching), is going to become one of the most important skills to have. He then gives a slew of tips, concepts and ideas on how to foster and improve on that type of work. Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus by Douglas Rushkoff was up next, followed by Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget. I discussed those somewhere else already, but briefly: both are critiques of our current attitudes towards technology. The first half of Rushkoff's book would fit nicely in /r/Latestagecapitalism, the second half in /r/blockchain (which he sees as the solution to the capitalist ails of technology). Lanier has more intriguing ideas but they're definitely more 'out there'. I don't understand or don't agree with at least half of them. Don't regret reading it at all. I then started reading Siddharta Mukherjee's The Gene, which I'm almost done with now - only 4 hours remaining of the 20 hours of audio. It's a fascinating account of the history of the gene, chronologically telling the story of gene science through the dozens of scientists who made it possible. He writes it in a way that's rich in detail yet always easy to follow - inquisitive, without dumbing things down too much. Last week I found a list of book recommendations by Maria Popova, so I attempted reading the essay bundle The Abundance by Anne Dillard. The stories were nice but not as invigorating as I hoped for. I then read Black Hole Blues and Other Sounds from Space by Janna Levin instead, which I finished it yesterday. It is a wonderful book about gravitational waves and LIGO's development. The prose is fantastic; Levin does a great job of bringing the scientists alive. The book is arguably more about the people than about the science that brought them together. In between I also read Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. (On paper! How quaint.) There are lot of opinions to be had about Ferriss, but he does sometimes manages to inspire me and this book achieved that too. I do think he should package his book with a bag of salt - a few grains are not enough. Most of the advice in the book is entirely too esoteric for me or too generalizing to be useful, but the parts that I did like I liked a lot. Up next, in whatever order I feel like / whatever advice you all give: - American Kingpin by Nick Boltin - Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil - Time Travel: A History by James Gleick - The Lonely City by Olivia Laing - Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam (havn't read it fully yet) - The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohllieben - On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks
My academic semester ended two days ago. I can't wait to crack into my reading list. I have 467 items in my Amazon "Saved For Later" list, 90% of them books. When I look over that list, I find that the impetus that brought me to setting the book aside in the first place has diminished in some cases. But I want to order them all anyway. Nick Hornby, in Ten Years in the Tub, a chronicle of his journey through a decade’s worth of books, made the observation that the shelves holding all that you've not yet read constitute your aspirational self. I apparently want to be an economist with a clear-eyed look at every social ill that befalls us. It's sad that I have no fiction in the last 50 books I've added. Up next is A Conflict of Visions, a look into why people tend to cluster on opposite sides of apparently unrelated issues.
You need a triage strategy, son. - rather than "saved for later" you need multiple lists. I have "Kindle fiction that interests me" "paper fiction that interests me" "hobbies and dreams" "sci fi research" and the like. - whenever you have a long trip or a boring stretch, download five or six samples to your kindle (which cost almost nothing used). read enough to determine whether you like it or not. If not, yay! It's off your list. If you do, library it or buy it. It's been my experience that about a third of the stuff I think I'll be interested in, turns out, well, I have better things to do with my time.
My triage strategy is nonexistent. I love systems. I'll try this one.
I can't find a way to share the book list, which is just my shopping cart moreorless. One would think Amazon would be better about sharing that sort of thing. If I can export the list, I'll send you one.
As mentioned in the quote thread I'm burning through Galbraith's The Great Crash 1929. It's the first real explainer of the stock market in which there isn't a lot of moral certainty about stock markets. Galbraith is fully willing to call greed out by name, point out that plenty of people who could have stopped things didn't and describe the mechanisms of the stock market in terms of good and bad, as opposed to "if it makes money it's good' the way most writers do. I also burned through War Dogs, the book, not the article, and it's not very good. The author spends the whole book calling his protagonists shifty and dishonest and then gets all high and mighty when the New York Times does the exact same, only better. Here's the meat so you don't have to read it: there was a kid whose dad was an arms dealer and whose uncle was an arms dealer and who knew a rich guy in Utah who liked to deal in arms and a Belgian arms dealer who couldn't directly deal with the US sold arms to this kid for use in Iraq in order to bypass an embargo but ZOMG the Internet is involved. Also, the kid is a dick, except when the NYT calls him a dick, then he's a saint. And he has a buddy who was a massage therapist. It's really shitty, actually. It's making me realize that Rolling Stone has become the home of shitty journalism.
Reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Not enjoying it as much as Smarter Faster Better. My most recent adds to my read list have been Assholes: A Theory by Jody Foster (not the actress I think but that would be funny) and a whole bunch of stuff about astrophysics. Anybody down for a Hubski group on Goodreads? Since lil was asking about seeing book lists.
All the #whiterabbit posts prompted me to reread Simulacra and Simulation. Found a bunch of John Scarne books cheap at the used book store. Michael Heim's The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality was recommended to me and, against my better judgment, I read it. I very rarely regret time spent reading a book. I regret the time I spent reading that book.
I finished reading Debt of Honor my Tom Clancy recently. It was one of my granddad's that he gave away. I liked it more than I expected. The first 500 pages are all introducing hundreds of characters and details about them, but the story was good. Been reading Lilies of the Field aloud with my wife. It's short and sweet. Started reading No Country for Old Men on my own. It's not sweet at all. Got The Two Income Trap from the library, but haven't gotten past the introduction yet.
I had the realization that the comix I was having such a hard time finding (Brian Wood's "DMZ" series, issues 7-12) were probably available online, and I had a shiny new iPad, so... BAM. I downloaded them. And then I walked into a record store on Tuesday... and bought two books. Chrissie Hynde's autobiography, and a bio of Motorhead that seems to have some new stuff in it. I also picked up all of my friend Adam LeBor's spy series, and my other friend Olen Steinhauer's spy books, too. They were both good friends of mine back in Budapest, who were working on their first books at the same time. (Olen also has a TV series in production with some big names in it...)
Managed to find Black Postcards: A Rock and Roll Romance at Half Price Books and picked it up. I'm nearly through with it, great little insight into the life of Dean Wareham, of Galaxie 500 and Luna fame. Two of many critically acclaimed but unpopular bands who have had an influence on my life. After this, digging back into some Steinbeck books. Can't wait for that.
I think your gnome might have have a cousin who's into stock pot lids. Our's been missing for a few months now. We've turned over the kitchen a few times to no avail. I mean, what else could have happened to it? Not really an object to carry off to the outside world. Maybe it (and I) got lost in the euphoria of a well controlled simmer? ---- I finished The Discourses of Epictetus, and have grabbed Letters From A Stoic. Letters reads so much quicker, which is nice. Not sure if I mentioned it else where, but the copy of War and Peace I bought is a different translation than the one I started with from the library. Bad idea. I'm going to have to return to the library copy, I think.I have literally no idea where it is. I can't find it anywhere around the house, it's not in my car, and I've looked all over work. It's like a magical book gnome had picked it up, thumbed through it a bit, and decided it was a book worth going into their magical book gnome pouch.