What are you reading?

[wub]

Globalization and Its Discontents

Indictment of the global economic policies of the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and World Bank by former chairman of the CEA. Bit dry, but an interesting take on things.

[HamCrescendo]

Decent little look into the role of conspiracy theory in American Politics. A little dry and academic but pretty much aligns with my own views on the matter, and this subject
really deserves more to be written on it. Probably the biggest conduit of populism in the USA.



I'm struggling to be honest.. Not the best Beckett I've ever read.


And finally the third print edition of NSFWCORP came through just before I left the house yesterday, Brilliant as ever. One of their journos did a profile on Marcus London, porn star, which resulted in the aforementioned sending death threats to their staff - So they uploaded the whole thing onto their website as a 'fuck you,' which I shall unlock and post here because I really do reccomend you all keep an eye on this little magazine.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Review of Spartacus: The Beginnings

[Reese_Liar]

Just about to finish this:


Daniel Levitin - This Is Your Brain On Music

Really interesting read. I learned a lot about what elements music "consists" of, how the brain processes the information and how memories in general work. Highly recommended!

[DiegoSapiens]

looks interesting!!

[rockonin]

Has anyone read the Matthew Shardlake series by C J Sansom. Great books especially the last one called 'Heartstone'

[wub]

The Closers - Michael Connelly


Gone Tomorrow - Lee Child

Couple of standard pulpy crime thrillers for the holiday, with two of my favourite characters (Harry Bosch and Jack Reacher, respectively). Nothing out of the mould, decent enough reads that I tear through in a couple of days (less if I'm flying). Gone Tomorrow is of interest as it's one of the Reacher series that switches to first person narrative, with a distinctly overt Elmore Leonard feel to the writing.

Now reading through this;


48 Laws Of Power - Robert Greene

Massively unhealthy book to read for someone with already Machiavellian intentions such as myself, but as a business aid on the journey back to Reality yesterday, found myself making mental notes on nearly every chapter. Electronic abridgement is available here if anyone is interested.

[DRTY]

Absolutely incredible. It's also written how he talks, which makes it even better. Cannot recommend enough.

[Sonika]

animal farm ... never read it

crazy shit that he predicted the entire soviet phenomenon essentially verbatim

[kay]

[wub]

Looks interesting, might have to check that out

[Mason]

^ how is that? been meaning to get it for a while.

reading this atm

Pretty interesting, made up of small essays from 'the worlds brightest and most influential minds' talking about which scientific concepts would help make everyone smarter or 'improve their cognitive toolkit'. Only about halfway through but quite a few thought provoking points so far.

[kay]

It's pretty decent, doesn't take the conventional route of telling you the properties of each element and what it can be used for. Gives a bit of history as to how it was discovered and any other slightly interesting tidbits about uses, values, influence on the course of history, etc. It's almost like QI for elements. Meanders a bit occasionally, but is a fairly good read. The author also occasionally includes his effort as a non-chemist to procure a sample of each element.

[SheepShagga]

Apparently this is really depressing.

Absolutely incredible. It's also written how he talks, which makes it even better. Cannot recommend enough.

Will probably buy this soon.

[Doozle]

Read The Lonely Londoners whilst in the park yesterday, upon my sister suggesting it to me. It's about West Indians arriving in 1950s London and the struggles they endure, but is always humorous. The characters are wonderful and I'm still thinking about the ending today, wondering what happened of them

[kay]

Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything.

Only just started it but brilliant so far

Sadly, that was probably about the 3rd book ever that annoyed me. The man clearly did not really get the physics bits, has a halfhearted go at writing about it, then gives up partway through and essentially goes "LALALALALA I CAN'T UNDERSTAND IT AND IT'S ALL GOBBLEDYGOOK AND THEY'RE MAKING IT ALL UP SO YEAH WHATEVER". Some of the other sections were a bit off as well. It was just a bit frustrating.

[wolf89]

Apparently this is really depressing.

The film is really very depressing. My mate says the book is more so. Haven't read it my self. Got his "Border Trilogy" to read as my next fiction selection

I'm starting reading again after getting over the "please no more books" feeling I had after writing my dissertation.

In the middle of reading The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe (getting to the end of the second volume at the moment)

I'm also reading a lot of Julian Cope's Copendium which is a collection of reviews, compilations and general writing on various rock albums/bands from the 60s up until now. Ranges from the reasonably obscure to the super fucking underground. Great stuff if you want to discover lots of weird obscure bands and his writing style is great and also a lot of fun to read.

I'm also teaching myself about electronics via books but that's not interesting to share. haha

[HamCrescendo]

really liked 'the road,' really hated 'no country for old men.'



loik joyce bot more concoise

[wolf89]

really liked 'the road,' really hated 'no country for old men.'

See I've seen the film of no country for old men. It's fucking awesome. One of my favorite films in fact and I always have thought that I couldn't imagine the book remotely working (which is weird as most of the time it goes the other way around). I was curious to read it to see how it was but my mate told me that the book was actually fucking shit and he only got half way through it before setting it on fire and throwing it out the window into the street.

[HamCrescendo]

yeah I liked the film, but didn't like the book - not seen the film of the road yet.

McCarthy is a good novelist by most accounts, but I just couldnt finish it. Still want to read blood meridian and his others, but I've got a fucking HUGE list of shit I still need to read (along with having a fair few bits sitting on my shelf looking rather too uncreased and clean). Graham Greene or Le Carré next I think, (though I told myself I'd read Finnegan's Wake once I had finished university but now I have nothing to distract myself from I can't be arsed. Don't think I'd ever have read Ulysses unless I had a dissertation to write).

[mercutio]

Does anyone know any good books about either the history and evolution of trade unions (preferably with a greater focus on the UK) or a history of the CIA's activities in South America throughout the 21st Century?
Thanks