What are you reading?

thomas · Post by **thomas** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:20 pm

The only book i own, i found it behind my bed at my parents. I like it though.

triky · Post by **triky** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:55 am

ands wrote:just finished: The Stranger by Albert Camus
just begun: Identity by Milan Kundera

They were a bit different than what I expected of each. Though, I'd recommend both.

The Stranger is one of my favorite books. It's odd but that's why it's so good. If you liked it I would recommend also La Peste by camus (the plague I think in english). Also wicked.

sorry, haven't really introduced myself - well actually I have in another post but this forum is so huge it's now lost (in the jungle with jack)... i live in geneva, i like dubstep and i love books.

i just finished reading Dr. Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party by Graham Greene. I picked it just because it said geneva on it but it turned out to be a pretty dark story. I quite liked it.

jazzamataz · Post by **jazzamataz** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:25 pm

^

I'm a newbie too... (hi)

Just for fun:

Currently reading (Nearly finished) - Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Currently reading - Awaken the Giant Within - Anthony Robbins
Currently reading - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald.

About to start - A History of India - John Keay

and then i have a load of text books i have to read for uni on Psychology and the like...

triky · Post by **triky** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:11 pm

Jazzamataz wrote:^

I'm a newbie too... (hi)

About to start - A History of India - John Keay

the one in 2 volumes from the folio society? my mom ordered it twice by accident and so my dad gave me the spare copy. i've just finished the 1st chapter and i have to say i really like it so far. on top of the fact that i know sod-all about india, it's really interesting if you're into history...

jazzamataz · Post by **jazzamataz** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:24 pm

Triky -

It's this one

It's about 600 pages

Yeah, same as really... i know a little bit about the pre-Gupta and Gupta age, and that's about it really... I'm not looking for major in depth knowledge just yet, but it'd be nice to know the general history of the whole area... people expect you to know the stuff automatically because you have brown skin and i just look at them like they've slapped me with a wet fish when i get asked questions about the mughal empire or something...

a bit like this

triky · Post by **triky** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:58 pm

yeah thats the one. with the same dudes on the cover too

except mines in two separate books... i like the way it's written definitely. i'm sure once you've read it you will be able to throw about moghul and arya references at your leisure...

jazzamataz · Post by **jazzamataz** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:25 pm

^ Hahaha!

Yeah, i'm looking forward to having knowledge on the stuff... I have to say that it's only since Jan. that i've really had any interest in the History of India as i was trying to trace the roots of my family and my family line and stuff - which is near impossible before the British Raj because records weren't kept or were burned in internal conflicts.
All i really know is that i'm from a Warrior line - which really put things into perspective because i'm not in peak condition... in some way i was like wow... so i'm really letting the side down...

And that co-incided with me reading the Anthony Robbins book... and that's a "lifestyle change," book built on Neuro-linguistic programming (which is the bit i was really interested in). It's an argueable debate in the Psychology field. The critics call it trickery and plagarism (manipulation of other ideas on motivation) but it seems to be working for me, and i like to keep an open mind - if that's the only thing you come away from with a Psychology degree, it's half the battle won i guess.

Pop Psych is always debatable though - the clinical psychologists hate it because someone has "cashed," in on an idea.

triky · Post by **triky** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:43 pm

not really my domain psychology, i studied law. and hated it but now that i'm working it, it's an entirely different subject (almost).

but it sounds interesting. i was reading a book by Dan Pink called A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.

its about how right-brain jobs like lawyers and doctors will become obolete this century and left-brainers like artists and musicians will become the new CEOs and decision-makers in society. the book is mainlyabout psychology so it's very interesting.

the only down-side is that the written style is really dumbed down. dan pink is american and he writes as if he was explaining his theory to a 10 year old so it's quite frustrating... i actually gave up half way but the theory remains extremely interesting. his concept is pretty neat if you can forgive his condescending style...

bright maroon · Post by **bright maroon** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:47 pm

I have been steadily gaining weight since I moved back in with the rents - Luckily, I maintain 3 of the major tenents of this book naturally when In control of my own pantry.

Today, I had a large brownie - and not an ordinary brownie, for breakfast - a brownie made with chuncks of hershey kisses...only because they were sitting there on the counter next to the coffee..

Normally, I would have a banana or cereal.

slim · Post by **slim** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:58 pm

triky wrote: but it sounds interesting. i was reading a book by Dan Pink called A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.

its about how right-brain jobs like lawyers and doctors will become obolete this century and left-brainers like artists and musicians will become the new CEOs and decision-makers in society. the book is mainlyabout psychology so it's very interesting.

What's his argument? Dividing people according to things like that sounds a bit iffy really. Are you less creative because you are a lawyer? And medicine is as much an art as a science, that concept sounds a bit too dualistic for me.

Continuing on from La Cuadra Espada, the book i was talking about earlier about the Shining Path, i'm reading "El Espia Imperfecto" about the Peruvian chief of Intelligence during the Fujimori years, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Fujimori was the president of peru for about a decade, and his administration committed atrocities on a ridiculous scale, but clandestinely, due to Montesinos, who pretty much ran things back then. It's really interesting learning about monsters, i might have to get that book on Mao that came out a few years ago next.

triky · Post by **triky** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:52 am

yah sure. it's a very black and white theory so i think it's pretty debatable. i think his point was that it's not enough just know how to do your job well. you also need now to take into account the creative aspect. take, for example, a lawyer; what will make you choose one over another? track record for one thing, but mostly the appeal of the lawyer. he was saying people now will choose a service based on creativity, aesthetic, appeal, etc. same with products. it's not enough to be able to sell a phone with a camera. you need to sell a phone that appeals to people because there are hundreds of phones with cameras already on the market. and the thing that will make it stand out among others is by appealing to the artistic side of your mind.
but other than that main point, i agree that it's very iffy to then proclaim that lawyers and doctors are doomed. which is why i stopped reading after the 1st part...

dali · Post by **dali** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:40 pm

If you are interested in that theory you may like Bobo's in Paradise. We read it in my lowly tech school as part of of Contemporary American Society class...

Amazon.com
You've seen them: They sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas. They tread down specialty cheese aisles in top-of-the-line hiking boots and think nothing of laying down $5 for an olive-wheatgrass muffin. They're the bourgeois bohemians--"Bobos"--an unlikely blend of mainstream culture and 1960s-era counterculture that, according to David Brooks, represents both America's present and future: "These Bobos define our age. They are the new establishment. Their hybrid culture is the atmosphere we all breathe. Their status codes now govern social life." Amusing stereotypes aside, they're an "elite based on brainpower" and merit rather than pedigree or lineage: "Dumb good-looking people with great parents have been displaced by smart, ambitious, educated, and antiestablishment people with scuffed shoes."

Bobos in Paradise is a brilliant, breezy, and often hilarious study of the "cultural consequences of the information age." Large and influential (especially in terms of their buying power), the Bobos have reformed society through culture rather than politics, and Brooks clearly outlines this passing of the high-class torch by analyzing nearly all aspects of life: consumption habits, business and lifestyle choices, entertainment, spirituality, politics, and education. Employing a method he calls "comic sociology," Brooks relies on keen observations, wit, and intelligence rather than statistics and hard theory to make his points. And by copping to his own Bobo status, he comes across as revealing rather than spiteful in his dead-on humor. Take his description of a typical grocery store catering to discriminating Bobos: "The visitor to Fresh Fields is confronted with a big sign that says 'Organic Items today: 130.' This is like a barometer of virtue. If you came in on a day when only 60 items were organic, you'd feel cheated. But when the number hits the three figures, you can walk through the aisles with moral confidence."

Like any self-respecting Bobo, Brooks wears his erudition lightly and comfortably (not unlike, say, an expedition-weight triple-layer Gore-Tex jacket suitable for a Mount Everest assault but more often seen in the gym). But just because he's funny doesn't mean this is not a serious book. On the contrary, it is one of the more insightful works of social commentary in recent memory. His ideas are sharp, his writing crisp, and he even offers pointed suggestions for putting the considerable Bobo political clout to work. And, unlike the classes that spawned them--the hippies and the yuppies--Brooks insists the Bobos are here to stay: "Today the culture war is over, at least in the realm of the affluent. The centuries-old conflict has been reconciled." All the more reason to pay attention. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

People have been aware of, and trying to cash in on, the benefits of the right brain function in left brain work for a long time.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has consistently been a best seller with each new release since the 70s.

It works both ways too... a designer is much more marketable if they can process some of the analytical code languages and play for both teams.

triky · Post by **triky** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:13 am

yes, i had read about this recently in a french magazine (fluide glacial) and the article was along the same lines as your quote, although it was probably taking the piss more than anything. maybe there's a slight difference between the american and the french bobo? it could be interesting to check that out. thanks for the info though, always interesting to hear an anglo-saxon viewpoint on the the subject

nousd · Post by **nousd** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:00 am

Don't bother reading American Psycho...it is very disturbing towards the end ... the darkest you could ever imagine (Ellis has to be a nutcase).
You have been warned (& I don't think that it matters that it has been interpreted as a satire). Reading it can only make things worse, even for psychotic sadists.

paolo · Post by **paolo** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:02 pm

Getting back into scifi recently. Just finished 'Our Friends From Frolix 8' by Philip K. Dick and 'Count Zero' by William Gibson. Today I'm going to start 'Stranger In A Strange Land' by Robert Heinlein. Hillhead library is ace

datura · Post by **datura** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:12 am

Just finished Empire of the Sun, now reading Dr Bloodmoney by Philip K Dick.

ch3 · Post by **ch3** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:50 pm

datura wrote:Just finished Empire of the Sun

Just bought this book on Saturday... (together with R. Murakami's 'Piercing') - thought of reading some more Ballard after finishing Crash.

dali · Post by **dali** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:16 pm

SD5 wrote:Don't bother reading American Psycho...it is very disturbing towards the end ... the darkest you could ever imagine (Ellis has to be a nutcase).
You have been warned (& I don't think that it matters that it has been interpreted as a satire). Reading it can only make things worse, even for psychotic sadists.

Ellis is my favorite fiction author... if you read Lunar Park, his last novel, you will get more of a glimpse of where the themes in American Psycho come from.

My favorite form him is Glamarama though... His books all deal with the LA shallow empty personality with a healthy dose of drugs, wealth, violence and sex.

parson · Post by **parson** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:24 pm

i don't want to read american psycho. i don't see the point.

i watched rob zombie's halloween remake and didn't enjoy it. too graphic. too much. trauma is not good for the psyche.

edit: and to keep it book related, i kinda wish i never read the part of wind-up bird about the skinning

editedit: and i liked rules of attraction (both)

misk · Post by **misk** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:33 pm

the sandman graphic novels. i dont have them all (and im currently missing one). I've read them all before, but they're so inspiring that i thought i'd visit that place again.

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