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Hawk of The Crystals

What are you currently reading?

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currently trying (and failing) to get through all of these. I am only re-reading foucault and the econ textbook, I have in fact read them before, but the others I have never been able to finish. 

 

The 48 Laws of Power - Very interesting book, apparently it's one of the most requested books EVER by prison inmates. All about how to influence other people and the rules to follow for success in influencing and manipulating people. He uses a story about a king, queen, emperor, general etc., to illustrate every rule and how it's supposed to be followed. Not sure who Robert Greene is or what he knows about power, but it was a fun read nonetheless. Got through the first half and then got lazy.

 

Journey to the end of the night - It's a story somewhat based on the author's experiences in WW2. French guy gets drafted into the military, he's afraid of war and wants to quit. Gets stuck doing exhausting labor, risking his life, treated poorly by his commanding officer and eventually "lucks out" by getting injured and sent home. It was pretty interesting, I think I like the author's writing style, I mean to read the rest but so far have only gotten about 100 pages in. 

 

Discipline and Punish - This one I actually HAVE read, but I am planning to re-read it soon alongside an analysis of each chapter. All about the history of prisons, from the 18th to 20th century. The author says that in the 17th century, new fields of knowledge were established in order to analyze, categorize, and judge criminals. Motive became important, psychology became important, and the law was no longer applied equally to all criminals, instead the "soul" of the convict is judged. He also discusses torture and capital punishment versus the disciplinary punishment of the prison system, which is more focused on rehabilitating people. Argues that prisons incorporate a system of discipline based upon surveillance and labor, and discusses all the methods by which they discipline the inmates. There's WAY too much stuff to explain in a short post here but I thought it was interesting. Apparently its pretty influential in the world of philosophy. 

 

Exercise of Power - Another one I haven't finished, but from what I've read there's a loooot of information to digest here. Former secretary of defense talks all about foreign policy, going case-by-case starting with the Cold War era and Iran, what he thinks we did right and wrong, etc. and what the US needs to do in the future. Despite sounding complicated it's actually a very accessible, easy to understand book and the author speaks completely from first-hand experience. What I was most interested by was how he explained the aggression from Iran during the cold war era and how the US used propaganda and "surrogate militaries" instead of directly fighting other countries. Very interesting, but it's a long book and I've only read the first couple chapters.

 

And finally, the textbook from my economics class... This one I HAD to read, but I am studying economics so I don't mind reading it again. I actually enjoy reading about this kind of stuff. Supply and demand, trade controls, the fed, controlling interest rates and the money supply... Really just an overview of a lot of topics which I think are good to know. 

 

Whew, sorry for the long blog. I never got the chance to talk about any of these books with other people, so now's my chance to post some reviews. Hopefully once my current college semester is over I can finish ALL of them. I really wish I had more free time to read, lol. 

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I read the Petit cours d'autodéfense en économie by Jim Stanford.

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This book was made as an initiation to economy for workers and trade-union workers, against neoliberal bullshit.

What is economy? Work, its organisation and its consequences. What is work? Washing dishes, typing a comment here, making things, selling things… 85% of the people are workers who earn their wage but nearly half of the economy is not related to money. What is capitalism? One way to organise the economy, and it’s not the only one possible (TINA is bullshit).

 

Now, I’m reading The carpet people (Terry Pratchett) in a French translation.

 

And I also read this about mafias:

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If you don’t like capitalism, you should hate mafias: it’s capitalism with everything pushed to 11.

I never bought illegal drugs, I know why: I don’t want to give money to these bastards.

They first talk about Mexican, Italian, Georgian/Russian, Balkanic, Chinese mafias: how, who, when, the countries they rule.

Then how the states fight mafias and how mafias are represented in books an films. Did you know that The Godfather’s first film was made with the help of the Italian mafia? The film maker couldn’t refuse the offer.

 

Now, I’m reading はだしのゲン, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen):

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Edited by ducon

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On 5/29/2022 at 7:40 PM, ducon said:

I read the Petit cours d'autodéfense en économie by Jim Stanford.

41AdUq3oo-L.jpg

This book was made as an initiation to economy for workers and trade-union workers, against neoliberal bullshit.

What is economy? Work, its organisation and its consequences. What is work? Washing dishes, typing a comment here, making things, selling things… 85% of the people are workers who earn their wage but nearly half of the economy is not related to money. What is capitalism? One way to organise the economy, and it’s not the only one possible (TINA is bullshit).

 

 

 

 

Is there an english version of this book? I am interested in this idea of work and peoples skills being the driving force behind social organisation, rather than money. Also what is TINA?

 

Thank you, you always post really interesting books in this thread.

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Ligotti's My work is not yet done. Far from his best, still a chilling read. 

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Currently discovering a lot of feminist literature, among them "Caliban and the Witch" by Silvia Federici, about how the transition from feudalism to capitalism influenced proletarian women's social position, with special focus on the witch hunts during the 16th and 17th century. It's quite difficult to read, mostly because of the gruesome historical events depicted and the topics discussed, but I think I'm interested enough to finish it.

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Oh how greatly I could be expanding my mind with the thousands of books available at just one of the many public libraries around me. I could be learning about a dizzying array of non-fiction topics, the possibilities are almost limitless. I could learn about many of the world's cultures and histories. I could expand my brain with many books that delve deep into philosophy and other grand topics. I could go to the fictional side and have many great adventures and mysteries. Oh so many ways to exercise my brain.

 

I'm working on the third Where's Waldo book. One of the ones I had as a kid.

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Just now, Pechudin said:

The Children of Dune (part 3 of Dune series). Pretty good.

 

One of my teen years series, good stuff though unfinished. May I also suggest Hellstrom's Hive from Herbert? Shares a lot of themes, if not the setting.

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1 hour ago, Chopkinsca said:

Oh how greatly I could be expanding my mind with the thousands of books available at just one of the many public libraries around me. I could be learning about a dizzying array of non-fiction topics, the possibilities are almost limitless. I could learn about many of the world's cultures and histories. I could expand my brain with many books that delve deep into philosophy and other grand topics. I could go to the fictional side and have many great adventures and mysteries. Oh so many ways to exercise my brain.

Reading always improves your brain, whatever you read.

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Ready Player One
and Masters of Doom, of course.

Unrelated - get yourselves an OpenLibrary account (archive.org account)
I use it to read books that aren't available in my local libraries, or are too expensive to buy.
Of course, not all books are available, but a bunch of books are.

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2 hours ago, Thelokk said:

 

One of my teen years series, good stuff though unfinished. May I also suggest Hellstrom's Hive from Herbert? Shares a lot of themes, if not the setting.

 

I'll probably get around to it. SF is my favorite genre, even if Herbert's style is more Fi than Sci (I prefer Clarke's hard SciFi).

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If you can find me a book that better represents the word "Tome" then I would like to see it. Astonishing breadth and depth of research, knowledge and insight. If you like history, highly recommended. The term "light reading" does not apply. (I am about half way through it.)

 

 

 

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On a lighter note, after a long hiatus from fantasy I've been digging up some minor classics. One of my best latest reads is the Darksword trilogy, perfect if like me you have a thing for fantasy that

Spoiler

turns into sci-fi

effortlessly.

 

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I read L’homme sans qualités (part 1), written by Rober Musil. It’s a fat, philosophical and strange novel about the Austrian bourgeoisie.

Nearly every topic of philosophy is discussed here, even the smallest.

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And now, the second book: fatter but unfinished.

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Edited by ducon

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Horns by Joe Hill. Ok, just putting aside the fact the protagonist has grown horns for seemingly no reason, and the stiflingly straightforward dialogue of the people affected by them (still better than the shit his daddy cooks up on a regular basis) it's a decent character study. Although Lee is, shall we say, ultra-predictable when you find out more about him.

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I read The carpet people, an early work from Terry Pratchett, a bit rewritten.

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It’s a short book about peoples who live in a carpet.

We can find here what Pratchett will develop later: feminism, fraternity, the probability of 0.000001, tension between story and history… Read it if you are a real Pratchett fan, instead you might be a little upset.

 

Now, I begin Les nouveaux mots du pouvoir (The new words of power).

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That is an excellent book, excepted two things:

  • The article about the Islamic scarf. No, it’s not just a scarf, ask the girls and women about this "just a scarf" in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
  • One of the writers is Hubert Nyssen, fanboy of the Steiner cult and now fanboy of our beloved president Macron.

It’s a collective book, written by French and Belgian people (who are mostly working in universities).

If you are curious about these new words (like collateral damage) that are invading our language and replacing more significant words…

 

And now, The Bromeliad trilogy:

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So, I read these ten books of はだしのゲン, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen):

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It’s terrifying. It’s the French translation but it’s also translated in English by Last Gasp.

So, what’s it about? It’s nearly an autobiography of Keiji Nakazawa (Gen Nakaoka in the manga), a young six year boy who live poorly in his pacifist family in Hiroshima in 1945.

At the end of the first book, the bomb destroys the city. The two next books take place a few days after, tell what happened to the survivors. The last seven books last from 1945 to 1953, Gen and his family (then, his friends) survive against all odds:

  • Politicians who were pro-war then pacifists,
  • Yakuzas who used orphaned children as cannon fodder (they helped them, they said… fuckers),
  • Peasants who sold them an apple for the price of gold,
  • Neighbours who expelled them from the shelter they found,
  • The US army who ruled Japan as a dictator (tortures, no real free speech, experiences on ill survivors…)
  • Speculators who stole the people’s land then sold it (with help from politicians),
  • Violent teachers,
  • Corrupted doctors,
  • Hiro Hito, his army and religion…

During the nine last books, he squares up to all these suckers up there.

Gen is a super hero whose superpowers are his optimism and his fighting ability (with his fists). In fact, Gen is also pacifist, maybe communist (but not a Stalinist), just a dreamer who wants to live decently with the ones he loves.

 

And now, this:

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That I read.

A strange book in two parts. One chapter (odd or even) of two is a description of an odd island dedicated to sports with arbitrary rules. The other chapter (even or odd) is an autobiography, the author reminds what happened when he was young (his parents, his Polish and Jewish origins, his friends, school, photographs…) Are these two unrelated parts really unrelated?

The end is terrifying.

 

Now, this collection:

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And its first book:

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My wife bought me this book:

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Edited by ducon

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I read this one:

arton1572-1a5b4.png?1643276897

 

A good summary of golden ratio facts, but a few of them are not here (for example writing integers as sum of non-following powers of phi). A bit too much enthusiast, a bit false sometimes (no, phi is not 1.618, it’s just a goos approximation).

 

Now, the next one:

arton1550-d46b5.png?1643280025

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Returning with a new read. I just started reading "sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen" or "thus spoke Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche. Although not a loyal enjoyer of his works, it doesn't hurt to read another of his books.

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I read this one:

arton1550-d46b5.png?1643280025

It explains correctly a lot of ciphers (Cæsar, Hill, Vigenere, RSA…) but there are two small errors:

  1. φ(n) is not the set of the numbers relatively primes to n, it’s its cardinal.
  2. 204235[371] is not that hard to compute: it’s even doable by hand (because it’s modulo 371).

Anyway, the book is interesting and a good initiation for cryptography (but there is nothing about secret sharing).

And now:

arton1590-0b5d7.png?1643279059

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Re-reading Brimstone Angels second trilogy by Erin M. Evans. They're fantastic and my favorite saga of the Forgotten Realms (which is not hard, most D&D books are whack). 

 

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I read this book:

arton1590-0b5d7.png?1643279059

In search of a formula that gives all the primes numbers.

Too bad, there is no such formula even if Riemann (with is hypothesis) or Euler with his polynomials found ideas in order to find one.

Oh, there is (1−[w.z+h+j−q]²−[2.n+p+q+z−e]²−[a².y²−y²+1−x²]²−[e³.(e+2).(a+1)²+1−o²]²−[16.(k+1)3.(k+2).(n+1)²+1−f²]²−[((a+u².(u²−a))²−1).(n+4.d.y)²+1−(x+c.u)²]²−[a.i+k+1−l−i]²−[(g.k+2.g+k+1).(h+j)+h−z]²−[16.r².y⁴.(a²−1)+1−u²]²−[p−m+l.(a−n−1)+b.(2.a.n+2.a−n²−2.n−2)]²−[z−p.m+p.l.a−p²l+t.(2.a.p−p²−1)]²−[q−x+y.(a−p−1)+s.(2.a.p+2.a−p²−2.p−2)]²−[a².l²−l²+1−m²]²−[n+l+v−y]²).(k + 2) where a, b, c, …, z are integers and the value is positive (if it’s negative, forget it).

 

Now, this one:

arton1597-d61d5.png?1643283822

Edited by ducon

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Almost done with Masters of Doom (74% through according to my kindle), wanted to read it since forever but was unable to find it on spanish. I decided to give it a try on english. So far it has been an interesting read, but was expecting something more detailed in some aspects. If you are interested in Doom it may be an obligatory read to understand the early days of Id and the impact of their games on the pc market.

 

I started reading The Woman in the Dunes today for a Book Club we have at work. I saw the movie 5 years ago on a japanese movie festival and enjoyed it a lot. Have great expectations for it. 

Edited by Garlichead

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