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I'm looking for (a) good book(s) on Napoleon with a focus on political,legal,economical,social and military topics.
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Oct 13, 2009 13:32
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Groen posted:I'm looking for (a) good book(s) on Napoleon with a focus on political,legal,economical,social and military topics. Well since that focus isn't actually a focus, this is one of the better books I've read on France under Napoleon in general: The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It
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Oct 14, 2009 06:54
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Hey guys Im looking for a book about Anarchism I got my eye on The Anarchist Manifesto by Anselme Bellegarrigue Is this a good place to start? As its the first (i think) it might be 'Ye Olde' and stuff 
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Oct 14, 2009 12:58
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1830 posted:Recently, I am getting into Buddhism and would like a book that can be used as a primer into the religion, on practice, basic teachings and morals. Buddhism for beginners, I suppose. Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche It's wonderful, modern, and easy to read.
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Oct 16, 2009 00:06
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Let's say I wanted to look into reading some modern fantasy. In big book stores, all the covers and titles kind of blend together for me...you know, there's a sexy elf lady wizard and it's called something like 'The Shores of Moonstone' or somesuch. So, what's up with fantasy these days? Where would you even start? I'm not even sure if I'm asking the right questions, actually. When I was a young D&D nerdling I thought it was all about Drizzt and Wulfgar and The Hobbit and LOTR, and that's what fantasy books were. Is it still like that? Or is the genre stretching and changing some? Part of the reason I'm asking is because I'm reading this which contains a story called "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe" by Garth Nix, which was kind of elf-wizardy and kind of like sci-fi too.
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Oct 19, 2009 08:47
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TremendousMajestic posted:Let's say I wanted to look into reading some modern fantasy. In big book stores, all the covers and titles kind of blend together for me...you know, there's a sexy elf lady wizard and it's called something like 'The Shores of Moonstone' or somesuch. Gonna go ahead and pimp Joe Abercrombie. His first four books came in out within in just over three years and he's working hard on number 5 so you ain't getting into no GRRM situation. He's got a trilogy with a standalone novel in the same world that continues the major conflict of the trilogy, the new novel following that same pattern. It's gritty and funny and violent and the characters are loving awesome.
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Oct 20, 2009 07:05
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Anyone know of any good modern books set in ancient Greece? Adventure preferable over drama/war, and grounded in reality preferable over mythical, but I'm open to anything if it sounds good. e: Roman is fine too, but for some reason doesn't seem as appealing.
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Oct 20, 2009 21:01
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feedmyleg posted:Anyone know of any good modern books set in ancient Greece? Adventure preferable over drama/war, and grounded in reality preferable over mythical, but I'm open to anything if it sounds good. If by "modern" you mean "written in the last fifty years", I would recommend Gene Wolfe's Latro in the Mist. While it has mythical elements, it's also solidly grounded in history. In particular, Wolfe's description of what a bunch of totalitarian bastards the Spartans really were is very refreshing, especially after Miller's "300" and Pressfield's "Gates of Fire".
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Oct 20, 2009 21:29
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Ponuh posted:This might be a bit too esoteric a request for this thread but I'm looking for a good, substantial although sub-monstrous history of the Soviet Union, or a few. Thanks kindly. Just requested The Soviet Experiment from my library. However, I'm looking for something in a related but somewhat different vein. I'd like to find a memoir-type book about growing up during the late Soviet era. Not something particularly political or macro-scale like Lenin's Tomb (which I realize isn't a memoir), but more like "This is what everyday life was like for a kid or young person in the USSR in the 70s/80s/90s." Stuff like school, home life, Pioneer summer camps, etc. A while back, I read something along similar lines called Zonenkinder, which was basically a memoir of growing up in East Germany in the 80s and was divided into chapters like "School," "Friends," "Dating," "Shopping/Consumer Goods," etc. That's pretty specific, but I'm also open to suggestions that don't meet these exact criteria 100%.
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Oct 22, 2009 21:25
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I would like a recommendation for one of these books that I have to read for school. I am NOT looking for the "easiest" to read, but one that I can enjoy the most, and hopefully make me think. The choices are: Crime and Punishment A Hundred Years of Solitude Siddhartha VVV Alright, One hundred Years it is! Argona fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Oct 23, 2009 |
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Oct 23, 2009 00:36
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saahil92 posted:A Hundred Years of Solitude Crime and Punishment re-hashes the same thing for 300 pages and I'm biased against Siddhartha because I think Hesse wrote much better books. Hundred Years really lives up to the reputation as one of the best novels of all time.
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Oct 23, 2009 09:35
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Can anyone recommend me books about Lebanon, more specifically the Lebanese civil war and books about Bashir/Bachir Gemayel, his friends, enemies, I don't know. I'm sure there are a lot of books at least about the civil war, but I'd like to narrow it down to obviously the better reads (I can live with dry reads too). Also any book about "the Oriental" is welcome. Do note that I'm in the middle of Thomas L. Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem and I can gladly recommend it to anyone else interested in these topics, and I've read Edward Said's Orientalism which is also a good book about, well, Orientalists.
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Oct 23, 2009 11:26
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So I've been replaying Assassin's Creed recently, and it's whetted my interest in the Crusades and the Holy Land. I'm looking for something, preferably historical fiction or non-fiction with a good feel for what it was like to live in that setting, set in the Holy Land in that general time period.
Lord Hydronium fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Oct 23, 2009 |
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Oct 23, 2009 22:19
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I'm looking for dystopias/utopias that focus on the civilization and societal aspects. 1984, Brave New World, Walden II, (and though I haven't read it, I think it fits) Atlas Shrugged. What I'm NOT looking for are post-apocalyptic dystopias like McCarthy's The Road or Aldous Huxley's Ape and Essence. Suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Oct 26, 2009 00:15
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reflir posted:I'm looking for dystopias/utopias that focus on the civilization and societal aspects. 1984, Brave New World, Walden II, (and though I haven't read it, I think it fits) Atlas Shrugged. What I'm NOT looking for are post-apocalyptic dystopias like McCarthy's The Road or Aldous Huxley's Ape and Essence. Suggestions would be much appreciated. Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury), We (Yevgeny Zamyatin), and Anthem (Rand) are the first dystopias that spring to mind. On the utopia-ish side of things, you could try some of Ursula Le Guin's Hainish Cycle Books, particularly The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, and The Telling. Changing Planes (Le Guin also) is a collection of short stories in a very similar vein. If you're not too big on Le Guin, David Brin's Glory Season may work but your mileage may vary on how dys/utopian it seems.
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Oct 26, 2009 02:20
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I just finished my stack of reading from the summer, so now I need more. It was mainly stuff from another recommendation thread (I think, I can't really remember) but among it it was Snow Crash, Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? If there's any more along the same lines that someone could recommend that'd be great. I'd also be interested in some more science non-fiction. I read Demon-Haunted World so I'm looking at getting Cosmos or Pale Blue Dot or possibly both, but I'd also like some recommendations so I can check out some other authors. For instance, where's a good spot to start with Richard Dawkins? Lastly, I want to start reading some comedy. I don't really know what I'm looking for, but I'm pretty open. I have a pretty dry, sarcastic sense of humor if that helps any.
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Oct 26, 2009 06:06
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I have recently read: American Psycho, The Third Policeman, Don Quixote, House of Leaves, and Pale Fire. Recommend me a new book to buy. I generally like books that are easy to read, but difficult to fully grasp. edit: I SAID LISTEN posted:words Comedy words The Third Policeman was hilarious. I was reading it in study period when I laughed out loud for a good 2 minutes. mastercon12 fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Oct 26, 2009 |
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Oct 26, 2009 06:28
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I SAID LISTEN posted:I'd also be interested in some more science non-fiction. I read Demon-Haunted World so I'm looking at getting Cosmos or Pale Blue Dot or possibly both, but I'd also like some recommendations so I can check out some other authors. For instance, where's a good spot to start with Richard Dawkins? In a different sort of book, there's A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Bryson isn't a scientist, and it can show—some coverage of specific subjects is unfortunately superficial or glib. But I generally enjoy his style of writing, and the stories of how various scientific discoveries were made and the progression of science in general, which is really the meat of the book, are well told and interesting.
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Oct 26, 2009 07:57
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reflir posted:I'm looking for dystopias/utopias that focus on the civilization and societal aspects. 1984, Brave New World, Walden II, (and though I haven't read it, I think it fits) Atlas Shrugged. What I'm NOT looking for are post-apocalyptic dystopias like McCarthy's The Road or Aldous Huxley's Ape and Essence. Suggestions would be much appreciated. Mark Adlard's Interface. Jack Vance's Alastor: Wyst and To Live Forever. I would also recommend Bernard Wolfe's Limbo and David R. Bunch's Moderan but they have post-apocalyptic aspects. mastercon12 posted:I have recently read: American Psycho, The Third Policeman, Don Quixote, House of Leaves, and Pale Fire. Recommend me a new book to buy. I generally like books that are easy to read, but difficult to fully grasp. If you liked "The Third Policeman", try to find a copy of R. A. Lafferty's The Devil is Dead.
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Oct 26, 2009 08:25
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I'm interested in reading some fiction taking place in Alaska. Any suggestions?
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Oct 26, 2009 11:39
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northerain posted:I'm interested in reading some fiction taking place in Alaska. Any suggestions? Is this what you're looking for?
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Oct 26, 2009 15:43
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Just finished The Farseer Trilogy and enojoyed it a lot. Has anyone read the follow up Tawny Man Trilogy, is it worth a read and on par with Farseer Trilogy?
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Oct 26, 2009 18:17
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Good Guy Chucky posted:Just finished The Farseer Trilogy and enojoyed it a lot. I thought it was on both counts.
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Oct 26, 2009 19:57
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Casimir Radon posted:Is this what you're looking for? No 
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Oct 26, 2009 21:17
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My favorites: Hemingway, Hesse, Eggers, Neal Stephenson, Dostoevsky, George R. R. Martin, Keroac. I enjoy terse journalist-style prose, fiction of course, and equal parts introspection and entertainment. I don't usually bother with things coming from a religious perspective. I've run the well pretty dry on the above authors, as well as much of the mainstream beat, existentialist, and cyberpunk authors. Is there anyone with similar tastes? Can you guys lead me toward the next book that is going to entertain me, while asking questions I haven't heard?
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Oct 26, 2009 21:42
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northerain posted:No
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Oct 26, 2009 21:44
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mastercon12 posted:The Third Policeman was hilarious. I was reading it in study period when I laughed out loud for a good 2 minutes.
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Oct 26, 2009 22:13
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northerain posted:I'm interested in reading some fiction taking place in Alaska. Any suggestions? It's not fiction, but John McPhee's Coming into the Country is supposed to be really good.
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Oct 27, 2009 05:42
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I was wondering if someone could recommend some good and possible entertaining books on British history. I am patriotically interested in Medieval period stuff but anything about Britain will do. Also anything about British life and culture, as It is looking more and more like reading about it is as close as I will come to visiting.
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Oct 27, 2009 06:17
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Cap. Monocle posted:I was wondering if someone could recommend some good and possible entertaining books on British history. I am patriotically interested in Medieval period stuff but anything about Britain will do. Also anything about British life and culture, as It is looking more and more like reading about it is as close as I will come to visiting. Terry Jones's Medieval Lives is a good introduction to the era, a useful corrective to some of the more persistent myths. It's an entertaining read. Another breezy read is Robert Lacey's Year 1000, which surveys the world view of people from that era. Not as breezy but much better written is Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, which is about 14th century France, not England. But hey, that's where all the action was in the late medieval. This book is regarded as a classic, as is Trevelyan's English Social History, which also may interest you.
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Oct 27, 2009 06:33
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Thanks I will head to the library tomorrow and look about them. I read Lacey's Great Tales of British History and really liked it, so i will definitely be looking at Year 1000. I appreciate the help
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Oct 27, 2009 08:11
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I SAID LISTEN posted:I just finished my stack of reading from the summer, so now I need more. It was mainly stuff from another recommendation thread (I think, I can't really remember) but among it it was Snow Crash, Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? If there's any more along the same lines that someone could recommend that'd be great. If you're cool with comic books, Transmetropolitan is a great cyberpunk comic that spanned about 60 issues (10 trade paperbacks.). Neal Stephenson and William Gibson have both written more cyberpunk, Gibson making a couple direct sequels to Neuromancer, and Stephenson having written Diamond Age and Anathem, of which I can only recommend Diamond Age as I've been lazy and haven't ordered the latter.
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Oct 27, 2009 09:02
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Qutri posted:Can anyone recommend me books about Lebanon, more specifically the Lebanese civil war and books about Bashir/Bachir Gemayel, his friends, enemies, I don't know. I'm sure there are a lot of books at least about the civil war, but I'd like to narrow it down to obviously the better reads (I can live with dry reads too). Sorry this is a little late, but the only answer for you is Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation. Fisk was a journalist in Lebanon and basically lived through the entire conflict. It's a great work and a great companion to Friedman. I actually don't really like Friedman that much, but Orientalism is pretty much one of the most important works of thought in any field in the last 30 years, so I guess we're even. Also, incidentally, I'm reading a great fiction book at the moment called The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine, which basically retells the story of a Druze family living in Beirut throughout the conflict and dealing with it's aftermath.
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Oct 27, 2009 16:40
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northerain posted:I'm interested in reading some fiction taking place in Alaska. Any suggestions? "Drop City" by TC Boyle involved a hippie commune moving to Alaska. It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember it being entertaining, at least.
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Oct 29, 2009 05:28
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Any suggestions on stories involving "humanized" gods, kinda along the lines of American Gods by Gaiman, Small Gods by Pratchett, or the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony (lovely author, neat idea)?
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Oct 29, 2009 07:59
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Archilochos posted:Sorry this is a little late, but the only answer for you is Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation. Fisk was a journalist in Lebanon and basically lived through the entire conflict. It's a great work and a great companion to Friedman. I actually don't really like Friedman that much, but Orientalism is pretty much one of the most important works of thought in any field in the last 30 years, so I guess we're even. Both sound great, thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!
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Oct 29, 2009 10:49
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Soth posted:If you're cool with comic books, Transmetropolitan is a great cyberpunk comic that spanned about 60 issues (10 trade paperbacks.). Neal Stephenson and William Gibson have both written more cyberpunk, Gibson making a couple direct sequels to Neuromancer, and Stephenson having written Diamond Age and Anathem, of which I can only recommend Diamond Age as I've been lazy and haven't ordered the latter. Anathem is fantastic, but it really isn't cyberpunk at all.
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Oct 29, 2009 21:04
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TheTarrasque posted:Any suggestions on stories involving "humanized" gods, kinda along the lines of American Gods by Gaiman, Small Gods by Pratchett, or the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony (lovely author, neat idea)? Have you ever read Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett?
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Oct 30, 2009 13:24
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TheTarrasque posted:Any suggestions on stories involving "humanized" gods, kinda along the lines of American Gods by Gaiman, Small Gods by Pratchett, or the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony (lovely author, neat idea)? I don't want to sound snarky but... the gospels?
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Oct 30, 2009 15:38
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I recently read Blood Meridian. Then reread. And then once again. I 
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