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Hedrigall posted:
Doesn't check every box but you may enjoy the comic Prophet, spearheaded by Brandon Graham - https://grubstreethack.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/book-review-prophet-remission/
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Aug 29, 2015 18:42
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Nerd alert for this question, but I'm enjoying the hell out of Wil Wheaton's RPG campaign show Titansgrave (if you like his other Youtube show, Tabletop, go watch this one!) and I especially dig the world they created for it, and I want to read novels set in worlds similar to it.
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Anthropology people: Can you recommend a good book that deals with gift economies. NO WOO! PLEASE! Seriously, I'm not looking for theories, I want to read about gift economies that actually exist/existed. I'm not interested in people waxing poetic about Gaia. TIA
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Aug 31, 2015 01:18
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Finished Wallace Breem's Eagle in The Snow and absolutely loved it, any recommendations for historical fiction that's similar to it in style?
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Aug 31, 2015 02:21
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Finished Wallace Breem's Eagle in The Snow and absolutely loved it, any recommendations for historical fiction that's similar to it in style? Tim Willocks' The Religion- It's about the Knights Hostpitaller holding out against the Muslim hordes in the seemingly hopeless siege of Malta. It's got awesome larger-than-life kickass characters, great descriptions of vicious violent battles and glorious heroic deeds, and an evocative bittersweetness about a dying breed in the Order of St John and the whole warrior monk way of life.
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Aug 31, 2015 03:52
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Not sure if this is the best place to ask but I recently watched the movie Selma and I've become really fascinated by the relationship between MLK and Malcolm X and the ways in which their views conflicted and I want to learn more. There are a million bios of both of them out there, but does anyone know of any good books that specifically delve into them both as a pair?
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Aug 31, 2015 06:24
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I just finished reading Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and really enjoyed them. Where should I go from here if I want to read more absurdist/existentialist stuff?
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Aug 31, 2015 13:49
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If you're not dead-set on plays, Italo Calvino did a lot in that vein, Invisible Cities gets mentioned a lot and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Borges does a nice shotgun spread of super-short stories, try Fictions. Flann O'Brien's At Swim Two Birds is really fun. Kafka of course, I'd probably pick a collection of short stories rather than any one novel.
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Aug 31, 2015 14:17
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Grey Elephants posted:I just finished reading Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and really enjoyed them. Where should I go from here if I want to read more absurdist/existentialist stuff? Camus is what you want. Start with The Stranger.
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Aug 31, 2015 14:38
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Grey Elephants posted:I just finished reading Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and really enjoyed them. Where should I go from here if I want to read more absurdist/existentialist stuff? Zoo Story. Also Camus' The Plague.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:05
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Grey Elephants posted:I just finished reading Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and really enjoyed them. Where should I go from here if I want to read more absurdist/existentialist stuff? If you're looking specifically for plays, I'd also suggest you check out Harold Pinter.
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Aug 31, 2015 18:36
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Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl is on sale on Kindle for $3. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Short, inspiring read.
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Aug 31, 2015 22:20
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savinhill posted:Tim Willocks' The Religion- It's about the Knights Hostpitaller holding out against the Muslim hordes in the seemingly hopeless siege of Malta. It's got awesome larger-than-life kickass characters, great descriptions of vicious violent battles and glorious heroic deeds, and an evocative bittersweetness about a dying breed in the Order of St John and the whole warrior monk way of life. Thanks for the recommendation, been hearing a lot of good things about it though it seems strange that the sequel is out of print in the U.S. Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Aug 31, 2015 |
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Aug 31, 2015 23:31
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Selachian posted:If you're looking specifically for plays, I'd also suggest you check out Harold Pinter. Oh, man, Pinter, that's perfect. I think his classic is The Birthday Party? There are a few filmed versions online too, including this 80s BBC one that I quite liked.
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Aug 31, 2015 23:44
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Mr. Squishy posted:Oh, man, Pinter, that's perfect. I think his classic is The Birthday Party? There are a few filmed versions online too, including this 80s BBC one that I quite liked. Back in the day, I remember being creeped the hell out by a TV adaptation of The Dumb Waiter featuring, of all people, John Travolta.
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Aug 31, 2015 23:58
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I just finished Cryptonomicon and enjoyed all the pseudoeducational parts and strongly disliked the thin characters, convoluted story, and creepy attitudes about sex and race. I also liked The Martian. What else can I read that will make me feel a little smarter at the end, but isn't a textbook?
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Sep 1, 2015 00:25
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Gravity's Rainbow, (or any other Pynchon). Anything by David Foster Wallace.
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Sep 1, 2015 00:54
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Thanks for the recommendation, been hearing a lot of good things about it though it seems strange that the sequel is out of print in the U.S. Yeah, I don't know what the deal with that is, probably just one of those times where a writer gets screwed over in a messy situation with whatever publisher they're contracted with. As far as enjoying The Religion, it doesn't matter though, it's a complete story onto itself and I wasn't even aware that there was a sequel until I went to rate it on Goodreads when I was finished.
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Sep 1, 2015 03:50
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turevidar posted:I just finished Cryptonomicon and enjoyed all the pseudoeducational parts and strongly disliked the thin characters, convoluted story, and creepy attitudes about sex and race. I also liked The Martian. What else can I read that will make me feel a little smarter at the end, but isn't a textbook? Read a book by and about a poor black person or a person living in squalor in Bangladesh or anything like that. You'll definitely grow.
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Sep 1, 2015 05:06
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blue squares posted:Read a book by and about a poor black person or a person living in squalor in Bangladesh or anything like that. You'll definitely grow. This but unironically. Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers is great
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Sep 1, 2015 07:10
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The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is very good for that too.
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Sep 1, 2015 07:32
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turevidar posted:I just finished Cryptonomicon and enjoyed all the pseudoeducational parts and strongly disliked the thin characters, convoluted story, and creepy attitudes about sex and race. I also liked The Martian. What else can I read that will make me feel a little smarter at the end, but isn't a textbook? If you're up for non-fiction, anything by Douglas Hofstadter or Carl Sagan. Very different writers and different subjects, both both have a way of educating you and making you think while being interesting and entertaining.
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Sep 1, 2015 07:33
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Goons, recommend me a biography. Edit: Kindle availability an advantage.
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Sep 2, 2015 12:48
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Groke posted:Goons, recommend me a biography. In search of lost time
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Sep 2, 2015 12:59
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Groke posted:Goons, recommend me a biography. Ian Kershaw's Hitler.
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Sep 2, 2015 13:30
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Groke posted:Goons, recommend me a biography. Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
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Sep 2, 2015 14:59
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Groke posted:Goons, recommend me a biography. David Cordingly's Cochrane was a genius on the seas, a fuckup on land, and a character everywhere he went. quote:In this fascinating account of Thomas Cochrane's extraordinary life, David Cordingly (Under the Black Flag and The Billy Ruffian) unearths startling new details about the real-life "Master and Commander"-from his heroic battles against the French navy to his role in the liberation of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and the stock exchange scandal that forced him out of England and almost ended his naval career. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, his own travels, wide reading, and original research, Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of the archetypal Romantic hero who conquered the seas and, in the process, defined his era. Janet Browne's magisterial Charles Darwin: The Power of Place is the final volume of her 2 volume bio of Charles Darwin, covering his sedentary years of scientific high productivity. quote:In her account of this second half of Darwin’s life, Janet Browne does dramatic justice to all aspects of the Darwinian revolution, from a fascinating examination of the Victorian publishing scene to a survey of the often furious debates between scientists and churchmen over evolutionary theory. At the same time, she presents a wonderfully sympathetic and authoritative picture of Darwin himself right through the heart of the Darwinian revolution, busily sending and receiving letters, pursuing research on subjects that fascinated him (climbing plants, earthworms, pigeons—and, of course, the nature of evolution), writing books, and contending with his mysterious, intractable ill health. Thanks to Browne’s unparalleled command of the scientific and scholarly sources, we ultimately see Darwin more clearly than we ever have before, a man confirmed in greatness but endearingly human. Joel Harrington's The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century. quote:In a dusty German bookshop, the noted historian Joel F. Harrington stumbled upon a remarkable document: the journal of a sixteenth-century executioner. The journal gave an account of the 394 people Meister Frantz Schmidt executed, and the hundreds more he tortured, flogged, or disfigured for more than forty-five years in the city of Nuremberg. But the portrait of Schmidt that gradually emerged was not that of a monster. Could a man who practiced such cruelty also be insightful, compassionate--even progressive? The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss. quote:General Alex Dumas, is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. But, hidden behind General Dumas's swashbuckling adventures was an even more incredible secret: he was the son of a black slave—who rose higher in the white world than any man of his race would before our own time. Born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Alex Dumas made his way to Paris, where he rose to command armies at the height of the Revolution—until he met an implacable enemy he could not defeat. Mark Bostridge's Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend quote:As the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal and one that is permanently lodged in our national consciousness. But the awesome scale of her achievements over the course of her 90 years is infinitely more troubling - and inspiring - than this mythical simplification.From her tireless campaigning and staggering intellectual abilities to her tortured relationship with her sister and her distressing medical condition, this vivid and immensely readable biography draws on a wealth of unpublished material and previously unseen family papers, disententagling the myth from the reality and reinvigorating with new life one of the most iconic figures in modern British history.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:31
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Mel Mudkiper posted:In search of lost time dont read this, it is the most over rated novel ever. Read part 1 if you are truly interested and then dont bother with the rest.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:41
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I read Scott Weidensaul's The First Frontier a couple years ago, and between that and hiking the hills of southern New York, I've developed a craving for books (historical novels and "westerns," preferably, but also non-fiction) on early contacts between Natives and European explorers/settlers on the East Coast, the Appalachians, and the Ohio country. Sort of like the Leatherstocking Tales, except I want good books, so don't give me anything by James Fenimore Cooper. Any suggestions? I've been through one or two of Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker books, and I would love more fantasy with a "first frontier" sort of setting, except, you know, NOT by Orson Scott Card.
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Sep 2, 2015 18:24
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TommyGun85 posted:dont read this, it is the most over rated novel ever. Read part 1 if you are truly interested and then dont bother with the rest. woosh
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Sep 2, 2015 18:46
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Just finished the first book of Ringo & Weber's Empire of Mankind series, March Upcountry, on the basis of a recommendation from way earlier in the thread. It has a bunch of space marines crashlanding on a hostile alien planet and marching/trading/fighting their way around the planet to a spaceport where they can fly home to earth. I really enjoyed the whole 'using modern knowledge with a primitive technology base to come up with better ships, guns, tactics' thing, and I've also really liked it in Charles Stross' Family Trade series and in A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Can anyone recommend other books which feature characters applying modern/future knowledge to a low-tech setting/period? Something else I really liked in March Upcountry (and which I'm liking in the sequel) is the way the characters approach problem-solving. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but I also really liked that element of The Martian. "Okay, so here's a really big problem, but I have an idea!" I guess what I'm actually talking about and looking for are books featuring very competent characters solving problems and overcoming adversity with smarts/science in general.
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Sep 2, 2015 22:26
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The only biography I can think of that i read recently was Ghost In The Wires, about Kevin Mitnick. If you have any interest in hacking/phreaking/social engineering/systems manipulation, it's a pretty wild ride.
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Sep 3, 2015 01:20
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Jack the Lad posted:Can anyone recommend other books which feature characters applying modern/future knowledge to a low-tech setting/period? I always liked The Lost Regiment series. An American Civil War regiment gets transported to an alien world where they encounter a society built around a medieval Russian culture and a race of giant aliens who harvest humans as their food.
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Sep 3, 2015 02:08
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dokmo posted:David Cordingly's Cochrane was a genius on the seas, a fuckup on land, and a character everywhere he went. All of these have gone on my to-read list. Dokmo, responding to requests with incredible quality in both the literature and NBA threads.
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Sep 3, 2015 02:50
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Jack the Lad posted:Just finished the first book of Ringo & Weber's Empire of Mankind series, March Upcountry, on the basis of a recommendation from way earlier in the thread. Sounds like you might enjoy Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard books (The Cross-Time Engineer, etc.) which are about a modern engineer who ends up in 1231 Poland and proceeds to get the Industrial Revolution under way a couple centuries early. I've only read the first four books in the series and they're decent; I hear it goes downhill after that.
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Sep 3, 2015 04:16
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dokmo posted:David Cordingly's Cochrane was a genius on the seas, a fuckup on land, and a character everywhere he went. These all sound great, thanks!
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Sep 3, 2015 04:44
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:These all sound great, thanks! Some quality advice there, going to read at least a couple of those.
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Sep 3, 2015 05:28
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Jack the Lad posted:Can anyone recommend other books which feature characters applying modern/future knowledge to a low-tech setting/period? The second and third books of Harrison's Deathworld Trilogy and Gordon Dickson's Dragon Knight series.
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Sep 3, 2015 10:46
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Jack the Lad posted:Can anyone recommend other books which feature characters applying modern/future knowledge to a low-tech setting/period? If you can get past the incredibly-cheesy-but-treated-seriously premise of "D&D players sucked into the world!" in Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series, it's actually a pretty well-written and compelling series of books in which people from the real world introduce modern stuff like gunpowder, steam engines and democracy into a generic high fantasy setting over the course of about 25 years.
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Sep 3, 2015 18:38
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So a friend of mind picked up this book and was extremely into it http://www.amazon.com/Petrodollar-Warfare-Iraq-Future-Dollar/dp/0865715149 The problem is it was written in 2005 and there's tons of stuff in the book about how the Euro is going to end American $ diplomacy and how China is rising to replace the US as the worlds biggest economy as well as poo poo citations and it being little more then a hardcore anti-Bush author. The book itself seems pretty poorly constructed, there are no citations, and a lot of the stuff the author predicts/uses in his arguments have been completely invalidated since the book was published. Are there any good semi-casual books covering similar topics published/updated recently given the turmoil with the world economy over the last 3 years especially with the struggling euro and China's economic malaise?
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Sep 4, 2015 00:28
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What's a good book about Magellan and his circumnavigation?
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Sep 6, 2015 22:17
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