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Jenny Agutter posted:Interesting, I take it it’s geared more towards creative writing than technical? Most definitely, but as someone who does a lot of technical writing as part of my job, I still think it's been useful for getting any kind of writing done. I feel that it makes writing a much more approachable task in general and helps me get over the initial hump of procrastination I get with big, daunting projects.
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Apr 18, 2023 14:43
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 Just finished this, it was really interesting and very well written, though the writer gets waaaaaayyyyy too involved with snake handling and empathizes with his subjects to a probably unprofessional degree. But it's still neat to read about these folks in a way that isn't just "lol look at these hosed up hicks doing hosed up hick stuff in the backcountry." Ecstatic religious experiences aren't something Catholic-lite folks like me end up having much experience with, it sounds... Really bizarre.
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Apr 19, 2023 12:26
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thunderdome winner
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Why don't Students Like School? I'm not a teacher but still found this fascinating, both the individual chapters and the overall approach. It's an extremely clearly written book which nevertheless has strong and specific advice about education which is broadly applicable. (As a bonus, if you were to google the title you may well be able to read it easily)
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Apr 20, 2023 11:13
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even though i did not understand a lot of it, i really liked Devil Take the Hindmost by Edward Chancellor. it is a book of historical financial speculation and scams. it seems particularly relevant with things like cryptocoin, nft's, &c.
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Apr 24, 2023 09:01
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Something interesting about non fiction books is that they are (in general) much higher quality than their author's other output (e.g. in newspaper's or especially on social media). It's probably some combination of the books being more thought through and being carefully edited but it's very noticeable. An example I'd give is George Monbiot's Feral. I'd previously only read his journalism and twitter feed and found them a bit hit and miss when talking about subject areas that I had some level of professional knowledge about, but that book had none of the same issues and was also much more interestingly written.
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Apr 24, 2023 12:59
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distortion park posted:Something interesting about non fiction books is that they are (in general) much higher quality than their author's other output (e.g. in newspaper's or especially on social media). It's probably some combination of the books being more thought through and being carefully edited but it's very noticeable. A good book editor is far more scrutinous than that of a periodical, by the nature of the requirements of their work.
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Apr 24, 2023 13:26
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Just finished reading The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher. Pretty disturbing look at what social media is doing to us as a species and how we are absolutely not doing a single thing about it.
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Apr 25, 2023 14:17
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clean ayers act posted:A Libertarian Walks into a Bear both this and Salt were BotM in the past if you want to get into others thoughts on these. I have just started How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan. If you haven't heard of it, this book is a journalistic accounting of the history and use of psychedelics (focusing on LSD, DMT, and psylocibin--MDMA being a different mechanism doesn't qualify but is also covered somewhat) focusing especially on its new resurgence as a tool in psychology and therapeutics. Also, apparently while researching the book the author, a journo, became so intrigued he became a participant, so its part documentary in the third person, partially in first. So far (50 odd pages in) its wonderfully written and pulls you along, and even though we are still in the early stages of scene setting by covering the discovery and early use of psychedelics in therapy up to being listed class I and the early cracks in the walls to present day experimentation I am hooked.
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Apr 26, 2023 15:58
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https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Li...789029284&psc=1 This book kicked rear end and changed my mind on fungi.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:32
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The Desert and The Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast by Michael Scott Moore is a really cool read. A western journalist recounts what happened when the people he went to report on end up holding him hostage for almost 1000 days, as the title suggests. Even with the ending spoiled for you on page 1 (he survives to write the book) it still maintains a lot of suspense and interest the entire way through. I don’t want to spoil my favorite parts of the book with specifics, but there’s a lot of interesting social dynamics that are created between jailer and prisoner when they’re basically co-existing for that long. You also get these weird cultural exchanges between Moore, other captives, and the pirates since they’re essentially idle for long periods of time. This takes place in the early 2010s so it’s fairly recent too. For those interested, there’s an audiobook version of it too (but see if your local library might have a digital audio copy first!) which is how I consumed the book. There’s also an interview between him and Joe Rogan (I know, I’m sorry) that’s a pretty stellar listen. Give it a shot!
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Apr 26, 2023 21:24
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 The Faithful Executioner - Life & Death, Honor & Shame in the turbulent Sixteenth Century by Joel F. Harrington I found out about this book from Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast. It follows the life of Frantz Schmidt, an Executioner who kept a diary of his work. It is an interesting insight into the mind of a man who doles out torture and death as his job. The book starts with Frantz learning the trade as his father's apprentice. Even though the hangman was an official part of the justice system, they were shunned by "Honourable" people, and lived as social outcasts. As his life goes on, Frantz works towards the goal of one day restoring honour to his family name. It's available on Audible, and it's super informative.
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Apr 27, 2023 11:33
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reading this currently: Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life i've never really looked into anything biology at all in my free time so it's been very interesting to read about evolution more. each chapter also ends with a dialogue with "Ifcha Mistabra", a creature who plays the role of devil advocate with the purpose of helping clarify the basic arguments, which is quite fun. The book is written from a neo-Lamarckian perspective, which is quite interesting. 
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Apr 28, 2023 16:57
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The Zombie Guy posted:
i grabbed this book, and i am super interested in it. thanks for the rec.
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Apr 30, 2023 12:42
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reposting from the book bran thread: For God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast - A pretty exhaustive history of the company through the lense of US/World history. This was a really interesting read! Started off a bit slow at first (the entire early history of the company can be summed up as lots of paperwork fuckery that isn't the most thrilling to sit through) but once the book got to the Depression era it got a lot more interesting IMO. For example, during World War 2, the company put up a massive marketing effort to keep troops supplied with Coke via mobile bottling stations. Imagine living through this world changing event and you're experiencing the horrors of war-torn Europe firsthand and your job all day is worrying about, like, syrup supply lines. And some of the Coke guys just hosed off and went to ski chalets instead lmao. I'm not really doing the book justice but its worth a read if you find the intersection of consumerism and cultural history interesting like I do.
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May 1, 2023 13:36
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Goth Odell Beckham posted:reposting from the book bran thread: Related to this, I just finished The Poison Squad!  This is about the development of the FDA and the early fights to prevent misleading or straight up toxic additives in food. From cocaine in Coca-Cola to formaldehyde in milk, Harvey Washington Wiley was fighting his whole life to make sure people a) knew what they were eating, and b) that it wasn't going to kill them. It's a really good look at what it takes to make regulation happen when there are 0 laws against poisoning people with preservatives, especially when most of those people are poor.
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May 1, 2023 14:13
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Chernobyl Princess posted:Related to this, I just finished The Poison Squad! This is really interesting and yeah the Coca Cola book has a good amount about the early days of consumer protections that I thought were fascinating. Thanks for the rec, I'll add it to my list.
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May 1, 2023 14:26
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Lawman 0 posted:https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Li...789029284&psc=1 I was a bit wary of this book because Robert MacFarlane makes Merlin sound so insufferable in the excellent-but-irritating Underland. Turns out that's just how MacFarlane rolls, everyone he interviews gets their quirks played up to the nth degree so he can bathe in their reflected specialness. Also see: Robert MacFarlane posted:There is something of the polar bear to Bjørnar: there in his powerful physique, his heftedness to the north (?? does this mean 'top-heavy' or is he fully erect), those white eyes, and of course in his name: Bjørnar, the Bear, from the Old Norse bjorn (wow thanks Robert). He is an intense, intelligent persence, a person you would want fighting for you and would dread as an enemy. <snip a bit> There is also a strong mystical streak to Bjørnar <snip> he looks through things: hard into them (fnarr) and right through them (FNARR) with those pale eyes of his. He looks through people <and on and on>" He goes on a similar but less weirdly homoerotic rant about how breathtakingly special Merlin Sheldrake is as they meet in the forest of the elves drinking cider made from Isaac Newton's tree. Actually though Entangled Life is really good and Merlin's own writing voice is about a tenth as smug as good ol Rob makes him sound. Content: despite not being a big military lore guy, I found On the Psychology of Military Incompetence pretty interesting as a dissection of how systems can produce poor leadership. It has a lot of focus on the British public school system as a factory of hosed up psychologies and failure
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May 1, 2023 16:20
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I love learning about the psychology of the br*t*sh.
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May 1, 2023 18:15
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