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silicone thrills posted:recently read Ministry for the Future and I think the writer had some good ideas re: Children of Kali. But bad ideas around blockchain. I went into it hearing about how it was insanely bleak and doomerish but my takeaway was that it was practically utopianist lol I liked it a lot but it sort of lost the thread at about the halfway mark, but I'd still recommend it because it wasn't bad or anything and it's not a genre where you're likely to find much that acknowledges class warfare and imperialism AnimeIsTrash posted:Also lmao you were the guy who was upset that the naxalites were engaged in a war with the Indian state. Huh? There's other posters with truckin and fuckin jesus did you mean one of them
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Jun 26, 2021 23:30
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oh yeah and it's my role in these threads to heartily recommend any and all Ursula K Le Guin, the only well known speculative fiction or sci fi author who isn't a lunatic or sex pest. She's the greatest American author of all time. The Lathe of Heaven is a good place to start, short and punchy and a good introduction into her style and what she explores. Can't go wrong with The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed too
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Jun 26, 2021 23:40
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Epic High Five posted:Huh? There's other posters with truckin and fuckin jesus did you mean one of them I'm an idiot and misread a post you made.
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Jun 26, 2021 23:41
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AnimeIsTrash posted:I'm an idiot and misread a post you made. oh phew, I couldn't rule it out because I used to have some pretty dumb politics because I was coasting on default suburban kid mode (lib not chud at least) and was worried I had an exceptionally bad take years ago. Luckily I have since corrected my politics and they are now perfect. Books had a lot to do with it! As much as they get poo poo on book clubs can be good, it's pretty much the ideal way to work through Kapital at least
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Jun 26, 2021 23:43
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Epic High Five posted:oh phew, I couldn't rule it out because I used to have some pretty dumb politics because I was coasting on default suburban kid mode (lib not chud at least) and was worried I had an exceptionally bad take years ago. Man I grew up with rush limbaugh politics parents and slowly went from right wing and transitioned to lib then transitioned to communist over the last few years and I live in terror of people finding my old posts in DND where I was probably just being a complete moron shithead. Feelin this post so much.
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Jun 26, 2021 23:48
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all you leftists better be using public libraries, usage statistics help with funding and they're one of the last public institutions left plus, if you're a digital only person, most libraries have digital subscriptions to overdrive and hoopla so you can get stuff without leaving your cave not to mention libraries offer access to the times and the post through their sites so you don't have to fund the consent machines
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Jun 27, 2021 00:16
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Cloks posted:all you leftists better be using public libraries, usage statistics help with funding and they're one of the last public institutions left Oh yeah all the time, mine even has video games to check out
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Jun 27, 2021 00:18
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Cloks posted:all you leftists better be using public libraries, usage statistics help with funding and they're one of the last public institutions left I've been exclusively using overdrive/libby (SPL recently pushed me to switch to libby) It's good to remind folks that libraries are important.
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Jun 27, 2021 00:24
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silicone thrills posted:I've been exclusively using overdrive/libby (SPL recently pushed me to switch to libby) yeah! libraries also provide services to immigrant communities, help with job placement and library staff are commonly trained to administer narcan  (this is also bad because it speaks to the decline of public services in Amerikkka)
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Jun 27, 2021 00:28
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Cloks posted:yeah! It actually works out pretty well too because ill queue a bunch of stuff on hold so like Ministry for the Future was like a 6 week wait and made for love was like 9 weeks and then Three Body Problem was 13-14 weeks and it oddly worked out well for landing when I wanted to read them. It was usually faster than expected and then I have 21 days to read. Oh I also read the new Andy Weir book - Hail Mary in the last few weeks and that was better than I expected. IT was basically the Martian but like with a big ol gently caress humans bent after a point.
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Jun 27, 2021 00:39
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I recently read A Sport and A Pastime by James Salter, and now I'm slightly obsessed with it. Let me tell you about it. A couple disclaimers: A Sport and A Pastime is an erotic novel (no wait come back) and it falls pretty firmly into the category of "Cishet white dude smokes a lot, is world-weary and thinks about sex" which shouldn't be a genre but kinda is. The narrative centers on a love affair between a friend of the narrator and an 18 year old French girl. But while the story does heavily focus on two attractive people boning, it's practically the polar opposite of erotica. Instead it's a kaleidoscopic meditation on the stories we tell to make our lives tolerable. The narrator himself is an incel living in France in the 1960s. As he recounts the love affair, it becomes transparently obvious that there is no way he could actually have knowledge of what he is describing; he then explicitly tells the reader that he is inventing the details of the affair out of his own perceived inadequacies halfway through the book. Everywhere in the novel there are uphappy relationships and people broadcasting their reasons for staying in those relationships. But since our narrator has his own massive sexual hang-ups and pretty clearly a liar, how much of these are true and how much is his own magnifications? Salter is fantastic at being very terse and keeping everything ambiguous. It's a short read (about 300 pages) and it's definitely something that will leave you wanting to read it multiple times.
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Jun 27, 2021 02:29
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silicone thrills posted:I've been exclusively using overdrive/libby (SPL recently pushed me to switch to libby) Overdrive/libby are pretty great although I hate their interfaces. My family back in India use my old library account since I moved from the east coast. Is there anyway to dedrm the books you get from libby/overdrive?
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Jun 27, 2021 02:36
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AnimeIsTrash posted:Overdrive/libby are pretty great although I hate their interfaces. My family back in India use my old library account since I moved from the east coast. depends on the DRM being used, but usually yes, Calibre has a plugin to do it even, basically you enable the plugin then export a copy of the book and it strips the DRM, i've done it a few times myself and its really easy, but sometimes the latest DRM version isn't cracked yet. edit: not sure if Overdrive/libby use some kinda proprietary file format tho. Maybe borrow the book from your library site, then grab the cracked version from libg*n
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Jun 27, 2021 03:10
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Pentecoastal Elites posted:sci fi Not sure if you're going for a pulpier era of sci fi with your picks, but one that I don't see recommended enough is Dawn by Octavia Butler. Read it not too long ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. Aside from being cpam as gently caress it's exceptionally well written, and checks all the boxes that I (personally) am after when looking for good sci fi.
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Jun 27, 2021 03:42
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Pentecoastal Elites posted:every fuckin sci fi author is a sex weirdo. in 2312 most humans are hermaphrodite (i forget why, it's very fluid in the future) and two characters bone and do a sex move called THE DOUBLE KEY AND LOCK
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Jun 27, 2021 03:46
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Epic High Five posted:its real good OP, and for any failings it has it's the first work I've stumbled across that really laid out the case that capitalist enclosure is still roaring strong but it's focused on the perception of what is even possible. It's great to recommend to people for the same reason it's good to ask them stuff like "why are we boasting about going to the moon being the next big accomplishment when we did it 70 years ago with pocket calculators" or "if public libraries didn't exist today, do you think it would be possible to make them?" i can't even fathom someone building a bridge
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Jun 27, 2021 04:04
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Libby has been dope but I moved during the pandemic and haven't been able to get a library card where I live now since it's still not available. I'll be in that rear end day 1 though. been reading Ghost Wars about CIA and Pakistani intelligence cooperation during the soviet war era and the propping up of the taliban in the interim before 9/11. this kind of dry day by day reporting of American imperialism is always fascinating to me bc most people involved in us intelligence decision making seem like extremely dumb assholes.
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Jun 27, 2021 04:09
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In Training posted:i can't even fathom someone building a bridge Building interstate interchanges is what loads of public infrastructure goes to actually
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Jun 27, 2021 06:11
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smarxist posted:in 2312 most humans are hermaphrodite (i forget why, it's very fluid in the future) and two characters bone and do a sex move called THE DOUBLE KEY AND LOCK
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Jun 27, 2021 06:20
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Cloks posted:all you leftists better be using public libraries, usage statistics help with funding and they're one of the last public institutions left shout out to Seattle public library, i love you also shout out to https://betterworldbooks.com/ they sell used library books and it's the only place I buy books from other than ebay or the local bookstores
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Jun 27, 2021 06:28
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I think im gonna reread The Female Man again soon, it's very good
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Jun 27, 2021 06:30
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As a general rule, any book that has been turned into a lame and boring movie like Solaris or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is extremely worth reading. Roadside Picnic also counts because STALKER does it zero justice and just turns the setting into a lovely theme park
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Jun 27, 2021 06:33
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the Helliconia trilogy was the best book series I've ever read, the Vorkosigan Saga and everything else by Lois Bujold is good too. oh, and for Fantasy, K.J Parker.
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Jun 27, 2021 06:40
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Epic High Five posted:As a general rule, any book that has been turned into a lame and boring movie like Solaris or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is extremely worth reading. Roadside Picnic also counts because STALKER does it zero justice and just turns the setting into a lovely theme park the stalker movie and video games are both very good and excellent additions to the original work, kind of good examples of how different media can take an idea and express it differently like no one's going to want to play a game about a messed up Russian dad and his mutagenic monkey child unless it's presented with lots of guns or weirdness
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Jun 27, 2021 06:59
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my bony fealty posted:the stalker movie and video games are both very good and excellent additions to the original work, kind of good examples of how different media can take an idea and express it differently I'd play that game way before I played an awkard shooter that is basically "SCP but you're supposed to take it seriously" of the game type where anybody praising it is praising heavily modded versions ala New Vegas
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Jun 27, 2021 07:01
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Adjectivist Philosophy posted:Not sure if you're going for a pulpier era of sci fi with your picks, but one that I don't see recommended enough is Dawn by Octavia Butler. Read it not too long ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. Aside from being cpam as gently caress it's exceptionally well written, and checks all the boxes that I (personally) am after when looking for good sci fi. I should check that out, I liked the other stuff I've read- Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Bloodchild in particular is a short story that really stuck with me- pretty sure it's available online
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Jun 27, 2021 07:06
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Epic High Five posted:I'd play that game way before I played an awkard shooter that is basically "SCP but you're supposed to take it seriously" of the game type where anybody praising it is praising heavily modded versions ala New Vegas id play shadow of chernobyl vanilla over pretty much any other game, it's a real masterpiece
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Jun 27, 2021 07:13
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part of me is still in a 'what the gently caress happened' sort of zone regarding 2020, particularly the election and aftermath. so much happened. seems like Michael C. Bender's new book Frankly, We Did Win This Election might be worth reading. there are a slew of 'Trump 2020 autopsy' books coming out next month so it is a little tricky to decide (Landslide by Michael Wolff, I Alone Can Fix It by Carol Leonnig) if I remember I'll report back ITT which one I got and if it has any new info we cspam junkees didn't know
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Jun 27, 2021 16:56
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Ann Leckie is the only writer who's made a Sci-fi book worth reading in the last decade. Her weird fantasy book is also good.
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Jun 27, 2021 17:18
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smarxist posted:in 2312 most humans are hermaphrodite (i forget why, it's very fluid in the future) and two characters bone and do a sex move called THE DOUBLE KEY AND LOCK thats whats up Adjectivist Philosophy posted:Not sure if you're going for a pulpier era of sci fi with your picks, but one that I don't see recommended enough is Dawn by Octavia Butler. Read it not too long ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. Aside from being cpam as gently caress it's exceptionally well written, and checks all the boxes that I (personally) am after when looking for good sci fi. I'll check it out -- thanks!
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Jun 27, 2021 18:39
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Anyone who wants to get some pure strain crack ping around the current climate situation will probably enjoy - The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen. I binged it over a few days and particularly enjoyed the Permian Extinction section and how that relates to how much methane and CO2 being pumped into the air right now. His writing style is pretty catchy for a subject that is technically fairly dry. silicone thrills has issued a correction as of 03:18 on Jun 28, 2021 |
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Jun 27, 2021 21:45
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silicone thrills posted:Anyone who wants to get some pure strain crack ping around the current climate situation will probably enjoy - The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Kalmus. I binged it over a few days and particularly enjoyed the Permian Extinction section and how that relates to how much methane and CO2 being pumped into the air right now. on a scale of 1 to climate change thread, how much of a crack ping are we talking about here?
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Jun 27, 2021 23:02
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Deep Dish Fuckfest posted:on a scale of 1 to climate change thread, how much of a crack ping are we talking about here? Climate change thread + 5 I thought I was pretty well fully in the "can't be surprised by anything at this point" and this got me cackling
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Jun 27, 2021 23:16
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ah, excellent. i'll add it to the ol' reading list, a decision which i will certainly not come to regret
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Jun 27, 2021 23:28
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To add to the librarychat, chances are that you can have access to your local university/colleges library. There are two colleges in my city, one public and one private, and both allow you to have a library card if you reside in the county. You might be surprised by what you find. The public university had full editions of Marx and Engels Collected Works and the Collected Works of Lenin.
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Jun 28, 2021 22:41
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smarxist posted:depends on the DRM being used, but usually yes, Calibre has a plugin to do it even, basically you enable the plugin then export a copy of the book and it strips the DRM, i've done it a few times myself and its really easy, but sometimes the latest DRM version isn't cracked yet. I looked into it, it looks they use some proprietary adobe stuff. Looks like you can use some adobe product to deadobe it, and then dedrm it via calibre. I didn't know that calibre could be used for dedrming so thanks for that. People have mentioned Jakarta Method, another good book in the same vein is Nick Turse's Kill Anything that Moves that documents the genocide committed by the US in Vietnam.
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Jun 28, 2021 22:43
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HashtagGirlboss posted:I was talking about the Jakarta method with a colleague just yesterday because he’d spent time in Indonesia. Anyway, I was talking about the individual experiences part and he says something like “if you want to read something that really puts the victims first you should read dikotter’s trilogy on China.” Anyway I started looking at them and the wrong people seem to really like them which obviously isn’t the end all/be all of the story but it has me pretty suspicious. Anyone read these? I’m actually pretty interested in a solid history of China in the mid 20th century but I’d prefer something that isn’t vastly one sided in any direction Not sure if anyone answered this. I'd consider them solid histories of China, though I did read them many years ago. From what I can recall the book on the Civil War is great, if not for being well written then because it is a fascinating period of human history. The later two books have the typical criticisms. Though if I remember right the blame for the famine of the Great Leap Forward goes to the woeful data higher-ups were receiving, due to a culture of needing to claim ever greater successes with crops at regional/sub-regional levels etc. That led them to make decisions which, in hindsight, should not have been made. I can't remember anything about the third book though, sadly. It finishes in the immediate aftermath of Mao's death. I'd give them a go and read with a critical eye until you get bored. They're certainly the best English language general histories of China I've read, though I used to pick up old paperbacks from the 70s in secondhand book sales, so the quality of scholarship Ive read has always been pretty bad.
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Jun 28, 2021 23:35
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:Ann Leckie is the only writer who's made a Sci-fi book worth reading in the last decade. I’ve been looking for something to read after I finish up The Left Hand of Darkness, and Leckie has come up a lot so I think I’m gonna take this as I sign I need to check out Ancillary Justice it’s either that or finally finishing Remembrance of Earth’s Past but I think I can wait on that some more
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Jun 29, 2021 15:49
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HashtagGirlboss posted:I was talking about the Jakarta method with a colleague just yesterday because he’d spent time in Indonesia. Anyway, I was talking about the individual experiences part and he says something like “if you want to read something that really puts the victims first you should read dikotter’s trilogy on China.” Anyway I started looking at them and the wrong people seem to really like them which obviously isn’t the end all/be all of the story but it has me pretty suspicious. Anyone read these? I’m actually pretty interested in a solid history of China in the mid 20th century but I’d prefer something that isn’t vastly one sided in any direction I haven't read Dikotter's books because from what I know his research is very suspect and he's endorsed wacko hitjobs like Chang and Halliday's biography of Mao. also this kind of thing https://twitter.com/nise_yoshimi/status/1333982949981650944?s=19
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Jun 29, 2021 16:37
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Ordinaire posted:I’ve been looking for something to read after I finish up The Left Hand of Darkness, and Leckie has come up a lot so I think I’m gonna take this as I sign I need to check out Ancillary Justice I didn't like remeberence of earth's past much past the first book tbh. Ancillary whatever is one of my favorite series ever, Ann Leckie pwns. It sucks that people hear about the main culture having a non gendered language and give up on it as some performative SJW bullshit because it gets used a genius way to make the protagonist stand out as non human but whatever.
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Jun 29, 2021 19:48
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