read any good books lately... |
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Toaster Mantis
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This is what I am reading right now: A very accessible and occasionally humourous walkthrough of all the folklore and urban legends that arose about WW2 when it was going on, also studying how all those tall tales evolved both through sociology and journalism. Since the author is British, the lion's share of the legends covered center on the UK, but he has clearly done his research on myths of both civilian and military origin. The release of quite a few formerly secret military intelligence documents allow him to finally clear up many of the latter.
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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TheProgtologist
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TheProgtologist
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Had to put aside the Dune book for a day or so,Simon R. Green just released his second volume of short stories.
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Atavachron
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"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy
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Toaster Mantis
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Current reading material:
I'm totally green when it comes to this entire meditation thing, and was recommended the book in question by another PA forumite as an intro. I'm somewhat suspicious of something this New Age-y, and get the impression that Selby has had to boil down the teaching of those "seven masters" to the extent he represents them very selectively if not in a way that's more his own teachings than those, but quite a few of the advice and exercises listed here have proven useful so far even if I'm not very far into the program yet. A book trying to explain through evolutionary psychology how people form their moral worldviews, and why the same processes result in very different convictions. I'm automatically suspicious of this kind of sociobiological literature because many of the resulting explanations give off a "too good to be true", not to mention that they usually turn out to be rooted in some serious stretches when the methodology is examined closer, but some of the studies he references and thoughts are very thought-provoking. I can see why some of my favourite philosophical bloggers like Scott Alexander and Sarah Perry are so fond of this book. I'm still not sure I buy them completely yet, though, and Haidt's way of thinking about political loyalties is extremely UK/US-centric even when he tries thinking outside those boxes. I've developed a fascination with the Cossacks over the last year, so I finally sat down to read a book about their history. It's really interesting how the Cossacks' social structures have changed over their lengthy history, showing both the influence of Central Asian steppe nomads and European feudalism as well as the third wheel of Russian attempts at modernization. That they in particular held on to a code derived from a mishmash of those two cultural worldviews, even by Eastern European standards, appears to have been a major source of political friction between the Cossack Hosts and the central Imperial Russian bureaucracy as it tried to Westernize its military. |
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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TheProgtologist
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TheProgtologist
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TheProgtologist
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TheProgtologist
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TheProgtologist
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Reminds me of the movie Memento.
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Toaster Mantis
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Got this as a Christmas present from my mom last year, and started reading earlier this week...
It's nominally a horror novel, certainly showing a strong influence in style and tone from Thomas Ligotti, but very hard to categorize in genre. Neither is Sterzinger's writing style anywhere as cerebral as Ligotti, being more free-flowing and at the same time rather blunt her prose also reminds me of André Gide had he been an Angry Young Man of 1950s Britain instead of a late-19th century French Symbolist. So far it seems to revolve around a suicidal man's diary that becomes a distant future society's main source of information about the 21st century, with the future parts being a framing device and footnotes to the diary entries. I also find it pretty curious when a female author writes a story narrated in first person by a rather misogynistic male character, I'm assuming this gender-role thematization to go somewhere later on, I'm approximately 1/3 through right now. |
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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The Truth
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^ I notice that you are a fine follower of Forteana, am I right, Toaster Mantis? Well if so, what is your opinion on the works of John Keel? The Mothman Prophecies was my favorite work for quite awhile until a read somewhere that he fabricates a lot of stuff. Which makes me sad. But I was thinking of giving another of his books a shot, Our Haunted Planet. Have you read him at all?
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Toaster Mantis
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I read The Haunted Planet and thought it was one of the most unintentionally hilarious books I've ever read. I've got a lengthy review of it over at GoodReads that explains why in details.
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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The Truth
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Just gave it a look, convinced me to give it a read for lulz.
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TeleStrat
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I'm half way through and so far it's very informative. If I stayed off the internet for awhile I could finish it.
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Svetonio
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dr wu23
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Read that one some years back and most of Keel's books about FORTEAN things.....don't recall it being unintentionally funny. I'll have to reread it. Getting ready to read Live and Let Drood by Simon Green and Alien Hunter by Whitley Strieber.....both sci-fi more or less..
Edited by dr wu23 - February 08 2015 at 09:25 |
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin |
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TheProgtologist
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Edited by TheProgtologist - February 10 2015 at 00:37 |
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Toaster Mantis
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 12 2008 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 5898 |
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Right now I'm reading Shortcut to Hell by Charles Valley, an extremely obscure detective novel from the early 1970s. (so obscure it's never been listed on GoodReads!) The plot revolves around a private eye, whose attempt to clear the name of a man falsely accused of murder brings him to run afoul of an entire town, which turns out to have quite a few dark secrets. The writing style and the setting of a Southern Californian community that's idyllic on the surface but hopelessly corrupt beneath remind me a lot of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series, and though Valley isn't anywhere as talented a writer it's still a lot of fun.
Edited by Toaster Mantis - February 10 2015 at 15:02 |
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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Walton Street
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Just started in on this one:
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"I know one thing: that I know nothing"
- SpongeBob Socrates |
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