Books for those who can read

johno · Post by **johno** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:01 pm

Genre: thrillers with a mystical bent.
Author: Michael Gruber
Titles: "Tropic of Night" and "Valley of Bones"

Mak tha Clawhammer might particularly enjoy the discussion of Christianity in Valley of Bones. A respectful, thoughtful treatment.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:18 pm

Not so into thrillers and fiction in general. I'm reading Imperium by Yockey, and it's...different, in a Mein Kampf kind of way.

Batboy2/75 · Post by **Batboy2/75** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:49 pm

Fat Cat wrote:Not so into thrillers and fiction in general. I'm reading Imperium by Yockey, and it's...different, in a Mein Kampf kind of way.

How is it?

From the Amazon reviews he sounds like a watered down version of Hitler, minus the German superman racial thing. Seems he was a Ultra Western European Culture, Caucasian race first, Facist?

BB2/75

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:58 pm

Batboy2/75 wrote:Seems he was a Ultra Western European Culture, Caucasian race first, Facist?

Yes. The interesting curveball is that he started off as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, yet ended up as a Nazi sympathizer. It is worth bearing in mind that half of Europe lay under the Soviet boot at the time, as this was the context under which he wrote his book. So far, not so impressed.

Hagbard · Post by **Hagbard** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:42 pm

Just finishes A Little History of the World by some German dude, currently re-reading Godel, Escher, Bach by Hoffstedter.

TomFurman · Post by **TomFurman** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:23 am

Finally reading DaVinci Code. Alot like Art Bell's Coast to Coast.

Turdacious · Post by **Turdacious** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:29 am

Just read Toqueville's Memoir on Pauperism-- good if you like Toqueville, and an interesting critique of the 19th century welfare state, but short (too short to be worth buying new).

Currently reading The Magician of Lublin by IB Singer-- pretty good so far. Also reading Rome and Jerusalem, by Moses Hess. Prophetic mystic socialism-- very interesting.

johno · Post by **johno** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:06 pm

Oh crap, you guys have taken my thread all intellect & shit.
OK. Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence. No, it's not a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:08 pm

Turd Ferguson wrote:Toqueville

LOL! Do you mean "de Tocqueville". When you're trying to impress people with your literacy, try not to misspell the author's name repeatedly.

Turdacious · Post by **Turdacious** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:17 am

Fat Cat wrote:
Turd Ferguson wrote:Toqueville

LOL! Do you mean "de Tocqueville". When you're trying to impress people with your literacy, try not to misspell the author's name repeatedly.

ROLF! Good thing I don't care what you think.

Besides, it took me a half hour to read-- hardly deep reading.

Batboy2/75 · Post by **Batboy2/75** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:56 am

Western Civilization & It's Enemies, by Lee Harris

very good read.

He's a quote from the inside jacket that does a good job explaining what the book discsusses.

"Forgetfulness occurs when those who have beeen long accustomed to civilized order can no longer remember a time in which they had to wonder whether their crops would grow to maturity without being stolen or their children sold into slavery by a victorious foe.... they forget , in short, that there has ever been a catagory of human experience called the enemy. "That, before 9/11, was what happened to us. the very concept of the enemy had been banished from our moral and political vocabulary. An enemy was just a friend we hadn't done enough for yet. Or perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, or an oversight on our part-something we could correct....."Our first task is therefore to try to grasp what the concept of the enemy really means. th enemy is someone who is willing to die in order to kill you. And while it is true the enemy always hates us for a reason, it is his reason, and not ours."

BB2/75

seeahill · Post by **seeahill** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:38 am

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

On the less thoughful side, anything by Tim Dorsey, who supplies my current sig.

johno · Post by **johno** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:36 pm

seeahill wrote:Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Diamond lost me in his Introduction/Preface, where he explained that his goal was to produce a politically correct explanation about why honkies rule. Anything that follows from that viewpoint is suspect.

beefheart · Post by **beefheart** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:00 pm

Read Valley of Bones aand am working on Night of the Jaguar, Tropic of Night was checked out of the library.

Did I find V of B profound? No. But I found it thoughful and interesting. thanks for the tip off.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:12 pm

The Art of War by Sunzi

johno · Post by **johno** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:21 pm

BeeFart - I thought V of B's treatment of Christianity was interesting. Tropic of Night is the better thriller of the two, IMO. And I haven't read Night of the Jaguar, yet.

Maza · Post by **Maza** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:20 pm

Skepticism and Animal Faith by George Santayana is what I'm reading now. Haven't finished it yet, but what I've read so far is good. You will dig it, if you dig that sort of thing.
I also picked up Judo: History, Theory, Practice by Vladimir Putin recently. It's interesting so far, but I don't know enough about the subject to say whether it's is a quality judo book or not.

beefheart · Post by **beefheart** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:22 am

Fat Cat wrote:The Art of War by Sunzi

I just gave my younger son, 22, Art of War and the Book of Five Rings to address some of the deficiencies in his education.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:15 pm

It had been a long time since I looked at it, and it is an impressive work.

Shafpocalypse Now · Post by **Shafpocalypse Now** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:27 am

"Old Man's War"? Wasn't that a sci-fi novel? If so, I read it, enjoyable read.

Hagbard · Post by **Hagbard** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:24 pm

For a taste of somthing you'd never read unless your freaky musician/singer chick friend gives you for xmas, try Geek Love by Katherine Dunne. Fucking crazy.

seeahill · Post by **seeahill** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:29 pm

johno wrote:
seeahill wrote:Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Diamond lost me in his Introduction/Preface, where he explained that his goal was to produce a politically correct explanation about why honkies rule. Anything that follows from that viewpoint is suspect.

Granted. Still, as Diamond makes his case, he becomes more and more difficult to dispute.

Hank Scorpio · Post by **Hank Scorpio** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:34 am

Imperial Grunts, Kaplan.
The Great Game, Peter Hopkirk. Easy, informative.

Chr1stine · Post by **Chr1stine** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:34 pm

Just finished "Guests of the Ayatollah" by Mark Bowden. I liked it a lot.

Now I'm reading "Saturday" by Ian McEwan. My first fiction reading in quite a while. [And I'm re-reading "Muscle Logic" by Charles Staley.]

Next up: "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro.

cleaner464 · Post by **cleaner464** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:11 pm

I just knocked off "Middlemarch". Might be the best book I've read.