What are you reading right now?

[shameful existence]

I loved the first 120 pages of this, focused on cosmology. I think the level of expertise and presentation perfectly hit the spot for me to be both comprehensible and educational. But currently, I am struggling and stuck in a chapter on biology, which I have little interest in. I appreciate the attempt to write a book that's scientifically sound yet with a holistic take so that it appeals to our need for the complexity of existence to make a sort of compact sense. It just may be too big of a challenge to try to do that in a single book.

Spoiler

A Scandinavian noir. Pleasantly weird, though once again too full of teenagers. The prose is unpolished and rather raw in a good way. Originally published in Finnish, I read this in a Slavic language and it worked. Not quite sure it translates as well into English. I would recommend this to people who grew up in a Plattenbau and/or are fans of Nordic folklore.

 

[CaptainTrips]

Ive read this book before, but im re reading "Be Here Now" by "Ram Dass"
Its a pretty good read if youre into that whole spirituality, meditation, Eastern Religion stuff.

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

Christ stopped at eboli by carlo levi, a memoir based on the time he was exiled to a village in southern Italy by the Fascists for his dissent in 1935+6. It's a really beautiful, almost cinematic book and an interesting portrait of an isolated society on the cusp of modernization. He was a painter and his use of imagery comes across as beautifully as you would expect from one, even in translation from Italian.

 

[BlackDragoons]

Plowing through some Battletech novels but honestly I want to start reading some Cyberpunk novels. Don't know if I should do some Shadowrun reading or pick up Neuromancer instead.

 

[Jewthulhu]

Finally finished Republic and really liked it. Currently reading Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournell since my dad (a massive sci-fi nerd) has been recommending it to me for a while. Not the biggest sci-fi guy personally but it's enjoyable so far.

 

[TurdFondler]

Plowing through some Battletech novels but honestly I want to start reading some Cyberpunk novels. Don't know if I should do some Shadowrun reading or pick up Neuromancer instead.

Neuromancer, then Burning Chrome, then the rest of the Sprawl trilogy. Burning Chrome is a collection of Gibson's short stories and it's phenomenal. Neuromancer is about as deep as a sheet pan but it's incredibly well written, it doesn't get bogged down ever.

The Bridge trilogy is Ok. I liked Idoru but didn't care too much for Virtual Light. Snowcrash is dumb and bad but has some neat ideas.

 

[DJ Grelle]

Finished "dancing in the glory of monsters". It was okay, not recommended.
Currently reading "Don Quixote"

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Free download if you don't want to enrich Bezos.
or...
If you want to support a great author at least buy it somewhere other than Amazon

If you want to have proper context to understand why Russia is positioned the way they are here in the West, this will contextualize everything. To some extent, everyone views themselves as the hero, so of course Russians see themselves on the right side of history, but the question is...are they?

Their argument is that Western culture in general, and US culture in particular are corrosive. That it destroys the spirit of mankind, leading us to where we become consumer slaves, willing to accept trannies as normal and the white man as the devil as long as it means we can have our Netflix and Playstation and drugs to numb our minds to it all. Russia sees its role as that of savior, trying like hell to protect humanity from its baser instincts. It really shines a light on how globalization is used against the common man, and how the US-Brand Democracy is just a clever form of imperialism, injecting American influence around the world, destroying the hosts like a parasite.

Reading this, the US playbook in regards to Russia especially over the last 8-10 years becomes obvious. You can see why our government and media will fight anyone and everyone who even suggests that maybe Russia has a point about our corrosive culture and the damage being caused by globalization.

Reading this you begin to understand that Russia literally views its current actions as trying to save Ukraine from the "Great Western Rot", whether you agree with it or not is fine. But if you want to understand the why behind current events, this book is unparalleled.

Highly Recommended.

 

[TurdFondler]

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Leguin

Less than a hundred pages in, and it's not at all to my tastes but it's still really good. Very reminiscent of Dune, there's even a blurb by Frank Herbert on the back.

 

[Sirfaggot]

Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, by Thomas Ligotti, the most based horror writer to have ever walked god's green earth.

 

[TurdFondler]

@Sirfaggot
What sort of horror?

 

[AnOminous]

@Sirfaggot
What sort of horror?

Existential horror. Think H.P. Lovecraft and Arthur Schopenhauer had a love child.

 

[Roast Chicken]

The Final Testament by James Frey. It's about a Jewish guy who turns out to be the next Jesus (sort of, he rejects all orthodox religion and calls it bullshit) and after a horrific accident at a construction site which almost kills him his powers are fully realised and he roams around New York alleviating the suffering of others through kindness, empathy and.. sex. Lots and lots of sex; he shags nearly all of the people he comes across. Everyone who touches him or is touched by him sees "God" and all their troubles evaporate; he's like LSD on legs.

According to his doctrine, the End Times are cumming and the only way to salvation is through love and orgies.

This book does feel like it's taking a dig at organized religion in general and was quite clearly written by a filthy lib but I can get behind the "be kinder to people and don't judge them if they're not hurting others" message that the main character embodies.

 

[shameful existence]

Got my hands on this illustrated scifi and I think I'll be buying my own copy. It's hauntingly beautiful. The Electric State tells a story of a post-war world in which a virtual reality program enslaved most humans. I flipped through it many times before I actually started reading the text and even after finishing it, I still care much more for the post-apocalyptic aesthetics and gloomy mood than I do about the main hero's story. The art is digital, but resembles realistic oil paintings.

 

[Kurtis Trent]

Chinese gay novels

 

[Hazel Motes]

View attachment 3089884

Free download if you don't want to enrich Bezos.
or...
If you want to support a great author at least buy it somewhere other than Amazon

If you want to have proper context to understand why Russia is positioned the way they are here in the West, this will contextualize everything. To some extent, everyone views themselves as the hero, so of course Russians see themselves on the right side of history, but the question is...are they?

Their argument is that Western culture in general, and US culture in particular are corrosive. That it destroys the spirit of mankind, leading us to where we become consumer slaves, willing to accept trannies as normal and the white man as the devil as long as it means we can have our Netflix and Playstation and drugs to numb our minds to it all. Russia sees its role as that of savior, trying like hell to protect humanity from its baser instincts. It really shines a light on how globalization is used against the common man, and how the US-Brand Democracy is just a clever form of imperialism, injecting American influence around the world, destroying the hosts like a parasite.

Reading this, the US playbook in regards to Russia especially over the last 8-10 years becomes obvious. You can see why our government and media will fight anyone and everyone who even suggests that maybe Russia has a point about our corrosive culture and the damage being caused by globalization.

Reading this you begin to understand that Russia literally views its current actions as trying to save Ukraine from the "Great Western Rot", whether you agree with it or not is fine. But if you want to understand the why behind current events, this book is unparalleled.

Highly Recommended.

This is a stupid aside, but I read Bolton's new book The Perversion of Normality and I hate how it does not feature an index. I don't see how a book like that does not have one.

As for me...

Interesting. It's heavy in philosophy in a way which can be daunting (I am not too smart so I had to re-read multiple sections), but I have enjoyed it. Like Nagel, I am an atheist, but I find the Dawkins/"religion is a crutch"/"we owe nothing to Christianity" types disingenuous at best and stupid at worst. Like Tom Wolfe, I find the idea of calling myself one hard purely for the people you have to share company with.

This is George Herbert. Welsh poet and clergyman. He has an interesting style, some may enjoy. Some poets you enjoy on first read, others grow on you. Herbert was the latter.

Spoiler: poems

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

I read Bolton's new book The Perversion of Normality and I hate how it does not feature an index.

Aside from that annoyance, what was your thought on the content? I haven't read it yet, but found the Gloablization book very well researched and his thesis well-founded.

 

[Hazel Motes]

Aside from that annoyance, what was your thought on the content? I haven't read it yet, but found the Gloablization book very well researched and his thesis well-founded.

I've read a lot of his work so I didn't find much new. In some areas, the tranny stuff and certain theorists, it was enlightening as I am not well versed on those matters as much as I should, but on others, he was lacking. I mean, the subtitle mentions De Sade but he only talks of him for a few pages. And the transhumanism stuff is barely worth considering where there is so much to be said. It lacks the content to justify the scope. It should be on Cultural Marxism and a few appendixes on other matters (his diversions into Nietzsche, Jung, Lasch, "white privilege"- the best section in the book btw-) It's worth buying but it was not what I wanted. But if you are going to buy one by him, take this over Psychotic Left or his other works on the matter.

This is the best of his on the topic.

And the cover is great.

His view on Stalin is, uh, interesting.

I'd recommend Artists on the Right, but I do not want people giving money to Counter Currents. Stick with the free, shorter essays online.

E Michael Jones is like this as well. His book, Monsters From The ID is great in sections where Jones cares what he is writing about but he wants a unifying vision. And his inane ramblings about the illuminati distract from a pretty interesting theory on horror. The link between it and sex isn't totally new but the way he takes and the way he writes on it is worth it. Very eye opening. You learn a lot from it. I have my issues with Jones (I do not bother with much of his political work or online debates) but his cultural stuff is engaging. And it has an index.

The older I have gotten, the more I have come to accept that my favourite writers tend to cover a few topics. John Gray is like this but he illustrates the same point (and it is a point worth beating over the head) in different ways. Maybe that is the point. Hitting on the head over and over again until it all sticks.

I'd say more, but I am noticing the way I am writing is noticeably bad- I am currently on a night shift- so I'll stop.

 

[Gilgamesh]

1: The Hobbit, for the first time. Lovely book. Can't wait to get into LotR too.
2: Jorge Luis Borge's Ficciones, second time. Can't deny that these stories helped shaped my view of philosophy, Absolute mind-fucks.
3: Folsom's Indo-European Language and Culture (2nd Ed). Stole from my girlfriend's uni library when I was visiting her. Most up-to-date book I have regarding Proto-Indo-European and it's culture, as it was written around 2010. Before that my go-to was the Oxford guide to Proto-Indo-European or something, which was good but lacking and from 2006.

 

[Boston Brand]

From my stack of early review copies... one great, one terrible.

The Crossing by Kevin Ikenberry

A spin off of the 1632 novels that sends a platoon of US Army cadets back to just before the Battle of Trenton in the American Revolution. A ton of fun, some very inventive moments, one hell of a sequel hooks, and the kind of book cover I can't help but love.

I read it in an afternoon and hate that the sequel isn't due for at least a year after it's August release.

The Goofus to the Crossing's Gallant... A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

Jesus H Christ, if you'd told me Vox Day or some right wing troll wrote this as a parody of your average book from Tor, I'd believe you. It's actually kind of horrifying when it sinks in that, no, this isn't a parody, authors at Tor earnestly believe this shit.

I gave up about a tenth of the way through when first contact negotiations break down... over the aliens not getting PRONOUN usage.

When you see me complaining about Tor/SFWA/Woke Spec Fiction... this damn well could be the poster child for everything wrong with all three.