Books you've read this month

97t4r81

97t4r81

New member
I didn't search, but I'm curious as to what we read in a given month. So what books have you read this month.
I'll start, I'm normally a litature or dystopian fan, but I've always just enjoyed reading. In my school days I read only the bare minimum, but since about 20, I've read as much as time and ambition would allow. While I really like Jon Krakauer, non fiction is harder to read generally, but I like to read biographies. So I was always a little hesitant to try the "Harry Potter" series, I'd watched the movies, but until last year I hadn't read any. So I got a paperback to read to the children and now I've read the first three books, but only the the first three chapters of the first book to the kids. Man they're awesome. I'm on askaban now, shhhhhh..lol what have y'all been reading???
 
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Read Shantaram. David Gregory's writing can lean a little on the arrogant side, but it's a great book.

Some other somewhat recent standouts:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Nighttime
All the Light We Cannot See

Currently reading a book called A Gentleman in Moscow. Not that far into it, but so far it's pretty good. Well written.
 
I'm just finishing Moby Dick during drives for work and when I work out I am making my way through 12 Rules for Life.

Upcoming books are:
* The Righteous Mind (Jonathan Haidt)
* The Outsider (Steven King)

A couple of months ago I read "Bad Blood" the story of Theranos. Very good.
.
 
SomeDay said:
My next one:
George Orwell's 1984
Click to expand...

I've just started reading Neil Postman's "Amusing ourselves to death"

I'll post this foreword as I think its apt, and will hopefully peak someone else's interest.


"Foreword:

We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy
didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The
roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had
happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was
another--slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling:
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among
the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell
warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But
in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of
their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to
love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their
capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared
was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no
one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of
information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we
would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth
would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in
a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.
Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some
equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal
bumblepuppy.

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and
rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take
into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984,
Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New
World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell
feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love
will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."
 
"Mansons Last Disciple" By Michael Merle Thomas.

Brand new Author and it's his first release. Sophomoric writing style, needs better editing- but very entertaining and I'm digging it.

Been reading the entire works of Mackinder and Brzezinski. Quite overwhelming but, geopolitics is at the forefront of my brain and thinking towards the future at this juncture.

"The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Should be required reading by anyone who favors Socialism/Communism as forms of Governance.


"Civilization in Transition" by Carl Jung.

"Anthem" by Ayn Rand.

I tend to read about 10-12 books at a time. I like to jump around. Very non-linear.
 
-JD- said:
I've just started reading Neil Postman's "Amusing ourselves to death"

I'll post this foreword as I think its apt, and will hopefully peak someone else's interest.


"Foreword:

We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy
didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The
roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had
happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was
another--slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling:
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among
the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell
warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But
in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of
their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to
love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their
capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared
was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no
one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of
information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we
would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth
would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in
a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.
Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some
equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal
bumblepuppy.

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and
rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take
into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984,
Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New
World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell
feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love
will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."
Click to expand...

They were both very correct in differing ways.

Both books were meant to be warnings, not road maps...
 
I don’t allow myself the leisure often but while in Texas two weeks ago I enjoyed one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorites...

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Great quick read.
 
Gunslinger-13 said:
"The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Should be required reading by anyone who favors Socialism/Communism as forms of Governance.
Click to expand...

Definitely shows why it fails the second it hits human hands. I've only read Vol. 1. Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto is a must read on that list.
 
This book is looking at me from its shelve since last spring, I'm going to read it this winter also:

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
 
Cormic McCarthy’s, all the pretty horses and the Road we’re both amazing. I’m now on the 4th Harry Potter, goblet of fire. I agree that 1984 and BNW are both great guides to what not do in a civil society. The handmaiden’s tale was another awesome dystopian novel. Glad we’ve got a large group of readers on here.
 
T4R2014 said:
Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley too.
Click to expand...

Hepar said:
I would say Machiavelli's The Prince would be a good one too on that list.
Click to expand...

ndcent said:
Timely.
Click to expand...

-JD- said:
I've just started reading Neil Postman's "Amusing ourselves to death"

I'll post this foreword as I think its apt, and will hopefully peak someone else's interest.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."
Click to expand...

Gunslinger-13 said:
They were both very correct in differing ways.

Both books were meant to be warnings, not road maps...
Click to expand...

I finished to read orgy-porgy yesterday.
I watched the episode Black Mirror Nosedive last night
I read about the social credit system in China a few minutes ago.

:scared::scared::scared:
 
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