Books what you is reading: Page 25 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Books what you is reading

Shady

Great list.

Thoughts on a few of them Ricky?

Burnwinter

Nice work Ricky. If you're going to read that lot, don't leave out Middlemarch.

Asterix

Nice list Ricky.

Try Bleak House - it's Dickens' best in my opinion.
Consider Les Miserbales and The Count of Monte Cristo as well - they're excellent.
And for something more modern give Haruko Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore" a read.

flobaba

Reboot - Jerry Colonna.

If you’re a leader in any sense - team, project leader, CEO etc, or aspiring to be one, you should consider reading this.

mags

A gift: Toni Morrison

Klaus

I saw the news earlier today mags. Have you got any recommendations?

I know very little about Morrison in general, but I've read something called "Jazz" by her and I thought it was incredible. The novel is set in Harlem in the 1920s where it intertwines several stories about black urban life. It's structured as the literary equivalent of a jazz arrangement, with lyrical and narrative improvisation, and it has themes that are intimately connected to the early jazz age. It's difficult to explain in a summary, but the novel makes perfect sense on an emotional and linguistic level. It's a one of a kind experience. I found it through the music and bought it without even knowing who the author was. It never occurred to me that it was the same Toni Morrison who had gotten the nobel prize.

mags

Klaus wrote:
I saw the news earlier today mags. Have you got any recommendations?

I know very little about Morrison in general, but I've read something called "Jazz" by her and I thought it was incredible. The novel is set in Harlem in the 1920s where it intertwines several stories about black urban life. It's structured as the literary equivalent of a jazz arrangement, with lyrical and narrative improvisation, and it has themes that are intimately connected to the early jazz age. It's difficult to explain in a summary, but the novel makes perfect sense on an emotional and linguistic level. It's a one of a kind experience. I found it through the music and bought it without even knowing who the author was. It never occurred to me that it was the same Toni Morrison who had gotten the nobel prize.

I struggled to read her books in the past. With her death, I will try again. Am starting with her Nobel acceptance speech written in 1993. So relevant today and a subject dear to my heart - “the bottomed out mind”... And then will look for “Jazz”! Thanks.
There is a ton of info, critiques, the obits, etc. out there which may help you choose. Keep me posted.

Burnwinter

RIP.

My folks were very into her when I was a child and JAZZ and BELOVED were big news.

I picked up SONG OF SOLOMON and I enjoyed it when I was in my early teens. It's the only one of hers I've actually read.

The way she wrote Milkman Dead I think gave me a bit of an inkling of what life had in for me, because it's all about the demands that will made of you as a man, wanted or unwanted, and very insightful on that score. A lot of the best books are like that, protective charms.

arsedocmd

Paul kalanidhi, Atul gawande, Siddharth Mukherjee - Indian American nerds be simply killing it in medical literature.

KingslandBarge

I always thought the 'md' stood for Maryland! :hmm: I think I've put it together now.

Also Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo won the Nobel Prize last month. Press Release here. More Economists but with a huge focus on public health. Their book 'Poor Economics' might interest you.

arsedocmd

Cheers mate. But I was just texting friends for non medical book recs. Need a change of scenery after the last 2-3 books about the same.
Any recent book recs would be appreciated..

jones

I've skimmed through it despite knowing what a hack Mme Duflo is. It's the worst kind of condescending garbage and gives economists a bad rep which is precisely why it's showered with praise media recognition and houseboat awards

Also not that it makes a big difference but they won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economic sciences, both worthless looking at who won them before but several leagues below the Peace Prize in terms of prestige

KingslandBarge

It is very mainstream but that's why I don't hesitate to recommend it to someone who may have casual interest. I think it caters to that audience and hence why its caught mainstream recognition.

Any works by development economists you would recommend jones?

(PS 'nobelpeace prize' rolled off the finger, fixed)

Daz

I've been reading a bit of fiction recently to give my brain a rest from reading stuff for my PhD.
Recently finished The Testaments and really enjoyed it. In some ways it felt like it had more depth than the first book and Aunt Lydia's arc is pretty engaging.
I also read The Wall after reading a review of it on the Booker shortlist. Concept was interesting if not particularly original and some of the writing was fairly interesting, but the story overall felt a bit unsatisfying.

jones

KingslandBarge wrote:
It is very mainstream but that's why I don't hesitate to recommend it to someone who may have casual interest. I think it caters to that audience and hence why its caught mainstream recognition.

Any works by development economists you would recommend jones?

(PS 'nobelpeace prize' rolled off the finger, fixed)

I see where you're coming from but it's economics not a fantasy novel. There shouldn't be a reason to recommend something that's factually wrong and misleading even just because it's mainstream, it's not even like these works are that much easier to read than more heterodox works. And honestly that's not even close to the real reason Duflos works caught so much attention. I'm not sure this is where you wanted this discussion to go though before I go off on a tangent

I reject most recent more popular works by development economists because they're badly predisposed to assuming that poverty is something that could be fixed in the poor's behaviour, in fact its something I've read almost verbatim in one of Duflo's earlier books and literally the introduction to the last five or so WDRs by the World Bank.

Beyond the ideological content I also strongly disagree with their use of RCTs. It's an incredibly poor tool in economics in general and its actually legitimately harmful in the field of development economics for a number of reasons, which is exactly why it's so popular in certain circles. American philanthropists love themselves a couple of KPIs or any other tangible measure to get a feel for their ROI even when they are not even remotely applicable across the board. Thankfully the trend isn't nearly as strong in Europe (most Asian and African economists strongly reject it too), I know a couple of people who work in the sector in Germany and so far at least it's considered voodoo economics.

If you're interested the following is an editorial a friend of mine co-wrote.

https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/125976/

It's short but references plenty highly insightful sources. I'm currently reading German only literature so just off the top of my head Jeffrey Hammer is one American author who's turned his back on RCTs and neo behaviouralist economics in general, Angus Deaton is another prominent critic. Another paper I planned on reading is by Isabelle Guerin which is said to be scathing of Duflo and her alleged plans to create a sort of whitelist of applicable development policies.

Coombs

jones wrote:
I see where you're coming from but it's economics not a fantasy novel.

We may benefit from readings economics as fantasy. We would probably get closer to understanding most economists' ideas.

mags

Too many depressing books on my book stand, sign of the times.

A Very Stable Genius about trump which I read in small doses; we know it all; well written.

Stasiland, non fiction , during the reign of East German Eric Mielke, mid-late 20th century; couldn’t finish it, the Number of informants., mind boggling.

Brave New World, fiction, Huxley prescient in his ideas. Finished 1/3 and said enough. Ugly as ugly gets.

Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Delbo, account of her time as a prisoner there. Original In that she combines poetry, vignettes,etc., to convey the horror. Read it in small doses....

The only books I have read, depressing as the rest, yet able to read through to the end, is Eugenia Ginzburg’s account of her time spent in the Gulag, 20 + years. A devoted Communist, she was part of the Great Purge in the 1930’s. Fascinating read., Journey into the Whirlwind with a second memoir Within the Whirlwind....

And saving the best for last,....Animalkind: Remarkable discoveries about animals and the remarkable ways we can be kind to them.

I need to lighten up on what I read!
Any suggestions?

mdgoonah41

mags wrote:
Too many depressing books on my book stand, sign of the times.

A Very Stable Genius about trump which I read in small doses; we know it all; well written.

Stasiland, non fiction , during the reign of East German Eric Mielke, mid-late 20th century; couldn’t finish it, the Number of informants., mind boggling.

Brave New World, fiction, Huxley prescient in his ideas. Finished 1/3 and said enough. Ugly as ugly gets.

Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Delbo, account of her time as a prisoner there. Original In that she combines poetry, vignettes,etc., to convey the horror. Read it in small doses....

The only books I have read, depressing as the rest, yet able to read through to the end, is Eugenia Ginzburg’s account of her time spent in the Gulag, 20 + years. A devoted Communist, she was part of the Great Purge in the 1930’s. Fascinating read., Journey into the Whirlwind with a second memoir Within the Whirlwind....

And saving the best for last,....Animalkind: Remarkable discoveries about animals and the remarkable ways we can be kind to them.

I need to lighten up on what I read!
Any suggestions?

incognito by david eagleman. its a digestible read and its a super fascinating subject

mags

@[deleted]....
Just ordered the Eagleman book through my local library.
Thanks.

Burnwinter

Highly recommend my mate Tim's book CALL HIM MINE. Journalistic noir with poetic prose about the tie-up in Mexico between law enforcement, drug cartels and American corporations, and quite a powerful romance as well. Based on his experiences filing as a Mexican correspondent for Al-Jazeera.

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