Burnwinter wrote:

I stayed away from the first one because most of the people recommending it to me were full kool-aid startup liberals … just got that bad Vox explainer vibe. Is it worth checking out?

I got it as gift from someone like that Its gathering dust on my book shelf.

He's shown himself to be a dickhead since the pandemic started too, talking about why government surveillance like in China, ID2020, Known Traveller etc will be a good thing because it'll help detect and prevent future flu epidemics and what not. No need to be worried that a comparably small elite would abuse that kind of omniscience either because apparently history has shown that kind of stuff would never happen.

Even disregarding that I've no idea how he got his rep as this profound thinker. He's the Joe Rogan of philosophers.

Yep I was getting major Malcolm Gladwell vibes from it all, like I'd probably get brain poisoning from reading all the blurry sweeping half-arsed arguments. Unfortunately the responses here are tending to confirm that ... I've got Agamben if I need someone a bit loose to shoot from the hip about stuff like COVID-19

Agamben is actually right, though.

I just finished Inshallah, a book by Dutchman Kees Wieringa about his experiences as a museum director in Qatar. I wish the knee-taking footballers who are happily going to play football there next year would read it as well, but something tells me they won't.

Mirth wrote:

I noticed that too.

Sapiens is an engaging book and a good starting point but prone to sensationalism. Bill Bryson's book covers similar topics but better imo.

A Short History of Everything? Funnily enough I started listening to that last week, I think it's great.

I switched to Audio books, not necessarily because it's better (usually depends on the narrator), but I've gone through far more than I otherwise would have. 

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke - in his Dave Robichaeux series. It's set during and after Hurricane Katrina and makes for some pretty disturbing reading. It's fiction but draws on plenty of what happened. As the narrator says - there are plenty of folk who just plain hate poor people.

I've just finished listening to The Spy & The Traitor - it's excellent! I got my brother in law Operation Mincemeat for Christmas so I'll have to borrow it from him.

Just read Terry Pratchett's last book - The Shepherd's Crown. I've still got a handful of his books to go through - I love his writing. And there is an autobiography coming out apparently - 7 years after his death.

Read a couple books in the last few months

Craig Murray: Murder in Samarkand - interesting autobiographic read by/about Craig Murray's time as the UK's ambassador to Uzbekistan and how he got sacked. His book before about his time in Ghana was good too

Koigi wa Wamwere: Negative Ethnicity - the core concept is sound but was conveyed a bit dull or redundant from a theoretical standpoint, very informative on Kenyan ethnic interrelations and broader modern East African history however.

Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings - novel by Jamaican author James mostly about the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 70s and the aftermath of it. Extremely captivating book, very messy and will have you talking like a yardie at the end of it

Umberto Eco: The Search for the Perfect Language - non-fiction book about the history of languages and the idea that all men used to speak one language in the Garden of Eden before the fall of the Tower of Babel. I love linguistics, semiotics and digging into the history of languages fuck if I didn't get close to giving up a couple times already about 100 pages in, challenging read mostly so far.

Donald McRae: Dark Trade - South African journalist who interviewed and spent time with some of the greatest boxers ever, chapters about Tyson Toney Jones de la Hoya Hamed etc, absolute must read for anyone remotely into boxing and even if you aren't you should read it. Best book I've read in a while

Oh I've heard good things too about Seven Killings - thanks for reminding me.

It's really good, highly recommend it.

jones, have you read 'The Language Game'? you might like that

Man, I read THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT LANGUAGE so long ago … must've been in the 90s I think … great book. That's where I learnt that my man Leibniz of "inventing calculus" fame was obsessed with the I Ching!

Eco was such a wonderful intellectual, for many reasons but one of the big ones was his generous, avuncular spirit, his stuff is pretty much always good vibes even when he's dealing with difficult subjects.

KingslandBarge wrote:

jones, have you read 'The Language Game'? you might like that

Haven't read it yet but I'm pretty sure I bought it a while ago. Might read it soon then, cheers for the headsup.

Burns not sure if that was supposed to be some sly brag but reading Eco as a teenager is not a good look

Lulz … my dad's a scholar of mediaeval literature (King Arthur mainly, now retired), explains some slightly offbeat reading material both then and now.

Wasn't intended as a brag, that was honestly a great book to read as a teen, mind-expanding stuff but very accessible.

Just getting started on the 2022 Booker Prize winner - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Really enjoying it so far - set amidst Sri Lanka's tumultuous and bloody 1980s and early 90s. Has some similarities to Lincoln in the Bardo as the main character explores the afterlife.