Post reviews/thoughts about books you're reading or have recently read, recommendations, criticisms, warnings, etc.

Been on biz pulp kick.

Finished - Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely.

It's a decently entertaining pop science book. He writes about simple social experiments he performs on his MIT, Duke, UC-Berkley students. It's kinda irresponsible to draw overaching conclusions using only a student population. Some of the conclusions are of the "uh, duh" variety. Took me about a year to finish this book b/c he doesn't hook you and it's easy to put down a forget. It's a solid 3/5 or somewhere around there.

The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America by David Stockman

Whooooo boy. This is the book that inspired this post. I am in the middle of this "thing" and am having serious issues. The author worked in the Reagan administration as the Budget Director and later in PE for Blackstone. Clearly he is knowledgeable about finance and the government's role. However, holy fucking Batman, to-to-to-day Junior. So much name-calling, soliloquys, Microsoft Thesaurus, etc. What's around 750 pages could be 500 if he stuck to facts and simply explained what occurred. I'll power through but it's not what I expected at all.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

I just started this book. I'll resume after I finish the Great Deformation mess. Once I started I knew this book would be more interesting and educational. I'll update once I finish reading.

The Martian-Really entertaining. It's Sci-Fi in premise that an astronaut gets stranded on Mars and it's a story of his survival. It's written in a fairly humerous, easy to read way. I just found out recently it was picked up to be a movie with a Matt Damon lead.

Wool- Currently reading. It's a post apocolyptic book where all surivovors are living in some sort of underground silo structure. I'm only about 20% through it, but see it going to be a commentary on social classes, gender etc. Not bad so far.

_________________
Team Cutler.

I just read a fantastic manuscript. it's a story about love, deception, greed, lust and...unbridled enthusiasm, which led to Billy Mumphrey's downfall. Had he not been so enthusiastic, he could have averted disaster.

You see, Billy was a simple country boy. You might say a cockeyed optimist, who got himself mixed up in the high stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue. It was more a question of attitude than politics.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I am just about done with War And Peace (page 4,200 out of 4,700 on ibooks). I love historical fictions, and this one does not disappoint. I was surprised to find out that it is mainly the Russian version of the Napoleonic Wars. It is also a testament to the influence of France in early times.

The book is a distinct notch below anything by Alexander Dumas, but it is entertaining nonetheless. I have found it to be a difficult read as the character names are often quite similar, and there is a large pool of folks in the novel.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

One wonders if War and Peace would have been as highly acclaimed as it was, if it was published under it's original name War, What Is It Good For?

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I didn't know that. The title often confuses me because it is pretty much a perpetual state of war. The book does not run over a long time period. I have spent 1,000 pages on the a few months in 1812.

The characters seem to seek out war as a badge of honor. It is far down the list of my favorite books. What I loved is the details about the war from the Russian perspective as well a lot of great characters. If I had to do it over, I would probably avoid the book as it seems needlessly long winded.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Google helped me get the joke....and you actually had me excited about this!

Damn you Chus, I can't quit you. I understand your genius.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Yeah this guy got it the first time!

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

"seinfeld" wins again!

i have "sharp objects" on my coffee table, that will complete my gillian flynn library. i also ordered "go set a watchman" and heard it's a brisk read.

i think the most obscure book i've read in the past few years is "picnic at hanging rock". interesting read, but i'm also intrigued by the movie by peter weir.

I have a book about coffee tables on my coffee table. The best part is that the book itself, becomes a coffee table.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

December 1941: 31 Days that changed the world. Details the events which led to the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Book also covers immediate aftermath of the attacks.

The book chronicles how ill prepared the U.S. military was for war and also the essential role that the Soviet Union played in holding off Hitler.

_________________

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I miss the Office. Oh well, Archer is keeping me entertained.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

I still can't do Archer because I can't un-hear Bob's Burgers.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

It took me until the third episode to understand the humor. Now, each episode is funnier than the last. Since I don't usually watch that genre, I don't have any other voices in my head while watching.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

Reading
Final Storm Jeff Shaara. Final Months of WW2 Pacific

Then Dark Places Gillian Flynn, I hope it is as good as Gone Girl

Then some more Destroyer BooksThen some "Pathfinder",Fantasy Conan type stuff then some Battletech to finish off what I never did, Exodus rod series.

_________________
When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

The first book is great.
The second book is fan-fucking-tastic
The third book is okay.

Like most post apocalyptic fantasy, the ending leaves much to be desired.

I am reading Joe Abercrombie's Half a world trilogy (half a king, half a world, half a war), I rather enjoy it. His first trilogy (The first law) was very good. Kind a like GRR Martin - if GRR had a good editor.
Two other authors in the fantasy genre I really enjoy are Scott Lynch (The gentlemen bastards series) and Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn trilogy but what's better is his Stormlight Archive).

_________________

Currently reading "The Tao of Muhammadi Ali". Liking it so far, especially all the anecdotes about Ali. I didn't know magic and magic tricks were his favorite thing outside of the ring, apart from his faith, but that fits his mystique.

Other than that, I'm reading Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" for the second time, which is better than the film, and Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." Not too long ago I checked out the film "Murder by Death" from the library, which I always found fascinating as a child, because of the paintings that had removable eyes and the scene with Capote's magic chair that hurls him backward out of the dining scene. Many funny lines, but a movie like that could not be made today for being politically incorrect for all its racial jokes about Peter Seller's character, Mr. Wang.

Also picked up recently a book called, "The Death of a President", whose author was the only one sanctioned by Jacqueline and the Kennedy family to write the historical account of JFK's assassination.

Fantasy Life by Matthew Berry- really just a series of life anecdotes coupled with exaggerated stories from his consumers about how much they love fantasy sports. He doesn't pretend he is writing a great book and it isn't. I was looking for something to get me through 20 hours of plane rides this summer and it has served the purpose. I'm not sure I will finish it now that I have put it down. I get the gist of what it is.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I tried finding this book on Ibooks and all they have is a 57 page book or I can get the whole series in Italian. So I gave up.

_________________

I've been getting back into reading lately as I've been taking the train. One of my all-time favorite authors is a guy named Paul Gable. Very talented prose stylist who just up and disappeared. Most of his stuff is out of print but If anyone comes across any, I'll take it off your hands and make it worth your while.

_________________
Soccer 1,2,3
Spanish Honor Society 1,2,3,4
Forensics 1,2,3,4

"Smiles with Nostrils"

"...no Hmong, go find some blacks"

aaaaand now it's time for sinicalypse's two word review of the illuminatus! trilogy by robert anton wilson (and some other dude)

genius porn.

-----


seriously i still gotta dig up my copy and get to the last 200-300pgs of it cuz i purposely stopped with that much to go just so someday down the road i'd have 200-300 fresh pages to encounter, and most likely if i forgot everything i'd have to reread it. the book is just awesome and fast and clever and making a mockery of everything in its path and considering the KLF Themselves met during a stage production of the illuminatus! trilogy and set up their whole schtick (originally a "rap group" called the justified ancients of mu-mu, who the book will have you know are sworn enemies of the illuminati!) and all of the mysticism from it. thoroughly awesome and totally worth your time.... and like any good bible there's enough book there to where if you were to toss it in a sturdy plastic bag and and wave it around you could totally wield it like a weapon and thus it'd save your ass in a pinch. THAT is the true power of the word of god, my friends!

_________________

I finished the Tao of Muhammdi Ali. It has maybe 20 pages worth of good anecdotes on Ali, but the rest is not interesting with the journalist talking about his own life and how he came to know and worship Ali. Didn't know that Ali had his main residence in Michigan. From the latest reports, the old champ is in very ill health due to Parkinson's, where people in his inner circle said he wouldn't last beyond this year.

One thing is clear from the book is that the author doesn't have the faintest idea what the "Tao" is, much less knows who Huai Nan Tzu was.

Boss: So have you ever done this kind of work before?

George: Well, you know, book reports. That kind of stuff.

Boss: Who do you read?

George: I like Mike Lupica.

Boss: Mike Lupica?

George: He's a sports writer for the Daily News. I find him very insightful...

Boss: No, no, no. I mean authors.

George: Lot of good ones. I don't even want to mention anyone because I'm afraid I'm going to leave somebody out.

Boss: Name a couple.

George: Who do I like? I, like, uh, Art, Vandelay.

Boss: Art Vandelay?

George: He's an obscure writer. Beatnik, on the village.

Boss: What has he written?

George: Venetian Blinds.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way