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Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

Started by Thurnez Isa, December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM

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Cain

From what I can tell, this is for people in the market, you know, your stock exchange traders etc and the latter was meant to be more philosophical, explaining the underpinning of the theory.

Also, I'm just about finishing Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, so I'll make a start on The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom.  Time to get my NeoCon on.

Diseris

Just picked up Colbert, off to read it, have a nice night.
You didn't enjoy it you never believed it there won't be a refund you'll never go back - TMBG

hunter s.durden

This space for rent.

Cramulus

Quote from: triple zero on January 27, 2008, 06:52:01 PM
i'll withhold judgement until i finish the book but it kinda puzzles me why Taleb would write two books about pretty much the same subject matter. cause so far (pg 38/262) i've read nothing that i didnt also get out of the Black Swan.

well according to Taleb
the best way to get your idea out / get paaaaid
isn't to write one really awesome book. Instead, write a bunch of books about the same thing and hope one of them takes off.




Cain

lol, point.

I have Colbert's book (pdf'd), but I'm saving it for a special occasion.

Flitting between Bloom and an essay by Eris Davis in The Book of Lies (Disinfo guide, not the Crowley one, obviously) on HP Lovecraft and Cthulhu cults in an occult context.

Triple Zero

Quote from: Professor Cramulus on January 28, 2008, 05:00:39 AM
Quote from: triple zero on January 27, 2008, 06:52:01 PM
i'll withhold judgement until i finish the book but it kinda puzzles me why Taleb would write two books about pretty much the same subject matter. cause so far (pg 38/262) i've read nothing that i didnt also get out of the Black Swan.

well according to Taleb
the best way to get your idea out / get paaaaid
isn't to write one really awesome book. Instead, write a bunch of books about the same thing and hope one of them takes off.

ah right, now that you say it, i seem to recall him literally admitting this in the one i'm reading now.

he HAS to be a discordian, really. even if he doesn't realize he fits the picture perfectly.

up to and including jaking/pranking people for the sheer lulz of it.
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Cain

#396
Exactly.

Broke out my copy of NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio & Terrorism in Western Europe by Daniele Gasner, which is a fascinating read. 

If you don't know about Gladio and are European, shame on you.  Gladio was the code name for the stay-behind, secret anti-Communist forces in Italy, but is widely applied to the entire operation, which spanned over every NATO power.  Secret armies, usually made up of a mix of NeoFascists, intelligence officers, rogue Masonic lodges, organized crime and military personnel were prepared to form a critical core of resistance, in case of Soviet invasion or the election of Communist parties in Western Europe.

In the 70s and 80s, they changed tack and instead of acting as a shadow government, started to engage in the Strategy of Tension, essentially false flag bombings blamed on Communist terrorist groups to cause them to lose support.  Suspected attacks include the kidnap and murder of Italian PM Aldo Moro and the Bologna massacre.

It sounds crazy, but there is as much evidence for Gladio as there is for Iran-Contra.  Its been subject to various investigations by the Italian government, and high ranking individuals in many NATO countries have openly admitted it did once exist.  Whether it still does is a matter of debate, but the discovery of the parallel counter-terrorism unit in Italy in 2004, the Department of Anti-Terrorism Strategic Studies, suggest it has been reworked for the War on Terror.

Diseris

Thanks for the inspiration Colbert...possible GASM to follow...
You didn't enjoy it you never believed it there won't be a refund you'll never go back - TMBG

LMNO

Alternating between Colbert, Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, and Cain's PDF's regarding strategy.

Jasper

Has anyone here read "Down and out in the magic kingdom"?  It's supposed to be good.

Mangrove

The Devil's Doctor - (Paracelsus, Science & Magic in the Renaissance world) by Phillip Ball
What makes it so? Making it so is what makes it so.

Cain


Darth Cupcake

"Comeback Cities: A blueprint for urban neighborhood revival" - Paul S. Grogan and Tony Proscio

Had to read a chapter of it for my city planning class and it's really interesting. Felt compelled to buy the whole book to check it out further.
Be the trouble you want to see in the world.

Cain

Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine

Reading this pretty much right after NATO's Secret Armies is rather...disturbing.  Klein provides the rationale behind Glasner's academic dissertation on the coups and terrorism carried out by Operation Gladio, and links it directly to the present.  Her understanding of torture's role in all of this is fascinating too, both as a metaphor and as political reality.

Triple Zero

naomi klein!!

you remember that madonna-worshipper i told you about? he's borrowed "no logo" from me years ago, and always forgets to give it back!!!

GRR
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.