Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

[Dimocritus]

There was a shot of the cover in the bunker, or something.  I don't watch it, so this is only hearsay.

And yeah, same author.  Those fucking Irish writers...

I hadn't heard of that one. I'll have to take a look at it if it's fikkin' crazy. He has some other stuff that he wrote about a fictional philosopher/idiot named deSelby that I haven't checked out yet but sounds really interesting. But, yeah, if you can get a copy of it, I highly suggest it. Preferably an old copy, so you can smell it. 

[Requia ☣]

Psychology of the Internet

[Iason Ouabache]

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. 

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.

[Requia ☣]

Ok, this author is pissing me the hell off.  Pushing the renaissance as some magic time when everyone in europe was discussing new ideas (never mind that half of the couldn't read, and less could afford paper).  A basic lack of understanding about the history of the internet.  She even mangles Descartes,

Oh, apparently the word 'Jeeves' means something completely different now, thanks to a dead search engine mostly famous for its annoying ads.  Oh! and the general public knows what 'worm' means (I really fucking wish they did, but they don't).

I'm gonna have to come back to this chapter and tear it apart some other time.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Ok, this author is pissing me the hell off.  Pushing the renaissance as some magic time when everyone in europe was discussing new ideas (never mind that half of the couldn't read, and less could afford paper).  A basic lack of understanding about the history of the internet.  She even mangles Descartes,

Oh, apparently the word 'Jeeves' means something completely different now, thanks to a dead search engine mostly famous for its annoying ads.  Oh! and the general public knows what 'worm' means (I really fucking wish they did, but they don't).

I'm gonna have to come back to this chapter and tear it apart some other time.

If you want a book on more or less that subject that doesn't appear to be quite so unresearched, I suggest Protocol by Alexander Galloway. I never finished it, because it was terribly dry, but the premise was interesting and I don't think it hung up so much on specifics.

[Requia ☣]

Its actually really good so far except for the first chapter (each chapter has a different author).

[Captain Utopia]

The Family, by Jeff Shartlet.

Well, this is creepy.
... snip convoluted justifications for shirking personal responsibilities and investing them into a doomsday fairytale ...

I find it less creepy and more of a call to war -

[Cain]

The Tragic Vision of Politics by Richard Ned Lebow

In short, a book about how realists are idiots who have misread and mangled Thucydides, Clausewitz and Hans Morgenthau to fit their own ideologically blinkered and ethically bankrupt viewpoint.  Also, Lebow is fast becoming my favourite Constructivist author...far more readable than Wendt, too.

A Very Short Introduction to the Roman Empire by Christopher Kelly

From the Oxford printing press' VSI series, which are great if you want an informed, but not overly academic or complex text on a particular topic.

Critical Practices in International Theory: Selected Essays by James Der Derian.  I'd never heard of this guy before, but apparently he's some hot-shot Rhodes Scholar who combines the English School and aspects of postmodernism to IR, so he's likely worth a read.

[LMNO]

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett.  

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.

Yeah, that's one of my faves, too.





















....yes, I just said "faves".  I expect to be on Richter's language List any minute now.

[Dimocritus]

One of my personal favorites which, again, I'm sure most of you have read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche. That book is almost like my personal bible. 

[Brotep]

One of my personal favorites which, again, I'm sure most of you have read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche. That book is almost like my personal bible. 

What a coincidence, I'm reading the Bible!

[Roaring Biscuit!]

I read some of the Bible recently.  it was fucking ace.   I actually just read Revelations

Dragons and "the wine-press of god's wrath"

complete and utter win.

right now i am just about to start "friends like these" by danny wallace, expect me to be full of blind optimism for the next few weeks

[LMNO]

Finished the Stackhouse book. An a rare occurrence where the show is better than the book.

Anyway, digging into "The Family", and it's scary as hell, if it's as true as it sounds.

[Cain]

Anne Norton - Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire

An interesting look into American political philosophy and life at University, as well as something of an insight into the self-proclaimed "Straussian" aspect of the NeoConservative movement.  Some people claim its gossipy (which it sort of is) and shows the author is working outside of her area of expertise (I'm not sure how, since she is a Professor in Political Science and Chicago school graduate), but it is nonetheless interesting, if for nothing more than highlighting the intellectual climate and history of political philosophy in America, as well as the ideological quirks of many of Strauss' students.

[Triple Zero]

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. 

Only about a third of the way through but it's already my favorite Discworld novel. There are some extremely interesting concepts in it.

it's awesome, one of the best. I like Thief of Time slightly better but this one is a very close second.