what are you reading now?

[zhao]

Never heard of it - what's it about?

funny how random choices don't seem nearly as random upon hindsight. around age 14 i picked up the Complete Plays of Mayakovski, a collection of Gogol's shorts, the Sorrows of Young Werther, etc., all completely randomly, without knowing who or what the significance of these people or their ideas are. but maybe the books influenced me to go in a certain direction in life, and after having gone down that road, i look back and OF COURSE they don't seem so random! which cognitive distortion is that?

sorry for tangent. but this book is about the family of a Baptist preachers' experiences in the Congo during the 60s, told from the perspective of 4 daughters and their mother. it's about the shifting of perspectives, survival, and being permanently scarred in the process, all in the context of everything that went on in the Congo during that time... the father i think is going to be (again only started), a stubborn Aguirre type of character, who ends up in a really bad way.

 

[michael]

which cognitive distortion is that?

It's called the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy - a guy claims he's the best shot in the state, shoots a whole lot of holes in a barn, then paints a bullseye where the shots are most tightly clustered. "See, told you so."

Sort of like confirmation bias (where you see amazing "coincidences") but in the past tense.

Finished Doris Lessing's 'Memoirs of a Survivor', which was pretty interesting near-future post-apocalyptic jazz. Partly interesting for thinking about what has happened since the book was written that would make the near-future scenario quite different...

Now reading Carlos Fuentes' 'The Orange Tree', set of 5 short stories with a common theme and motifs.

 

[slim jenkins]

Also, just read Solaris, the science stuff is great but the interactions between the people are jarringly and frustratingly badly written, they pull you out of the story every time they occur. Shame 'cause the ideas are great. The film is better.

I didn't like the book at all...found it rather boring. On the Tarkovsky/Lit theme, I recently read 'Roadside Picnic' and thought the writing very average...but Tarkovsky turned into something amazing...(Stalker)...

 

[faustus]

Also, just read Solaris, the science stuff is great but the interactions between the people are jarringly and frustratingly badly written, they pull you out of the story every time they occur. Shame 'cause the ideas are great. The film is better.

Yeah, I preferred the film. I still love Lem though, His Master's Voice, Eden and I found quite a random one called The Investigation which was a sort of noirish London-based police procedural which actually rocked.

Can anyone recommend some Spanish authors? At the moment I'm reading Alberto Mendez's Blind Sunflowers and Antonion Muñoz Molina's En Ausencia de Blanca, would like some more recommendations.

 

[sufi]

Have you explored Edward Tufte on this topic? Here's some blurb for The Cognitive Style Of PowerPoint:

the popular PowerPoint templates (ready-made designs) usually weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis. What is the problem with PowerPoint? And how can we improve our presentations?

finally got my hands on a copy of tufte's 'Visual Display of Quantitative Information'; disproportionately fascinating,
(would love to find a copy of the powerpoint one - anybody got a downloadable version?)

 

[IdleRich]

"I didn't like the book at all...found it rather boring. On the Tarkovsky/Lit theme, I recently read 'Roadside Picnic' and thought the writing very average...but Tarkovsky turned into something amazing...(Stalker)... "

Glad it isn't just me then. I would like to read Roadside Picnic though - I think in each case the authors were disappointed with the film. Should be getting copies of these two documentaries soon:

The Exile and Death of Andrei Tarkovsky, a fascinating German documentary on his final years, and how his experiences were mirrored in Nostalgia and The Sacrifice. Likewise Dmitry Trakovsky's film Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky

Never seen Nostalgia though.

"I found quite a random one called The Investigation which was a sort of noirish London-based police procedural which actually rocked."

Sounds interesting.

 

[bandshell]

Started Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse yesterday. Enjoying it.

 

[Slothrop]

Currently reading The Villain, Jim Perrin's biography of Don Whillans.

Whillans was one of the best of the young working class climbers who came out of northern industrial towns in the 50s and went from going out into the Peak District at weekends to rewriting the rulebook of british rock and getting to the top rank of international mountaineering. Whillans is a particularly interesting character - one of the great tragic heroes of british sport, phenomenally talented but almost as legendary for his drinking and fighting and bitter (often one-sided) feuds with former friends and climbing partners as he is for his climbing.

Perrin's biography is fantastic and meticulously researched. He avoids easy mythologising and doesn't shy away from the genuinely nasty side of Whillans' character, but is empathetic and doesn't demonize him either. Strongly recommended if you have any interest in that sort of thing - it's one of the best bits of climbing biography I've read.

I've also just started Tillie Olsen's short story collection Tell Me A Riddle. I probably wouldn't have heard of her if it wasn't for James Kelman bigging her up in interviews, but the one story that I've read so far - I Stand Here Ironing - was amazing: a perfectly realized bit of everyday pathos. I think I'm reading the Perrin first partly because I need a while to get emotionally ready for the next short story...

 

[Mr. Tea]

Finally picked up a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Gold Braid, which I've been meaning to read for ever. Really great stuff, pretty heavy going in places mind you and kind of heavy on the symbolic logic, which can be a bit (took a course in Logic as a maths option in my fourth year - barely passed it, lowest exam mark I ever got). Still, it's written in an approachable, even playful way. The bit I'm on at the moment uses Zen koans to illustrate concepts to do with the limitations of logic and the incompleteness of formal systems.

I won't wibble on about it any more right now but has anyone else here read it? I can see it being a Dissensian-type book, I think.

 

[slim jenkins]

Charles Willeford's 'High Priest of California' - f*ckin' brilliant.

 

[IdleRich]

"I won't wibble on about it any more right now but has anyone else here read it? I can see it being a Dissensian-type book, I think."

Never read it for some reason but I remember one of my friends being obsessed with it at school, he was always reading me bits of it which sounded fascinating.

Hofstadter's Law - things always take longer than you think even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law

 

[Mr. Tea]

Hofstadter's Law - things always take longer than you think even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law

Yeah, that really made me laugh - it's just true, innit?

I've just started Part II. You can borrow when I've finished if you like (still got a pile of yours I need to give back, actually).

Edit: that's a pile of books, folks, not a haemorrhoid.

 

[IdleRich]

"Edit: that's a pile of books, folks, not a haemorrhoid."

Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test at the moment by Tom Wolfe. When I first read Tom Wolfe's novels I was amazed to find that he was such a crude and simplistic writer although I kind of enjoyed them despite that. This is again crude and as you all know deals with Ken Kesey and his mates taking loads of acid and generally being wankers in their stupid psychedelic bus. Quite good fun and quite a good snapshot of the time plus the odd moment (such as Wolfe's dispassionate description of the way they callously leave someone in a mental home when she goes over the edge) seems to imply that it's not quite the hagiography that it might at first appear.

Yes, I would like to borrow that book when you've finished it if it's ok.

 

[bandshell]

Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test at the moment by Tom Wolfe. When I first read Tom Wolfe's novels I was amazed to find that he was such a crude and simplistic writer although I kind of enjoyed them despite that. This is again crude and as you all know deals with Ken Kesey and his mates taking loads of acid and generally being wankers in their stupid psychedelic bus. Quite good fun and quite a good snapshot of the time plus the odd moment (such as Wolfe's dispassionate description of the way they callously leave someone in a mental home when she goes over the edge) seems to imply that it's not quite the hagiography that it might at first appear.

I read it a few years ago. I thought it lost its way a bit towards the end. Like you say, a great snapshot. I found the ending quite depressing.

I'll read it again sometime.

 

[empty mirror]

Just finished Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad. Amazing. My first foray into military non-fiction, and I want more. He got me obsessed with the topic of the Ostfront. Listened to Dan Carlin's excellent four part podcast "Ghosts of the Ostfront" as well. Just incredible brutality. Two "bad guys" having it out, no man (woman or child) spared - one upmanship of the most terrible sort. Now I've got that Jude Law film, Enemy at the Gates (fictionalized account of the sniper culture in Stalingrad) on top of my TV, ready to go. The "Cult of the Sniper" was born in the battle of Stalingrad (jeez, I'm even playing as a sniper in Black Ops because of the book), snipers hiding in the rubble. The Russian army had 2000 women trained as snipers - a couple of them have their own wiki pages - not so bad looking!


Now back to reading Snowcrash, which had been interrupted by Beevor...


EDIT: oh, and my friend's mother is mentioned in Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, she's "Sandy" from Levittown, with the huge joint.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I'm reading Jonathon Meades' collection of short stories, Filthy English, between chunks of GEB: EGB. My god, that man has a dark place in his head. Makes Martin Amis look like JK Rowling.

Just finished Houellebeqc's treatise on Lovecraft, Against the World, Against Life, and now have a pile of Burroughs, Ballard and Will Self to get through after Meades. Yay.

 

[jenks]

Really like some of Filthy English - I managed to get hold of Peter Knows... his collection of non-fiction which is a real insight into the things that drive Meades.

I am half way through Beevor's Berlin - i read Stalingrad about six months ago and promised myself I'd complete the journey to the true heart of darkness with Berlin - it's just mind bogglingly awful but so well written. Compulsive and repulsive at the same time!

 

[faustus]

Just finished Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad. Amazing. My first foray into military non-fiction, and I want more. He got me obsessed with the topic of the Ostfront. Listened to Dan Carlin's excellent four part podcast "Ghosts of the Ostfront" as well. Just incredible brutality. Two "bad guys" having it out, no man (woman or child) spared - one upmanship of the most terrible sort. Now I've got that Jude Law film, Enemy at the Gates (fictionalized account of the sniper culture in Stalingrad) on top of my TV, ready to go. The "Cult of the Sniper" was born in the battle of Stalingrad (jeez, I'm even playing as a sniper in Black Ops because of the book), snipers hiding in the rubble. The Russian army had 2000 women trained as snipers - a couple of them have their own wiki pages - not so bad looking!

Europe Central by William Vollmann has a lot on Leningrad and Stalingrad during the sieges

 

[empty mirror]

Thanks for the tips, dissensians!
I wasn't aware of the Beevor Berlin book, will check that out - the seige of Berlin is a natural sequel to the story of Stalingrad, I will read that next, for sure.

Also, thanks for the Vollman rec - I loved the Ice Shirt (and Butterfly Stories), will check out that one, too. I really enjoy it when he gets all historical on my ass...

pause.

 

[Corpsey]

'Blood Meridian' by Cormac McCarthy.

Fantastic.