What are you currently reading?

[Chest Rockwell]

34 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

The audiobook is even better. He reads it like he's telling you the story rather than reading it from a book. 

I love the sound of that but audiobooks are so fucking expensive. Can you not rent them or something?

[Keith Houchen]

4 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

I love the sound of that but audiobooks are so fucking expensive. Can you not rent them or something?

https://www.audible.co.uk/?source_code=M2M30DFT1BkSH1015140051&ds_rl=1235674 30 day free trial on Audible might be for you, Chest.

[Undefeated Steak]

Currently reading Factfulnes by Hans Rosling. A really good read so far though it's not without some flaws. It's about some of our primary instincts and how they impact our perceptions of the world when it comes to things like global warming and poverty, and how the actual data shows how misinformed most of us are. It's like a mixture of Freakonomics (but better) and Thinking Fast and Slow (but not as good).

Then I'm either onto a biography of Churchill, or I'm starting one of two books I've picked up that are something to do with nature and our countrysides.

One of the best things about going through rehab was getting back my joy for reading. I'm not usually one for fiction although I do have an urge to read some novels soon. 

Edit: fiction/non-fiction. I'll get them right way round one day. 

Edited March 14, 2019 by Undefeated Steak

[I like root beer]

I'm purely a non-fiction reader.If there's something I want to Learn more about ill pick up a 'For dummies' on it. I read a quote a few years ago it went something like this " if you read 3 books in a certain subject you become a master on that subject and have a 99% advantage over anyone else in that field" because people don't really read books anymore.

 

My current read is US history for dummies.

[PunkStep]

When I grow up, I want to be a super football coach like @tiger_rick- so I have The Mixer on my Kindle at the moment.

Fascinating read, talking about the evolution of tactics in the Premier League era. There's even a chapter pretty much devoted to the art of Rory Delap's throw-ins.

Before this, I read HG Wells' classic The Time Machine. A lot shorter than I thought it would be but highly recommended.

[Keith Houchen]

2 hours ago, Undefeated Steak said:

Hans Rosling

Check out his TED talks, he was the Ric Flair of statisticians. I was well gutted when he died. 

[Brewster McCloud]

13 hours ago, Merzbow said:

I just finished The Outsider by Camus, I'd probably have loved this during my earlier edgier days but I'm far less of a nihilist shite now or so I would hope.

As it happens I read it recently. I'm not a nihilist at all, but I loved the style of it. I reckon it's not so much espousing a nihilist mindset, but rather an exploration of how seemingly random choices can have a huge impact. The narrator wants to help his neighbour, yet by doing so he's going down a rather terrible path. Made me think, it did.

Edited March 15, 2019 by Brewster McCloud

[Loki]

On 3/14/2019 at 7:43 PM, Chest Rockwell said:

I love the sound of that but audiobooks are so fucking expensive. Can you not rent them or something?

Your local library might be the place to look, if it's not been shut down.

[hallicks]

Just finished The Magician King, second book in a trilogy (I think) by Lev Grossman. Really love the prose. Won't be everyone's cup of tea but if you're in any way inclined to fantasy/that sort of thing, I'd highly recommend it. 

[Mr_Danger]

I'm on to the fifth Dark Tower audio book. King seems to love writing about stiff nips in this one. In my head the Gun Slinger is Ed Harris and Eddie Dean is Christopher Moltisante. They're great books but they're hard work at times. At their best it's like I'm playing a brilliant action adventure rpg in my mind.

The audio file is shit though and there's no way to skip forwards or backwards without moving on to the next/previous book/file so if I'm 7 hours in and do that then I can't go back to where I was I have to play the entire thing through. I'll probably give up if that happens at this point.

[BomberPat]

Finished the Anthrozoology book. It was fine. Some interesting discussion points on the evolutionary benefit (or lack thereof) of pet-keeping, why we find things cute, and the evolutionary timescales involved in domestication and whatnot, but overall a bit patchy.

An interesting discussion topic, that the author admits he disagrees with, around the notion of pets as parasites - effectively utilising (on an evolutionary basis) the fact that "cute" animals trigger similar responses in us as babies, to encourage us to care for them at great expense, sometimes in place of having our own children, in a similar manner to cuckoos laying their eggs in another bird's nest. I don't buy it, but it's an interesting way of looking at the evolutionary benefits and drawbacks of the whole pet/owner relationship.

 

I've now started re-reading, for the first time in 20+ years, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in a lovely hardback illustrated edition. I think what I love about novels of this vintage is that there's always a pretense as to why it's been written - it's never just a book to be read, it's found manuscripts, letters to distant family, or an account transcribed. Like how HG Wells' The Time Machine (IIRC) starts with him recalling the story at a dinner party. There always needs to be a reason why the author is addressing an assumed reader/listener, and it's a literary device I enjoy, that you don't see much of any more.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Due to some English Literature timetabling weirdness at uni, I ended up studying Frankenstein on three separate occasions. I think by the third time I was just circling “begone”, “wretch” and “countenance” which all turn up a lot.

I also developed a theory that the Captain in the frame narrative - the pretence you’re talking about, @BomberPat - is an unreliable narrator and made the entire rest of it up as a way to keep himself entertained on a long sea voyage. There’s no evidence for Victor and the Creature beyond what this guy tells his sister in the letters...

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Due to some English Literature timetabling weirdness at uni, I ended up studying Frankenstein on three separate occasions. I think by the third time I was just circling “begone”, “wretch” and “countenance” which all turn up a lot.

I also developed a theory that the Captain in the frame narrative - the pretence you’re talking about, @BomberPat - is an unreliable narrator and made the entire rest of it up as a way to keep himself entertained on a long sea voyage. There’s no evidence for Victor and the Creature beyond what this guy tells his sister in the letters...

"wretch" comes up a lot. I'm currently amusing myself by chuckling, during the Creature's account, at every use of the word "cottager", which is surprisingly frequent.

I love an unreliable narrator theory, so that could well be plausible. Though I'd prefer that he's covering up something altogether more sinister than just passing the time...could be a writing prompt in that.

[Rey_Piste]

28 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

"wretch" comes up a lot. I'm currently amusing myself by chuckling, during the Creature's account, at every use of the word "cottager", which is surprisingly frequent.

 

[BomberPat]

On 3/18/2019 at 2:48 PM, HarmonicGenerator said:

I think by the third time I was just circling “begone”, “wretch” and “countenance” which all turn up a lot.

Having now finished it, the main thing I've taken away from is that Victor Frankenstein spends roughly 50% of the book either fainting or already unconscious.

 

I've now started on Akala's Natives: Race and Class In The Ruins of Empire, off the back of a recent TV appearance he made critiquing the racist tone in which knife crime is reported in the UK, that went viral. I have to admit I'd never heard of him beforehand, but have since become a fan.

It's not the best written book, but compelling enough that I'm reluctant to put it down, and while some of the points made seem obvious, that's probably because I'm accustomed to a lot of the literature he's referencing. It's bloody good, really.