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    What have you read lately?

    Right now reading 'Going the Other Way' by Billy Bean - the autobiography of the first openly gay former Major League ballplayer.

    Just finished 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' by David Lagercrantz. If you read and enjoyed the late Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy - 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo', etc. - have no fear...Lagercrantz has done an absolutely masterful job of continuing the story. Not all continuation novels are anywhere near as successful as this one in capturing the intricate plotting, the slow buildup of suspense, and all the other elements that make the original so entertaining. Lagercrantz has done it in a masterful way.

    Before that, I tried to read David Labrava's 'Becoming a Son'. I'm a big Sons of Anarchy fan, and particularly liked Labrava's 'Happy' character on the show. I'd read that he had led an interesting life and was looking forward to reading his book, but... If ever a book needed a professional editor or co-writer and very obviously did not get one, this is it. From the simplest thing like not indenting paragraphs, to narrative flaws like changing ages in the middle of a story and jumping around from one time period to another with apparent randomness, this book is a hard, hard read. From reading some reviews, as well as flipping through the unread 3/4 of the book myself, I discovered that Labrava does not even mention his motorcycle club affiliation, which is actually one of the things I mostly wanted to read about. Doing and smuggling drugs, getting laid and surfing are all fine in their place, I suppose, but it's tough to make a big, dense, very badly written book fascinating with only those things to work with.

    Before that attempt, I read one of the finest Sherlock Holmes stories I've ever encountered - Molly MacBird's 'Art of the Blood'. I've been reading Holmes since I was about twelve, and have been searching out and reading continuation novels and pastiches by authors other than Conan Doyle for almost as long, and 'Art of the Blood' is up there near the top of my personal favorites list.

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    The last of the Remaining series.
    ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ


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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter1469 View Post
    Curious. Have you ever read a Zombie novel, or do you know of one, that was from the viewpoint of the Zombie? That would make an interesting book!

    I've always had a fascination with alien POVs.

    Hal Clement was a master at this, and his SF novels are masterpieces.

    The SF novel my wife and I are currently on does this in spades.
    Wearing a mask with your nose sticking out is like wearing a condom on your testicles.

    When out walking, look out for PROBlems. You know: maskless Plague Rats On Bicycles who blow past you without giving you time to get out of the way.

    Ah, CONServatives, the Masters of Projection (MOPs). With CONServatives, every accusation is a confession. Weird, that.

    ............Oh, what fresh hell is this?
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    Quote Originally Posted by OGIS View Post
    I've always had a fascination with alien POVs.
    Two recommendations, which you've probably already read: Grendel by John Gardner, and Man Friday by Adrian Mitchell. The latter was made into a fairly good film with Peter O'Toole and Richard Roundtree at some point, but the book is far more interesting and subversive.
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    The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

    In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

    Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen
    "Those who produce should have, but we know that those who produce the most — that is, those who work hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial tasks, have the least."
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    Recently finished:
    • Holcombe's Advanced Introduction to Austrian Economics
    • Ellickson's Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes
    • Stringham's Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life--highly recommended!
    • Smith and Moore's (eds) Individualism: A Reader--not that good except for chapter 24 from Henry Wilson's A Catechism of Individualism, a rebuttal to Belfort Bax's A New Catechism of Socialism
    • Munger's The Thing Itself: Essays on Academics and the State--the title is taken from Burke's A Vindication of Natural Society: "In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is good, but that I fall out only with the Abuse. The Thing! the Thing itself is the Abuse!Observe, my Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legislative Power is founded. It was observed, that Men had ungovernable Passions, which made it necessary to guard against the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors over them for this Reason; but a worse and more perplexing Difficulty arises, how to be defended against the Governors? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"


    I used to read fiction and try but just can't any more.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Recently finished:
    • Holcombe's Advanced Introduction to Austrian Economics
    • Ellickson's Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes
    • Stringham's Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life--highly recommended!
    • Smith and Moore's (eds) Individualism: A Reader--not that good except for chapter 24 from Henry Wilson's A Catechism of Individualism, a rebuttal to Belfort Bax's A New Catechism of Socialism
    • Munger's The Thing Itself: Essays on Academics and the State--the title is taken from Burke's A Vindication of Natural Society: "In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is good, but that I fall out only with the Abuse. The Thing! the Thing itself is the Abuse!Observe, my Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legislative Power is founded. It was observed, that Men had ungovernable Passions, which made it necessary to guard against the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors over them for this Reason; but a worse and more perplexing Difficulty arises, how to be defended against the Governors? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

    I used to read fiction and try but just can't any more.
    A little light reading?

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    Wow. Sorry, Chris, but I almost dozed off while reading your post! Economics, just about anything having to do with money, puts me right to sleep - Business Law classes almost killed me in school, just in terms of being able to stay awake. That's why I rarely if ever participate to any serious degree in threads on the topic. On the other hand, I can read case law all day and find it fascinating, which some find odd.

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    "The Son" by Phillip Meyer. It's a fiction about a Texan who is kidnapped by Comanches and is eventually integrated into their tribe.

    "Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin" by Bill Kauffman. It's a compelling historical analysis of the life and career of Luther Martin, a founding father and strident anti-federalist.

    "The Rights of Man" by Thomas Paine. It's about these silly things called "rights" that transcend political authority. It was written by a traitorous criminal terrorist who rebelled against the government.

    I'll let you know if I think of other stuff.
    Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
    --John Adams

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    I may begin Structures of the Life-World by Alfred Schutz and Thomas Luckmann. They're sociologists. There is a section on transcendence that I'd like to get a better understanding of particularly with regard to religious experience.
    Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.


    ~Alain de Benoist


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