Books
-
What are you reading now (fiction/nonfiction)?
Are there any books you've seen recently that you're curious about, or anything that you haven't quite decided if you want to start?
-
Some fake covers for your e-book reader
A comrade has provided a presumably more long-lived link here. On my Kobo Clara 2E, putting them all in .kobo\screensaver\\ causes the reader to load a random image every time I turn it off. Probably works very similar for other Kobo readers. Non-permanent links: link1 link2 link3. If all the links are dead at some point, I can upload again.
Honestly stolen from Paperback Paradise, @paprbckparadise@twitter, paperback-paradise@tumblr
-
Rama Revealed (Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee) - Termination codicils
A different take on war. The most relevant 25% of the excerpt is in bold:
"I have volunteered," their octospider friend said, "to negotiate personally with the human leaders in an attempt to stop this conflict before it escalates into full-scale war. To accomplish this, however, I must Obviously have some help. If I suddenly appear in the camp of the human soldiers, they will kill me. Even if they do not, they will have no way of understanding what I am telling them. So some human who understands our language must accompany me to translate my colors or there's no way that a meaningful dialogue can be started."
After Richard and Nicole told the Chief Optimizer that they had no disagreement with the basic concept proposed by Archie, the two humans and their octospider colleague were left alone to discuss the details. Archie's idea was straightforward. Nicole and he would approach the camp near the Cylindrical Sea together and would request a meeting with Nakamura and the other human leaders. At that meeting Archie and Nicole would explain that the octospiders were a peace-loving species who had no territorial claims on the north side of the Cylindrical Sea. Archie would request that the humans withdraw from their camp and cease their overflights. If necessary, as a token of the goodwill of the octospiders, Archie would offer to supply quantities of food and water to help the humans through their current difficulties. A permanent relationship between the two species would be established and a treaty drafted to codify the agreement.
"Jesus," Richard said after he finished translating Archie's comments. "And I thought Nicole was an idealist!"
Archie did not understand Richard's remark. Nicole patiently explained to the octospider that the leaders of New Eden were not likely to be as reasonable as Archie was assuming. "It is entirely possible," Nicole said, to stress the danger of what Archie was proposing, "that they will kill us both before we are ever allowed to say anything."
Archie kept insisting that what he was proposing was bound to be accepted eventually because it was clearly in the best interests of the humans living in New Eden.
"Look, Archie," Richard responded in frustration, "what you said is just not correct. There are many human beings, including Nakamura, who do not give a shit what is good for the colony. In fact, the common welfare is not even a factor in the subconscious objective function, to use your terms-, that governs their behavior. All they care about is themselves. Every decision is weighed in terms of whether or not it will increase their own personal power or influence. In our history, leaders have often destroyed their own countries or colonies in attempts to retain their power."
The octospider was stubborn. "What you are describing just cannot be true in an advanced species," Archie insisted. "The fundamental laws of evolution clearly indicate that those species whose primary value is the welfare of the group will outlast those in which the individual is supreme. Are you suggesting that human beings are an aberration of some kind, a freak of nature violating a fundamental—"
Nicole interrupted. 'This is all very interesting, you two," she said, "but we have some more pressing business. We must design a plan of action that has no pitfalls. . . . Richard, if you don't like Archie's plan, what do you suggest?"
Richard reflected for several seconds before speaking. "I believe that Nakamura has committed New Eden to this action against the octospiders for many reasons, one of which is to preclude criticism of the domestic failures by his government. I do not think he will be dissuaded from his course unless the citizens are overwhelmingly against the war, and, I'm sorry to say, I don't think that will happen unless the colonists are convinced the war will be a disaster."
"So you think threats are necessary?" Nicole said.
"As a minimum. What would be perfect would be a demonstration of military might by the octospiders," Richard said.
"I'm afraid that's impossible," Archie commented, "at least under the current circumstances."
-------- "Why?" Richard asked. 'The Chief Optimizer spoke with confidence about winning any war that might occur. If you were to attack and utterly destroy that camp—"
"Now it is you who do not understand us," Archie said. "Because war, or any conflict that can result in deliberate deaths, is such a nonoptimal way of resolving disputes, our colony has very strict regulations governing concerted hostile actions. Controls are built into our society to make war absolutely the solution of the last resort. We have no standing army and no stockpile of weapons, for example. And there are other restraints as well. All optimizers participating in a decision to declare war, as well as all octospiders engaging in an armed conflict, are immediately terminated after the war."
"Whaaat?" said Richard, not believing his translator. "That's not possible."
"Yes, it is," Archie said. "As you can imagine, these factors significantly deter our participation in nondefensive hostilities. The Chief Optimizer knows that she signed her own death warrant two weeks ago when she authorized the beginning of war preparations. All eighty of the octospiders now living and working in the War Domain will be terminated when this war is either concluded or the threat of war has officially passed. ... I myself, since I was part of the discussions today, will be placed on the termination lists if war is declared."
Richard and Nicole were speechless. "The only possible justification for war to an octospider," Archie continued, "is an unambiguous threat to the very survival of the colony. Once that threat is identified and acknowledged, our species undergoes a metamorphosis and prosecutes the war, without mercy, until either the threat is obliterated or our colony has been destroyed. Generations ago, some very wise optimizers realized that those individual octospiders who were engaged in killing, and the design of killing, were so psychologically altered by their experiences that they became a significant detriment to the operation of a peaceful colony. That's why the termination codicils were enacted."
-
Best books on and by Kissinger?
I would like to better understand this guy’s life and thinking. Does anyone have recommendations for the best books Kissinger himself wrote as well as books about him?
-
"There Will Be Blood" is a disservice to "Oil!"
The Upton Sinclair classic is filled with labor relations, leftist struggle sessions, and disproving American imperial propaganda, but we get a movie about mean oil man doing mean things. What a travesty and an erasure of Sinclair's message. The man could layer irony on so thick that it would make Chapos jealous. Has anyone here read the book, and, if so, what are your favorite passages? Mine is:
>Someone mentioned another stunt of the returned soldiers—their setting up a censorship of moving pictures. One Angel City theatre had started to show a German film, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and this Hun invasion had so outraged the Legion men, they had put on their uniforms and blockaded the theatre, and beaten up the people who tried to get in. Tommy Paley laughed—the courage of each of those veterans had been fortified by a five-dollar bill, contributed by the association of motion picture producers! They didn’t want foreign films that set them too high a standard!
>Then Schmolsky. He was too fat to comprehend such a thing as irony, and he remarked that the directors were mighty damn right. Schmolsky, a Jew from Ruthenia, or Rumelia, or Roumania, or some such country, said that we didn’t want no foreign films breaking in on our production schedules. An hour or so later Bunny heard him telling how the Hollywood films were sweeping the German market—it wouldn’t be three years before we’d own this business. “Vae victis!” remarked Bunny; and Schmolsky looked at him, puzzled, and said, “Huh?”
Vae victis, indeed. The entire text can be found here for free:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70379
-
Discussion Thread: What are all you reading in terms of fiction AND non-fiction? - #22
Discussion questions:
What new books are you reading?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
Question of the week:
What books are you eager to read that you haven’t read yet?
Enjoy!
-
Are the "classic" american novels any good?
I'm talking works by Kurt Vonnegut, Isaac Asimov, Joseph Heller, Stephen King, Art Spiegelman, Elie Wiesel, Daniel Keyes, etc. I haven't read any from these I've mentioned, I just have a bias that tells me they're overrated trash. I think it's quite common on american "classics" (not just books but also films) a certain political defeatism or instead a very liberal surface level criticism of "bad things" (Steinbeck stays winning). And then these barren ideas get louded as incredible literature classics (which makes sense as far as the rulling class's efforts for maintaining the status quo are concerned).
But as I've said this is my analysis a priori of having read such novels, but are there actually redeeming qualities on those novels that make them worthy of pursuing? I'm not that interested in style but I can see that some of the authors mentioned have that idiosyncrasy going for them. Also I'm sure some do get the problems they're writing about and maybe that analysis, even if it doesn't go all the way, is a good enough quality.
(I write this about american novels in particular but it clearly expands to other 'classics'. Unfortunately I have read stuff by that Orwell fella which is a clear perpetrator of the crimes I've mentioned. I focused on the american side because most of the 'classics' lists are filled with them (they're anglocentric in general but more american-sided))
-
Discussion Thread: What are all you reading in terms of fiction AND non-fiction? - #21
I'm reading The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (Delphi edition) on my tablet.
Just finished Legendborn as well.
The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin is also what I'm reading (second book in the trilogy of The Three-Body Problem)
In terms of non-fiction:
Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism (2nd Edition) by Otto Wille Kuusinen (highly recommended!)
Class, Race and Black Liberation by Henry Winston (also highly recommmend! ...Though not before reading the prequel to the book Strategy for a Black Agenda)
Discussion questions:
What new books are you reading?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
Question of the week:
What books are you eager to read that you haven't read yet?
Enjoy!
-
A Clash of Kings - Chapter 42 - Davos II (Makan: This is what I'm currently reading)
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
-
A Clash of Kings - Chapter 40 - Daenerys III (Makan: What I'm listening to right now)
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
Thoughts?
I'm doing a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire.
-
The Dispossessed - Le Guin - Atlas Shrugged for anarcho-syndicalists
I'm about a quarter of the way through The Dispossessed, and I'm pretty disappointed so far. It seems like a flat character expounding on the virtues of Anarcho-syndicalism, but I just have a hard time believing it.
It honestly reminds me of Atlas Shrugged. It's this ideal world where an idealist system works, and it's hard to make it believable.
Maybe I'm just a hater. I guess I shouldn't have an opinion until I finish it.
-
Vietnamese coursebook: The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-Leninism (recently translated to English)
www.banyanhouse.org EBOOK: The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-Leninism - Banyan HouseNOTE: This ebook is available for FREE, or you may choose to donate to fund further translation work upon checkout. (To get the book files for free, click "add to cart" then "checkout" with the price set to zero, or you can download them directly from Archive.org.) For the print version of the
Have only skimmed it so far, but it seems like a good introductory summary. Just enter some fake information and a temporary email address (unless you want to donate). License is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- careerauthors.com When and How Physical Books Became Digital Data • Career Authors
Like every other idustry, book publishing has been transformed by the internet. Editor Dana Isaacson tracks the digital revolution from its start to ChatGPT.
-
The Stormlight Archive 5 Update, The Winds of Winter, Jade Shards, Eragon Murtagh (SFF Spotlight 24)
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
Your thoughts?
-
The Fight Continues - Internet Archive Blogs
> Brewster Kahle: “Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive at global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society—owning, preserving, and lending books.
-
It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
Also:
Buy gold.
...And eat your sterile cereal before getting that job at Denny's.
-
Discussion Thread: What are all you reading in terms of fiction AND non-fiction? (NOW for BOTH fictional and non-fiction works) - #19
Discussion questions:
What new books are you reading?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
Question of the week:
Be honest: do you get your books from Amazon or directly from the publishers? If you do a bit of both, how often for each?
Enjoy!
(I do this so people here can talk about things other than politics so enjoy yourselves.)
-
Best Chinese books of fiction that aren't anti-communist
I want to get immersed in Chinese culture, but apparently it's hard to choose a book while being certain that it won't contain a pro-Western moralizing story. I'd like to build a good list with these criteria in mind. Can you help me out, comrades?
- www.chicagotribune.com Sherlock Holmes entering the public domain in 2023
Sherlock Holmes is finally free to the American public in 2023.
Your thoughts, everyone?
- www.goodreads.com 72 Books for Career and Financial Success in 2023
If you’re feeling like you could do with some inspiration on how to be successful at your current job, find a new role, and advance your career, this...
Which ones do you think could be useful?
Thanks in advance!
(And yes, I'm well aware that I posted this on Lemmygrad of all places, but I want things that can help me with my financials and with whatever business career I might pursue; I don't mean that I stan capitalism or whatever, but I've always wanted to use small business know-how to help the movement and get myself afloat.)
-
So Messy And I Loved It...Bye 2022
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
So...
What comics or graphic novels should I read?
🤔🤔
(Please leave a comment down below on suggestions regarding what to read or try out.)
-
Lord of the Rings Roleplaying's Lost Odyssey: The Red Scribe - Extra Life Trailer (ft. Elijah Wood)
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
-
Is anyone able to find this book for me online?
Like, maybe a PDF or ePub version of it?
I'm talking about this one here.
-
How to bypass the Z-lib ban
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/436050
> Use libgen.rs or access Z-lib through the TOR browser (torproject.org) Edit: z-lib.is has been established
-
Discussion Thread: What are all you reading in terms of fiction AND non-fiction? (NOW for BOTH fictional and non-fiction works) - #12
Tagging:
Today’s discussion questions are…
-
What are your favorite fantasy series, if any?
-
What are your favorite sci-fi series, if any?
-
What are your favorite horror/weird fiction series, if any?
My answers:
A Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin
Sci-fi series would be: none
Horror fiction would be The Terror by Dan Simmons.
Bonus question:
What is your favorite fantasy character or list of fantasy characters?
Mine are Stannis Baratheon, Davos Seaworth, Robert Baratheon, and Maester Pylos.
Also, shameless plug-in for a Discord server that me, BayArea415, and some good friends created:
https://discord.gg/qQmdd28CBR
Enjoy!
-
- www.tor.com All the New Science Fiction Books Arriving in June!
Head below for the full list of science fiction titles heading your way in June!
What books are you interested in?
-
I just bought George Orwell's book 1984
Ok that's a lie, I got animal farm. I got it because because my English teacher seems obsessed with it but I was luckily spared from doing it in class and instead I'm doing An Inspector Calls. I thought I might read it so that I have a better understanding of it in case I need to refute it.
Wish me luck,
Yours truly
-
Discussion Thread: What are all you reading in terms of fiction? (SPECIFICALLY fictional works, novels, stories, etc.) - #5
I'm currently reading Gideon the Ninth and that's about it. Everything is either history or organizing (though I'm reading less of that for the time being).
-
To every ML interested on Che Guevara, pls read this book
Its not just an biography about Che, it is about what he was as an person, an ML, an Guerrilheiro, How the world around him changed him, and how he changed the world. It might be an very long book, but trust me you are going to learn so much stuff from it.
-
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe | full audiobook
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
Enjoy.
(Audiobook is actually kinda fun, especially if it's a short story.)
-
The Vampyre by John Polidori | full audiobook
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
An audiobook.
40 minutes long.
-
What are all you reading in terms of fiction? (SPECIFICALLY fictional works, novels, stories, etc.) - #2
Hey, this is a continuation of the topic from this thread here.
I thought I'd continue this now that we're a much bigger community.
I recently started a full collection (by Delphi Classics) of Edgar Allan Poe's works. I'm still near the start (because it is a large collection of his entire repertoire).
And, on that note, I'm still going through Ambrose Bierce's repertoire of novels, short stories, etc. (I think the collection I'm going through is also Delphi Classics).
I've also started Romance of the Three Kingdoms (of the recent English translation), specifically its first volume.
I kinda stalled on the two other novels a mentioned last time (Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer and Book 2 of the Three-Body Problem series by Liu Cixin).
So, basically, I made more progress on the long-ass collection of Poe and Bierce's entire list of works than I have for the two novels that I could probably get through in a day for both. 😅 But I don't mind, tbh. I read a lot of good non-fiction books on the side and finished them (though we're here to talk about specifically fiction in this thread). So it's all good. Hell, I'm actually going to take a brief break from non-fiction to more "lighter" fictional works. I may start the next The High Republic novel next (the recent one in the spinoff series of novels that came out for the Star Wars EU under Disney about a year ago, I think). In addition, I'm still almost done with VanderMeer and Cixin's work respectively so I'll wrap them up and pick one more book (I... kinda have an itch to essentially read 6 fictional books at once, but mostly, I'm going to use the month to de-stress just in case I may need it; not because I recently got stress, but simply to be careful).
Not sure what else to say.
What are you reading in terms of fiction?
What will you read next?
Anything you like in particular?
Anything you didn't really care for that much?
Discuss all that and more so long as it has to do with written fiction or anything related to it.
👍👍
- bookriot.com 8 Anticipated Diverse YA Reads for Late Spring 2022 | Book Riot
These exciting diverse young adult books hit the shelves between April and May of 2022, so clear out some space on your TBR!