What are you reading?

[Orbited insanitarium]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresent In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

Some pages:










An Omnipresent In Wired

[BeachWoods]

https://www.whiterabbitbooks.co.uk/titl ... 474621939/

Vashti Bunyan biography 'wayward' proper good read.

[Remulo]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresent In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

Thank you so much!! Serial Experiments Lain is one of my favorite animes of all time, it's great!

[Orbited insanitarium]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresence In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

Thank you so much!! Serial Experiments Lain is one of my favorite animes of all time, it's great!

Truly elated to see another Lain fan here!
That show incorporates so many of my interests, it's truly a one off!

[SamuraiDrifter]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresent In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

I have this very book! I'm a huge Lain fan as well. I'd also highly recommend Haibane Renmei if you haven't seen it - another brilliant ABe show.

Currently I'm reading First As Tragedy, Then As Farce by Slavoj Zizek. As with pretty much every political/philosophy book I read, I disagree pretty strongly with elements of it, but I think a lot of it is very insightful and it's always entertaining how Zizek combines ideas from all sorts of fields and relates them to each other. For example he'll be talking about the results of a particular election, and then pull ideas from psychoanalysis to describe the behavior of the voters, or tie in neurological research on decision-making and free will with sociological phenomena.

[Orbited insanitarium]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresence In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

I have this very book! I'm a huge Lain fan as well. I'd also highly recommend Haibane Renmei if you haven't seen it - another brilliant ABe show.

I have seen it!
Cracking series, really builds upon Lain's production techniques and art style. ABe is masterful.

[Sky and Trails]

Civil Disobedience by Thoreau

The Sheep Look Up by Brunner

[Josh]

Getting close to the end of Robert Oppeneheimer -- A Life Inside the Center by Ray Monk. I started this one a few years ago, put it down and recently started up again. It's not light reading, but really fascinating both for giving an excellent character study of the man and also there's some actual physics explained in a way a that even I can grasp. Obviously, the story of The Manhattan Project figures prominently in here, but there's a lot more to Oppenheimer as a scientist than that of the man who ran the program to build the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer's story is more complicated than I ever would've thought, ultimately leaving me seeing him as a rather tragic figure.

Up next: The Lone Samurai -- The Life of Musashi Miyamoto by William Scott Williamson. Then, a break from biographies for awhile.

[SamuraiDrifter]

Read through a couple of classic conspiracy theory books, The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy by Jim Marrs, and Behold A Pale Horse by William Cooper - not as a believer, but an observer of the culture (though I do appreciate how these folks challenged authority and questioned official narratives, even if they were usually wildly off). One thing I've found fascinating is that the conspiracy theories of yesteryear were legitimately anti-authoritarian, sounding the alarm about the surveillance state and warning of the government implementing martial law in violation of the constitution... Now modern social media-based conspiracies like QAnon have their followers actively supporting a military takeover of the country. It's fascinating to me how people who may once have been concerned about the state's violation of privacy and liberty have now been manipulated via these back channels into supporting an authoritarian, martial law state, as long as it leads to the extermination of their enemies. It's a disappointing and worrisome development.

After that I read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, a history of the conquering of the world's economy by multinationals through violent military dictatorships funded by the CIA, and the leveraging of disasters by the World Bank and IMF to force poor countries to sell off their public infrastructure and cut social services, leaving a trail of dead and massive global poverty in their wake.

Now I'm on to the Chomsky/Herman classic Manufacturing Consent, a study of the propaganda role played by Western media in pushing state and corporate agendas.

[In Technicolor]

double posted/ignore

[In Technicolor]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresent In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

Some pages:

Present Day, Present Time HAHA\\
Oh man, is that an old one! A few months back I actually bought Yoshitoshi ABe's Haibane Renmei art book for my young niece who likes angels. It wasn't a cheap gift so I know you dropped a few on that one probably.

Edit: Your post inspired me to wikipedia SEL, and all three original creators are releasing a series called Despera soon, supposedly it's the second time they've all come together, maybe you know this.

[rodox_head]

I'm currently in awe of Yoshitoshi ABe's An Omnipresent In Wired, an artbook and illustration accompaniment to S.E Lain.

If you're a fan of the series like I am, this is an absolute joy to look through.
I don't have a physical copy myself but a kind soul on archive.org uploaded scans.

Some pages:

Present Day, Present Time HAHA\\
Oh man, is that an old one! A few months back I actually bought Yoshitoshi ABe's Haibane Renmei art book for my young niece who likes angels. It wasn't a cheap gift so I know you dropped a few on that one probably.

Edit: Your post inspired me to wikipedia SEL, and all three original creators are releasing a series called Despera soon, supposedly it's the second time they've all come together, maybe you know this.

I got a copy of the illustrations book for like 12 bucks at a music store long ago, before I even watched the anime itself actually. It's one of my more valued possessions.

[Orbited insanitarium]

You lucky buggers.

I'm going to be waiting a long time before I find a copy of omnipresence. Holding out for a reprint for lain's 25th anniversary in 2023. Because well... crazy prices about now.

Present Day, Present Time HAHA\\
Oh man, is that an old one! A few months back I actually bought Yoshitoshi ABe's Haibane Renmei art book for my young niece who likes angels. It wasn't a cheap gift so I know you dropped a few on that one probably.

Edit: Your post inspired me to wikipedia SEL, and all three original creators are releasing a series called Despera soon, supposedly it's the second time they've all come together, maybe you know this.

That depends on Konaka and ABe's definition of soon, as Despera looks to have been planned since 2008. Better hurry on boys!

[SamuraiDrifter]

That depends on Konaka and ABe's definition of soon, as Despera looks to have been planned since 2008. Better hurry on boys!

Remind you of anyone else we know?

[In Technicolor]

That depends on Konaka and ABe's definition of soon, as Despera looks to have been planned since 2008. Better hurry on boys!

Remind you of anyone else we know?

George RR Martin?

[Josh]

The Passenger -- Cormac McCarthy

All I can say is that it was worth the wait.

[steeldancer-x]

The Passenger -- Cormac McCarthy

All I can say is that it was worth the wait.

Cormac McCarthy is one hell of a dude. Blood Meridian is another good one of his.

I finished reading a manga recently called Vagabond. If you're a manga fan, basically Beserk but Guts gets help, and there are no demons ( ). Not a manga fan, it's a beautifully illustrated series about a young samurai on a path of the "sword" and enlightenment. I recommend it, 1000000x times more if you're a Boards of Canada fan. I read a lot of it while listening to Vol. 2 of Old Tunes and it was perfect. Damn, damn perfect.

[Orbited insanitarium]

Confessions of a Rabbi. They made it into a Radio 4 series you know?

Oh and a tankōbon volume of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. (Just call me eclectic. )

[Waterbagel]

Currently I'm reading "Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right." Quick read looking what led to the formation of the leaderless, transgressive, internet-based alt-right culture.

Sounds quite a good read, I'll have to pick that up sometime.

ah! yes. good, quick read. and a fun intro to uhh.. maybe we can call it "third-wave" internet culture, post-2012 or so? I dunno. it ain't usenet anymore! but neither was the drudge report/AOL/myspace world of the late 90's, aughts.

[Orbited insanitarium]

About to start Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley. If it rings a bell it's because he is the same writer/illustrator lad behind Scott Pilgrim and the following Graphic Novels.

Back in 2014, I was living part-time with my mother in a house in York, she didn't own it, weren't ours. But in the room I was sleeping in, there was the full Pilgrim series on a shelf. I vividly remember flicking through them.

So saw this in the library today, justified punt I hope?