____twoism

saturdayindex wrote:Just finished Brave New World - Aldous Huxley.

1984 gets all the attention but this is the best dystopian novel.

SamuraiDrifter wrote:

saturdayindex wrote:Just finished Brave New World - Aldous Huxley.

Excellent book, to state the obvious.

I'm reading a couple of books at once now - Manufacturing Consent by Herman & Chomsky, and The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy by Jim Marrs for a little bit of tinfoil hat spiciness. Also just picked up The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber, and on the fiction front, Neuromancer by Gibson (a classic I'm way overdue on) and White Jazz by James Ellroy.

RIP David Graeber, someone who saw right through the utter fraud and bullshit that has been UK politics over the last few years.

This is as good a summary of the 2019 UK elections as you'll read anywhere -

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/1 ... -election/

jcnporter wrote: RIP David Graeber, someone who saw right through the utter fraud and bullshit that has been UK politics over the last few years.

This is as good a summary of the 2019 UK elections as you'll read anywhere -

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/1 ... -election/

Yes! He was great and the world is a lesser place without him. I recently read Bullshit Jobs and have been working my way through Debt: The First 5,000 years as well.

Currently I've taken a break from political books to resume reading IT by Stephen King, which I started last October, misplaced during a move, and recently found again. About 400 pages in.

Flicking through Valis by Philip K. Dick at the moment, it’s a psychologically infused sci-fi novel, with a similarity to the matrix with its reality-bending theme. Absolutely fantastic novel, you can really immerse yourself in it.
The plot moves around a bit, but it’s quite thought provoking when it does stray away.

Don’t know when I’ll be able to get my hands of the other 2 books of the trilogy, but enjoying it thus far!

Orbited insanitarium wrote:Flicking through Valis by Philip K. Dick at the moment, it’s a psychologically infused sci-fi novel, with a similarity to the matrix with its reality-bending theme. Absolutely fantastic novel, you can really immerse yourself in it.
The plot moves around a bit, but it’s quite thought provoking when it does stray away.

Don’t know when I’ll be able to get my hands of the other 2 books of the trilogy, but enjoying it thus far!

I'm a huge PKD fan! Have you ever read anything else by him?

I enjoyed Valis, but it might be actually be my least favorite PKD novel I've read. Top of my list would be Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, and Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

SamuraiDrifter wrote:

Orbited insanitarium wrote:Flicking through Valis by Philip K. Dick at the moment, it’s a psychologically infused sci-fi novel, with a similarity to the matrix with its reality-bending theme. Absolutely fantastic novel, you can really immerse yourself in it.
The plot moves around a bit, but it’s quite thought provoking when it does stray away.

Don’t know when I’ll be able to get my hands of the other 2 books of the trilogy, but enjoying it thus far!

I'm a huge PKD fan! Have you ever read anything else by him?

I enjoyed Valis, but it might be actually be my least favorite PKD novel I've read. Top of my list would be Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, and Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

Just delving into his works, where would you say is a good place to latch onto and start? I can relate to his bluntness of on mental illness and issues like that.

I’ll be adding your three favourites to the list

I just put over a hundred pages into my dogeared paperback of the Hobbit printed in 1971. It's older that I am, but not by much. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, in those heady days of AD&D 2nd Edition, but it holds up very well and I'm picking up things I missed the first time around.

onto The Unix Programming Environment (Kernighan, Pike) for some foundations, and still reading Wretch of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

i absolutely loved Jeffty is five even though i didn't get most of the americana references

also is this quote from the book true? the story takes place in the 80s i think

Records... don’t feel right; they’re not thick and solid like the old ones, they’re thin, and you can bend them. And that doesn’t seem right to me.

Erich Maria Remarque - Act of Triumph
George Orwell - 1984

Going to start next Kafka's Castle. I remember reading it probably 9 years ago, it was way too hard for me, somehow feel now is the time to revisit it.

It's been ages since I've read, but the new Dune flick made me buy the first 3 books of the Dune series. So far I'm liking it.

+10 pts for 1984 and Brave New World. They're almost too good for today/makes me depressed. World is a little crazy.

I'm reading 'dopamine nation' right now and it's a quick/easy read. Pretty funny too. Chapter one is about a guy who makes a masturbation machine, so it gets right into it.

We all have habits that we'd like to free ourselves from a bit (masturbation machines or otherwise) and this is a good read on that.

Phasen wrote:+10 pts for 1984 and Brave New World. They're almost too good for today/makes me depressed. World is a little crazy.

I'm reading 'dopamine nation' right now and it's a quick/easy read. Pretty funny too. Chapter one is about a guy who makes a masturbation machine, so it gets right into it.

We all have habits that we'd like to free ourselves from a bit (masturbation machines or otherwise) and this is a good read on that.

Honestly, I think Winston overblowing things. You have to try at least. Everything is black for him. He also has suppressed sexual desires, tends to alcoholism and suicidal thoughts. Seriously, this book is just too simple for it is own good. It reads like a journal.

I just read Benjamin Myers The Gallows Pole. Tremendous read. HIghly recommend it

Just read House of Leaves. Anyone else here read it?
The thing with the footnotes was cool and while I didn't find it particularly frightening there was one part that really creeped me out, the part where he meets a pornstar with a "smile that was all wrong".
Recommend it.

Just read House of Leaves. Anyone else here read it?
The thing with the footnotes was cool and while I didn't find it particularly frightening there was one part that really creeped me out, the part where he meets a pornstar with a "smile that was all wrong".
Recommend it.

bungler666 wrote:Just read House of Leaves. Anyone else here read it?
The thing with the footnotes was cool and while I didn't find it particularly frightening there was one part that really creeped me out, the part where he meets a pornstar with a "smile that was all wrong".
Recommend it.

Amazing book, one of my top favorites. I always find my favorite pieces of art are the ones that make full use of whatever medium they're in. House of Leaves is one of those. It utilizes the novel medium to it's fullest extent with the nested stories, footnotes, different colors, etc. It couldn't really exist in any way other than as a book.

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.

Just finished the first part of The Gulag Archipelago. A very sobering book, and it’ll be some time before I decided whether I want to give part 2 a read. It really does take a lot out of you.

To mix things up, i’ve started reading Memoirs of Hadrian and have fallen in love with it. Every sentence is beautifully written and a treat to read if you are interested in Hadrian or ancient Rome.

SamuraiDrifter wrote: 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.