Post: #251

I've just started rereading Shantarum by Gregory David Roberts. Semi-autobiographical story of discover and redemption.

Post: #252

I've got a couple of books on the go. I like to read for a couple of reasons. I usually have a book on the go that I am reading for fun, one that I am reading for work (can sometimes overlap with fun, as it does now) and one that I am reading for self improvement.

Right now, for business and pleasure: Flash Boys by Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis is a bit of a sensationalist, I don't believe HFT firms are really ripping off the small guy trying to save money for his retirement investing on his E-Trade account, but they're definitely scraping pennies off the top of million dollar institutional trades.

For personal self improvement, I'm reading How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Great book, everyone should read it.

Post: #253

Anatomy of Female Power.

http://therawness.com/AFP.pdf

Post: #254

The new positioning by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin.

Post: #255

The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle

So far it's pretty good.

Post: #256

I'm about halfway through Mouthful of Rocks: Modern Adventures In The French Foreign Legion. It's a book about a discharged British soldier who joins the French Foreign Legion in the 1980's, and then becomes a deserter. It's told entirely from a first-person perspective, and feels like a travel book at times. I picked it up inside a bank, from one of those "charity" book racks off to the side usually filled with Danielle Steele. There were a lot of old people clogging up the tellers.

Publisher's Weekly describes the narrative style as "hypnotically bland." I can't really say I disagree with that.
Still, I only paid a dollar for the paperback and it's fairly brisk.

In looking at the Amazon page, you'll find a review dated October 26, 1998:

Quote:...not only deserted the Legion, but also gives a false impression and false facts about life in the legion. As a current legionaire and officer, I can honestly say (from our records) that Mr. Jennings did not even make it through our farm. He failed the physical agility assessment and was rated very low on all testing. If he had not had prior military experience - he would have never been accepted (as are 70% of all volunteers). HE ALSO STATED THAT HE RECEIVED TRAINING IN THE ORANGE - NOT SO.

There is a reply dated May 29, 2012:

Quote:Actually Jennings did do basic in Orange , I was there with him.

This mystery man also offers up a review, criticizing the book's author with firsthand knowledge. Clicking through to this man's profile, you can find a review of another Legion book with the same kind of dismissive language. Ironically, this man's review of the second (and unrelated) Legion book is called out in the comments section as being misinformed:

Quote:I could post copies of Mr. Huck's Legion ID, or his DD214 from the Navy, or pictures of him fighting in Bare Knuckle fights (most of which are on youtube). Also, the entirety of that story is documented by Undisputed Federal Testimony in the Northern District of Texas (fifth Circuit). You might want to do a bit of research before you make frustrated claims. Just a thought. If you want, send me an email and I'll hook you up with the guy. I've talked to him (CBS is working on the adaptation of the book) on more than one occasion.

I've been looking but cannot find these bareknuckle videos so far.

I can't prove or disprove what is happening in the book, but as I said, it's a brisk read, mostly informal, and certainly worth the price of admission.

Post: #257

The Man in the High Castle



What if Japan and Germany won World War II? This book describes several narratives of characters living in post-WWII America. The US was divided into several parts by the conquering Axis---The Pacific States of America (PSA), The Rocky Mountain States and the eastern US absorbed into the Reich.

I'm not really far into the book yet but I am digging it so far. So many little details make the world feel real. This is from the guy that wrote sci-fi classics like Bladerunner, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly.

Post: #258

I just read Whatever by Houellebecq. He uses the same tired themes from his previous works over and over again; his descriptions of the sexual marketplace while he and his friend are in the disco trying to score are lifted straight out of Atomised/The Elementary Particles. Listening to him drone on about about the pointlessness of life gets old quick. There's no plot, and that's not a problem, it's just not entertaining. He's like a broke man's Camus. You'd be much better off reading The Stanger, which does everything infinitely better. The blurbs in the back of the book are the fodder of literary critics who write them for the love of seeing their witty blurbs printed on the back covers of such "edgy" novels, and the comparison to John Kennedy Tool's A Confederacy of Dunces is laughable. That book is actually fun to read. Moscow to the End of the Line, too, is superior account of a basket case getting wasted and going into psychobabble mode. Whatever--that's a good title. As in what-the-fuck-ever Houellebecq.

Post: #259

What was that book which Roosh recommended a while back, regarding the Dominican Revolution, I believe its written from the first person view of some playboy around the time. This happening during the 50s/60s I believe. He posted an article on RoK regarding this book, I have been trying to find it.

Post: #260

The Road.

Loved the movie.

Love the Fallout games.

Like the book so far.

Post: #261

@thirty-six

I really enjoyed the film 'Whatever' - I wonder if it works better as a movie than as a book?

Post: #262

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

Post: #263

(06-03-2014 11:19 AM)Constitution45 Wrote:  What was that book which Roosh recommended a while back, regarding the Dominican Revolution, I believe its written from the first person view of some playboy around the time. This happening during the 50s/60s I believe. He posted an article on RoK regarding this book, I have been trying to find it.

You must be talking about "The feast of the goat" (La fiesta del chivo) by Mario Vargas Llosa, a very interesting read.

Authoritarianism in the Dominican Republic had a very unique and intriguing feel to it.



I'd also recommend some of Junot Díaz's work which deals with similar themes.

Post: #264

Just finished "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor.

Very detailed account and a great read.

Still thinking about what to read next. Might start "High price" thanks to strengthstudent's recommendation.

Post: #265

(06-07-2014 06:51 AM)Enki Wrote:  

(06-03-2014 11:19 AM)Constitution45 Wrote:  What was that book which Roosh recommended a while back, regarding the Dominican Revolution, I believe its written from the first person view of some playboy around the time. This happening during the 50s/60s I believe. He posted an article on RoK regarding this book, I have been trying to find it.

You must be talking about "The feast of the goat" (La fiesta del chivo) by Mario Vargas Llosa, a very interesting read.

Authoritarianism in the Dominican Republic had a very unique and intriguing feel to it.



I'd also recommend some of Junot Díaz's work which deals with similar themes.

Excellent, thank you; I will start reading this right away.

Post: #266

(06-02-2014 08:57 PM)thirty-six Wrote:  I just read Whatever by Houellebecq. He uses the same tired themes from his previous works over and over again; his descriptions of the sexual marketplace while he and his friend are in the disco trying to score are lifted straight out of Atomised/The Elementary Particles.

Whatever came out before Atomised, though. I wasn't a fan of Whatever either, Atomised had some interesting ideas but plodded on. I like Platform best, you really get the sense that he's looking for redemption, that he wants to leave all that negativity behind. I have no real opinion on his last 2 books. Strange is all I have to say.

Taking a break from Montaigne right now; there are so many essays on so many different topics, it can get to be too much.

Currently rereading 'The War of Art'. Reading Pressfield motivates me to get the little things in order. These small things make a big difference.

Also "Models" by Mark Manson, especially his bit on vulnerability and directness.

Post: #267

(06-12-2014 10:41 PM)unbowed Wrote:  

(06-02-2014 08:57 PM)thirty-six Wrote:  I just read Whatever by Houellebecq. He uses the same tired themes from his previous works over and over again; his descriptions of the sexual marketplace while he and his friend are in the disco trying to score are lifted straight out of Atomised/The Elementary Particles.

Whatever came out before Atomised, though. I wasn't a fan of Whatever either, Atomised had some interesting ideas but plodded on...

Didn't even realize that (and that Whatever was his first novel.) You can see how Atomised built on it and surpassed it.

Post: #268

Just bought Robert Greene's MASTERY... Can't wait to read it.

Post: #269

Finally got my copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. So hyped to read it(although I'm close to broke again it was worth the expenditure).

Post: #270

The Long Shadow, about how WWI has shaped the world. Also, I'm reading the Koran. It's interesting trying to understand other religions.

Post: #271

I recently finished reading Ian Toll's "Pacific Crucible." It's a book Roosh reviewed few months ago. In short: it's amazing. One of the most engrossing books I've read in years. Toll just has a gift of storytelling, and this book includes interesting portraits of leading figures in the Pacific Theater (both American and Japanese), analysis of each sides strategies, and poignant accounts of the horrors of war.

Again, one of the most engaging books I've read in years, and I highly recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in WWII history.

Post: #272

Some books I've put on the list for future reading (or re-reading):

Casi Nunca, by Daniel Sada. An exploration of Mexico's cowboy north with an overabundance of sex in all forms. Sounds good...

Sylvie, by Gérard de Nerval. An 1853 novella by the famous French romanticist, recounting the protagonists' return to the countryside of his youth and his love affairs with three women, all of who he loses.

Bei betagten Schiffen: Islands Atomdichter. An anthology of the Atom Poets (in German translation).

Nabokov's Ada: the Place of Consciousness, by Brian Boyd. A comprehensive study of Nabokov's most dazzling novel, a twentieth-century literary classic.

Zen Flesh Zen Bones, by Paul Reps. A book on Zen.

A Guide to Old English, by Bruce Mitchell and Fred Robinson. A journey to the fons et origo of the mother tongue must begin somewhere...

Siete ensayos, by José Carlos Mariategui. A classic of 20th century Latin American political thought.

Die Schere, by Ernst Jünger. Jünger was, among other many other things, a great aphorist in the tradition of Lichtenberg. These are some of his most profound.

El infinito en la palma de la mano, by Gioconda Belli. A scintillating retake on Adam and Eve, beautiful prose.

The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition, by Gaius Valerius Catullus and Peter Green. Yup... it's porn. What better way to brush up your Latin?

Journal du voleur, by Jean Genet. Chronicles the author's semi-autobiographical journey across the seamy underbelly of Nazi Europe, as a gay prostitute, thief and amoral piece of shit.

Poesía completa, by Jorge Luis Borges. An absolute essential for anybody who reads Spanish and has any appreciation whatsoever for poetry.

Post: #273

(06-15-2014 01:15 PM)Ardbeg Wrote:  I recently finished reading Ian Toll's "Pacific Crucible." It's a book Roosh reviewed few months ago. In short: it's amazing. One of the most engrossing books I've read in years. Toll just has a gift of storytelling, and this book includes interesting portraits of leading figures in the Pacific Theater (both American and Japanese), analysis of each sides strategies, and poignant accounts of the horrors of war.

Again, one of the most engaging books I've read in years, and I highly recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in WWII history.

Agreed, good book. Consider looking at Gordon Prange's Miracle at Midway, or Samuel Eliot Morrison's books.

Post: #274

Am reading "Kundalini" by Ajit Mookerjee. Pretty interesting stuff.

Post: #275

Currently reading The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom.
Made me realize that beta males in our society have it quite good these days. Back in the days Alphas got ALL the pussy and betas were left with the option of accepting it,revolting or separating from the group. Of course this still exists today but Betas are able to settle down with 5's which was not possible back then because any healthy looking female would get fucked by an alpha.
Chapter about self-destructive mechanism is quite interesting too.