Post: #426

Erik von Kuenhedlt-Leddihn: Haven't thought of this man in years. I actually went to hear him speak back in the 80's. A little bit amusing with his Austrian accent and all. All he lacked was the monocle and riding boots.

Post: #427

'Socialism' by Ludwig Von Mises

The title is deceptive as its more a book on economics and social analysis by one of the fathers of Austrian School Economic thought.
Its the style of book where you read a chapter, think about it, read it again, then move to the next
A must read for those who don't subscribe to the Keynesian economic model

Post: #428

I just finished Gang Leader for a Day. Really interesting book for anyone into sociology and urban development. This graduate student at the Univ of Chicago back in the day essentially befriended a gang leader in one of Chicago's very dangerous housing projects. What started out as research on the poor eventually became a relationship of many years, interactions with the tenants, police, etc... Really interesting from the perspective of how people lived in these projects and the gangs that controlled them.

Post: #429

Post: #430

The German Genius by Peter Watson.

This is a huge book, 900~ pages. The author asserts that while much attention is given to one part of German history--the Nazi era, most people do not know enough about German contributions to the Western tradition. This book is a comprehensive tome of German ideas that have advanced Western life.

I'm about 50 pages in, so far very interesting stuff.

Post: #431

Post: #432

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Post: #433

In the Arena: An Autobiography, Charlton Heston.

Great stuff. I had the good fortune of being raised on a lot of Heston's films before the media demonized him. (It's amazing how many of my fellow millennials know him only as "My Cold Dead Hands" and have no idea that he marched with Martin Luther King Jr.). Besides his insights into acting and production, his wit, equipoise, and wry humor leap off the page. Even the smallest anecdotes make for fun reading.

Also an eerily anticipatory book. This was 1997:

Quote:The only other major gripe I have with my country in the closing years of the millennium is the social charade called "political correctness", or "P.C." George Orwell invented it for this novel 1984. He called it "Newspeak." It was a seductive tool of the oligarchic tyranny the government had become, which simply altered the meaning of words by decree: "chairperson", "Freedom is slavery", "Ministry of Love"...Orwell foresaw the onset of political correctness with chilling prescience. His "Thought Police" are of course our custodians of P.C. May they cringe in shame at what they are doing to our language and our society.

I think this egregious nonsense, in real life, started in the Sixties. "Personhole" for "manhole" was one of the first, though that was laughed away quickly. Then academics and activists saw a chance to peddle a sociopolitical line with the scheme, laughably lunatic though it was. When the media joined the band, quickly followed by government bureaucrats, they were on a roll. Now, alone among the nations of the world, the United States has allowed political correctness to creep like crabgrass, clinging to every part of our daily lives.

To justify this ludicrous pomposity, those who impose it on us insist it is morally uplifting and encourages diversity. This, to a country that has thrived by providing an example of common values and common goals. An increasingly cacophonous diversity is one of the things wrong with us.

"Well," say its visionary defenders, "P.C. language promotes self-esteem." That's oxymoronic to begin with. Self-esteem, in modest proportion, is valuable - but by definition, it can only come from within. Helen Keller didn't become one of the prominent women of her time by being called "visually and aurally challenged." Franklin Roosevelt didn't become president by thinking himself "differently abled."

I hope we see his like in Hollywood again, someday.

Post: #434

Post: #435

(12-10-2014 01:11 PM)Ringo Wrote:  Now reading "The 50th Law" by Robert Greene.

Done with "The 50th Law". Pretty good. Many of the points are repeated in "Mastery", which I read first and found to be much better.

Now reading "Goldfinger" by Ian Fleming - first fiction book in a long time.

Post: #436

(12-29-2014 09:49 AM)Ringo Wrote:  Now reading "Goldfinger" by Ian Fleming - first fiction book in a long time.

I've always loved Fleming's 007 novels. He has a great way of describing people in all the books.

Started two books I got for Christmas:
Antifragile by Nassem Taleb (at the recommendation of the forum)

Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie. A great golf book that explains the new stats revolution in golf (think what Moneyball did a decade ago). Great guide for finding your strengths and weaknesses on the course.

Post: #437

(12-26-2014 01:04 PM)Lucky Wrote:  

The German Genius by Peter Watson.

This is a huge book, 900~ pages. The author asserts that while much attention is given to one part of German history--the Nazi era, most people do not know enough about German contributions to the Western tradition. This book is a comprehensive tome of German ideas that have advanced Western life.

I'm about 50 pages in, so far very interesting stuff.

Just requested this book from my library. Thanks!

Post: #438

I saw people use the word character, I didn't know what the hell they mean so I decided to read the first book I found on kindle search about it.

Post: #439

"How to be a Conservative"

by Roger Scruton

Post: #440

Going through the writings of jailed terrorist Eric Rudolph. His works are free on armyofgod.com and though I don't share his methods or all of his politics, he is very red pill in many ways. Well worth a look, especially his essay on feminism.

Post: #441

Factotum by Charles Bukowski. This is my first Bukowski novel. Funny as hell.

Post: #442

Don Juan by Lord Byron, I can't stop reading, and...

Quote: In her first passion woman loves her lover,
In all the others all she loves is love,
Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over,
And fits her loosely-like an easy glove,
As you may find, whene'er you like to prove her:
One man alone at first her heart can move;
She then prefers him in the plural number,
Not finding that the additions much encumber.

I know not if the fault be men's or theirs;
But one thing's pretty sure; a woman planted
(Unless at once she plunge for life in prayers)
After a decent time must be gallanted;
Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs
Is that to which her heart is wholly granted;
Yet there are some, they say, who have had none,
But those who have ne'er end with only one.

'T is melancholy, and a fearful sign
Of human frailty, folly, also crime,
That love and marriage rarely can combine,
Although they both are born in the same clime;
Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine-
A sad, sour, sober beverage-by time
Is sharpen'd from its high celestial flavour
Down to a very homely household savour.

There's something of antipathy, as 't were,
Between their present and their funeral state;
A kind of flattery that's hardly fair
Is used until the truth arrived to late-
Yet what can people do, except despair?
The same things change their names at such a rate;
For instance-passion in a lover's glorious,
But in a husband is pronounced uxorious.

Men grown ashamed of being so very fond;
They sometimes also get a little tired
(But that, of course, is rare), and then despond:
The same things cannot always be admired,
Yet 't is 'so nominated in the bond,'
That both are tied till one shall have expired.
Sad thought! to lose the spouse that was adorning
Our days, and put one's servants into mourning.

There's doubtless something in domestic doings
Which forms, in fact, true love's antithesis;
Romances paint at full length people's wooing,
But only give a bust of marriage;
For no one cares for matrimonial cooing,
There's nothing wrong in a connubial kiss:
Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?

All tragedies are finish'd by a death,
All comedies are ended by a marriage;
The future states of both are left to faith,
For authors fear description might disparage
The worlds to come of both, or fall beneath,
And then both world would punish their miscarriage;
So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready,
They say no more of Death or of the Lady.

Post: #443

(12-29-2014 09:49 AM)Ringo Wrote:  Now reading "Goldfinger" by Ian Fleming - first fiction book in a long time.

Done with "Goldfinger" a few days ago.

The book was written in 1959. Check out these gems:

Quote:Bond wasn't minding it. He was half way through his first week and so far it had just been a question of common sense or passing routine problmens on down to the sections. He rather liked the peaceful room and knowing everybody's secrets and being occasionally fed coffee and sandwiches by one of the pretty girls from the canteen.
On the first night the girl had brought him tea. Bond looked at her severely. 'I don't drink tea. I hate it. It's mud. Moreover it's one of the main reasons for the downfall of the British Empire. Be a good girl and make me some coffee.' The girl had giggled and scurried off to spread Bond's dictum in the canteen.

Quote:Bond read again the passage that had revolted him: 'A drunken woman can also usually be handled by using the thumb and forefinger to grab the lower lip. By pinching hard and tiwsting, as the pull is made, the woman will come along.'

Quote:Bond came to the conclusion that Tilly Masterton was one of those girls whose hormones had got mixed up. He knew the type well and thought they and their male counterparts were a direct consequence of giving votes to women and 'sex equality'. As a result of fifty years of emancipation, feminine qualities were dying out or being transferred to the males. Pansies of both sexes were everywhere, not completely homosexual, but confused, not knowing what were. The result was a herd of unhappy sexual misfits - barren and full of frustrations, the women wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied. He was sorry for them, but he had no time for them.

Now reading "Island", by Aldous Huxley.

Post: #444

Every SEA expat needs to read this book. It's incredible how little has changed for the European man in Burma/Thailand.

The same characters, the same alchoholism, mixed feelings of love/hate, losing touch with the West yet not fully able to adopt the new country. The easy local girls and a lazy lifestyle, but a fatigue of low expectation.

It's also full of red pill knowledge. I won't spoil the book, but there's a lot of good stuff about the nature of women, beta sensitive guy with onitis vs douchebag alpha, theatrics of SEA women and lots more.

Post: #445

(12-28-2014 11:30 PM)EagleMan Wrote:  

What are your thoughts on this book? I'd like to get a deeper understanding on economics. Thinking of getting either this or Economics Explained by Heilbroner & Thurow. Both seem good for getting a citizen's education in economics.

Post: #446

I'm really enjoying this one, as I'm sort of on a war book kick right now. There are plenty of strategies in here you can apply to game and life.

Quote:"Our successes in life can be traced to how well or how badly we deal with the inevitable conflicts that confront us in society. The common ways that people deal with them - trying to avoid all conflict, getting emotional and lashing out, turning sly and manipulative - are all counterproductive in the long run, because they are not under conscious and rational control and often make the situation worse. Strategic warriors operate much differently. They think ahead toward their long term goals, decide which fights to avoid and which are inevitable, know how to control and channel their emotions."

Quote:"When you are faced with a new situation, it is often best to imagine that you know nothing and that you need to start learning all over again. Clearing your head of everything that you thought you knew, even your most cherished ideas, will give you the mental space to be educated by your present experience."

Quote:"You must actively resist the emotional pull of the moment - staying decisive, confident, and aggressive no matter what hits you. Learn to detach yourself from the battlefield. Let others lose their heads."

Quote:"What most often weighs you down and brings you misery is the past, in the form of unnecessary attachments, repetitions of tired formulas, and the memory of old victories and defeats. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react in the present moment."

Post: #447

Reading this one once again to review the basis of OODA loops, which Boyd formalized. He also came up with the the Energy Maneuverability Theory.

Post: #448

(01-08-2015 05:17 PM)DarianFrey Wrote:  

(12-28-2014 11:30 PM)EagleMan Wrote:  

What are your thoughts on this book? I'd like to get a deeper understanding on economics. Thinking of getting either this or Economics Explained by Heilbroner & Thurow. Both seem good for getting a citizen's education in economics.

Ha Joon Chang is interesting to read, but also believes in Fascist economics. His arguments against capitalism are interesting, yet mostly flawed.

Post: #449

I just finished reading Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid. As some of you may know, he was one of the infamous "on the ground reporters" during the Second World War and became a commentator for CBS during the heyday of TV journalism.

This is his story of canoeing from Minneapolis, MN to the Hudson Bay with his buddy Walter Port back in the early 1930's. This over 2,200 mile journey was performed by the two boys fresh out of high school with little canoeing experience. It is the first recorded instance of this trek being successfully completed. I am an absolute sucker for non-fiction adventure books and this really hit the spot for me. Later in life, Eric would state that this one journey gave him the belief that he could accomplish anything in life. This really instilled in me the need to complete an arduous adventure in the near future.

Post: #450

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill