This one has been on my bookshelf for awhile now. Excited to find out why this book has become so favored. First learned about it a couple years ago in a leadership/management course.



I read Dante Alighieri's Inferno (John Ciardi translation) a couple of years ago. Going on vacation to Italy and this will make for some easy and fun holiday reading.

Altered Carbon. Richard Morgan

(05-01-2015 05:02 AM)VolandoVengoVolandoVoy Wrote:  

(04-04-2015 12:00 AM)Chauncey Wrote:  The Driver

A guy gets into underground road rallies, racing all over the US and Europe. Ends up setting a new record for the NY to LA run of 32:07.

I am halfway through right now. I've never been into racing or a car enthusiast, I just stumbled across this title while searching for info on the E39 M5. This book is a page turner, tons of great stories about bad ass cars, cruising at 100-150 mph across the US and Europe, and one man's journey to honor his dying father's last words.

How does it work out?

I think it's kind of a douche move to use public highways with traffic for road rallies.

I enjoy adventure sports and taking risks, but not really fair to potentially hurt other people who have nothing to do with it.

I could be wrong but I'm guessing prolonged driving at 130, 150 mph across the US has about the same risk profile as driving drunk. Sure, most of the time nothing will happen, but....

A lot of the driving in the US is done at a reasonable 10-15 mph over the limit in populated areas, with the top speeds of 130+ occurring on isolated desert stretches out west or at night when there is minimal traffic.

For night driving he uses night vision goggles and there is a spotter that is using binoculars to identify upcoming vehicles. The driver and co-pilot also rotate behind the wheel to combat fatigue. For the record setting run they had a spotter plane as well (obviously they were mainly looking for cops but also could warn of upcoming accidents or traffic jams) The preparation that went into the solo speed runs from NY to LA was incredibly thorough. Knowing weather, construction zones, speed traps, etc.

The author's M5 was decked out in police gear as well (German in the US to avoid impersonating an officer and US or South American in Europe) so many vehicles would get over when they saw him approaching in the rear view. The book describes maybe half a dozen runs each in the US and Europe and there were only a few accidents mentioned. There was one fatality accident during a rally in Europe where a driver hit and killed an innocent couple. That incident did change the rally culture over there.

I agree with you, the whole idea of a rally with hundreds of cars hauling ass through populated areas seems very irresponsible and is just asking for trouble. His solo NY-LA runs seemed well planned from a safety standpoint though.

Currently reading Death by Black Hole. Its a compilation of Neil deGrasse Tyson's essays and very interesting and entertaining if you're into space and the universe.

Also working on 48 laws of power, a staple around here.

My current goal is to read 10 books this year, I'm at 3/10 finished with these two on the go. Do send any recommendations my way

I downloaded some audio books:

The Martian by Andy Weir - The first half of the book is funny and worth a listen. By the end its a bit monotonous. Clever, but not clever enough for how long it goes on.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - Excellent book but the character dealing with women is such an idiot. Main character is so interesting in every other part of his life but dealing with women is so pathetic.

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss - book 2 in the series. Booooooooooooo. Writing isn't as good, character development is silly, book is longer and far less happens than in book one.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - I read it when it came out but listened to it again recently. Amazing book worth reading more than once. So many good examples as to why a person might succeed or fail. Really hit home with me the first time, even more the end as I've grown up the past 7-8 years since I read it last.

Wizard - The life and times of Nikola Telsa - I only started it but it seems incredibly boring. I though it might be more interesting, will give it another go next time I'm going to be doing some yoga, put it on and listen, but was extremely dry.

Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly. I'd heard good things about O'Reilly's other "Killing" books (Lincoln, Kennedy and Jesus), and I've always been drawn to WWII and Patton.

Got these ones today.


The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Freedom Next Time: Resisting the Empire by John Pilger
In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong by Amin Maalouf
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonseca
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Middle east after the Arab spring by Waage, Peter Normann
Skammens historie: Den norske stats mørke sider 1814–2014 by Thomas Vestgården, Sigmund Aas

Anybody read some of this?

Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman

Shout out to Vinman for the recommendation.

Currently reading Mandasue Heller's book The Game. Usual chicks dig jerks, alpha fucks beta bucks scenario. Not really into fiction but I want to understand female mentality more, and chicks are dumber than I thought.

Thinking of picking up Orthodoxy By G. K. Chesterton

http://www.amazon.com/Orthodoxy-G-K-Ches...1449529259

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Of all the true stories I've heard of and read, Louie Zamperini's is the best example of both incredible heroism and great suffering.

Just finished "The Way of Men," and I'm reading "Verbal Judo" at the moment.

Currently reading 'The Affair' from Lee Child.
An enjoyable read and also educational in many respects.
Reacher is an unapologetically masculine alpha character, very strong, calm, focussed and extremely intuitive.

Plutarch's Essays and Models (Manson). Bunch of comics, too. I held off on Models for awhile because it sounded gimmicky to me, but I'm enjoying it.

(05-11-2015 10:24 AM)Lucky Wrote:  

Great book. I read a few years ago; I may read again.

Yes, it's another decision-making, how we think, how our brains work type of book. Well written and lotsa research behind it though.

Can anyone recommend any good current affairs books? I've been on a real kick lately and I've really been enjoying it, and I'd like some other vetted suggestions.

I'm currently working through Superclass by David Rothkopf, about the top .0001%, Davos Man.

A lesbian woman spends one year disguised as a man. I became interested in this book after reading part of an interview in which the author said "After spending a year as a man, I've never been more glad to be a woman."

I'm about a third of the way through the book. This dyke has discovered what our community knows independent of any knowledge of this community's teachings. It lends support to what we've observed for years.

Some choice quotes on approaching and dating women:

Quote:I picked out a couple of twenty-something women sitting at a table across the room. I gave them a few lingering looks to check their interest. I caught one woman’s eye and held her gaze for a second, smiling. She returned the smile and looked away. This was signal enough for me, so I stood up, made my way over to their table and asked them whether they wanted to join us for a drink. “No, thanks,” one of them said, “we’re on our way out in a minute.” Simple enough, right? A brush-off. No biggie.

But as I turned away and slumped back across the room toward our table, I felt like the outcast kid in the lunchroom who trips and dumps his tray on the linoleum in front of the whole school. Rejection sucked.

That was my first lesson in male courtship ritual. You had to take your knocks and knock again. It was that or wait for some pitying act of God that would never come.

Quote:I found myself thinking about rejection and how small it made me feel, and how small most men must feel under the weight of what women expect from them.

So how must men feel when it’s a true encounter and everything in the game seems stacked against them? The guys step out and most of the time the women step away, or laugh disdainfully, and the guys are left with their asses in the wind. That’s the sport, and men are the suckers.

Quote:“Pass my test and then we’ll see if you’re worthy of me” was the implicit message coming across the table at me. And this from women who had demonstrably little to offer.

The bitterest women I met were usually in their midthirties or older. They’d been through the mill a bit and they’d probably had more than their share of hellish dates or hit-and-run relationships before I came along. To hear them tell it, the pool of eligible, mature, stable, reciprocating, emotionally evolved men out there was small and polluted , and having to wade through it when what you wanted most in life was to settle down and start a family would be enough to shorten anyone’s fuse. Then again , many of the women I met weren’t emotional giants either, nor were they particularly well adjusted or stable. They just considered themselves to be such. And even the ones who knew they were damaged seemed to feel entitled to expect stolidity from a man, as if, in the time-honored way of things, a man is supposed to be strong, hold things together for his woman, to hold her up when she can’t do it herself.

I may do a full review at some point-- very intriguing book.

I'm reading Herman Melville's Taypee


It is the story of a young man, leaving his ship on an Island, with a friend. They have almost no food, some of the savages are known canibals and he does not speak the language.
It is a tale of adventure and overcoming hardship.

For example, at one point the 2 young men reach a high cliff. So they have the following dialog:

Quote:"What's to be done now, Toby?" said I.
"why" rejoined he, "as we cannot rereat, I suppose we must keep shoving along."
"Very true, my dear Toby; but how do you propose accomplishing that desirable object?"
"By jumping from the top of the fall, if there to be no other way"

Also interesting is that they meet an Alpha:

Quote:beneath the low portal, and entered the house. I saw at once
that he was some distinguished personage, the natives regarding
him with the utmost deference, and making room for him as he
approached. His aspect was imposing.

Everybody knows Alpha when they see one.

"The Underground Lawyer"and "The Art of Talking to Anyone".

"The Idiot," Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Reading Gorilla Mindset and What To Say When You Talk To Yourself. They compliment each other really well.

"Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" - Robert Pirsig
Philosophical Treatise and Narrative Travelogue

I highly recommend this book, and don't be fooled by the name fellas. Here's the author's note from this masterpiece:

What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although much has been changed for rhetorical purposes, it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either...


Pirsig and Chris (son)

Outrageous and delightfully entertaining.