Post: #451

(01-27-2015 01:09 AM)Fortis Wrote:  just finished Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. Beautiful novel.

I took your recommendation and read this - could not put it down! Such a beautiful book, and in my opinion, better than Siddhartha (which was also excellent).

Hesse is now one of my favorite writers.

Post: #452

I've started/stopped a bunch of books this year, but yesterday I finally finished one.

Tinkerbelle: The story of the smallest boat ever to cross the Atlantic nonstop

by Robert N. Manry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkerbelle

Manry sailed across the Atlantic, alone, in this:

   

Post: #453

Read Children of Odin, most of Trump's books, the Bible several times, and a few books on various languages, Spanish and Russian I hope to pick up quickly.

I have a Norwegian tutor who lives down the road as I wish to learn the mother tongue of my ancestors.

Post: #454

I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West. A fabolous book with focus on the violence of men along the journey of the main character in the West. A book that describes the daily violence suroounding the lives of outlaws in the frontier.

Post: #455

Gavin McInnes Death of cool. Dude is just flat out crazy, won't give any spoilers but it is a solid read.

Post: #456

I just finished reading Hockey Night Fever. It tells the story of NHL hockey in the 70's though the Boston Bruins, Philly Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens. Great book. I wish I was alive to see Hockey in the 70's. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2490...ight-fever

Post: #457

Took me a while to read due to too much procrastination, but I finally finished Marked For Death by Geert Wilders. It was given to me by the user AManLikePutin (thanks man), and is a combination of his experience with Islam and a general reveal of what Islam is about that the Mass Media refuse to acknowledge.

Should be a mandatory read for all Western people's, at the very least it might give them an opportunity to be more objective towards Islam.

Post: #458

Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now

Summary: Reading this book has helped me to accept literally anything that life throws at me. It's helped me compartmentalize the things that happen day-to-day (my 'life situation') from the fact that I am living, breathing, and will never really have Nothing until I am dead (my 'life'). An easy example is this: I tried to start a business, but it failed. I am not dead, and so I have the freedom to try again, or to try something new.

I tried reading this book about 8 years ago and it made NO sense to me. I was the kind of guy who could handle New-Age stuff but this just seemed way too heavy. Then I found half the audiobook on YouTube (can't find the link). I was enthralled by it and Eckhart's voice is very soothing. I still had the book on my shelf so took it down and devoured the rest of it.

Side Note: This book helped me see Distant Light's "Explorer Mindset" outlook more clearly. He always talks up a book called "My Big Toe" by Thomas Campbell, and it's long and tougher to digest. After this new spirituality kick I've been on, I gifted him gold and bought gold for myself too as a way to say Thanks RVF, you continue to change my life.

This is also the first book I wrote in the margins of, and took notes of, as I read it. I made about 6 pages of notes total in my journal, and then I pared those down into a summary. Here it is:

• compulsive thinking is an addiction
• mind is a tool. use it for tasks that require it, then lay it down
• is all your DOING and ACHIEVING just a means to an end?
• are you always focused on BECOMING?
• If you win 10 Million dollars, you'll have the same behaviour patterns in more luxurious surroundings
• give full attention to what lies in front of you and accept it
• on a deeper, playful level ... you are already complete
• is your GOAL taking the JOY out of your "do"ing?
• give up 'waiting' as a state of mind
• you can improve your 'life situation' but your 'life' is perfect and intact as long as you are alive
  

Post: #459

Eckhart Tolle: A New Earth

I had to read Eckhart's next book after I felt The Power of Now was a mind-changer.

Where "The Power of Now" was about being in the moment and letting stress, anxiety and worry pass over you ... "A New Earth" is about how being in the moment is a gift you give to the world.

We talk in the Game section about how a girl can feel whether or not you're kissing her as a means to an end, vs. simply enjoying the kiss for what it is and letting things unfold naturally. This book was about how powerful of an effect being present in the moment can affect everyone around you.

My notes:

• Spiritual realization is to see that what you perceive/experience/think/feel is ultimately not WHO you are.
• You can not find your SELF in all those things that continually pass away (time, girls, opportunities, experiences)
• "Thinking" isolates a situation and labels it 'good' or 'bad', as if it had a separate existence
• To the ego, the present moment can be: a means to an end, if future moments are more important; an obstacle, if your problems must be solved for your to be happy; an enemy, if you are blaming something external.
• The world is deeply identified with Form and lost in Content
• People think happiness depends on what happens. "What happens" is the most unstable thing in the universe.
• Let go of the need to emphasize your form-identity. Being more concerned with how a person sees you, vs. being with them in the moment.
  

and a revelation for myself:

• PMO (Porn-Masturbation-Orgasm) is a massive drain on 'clock time' and the regret+guilt that follows is a drain on psychological energy ('mind clutter')
• FEEL horniness as a gift of sexual polarity
  

Post: #460

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance - What Women Should Know

I read this entire book which uses science and references 'Women' and 'Men' to teach how confidence is partly genetic but also volitional ... you can build it yourself if you have none. Here's the twist: Everything they say is a feminine behaviour actually applies to "Nice Guys" (by Robert Glover's definition) or "Betas" if you're into that alpha/beta theory. Everything they say is a masculine behaviour happens to apply to the Men that RVF'ers imagine becoming - killing it at work, at home, in life.

The moral of the book is that Action is really the only way to build confidence. Which is obvious, but I was also fascinated with the science behind all of it.

I read the whole book crossing out "women"/"she" and replacing with "Nice Guys"/"he" and was surprised by how well it described my own lack of get-up-and-go.

My notes:

• "Nice Guys" believe that if we just work hard and don't caue any bother, our natural talents will shine through and be rewarded.
• "Alphas" project a level of confidence with themselves that gets them noticed and rewarded
• Success correllates more closely with confidence than with competence - unsettling news to those that have spent their whole lives striving towards competence.
• Brain plasticity proves that you can CHOOSE to expand your confidence ... the keys are halting perfectionism and being prepared to fail.
• Feminine / "Nice Guy" traits: - propensity to dwell on failures and mistakes - inability to shut out the outside world - just want to please people - attributing success to luck, vagarities of fate
• "Nice Guys" are more likely to hesitate at key moments. They aren't sure what scorecard will be used to judge behaviour, and they're afraid to get it wrong.
• One study asked students to Check Boxes beside any names/events they recognized the names of. The male students who picked the most FAKE answers were the ones who had achieved the highest social status !
• Gene SLC6A4 is involved with serotonin processing and can be related to confidence ... confidence is between 25-50% genetic and the rest is nurtured/volitional.
• Gene AVPR1a regulated vasopressin, which is Bonding and Social Communication
• Changing your thinking and developing new mental habits = creates PHYSICAL changes in the brain = brain plasticity
• "Nice Guys" can be so fragile about the prospect of even mildly annoying someone - they have a horror of being criticized.
• "Nice Guys" tend to be really good at taking the blame for things gone bad, crediting fate, crediting others. Alphas are capable of doing the opposite.
• "Nice Guys" need to stop valuing acceptance and start valuing the feedback that comes with rejection. THAT is the cycle that breeds excellence and mastery.
• Take on tasks you think are beyond your reach. A few hard knocks the most effective route to confidence, because it will show you that failure and rejection are not life-threatening.
  

Post: #461

(08-01-2016 12:58 AM)MajorStyles Wrote:  

(01-27-2015 01:09 AM)Fortis Wrote:  just finished Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. Beautiful novel.

I took your recommendation and read this - could not put it down! Such a beautiful book, and in my opinion, better than Siddhartha (which was also excellent).

Hesse is now one of my favorite writers.

Just finished this book. Hesse has an almost ethereal quality to his prose. Extremely beautiful; flowery, yet not one superfluous word.

Touching story on the divide between mind and body. This is a book to be re-read a few times, it's impossible to let it all sink in during the first reading.

Post: #462

"One Second After", by William Forstchen.

If you've read "Alas, Babylon", you already know the basic plot - Forstchen follows it almost point-for-point, but with a different doomsday scenario: an EMP weapon is set off above the US, with no warning, frying the power grid and everything connected to it. Small southern town suffers the consequences.

Maybe the plot isn't original, but Forstchen does a damned good job with his "version" of the story. It's much more realistic than "Alas, Babylon", which in some way suffers from the same problem most post-apocalyptic TV series have: they're so clean and orderly (looking at you, "Jericho") that you can't suspend disbelief, and they never seem to have to face the realities of starvation, malnutrition, communicable diseases from bad hygiene, etc. The characters here suffer, a lot, and he manages to convey that very effectively even through a protagonist who is quite stoic about all that's happening.

Post: #463

The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday

This book frames itself as an introduction to Stoicism. Ryan Holiday's writing style is easy to digest, understandable and relatable by the popular masses. The book is broken into short (5-6 page) sections ... I can't help but feel this was a purposeful decision to make it more digestible to the average reader (who's used to BuzzFeed and not Meditations).

Anyways the book itself is kind of interesting. Lots of stories about famous people that I didn't know about - Amelia Earhart, Rockefeller, Ulysses S Grant, Pericles, etc. And, having just read the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, I saw half a dozen passages that are clearly influenced by it.

Its divided into three large themes: Perception, Action and Will. His premise is that you can control how to perceive any situation, you can control how you act in any situation, and you can steel yourself to be prepared for the worst so you're unflappable.

My Notes:

• "We often choose the ominous explanation, to our detriment" - the right perspective can cut obstacles down to size
• Is there a chance? Do I have a shot? Is there something I can do? - Just look for a YES
• An entrepreneur is something with faith in their ability to make something where there was nothing before. To them, the idea that no one has ever done something is a good thing.
• These days, society downplays the importance of aggression - taking risks, barreling forward.
• All the greats you admire started by saying, "Yes. Let's Go". Just because conditions aren't exactly to your liking, or you don't feel ready yet, doesn't mean you get a pass.
• For most of what we attempt in life, "chops" are not the issue. Do you have the patience to refine your idea?
• You're so busy thinking about the future, you don't take any pride in the tasks you're given right now.
• Many of us spend so much time looking for a perfect solution that we pass up what's in front of us
  

Personal Notes:

• Ever since a business failure I had earlier this year, I haven't had a BIG goal to be working towards. If I asked myself "Why could you fail?" I would have to answer, "Fail at what? I haven't tried anything".
• Personally, I'm coasting just like a company that had a great product 4 years ago. Moves need to be made.
• View yourself as a startup of one. Change your relationship with failure. Iterate, fail, improve.
  

Post: #464

Found some old German book for boys by coincidence, "The Golden Horde". That was a very different kind of book... the "horde" from the title are the boys from the 8th grade of a private German school. They go out to make war with the boys of the city close to it, they bind their defeated enemies to trees, cowboys-and-indians style, and they plan to "take back" a girl who ran away from their school to the circus last year. Said girl (who's fifteen) also gets whipped at the circus when she screws up.

Yes, boys' books were damn different at that time. (BTW, are there any old American books for boys besides Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and maybe James Fenimore Cooper? Or did American boys only read fairytales and maybe the Greco-Roman myths before there were comics and pulp novels? Wouldn't be exactly a bad thing, I'm just wondering.)

Post: #465

Anna Karenina: the least realistic depictions of human nature in Tolstoy's big three novels, but this one takes gender and marriage as a more central topic than the others.

The Man Without a Face: famous biography of Putin by a lesbian, and it usually reads like fiction.

Post: #466

I just finished the "Mercury" trilogy by Rob Kroese. Mediocre at best.

Post: #467

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. A good
red pill book.

Post: #468

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens,

I was expecting great things and the book definitely delivered but to a lesser extent than I had initially anticipated.
I hope not to spoil anything but I want to highlight the title of the book. Once you reach the end you'll really come to understand why it's called Great Expectations. It also teaches valuable red-pill lessons like the danger of putting women on a pedestal and the necessity of game.

Overall it was an enlightening and entertaining read after the first 100 pages.

Post: #469

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Very disappointed as had been wanting to reading this for a while. It completely passed me by and really struggled to finish it. In contrast, 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh remains my 'go to' when I need to vicariously sample a life of drug-fuelled excess.

Post: #470

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as well as Spike Lee's movie based on it has always been favorites of mine so I was looking forward to expanding my knowledge of the man. A big theme in the book was about Malcolm's struggles with how he was going to approach black nationalism once he left the Nation of Islam and made the Muslim haji. The popular image was that he was somehow tamed by it and gave up his previous nationalist stances but the truth is that he never quite left it behind and he wasn't quite sure how to work with the civil rights leaders of the time who favored an integrationalist approach which he completely rejected as a Nation of Islam member and was never completely comfortable even after he left the religious group.

Post: #471

The Conquest of Happiness—an excellent read by Bertrand Russell. I had always heard Russell’s name bandied about by philosophers, and the explanations given of his work were obtuse at best.

But this book was straightforward, well-organized, and practical. I highly recommend it.

Post: #472

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King. It's a collection of past event told by a group of police officers about a teleportation ghost car. The book tells us that certain events that happen in our life are random and there is no answer to it. There are things we don't know out there and looking for the answer is sometimes not the best of solutions.

This is a good book but not the best novel I have read. It get's boring in certain part but that's what the book is about. Life is sometimes explosive and the other times boring

Post: #473

Down the Rabbit Hole by Holly Madison

Hugh Hefner is a real dick if this book was true. His money is terribly mismanaged.

Aloha!

Post: #474

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen. This guy is Miami to the core but Miami before the Castro rush. He knows Miami inside and out and has an outstanding command of English. I've read this book before but I am addicted to his prose and had to re-read the book.

Post: #475

(07-06-2016 02:13 PM)Slam Wrote:  Born Fighting by Jim Webb

The book chronicles the history of the Scots-Irish, from the early history of Scotland and William Wallace, up to the 20th century, emphasizing their migrations to America in the 1700-1800s. I was looking for more insights into my ancestors, and was glad to find it in this book.

Webb also discusses some differences between the UK groups that came to America. The idea that you can just say they were 'white' and that this was just a monolith culture is greatly mistaken. And the idea that they had no culture (i.e. and can there for be the hosts for 'diversity') is false.

'How the Scots Invented the Modern World' by Arthur Herman is another good history of the Scots.