Winter Reading Thread

[Pruitt]

Not as funny as The Room, but funny indeed.

[Rush2112]

[Pruitt]

Have had this on my shelf for a while - racing through it.

A lot of fun so far.

[wlu_lax6]

So most high level referees in a variety of sports have recommended this. A few pages in and enjoying it. So far good use of storytelling.


Just finished


and waiting on the library for the new Tim Dorsey

[The Sybian]

I broke down and started listening to Fire and Fury. Michael Wolff seems like a completely slimy, untrustworthy POS, so I wasn't going to bother listening. I'm about halfway through, and I'm finding his writing much more believable than I expected. Nothing in there seems made up or over the top, and it supports my impression of Trump and everyone surrounding him. I've already seen him interviewed numerous times on the more shocking revelations, so there won't be anything big I haven't already heard and accepted as true, but I don't think I would have been surprised by anything if I read it immediately when it came out.

The most interesting section so far is the chapter on Bannon. He makes a bit more sense to me now. Assuming Wolff is accurate, Bannon's goal was to implement policies for the purpose of pissing off Liberals, and watching the snowflakes freak out. When they implemented the Muslim Ban, Wolff reports advisors pushing against it, because it would cause a freak out, and Bannon said that was the goal. When Liberals flooded to the airports to help out, advisors were worried about pushback and bad press, but Bannon delighted in seeing Liberal tears. That is a common response from the Breitbart crowd, so maybe that really was Bannon's deal. He definitely strived to increase the division between Left and Right, which is terrifying to have a Presidential Administration intentionally diving us.

[Rush2112]

I just finished reading it myself. I think some particulars are big inferences on Wolff's part, but nothing that lept out as completely unbelievable. Did find myself doing a lot of head shaking as they are as inept as you think they are.

[Chris_L]

[Nonlinear FC]

Holy shit. It's like seeing a unicorn or something.

[The Sybian]

I just finished reading it myself. I think some particulars are big inferences on Wolff's part, but nothing that lept out as completely unbelievable. Did find myself doing a lot of head shaking as they are as inept as you think they are.

Actually, the biggest shock is in the beginning when he said there was no gatekeeper to give him permission to be there, or kick him out. Nobody approved of him being there, yet he had unbelievable access to roam the White House and sit in on meetings. They are all in so far over their heads, and mot of them don't realize it.

[Rush2112]

and I miss Bensell's contributions to these threads. Talked to the man when I was 30 miles away, but "needed" to make a deadline in our travel. Life laments.

[Johnnie]

I've been deployed a month and still haven't finished a book yet. I've started 4 and only one is really keeping my attention at the moment.

The Devil in the White City. It's about some asshole who murders somebody. But thus far into it, nothing has happened. Either I have reading ADD and my mind is wandering too much because nothing has happened or I'm missing something.

The Alienist The tv show is coming on soon and it looks really cool, so I figured I'd try it. Better than The Devil in the White City, which coincidentally references said murderous asshole from that book in the first chapter, but it suddenly fell flat. I'll keep with it because it has a gruesome edge, which is neat.

That led me to start America 51. Corey Taylor of Slipknot wrote this. It's like every angry diatribe against this current administration that I've already read and keep reading everyday, but it's Corey Fucking Taylor, so I like what he has to say. I'm not that far into it but once I realized where it was going I then started...

Detroit: An American Autopsy. I'm actually going to finish this one. Pretty crazy how shitty things got in that city. Kind of has a The Glass Castle vibe to it.

[Pruitt]

I've been deployed a month and still haven't finished a book yet. I've started 4 and only one is really keeping my attention at the moment.

The Devil in the White City. It's about some asshole who murders somebody. But thus far into it, nothing has happened. Either I have reading ADD and my mind is wandering too much because nothing has happened or I'm missing something.

...

Detroit: An American Autopsy. I'm actually going to finish this one. Pretty crazy how shitty things got in that city. Kind of has a The Glass Castle vibe to it.

I started The Devil in the White City a couple of years ago and stopped after 100 pages or so. I'd read Isaac's Storm by the same author and loved it, but this one left me cold.

The Detroit book blew me away. The writer's personal story somehow works really well, but there were details in that book that shocked the hell out of me. A terrifying read in many ways.

[A_B]

I loved Devil in the White City.

[The Sybian]

Devil in the White City was a tough read for me. Something about the period pieces makes it hard for me to picture the scenes and stay focused. My mind wanders when I read, which is why I primarily listen to books. Alienist was a similar issue, but the story was so good, and I love old New York, so that helped.

[A_B]

Devil in the White City was a tough read for me. Something about the period pieces makes it hard for me to picture the scenes and stay focused. My mind wanders when I read, which is why I primarily listen to books. Alienist was a similar issue, but the story was so good, and I love old New York, so that helped.

I did a lot of googling when I read that one to just get a sense of what was going on in Chicago at the time. It was pretty helpful.

[A 30 second google]

Thumbs up!

[Rush2112]

I loved Devil in the White City.

As did I. I pulled a Pruitt and didn't get that deep into In the Garden of Beasts before I set it aside. I blame the source material on Beasts though. Wasn't something that needed to be that drawn out. If he made it 50 pages shorter and chopped out the mentions of all the social events the ambassador's hussy of a daughter went to it would be a better book.

[A_B]

I think I've read all of his except for Isaac's Storm. He's right next to SImon Winchester in my non-fiction go tos.

[Steve of phpBB]

I loved Devil in the White City.

As did I. I pulled a Pruitt and didn't get that deep into In the Garden of Beasts before I set it aside. I blame the source material on Beasts though. Wasn't something that needed to be that drawn out. If he made it 50 pages shorter and chopped out the mentions of all the social events the ambassador's hussy of a daughter went to it would be a better book.

Doesn't the daughter end up being a Communist and defecting to Russia? (In real life?)

[Rush2112]

I loved Devil in the White City.

As did I. I pulled a Pruitt and didn't get that deep into In the Garden of Beasts before I set it aside. I blame the source material on Beasts though. Wasn't something that needed to be that drawn out. If he made it 50 pages shorter and chopped out the mentions of all the social events the ambassador's hussy of a daughter went to it would be a better book.

Doesn't the daughter end up being a Communist and defecting to Russia? (In real life?)

Not sure as I put it down after 100 pages (but yes I think so.)

AB, I too love me some Winchester, but I'd swap in Kurlansky instead of Larson.

[A_B]

Ooooh...solid call. Anyone who can keep you rapt talking about cod or salt is pretty good.

Bill Bryson, too, but that's a different style.

[P.D.X.]

Been chugging through this for like a year...

[A_B]

Been chugging through this for like a year...

I've read a couple of his too. Sometimes get repetitive. And they say the same thing/phrase the same way a lot.

[P.D.X.]

Been chugging through this for like a year...

I've read a couple of his too. Sometimes get repetitive. And they say the same thing/phrase the same way a lot.

Yeah he can get way too detailed with the data rather than just getting to the point, but I still enjoy his schtick even with the downsides.

[Rush2112]

Ooooh...solid call. Anyone who can keep you rapt talking about cod or salt is pretty good.

Bill Bryson, too, but that's a different style.

Love Bryson as well. Reading Mother Tongue presently.

Kurlansky has a book on Milk coming out soon (one of the giveaways on Goodreads)

[Johnnie]

Finished the Detroit book. It's so damn sad. I wonder if Amazon moved in would things get better.

Guns, Germs, and Steel might be the next book I start seeing that you just posted the Collapse cover mentioning it.

[Shirley]

Finished the Detroit book. It's so damn sad. I wonder if Amazon moved in would things get better.

Guns, Germs, and Steel might be the next book I start seeing that you just posted the Collapse cover mentioning it.

I listened to it, or most of it, pretty recently. It's interesting, but holy crap is it repetitive. It's laid out like a formal research paper, where you have to constantly restate things and build new evidence for each little statement or claim, no matter how similar it is to a previous claim. Points for thoroughness, but man, could it have used some editing. It's hard to believe that became such a hit.

[A_B]

Yup. Totes.

[Rush2112]

Finished the Detroit book. It's so damn sad. I wonder if Amazon moved in would things get better.

Guns, Germs, and Steel might be the next book I start seeing that you just posted the Collapse cover mentioning it.

I listened to it, or most of it, pretty recently. It's interesting, but holy crap is it repetitive. It's laid out like a formal research paper, where you have to constantly restate things and build new evidence for each little statement or claim, no matter how similar it is to a previous claim. Points for thoroughness, but man, could it have used some editing. It's hard to believe that became such a hit.

Hard to believe he's a professor, eh? Reading him reminds me of History lectures back in undergrad. Actually, saw him at UNH back in the early days of Swamping. he speaks better than he writes.

[Johnnie]

So it seems as though I should choose something else then. Fair enough. I have a bunch to choose from.

[Shirley]

I found the information really interesting, but it really dragged to listen to. And the title's a bit misleading. There's very little (any?) in there about guns and steel. It should have been called Plants, Animals, and Latitude.

[P.D.X.]

I enjoyed it. The nice thing about his books is that you can take breaks in between chapters and not really lose momentum. Maybe that's damning praise but it works for me.

[brian]

Detroit: An American Autopsy. I'm actually going to finish this one. Pretty crazy how shitty things got in that city. Kind of has a The Glass Castle vibe to it.

Didn't realize this had been mentioned. This version of the Swamp doesn't go back far enough but I recommended it when it came out since the author (Charlie LeDuff) is apparently a relative of some sort. (I didn't know until he had come back to Fox 2 from New York back a 12 or 13 years ago. I guess he's a cousin by marriage or something. So I guess not really a relative if you get right down to it.

I should go back and re-read it because I suspect a lot of the stuff in there is out of date. Post-bankruptcy Detroit is a completely different place than pre-bankruptcy. Almost all of the abandoned homes have been torn down, roads are repaved, cops actually patrol the entire city.

[Moreta]

Post-bankruptcy Detroit is a completely different place than pre-bankruptcy. Almost all of the abandoned homes have been torn down, roads are repaved, cops actually patrol the entire city.

This is an overstatement. It is a bit better, but it still has a very long, hard road ahead. Reinvestment is just now starting to come to the neighborhoods outside of the prestige areas. Police response is still unacceptable. Probably the biggest issue for future growth is the state of the school district. Households (middle class ones) leave the city as soon as they have kids or when the kids are ready to start school. You can’t maintain a tax base with only childless people and the poor.

I should read LeDuff’s book, although I find him click baity and annoying most of the time.

[brian]

Yeah, that's all true but there's serious investment in the city outside of the downtown core for probably the first time in 50 years. That said, it's not going to get better overnight. The school system is the biggest issue IMO because there's a steady base of people returning from the suburbs (a trickle, but still more in the last 5 years than 1970-2010 combined I'd wager) but those are the people who can afford to send their kids to private school (or don't have kids at all).

I don't know what the answer is for fixing the schools.

[Johnnie]

Detroit: An American Autopsy. I'm actually going to finish this one. Pretty crazy how shitty things got in that city. Kind of has a The Glass Castle vibe to it.

Didn't realize this had been mentioned. This version of the Swamp doesn't go back far enough but I recommended it when it came out since the author (Charlie LeDuff) is apparently a relative of some sort. (I didn't know until he had come back to Fox 2 from New York back a 12 or 13 years ago. I guess he's a cousin by marriage or something. So I guess not really a relative if you get right down to it.

I should go back and re-read it because I suspect a lot of the stuff in there is out of date. Post-bankruptcy Detroit is a completely different place than pre-bankruptcy. Almost all of the abandoned homes have been torn down, roads are repaved, cops actually patrol the entire city.

When you suggested it I added it to my Amazon queue.

Before my deployment I looked at all the books I added over time to said Amazon queue and got them.

(Simultaneously I looked at my bookcase and saw all the books I had purchased over time. Those got traded into a second hand book store and then I reacquired them via, umm, ways. The trade credit received has kicked off a board game collecting habit. There's a Japanese word for my behavior: tsundoku.)

Anywho, figured now was as good a time as ever to read it. I liked it.

[BSF21]

I've got 3 Audible credits to clear out before I cancel this thing for a while. Give me something to buy

[Pruitt]

So far, it is fascinating. The Emirates sound like the strangest place on earth - author is about to travel through the middle-east and other parts of the Muslim world.

Went to Amazon to get a picture of the book jacket and came across this review - one of the most bizarre things I've read in a while...

This whole book is a rationale for reckless risk taking. This book is difficult to read if you are a parent with son who has the personality disorder displayed by the author called” Sensation-seeking personality disorder” -a disposition to pursue increased sensory pleasure and excitement, novelty and intense sensations. These patients love experience for its own with high risk- talking in the pursuit of such experience. Sensation seekers are easily bored without high levels of stimulation, like to take risks and seek thrills. Each year, according to the CDC, 27,000 people between the ages of 10 and 24 die from bad decisions – primarily accidents, homicide, and suicide. Actuarial tables indicate that adolescents and young adults seem to make a disproportionate share of ultimately fatal or debilitating ones; indeed, a restless reckless risk taking is the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality in this group. There are two broadly different theories about this personality disorder with the trait to engage in risky, or dangerous, behaviors involving the neurobiological changes that occur during adolescence and young adulthood.
Dev Psychobiol. 2010 Apr; 52(3): 263–276. doi: 10.1002/dev.20442 PMCID: PMC3445337
NIHMSID: NIHMS404113
Adolescent Risk Taking, Impulsivity, and Brain Development:Daniel RomerPLoS One. 2009; 4(8): e6773.. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006773PMCID: PMC2728774
Adolescent Engagement in Dangerous Behaviors Is Associated with Increased White Matter Maturity of Frontal CortexGregory S. Berns,1,2,3,* Sara Moore,1 and C. Monica Capra
Arnett J. Reckless behavior in adolescence: a developmental perspective. Developmental Review. 1993;12:339–373.
Galvan A, Hare T, Voss H, Glover G, Casey BJ. Risk-taking and the adolescent brain: who is at risk? Developmental Science. 2007;10:F8–F14