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mrfreeze posted:Can anyone recommend some excellent books on either Antarctic exploration especially if it’s people surviving some really hosed up situations, massive historical weather events, or mountain climbing? I’m trying to figure out a gift for Xmas and have no clue what is actually good. Touching the Void is drat good. So is Into Thin Air. For stuff near Antarctica specifically, consider Island of the Lost.
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Oct 21, 2024 12:40
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mrfreeze posted:Can anyone recommend some excellent books on either Antarctic exploration especially if it’s people surviving some really hosed up situations, massive historical weather events, or mountain climbing? I’m trying to figure out a gift for Xmas and have no clue what is actually good. You're almost certainly aware of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, which was the book that really popularized the true disaster genre. Krakauer has continued to work in this genre with solid results but tough to beat a first hand account of the greatest Everest disaster. It's a classic for a reason and if you haven't read it, it should top your list.
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Oct 21, 2024 13:03
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mrfreeze posted:Can anyone recommend some excellent books on either Antarctic exploration especially if it’s people surviving some really hosed up situations, massive historical weather events, or mountain climbing? I’m trying to figure out a gift for Xmas and have no clue what is actually good. I really liked Endurance by Alfred Lansing.
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Oct 21, 2024 13:42
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Jimbozig posted:Touching the Void is drat good. Can back up Island of the Lost, very gripping.
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Oct 21, 2024 14:57
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mrfreeze posted:Can anyone recommend some excellent books on either Antarctic exploration especially if it’s people surviving some really hosed up situations, massive historical weather events, or mountain climbing? I’m trying to figure out a gift for Xmas and have no clue what is actually good. Everyone's prior suggestion's are great, but if you want something your gift recipient may not have come across before: Alone on the Ice by David Roberts. It's the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition from 1911-1914 and Douglas Mawson's survival alone after one particular sortie led to the deaths of two crewmembers. The story of the Endurance might be the greatest in the canon of Antarctic survival, but Mawson's expedition has to be second. Plus, David Roberts is a great writer, and if your friend is a fan of mountaineering literature, they'll know the name from Roberts' famous memoirs Mountain of my Fear and Deborah, both of which are also worth checking out. In fact, everything Roberts has written is worth reading. In terms of mountaineering literature (unrelated to Antarctic expeditions), The Bond by Simon McCartney is one of the best of all time. Yes, Touching the Void and Into Thin Air are both classics, but there's a good chance your friend has already read these. Besides being a pretty riveting account of Alaskan mountaineering and a life-or-death struggle to get off of Denali with high altitude cerebral edema, McCartney's story is beautifully told and really captures how profound a climbing partnership can be. I'm reading Savage Arena by Joe Tasker and it's great so far. Contains some of the 1970s exploits of the famed Boardman/Tasker duo before they were lost on Everest in 1982. It's well written, gripping, and fascinating if you or your friend enjoy mountaineering.
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Oct 24, 2024 22:56
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I also greatly enjoyed Arctic Explorations by Elisha Kent Kane, about his voyage to northern Greenland to look for the lost Sir John Franklin expedition. It's archaic -- written in 1855 -- but still an exciting story.
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Oct 25, 2024 01:24
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Got introduced to Charles Bukowski for the first time in a poetry class, now I wanna give his prose a shot Which one's the best to start with? Short stories or one of his full novels?
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Oct 26, 2024 06:48
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Iambic Pentameter posted:Got introduced to Charles Bukowski for the first time in a poetry class, now I wanna give his prose a shot I felt like I got the message with Post Office and didn’t end up finishing Women
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Oct 26, 2024 12:51
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Iambic Pentameter posted:Got introduced to Charles Bukowski for the first time in a poetry class, now I wanna give his prose a shot Post Office is surely his best work If you want more after that, Ham on Rye is next best and then most of the others are roughly on par with each other. I actually think the next best Bukowski work is the movie Barfly, and it's interesting to compare it with the other Bukowski based movie Factotum where Matt Dillon has such a bad take on the character, playing Henry Chinaski as a pretty boy slumming it for a season whereas in Barfly Mickey Rourke is a loving bum. Legit one of Rourke's best performances. regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Oct 26, 2024 |
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Oct 26, 2024 15:19
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regulargonzalez posted:You're almost certainly aware of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, which was the book that really popularized the true disaster genre. Krakauer has continued to work in this genre with solid results but tough to beat a first hand account of the greatest Everest disaster. It's a classic for a reason and if you haven't read it, it should top your list. I read this as a teen, after reading his seminal teen-angst magnet Into the Wild and the takeaway I remember is he talked about weed weirdly often and in an odd way and had an altogether too haughty opinion of himself.
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Oct 26, 2024 16:52
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Any recommendations on the history of the CIA interfering in Southeast Asia? Also looking for books about Vietnam in the 20th century. Specifically early 20th century & the First Indochina war.
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Oct 29, 2024 18:43
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Palmtree Panic posted:Any recommendations on the history of the CIA interfering in Southeast Asia? Edit: oh poo poo the most complete version of this for the whole globe is Killing Hope, and probably the best place to start. Lots of focus on SE Asian history. The Jakarta Method is specifically about that region and how it relates to Latin American anticommunism activities. Great book. Inventing Reality is about the media representation and enabling of anticommunist activities around the world, with a lot of good SE Asian history on the matter. Bury the Corpse of Colonialism is a fairly hard text about revolutionary feminism in SE Asia following WWII. It’s excellent if you don’t bounce off the author’s.. approach.
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Oct 29, 2024 19:28
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I read The Jakarta Method earlier this year and definitely recommend it. It’s thoroughly researched and discusses both global and local consequences of the insane things America did in the name of fighting communism during that time period.
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Oct 30, 2024 21:27
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Posting my same question from the horror thread. I just finished Cold Moon Over Babylon for my yearly Halloween read and I want more spooky weird fiction. I’m deciding between Between Two Fires and finally starting the Annihilation books. I’ve been putting off the latter and my friends that have read it love it but it’s an entire series and medieval christian horror sounds like it might be worth putting it off one more time. Any insight?
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Nov 4, 2024 15:26
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The Southern Reach books are all different enough that it's worth reading them in one go, so I'd take that into consideration. Might be worth finishing Two Fires first
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Nov 4, 2024 15:33
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I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by?
uncle blog fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Nov 5, 2024 |
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Nov 5, 2024 19:30
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? Have you read The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold? I dunno that I would call it grim exactly, but I loved the worldbuilding and theological discussions.
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Nov 5, 2024 19:33
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? Seconding The Curse of Challion. But how about also The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford or The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson or anything by K. J. Parker?
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Nov 5, 2024 20:21
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? The Witcher books. Last Wish comes first and it's all short stories so good jumping on point to see if you're into it
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Nov 5, 2024 20:22
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? Joe Abercrombie Start with The Blade Itself
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Nov 5, 2024 20:28
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? "Perdido street station" by China Miéville
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Nov 5, 2024 21:39
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? The Book of the New Sun should be right up your alley
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Nov 5, 2024 22:20
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regulargonzalez posted:The Book of the New Sun should be right up your alley For a Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss reader? lol no
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Nov 6, 2024 02:21
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? I found it really nice to get out of the western setting in my fantasy reading. There’s the future but fantasy setting of Gene Wolfe and Hard to be a God (both worth your time), but they’re still fairly western settings. So I recommend The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu. Go in blind for sure. The whole series is great, each book dealing with different questions of governance and political philosophy. RF Kuang’s Babel is really great if you want a very interesting magic system and anticolonialism. One of my favorite fantasy novels for sure. Her Poppy War series has a magic system that’s a bit more mystical and pulpy too.
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Nov 6, 2024 02:29
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yaffle posted:"Perdido street station" by China Miéville Perdido is good but I think over all The Scar is a superior book.
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Nov 6, 2024 03:34
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uncle blog posted:I'm in the mood to read some fantasy. I've read some of the usual popular stuff; LotR, a lot of Brandon Sanderson, Name of the Wind and the sequel. I've liked all of them, but now I might want something a bit different. Something that's a bit more grim or bleak, maybe with some ethical or philosophical questions. And maybe magic is in general more mystical and less easy to come by? The Black Company sure is grim, with magic being lowkey and a lot of questionable decisions. The Lies of Locke Lamore is very good, magic is rare and it follows thieves who (obviously) have some different ideas on ethics. While it has some very dark turns the majority of it has this Oceans Elven feel-good-heist vibe set in fantasy Venice, so maybe not what you want. Last one is Between Two Fires. Think of a Bosch painting slowly bleeding over into plague-ridden France. No magic but tons of fantastical/biblical stuff and very bleak.
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Nov 6, 2024 08:32
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Seconding Book of the New Sun, Perdido Street Station (and The Scar) and Between Two Fires. If you want really dark, there's also The Sad Tale of Brothers Grossbart, which mostly combines horrible poo poo done by its protagonists with their christianity-based rationalization of it. e: Also The Hollow by Brian Catling.
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Nov 6, 2024 08:59
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be reading up on all of them!
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Nov 6, 2024 14:36
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I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally.
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Nov 6, 2024 19:08
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Moon Slayer posted:I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally. "History and Geography" is full of weighty tomes, but also covers a good portion of human knowledge. Any particular eras, subjects, people, etc?
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Nov 6, 2024 19:20
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Moon Slayer posted:I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally. Get Frederic V. Grunfeld's "Games of the World". Read about games, their history, and then fuken build them - and do it in the 1970s colours as in the book. That ought to tide you over a coupla months. And you'll have really gaudy stilts etc. As a last ditch distraction you might even play them.
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Nov 6, 2024 19:26
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stealie72 posted:Sup fellow "deleting social media and working on the book stack" friend. Yeah I know that's pretty broad. The more I consider, the more I'm thinking of doing a deeper dive into East Asian history; I'm pretty up on Japan but could always go deeper, plus I haven't done as much reading on Chinese and Korean history as I could have, not to mention SE Asia. Speaking of Japan though, long shot but is there a consensus on which translation of The Tale of Genji straddles the line best between accurate and accessible? 3D Megadoodoo posted:Get Frederic V. Grunfeld's "Games of the World". Read about games, their history, and then fuken build them - and do it in the 1970s colours as in the book. That ought to tide you over a coupla months. And you'll have really gaudy stilts etc. As a last ditch distraction you might even play them. I'll check it out!
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Nov 6, 2024 19:49
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stealie72 posted:Sup fellow "deleting social media and working on the book stack" friend. I am not doing the same poo poo to my brain I did last time so I’m in the same boat as you. Not just a bunch of fiction like I’ve been leaning on the last several years, I’m going to branch back out to literature, nonfiction, things that may as well make me think if I’m already gonna be sadder. Rolo fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Nov 6, 2024 |
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Nov 6, 2024 19:50
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Rolo posted:I am not doing the same poo poo to my brain I did last time so I’m in the same boat as you. Not just a bunch of fiction like I’ve been leaning on the last several years, I’m going to branch back out to literature, nonfiction, things that may as well make me think if I’m already gonna be sadder.
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Nov 6, 2024 20:24
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Moon Slayer posted:I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally. I’ll give you like as many nonfiction books about history/geography as I’ve enjoyed. In going through years of books I’ve logged, I noticed that most of the nonfiction books by women and people of colour I’ve read have not been about history, so I apologize for the asymmetry of the list. Books about history (or with lots of history covered to make the point) by men: Killing Hope Debt: the first 5000 years 1491 The Dawn of Everything Capitalist Realism Actually just get everything David Graeber and Mark Fisher wrote, it’s all good though not exactly about history and geography. Health Communism The Conspiracy Against the Human Race Inventing Reality Blackshirts and Reds Actually just read everything by Michael Parenti. The Condition of the Working Class in England by Engels hisself Our History is the Future by Nick Estes Cadillac Desert The Fate of Africa A People’s History of the United States Discipline & Punish By women: Who Cooked the Last Supper Caliban and the Witch (I haven’t finished this but is good) Bury the Corpse of Colonialism Thinking Like an Economist (the one by Elizabeth Popp Berman) Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell Overheated by Kate Aronoff The Shock Doctrine
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Nov 6, 2024 20:31
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Moon Slayer posted:I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally. About halfway through The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow and it’s really keeping my attention
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Nov 7, 2024 01:52
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Moon Slayer posted:I'm going to go as internet free as possible over the next several months to years, so I need something to fill the time. I'm thinking of some meaty nonfiction books, preferably with a kindle version, and preferably not too dark in tone or subject. I'm interested in history and geography generally. I just read The Lost City of Z and I'm not sure what you mean by dark, but I thought it was a lot of fun. Nonfiction, about crazy people exploring the amazon. Guys getting every tropical disease known to man at the same time, gruesome injuries, and nearly starving to death, then going home to their pleasant Victorian British cottages for a few months before deciding "nah gently caress this, I'm going back to the jungle." Obviously some nasty bits, but I don't find that kind of stuff depressing - I find it equally fascinating and hilarious. People in history were nuts! The more depressing aspects of Amazon exploration (colonialism and genocide) are in there too, but are not the focus. That's the kind of "dark" that gets me down, but it was certainly outweighed by the other bits for me.
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Nov 7, 2024 04:12
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Anything grimdark come out in the last 6 months worth reading?
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Nov 7, 2024 04:43
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shwinnebego posted:The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith
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Nov 13, 2024 03:07
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Looking for a recommendation of books/authors who have similar settings/premises to Jeff Vandemere books. AFAIK the genre is called Speculative Fiction, I want to read something with strange imagery / fantastical elements. Quite happy with short story collections or novels.
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Nov 13, 2024 21:17
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