One more thing, why is everybody and their momma on this 48 Laws of Power kick???
I swear that shit is unsettling. If I did half that shit I would barely be able to sleep at night. I know gettin' ahead in life and being successful are important, but surely not at the expense of others and their well being.
A better book that I recommend that's along the same premise but without the stabbing in the back and cruel intentions is The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Balthasar Gracian
I just finished rereading Dr. Cornel West's Democracy Matters . I was inspired to do so after meeting the man (my personal hero) at the Obama Super Tuesday Primary Party here in Chicago. If you haven't read West then you are missing out on the insight of one of the most well respected African American intellectuals of our time.
On a lighter note, I am just about done with Spook Country by William Gibson. Those of you who read SciFi probably know that he is the father of cyperpunk but now that most of his early eighties dreams are reality his work has shifted to what ifs of the present. This contemporary story speaks to globalization, technology, and identity in a post 9/11 world...
... and my day would not be complete without a page from The Intellectual Devotional . Similar to a traditional religious devotional, this book has a entry for each day of the week. However, instead of nuggets of strictly religion, each day covers the seven fields of knowledge. Art, Music, Literature, Philosophy, Science, History, and Religion. If you want a jumping off point for pursuit of classical (mostly european) knowledge then this book laces you with enough to direct additional research and more than enough to be knowledgable at a cocktail party when someone mentions Camus...
I agree completely (I have the Gracian book.)
Almost done with Guns Germs and Steel.
I just finished
(I like to study the other side, like a chess player would)
and am halfway through
Like on most occasions Dale, we see eye to eye...
I've been meaning to pick up Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's about colonialism and occupation of foreign lands that whites so called "discovered" while rape and pillaging the inhabitants, right?
How is The Turner Diaries and what's it about? I'd rather have a person who is reading the particular text give me their synopsis rather than looking up a publisher's summary...even though I'll still do that as well.
I have the audiobook for The Audacity of Hope...one of the reasons come decision time I'll support him.
Yeah yeah fuck both a yall.
Yeah the guy who wrote Guns Germs and Steel spent a lot of time in places like New Guinea and New Zealand, etc. and he set out to determine why it was that Eurasia (the white man) was able to advance or subjugate other populations (the rest of the world.)
He goes deep into how certain plants were domesticated and distributed across civilizations, and how certain animals were domesticated by certain civilizations.
On this basis he argues some civilizations experienced more rapid growth of their populations than others, therefore developing centralized societies where a ruling class coerced the other classes to identify with the city-state or nation-state above clan or familial ties, and to allow them a monopoly of force (i.e. power, i.e. politics).
In addition to ruling classes, these civilizations could also afford other social stratifications like specialized labor (craftsmen, blacksmiths, soldiers, scribes, etc.) and a priest class to keep people controlled and somewhat submissive via religion.
He argues Eurasia succeeded in particular because its east-west orientation made for easier distribution of domesticated plants along similar latitudinal climates; and because of proximity to Mesopotamia (the so-called Garden of Eden) which had the best variety of domesticable plants and animals.
Furthermore due to Eurasian proximity to animals, they were exposed to more diseases and thus developed better resistance to diseases, which helped them wipe out the native isolated populations they would subjugate even more effectively than any military advantage. (Basically being nasty gave them an upper hand biologically as a population)
I havent fully read the sections touching on Africa yet, but I skimmed ahead some and to me the African sections are his weakest. There were times when I was like "man this is some bullshit" and found holes in his arguments.
Its an interesting read though, if a tedious one.
More on Turner Diaries later.
Yeah yeah fuck both a yall.
hey, after you're done reading Democracy Matters, tackle:
and
I'm gonna have to check out the Intellectual devotional
I read Race Matters but I haven't read The Cornel West Reader. I will definitely be picking it up. Thanks for the info!
I hate to be a pain in the ass, but I'm a stickler for facts. Steven King's Alter Ego is Richard Bachman, who authored The Long Walk and Thinner. Believe me, I know almost everything there is to know about the hometown boy who made "weird" up in Durham, Maine.
Oh, and almost all his books that were turned into movies have sucked! With the exceptions of Misery, the Shining, Christine, and Thinner. I bet half or most of y'all ninjas didn't know that Lawnmower Man and the Running Man were his books originally as well.
Oh, and almost all his books that were turned into movies have sucked! With the exceptions of Misery, the Shining, Christine, and Thinner.
The narrator of this extraordinary tale is a man in search for truth. He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "You are the teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell, one that no other human being has ever heard. It is a story that extends backward and forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth of time to a future there is still time save. Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever imagined?