What books are you reading?
- Big Daikon
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Re: What books are you reading?
Had to read that subversive propaganda as an undergraduate. Quite inaccurate and viciously anti-white.
Re: What books are you reading?
It doesn't take much to become cynical about Western civilization. Just read I, Claudius by Robert Graves. It is a trifle melodramatic and depressing, but richly detailed with a believable recreation of Roman times.
The only thing I can't take seriously or believe are the too convenient encounters between Claudius as a youth with Pollio and Livy -- both famous historians --who oblige Claudius to tell them which one of the two he prefers, and also refuse to answer his question about the truth of Roman history... This whole episode is one of the best in the book as Claudius tries to unravel the concealed truths of past times...
Later in the novel, poor Claudius tries to understand why his own grandmother may have poisoned her own husband and son...
Of course, the Romans make no sense and Robert Graves, the author, stretches the believability of a lot of things, including inventing letters written between Augustus and Livia that probably were never ever written, as he makes them too obvious and blunt and heavy-handed...
The only thing I can't take seriously or believe are the too convenient encounters between Claudius as a youth with Pollio and Livy -- both famous historians --who oblige Claudius to tell them which one of the two he prefers, and also refuse to answer his question about the truth of Roman history... This whole episode is one of the best in the book as Claudius tries to unravel the concealed truths of past times...
- "Come on, Livy," said Pollio. "Answer the young student. What really happened?"
Livy said; "Another time. Let's keep to the matter in hand now, which is a general discussion of the proper way to write history. Claudius, my friend, you have ambitions that way. Which of us two old worthies will you choose as a model?"
"You make it very difficult for the boy, you jealous fellows," put in Sulpicius. "What do you expect him to answer?"
"The truth will offend neither of us," answered Pollio.
I looked from one face to the other. At last I said, "I think I would choose Pollio. As I am sure that I can never hope to attain Livy's inspired literary elegance, I shall do my best to imitate Pollio's accuracy and diligence."
Later in the novel, poor Claudius tries to understand why his own grandmother may have poisoned her own husband and son...
Of course, the Romans make no sense and Robert Graves, the author, stretches the believability of a lot of things, including inventing letters written between Augustus and Livia that probably were never ever written, as he makes them too obvious and blunt and heavy-handed...
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
“There are terrible difficulties in the notion of probability, but we may ignore them at present.” - Bertrand Russell
“There are terrible difficulties in the notion of probability, but we may ignore them at present.” - Bertrand Russell
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Re: What books are you reading?
Reality Switch Technologies: Psychedelics as Tools for the Discovery and Exploration of New Worlds
- Fridaywithmateo
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- phuketrichard
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Re: What books are you reading?
just started:
During the Vietnam War the United States government waged a massive, secret air war in neighboring Laos. Two million tons of bombs were dropped on one million people. Fred Branfman, an educational advisor living in Laos at the time, interviewed over 1,000 Laotian survivors. Shocked by what he heard and saw, he urged them to record their experiences in essays, poems, and pictures. Voices from the Plain of Jars was the result of that effort. When first published in 1972, this book was instrumental in exposing the bombing. In this expanded edition, Branfman follows the story forward in time, describing the hardships that Laotians faced after the war when they returned to find their farm fields littered with cluster munitions--explosives that continue to maim and kill today.
During the Vietnam War the United States government waged a massive, secret air war in neighboring Laos. Two million tons of bombs were dropped on one million people. Fred Branfman, an educational advisor living in Laos at the time, interviewed over 1,000 Laotian survivors. Shocked by what he heard and saw, he urged them to record their experiences in essays, poems, and pictures. Voices from the Plain of Jars was the result of that effort. When first published in 1972, this book was instrumental in exposing the bombing. In this expanded edition, Branfman follows the story forward in time, describing the hardships that Laotians faced after the war when they returned to find their farm fields littered with cluster munitions--explosives that continue to maim and kill today.
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
Re: What books are you reading?
ELON MUSK by Walter Isaacson.
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