What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[Gustaf]

I am reading The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto.

[Orthodox]

Rereading Postwar by Tony Judt.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Hollowing Out the Middle by Patrick Karr and Maria Kefalas

[Yelnoc]

Just finished...

[President Marokai]

Rereading this again since the first time I read it when I was just 14, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it was the first book related to politics that I read in it's entirety, but looking back on it so many years later, I'm frightened by now much I feel like the foundation of my attitude on politics was formed by this book, as well as Truth (With Jokes) that I read a year later.

Yes, blah blah, it's Al Franken, but throughout the entire book, Franken places a very serious importance on telling the truth, on basing your arguments in fact, and responding to untruths with empirical truth. It's a very very simple concept, but it's also a very important one that our politics, especially in the last decade+ has forgotten. Politics is serious, and it matters a whole lot, and it shouldn't be treated like a game. The issues we debate are serious, and if we deserve anything, it's that the issues should be debated genuinely and honestly in good faith.

I very very strongly believe that. And it's the foundation for almost everything else that I believe in.

Near the end of the book, Franken writes this, which I think is the take-away from the book, even though it focuses on right-wing figures or particular lies from the Bush Administration:

How do we get it back? We have to fight. But we can't fight like they do. People say that Rush, and Fox, and their ilk are entertaining. And if you can stomach that sort of stuff, I suppose they are. But a part of their entertainment value comes from their willingness to lie and distort. They fight with lies.

We can't do that. We have to fight them with the truth. Our added entertainment value will have to come from being funny and attractive. And passionate. And idealistic. But also, smart.

He's right. It only depresses me that, since writing this book 7 years ago-ish, the other side has only gone further down the rabbit hole. One side of American politics earnestly wants to govern and treat politics as a system for doing good. The other side, does not. And they do not value empirical truth the way that we do.

Those who treat politics and elections as a game are not serious people. And they should not be treated as serious people. That's essentially the message of the book. Don't lie about stuff that matters, and if someone does, go after them with everything you've got.

[Kuu ülevaade olulisematest]

I'm getting sick of everyone hatin' on neocons!!

Hanson's argument is that freedom and free-market capitalism are why "Western civilization" (which to him encompasses everything from Greek city states to Alexander the Great to the Franks to the Holy League to 16th century Spain to Americans in Vietnam) triumphed over... well, he never really defines who they triumphed over, just everyone who didn't love freedom and capitalism enough, I guess. It's a ridiculous, ahistorical, contrived thesis, only saved by his talent at describing battles.

Exactly what you would expect from the title, isn't it?

I think that my favorite part of that book is that the name of the hypothetical Bangladeshi child making shoes in a factory is "bad shoe" in Bengali.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

I think that my favorite part of that book is that the name of the hypothetical Bangladeshi child making shoes in a factory is "bad shoe" in Bengali.

How to write "Xahar" in Bengali alphabet? (I'm asking because "Xahar", as transcripted, means "sister" in Farsi )

[Insula Dei]

Taking a break from the Carlyle (which is, need it be said, very entertaining) for some Houellebecq in the shape of Plateforme. The guy is such an incredible nazi, I like him very much.

The best bit so far has to be the narrator's throw-away remarl about pets on the opening page.

[Senator Sbane]

I think that my favorite part of that book is that the name of the hypothetical Bangladeshi child making shoes in a factory is "bad shoe" in Bengali.

Thanks for reminding me! That was hilarious. I wonder how many people who read the book actually got it.

[TJ in Wisco]

Trying to read it at the advice of a more philosophically inclined friend... we'll see if end up finishing.

[King]

I'm currently a few chapters into Confidence Men by Ron Suskind.  Good stuff.

[Vasall des Midas]

[Mynheer Peeperkorn von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe]

Is it legal to read Mein Kampf in Germany?

[Jack Vance RIP]

Trying to read it at the advice of a more philosophically inclined friend... we'll see if end up finishing.

Don´t bother... MacIntyre is the very definition of self-important indulgent nonsense.

[Vasall des Midas]

Is it legal to read Mein Kampf in Germany?

Yes... but it's illegal to publish without the consent of the copyright holder. Who happens to be the state of Bavaria, and not in the habit of consenting to anything of the sort. So you'd have to purchase used - which is perfectly legal - or have inherited some pre-45 copy. Or just import from somewhere, such as Britain or America or, well, most of the world, that doesn't recognize Bavaria's rather dubious claim to ownership of the copyright. (Turkey recognizes it, for instance... as a means to ban the book without officially banning it.) Will expire in 2016 (70 years after Hitler was officially declared dead), anyhow. What they'll do after that, I dunno.
Attempts to have the book put on the Index (which would ban any but over-the-counter sales, ostensibly to protect the youth) or declare its content seditious (and thus distribution illegal) have been made in the past and failed - the latter paragraphs are so tightly drawn that virtually nothing can be banned under them. Which I think is due to court interpretations aimed at not having to declare the law unconstitutional.

[Gustaf]

Is it legal to read Mein Kampf in Germany?

Yes... but it's illegal to publish without the consent of the copyright holder. Who happens to be the state of Bavaria, and not in the habit of consenting to anything of the sort. So you'd have to purchase used - which is perfectly legal - or have inherited some pre-45 copy. Or just import from somewhere, such as Britain or America or, well, most of the world, that doesn't recognize Bavaria's rather dubious claim to ownership of the copyright. (Turkey recognizes it, for instance... as a means to ban the book without officially banning it.) Will expire in 2016 (70 years after Hitler was officially declared dead), anyhow. What they'll do after that, I dunno.
Attempts to have the book put on the Index (which would ban any but over-the-counter sales, ostensibly to protect the youth) or declare its content seditious (and thus distribution illegal) have been made in the past and failed - the latter paragraphs are so tightly drawn that virtually nothing can be banned under them. Which I think is due to court interpretations aimed at not having to declare the law unconstitutional.

I thought Mein Kampf sold pretty well in Turkey a few years back?

Anyway, I am currently reading Blood Meridian.

[PASOK Leader Hashemite]

Tableau politique de la France de l'Ouest sous la Troisieme Republique, the ultimate nerdy book.

[Insula Dei]

Anyway, I am currently reading Blood Meridian.

Very nice, that one.

[Vasall des Midas]

I thought Mein Kampf sold pretty well in Turkey a few years back?

It was de-facto-banned three years after the Turkish translation first appeared. It sold fairly well in the interim.

[Insula Dei]

In all fairness if an English translation were published tomorrow, and received an average degree of press coverage, it too would sell a decent number of copies. So no need to diabolize the scary muslems. (If anyone were intent on doing so.)

[Sibboleth]

And everyone who bought it would immediately regret having done so.

[The Mikado]

And everyone who bought it would immediately regret having done so.

I've only ever had to read a 9 page excerpt.

It's the equivalent of smashing a brick into your head.

[Sibboleth]

And everyone who bought it would immediately regret having done so.

I've only ever had to read a 9 page excerpt.

It's the equivalent of smashing a brick into your head.

Except that doing that would probably be more productive.

[Kuu ülevaade olulisematest]

And everyone who bought it would immediately regret having done so.

I have a copy. It would be charmingly strange if it weren't so horribly real.