What Book Are You Currently Reading? (user search)
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  What Book Are You Currently Reading? (search mode)
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Author Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading?  (Read 396919 times)
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« Reply #25 on: August 13, 2013, 03:14:33 PM »

I was at a family friend's house. They're a senior couple who had a bunch of old books including some future dystopia books such as "A Canticle for Liebowitz" (think that's the title) and "Brave New World".
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« Reply #26 on: December 09, 2013, 03:17:14 AM »

Been digging through "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" for my (very off-topic) Academic Writing final. That said, when I'm done with this, there's some reading I'd like to do, some of it influenced by things I either stumbled upon or was reminded of while researching this paper. "Paradise Lost" and "The Ballad of the White Horse" could be interesting.

Solid choice, TJ. I have a copy, though I've yet to read it. Nevertheless, the back cover alone looks interesting, and with it being about a monk, seems like it would be right up your alley.
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Cathcon
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« Reply #27 on: December 26, 2013, 01:10:37 PM »

"This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin.
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« Reply #28 on: December 26, 2013, 10:44:42 PM »

For the Tales, I think my school just used the Penguin Books (or whatever) translation.
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« Reply #29 on: March 04, 2015, 08:28:41 PM »

"A Canticle for Leibowitz". Loved it until Br. Francis died. Not sure what to think of the book's second part.
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« Reply #30 on: March 08, 2015, 03:08:46 PM »

"A Canticle for Leibowitz". Loved it until Br. Francis died. Not sure what to think of the book's second part.
It's good.  It suffers from a fate common to many well-beloved SF works, heirs getting a second rate sequel written from something in the notes left behind so as to milk some extra money out of fans, but that doesn't affect the book itself.

Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman isn't a bad book, and there was a lot more of it to work with than just 'notes' when Miller died, but it's definitely a major step down from Canticle. Canticle was one of the best sci-fi novels of its generation; Wild Horse Woman isn't even the best of its year.

I've progressed farther into "Fiat Lux" and I have to say I'm loving it. The philosophical current of debate between secular vs. religious authorities, the weird post-apocalyptic empires, etc. Great stuff, all around. Gotta love the semi-medieval level of power that the church in the 4th millennium has.
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« Reply #31 on: April 17, 2015, 06:18:56 PM »

I'm still scratching my head about the last Zizek volume I read, but I decided to read another one, because even though the last one was kind of confused rambling, I still feel like I got something (though I'm not sure what) out of the last one.



I think it's hilarious that Zizek has his face next to Lenin, plastered repeatedly across the book's cover.
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« Reply #32 on: June 25, 2015, 10:28:01 PM »

Picked up "Social Origins of Democracy and Dictatorship" by Barrington Moore Jr. a few weeks ago. More than halfway through, but I've been distracted, and it's due back about July 7th, I think. If I wanted, I could probably plow through it by then, but I'm not predicting it'll be so easy.
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« Reply #33 on: December 18, 2015, 08:45:45 PM »

Picked up "Lineages of the Absolutist State" by some dude named Perry Anderson, as well as "The Third Wave" by Samuel Huntington.
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« Reply #34 on: January 31, 2016, 09:02:25 PM »

Big fan of Perlstein. Even though you get the idea that he's liberal (which he is), he does very well at illustrating the competing social movements that resulted in things going as they did (in my opinion). It's also fun to read how the liberal consensus was torn asunder. Only read "Before the Storm" and "Nixonland", but I greatly enjoyed both.
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« Reply #35 on: January 31, 2016, 09:30:48 PM »

Big fan of Perlstein. Even though you get the idea that he's liberal (which he is), he does very well at illustrating the competing social movements that resulted in things going as they did (in my opinion). It's also fun to read how the liberal consensus was torn asunder. Only read "Before the Storm" and "Nixonland", but I greatly enjoyed both.

He is? I went over his wiki, I assumed he was more conservative than liberal as all his work seems to be about conservative-related stuff.

One of the quotes on the back of the paperback "Before the Storm" from Irving Kristol or one of his compatriots refers to Perlstein, a man from the left, being great at telling the story of the right. He's definitely interested in it, but I could be interested in socialism and still be a conservatism, especially if my goal is to serve as a critique to it.
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« Reply #36 on: March 03, 2016, 09:32:12 PM »

Picked up "The Roots of Evil" by Christopher Hibbert. Any good?
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« Reply #37 on: March 11, 2016, 10:11:11 PM »

I just finished up Why the Right Went Wrong by E.J. Dionne. It's an ideologically slanted but comprehensive overview of how the Republican Party got where they are today.

"Where the Right Went Wrong" by Pat Buchanan wasn't enough!? Tongue
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« Reply #38 on: May 07, 2016, 04:14:17 PM »

"Constructing Cassandra: Reframing Intelligence Failure at the CIA, 1947-2001" by Milo Jones & Philippe Silberzahn and "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. Both are for a graduate class in the fall for the school's M.S. in Intelligence Analysis program titled "The Roots of 21st Century Conflict". Had to get it as a directed study since it's scheduled the same time as "Introduction to Digital Forensics". Tongue
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« Reply #39 on: May 08, 2016, 09:53:50 PM »

"Constructing Cassandra: Reframing Intelligence Failure at the CIA, 1947-2001" by Milo Jones & Philippe Silberzahn and "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. Both are for a graduate class in the fall for the school's M.S. in Intelligence Analysis program titled "The Roots of 21st Century Conflict". Had to get it as a directed study since it's scheduled the same time as "Introduction to Digital Forensics". Tongue

Finished. Library better be effing open tomorrow. I have a textbook or two borrowed, but I'd rather keep with "actual reading" until I need to switch it up. Two possibilities are books I rented out over Christmas break but never finished--"The Third Wave" by Samuel Huntington, and "Lineages of the Absolutist State" by Perry Anderson. Probably gonna go there after work.
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« Reply #40 on: June 11, 2016, 05:32:43 PM »

A combination collection from my school's library, my professor, and from myself was drawn together to begin work on what I hope may be my honors thesis:
"The Third Wave" by Samuel Huntington
"Social Origins of Dictatorship & Democracy" by Barrington Moore, Jr.
"The War of the World" by Niall Ferguson
"History of Russia" by Walter Kirchner (very out of date, 1970's, selected form among Russian histories a few weeks ago for quasi-related reading; had the coolest-looking cover and looked the shortest)
"The Cold War" by John Lewis Gaddis
"The Russian Revolution" by Robert Foldston (typo in the book's publication--should read "Goldston")

Not all of these are being used as I've begun writing my hackneyed and dogsh#t quality introduction that I plan on showing to my academic adviser on Monday. Some were taken out as a "just in case", and others I already had. This is just the group that I took "back home" to Davisburg for the weekend to get a writing start.
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« Reply #41 on: June 28, 2016, 07:12:17 PM »

Picked up more library books on Friday, but I've barely cracked 'em. Spent all weekend writing, though. Drew up a second "proposal" of sorts, but it's rooted mainly in readings as opposed to "data" (what there is). This thesis is gonna be a feat. (Long story short: I'm supposed to do an "honors thesis" started, oh, last semester which is to be "original research". Someone in my areas of interest probably doesn't have a lot of wiggle room there without, say, y'know, travel or surveys, or something like that, so I'm working with extant statistics that have probably used on subject matter that's already been touched. No idea if I'll get through this and I don't have the most attentive guidance)
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« Reply #42 on: July 29, 2016, 11:50:07 AM »


Didn't know the world of computers had "classics".
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« Reply #43 on: October 07, 2016, 06:55:28 PM »

This is my third time borrowing "Russian Economic Development from Peter the Great to Stalin" from my school's library. The first time was to try to get some knowledge on Russia; the second time was an abortive attempt to use it as a source; now I'm actually taking notes on it. It's a collection of articles, arranged semi-chronologically. The book was printed in 1974. Yesterday I took out "States & Social Revolutions" by Theda Skocpol. Similar story with this; second time taking it out. I've got an array of other books on loan from the library that are due back around October 28th. Better churn through these effers.
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« Reply #44 on: November 24, 2016, 05:57:38 PM »



Interesting piece of sexuality in the Arab world.

Useless without hands-on experience.
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« Reply #45 on: March 04, 2017, 06:18:18 PM »

My biases, professors' backgrounds, and school library have somehow led me into some materialist trap. I'm rereading "States & Social Revolutions" (which I only read a part of over the summer) for my senior seminar in a project where I plan to compare it to "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy", and my mind keeps trying to draw lines between their observations and those of Marvin Harris.
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« Reply #46 on: April 30, 2017, 03:44:07 PM »

"Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt", Barrington Moore, Jr.
"Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II", Joseph E. Persico

I'm hoping to plow through reading this summer, as I'll have no other obligations outside of work and hoping to spend my weekends engaged in outdoor recreation. Reading list includes two Arendt books I bought last summer but have only partially read ("Totalitarianism", and "On Revolution"), actually reading the entirety of "Social Origins of Dictatorship & Democracy" (Moore, again) and "States & Social Revolutions" (Skocpol). Among books I haven't touched would be a few in my library about World War II and the Cold War, along with hunting through the library for books on Iran and the Soviet Union/Russia.
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« Reply #47 on: June 16, 2017, 06:29:13 PM »

Have any of y'all read Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero?

My family owns it. Never read it. I read half of the Matthews book on Kennedy and Nixon. 
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« Reply #48 on: June 21, 2017, 09:47:58 PM »

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Both sound like great goals; neither have I read.
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« Reply #49 on: July 20, 2017, 05:09:47 PM »

In no particular order, these are the books I have started or re-started reading this summer:

The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt
On Revolution, Hannah Arendt
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Bryan Crozier
Injustice: The Social Origins of Democracy & Dictatorship, Barrington Moore, Jr.
The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention, Richard H. Immerman
Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II, Joseph E. Persico
Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, Jerome Blume

I doubt I will finish most of these.
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