I've had Jensen suggested to me before; I have a few friends who consider themselves anarcho-primitivists. I've enjoyed both John Zerzan and Ran Prieur, who write on similar themes, I think.
My "first" messageeverydayrebelJanuary 16 2008, 10:19:23 UTC
Dear Wes,
I'm suggesting books before posting a picture. Thank you for re-introducing me to Livejournal.
I've never read any science fiction (that's a lie, I've read "Lies, Inc." by Philip K. Dick), so perhaps you can recommend for me some sci-fi.
Non-fiction: TIE between Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" and Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle". Both very interesting to me and influenced my thinking a great deal in 2006/2007 (in regard to People's History it was mostly the idea that history has always been told from the viewpoint of the oppressor/conqueror).
Fiction: I just recommended for Vajo Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švejk" and I'll recommend it to you as well. I suggest the Penguin edition (the only edition I've ever seen) because it features an invaluable introduction and insight into Hašek's life (he was an anarchist, but the book has merit beyond that). It's very witty and always entertaining (listen to me advertise!).
Re: My "first" messageghostwesJanuary 16 2008, 12:38:58 UTC
Awesome, I look forward to reading new stuff from you!
I am about a third of the way through A People's History of the United States. Not sure why I stopped reading, exactly. May as well finish it off, though.
As for The Good Soldier Švejk, are you willing to lend me your copy? Since I worship books, I am a good person to lend them to. I think most people would agree with me on that.
SF recommends, hmm... I would say, for you specifically, The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I periodically buy all of the copies of this that I find in used bookstores and then give them away to my friends who I think will like it. Right now I have none, though, not even my own copy, otherwise I would lend it to you. Other than that, you could try some of the classics, like Herbert's Dune (just the first novel) and Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. A recent novel that I thought was quite brilliant is Charles Stross' Glasshouse. It should have won the Hugo last year, but did not. In fact, the list of Hugo winners would itself be a good place
( ... )
You should read Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. Being Canadian, I'm sure you hate her, but it's really a great book and it's a nice genre-transcending bit of literature with some scifi leanings. A perfect book to get you out of your comfort zone, like dumping you off the ship in a life raft in the middle of the Pacific, but leaving you a rope in case it gets too crazy out there in literatureland.
As for non-fiction, you could read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which is a hilarious history of science. I also really enjoyed Oh the Glory of it All by Sean Wilsey, which is a great memoir of a fucked up rich kid and his ultimate redemption. Umm, it's better than it sounds :P
Oh god, you're going to make me read her, aren't you... gah. Well, I will give her a try. Her two sf-but-not-sf books have been recommended to me countless times. I refused to read them because she is so dismissive of sf, even though she writes the stuff, heh.
I read Atwood's Oryx & Crake and wasn't terribly impressed. It was decent, but not ZOMG!-worthy. I read The Handmaiden's Tale years and years ago and that's not bad at all. However, I completely adored The Blind Assassin. It's clever and emotional and extremely well structured.
*I* am often dismissive of scifi even though I read a bunch of it. Vernor Vinge, OSC, & Frank Herbert are really the only scifi I've loved and it was because they have these terrific metaphysical cosmologies involved.
For non-fiction, it's hard to limit my suggestion to only one title. I'd say Systems of Survival by Jane Jacobs, or any of her other economics books (Cities and the Wealth of Nations and The Economy of Cities).
For fiction, I have a tougher time recommending stuff. For non-sci-fi, I've liked some Hemingway, such as For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.
I figured you might recommend Jacobs, and, in fact, she was already on my list because of you. I will try to track down a copy of Systems of Survival and let you know what I think.
Hemingway is a bad fit, I'm afraid. I really didn't like The Old Man and the Sea, and never understood what people saw in it. Well, aside from the not having spaceships part. Err, yeah, on that note, maybe I should give it another try.
The Old Man and the Sea makes no sense really unless you see it in context of Hemingway's history. He writes all these great books to high praise and then he writes a clunker and is slammed so hard in the reviews and the press, like Mike Tyson boxing Stephen Hawking. So Hemingway writes this story about a fisherman (writer) who goes out and catches this magnificent fish (a clunker novel) but it is torn up and destroyed by sharks (the media) and it almost kills the fisherman (writer).
Comments 48
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I've had Jensen suggested to me before; I have a few friends who consider themselves anarcho-primitivists. I've enjoyed both John Zerzan and Ran Prieur, who write on similar themes, I think.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
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Non-fiction: Russell Shorto's The Island at the Centre of the World, a history of New Amsterdam before it became New York.
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I'm suggesting books before posting a picture. Thank you for re-introducing me to Livejournal.
I've never read any science fiction (that's a lie, I've read "Lies, Inc." by Philip K. Dick), so perhaps you can recommend for me some sci-fi.
Non-fiction: TIE between Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" and Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle". Both very interesting to me and influenced my thinking a great deal in 2006/2007 (in regard to People's History it was mostly the idea that history has always been told from the viewpoint of the oppressor/conqueror).
Fiction: I just recommended for Vajo Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švejk" and I'll recommend it to you as well. I suggest the Penguin edition (the only edition I've ever seen) because it features an invaluable introduction and insight into Hašek's life (he was an anarchist, but the book has merit beyond that). It's very witty and always entertaining (listen to me advertise!).
Reply
I am about a third of the way through A People's History of the United States. Not sure why I stopped reading, exactly. May as well finish it off, though.
As for The Good Soldier Švejk, are you willing to lend me your copy? Since I worship books, I am a good person to lend them to. I think most people would agree with me on that.
SF recommends, hmm... I would say, for you specifically, The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I periodically buy all of the copies of this that I find in used bookstores and then give them away to my friends who I think will like it. Right now I have none, though, not even my own copy, otherwise I would lend it to you. Other than that, you could try some of the classics, like Herbert's Dune (just the first novel) and Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. A recent novel that I thought was quite brilliant is Charles Stross' Glasshouse. It should have won the Hugo last year, but did not. In fact, the list of Hugo winners would itself be a good place ( ... )
Reply
I haven't read any of these, so I'll try to start with finding The Dispossessed. It sounds very interesting.
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As for non-fiction, you could read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which is a hilarious history of science. I also really enjoyed Oh the Glory of it All by Sean Wilsey, which is a great memoir of a fucked up rich kid and his ultimate redemption. Umm, it's better than it sounds :P
Good luck!
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I have heard good things about Bryson's book.
Thanks!
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*I* am often dismissive of scifi even though I read a bunch of it. Vernor Vinge, OSC, & Frank Herbert are really the only scifi I've loved and it was because they have these terrific metaphysical cosmologies involved.
Reply
For fiction, I have a tougher time recommending stuff. For non-sci-fi, I've liked some Hemingway, such as For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.
Reply
Hemingway is a bad fit, I'm afraid. I really didn't like The Old Man and the Sea, and never understood what people saw in it. Well, aside from the not having spaceships part. Err, yeah, on that note, maybe I should give it another try.
Thanks!
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I would totally read this book.
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