Books

[Trev]

Friend of mine was clearing out a load of books and had the first two Dune novels so I nabbed them from her, let's see what all the fuss is about...

[Pedrito]

Class. The Jungian influence is actually starting to reveal itself far more now. Herbert wrote it in a way to create a journey out of the Jungian archetypes. There are odes to Nietzsche definitely but the Jung thing seems to drive the story along. It's all in that link I posted earlier in the topic. Tasty stuff.

[Eoin McLove]

Dune sounds promising from your descriptions. I'm not sure if I've ever read a single piece of science fiction apart from some of the classics like 1984, Brave New World and eh... eh... I can't think of anything else I've read in that genre, but I might pick up the first Dune book and see if it interests me.

[Pedrito]

Hardly read any science fiction myself, just stumbled on this. Probably overselling it now at this stage and you'll all.hate it  give the first book a go definitely

[Carnage]

Finished The Firm, thank fuck. I won't be bothering with any more Grisham books, that's for sure.

Conclave by Robert Harris lined up next. I'm generally a fan of his, though The Fear Index was rubbish.

[blessed1]

im re-reading the shining. still so good. probably one of his best tbh.

[Pentagrimes]

Big favour - do any Dublin based MetalWarfarists in this thread by any chance have a copy of Charles Portis' "True Grit" they might be willing to part with? My kid needs a copy for school and it's a pain in the arse to find locally

[pete]

Big favour - do any Dublin based MetalWarfarists in this thread by any chance have a copy of Charles Portis' "True Grit" they might be willing to part with? My kid needs a copy for school and it's a pain in the arse to find locally

Not sure where in Dublin you are, but my library has it, Dundrum. Just checked there.

Some great online benefits with libraries these days if you're not already a member, papers magazines ebooks etc.

[Caomhaoin]

Any of ye read that 'A Death in the Family' by a Norwegian author called Knausgaard? Not finished yet but an incredible book! Just picked it up after a passing recommendation. The way he describes his childhood and his adult situation, mighty stuff.

First part of a trilogy. I don't have all the fancy talk of The Shephard or Pedrito to express my admiration for this writer, but if you are stuck for an engrossing book, this is the fella for you.

[Nail_Bombed]

Trying to get my teeth into some Noam Chomsky at the moment - Optimism Over Despair, which seems to be both an interview and a collection of thoughts about the current state of the world. Also On Anarchism.

Also 1984 by Orwell. Never read it, thought I'd get round to doing so - one of those things, you hear the ideas of 1984 a lot but never get round to actually reading the book.

[StoutAndAle]

Read Neil MacGregor's "Germany: Memories Of A Nation". Very enjoyable. I've always had an interest in Germany as a place - the language, the people, the topography, the culture and, I suppose, the beer. We obviously all know its 20th century history to a certain degree and it's covered in this book but not covering the same ground as Ian Kershaw and Anthony Beevor have masterfully done in the past.

MacGregor (an art historian) takes an interesting approach in exploring Germany/Prussia/Holy Roman Empire all the way from Charlemagne to present day using an artifact from a period as the central focus per chapter. Make for an interesting (and superior) companion piece to James Hawes' "The Shortest History Of Germany".

Blazed through Jon Ronson's "The Psychopath Test" last weekend. I'm late to Ronson's work but I this as much as "Them" and "So You've Been Publicly Shamed".

[Eoin McLove]

I watched an interview with Jon Ronson yesterday. Never heard of him before but it was part of the Ways to Change the World series,  which I find an interesting and eclectic series of interviews.  Curious to read something by him as he seems a sensible sort of chap.

[StoutAndAle]

I watched an interview with Jon Ronson yesterday. Never heard of him before but it was part of the Ways to Change the World series,  which I find an interesting and eclectic series of interviews.  Curious to read something by him as he seems a sensible sort of chap.

I would recommend starting with "So You've Been Publicly Shamed".

"Them" is very enjoyable but it's a little dated now - given that it was written pre-9/11 and it deals with radical extremists in a jovial "sure what'll they ever do?" fashion.

I haven't read "The Men Who Stare At Goats" or seen the film but apparently (as in most cases) the book is better.

[Eoin McLove]

I thought the film The Men Who Stare at Goats was dogshite so I'll give that book a miss,  but So You've Been Publicly Shamed sounds good.  I watched another discussion with him just now. It baffles me how anyone with a bit of cop on goes anywhere near the cess pit of self righteous spite, trolling and nonsense that is Twitter but it seems to be a magnet for people who should know better. It's a bit depressing.

[StoutAndAle]

I thought the film The Men Who Stare at Goats was dogshite so I'll give that book a miss,  but So You've Been Publicly Shamed sounds good.  I watched another discussion with him just now. It baffles me how anyone with a bit of cop on goes anywhere near the cess pit of self righteous spite, trolling and nonsense that is Twitter but it seems to be a magnet for people who should know better. It's a bit depressing.

I'm not sure how much of Ronson's book George Clooney et al. actually used.

Yeah, I agree on the Twitter thing. I use it myself but mainly to interact with bands and stuff but it's now become a thoroughly depressing and vindictive place. "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" expands on that theme.