Raithe Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 “I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.” 1 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Monte Carlo Posted February 27, 2014 Posted February 27, 2014 I don't know if someone on here mentioned it previously but I'm reading Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo. Might have been Wals or Agiel. As someone who isn't really up on Central American politics, it's pretty cool. 1
Raithe Posted February 27, 2014 Posted February 27, 2014 Heh, I had to read that for prep when researching and writing up an analysis of the effect of Pablo's capture on certain other groups. It certainly throws up quite a few interesting tidbits around events of the time. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Agiel Posted February 27, 2014 Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) I don't know if someone on here mentioned it previously but I'm reading Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo. Might have been Wals or Agiel. As someone who isn't really up on Central American politics, it's pretty cool. It's certainly a cracking yarn. Perhaps my favourite sections were the ones involving Colonel Hugo Martínez who lead Search Bloc against the Medellin Cartel. He's an interesting guy in the sense that he showed inhuman amounts of bravery (He was only supposed to serve as the head for 2 months before being rotated out; he ended up serving for nearly the entirety of the hunt that lasted nearly a decade) and integrity in the face of efforts by the cartel to either buy him out or intimidate/assassinate him, yet at the same time he looked the other way when the men he commanded resorted to underhanded tactics in fighting the cartels (something he denies to this day). If you've got time for a doorstopper, Guests of the Ayatollah is also another great book by Bowden. Edited February 27, 2014 by Agiel Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
TheChris92 Posted March 2, 2014 Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) Tragessional ficiton -- Awesome satire with intriguing philosophical messages. Edited March 2, 2014 by TheChris92
Walsingham Posted March 2, 2014 Posted March 2, 2014 I don't know if someone on here mentioned it previously but I'm reading Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo. Might have been Wals or Agiel. As someone who isn't really up on Central American politics, it's pretty cool. It is indeed a good book. I note, watching today, that it is brought up in Breaking Bad by Walt Jr. We all know the name of Pablo Escobar. We should know much more about the men who broke him. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.
AGX-17 Posted March 3, 2014 Posted March 3, 2014 (edited) As I Lay Dying; brandy in one hand, cigar in the other. My bleeding liberal heart is soothed by the dulcet tones of early 20th century southern familial dysfunction and a half-assed ending. Still, Faulkner is my favorite author. OH SHUT UP DARL WAS NOT CRAZY ALL ALONG HE WAS THE ONLY REASONABLE ONE OUT OF ALL OF THEM "Maidservant, fetch me more brandy." could be heard in the background. Of the text of the post on an internet forum. Edited March 3, 2014 by AGX-17
ManifestedISO Posted March 9, 2014 Posted March 9, 2014 My buddy just gave me this to read. Steve is one of our TV announcers for the F1 season, and I love his booth manner, so this should be a good one. All Stop. On Screen.
Guard Dog Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Just finished Cornwells The Lords of the North. It was great. Now reading The Martian by Andy Weir. It's about the first astronaut to reach Mars coping with finding out he's stranded there. It is a page turner. Worth checking out. Also reading Smuggler's Blues: The Saga of a Marijuana importer Jay Carter Brown. A pretty cool memoir of a drug runner that managed not to get caught or killed. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Monte Carlo Posted March 14, 2014 Posted March 14, 2014 ^ On a similar note, "Mister Nice," the autibiography of uber-smuggler Howard Marks is more fun than you can shake a stick at.
babaganoosh13 Posted March 14, 2014 Posted March 14, 2014 I've finished all of the Dexter novels, and now I'm going through as many of the Jack Frost ones I can find. You see, ever since the whole Doritos Locos Tacos thing, Taco Bell thinks they can do whatever they want.
Serrano Posted March 15, 2014 Posted March 15, 2014 I've just started reading 'Ruins' by Dan Wells, here's the author's introduction; "This book is dedicated to everyone you hate. Sorry, life is like that sometimes" .
ShadySands Posted March 18, 2014 Posted March 18, 2014 Just started Words of Radiance, hope I enjoy it as much as the first book in the series Free games updated 3/4/21
Malcador Posted March 18, 2014 Posted March 18, 2014 Going to start on Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic after I've gone through the latest bunch of Horus Heresy novels (in which I must say, I wasn't too happy with. Granted it was interesting to note the Lion was the eldest one and Guilliman looks up to him, but was pretty rushed along and Curze is apparently some Death God, unstoppable by anything). Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Woldan Posted June 6, 2014 Posted June 6, 2014 (edited) A 1:1 translated version of the Book of Enoch, it reads like a modern science fiction novel written thousands years ago. Rooms entirely made of crystal, holograms, revolting angels, quick-write pens, human body experiments, cities floating in heaven, winged chariots, angels teaching humans astrology, art and laws of science, giant malevolent angel-human hybrids... If there is one document which makes you think about the possibility of extraterrestrials visiting and teaching humans its this book. Edited June 6, 2014 by Woldan 1 I gazed at the dead, and for one dark moment I saw a banquet.
TheChris92 Posted June 7, 2014 Posted June 7, 2014 Reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk -- Big fan of the whole transgressive fictional works of Bret Easton Ellis & Chuck. Unchronological, in a similar fashion as Fight Club, starts at page 289 or so and ends at 1, involves a apathetic-aloof sort of protagonist born into a Death Cult and being the last survivor of it. His services usually involve in provoking suicidal people through a suicide hotline, which coincidentally was something that started when someone called the wrong number, it also applies to him giving advice or offer his own service to random citizens, last the book offers an insight on the materialistic modern America with a dark satirical twist in similar fashion to that of Fight Club. It's good. Really, really good. Gonna get started on Snow Crash after this one.
Raithe Posted June 12, 2014 Posted June 12, 2014 Not strictly books.. but the comic adaptions of David Weber's Honorverse have started.. http://youtu.be/wqxiKPJZLlE "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Malcador Posted June 12, 2014 Posted June 12, 2014 Has Honor ever suffered a defeat in those books, yet ? Reading Abbadon's Gate now. Same stuff so far as before, protagonists full of righteousness, etc. etc. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
ShadySands Posted June 21, 2014 Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Just finished Shattered, the 7th book in the Iron Druid Chronicles I liked it better than most of the series Edited June 21, 2014 by ShadySands Free games updated 3/4/21
Agiel Posted June 22, 2014 Posted June 22, 2014 Having just graduated from uni with a degree in Fine Arts, I find myself back in it reading the memoirs of Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31934/31934-h/31934-h.htm Quote “Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.” -Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>> Quote "The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete." -Rod Serling
Lexx Posted June 22, 2014 Posted June 22, 2014 I am currently reading The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. At first I was highly confused, but now it is growing quite strong on me. Also it's pretty much my first big (~500 pages) english book since ever. "only when you no-life you can exist forever, because what does not live cannot die."
Walsingham Posted June 22, 2014 Posted June 22, 2014 ^ On a similar note, "Mister Nice," the autibiography of uber-smuggler Howard Marks is more fun than you can shake a stick at. That reminds me. Did I say I was reading It Never Snows in September? "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.
ShadySands Posted July 1, 2014 Posted July 1, 2014 Tower Lord, the second book in the Raven's Shadow series by Anthony Ryan, just appeared on my tablet and I'm fighting the urge to call in sick tomorrow and stay up all night reading it 1 Free games updated 3/4/21
Guard Dog Posted July 1, 2014 Posted July 1, 2014 Now reading All the Light We Cannot See. Just started it but so far it's pretty engrossing. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
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