Hey folks, what good books/articles have you read recently? - GoFuckYourself.com

<IMX> · 09-08-2002, 10:20 PM

I'm sleepy as fuck, but I'm still up reading through articles and compiling a list of reading material. What good books have you read recently?

I'm reading through this article right now...
It is mind-blowing.

>>
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/32/koestenbaum.html
"Do You Have the Will to Lead?"
Philosopher Peter Koestenbaum poses the truly big questions: How do we act when risks seem overwhelming? What does it mean to be a successful human being?
>>

Anyway, I realize that I have been neglecting my brain. I have been feeding it with microwaved fast food style articles made up of mostly bullshit, instead of the proper intellectual nourishment it needs to survive.

Help save my brain.
Spam me with good books.

Thanks
< / IMX>

fnet · 09-08-2002, 10:28 PM

I recommend Nietszche for brain food. Beyond Good and Evil and The Gay Science are both straighforward and enriching.

I just read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Definitely turned my gears. Usually when people talk about it they talk about the protagonist (or fountainhead), Roark. He's only 1/4 of the story. Rand really develops each character; the working title for the book was "second hand lives."

Stealthy · 09-08-2002, 10:29 PM

I just finished reading "The Truth" by Terry Pratchett. My god what a hilariously well written book! It's one of the "DiscWorld" series which up until now I had no knowledge of!

Sure, it's pure fantasy, but it's intelligently written and even takes pokes at the internet from an old-world point of view

"Have you heard of C-Commerce yet? (Sea Commerce, get it?)"

Its the story of a guy who unwittingly becomes the editor of the world's first newspaper and all the shit he has to go through, basically a bunch of people that want to kill him, a vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people that want to kill him, etc.

A Very thoughtful, entertaining read!

When I picked this book up and read the first page I said "Mine!"

Here's the first page: (Stolen from some book site)

"The rumour spread through the city like wildfire (which had quite often spread through Ankh-Morpork since its citizens had learned the words `fire insurance').
The dwarfs can turn lead into gold...

It buzzed through the fetid air of the Alchemists' quarter, where they had been trying to do the same thing for centuries without success but were certain that they'd manage it by tomorrow, or next Tuesday at least, or the end of the month for definite.

It caused speculation among the wizards at Unseen University, where they knew you could turn one element into another element, provided you didn't mind it turning back again next day, and where was the good in that? Besides, most elements were happy where they were.

It seared into the scarred, puffy and sometimes totally missing ears of the Thieves' Guild, where people put an edge on their crowbars. Who cared where the gold came from?

The dwarfs can turn lead into gold ...

It reached the cold but incredibly acute ears of the Patrician, and it did that fairly quickly, because you did not stay ruler of Ankh-Morpork for long if you were second with the news. He sighed and made a note of it, and added it to a lot of other notes.

The dwarfs can turn lead into gold ...

It reached the pointy ears of the dwarfs.

'Can we?'

'Damned if I know. I can't.'

'Yeah, but if you could, you wouldn't say. I wouldn't say, if I could.'

'Can you?'

'No!'

'Ah-ha!' "

And so it goes... Find it, read it, enjoy it...

edmo · 09-08-2002, 10:30 PM

there was a post a while called
"books worthy of reading"
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showth...threadid=71218

there's a variety of really good ones in there.

<IMX> · 09-08-2002, 10:48 PM

Thanks Guys,

I keep waking up each day with this gnawing fear, that as my entrepreneurial success increases, my intellectual curiosity has faded.

Does anyone know what I mean?

When I was younger there were things about the world that truly saddened me to the point of tears. Now, for the most part I laugh in evil, cynical ways about those same thoughts.

Maybe I've had too much coffee.
Reading that article fucked my head up.
I hate philosophy. Knowledge sucks. Damn Eve.

fnet · 09-09-2002, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by <IMX>
Thanks Guys,

I keep waking up each day with this gnawing fear, that as my entrepreneurial success increases, my intellectual curiosity has faded.

Does anyone know what I mean?

If you obsess over something for long enough, it becomes your whole context. At some point you should try doing nothing for awhile.

I don't really buy into the idea that being cynical or not caring is age related. What most people call cyncism is usually just a one-sided perspective. Being focused on power has a way of letting people hypnotize themselves into ignoring the joy of being alive.

phogirl69 · 09-09-2002, 01:40 AM

I recommend all the articles in Cosmo Magazine

quiet · 09-09-2002, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by <IMX>
I keep waking up each day with this gnawing fear, that as my entrepreneurial success increases, my intellectual curiosity has faded.

dude, i know exactly where you're coming from.

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 02:52 AM

Don't know if this would be the GOOD BOOK list.
Just my random recent pickups.

I've been reading fiction this month for the first time in years.

The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway
Lolita - Nabokov
The Rum Diary - Thompson

I'd recommend Lolita for sure. One of the best written works of fiction I have ever written. A beautiful book.

Old Man and the Sea. I liked it quite a bit but others might not. Some will. Some won't. The vocab may be too simple for some people's taste or one might not like the way the characters are named.

Rum Diary. It's ok. Early Thompson. Not as good as his later works. Good to read if you're an HST fan.

Picked up the "Great Gatsby" (Fitzgerald). Read part of it. Didn't like it. Didn't finish it.

Recent nonfiction I liked:

Linked :: The New Science of Networks
On Writing :: Stephen King
A few books by Matt Ridley

quiet · 09-09-2002, 03:03 AM

are you kidding? old man and the sea is one of my all time favorite novels (just behind 'on the road' and 'the sun also rises'). never give up, even in the face of total defeat

x3guide · 09-09-2002, 04:03 AM

Books.. Liked The Descent a lot, couldn't put it down.. Good read. Here, I'm even providing the link.

Tex Willer · 09-09-2002, 04:10 AM

Lee Iacocca: An Autobiography
great book

Rex · 09-09-2002, 04:17 AM

The Dirt: Motely Crue story - EXCELLENT BOOK!

And I am also a junkie for any book abotu wrestling for some reason even thought i hardly ever watch the shows now. Must have been sice I grew up on it!

Michael Moore: Stupid White Men

Actually and book by Michael Moore is great!

-=HUNGRYMAN=- · 09-09-2002, 04:29 AM

HUSTLER - October 2002

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 04:39 AM

Quiet,

Nope, not kidding. I DID like "Old Man and the Sea" quite a lot but I know some people that did not for the reasons I just mentioned. I can understand why someone would not like it - even though I do - in the same sense that I can understand why someone might not like Mathematics for it's pure pleasure though some do.

I will pick up "The Sun also Rises" on my next trip to buy books at Barnes and Noble on your remarkable recommendation - better than the Old Man and the Sea!

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 04:41 AM

Quiet - "never give up, even in the face of total defeat"

I wonder if Jonathan Livingston Seagull was influenced by Hemingway's tale.

quiet · 09-09-2002, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Colin
Quiet,

Nope, not kidding. I DID like "Old Man and the Sea" quite a lot but I know some people that did not for the reasons I just mentioned. I can understand why someone would not like it - even though I do - in the same sense that I can understand why someone might not like Mathematics for it's pure pleasure though some do.

I will pick up "The Sun also Rises" on my next trip to buy books at Barnes and Noble on your remarkable recommendation - better than the Old Man and the Sea!

cool. it's a great book, but extremely subtle.

your reasoning of old man and the sea - simplicity: hmm, that's one of the reasons it is such a great novella imo.

naming of characters - not sure how that would actually turn someone off, to the point that they wouldn't enjoy the story. sounds pretty narrow-minded

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 05:01 AM

"your reasoning of old man and the sea - simplicity: hmm, that's one of the reasons it is such a great novella."

I agree. For me and you, yes. But some people are distracted by the simplicity of the language.
This is a comment I have heard. I am only a recording reporter.

Not me personally. I like simple language as much as I like complex. What i mean is not everyone will appreciate Hemingway and I think that is fine.
---------------

"naming of characters - not sure how that would actually turn someone off, to the point that they wouldn't enjoy the story. sounds pretty narrow-minded"

Naming characters "the old man" and "the kid" breaks literary convention. This is no problem for me. I think not naming the characters with "Christian names" adds to the appeal of the story. Not everyone will feel the same way as us. I know this because I have also heard that criticism. Where there is one, there is another.

To me, this is much like the debate on music tastes the other day. One man's genius is another's idiot and so forth. I feel pretty confident that if everyone at GFY were to read "The Old Man and the Sea" some would love it, some would hate it, and some would start it and not finish it because they didn't like it all. There are no universal tastes.

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 05:01 AM

I know a lot of narrow-minded people though none of them are here, of course.

quiet · 09-09-2002, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Colin
some would love it, some would hate it, and some would start it and not finish it because they didn't like it all.

certainly. every single comment i've ever made on gfy (in fact every single comment ever made on gfy) - some will agree with, some won't, and some will be indifferent. no point qualifying it (maybe)

Terenzo · 09-09-2002, 05:10 AM

at the moment i read:
-Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire
-Krieg ist Krankheit, keine Lösung. Eine neue Basis für den Frieden
-Reden gegen den Krieg

interesting books.

ADL Colin · 09-09-2002, 05:38 AM

I like qualifiers. For example:

"I like Shakespeare but you might not. Some people are bored and bothered by reading Old English." - John Q. Review

PornoDoggy · 09-09-2002, 09:19 AM

For some interesting reading, check out the last three issues of Harpers for a series of articles on the cleanup at the WTC site. I haven't read much fiction in years, but picked up a couple of John Steinbeck books at a yard sale not too long ago - they are almost like old friends. For some reason, I tend to re-read "Walden" as fall kicks in. Haven't picked up Nietszche for a year or 30. The Old Man and the Sea is awesome ... my favorite Hemingway is For Whom the Bell Tolls. And I've been reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer over again, too, since I gave them to my grandson to read and we've been talking about them some.

beerbust03 · 09-09-2002, 09:41 AM

I recommend Desert Flower. It's a story of a Somalian model who made it big in the fashion industry. She was victim of Female Genital Circumcision as a young girl growing up in Somalia and it details her account in very nice forensic description. FGC is very common in Somalia and they don't even use clean razors or sterilization.

The process:

The nurse or whoever the savage is has help from the girl's sisters and mother to help spread her legs apart. They also have to hold her arms down. The outer lips and clitoris are brutally cut off and thrown away for the animals to eat. As the girl lay bloody on the rock where she is positioned the savage nurse, then sew the girl up only leaving a small area for the girl to pee. At this point the girl is put in a room far from the house to get over the ordeal. She is to lay for over a month in this room until she is healed. She goes out to pee, but can you imagine the feeling, the burning and not the mention the stench? The woman in the book I read acquired a little infection that almost sounded like gangrene. Very appetizing indeed.

Well I hope you all try to pick up this book. Very nice. She also talks about her first sexual experience, and due to the savage surgery was torn to bits in her vagina. Gosh I have a lot of respect for this woman.Desert Flower

09-08-2002, 10:20 PM	#1
<IMX> Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 2,728	Hey folks, what good books/articles have you read recently? I'm sleepy as fuck, but I'm still up reading through articles and compiling a list of reading material. What good books have you read recently? I'm reading through this article right now... It is mind-blowing. >> http://www.fastcompany.com/online/32/koestenbaum.html "Do You Have the Will to Lead?" Philosopher Peter Koestenbaum poses the truly big questions: How do we act when risks seem overwhelming? What does it mean to be a successful human being? >> Anyway, I realize that I have been neglecting my brain. I have been feeding it with microwaved fast food style articles made up of mostly bullshit, instead of the proper intellectual nourishment it needs to survive. Help save my brain. Spam me with good books. Thanks < / IMX> __________________ $$$ Check out NICHE PAY the leader of Micro Niche Sites! They offer $1 Trials! $$$ $$$ Check out 10 FREE TRIAL SALES equals 1 FREE LAP TOP ! $$$

09-08-2002, 10:28 PM	#2
fnet Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,721	I recommend Nietszche for brain food. Beyond Good and Evil and The Gay Science are both straighforward and enriching. I just read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Definitely turned my gears. Usually when people talk about it they talk about the protagonist (or fountainhead), Roark. He's only 1/4 of the story. Rand really develops each character; the working title for the book was "second hand lives." __________________ the sound of one hand googlewhacking

09-08-2002, 10:29 PM	#3
Stealthy Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: You know that voice inside your head? That's me... Posts: 626	I just finished reading "The Truth" by Terry Pratchett. My god what a hilariously well written book! It's one of the "DiscWorld" series which up until now I had no knowledge of! Sure, it's pure fantasy, but it's intelligently written and even takes pokes at the internet from an old-world point of view "Have you heard of C-Commerce yet? (Sea Commerce, get it?)" Its the story of a guy who unwittingly becomes the editor of the world's first newspaper and all the shit he has to go through, basically a bunch of people that want to kill him, a vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people that want to kill him, etc. A Very thoughtful, entertaining read! When I picked this book up and read the first page I said "Mine!" Here's the first page: (Stolen from some book site) "The rumour spread through the city like wildfire (which had quite often spread through Ankh-Morpork since its citizens had learned the words `fire insurance'). The dwarfs can turn lead into gold... It buzzed through the fetid air of the Alchemists' quarter, where they had been trying to do the same thing for centuries without success but were certain that they'd manage it by tomorrow, or next Tuesday at least, or the end of the month for definite. It caused speculation among the wizards at Unseen University, where they knew you could turn one element into another element, provided you didn't mind it turning back again next day, and where was the good in that? Besides, most elements were happy where they were. It seared into the scarred, puffy and sometimes totally missing ears of the Thieves' Guild, where people put an edge on their crowbars. Who cared where the gold came from? The dwarfs can turn lead into gold ... It reached the cold but incredibly acute ears of the Patrician, and it did that fairly quickly, because you did not stay ruler of Ankh-Morpork for long if you were second with the news. He sighed and made a note of it, and added it to a lot of other notes. The dwarfs can turn lead into gold ... It reached the pointy ears of the dwarfs. 'Can we?' 'Damned if I know. I can't.' 'Yeah, but if you could, you wouldn't say. I wouldn't say, if I could.' 'Can you?' 'No!' 'Ah-ha!' " And so it goes... Find it, read it, enjoy it... __________________ <embed src=http://www.moonshadow-productions.com/images/moon.swf width="120" height=60>

09-08-2002, 10:48 PM	#5
<IMX> Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 2,728	Thanks Guys, I keep waking up each day with this gnawing fear, that as my entrepreneurial success increases, my intellectual curiosity has faded. Does anyone know what I mean? When I was younger there were things about the world that truly saddened me to the point of tears. Now, for the most part I laugh in evil, cynical ways about those same thoughts. Maybe I've had too much coffee. Reading that article fucked my head up. I hate philosophy. Knowledge sucks. Damn Eve. __________________ $$$ Check out NICHE PAY the leader of Micro Niche Sites! They offer $1 Trials! $$$ $$$ Check out 10 FREE TRIAL SALES equals 1 FREE LAP TOP ! $$$

09-09-2002, 02:52 AM	#9
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	Don't know if this would be the GOOD BOOK list. Just my random recent pickups. I've been reading fiction this month for the first time in years. The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway Lolita - Nabokov The Rum Diary - Thompson I'd recommend Lolita for sure. One of the best written works of fiction I have ever written. A beautiful book. Old Man and the Sea. I liked it quite a bit but others might not. Some will. Some won't. The vocab may be too simple for some people's taste or one might not like the way the characters are named. Rum Diary. It's ok. Early Thompson. Not as good as his later works. Good to read if you're an HST fan. Picked up the "Great Gatsby" (Fitzgerald). Read part of it. Didn't like it. Didn't finish it. Recent nonfiction I liked: Linked :: The New Science of Networks On Writing :: Stephen King A few books by Matt Ridley __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink"

09-08-2002, 10:30 PM	#4
edmo Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: SanHo Posts: 359	there was a post a while called "books worthy of reading" http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showth...threadid=71218 there's a variety of really good ones in there.

09-09-2002, 01:40 AM	#7
phogirl69 Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 3,330	I recommend all the articles in Cosmo Magazine

09-09-2002, 03:03 AM	#10
quiet we'll miss you our friend. RIP Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Fernie, BC Posts: 25,115	are you kidding? old man and the sea is one of my all time favorite novels (just behind 'on the road' and 'the sun also rises'). never give up, even in the face of total defeat __________________ we'll miss you our friend. RIP

09-09-2002, 04:03 AM	#11
x3guide Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: lake titicaca Posts: 735	Books.. Liked The Descent a lot, couldn't put it down.. Good read. Here, I'm even providing the link. __________________ Shomer fuckin shabbas

09-09-2002, 04:10 AM	#12
Tex Willer Confirmed User Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,105	Lee Iacocca: An Autobiography great book

09-09-2002, 04:17 AM	#13
Rex Confirmed User Join Date: May 2002 Location: ohio Posts: 2,241	The Dirt: Motely Crue story - EXCELLENT BOOK! And I am also a junkie for any book abotu wrestling for some reason even thought i hardly ever watch the shows now. Must have been sice I grew up on it! Michael Moore: Stupid White Men Actually and book by Michael Moore is great! __________________ I don't own RexMag anymore.

09-09-2002, 04:29 AM	#14
-=HUNGRYMAN=- Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Between your mamma's legs Posts: 4,753	HUSTLER - October 2002 __________________

09-09-2002, 04:39 AM	#15
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	Quiet, Nope, not kidding. I DID like "Old Man and the Sea" quite a lot but I know some people that did not for the reasons I just mentioned. I can understand why someone would not like it - even though I do - in the same sense that I can understand why someone might not like Mathematics for it's pure pleasure though some do. I will pick up "The Sun also Rises" on my next trip to buy books at Barnes and Noble on your remarkable recommendation - better than the Old Man and the Sea! __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink"

09-09-2002, 04:41 AM	#16
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	Quiet - "never give up, even in the face of total defeat" I wonder if Jonathan Livingston Seagull was influenced by Hemingway's tale. __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink" Last edited by ADL Colin; 09-09-2002 at 04:46 AM..

09-09-2002, 05:01 AM	#18
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	"your reasoning of old man and the sea - simplicity: hmm, that's one of the reasons it is such a great novella." I agree. For me and you, yes. But some people are distracted by the simplicity of the language. This is a comment I have heard. I am only a recording reporter. Not me personally. I like simple language as much as I like complex. What i mean is not everyone will appreciate Hemingway and I think that is fine. --------------- "naming of characters - not sure how that would actually turn someone off, to the point that they wouldn't enjoy the story. sounds pretty narrow-minded" Naming characters "the old man" and "the kid" breaks literary convention. This is no problem for me. I think not naming the characters with "Christian names" adds to the appeal of the story. Not everyone will feel the same way as us. I know this because I have also heard that criticism. Where there is one, there is another. To me, this is much like the debate on music tastes the other day. One man's genius is another's idiot and so forth. I feel pretty confident that if everyone at GFY were to read "The Old Man and the Sea" some would love it, some would hate it, and some would start it and not finish it because they didn't like it all. There are no universal tastes. __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink"

09-09-2002, 05:10 AM	#21
Terenzo Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 971	at the moment i read: -Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire -Krieg ist Krankheit, keine Lösung. Eine neue Basis für den Frieden -Reden gegen den Krieg interesting books. __________________ Signature Spot - USD 5000 / month

09-09-2002, 05:38 AM	#22
ADL Colin Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tube Titans, USA Posts: 11,929	I like qualifiers. For example: "I like Shakespeare but you might not. Some people are bored and bothered by reading Old English." - John Q. Review __________________ Adult Date Link - $50 PPS starting NOW! -- good and JUICY! skype = "adultdatelink"

09-09-2002, 09:19 AM	#23
PornoDoggy Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,053	For some interesting reading, check out the last three issues of Harpers for a series of articles on the cleanup at the WTC site. I haven't read much fiction in years, but picked up a couple of John Steinbeck books at a yard sale not too long ago - they are almost like old friends. For some reason, I tend to re-read "Walden" as fall kicks in. Haven't picked up Nietszche for a year or 30. The Old Man and the Sea is awesome ... my favorite Hemingway is For Whom the Bell Tolls. And I've been reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer over again, too, since I gave them to my grandson to read and we've been talking about them some.

09-09-2002, 09:41 AM	#24
beerbust03 Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 911	I recommend Desert Flower. It's a story of a Somalian model who made it big in the fashion industry. She was victim of Female Genital Circumcision as a young girl growing up in Somalia and it details her account in very nice forensic description. FGC is very common in Somalia and they don't even use clean razors or sterilization. The process: The nurse or whoever the savage is has help from the girl's sisters and mother to help spread her legs apart. They also have to hold her arms down. The outer lips and clitoris are brutally cut off and thrown away for the animals to eat. As the girl lay bloody on the rock where she is positioned the savage nurse, then sew the girl up only leaving a small area for the girl to pee. At this point the girl is put in a room far from the house to get over the ordeal. She is to lay for over a month in this room until she is healed. She goes out to pee, but can you imagine the feeling, the burning and not the mention the stench? The woman in the book I read acquired a little infection that almost sounded like gangrene. Very appetizing indeed. Well I hope you all try to pick up this book. Very nice. She also talks about her first sexual experience, and due to the savage surgery was torn to bits in her vagina. Gosh I have a lot of respect for this woman.Desert Flower __________________ Hehehehe Last edited by beerbust03; 09-09-2002 at 09:44 AM..