What are You Reading Right Now?

[ewizacft]

Transformation of American Law, 1870-1960
by Morton J. Horwitz

 

[LittleLightShining]

Just finished Vermont Political Tradition by William Doyle.

I'm rereading the book of Daniel in the Bible. I found a first edition copy of The Best Known Works of Emile Zola in a free pile and I've never read any of his books so I may start that one tonight.

 

[johnliberty08]

I read several books at a time, so it takes me a long time to finish any one book.

I'm currently reading:
The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America - Eric Kaufmann
Understanding Human History (An analysis including the effects of geography and differential evolution) - Michael Hart
The Dispossessed Majority - Wilmot Robertson

Recently finished:
America's Decline: The Eduction of a Conservative - Revilo Oliver
Cultural Insurrections (Essays on Western Civilization, Jewish Influence, and Anti-Semitism) - Kevin MacDonald
Persecution, Privilege, and Power (Reconsidering the Zionist Narrative in American Life) - Mark Green

 

[Conza88]

I've got to finish... Economics in One Lesson & Hayek's masterpiece.

Listening to ALL of mises media... taken like two weeks so far.. not even 1/4 was through.. lol

 

[BuddyRey]

In the politics genre: I'm on the last chapter of "The Conscience of a Conservative" by Barry Goldwater. I can't believe I'm JUST NOW getting around to it, but anyway.

A non-political book I recently read for work: "Spunk and Bite: A writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language & style." Good if you wanna put some pizzazz in your writing.

I've held out on reading Conscience of a Conservative too. I guess it's because I hear the last chapter is all about laying out the case for war against the USSR. I admire Barry Goldwater quite a bit, but with scoundrels like John McCain and Hillary Clinton singing his praises, I don't know whether or not it will put a bitter taste in my mouth.

Thanks for the heads-up on "Spunk & Bite." I've never heard of it, but it sounds like it'd be right up my alley!!!

 

[Roxi]

you guys should try biblio.com

im reading naked by david sedaris right now so far its pretty good

i just read Jack Cafferty's "It's getting ugly out there" and that was AWESOME


also if you have facebook, you should add the virtual bookshelf application, its way cool as well.

 

[LibertyEagle]

What's the name of that website who has all kinds of books scanned in for you to read for free? It was some huge project. I just can't remember it's name. It was named after someone famous. Anyone remember?

 

[lucius]

'Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television'

by Jerry Mander (ISBN: 0688082742). Written by an ad exec, here's a taste:

Eight Ideal Conditions for The Flowering of Autocracy

The three fictional works I have described, when combined with those rare political writers who approach autocratic form from the point of view of technology (Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, Guy Debord, Herbert Marcuse), begin to yield a system of preconditions from which we can expect monolithic systems of control to emerge. These may be institutional autocracies or dictatorships. For the moment, it will be simpler to use the dictatorship model.

Imagine that like some kind of science fiction dictator you intended to rule the world. You would probably have pinned over your desk a list something like this:

[1] Eliminate personal knowledge.

Make it hard for people to know about themselves, how they function, what a human being is, or how a human fits into wider, natural systems. This will make it, impossible for the human to separate natural from artificial, real from unreal. You provide the answers to all questions.

[2] Eliminate points of comparison.

Comparisons can be found in earlier societies, older language forms and cultural artifacts, including print media. Eliminate or museumize indigenous cultures, wilderness and nonhuman life forms. Re-create internal human experience—instincts, thoughts, and spontaneous, varied feelings—so that it will not evoke the past.

[3] Separate people from each other.

Reduce interpersonal communication through life-styles that emphasize separateness. When people gather together, be sure it is for a prearranged experience that occupies all their attention at once. Spectator sports are excellent, so are circuses, elections, and any spectacles in which focus is outward and interpersonal exchange is subordinated to mass experience.

[4] Unify experience, especially encouraging mental experience at the expense of sensory experience.

Separate people's minds from their bodies, as in sense-deprivation experiments, thus clearing the mental channel for implantation. Idealize the mind. Sensory experience cannot be eliminated totally, so it should be driven into narrow areas. An emphasis on sex as opposed to sense may be useful because it is powerful enough to pass for the whole thing and it has a placebo effect.

[5] Occupy the -mind.

Once people are isolated in their minds, fill the brain with prearranged experience and thought. Content is less important than the fact of the mind being filled. Free-roaming thought is to be discouraged at all costs, because it is difficult to control.

[6] Encourage drug use.

Recognize that total repression is impossible and so expressions of revolt must be contained on the personal level. Drugs will fill in the cracks of dissatisfaction, making people unresponsive to organized expressions of resistance.

[7] Centralize knowledge and information.

Having isolated people from each other and minds from bodies; eliminated points of comparison; discouraged sensory experience; and invented technologies to unify and control experience, speak. At this point whatever comes from outside will enter directly into all brains at the same time with great power and believability.

[8] Redefine happiness and the meaning of life in terms of new and increasingly uprooted philosophy.

Once you've established the prior seven conditions, this one is easy. Anything makes sense in a void. All channels are open, receptive and unquestioning. Formal mind structuring is simple. Most important, avoid naturalistic philosophies, they lead to uncontrollable awareness. The least resistible philosophies are the most arbitrary ones, those that make sense only in terms of themselves.

 

[Nirvikalpa]

1984 and The Anthem. Figured I would read them both again.

 

[rajibo]

What's the name of that website who has all kinds of books scanned in for you to read for free? It was some huge project. I just can't remember it's name. It was named after someone famous. Anyone remember?

Project Gutenberg

 

[lucius]

Project Gutenberg

Sweet--thanks!

 

[raiha]

Atlas Shrugged and Reminiscences of Confederate Service by Francis W. Dawson. He was an Englishman who went specifically to help the South gain its independence. Intelligent, incisive and inspiring.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Project Gutenberg

Thank you very much.

 

[TruthisTreason]

The Real Lincoln was A+++

Now reading.

 

[constituent]

done w/ bukowski (my mood should soon improve), just moved on to Lake Wobegon Days. I need some new books, wearing out on the re-reads.