Right now I'm reading:

Bullshit Jobs (2018) by David Graeber - I loved Debt but had low expectations for this one and was reluctant to read it (I expected it would just be an extremely padded out version of the essay, which I liked). I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected, and I'm reminded how skillful graeber was at gently taking a reader along and path that is unambiguously radical, yet each individual step on the path seems casual and reasonable.

Western Marxism (2017) by Domenico Losurdo - it's good. It's Losurdo, if you've read him before this is about the same - very rigorous and orderly arguments that lead to some very powerful insights. I'm only 100 pages in so far but liking it and feel that this new English text might become a vital text once it gets read more widely

Exhalation (2019) by Ted Chiang. Science fiction short stories by one of the best to do it rn. I'm about halfway through, so far I enjoyed his first collection more (Story of Your Life and Others). I liked the first story quite a lot (The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate) but most of the rest of what I've read so has been dominated by one 100 page novella that felt kind of weak for the amount of real estate it takes up. I've heard a few of the later stories are real bangers though so maybe it will balance out.

As for what I'm excited to read next, I'm kind of spinning my wheels a bit. Might do Washington Bullets by Vijay Prishad, or maybe some Strugatsky Brothers. Open to suggestions!

  • MF_COOM [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    1 day ago

    It's good stuff. I always thought the main parts everyone should read are chapters 3 and 4, but I reread it last year and chapter 2 stood out as a total banger that I'd totally memory-holed. parenti is a better lecturer than a writer and most of the book you can find in lecture form with him banging the podium and screaming, but it's a good little book nonetheless. I just wished he cited his claims more often, and with reliable sources

    • red_stapler [he/him]
      ·
      15 hours ago

      Oh yeah, chapter 2 was awesome. It’s interesting how it’s so quotable that I feel like I’ve read half of it already just from being on here.