ADHD so....
Democracy for the Few by Michael Parenti
The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
Still gotta credit that book for explaining how Florida was actually owned by the British at the time of the Revolution and refused to join the revolt because all of the runaway slaves would've killed the Floridian elite. Really helps to strengthen his thesis, and absolutely blew my mind. Always thought Florida was a Spanish possession but at the time the Brits had it!
I just heard Breht recommend it on the latest Red Menace. I was so fucking pissed off about poor Alyson. Have you read Uninhabitable Earth? I read the first few chapters and entered doomerism.
Finishing The Long 20th Century by Giovanni Arrighi, technically about the period of US rise and hegemony, hence the name, but most of the book is spent building up the history. It starts in the early 14th century with the various Italian City-States and how capitalism developed from them and then moved centers first to the Netherlands, then Britain, then the US and hints that the next center (because the book was written in the 90's) will be
JapanEast Asia. There was a Trillbilly Workers Party podcast on it.Started Red Planets: Marxism and Science Fiction, which is a collection of essays by various marxists talking about the science-fiction genre as a whole. One of the Co-editors is China Mieville who you should check out if you don't know who he is.
Procrastinating on The 18th Brumaire, waiting for the From Alpha to Omega reading group to finish first.
Arrighi is so good. Adam Smith in Beijing is his followup where he goes "actually lol I was wrong about Japan, it's obviously China folks" and, while good, is not as good as the one you've read. The 18th Brumaire is perhaps my favorite Marx piece, because you get to see so clearly how his method of materialist analysis works with a real historical example. Plus, it's wonderfully written.
Finished A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn tonight and started Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber.
I have actually read stuff over the break! A friend gifted Rise of Kyoshi for Secret Santa and I devoured it in three days. I got Shadow of Kyoshi and been flipping through it. I also started an art study group and we are reading "The Art of Learning" by Joshua Waitzkin; the study group only has the intro and 1st chapter assigned but I've already gone through 3 or 4.
“The Art of Learning” by Joshua Waitzkin
Is this something that's actually practical, or is it just another self-help book?
I’m a grad student in Instructional Design, so I’m pulling more meat of the bone than your average reader; but it’s not self-help per se. He talks about his experience learning things, the attitude, process and references some research to back it up. That’d said the biggest thing and most important factor I’m gathering is how important mentorship is.
No Shortcuts by Jane McAlevey.
Pre intersting look at sucessful organising methods. Anyone read it/ anything similarly good on organising?
peoples republic of wallmart is about central planning in not sure if its good economics/social science but i found it compelling. i have the audiobook if you want as well not that i would ever give you it illegally as I am a law abiding citizen
Cheers, I'm more of a visual reader so can probs just pirate a pdf in minecraft. Is the book mostly about central planning and nationalisation etc?
it basically takes every economic schools critique of information dilemma of price and tells why capitalism is already implementing it with practical examples of central planning models used in macro system companies and their distribution centers (amazon, wallmart, and a great counter example of sears which did the opposite and burned.) it has some ussr stuff but its kinda libby overwll its noami klein level socialist maybe a tier more left. rose emoji dem soc level socialist maybe but not soc dem at least.
im slightly blitzed so sorry if that didn’t make sense
Just pulled *Blackshirts and Reds * out of the mail, gonna start reading it tomorrow.
enjoy the Three Body Problem, I’ve been thinking about it more and more.
Reading Cioran's A Short History of Decay because pessimistic philosophy is the only thing th T speaks to me anymore. Style is superb, and some of his aphorisms are great. Some paragraphs are long texts of "look, I'm smart", but when they hit they really hit. Central thesis seems to be something like all life is suffering and despair, but suicide or salvation end everything and negate ourselves. We are condemned to merely wallow in the disappointment of life.
Capital gets fun, if you haven't gone past Chapter 3 yet. Hang in there. I like David Harvey's lectures in youtube or podcast form as a way to clarify some of the contexts and how he brings them into the modern day.
I'm finishing up a biography on Toussaint Louverture. Turns out this dude was very uncool, to the point where post revolutionary Haiti had a lot of similarities to the reconstruction era usa
