TSF Book Club
-
@Tim said in TSF Book Club:
It's pretty good (THX1138). A bit on the slow side.
It sounds a bit like this which I enjoyed mostly for the ott action scenes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_(film)
-
@mariner4life Yep. It's a good looking film.
-
@jegga said in TSF Book Club:
@mariner4life is there anything in the Lucas book about him getting revenge on his wealthy neighbours who stopped him developing one of his properties?
The Phantom Menace?
-
I recommended the Traitor Son Cycle a while ago and II have just read the 4th installment, each book gets better and better. I have stolen the below review from Amazon to give you a flavour of what you could be missing out on.
*“It was the false dawn; the time when old people die, when hopes fail, and when ambuscades lose their nerve, when men call out and wives comfort them.”
Cameron is telling one heck of a story. The Plague of Swords shows just how big a story Cameron is telling. Book 1 keeps it small, telling a Legend-esque siege story. Book 2 tells another small story, shifting venues from an England analogue to an Eastern Roman Empire analogue, while at the same time building on minor plot threads started in the first book. Book 3 starts bringing all of those plot threads together for a Storm of Swords-esque bang. There is an inevitable letdown, but Cameron handles things considerably better than Martin did. What do you do after bringing so many plot threads to a head in Book 3? You bust your world wide open.
A carefully constructed structure is the best thing about The Traitor Son Cycle. Well, that, and the great fight scenes. And the loving attention to historical detail. And the elaborate and innovative worldbuilding. And the dragon demi-gods. A carefully constructed structure is among the many great things about The Traitor Son Cycle.
The Plague of Swords opens immediately after the events of The Dread Wyrm. The forces of good are beginning to see just how fragile their great victory was. Their armies are depleted. The emperor is dead. The new alliance with forces of the Wild sits uneasily.
“‘That’s bogglin laughter,’ No Head said.
‘You like them?’ the woman asked him. The targets were moving to a hundred twenty-five paces.
‘Spent most o’ my life killin’ ’em,’ No Head said. ‘But then,’ he said, ‘I found they ain’t so bad.’”Forces elsewhere are under attack. A new, human, plague follows the horse plague. And a new, even more deadly threat appears in Galle.
The early plot focuses heavily on efforts to magically combat the (magic) plague. We kind of know that this won’t be the end of the series, but Cameron ratchets up the tension nonetheless, and named characters die. Meanwhile, Gabriel is pushing Mr. Smythe, their dragonic ally. He’s beginning to realize that Mr. Smythe hasn’t been entirely honest. He’s beginning to understand the scale of what’s going on. And he’s beginning to see that their interests may not remain aligned.
There is some incredible stuff, but it’s tough to say too much without spoiling the book. So I’ll take a minute and instead talk about how great the worldbuilding is. It’s easy to forget how much has been added writing reviews for each book in a series. But what Cameron has revealed to us is so cool and interesting and perfect that it deserves a little extra attention. In the world of The Traitor Son Cycle, the Europe-analogue isn’t bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, it’s bordered by “the Wild.” It’s the Wild that’s full of bogglins and irks and wyverns and serves as almost an antagonist itself at first. But while at first it resembles any number of desolate lands full of monsters in fantasy (although it is the opposite of desolate), we learn that it is something more as Cameron fleshes it out. The hordes of monsters all have their own interests and factions. The Canadian Cameron gives the Wild a distinctly Canadian feel, from its vast forests and bogs to the Amerindian-esque natives to the giant beavers.
Cameron adds to that in The Plague of Swords. The Sahara is reimagined as the consequence of the depredations of the Necromancer.
“‘What is on the other side of the desert?’ Gabriel asked.
The sultan looked south. ‘Once, there were other kingdoms,’ he said. ‘Now nothing comes out of the desert but the not-dead. Someday, perhaps…’”We learn much more about the demi-godlike dragons and their role in the world. Yes, there are zombies, but with a new twist (and medieval zombies remain fresh to me in a way that modern zombies have long ceased to be). The countries and peoples in The Traitor Son Cycle map closely to the countries and peoples in real medieval Europe (and North Africa), but rather than as a crutch Cameron uses it as an opportunity to let his deep historical knowledge enrich the world and story.
Oh, and Gabriel’s griffon is now grown. And there are sea monsters. The fight scenes have always been a highlight of the series, and there have been a lot of them. Cameron mixes things up a little this book. The big fights are in the air or on the sea, not on land. Both are absolutely fantastic.
If The Plague of Swords suffers, it is from middle book-ism, just a bit. A lot of time is spent on infodumps for the new worldbuilding that we can expect to come to a head in the fifth and as I understand it final book in the series. A lot of time is spent positioning the various armies. A fair amount of action takes place off-screen. And the climax is a bit abrupt, especially after the extended climaxes we’ve been spoiled on. But these are all quibbles, and as the fourth book in a series The Plague of Swords should be judged in its role as such and as a part of the series as a whole. And the series remains my favorite and has me so fired up it is influencing my current reading choices.*
-
Following on from "The Big Short" i read a book called "Fools Gold" by Gillian Tett
It's essentially the story of credit derivatives, and how they went from their inception in the '90s right through to the shitstorm they created in 2008, told through the eyes of JP Morgan, and the team that essentially "created" them.
It was interesting to see the story told from the other side, and see how we got from some smart people creating the fantasy of reducing or spreading risk (and believing it) to everything falling in a heap. It's pretty technical at times (mainly for those of us without a background in finance) but i guess it has to be to tell the story.
The way the process was abused, and the assumptions that were made, are startling with the benefit of hindsight. The complete lack of oversight by regulators with regards to a lot of the processes and assumptions are also telling.
In the end, JP Morgan, thanks to their culture, and the fact they paid at least some attention to their risk modelling, emerged from the crisis as pretty much the top dogs on Wall Street, despite the fact they pretty much created this shit to make more money to stop themselves being left behind. However the writer goes pretty light on the main "characters" inside JP Morgan considering their role in the creation of the system, but also their involvement in the lobbying that kept regulation at bay.
As a study of human behaviour, it's a pretty good read i think.
I'm now reading Beevor's book on the Spanish civil war. I had no idea Spain was so fucked up at the start of the 20th century.
-
@mariner4life said in TSF Book Club:
I'm now reading Beevor's book on the Spanish civil war. I had no idea Spain was so fucked up at the start of the 20th century.
Fan of Antony Beevor ever since reading Berlin and Stalingrad.
-
@antipodean said in TSF Book Club:
@mariner4life said in TSF Book Club:
I'm now reading Beevor's book on the Spanish civil war. I had no idea Spain was so fucked up at the start of the 20th century.
Fan of Antony Beevor ever since reading Berlin and Stalingrad.
Those two are superb as is D Day and The Second World war ,I found the Spanish civil war book fairly tedious in comparison .
The war in the pacific doesn't get the same amount of attention as Europe but this is a great read, quite detailed about how fucked up the campaign in China was -the japs were still advancing when the nukes were dropped and also how many people suffered for MacArthurs ego. Also the aussies were pissed off when it came out about how their troops were depicted but imho they were being incredibly precious about what was actually said. Also a fair bit about the way the yanks were keen to destroy europes colonies in the east which came back to take a huge bite out of their arses 20 years down the track.
https://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-Battle-1944-45-Max-Hastings/dp/0007219814
-
Yeah that book was great, Gillian Tett is fricking excellent - writes for the FT. Jamie Dimon who came out of the book very well turned down the role of Treasury Secretary this year unfortunately.
-
Probably the right place, but topically... -
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/ltgen-james-mattis-reading-list
General James Mattis reading list for soldiers under his command, I've read a few, if you have an interest in the modern world & warfare & Islam & so on its pretty good. Hence his nickname "The Warrior Monk"
No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam – Reza Aslan
Imperial Grunts – Robert Kaplan
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror – Bernard Lewis
One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer – Nathaniel Fick
All the Shah’s Men – Stephen Kinzer
The Utility of Force – General Rupert SmithAre all pretty good, but there's a stack on there
-
@gollum Good list and while erudite officers are better than dolts, I'm reminded that General Westmoreland kept beside his bed in Saigon "Mao Tse-tung’s little red book on theories of guerilla warfare" and bragged that he had "long [been] a student of the Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu". No evidence that he was interested in applying that knowledge to the theatre...
-
So you've been publicly shamed by Jon Ronson.
I think this has been reviewed before here, really enjoyed it . Very thought provoking , most of the people shamed were decent people who were jumped on by the perennially outraged who lurk on twitter looking for someone to bully. He looks into how people deal with public shaming and how anonymity makes people behave so appallingly. There's a bit in there about the Stanford prison experiment too.
His other book men who stare at goats is very good too, nothing at all like the movie.
-
I suppose this could go in the music thread also.... I've been pulling out my old hardcore records after reading it.
Harley Flanagan - Life of my Own
If you dont know.....Harley Flanagan pretty much invented the whole hardcore music scene in the states... was a child prodigy and family friend of Andy Warhol and Allen Ginsberg amongst others.
By age 10 he was playing regurlarly at Max's Kansas City and CBGB, drumming in his aunt's punk band The Stimulators, and socializing with Blondie's Debbie Harry and Cleveland's Dead Boys.
all befroe the age of 12 He became close to many stars of the early punk rock scene like Joe Strummer, Ian Dury, Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry the UK Subs etc etc etc. Was taught to play bass by members of Bad Brains. Hung out and caused havoc with the Beastie Boys before they turned into rappers. Madonna even gets a mention (something along the lines of - I knew her when she was just another club skank, before she became an international pop star/club skank) He then went on to start the notorious pioneering hardcore band Cro-Mags.
Basically Harley was brought up on the streets of the Lower East Side, pretty amazing that he even survived childhood immersed in a jungle of crime, drugs, abuse and poverty.
Such a good read.... Anthony Bourdain described it as folows: "Don't even pretend to talk about New York... if you don't read this." "This book is the punch in the face you want and need."
-
Finished one, read one and started one while on holiday
Finished - Yeah, yeah, yeah! A complete history of pop - Bob Stanley
A pretty comprehensive and reasonably timelined history of who and what was making the charts in various eras with good background as to how it evolved. The writer picks up a thread and runs with it only to have to backtrack a bit to then pick up another. Even though I sped through a few chapters that held no interest to me most of it was good.Read - Soldier Spy - Tom Marcus
An inside account of the work of MI5s surveillance team by an ex operator and the personal toll on his life. A good read even if some of the technical stuff has been well explained before by the likes of Stella Rimington. Some great detail from inside a few operations although at times I got the feeling that some of what he was writing was guesswork on detail outside of his compartmental unit in order to flesh the stories out.Started - Stuart MacBride's latest (non Logan McRae) gruesome dsyfunctional police story, 'Dark so Deadly'
Love his warped and twisted world and can't wait for someone brave enough to start a TV series based on his work. -
@Rocky-Rockbottom said in TSF Book Club:
just reread Anton Olivers 2005 book, a real page turner.
What I'd like to find is a complete list of AB's biographies and work my way through the lot.
How about everyone else here do all the legwork and compile the list then I'll track 'em down and read them. Here let me start:
2005: Anton Oliver.
Can't be that many. How many come out a year, about 2 or 3?
Recall reading a few as a kid, Meads, etc.
ps, Jesus! Laurie Mains! What a cock!
Mitchell, Deans, more cock action.
Murray Mexteds is awful, he lost me when he started talking about spoofing. Jeff Wilsons is not that good either , nor is Cullens.
Norm Hewitts is pretty interesting, Jonahs is good too.The best one I've read is Dan Crowleys, unfortunately hes not a former ab.
-
The old book club has been a bit slow recently.
Thought I would add in the 'Spy' series of books by Mick Herron. A bit hard to describe in many ways. Characters like a Stuart MacBride novel mixed with a bit of Le Carre.
The whole premise sets up some great possibilities. Basically a bunch of fuckups from MI5 that seem to attract the trouble they have been hidden away from.
Definitely start a the first book to get best effect.
Would make a great TV show.