TSF Book Club
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Anyone read Mark Mansons new book, Everything is Fucked? Its got me hooked pretty much straight away, about half way through now. I found myself nodding and agreeing with a lot of what he says. Basically explaining how we think, why we do things, why religion exists, tribalism, value hierarchy, beliefs, why kids and young adults behave the way they do. Worth a read if you like that sort of thing.
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So in the last couple of months i have read both Duff McKagan's and Slash's books. It's very interesting reading two retellings of the the same story.
Of the two, i think Duff's is the better book. He's obviously the smarter of the two, and his book reflects that. It's better written, and provides a lot more depth and introspection to events. It's also a pretty amazing story of how a guy can completely change his lifestyle, and get a heap more depth to his life. It's a little, not sure what the word is, not quite preachy, but there is a certain element of "look at everything i have been able to do".
Slash's book is way more of a rock n roll go hard lifestyle retelling. It's really simply written, tends to jump around a bit, and is a basic retelling of events through Slash's eyes. He's a bit of a fuck up who is a pretty damn handy guitar player. He's also not afraid to say what he thinks of people, or their band, or indeed their entire scene (the man fucking hates Poison).
Things to come out of both books: Don't try and party with Motley Crue. Don't talk shit about Axl, only they are allowed to do that. And i think the saddest thing is none of them ever took the time to reflect and celebrate what a phenomenal musical and commercial achievement Guns n Roses really was. Also the music industry is packed with giant fluffybunnies who will rob these blokes blind, fuck them over, and not think twice about it.
It's incredible that these 5 self-destructive assholes managed to come together so beautifully at all, let alone for the length of time they did (which wasn't actually that long when you think about it).
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I also read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" (apparently a TV series as well now?). The first half of this book, maybe even the first two thirds, is a really interesting, really original premise, and really well written. I thought the ending was a little rushed, which is weird because it's not a short book.
I can easily see why it was made into a TV series though, it's almost written for it.
I have to say, over all i really enjoyed it as a novel, and i thought the writing style was top notch. I would read more by this bloke.
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I've been smashing out some books on Audible the last couple months. Feels kinda weird to say its reading but there is just so much more time in the day to listen to a book than read and although very dubious to begin with, I'm now a huge fan.
Scott Adams - Bigly
This is bloke most famous for 2 things.
- Author of the Dilbert cartoons
- In 2016 when experts were saying Hillary had a 98% chance of winning the election he came out and said it was Trump that had the 98% chance.
The book is obviously around the 2nd point. He's a trained hypnotist and early on in Trump's running he noticed that Trump himself was actually not the buffoon that many believed but actually a master influencer. The book details a lot of his blog posts at the time and how he was able to predict quite accurately what the outcome of the election would be when 'experts' couldn't. As time goes on its hard to disagree with his analysis of Trump.
If you want to get an understanding of the Trump phenomenon and a good understanding of human nature, particularly this strange phenomena where two people can see the same thing and come away certain of different interpretations (extremely useful for TSF!) then I highly recommend it. He's not a Trump fan as such, definitely more of a democrat politically but he clearly has an insight most people don't have.
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@mariner4life said in TSF Book Club:
So in the last couple of months i have read both Duff McKagan's and Slash's books. It's very interesting reading two retellings of the the same story.
Of the two, i think Duff's is the better book. He's obviously the smarter of the two, and his book reflects that. It's better written, and provides a lot more depth and introspection to events. It's also a pretty amazing story of how a guy can completely change his lifestyle, and get a heap more depth to his life. It's a little, not sure what the word is, not quite preachy, but there is a certain element of "look at everything i have been able to do".
Slash's book is way more of a rock n roll go hard lifestyle retelling. It's really simply written, tends to jump around a bit, and is a basic retelling of events through Slash's eyes. He's a bit of a fuck up who is a pretty damn handy guitar player. He's also not afraid to say what he thinks of people, or their band, or indeed their entire scene (the man fucking hates Poison).
Things to come out of both books: Don't try and party with Motley Crue. Don't talk shit about Axl, only they are allowed to do that. And i think the saddest thing is none of them ever took the time to reflect and celebrate what a phenomenal musical and commercial achievement Guns n Roses really was. Also the music industry is packed with giant fluffybunnies who will rob these blokes blind, fuck them over, and not think twice about it.
It's incredible that these 5 self-destructive assholes managed to come together so beautifully at all, let alone for the length of time they did (which wasn't actually that long when you think about it).
My son is 10 and plays guitar - obsessed with G&R and Nirvana. Reckon I have heard November Rain about 37 times in the last 3 weeks alone, which at 8mins of length, is a fair bit of rain. Thank fck it is such an incredible song.
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@mariner4life I think @JC was a fan of the books and has watched the series (vaguely recall him mentioning it anyway) which I have had on my watch list for a while but not gotten to it.
Or I am completely wrong...totally unheard of on a Monday arfternoon!
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i read another one called "Neverwhere" which was bloody good, very original. Started life as a TV series he co-wrote, then released the novel, and then re-did the novel in to the version i read.
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@voodoo TBH I can barely get through one listen let alone on repeat. I'll happily listen to all Appetite for Destruction songs though. I can see why it didn't make the cut for Appetite, but I assume if it did it would have been a stripped down version rather than that (IMHO) bloated dirge.
Those books are really good reads, Slash is cool and Duff seems like a really interesting dude, especially his life before and after GnR.
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@taniwharugby said in TSF Book Club:
@mariner4life I think @JC was a fan of the books and has watched the series (vaguely recall him mentioning it anyway) which I have had on my watch list for a while but not gotten to it.
Or I am completely wrong...totally unheard of on a Monday arfternoon!
No you’re not wrong. I really liked the book, first Tv series was good too, but the second one got it all wrong.
@mariner4life I think Neverwhere was outstanding. Very clever.
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@Nepia ha, interesting I really like the song, though I kill it at the 5ish min mark which I assume is the radio version end - agree the last 3mins are pretty unnecessary. I was never the biggest fan of G&R TBH, but I'll belt out the words to Sweet Child and NR all day long. I am enjoying the Nirvana renaissance, and I'm moving him towards Pearl Jam and and the RHCP's which is more me
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Just finished Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead'. Had a goal this year to try and read one of her works, the audiobook available for free online (I assume legal due to its age..but maybe I'm not 100% on that). I put it off for a long time as I normally have problems reading old books, language changes too much and they tend to bore me, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' for example.
The Fountainhead was published in 1943 so predates TKAM by some 17 years so I did not have very high hopes for it and expected I'd give it up after a few chapters. Turns out it is a terrific book, nothing like I'd normally read but I was quickly engrossed in the story. The language wasn't too dated, there was a heck of a lot of 'gay' in its previous meaning and I now intend to try and bring back the word 'bromide' in 2020 as it sounds pretty cool.
There are definitely some deeper political, philosophical and historical undertones to be read into however the story itself isn't reliant on an understanding of those but can be taken at face value. Anyway I highly recommend, will definitely be checking out 'Atlas Shrugged' next year.
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@Rembrandt Atlas Shrugged (parts I, II & III) are on Amazon Prime if you have it.
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@voodoo said in TSF Book Club:
I'm re-reading Tyler Hamilton's book The Secret Race. Not many biographies capable of being re-read, but this one has enough info, data, rich characters, and sheer audacity to still be super interesting the 2nd time around.
I think I read it at the start of every TdF.
It's such a "great" story well told it's easy to re-read