What are you reading? (17 Viewers)

[Consigliere]

I actually read The Fountainhead when I was a teenager too.

I get what you're saying though - most of Rand's writing is quite "wordy". Many people ditch reading beyond the first couple of chapters (in discussions I have had) because Rand often uses a whole paragraph (or more) to describe something like a feeling, other authors cut to the chase, so to speak. I think I understand why she does this even though her actual grasp of the thing she is trying to describe is beyond her.

I finished the one about the architect. Atlas or Fountain. Don't remember, don't care.

The only thing I enjoy about Rand is the delicious irony of politicians bragging that they love her books in front of audiences that would be horrified if they actually knew what Rand wrote and believed.

 

[Bayouboy]

Looking for nonfiction recommendations. Interests include spy/counterintelligence, psychology, true crime/investigative techniques, science (general), biographies of interesting people, historical events.

Ready for more recommendations. Just finished American Prometheus - the Oppenheimer biography.

 

[tenordas]

Finally finishing the Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson: "This Day All G-ds Die."

I've enjoyed the series. He's a good writer and I assume he will wrap it up well. It's an interesting series. The initial novel is based on an idea of switching tropes where the villain, victim, and rescuer switch places during the course of the narrative. The series than expands into an allegory based on Wagner's Ring Cycle, but set in space with the addition of an alien race bent on assimilating humans through introducing mutagens into the DNA. However, while they are the main threat, they are not the main villains. The main characters from The Ring Cycle are obvious, though at least one character is a mix of more than one of the Ring characters.

I recommend the five book cycle. He draws his characters very well. No one is cardboard, they all are interesting and complicated people.

 

[tenordas]

I finished the one about the architect. Atlas or Fountain. Don't remember, don't care.

The only thing I enjoy about Rand is the delicious irony of politicians bragging that they love her books in front of audiences that would be horrified if they actually knew what Rand wrote and believed.

Atlas Shrugged is needlessly long (and rather boring), which is why I think relatively few people have actually read it. However, while I agree Rand was an extremist, I generally chuckle at Hollywood actors, directors, and producers who vilify her concept of exceptionalism, and how it benefits society.

That's so funny to me because the film industry is the perfect example of how exceptionalism works. People pay money to see exceptional actors and stories, which in turn employs thousands of people in the production of them. Without those stars, those films don't get made, and all those "unknown" people don't work. Professional sports is the same prime example of exceptionalism in action. It's simple math. People flock to see the exceptional athlete, star, etc., and whole industries exist because of that.

It's just weird how the people in the middle of industries built on the very concept don't even see it.

 

[Devildog]

My wife got me Shattered Sword by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. It's about the Battle of Midway and everything leading up to it and the aftermath. A lot of the source material is from Japanese accounts that survived the war.

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Ready for more recommendations. Just finished American Prometheus - the Oppenheimer biography.

I am re-reading Cryptonomicon. You might like that.