i was surprised there isn't a thread like "rate the last movie you watched" for books. some of you are still reading, right?! anyway, here we go... i just finished: Uriel's Machine - The Ancient Origins of Science by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas an excellent book, chock full of good information. blows the generally accepted chronology of history to bits. fascinating and highly recommended 9/10 before that i read Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy by Matthew Alford also very good. exposes the military propaganda most hollwood films are. 7.5/10 next up: Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies by David L. Robb
Can't remember the last book I read EDIT: actually was "How to play gospel piano" its good if you want to know how to play gospel piano LOL
Nice thread idea OP! I just finished reading Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. I'm not going to go into a synopsis, because it's fucking 6 am but it was a really good read. Kept me engrossed the entire time, and just when I thought it was going to become formulaic, the whole thing gets changed up. Highly recommend ANY of Asimov's work for anyone who enjoys science fiction at it's greatest. I'm not sure what I'll be reading next, I've a whole shelf of books whose covers I've never opened, a wide assortment to choose from to be sure. Hmmm...
George Orwell 1984.i liked it alot.i had never read it. umm i give it a 8/10 cuz near the end it got kinda laggy like when he was caught and in the interigation room.so thats where i stoped reading might finish it later today.
Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby. I'd rate it a 6.5/10. Not fine literature, by any stretch, but a quick, entertaining read. Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. 9/10. Fantastic book.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. Older book but a great read non the less. 9/10
Fight Club 8/10 Very interesting with humor, violence, and twists throughout. Highly recommend for fans of the movie. It has more differences than I thought it would and is better than the movie in my opinion.
well, this thread hasn't really taken off... not many readers here i guess i finally finished Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies by David L. Robb i'd rate it 8/10 good research & info. not surprisingly, the military is deeply involved in putting their propaganda into movies and tv-shows (even stuff like "lassie" or "mickey mouse") not that i wasn't aware of their influence before, but it is still disturbing. no wonder the US is such a war-loving, military-praising lot. (which is quite disturbing to the rest of the world, i can assure you) next up in my trilogy of books about the huge dark side of hollywood: Kenneth Anger's classic "Hollywood Babylon"
It's pretty god-damn disturbing to me too. Fortunately for me I don't give a fuck about hollywood. It's been corrupt for a long, LOOOOONG time and it's not as if it can make itself better. The rest of our country is even more fucked up, they're not gonna make things right. It's safe to say I lost hope a long-ass time ago, so I pretty-much just shut the rest of the world out unless I decide to let it in. Books help. In the spirit of the thread, I've been reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I read Tom Sawyer two or three times when I was a teenager, it was a great story. I'd never read Huck Finn, and I have to say it's even better. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm getting close. I intend to get deeper into Mark Twain's works, if only I could afford more books. The reason I haven't finished Huck Finn is because I've been re-re-reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series(that's my third time reading it) In just over a month I've finished the first two books and am half-way through the third. I loaned them to a good friend 3 years ago and he never touched 'em that whole time, so I asked for them back and had to start reading them again as soon as he returned them. Most definitely one of my favorite worlds to visit.
The Taking. Dean Koontz. I give it a nine. It was pretty interesting but as always with his books, it had a major flaw. Usually it's the weird pairing of a free spirited chika with a boring nine-to-five man and they magically fall in love in two days, but this time it was just a really crazy ending that made little sense with the rest of the book. Over all, I enjoyed the entire book except for the last chapter.
A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright. Is about sociatal collapse. Ive read WELL over 100 books and this is BY FAR the most interesting one i have ever read. It is a must read in my opinion for anyone who enjoys these types of books. A Short History of Progress - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Many of the great ruins that grace the deserts and jungles of the earth are monuments to progress traps, the headstones of civilizations which fell victim to their own success. In the fates of such societies — once mighty, complex, and brilliant — lie the most instructive lessons...they are fallen airliners whose black boxes can tell us what went wrong." —A Short History of Progress, p8 And then when your done that read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Those two books are by far my two favorite books and the only two books i will ever suggest to anyone for a long time. Must reads IMO
Amexica: War Along the Borderlands by Ed Vulliamy. Good book, was very informative about the Mexican drug war and life in Mexica and along the U.S. border. Although it was a bit lengthy.
so, i'm done with Hollywood Babylon by (satanist) Kenneth Anger. was a breezy read, some exaggerated or false info for sure, but a good overview over the scandals, murders and suicides of yesteryear. 7/10 next up: The Secret Teachings Of All Ages - Manly P. Hall
Lee Smith - The Strong Horse. I'm a bit of an IR geek (International Relations). It's a good read, fairly short, but requires a bit of background knowledge to understand the complexities of Lebanese politics or Islamic factions and reform movements. I have The Four noble truths by the Dala Lama being shipped to my house, because I want to understand more about Buddhism, but before I read that I may reread a few chapters of Henry Kissinger - Diplomacy because it's an excellent history even if you don't agree with his tenor in office.