>>6982
It's annoying that it's not going to be on the BBC for another six or seven months.

>>6981

Yeah I liked his interview on Impact theory. As far as yanks go, he's a pretty interesting one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78I9dTB9vqM

>>6984
I haven't had any time to continue reading it properly besides advancing just one or two chapters further. There's another titbit in there that recites something similar I've read from some SAS veteran. A reporter once asked the said vet how he'd managed to make it through the gruelling training. He replied that on many days he'd thought about quitting, he would say to himself that he'd try and toil just until 'lunch' and then quit. Each time he did, he'd postpone the decision to quit.
Goggins mentions the same strategy he'd used during that fucking Oahu ultramarathon.

I expected this to be yet another variant of How to Kiss Arse and Perform Backstabs. It wasn't, instead focussing more on 'pay attention to what's going on around you', 'take care of yourself', a few bits about corporations being corporations. Nothing particularly groundbreaking of any sorts. Not too bad, just moderately generic.

When I read things like this I constantly worry that I'm not knowledgeable enough to identify most of the references being made and that points will go over my head because I'm not clever enough to pick up subtlety.

Anyway, I liked it.

>>7033
¹that's what the footnotes are for.

>>7034
What if there isn't any footnotes?

>>7033

Does it really matter though? The only way you really get better at these things is reading them, missing the references then learning where they were missed out later.

It's just like watching a film, watch it, then after you've had a think about it (if it's that kind of film), have a google and see what others have said and see where you missed it out.

I might be taking a dim view on this because I've recently re-read Bad Science and this has suffered in comparison, but I found it rather poorly written and not very engaging.

>>7037
I'm about halfway through it. I liked the history of law, trial by ordeal etc. Quite shocking that magistrates are volunteers with no formal legal training. I got to the bit about legal aide I think and haven't picked it up in a year. But I'll start again soon.

>>7038
Don't get me wrong, there's a few eye openers in there. I just found too much of it clumsy and laboured; a chore to get through.

>>7038
You have to be pretty fucking ignorant of the legal system to not know that tbh.

>>7040
Stop swearing, prick.

>>7040

>>7040
Objection!

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/
https://magazine.atavist.com/he-always-had-a-dark-side

These aren't books though. Doesn't make it worse, it's well written.
I'm sort of guilty rooting for the DPR. Less so with PLR; still, mildly fascinated.

Geoff Thompson's Watch My Back. Quite brutal stuff in there.

If we were the other place I would have posted the usual 'What I have / What I expected / What I got' strip.
I had thought it would be another 'tales from the operating suite' kind of book. It wasn't; turned out to be a memoir of some fellow on his path to becoming a neurosurgeon, interwoven with a guide on meditation.
Its official site calls it 'part memoir, part inspiration, part practical instruction'. I find this description fitting.

Started reading Old Wizard Moore's Jerusalem. Really enjoying it. Best thing I've read in a while but only 10% into it according to my kindle so will see how it progresses.

It's standard Jon Ronson fare, but it's making me re-evaluate how much time I spend on the internet. In particular, whether I need to have my phone almost always with me when I'm at home which I'll be checking constantly. It's a bit of a waste, 4eally.

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman is really funny.

Shadow State by Luke Harding is a good way to get more familiar with the background of the recent Russia report.

I'm also reading Ronan Farrow's book about the Weinstein stuff

>>7074
'He said […] if I wanted to know more about his work I should google him. I did and immediately saw many close-ups of his anus.'

>>7163
If having an anus counts as work I'm owed quite a windfall in back payments, so to speak.

I found it lacking something, as if it only scratched the surface of what it could be.

Never Trust a Rabbit is a collection of short stories, often morality tales, by Jeremy Dyson, the lesser known member of The League of Gentlemen. The first couple of stories were quite the chore to get through but after that it picks up markedly, although none of them were truly outstanding.

This was a fine little adventure story.

The play on words and absurdism didn't always land for me, but if you strip all of that away it's still an entertaining whodunnit.

This resonated with me more than I'd like to admit.

>>7170
there's just something about that book that draws you in like nothing else, it's stunning. i can't even recall what the plot was about, just the feeling it left me with.

i did have to give up on his other books though.

>>7171
A lot of the book is to do with Stoner's inhibition and feelings of alienation, particularly within his destructive marriage, plus the small victories on the way.

Hard Rain Falling - 3/5
In Pharoah's Army - 4/5

>>7171

'Of Human Bondage' by W. Somerset Maugham. is pretty thematically similar to Stoner.

I imagine this is what slightly more highbrow fanfiction is like. Although I believe it was deliberate, to show Patroclus' simplicity, I found the first few chapters too infantilised; it picks up markedly beyond them it still felt like I was reading YA fiction, albeit at the more mature end of this. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

A book set in Greek mythology and one of the things I learned from the book is that maidenhead is an old word for hymen.

I'm about halfway through 'the Anarchy' by William Dalrymple and it is an excellent history book on EEIC.

I'm particularly fascinated with the parallels between the current state of the world. Private Corporations looting value from Nation States and squirreling their cash away in other countries etc etc.

Plus there's Pirates in it.

It's hard to find, but are there any novellas (or novels) on a suicidal person finally killing themselves/dying by other means?

>>7177
Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human is popular for depressed types but I'm not convinced it aged or translates well.

>>7177

Not to be flippant, but many (most?) of Kafka's stories.

Steppenwolf by Hesse deals with a suicidal protagonist with a different, somewhat more abstract resolution.

Pulpy and satirical, not to everyone's taste, but Palahniuk's Survivor is about the last surviving member of a death cult dealing explicitly with the question of when and how to kill himself.

This was a vast improvement on The Song of Achilles. Circe was an actual rounded and fully fleshed out character, which I think is in part Miller's improvement as a writer although I did find her use of words like 'trash' a little jarring and also her motivations when writing each novel; this was focused upon showing the protagonist as a strong female character in contrast to how Greek poets diminished the roles of women in their tales or simply used them as a plot device with no agency.

>>7180
Does anyone really have agency in classical Greek stories? They always seemed to me to just do what they were fated to do, even if they actively don't want to. I'd say Euripides' Medea has more agency than Homer's Odysseus.

>>7181
Not especially, but in general women even less so. I suppose motivation might have been a better word to use rather than agency.

I'm not sure what I made of this. It wasn't unpleasant to read, although Vonnegut's faux-naïf writing style wore thin at times. It's largely a meandering stream of consciousness, but most of the commentary within it is rather tame by today's standards.

>>7194
I enjoyed Vonnegut a lot more when I was a sullen teenlad who thought being reductionist was insightful. His books are quirky and he's eminently a very good writer with a powerful imagination since I've always found myself becoming trapped within a few pages. But under it all, there isn't a whole lot and his style can grate in excess.

This is quite good.

It never really went anywhere. It was an interesting premise but it just sort of petered out.

Very much enjoyed this. British appeasement and German rearmament. Reccomends.

This was an enjoyable read, although the mystery and intrigue over the scheming was far more interesting than what actually ended up happening and there wasn't much of a pay-off at the end.

I enjoyed it, but I feel that PKD is much better as a short story writer than a novelist.

Yeah, I think I'll stick with his short stories from now on.

>>7204

I think the VALIS stuff from later on is his finest work. I recommend flicking through the Exegesis personal writings that were released some years ago. He was a bit of a mental.

The first ~30 pages were a little awkward and clunky but after that it picked up and left me with the same feelings of peacefulness and contentment that I get from watching one of my favourite films.