TSF Book Club
-
Ghost wars by Steve Coll
Really enjoyed it, explains the actual facts behind some of the nonsense posted here by the likes of Red Terror and Winger quite well [Bin Laden couldn't have been behind 9/11 because he's a caveman for example] , a pretty disturbing look inside the politics of Pakistan which is unfortunately a nuclear power now and why the Saudis are quite happy to export terrorism around the world [hint , if they are blowing someone else up, they aren't blowing us up] and some background on why Afghanistan will always be a shithole.
There's a bit about the rise of drones and the legality behind them and the failed attempts to nail Bin Laden when they had the chance and their attempts to get the Taliban to turn him over to the US . Mostly you get the impression the Pakistan secret service-the ISI are utter arseholes who can't be trusted and have no interest in the Taliban being destroyed. -
Good holiday for reading.
The Big Short. After the movie, had to read the book, and it's even better. Well written, surprisingly easy to understand, and startling in its revelations. Has led me on to another couple that i have ordered in.
For the blokes in to horse racing, read Peter Moody's (Black Caviar's trainer) book. It's reasonably interesting seeing his path from the back of nowhere in QLD to be one of Australia's top trainers. Probably half the book focuses on his charges for administering Cobalt, the on-going investigation and legal proceedings, and the toll it took on him. Not a bad read, pretty light though, and no great insight in to his methods or philosophies
Currently reading George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones, which is fucking interesting, and really well written, and i can barely put it down.
-
@mariner4life is there anything in the Lucas book about him getting revenge on his wealthy neighbours who stopped him developing one of his properties?
-
dude, I have just got to June 1977, he's not GEORGE LUCAS yet, just George Lucas.
It's astounding to read about his early life, work, motivations and preferences when you think of George Lucas today, and what Ep 1-3 ended up being.
-
I might have to read that sometime, American graffiti launched a few careers and its kind of weird now to think he directed it . There's another sci fi movie before Star Wars he was involved with this uber geek I used to work with insisted you had to watch to get the full Lucas experience . Still haven't seen it.
-
how those two got made is really interesting. And steered Lucas down his path away from the big studios.
I really want to watch American Graffiti again as well now. THX 1138 i can probably avoid, as it sounds like arty bullshit (seriously, 1970 George Lucas, and 1996 George Lucas are like different people).
-
@mariner4life I just read the synopsis of THX and agree it looks pretty wank in comparison to his other films .
Mrs Jegga bought me Springsteens book which I'm enjoying so far but I'm not far into it. -
@Tim you've seen it? I figured it was just one of those things people say they have seen, but "can't really recall it".
-
@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.
-
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... -
LtGen James Mattis' Reading List | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
Commander, United States Marine Corps Forces, Central Command Reading List Commander's Intent: The Global War on Terrorism is a long war, and as such we need to continue our preparation to be engaged in all aspects of this war. For our current fights the MARCENT Reading List provides a collection...
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
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001: Coll, Steve: 9780143034667: Amazon.com: Books
