Libraries also have book sales where you can get books for 25 cents, if not cheaper. Some are in great/new condition.

http://booksalefinder.com/ to find sales in your area.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis (the author of Moneyball, Liars Poker, etc).

I'm conflicted by this book. It gets to the heart of the financial meltdown from sub prime loans that has left the world a much different place than before, and generally for the worse. Lewis tracks down a few of the guys who foresaw the disaster and had the courage of their convictions to place huge bets in the face of conventional wisdom and became multi-millionaires if not billionaires in the process. So these characters are drawn in a sympathetic light and I get that.

For the most part, these were not Wall Street insiders. If they were, I think the tone of the book would be much different. They did not create the mess, they figured out how to profit immensely from it. But if you think about it for very long you realize that they wound up exacerbating the problem to a huge degree. They provided liquidity to a beast that grew out of all proportion to the underlying market. The problem would never have got so big except for these guys. And Lewis makes that point clear but does not examine it. So you have a handful of extremely intelligent and independent thinkers who saw that the emperor had no clothes and figured out a way to cash in on that conviction (which was no mean feat by the way. One of the things that Lewis makes clear is that they created a way to short this market just so they could cash in on their conviction).

I want to be clear that I think these guys did nothing wrong and props to them for hitting the home run. But in the end, I think we would have all been better off if these guys had done something different with their time.

Like halfway through Catch 22. Its odd, I don't really think it is that great but I can't seem to put it down. Yossarian is a hoot.

John,

That's my line. Anyway, as a general rule, especially in today's world of hype and superfluous book blurbs, it holds well. However, if Walden were to come out next week and the words "inspirational" and "life-changing" were plastered on the back cover you would miss out on an exceptional read because of a backwoods prejudice. Other examples abound. Eastern sophisticates should not succumb to such small-minded tunnels of outlook. Then again, if some “inspirational” book by that Goon Deepak Chopra were to loom in front of me while sauntering though Borders I would give it a wide berth. I wouldn’t spit on the book, it not worth my time for such physical comment, but it may take a few minutes before the wave of nausea would pass. Such are the vicissitudes of the tumultuous life of a bibliophile.


Now, I have to get back to that life-changing book, Tao Te Ching. It just hit the major book stores last week. Author is unknown.

-Zeno

currently reading a novel called "Matterhorn" which was written by a Vietnam vet and is about a company in Vietnam. Very good so far (75% completed).

I just finished Jared Diamond's Collapse which has been mentioned a few times in this mammoth thread.

Diamond explores various known societal collapses and then explores the root cause of what happened. Included are modern Montana, Easter Island, other smaller Polynesian islands (like Pitcairn), the Anasazi, the Maya, the Norse in both Greenland and pre-Columbian North America and a portrait of modern Australia.

The main theme of the book is the impact of environmental degradation in its many forms, especially as it relates to the sustainability of the modern world. Sustainability is a major motif throughout as is Malthusian pressure put on the planet from so many human beings.

He discusses deforestation, salinization of soils, erosion, water uses, introduction of alien species and many other attendant conditions. He also covers local population's ability to trade, the impact of external and internal enemies, willingness to make needed cultural adaptations and baseline suitability of certain lands to host civilization and development.

Diamond also discusses success stories as a counterpoint to the many failures in an attempt to show that an inexorable slide is not always an inevitable conclusion. Included are the examples of robust reforestation in Tokugawa Japan or of the residents of a tiny south Pacific island (Tikopeia?) to make several culturally painful course adjustments to maintain the long term viability of their limited land and sea resources.

Diamond tries to present a balanced view of modern environmental issues, especially with concern to modern extractive multinationals. Despite this effort at balance a grim picture is painted of the hard rock mining industry and their myriad problems. More sympathetic portraits of both oil extraction and forestry are presented although the problems caused by the most exploitative in that group are starkly laid out. International fishing gets a fairly lengthy treatment of its own.

In discussing these industries and the way to create incentives to make them work sustainably Diamond goes to some length to show examples where market forces can be brought to bear to align corporate interests with the common good.

The section on the Greenland Norse was particularly interesting, especially the historical aspect of their exploration of much of the Canadian northwest hundreds of years before Columbus. The book is full of interesting examples of how academics like Diamond are able to pull from so many areas both of natural science and social science to reconstruct the activities of prehistoric civilizations. If a reader is unfamiliar with packrat middens, the story of their value to researchers is here.

For those readers who felt Guns, Germs and Steel was repetitive and tedious, Collapse reads a lot differently. Each case study on brings to bear a unique set of circumstances and Diamond moves very purposefully towards lessons in our modern world.

Much of the material in the book leaves the reader many reasons to be pessimistic about the direction of the planet in terms of the major environmental impacts of humans, but he describes his overall outlook as cautiously optimistic based on the ability of people to make agonizing but purposeful choices to avoid a very bitter end.

There were many revelations in Collapse for me, but I was very happy with all the time he spent on the Greenland Norse which I found particularly fascinating.

It may come off like a textbook (because it is) but if you liked Collapse, I'd suggest reading what is basically the counterpoint, Ultimate Resource 2. I'd also suggest you find it at a library because it's really expensive (being a textbook and all).

Anyone get Tim Ferris' new book, The 4-hour Body yet?

lawl

Zeno,

I will admit I may miss a work or two, but will my life--or my understanding of the human condition--be better if I reread King Lear or wallow in the Paolo Coelho universe of crapola? Answer truthfully. Anyone who would blurb Walden as "life-changing" should appear before the firing squad, and no one should get the empty rifle.

A book will never change your life although a lifetime of books may.

I'm reading Frank Gifford's The Glory Game, about the legendary 58 NFL title game where the Colts beat the Giants. It's pretty damn good, and even though Gifford had a ghostwriter's help, I think his imprint on this book is clearly there. It's a damn good book, about how football players were just regular people back then, members of the community, often making less money than some blue collar workers.

These were tough guys, but also decent hard-working guys, almost all of them from blue collar bandgrounds, including Frank Gifford. And the camaraderie between the players is really heartwarming. It sickens me to see what the NFL has come to these days.

I'm reading Raymond Carver's collection of short stories. Didn't like his earlier works at all, just seemed to have complete contempt for his characters, but it's interesting to see his progression throughout his career as he improves. I know much of his evolution is due to his editor Gordon Lish. At the end of the book are his manuscripts for some of his stories, and I'm interested in seeing how much his writing resembles his earlier self before Lish got his hands on it.

I've gotten into debates a couple of times about this with someone I know. They're always reminiscing about the glory days and how much more passionate about the game players were thirty, forty years ago. Maybe so, but in those days players were woefully underpaid and many of them are paying the price now with a life expectancy in the 50's. The book 40 Million Dollar Slaves really opened up my eyes in this regard, tracing back to the plantation days when slaves were organized to play sports in order to tire them out and keep them from using that energy in order to revolt against the system. With each generation the owners have had to share more and more of the profit with the players, and as a result the players have become less and less indebted to the game itself (a bit of a paradox). I don't think this is a bad thing. We're becoming more and more aware of how to use the system instead of letting it use us, although we have a long way to go.

Egos have soared, sure, but I think it's a small price to pay. I wouldn't want it to go back to the way it was, and I hope someday I'll be able to say I won't want it to go back to the way it is.

nicoyestizo, I'm sure not for owners exploiting workers. But this was before tv came in and football caught on, so football players really weren't underpaid at that time; there just wasn't that much money in fooball back then. And that helped create a nice dynamic between the players and the community.

Baseball, that's a different story. The baseball players of the 40's and 50's were definitely exploited shamelessly by the team owners.

Interesting. I was more thinking of the 1970's NFL, I guess. This article comes to mind:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...9729/index.htm

I'd definitely like to learn more about football before it became big, probably a lot of good stuff there.

How To Talk To Anyone, by Leil Lowndes.

In the Woods by Tana French.

my senior year of high school we were assigned to read Crime and Punishment over spring break. needless to say, i did not complete the assignment. ended up skimming it and using cliffs or something and faking my way through it. i told myself i'd get back to it and read it for real someday.

20+ years later i am trying again. let's just say i am glad i didn't waste my spring break all those years ago. it's so slow. i have kite runner on deck and i am so tempted just to get into it and say F raskolinikov.

got a kindle for xmas. if anyone knows for fact that one of their awesome books are on it, either for a good discount or free, or even moderately priced on it, please pm me your suggestion.

basically, I've got all the books on my "to read" list in standard form, but want to get some things on the kindle for fun. already have gotten halfway through James Ellroy's "My Dark Places" in a day or two.

Hey Snot, just got done reading Point Omega. Liked it but I don't really grasp the meaning of it. Having a hard time to link the part with Elster to the slowed down 24 hour Psycho...don't know if it's because I haven't read much over my short lifetime that I don't get it but I'll try to make some sense out of it. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the book too.

I'll be completely honest and say I didn't really make any connections myself, at least anything that I recall offhand. I did enjoy the book, it was quick, and I do recall at the time it did make me think a good bit. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure there exist some pages on the www that try to break it down more. And I can see, it didn't take you very long, so that's good.

I got "The Informant" by Kurt Eichenwald for Christmas. Saw the film and enjoyed it so thought it would be a good read. Anyone read it? It's pretty big and I find a lot of non-fiction business stories can get bogged down in boring technical details so I hope this isn't like that.

I love sports non-fiction (really loved Friday Night Lights when I read it about 6 years ago) so the last page has given me some great ideas on what to spend my Christmas money.

A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life. Steven Kotler mixes stories from the dog rescue center that he and his wife run with the latest research in animals and their relationships with humans. I think he manages the balance pretty effectively. I think he does spend a little too much time on very fringe theories, but that time was still interesting, even if I don't buy in. If you have a rescue dog, you'll probably dig this book.

The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker. 4th book in the Prince of Nothing series, the start of the new trilogy. Set 20 years after the completion of the first trilogy. I think a long time lapse is difficult for fantasy authors, but Bakker handles it well. It was a little disappointing to see some of my favorite characters become minor players (like Proyas), but this series introduces the children of Kellhus, who are all "different". It was decent, if you read the first trilogy and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy this (although it really just sets up the rest of the trilogy, resolves nothing). Gives a lot more backstory into the history of the world.

Having earlier alluded to Philip Roth's major fiction, I realized that, among them, I'd never read Sabbath’s Theater. (I avoided this book for a long time because of the very negative review it got in the NYRB when first published. Later I encountered so many positive responses to the book that I decided that reviewer must have been wrong.

So I decided to give it a try. I mostly disliked the book, which is not only nihilistic but the most pornographic literary novel I've ever read—but so unpleasant that it didn't make its sexual content any fun. Sabbath, its hero, is a 64-year-old eratomaniac who wants to explore almost every perversion (other than pedophilia). The last third of the book suggests that Sabbath’s behaviour is based on emotional trauma but I'm not sure that's enough. Part of the problem for me is not just Sabbath’s sexual obsession but how terrible he can be to individuals who try to help him.

However, I was struck by the aptness of a piece in yesterday's New York Times Book Review, a review-article on Thomas Bernhard's writing in which the reviewer, Dale Peck, wrote of the counter-tradition in literature, one made up of fiction about characters that are “motivated by nothing beyond the immediate satisfaction or alleviation of some need, … and wends its way through various misfits, misanthropes, and criminals constitutionally incapable of resigning themselves to the social contract: Cervantes’s Don Quixote, Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, Dostoyevsky’s underground man, Knut Hamsun’s self-starving dopplegänger in ‘Hunger.’” (He also mentions Homer’s Achilles.)

"If the democratic tradition continually updates the individual’s relationship to society, enabling the peaceful coexistence of private psyches with public consciousness, the alienating tradition reminds us that such constructs and relationships are necessary conveniences, and that no amount of clothing or culture can enable us to escape man’s nature—and man’s fate—as just another animal subject to the gross processes of lust and hunger, micturition and egestion, the permanent nothing of death. If the first tradition is ego and superego, the second is pure id; or, to borrow another Freudian metaphor, if the first is civilization, the second is its discontents." That pretty well sums up Sabbath's Theatre.