What Are You Reading?

[MollyMac]

"Heavy Words Lightly Thrown"- Chris ROberts

[Saya]

Originally Posted by JCC

Forget it, America's set out so poorly that I can't persevere with it and it's very dull so far anyway. I'll read Animal Liberation by Peter Singer instead.

Ugh, Animal Liberation is a migraine. I won't spoil it for you though, let me know what you think afterwards.

Same to you, Jillian, I very nearly bought The Chomsky Reader, I want to read more political books but I'm lost as to where to start.

Today I bought The Inner World Of Farm Animals by Amy Hatkoff (and foreword by Jane Goodall! Whoo!), a very light read but pretty cool, lots of fun facts about all the different farm animals (did you know that the flappy thing on a turkey's face is called a snood, and it changes colour with the turkey's mood? Cows enjoy solving puzzles? Chicks learn from videos, and also peep to their mother and each other up to 24 hours before they hatch?) Also lots of stories from farm sanctuaries, and lots and lots of beautiful pictures.

I also got Vegan With A Vengeance, the recipes look awesome, and I'm just about to read The Dog By The Cradle, The Serpent Beneath: Some Paradoxes Of Human-Animal Relationships. I read a bit of it in the store where she's interviewing Temple Grandin, and pretty much concludes that at least Grandin's welfarist outlooks are bullshit, so I'm hoping I'll like the rest of it just as much.

[Saya]

Uh, never mind, it started out pretty smart but quickly fell into "but we NEED to slaughter animals on large scale, therefore we need to ignore the fact that we are hypocrites." And for the abolitionist side, she interviewed Keith Mann, why immediately go to someone who was convicted for blowing shit up and not go to, lets say, Professor Francione? Sheesh.

I usually don't return books but maybe I'll exchange it tomorrow, I couldn't even finish it.

[peacebear5028]

I am currently in the process of reading three different books.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche

And Manufacturing Consent by Naom Chomsky.

I don`t really have any well formed opinions on any of them yet.

[JCC]

Originally Posted by Saya

Ugh, Animal Liberation is a migraine. I won't spoil it for you though, let me know what you think afterwards.

It was pretty good. I read the 1988 revised version though, and he did a lot of replacing old arguments from the original book that he decided were irrational.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Originally Posted by Saya

Same to you, Jillian, I very nearly bought The Chomsky Reader, I want to read more political books but I'm lost as to where to start.

The Chomsky Reader is a good place to start. It reads very slowly especially when you imagine it in Chomsky's voice, but I like how he actually makes his point by sarcastically giving the opposing view's arguments.
Another good one and not very much known is one I think I mentioned in here, Obsolete Communism, The Left-Wing Alternative. It's specifically about socialism, but Daniel Cohn-Bendit is an awesome guy that knows how to write.
Something more in touch with today would be Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by JCC

It was pretty good. I read the 1988 revised version though, and he did a lot of replacing old arguments from the original book that he decided were irrational.

Ah, maybe I read the older version then, it was an old copy from the library and I'd rather not giver Singer any of my money by buying a new copy, I do remember that essentially animal use isn't an issue for him but rather how we treat and use them.

Jillian, thanks, I'll look for those books tomorrow.

[JCC]

Originally Posted by Saya

Ah, maybe I read the older version then, it was an old copy from the library and I'd rather not giver Singer any of my money by buying a new copy, I do remember that essentially animal use isn't an issue for him but rather how we treat and use them.

Well, he makes a pretty good case for not using them for meat, which he stands by. The eggs and dairy issue I didn't agree with, but it reinforced a few of my ideas in a better way than I could phrase them and it was pretty interesting to read the accounts of all of the different experiments too.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by JCC

Well, he makes a pretty good case for not using them for meat, which he stands by. The eggs and dairy issue I didn't agree with, but it reinforced a few of my ideas in a better way than I could phrase them and it was pretty interesting to read the accounts of all of the different experiments too.

I really can't recall his stance on Happy Meat in that book (It was years ago) but I do know that at least since he fully condones "conscientious carnivores", I did find it interesting at the time but looking back I really have no idea why it was even called Animal Liberation or why PeTA can't stop humping his leg.

[korinna5555]

Rereading Daughter of the Forest, Juliet Marillier. Possibly my favorite book ever.

[HavelockV]

I just finished reading Incident at Vichy, a play by Arthur Miller.

[Apathy's_Child]

Growth of the Soil - Knut Hamsun. It's pretty awesome, although I think I prefer Hunger (the only other Hamsun I've ever read). I will possess all of his writings within the next couple of months, for sure.

[House of Horrors]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

[Apathy's_Child]

Frankenstein is awesome.

[HavelockV]

The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick.

[Learing Cordelia]

Mr. Hands by Gary A. Braunbeck (for the second time, twisted and thrilling book)

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

The Yellow House by Marvin Gayford. It's about Van Gogh's failed attempt to start an artist colony in Arles. I have yet to decide if it's entertaining.

[StarredLeaf]

Now summer break is here I started reading my copy of Atlas Shrugged that I've had for months, hopefully it's as good as people say.

[JCC]

I just finished A Clockwork Orange. Very good. Loved the Anglo-Russian slang.

[HumanePain]

A Tour of the Calculus - David Berlinski

This is very entertaining! Witty and humorous, and with vivid imagery. This should be mandatory reading for every math or physics major before they begin calculus, or even trig.

[HumanePain]

I just woke myself up because I fell asleep with books arranged across the bed AGAIN, Photonics Rules of Thumb, Oxford User's Guide to Mathematics, Optical Systems and Processes, Optical Testing, reference books, blah blah blah and of course the heaviest one falls on the floor as I roll over in sleep and hits the floor with a loud THUMP!

Small wonder Mrs. Humane gets into the bed at all lulz.

[HavelockV]

After some months of borrowing a few books at a time from a friend, I have just completed reading the first 12 collected volumes of Fables from Vertigo Comics, and also the spinoff volume 1001 Nights of Snowfall. Fables truly is a creative and smartly-written series and I look forward to reading future installments.

Next up is Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove, which promises to be great fun.

[Twisted-mind]

Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. ward

[JCC]

Originally Posted by HavelockV

Next up is Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove, which promises to be great fun.

I was thinking about getting that, make sure to tell us if it's good.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by JCC

I was thinking about getting that, make sure to tell us if it's good.

It's mediocre.