What are you reading now?

[senob44]

I'm just kidding. let's just say that I find Rand to be very misguided and ignorant....

I won't disagree with you. I find that Rand's views of what is right would work in a perfect world, but yes, she is ignorant of individual human nature and the nature of society as a whole. But dealing most specifically with "The Fountainhead", does it make an individual's quest for purity and being true to oneself any less noble just because it will never work in this world, and will never even succeed in the scheme of things? (PS-I have not yet finished, and if she slaps a sappy, unbelieveable ending on this, she will lose some of my respect and vastly increase her ignorance in my eyes. (Though it would be satisfying in a way. ) I don't think that is her style though.)

I feel Rand will never change the world significantly with her philosophy, but only because the world is already so deeply flawed. Whether you hold that against her is up to you.

Aside from her philosophy, I was impressed with her writing skill in this work, and though I don't read as much as I should, "The Fountainhead" has been a real page-turner for me.

PS- Friday, I didn't know this was made into a movie! Definitely will try and get a hold of it!

 

[calpoon]

I don't really want to slag on her, because you kinda have to take what she says for what's it's worth and consider the context that frames her views, but the one thing that sticks in my craw is that she pretty much believes in "manifest destiny", and I don't think that is defensible.

 

[senob44]

I can see how this would be a problem. If everyone followed strictly a personal credo of manifest destiny, I feel society would end up not changing very much, possibly even worsening, and the desires of the wealthy would be more easily obtained because everyone is working for themselves and their own gains and the wealthy have more of a means to those ends. Teamwork and sacrifices for the "greater good" would be hard to find, and it would be difficult to get anything done for anyone.

Rand, through an ignorant view, quite possibly, suggests to consider that what if the true, pure visionaries were the only ones who stood by the philosophy of manifest destiny. What differences could their ego-driven actions contribute to society? This is the way I feel she believes in manifest destiny; within the individual. The problem is, it is not only the visionaries that act in this way. To suggest that any and all visionaries and those devotees to the "true form" of things would be the only ones to be dedicated to their beliefs (and the rest of society being wishy-washy) is her idea of a utopia, I believe.

Overall, in "The Fountainhead" I guess I feel she is just exploring the effects that just one individual can have on society, when society is viewed more or less as a constant.

 

[Nikkifan19]

The Authorative Calvin & Hobbes

 

[bunker]

I am reading Yasmina Khadra, a male Algerian writer using a female alias.

He is writing police story but uses these stories to talk about the situation in Algeria today.

Some of his novels are quite ordinary but some others are great. He won many international prizes with 2 of them.

 

[Nikkifan19]

The 2008/2009 Hockey News Yearbook. Good stories about Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, and Brenden Morrow.

 

[BlueBalls]

Im re-reading The Plague by Albert Camus at this current moment in time, Im a huge fan of most of Camus's work and this is probably one of my favourite works of his.

 

[GENIUS]

I've just finished reading Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth.


August, 1889. Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright, wit and raconteur, chances on the mutilated corpse of a sixteen-year-old boy in a candle-lit room in one of the back streets of Westminister. In fin-de-siecle London and Paris, with the help of fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilde sets out to unravel the mystery of the murder of Billy Wood.....and of the bizarre deaths that follow in its wake.

 

[Spleen]

Hells Angels - Hunter S Thompson

 

[AFA]

I'm getting backlogged again.

I have Common Sense by Thomas Payne (too bad it isn't like this in 2008!)
In an unrelenting quest to understanding the history of the United States, one obscure name comes to mind, Thomas Paine. Paine helped establish the meaning of democracy and the "united" in United States. His two monumental works, COMMON SENSE AND RIGHTS OF MAN, provided the philosophical and rhetorical building blocks that the founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, et al., would emulate with the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Many take for granted the origins of freedom and democracy in the United States, and as with many school history textbooks depict, Paine merely appears in a paragraph or two, and quickly disappears to historical oblivion.

The Three Trillion Dollar War Vincent Bugliosi
http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?p=2514070&highlight=trillion#post2514070

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.

As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.

A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.

Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.

 

[calpoon]

Im re-reading The Plague by Albert Camus at this current moment in time, Im a huge fan of most of Camus's work and this is probably one of my favourite works of his.

I have almost all of his books, but for some reason I wasn't able to get through that one. I'd read like a chapter and then lose all concentration.

 

[BlueBalls]

I have almost all of his books, but for some reason I wasn't able to get through that one. I'd read like a chapter and then lose all concentration.

It does tend to go round in circles in some places, but I find it a very enjoyable read. And I love the fact that the Plague as a metaphor for the Nazi invasion and occupation of France just before it was written.

 

[calpoon]

I did get the socio-political undertones, but it competently slipped my mind to compare it to Camus' own life experience. good point. I do plan on rereading it someday.

 

[DEKAPITATOR]

Any advice on a good horror book?
The best i read till now was the damnation game by Clive Barker
http://www.bookmooch.com/detail/0751505951

 

[thegunner]

Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War

 

[Dawn]

The latest book i have read which was mind-blowing (for me) is The Road, a Pulitzer winning novel by Cormac McCarthy published in 2006. Relatively old already but i have read it last month. A true masterpiece.

 

[BlueBalls]

The latest book i have read which was mind-blowing (for me) is The Road, a Pulitzer winning novel by Cormac McCarthy published in 2006. Relatively old already but i have read it last month. A true masterpiece.

If you havent already read it, try Blood Meridian by CM, in my opinion his best work. Although I havent read everything of his so I cant be certain on that.


Im currently reading:

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, which I cant quite get into at the moment

and im rereading The Three Stigmata of Plamer Eldritch by Pjilip K Dick, pne of my favourites

 

[Ravenholm]

Day by Day Armageddon - J.L. Bourne

 

[Dawn]

If you havent already read it, try Blood Meridian by CM, in my opinion his best work. Although I havent read everything of his so I cant be certain on that.

That's what i have been told often.

I ordered it at my local bookstore, i should get it soon. I prefer reading the orginal version (in english) so i always have to order those books here as i live too far from the closest english bookstore.

Have you enjoyed The Road or others CM books?

 

[calpoon]

History of Secret Societies - Arkon Daraul

Tales of the Cthulu Mythos - HP Lovecraft and others

Have you enjoyed The Road or others CM books?

Don't want to sound like a dick, but you should do a search. I'm pretty sure that I made a post about it and I know several other people have talked about it in this thread. I think it was also discussed in a thread talking about the upcoming film adaptation.