What are you reading right now?

[Shhon]

Thanks for asking! I'm pleased to report that they were some of the highest-attended events we've ever held, and each inspired vigorous conversation. The community response was overwhelmingly positive.

I've launched a subsequent new event series where we screen conspiracy theory themed films and debunk/debate their validity. It's just a little trickier because we have to secure screening rights for each film.

You're welcome

Congrats on it going well! The lecture on Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe with Will Kinney, looks very interesting.


https://cfiwny.org/lecture-series/

[innerspaceboy]

The short story, "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury has long been one of my favorites, up there with Asimov's "The Last Question," "The Last Answer" and Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." Today someone mentioned Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope" as being similarly impactful as "Summer."

I pulled out my signed complete Bradbury hardcovers and dug up "Kaleidoscope." Bawled like a child, just like "Summer." I needed that.

[Lucem Ferre]

After reading the book about Washington, a huge take away I got is all the people arguing that Amercans couldn't have intentionally spread small pox to the natives are utterly full of shit because it's very clear that they did understand that you could spread the disease through infected items.

Not only that but they were inoculating people back then, too.

It was a very good and interesting book. Learning how most of the founding fathers abhorred slavery, how the French revolution was inspired by America and the birth of blatantly false & inflammatory propaganda by the Replubican movement against the Federalists.

[innerspaceboy]

I grabbed this Pictorial History of Science Fiction oversized coffee table book by David Kyle at a library sale this week. Brimming with beautiful illustrations from the golden age of sci-fi. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are featured. I may scan a few for party and event flyers. ❤

Spoon for scale.

[Guybrush]

Nice find, @innerspaceboy 🙂

I am still reading the Stormlight Archive series, now on book three.

The last book I bought was Mein Kampf! for like.. a quarter of a dollar. It was nearly for free and so I thought why not. I could think of some reasons why not, but also some for.

So I'm not a nazi, but I thought it might be interesting to get a look into the mind of such a notorious figure.. although I assume it may be more marketing / propaganda than anything actually genuine.

[Lucem Ferre]

I read the Hitler book. I don't have much to say about it other than his religious takes were interesting.

Other than that and his geopolitical perspectives, everything else was predictable.

It got really redundant by the end, too.

[Lucem Ferre]

Nice find, @innerspaceboy 🙂

I am still reading the Stormlight Archive series, now on book three.

The last book I bought was Mein Kampf! for like.. a quarter of a dollar. It was nearly for free and so I thought why not. I could think of some reasons why not, but also some for.

So I'm not a nazi, but I thought it might be interesting to get a look into the mind of such a notorious figure.. although I assume it may be more marketing / propaganda than anything actually genuine.

Coincidental post.

But if you want to crawl in that Austrian bastard's head more, the book SGR recommended definitely is a book that does that.

Edit: It's called "Hitler's Table Talk" it's a catalogue of different things he's said and ranted about in private.

[SGR]

Coincidental post.

But if you want to crawl in that Austrian bastard's head more, the book SGR recommended definitely is a book that does that.

Edit: It's called "Hitler's Table Talk" it's a catalogue of different things he's said and ranted about in private.

Yeah, that was the main draw of the book to me - what the hell is going on in the head of a guy like Hitler? What does he talk about to people when he's in private? Unfortunately, Hitler did know that all the stuff he was saying would be transcribed, so there's an element of open honesty that may be missing, but I definitely found it interesting - for better or worse, you mostly get what is advertised.

I too once tried to read Mein Kampf out of curiosity (hoping to get similar kinds of insights into the man's mind), but I never managed to finish it. Too often it gets stuck in tedious minutiae like the obscure history of Austria and Hitler's personal grievances and rivalries. I expected it to be a hateful screed (sort of a trainwreck you couldn't look away from), but instead, at least as far as I got into it, it was more of a boring yawn-inducing screed. I'd have to force myself to finish it, and I don't see it ever happening.

[Lisnaholic]

^ My personal take on all the Hitler stuff:-

Joking of course, but given that we have only a limited lifetime to explore all the world's books, why go rooting around in the ragbag of Hitler's mind?
____________________________________

Here's a book of stories I'm reading:-



Actually, it's not his best tbh, as a couple of the stories are over-long and fall a bit flat. But I'd recommend these three collections, written when he was at his prime as a story teller:

The Day We Got Drunk on Cake and Other Stories (The Bodley Head, 1967)
The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories (The Bodley Head, 1972)
Angels at the Ritz and Other Stories (The Bodley Head, 1975)

Why should you check these books out? Because they tell (to quote a reviewer of WT) "Extraordinary stories from ordinary lives". He writes with affection about people who are often overlooked, and takes you into the secret mindset of ordinary, but marginalised people. That solitary guy in the park, that girl at work who never says much, that woman in the supermarket queue with a far-away look in her eyes. They all have a story, and WT is there to suggest what it might be - and in doing so, he teaches us to respect and tolerate our fellow man, even those who don't seem that interesting at a glance. It's all fiction, of course, but his stories "are always true to the human heart" (to quote another reviewer), which means there are plenty of "aha!" moments as you read, and recognise character traits, small habits, etc, that you have surely encountered yourself irl, but never put into words.