Books

[aiw]

Speaking of rising and falling of empires, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is fantastic, written by an American correspondent on the ground in Berlin from 1934-1940, though he goes through the whole history of the Nazis. He seems to be a little off on pre-Nazi German history and has 1930s American mentality about things like homosexuality.

 

[rhfarmer]

Which 2? History of Rome is great. The Fall of the Roman Empire is neat because it's a bit more academic, but still quite interesting.

Gibbon's work is great, but clearly quite biased and gets a bunch of the 'barbarian invasion' stuff wrong. I only had the 1 volume version. Did you read the whole damn thing?

History of Rome is one of them. The Patrick Wyman Fall of Rome is the other. I'm listening to both of them for the second time because there is just so much information.

I've started reading again as well, so I might dive into the books.

If you guys want to read a great historical fiction, check out Imperium by Robert Harris. It's the Pompey/Cicero story and it's really compelling given our current political crisis.

 

[aiw]

Yeah, I meant The Fall of Rome by Wyman. I like Mike Duncan’s a lot better because he’s a better podcaster, but Wyman’s is pretty great because he brings the actual data that informs our understanding about what happened and that it just wasn’t barbarians coming in and killing everyone like we were taught years ago.

 

[rome8180]

Already finished two books this year. One of my resolutions has been to read more. I read far less during my 30s than any other period. Internet addiction has really ruined my concentration.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Which 2? History of Rome is great. The Fall of the Roman Empire is neat because it's a bit more academic, but still quite interesting.

Gibbon's work is great, but clearly quite biased and gets a bunch of the 'barbarian invasion' stuff wrong. I only had the 1 volume version. Did you read the whole damn thing?

Yep did the whole thing. I actually considered it a much more subtle examination of the dynamics between Rome and the Goths/Huns/Alamanni/Vandals/etc than some histories. I had known Aleric was a Roman general, but was unaware of how long the Huns had been in the region as both an ally and a threat prior to Attila. Seems for many, the main complaint is how much blame for the fall he seems to place on the rise of Christianity. He certainly was intrigued by Roman paganism.

Shirer's books are great. 'Rise and Fall' is epic, but 'Berlin Diaries' is also worth reading as more more focused first hand account of Germany slowly descending into Naziism during the 30s.

 

[bdotling]

Already finished two books this year. One of my resolutions has been to read more. I read far less during my 30s than any other period. Internet addiction has really ruined my concentration.

the past 3 years, I've had a resolution to do 6 in the year and I've failed miserably mostly because kids...I've reduced the number to 4 this year...we'll see

 

[rhfarmer]

Wait, kids books don't count?

 

[rome8180]

I set my goal at 25 in 2017 and 2018. Failed to read 20. Set my goal at 20 last year and got to 23. So I've bumped it back up to 25.

I guess that's a good amount by a lot of people's standards. But my Facebook feed is all writers and so I have to constantly hear about how they read 100 books or whatever. They're probably full of shit, but still.

 

[rome8180]

That makes it sound like it's all internet bragging rights, but I really do feel better when I'm reading every day. Especially for someone who wants to write, it's essential for inspiration purposes.

 

[aiw]

Which 2? History of Rome is great. The Fall of the Roman Empire is neat because it's a bit more academic, but still quite interesting.

Gibbon's work is great, but clearly quite biased and gets a bunch of the 'barbarian invasion' stuff wrong. I only had the 1 volume version. Did you read the whole damn thing?

Yep did the whole thing. I actually considered it a much more subtle examination of the dynamics between Rome and the Goths/Huns/Alamanni/Vandals/etc than some histories. I had known Aleric was a Roman general, but was unaware of how long the Huns had been in the region as both an ally and a threat prior to Attila. Seems for many, the main complaint is how much blame for the fall he seems to place on the rise of Christianity. He certainly was intrigued by Roman paganism.

Shirer's books are great. 'Rise and Fall' is epic, but 'Berlin Diaries' is also worth reading as more more focused first hand account of Germany slowly descending into Naziism during the 30s.

Bought the unabridged Gibbon. Have a couple other things to finish, then I'll dive in.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

You won't regret it. I find myself wanting to dive in again. Might have the time to do so soon.

 

[bfactor]

I ordered it as well, at least the consensus best of the versions available on Kindle. Will probably get much more than $1.99 in value out of it.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Reading a fictional book called "The Power of the Dog" by Don Winslow. I'm 149 pages in, really good so far.

 

[physicsfactor]

I have that in my audible library, Slap. Hope it’s good.

 

[rome8180]

I set my goal at 25 in 2017 and 2018. Failed to read 20. Set my goal at 20 last year and got to 23. So I've bumped it back up to 25.

I guess that's a good amount by a lot of people's standards. But my Facebook feed is all writers and so I have to constantly hear about how they read 100 books or whatever. They're probably full of shit, but still.

Update. At 15 books read already. A few of those have been graphic novels or short novels (100-200 pages), but I've also had a couple 800-page tomes in there. So I figure it balances out.

Unfortunately, my current anxiety is slowing down my reading. I'm reading The Outsider by Stephen King and normally I'd be flying through it but am finding it challenging to read more than 20 pages at a time.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Reading a fictional book called "The Power of the Dog" by Don Winslow. I'm 149 pages in, really good so far.

It is excellent. Kind of a change the name version of Narcos Mexico. Apparently very true to the first few decades of Mexican (cocaine) drug trade. You should recognize all the main players.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Reading a fictional book called "The Power of the Dog" by Don Winslow. I'm 149 pages in, really good so far.

It is excellent. Kind of a change the name version of Narcos Mexico. Apparently very true to the first few decades of Mexican (cocaine) drug trade. You should recognize all the main players.

While reading I was actually thinking to myself how this sounds exactly like Narcos Mexico just with different names.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Finishing up Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. My god that man had a lucidity of thought and ability to put it into words that was magnificent. This book is basically a premonition of the world today w/r/t idiocracy. I'd say that making it mandatory reading would prevent a new dark age, but one of the themes is that even when confronted with irrefutable evidence to the contrary, true believers continue to believe.

 

[rome8180]

Millennials and Gen Z tend to be more progressive and less religious overall. Maybe there will be some small dark benefits to a bunch of olds dying.

 

[rome8180]

I'm finding it tough to read these days, even relatively fun "plot-driven" fare like The Outsider. Still spinning my wheels on Book 16, even though I got to Page 160 in it pretty quickly after all this mess started.