What Book Are You Currently Reading? (2.0.)

[Middle-aged Europe]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Histories, Herodotus
The Odyssey, Homer
The Balkans, 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, Misha Glenny

Very Greek selection.  

[Schiff for Senate]

Started Bernie Sanders’ Outsider in the White House (I acquired it just three days ago from Half Price Books). So far I’ve read the Acknowledgments and Preface. I feel like reading this book might move me to the left on economic issues.

So yes, this book has moved me a bit to the left economically. Until now I've always justified my general support for more even taxes with "that's what's fair." It's pretty obviously not. I mean, yes, I've opposed lobbies and the outsize influence the rich have in government and politics, but the trouble is my issue positions don't really reflect that. The rich basically control government, and let's face it, most of the people are left out. They're left to hang dry because the rich exert massive influence over our lawmakers (basically all Republicans and more Democrats than we'd care to admit), and as a result, the lawmakers basically do what's best for the rich and leave the rest of the people with little. Not saying I support a radical progressive tax structure, nor that this book has 'opened my eyes', but it definitely is making me reconsider and shifting me to the left economically. And at that point, I'm basically a Democrat, albeit one who disagrees with some of the party's ideas (still sporting the Independent avatar though).

[Mexican Wolf]

Finally started reading Of Bears and Ballots after finishing If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name last month. So far I'm enjoying the descriptions of local politics and the backgrounds of various candidates for the assembly in Haines, Alaska.

[Schiff for Senate]

Started Bernie Sanders’ Outsider in the White House (I acquired it just three days ago from Half Price Books). So far I’ve read the Acknowledgments and Preface. I feel like reading this book might move me to the left on economic issues.

Plaudits to Sanders.

This book is proving to be a great read and I absolutely give it two thumbs up 👍. Sanders (and Gutman, the coauthor) have written the book very well. It’s moved me (and shifted me leftward on economic issues). Sanders has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour that pervades the book, and he’s written it in a very persuasive way. My respect for him is quite high. He is a very genuine and sincere guy who genuinely wants to help his constituents. Again, book is very good and very well-written and I’m glad I took it.

[Brother Jonathan]

Just started Nietzsche's Corps/e by Geoff Waite. A lot about it I am not liking, but it is also interesting, in particular in its treatment of the esoteric nature of Nietzsche's writings (even if I don't agree with all of Waite's conclusions). Just have to wade through a lot of the self-important post-modern writing style to get to the more interesting aspects.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

So far there wasn't any shocking new info, but something shocking just popped up: Trump's lawyers actually wanted Pence to discount the EVs of 7 Biden states (they were unnamed but I'm guessing WI, GA, AZ, PA, MI, NV and...?) at the counting and call them 'disputed.' Not counting those states would make the EV tally, 232 Trump, 222 Biden. Apparently, according to some law professor, a plurality of electoral votes would be sufficient (doubtful on that personally, since 270 is and always has been the magic number and I'm pretty sure you need an outright majority - 270 - of electoral votes, not 232), and thus Pence could declare Trump the winner. If Democrats objected, he could agree and schedule a runoff election in the House - where Trump would likely prevail given that the GOP control 26 House delegations (though I honestly think that a few honourable Republicans in the right states might do the right thing, vote for Biden, and deliver him the election). These people are sickening. They really were plotting on installing Trump as a dictator. Thank God Pence saw the light (thank you, Dan Quayle) and didn't go through with whatever the hell they wanted him to go through with.

Book has also once again featured Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark A. Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Those two are massive FFs who I have a lot of respect for.

Lastly, one funny moment in the book was Trump trying to micromanage how the USS Gerald R. Ford was built. Hr claimed he had “ an eye for aesthetics” if I remember  correctly and told them they should change the location of the cabin and place it towards the middle of the ship 🚢  rather than on one end because it looked nicer that way. He was told it was located like that because (it’s an aircraft carrier) it gives a longer runway for the planes to land.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Outsider in the White House yesterday afternoon. Started Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa last night. Have already read north of 100 pages.

So far there wasn't any shocking new info, but something shocking just popped up: Trump's lawyers actually wanted Pence to discount the EVs of 7 Biden states (they were unnamed but I'm guessing WI, GA, AZ, PA, MI, NV and...?) at the counting and call them 'disputed.' Not counting those states would make the EV tally, 232 Trump, 222 Biden. Apparently, according to some law professor, a plurality of electoral votes would be sufficient (doubtful on that personally, since 270 is and always has been the magic number and I'm pretty sure you need an outright majority - 270 - of electoral votes, not 232), and thus Pence could declare Trump the winner. If Democrats objected, he could agree and schedule a runoff election in the House - where Trump would likely prevail given that the GOP control 26 House delegations (though I honestly think that a few honourable Republicans in the right states might do the right thing, vote for Biden, and deliver him the election). These people are sickening. They really were plotting on installing Trump as a dictator. Thank God Pence saw the light (thank you, Dan Quayle) and didn't go through with whatever the hell they wanted him to go through with.

Book has also once again featured Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark A. Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Those two are massive FFs who I have a lot of respect for.

Lastly, one funny moment in the book was Trump trying to micromanage how the USS Gerald R. Ford was built. Hr claimed he had “ an eye for aesthetics” if I remember  correctly and told them they should change the location of the cabin and place it towards the middle of the ship 🚢  rather than on one end because it looked nicer that way. He was told it was located like that because (it’s an aircraft carrier) it gives a longer runway for the planes to land.

Two other things: Pence did in fact question the election’s fairness publicly and he did try desperately to find a way he could do something about it as VP. Ultimately, he got the same response from many people (including Dan Quayle): he constitutionally could not. He ultimately recognised this. And Trump really was a mixture of cartoonish and insane in trying to persuade Pence to overturn: “Wouldn’t it almost be cool to have that power?” upon Pence saying “I wouldn’t want any one person to have that power [to overturn the election]” (insane); “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this” (cartoonish).

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

[YPestis25]

Reading The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan. Very engrossing so far, and much easier of a read than Metternich by Wolfram Seiman, which I've been slogging through for a while.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

Now nearly finished reading Chapter 6: I Shall Be Much Mistaken If He Is Not Sound Found At The Head Of The Diplomatique Corps. The book is right now quite interesting and engaging, and I will say that this chapter alone has vastly expanded my understanding of international politics and the France vs England rivalry in the wake of the French Revolution.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished Peril this afternoon and will now restart reading Militant Spirit, a biography of John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States, by James Traub. I got the book for my birthday last year and read over 200 pages (no mean feat because the pages were large and the font size quite small), but then I stopped reading it after a while. Now it's been over a year since I last read it, and I figure it's a good idea to give it another stab. It's unfortunate, but because I last read it so long ago, I'll have to read it from the beginning rather than picking up where I left off (not that I'm 100% sure where I did leave off).

I think I'd read through part or all of Chapter 16 (the first chapter in Part 3 of the book). Now that I've restarted, I have read the Introduction and all of Chapters 1-4, and will next read Chapter 5: Friend of the People, set right after Adams' graduation from Harvard at age 21 in 1788.

Now nearly finished reading Chapter 6: I Shall Be Much Mistaken If He Is Not Sound Found At The Head Of The Diplomatique Corps. The book is right now quite interesting and engaging, and I will say that this chapter alone has vastly expanded my understanding of international politics and the France vs England rivalry in the wake of the French Revolution.

Finished reading part 2 of the book this afternoon and will soon begin part three, which spans James Monroe’s presidency and begins in 1817 with Adams’ appointment as Secretary of State and concludes in 1824/1825 with his election as president.

Am now also simultaneously reading The Kill Order by James Dashner, fourth of five books in the Maze Runner series. I got the series last April as a present, burned my way through the first three books, and then, halfway through the fourth, got bored and just lost the will to continue reading it (like the other books I finished within a few days each but this one dragged on for months until I decided to call it quits). Now I’m restarting it and intend to finish it off once and for all.
Interestingly, I got the JQA bio not soon before this series, and in April/May last year I was simultaneously reading the JQA bio and this series, as well as Tim Alberta’s American Carnage, alternating between the three.

I’ve also set aside 5 other books at home which I got at some point or another over the past three years that I’ve not yet read, with the intent of reading them soon (though I don’t intend to read 3 books simultaneously again - two is fine - so I’ll have to wait till I finish either the JQA bio or the Maze Runner book before starting any of them).

[Schiff for Senate]

Yesterday finished reading the first chapter of part 3. I think I left off somewhere in the middle of that chapter, so either last night or today, I caught up to where I’d left off and read onward. Now I’m halfway through the next chapter (spanning from 1819 to 1820).

[Wikipedia delenda est]

The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill. Somehow I'd not gotten round to this till now.

[Schiff for Senate]

Just finished part 3 of the book. JQA has just won the 1824 race.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished The Kill Order. In its place I intend to read (at least a couple of chapters of) A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished The Kill Order. In its place I intend to read (at least a couple of chapters of) A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.

I earlier read the chapter, 'The Clinton Presidency', the second last chapter in the book. Right now, I decided to begin by rereading it. It is the sort of text that really reinforces and drives home what Klobmentum says - that the Democrats weren't and aren't really that liberal at all, particularly Bill Clinton. The author's ideology appears to be similar to that of Klobmentum and especially Big Abraham. But the points are very well articulated. Reread half the chapter, and the gist of it is that Clinton was a conciliatory moderate who caved into Republicans on most issues, despite public opinion to the contrary. His 'welfare reform' was basically throwing everyone on welfare under the bus, including the many who genuinely require it. He cut necessary programs helping the poor, the young, the old, the sick and the needy, but, to appease the rich and the defence industry, he neither increased taxes on the rich, nor decreased the military budget or tried to tackle the growing military industrial complex. Under his watch, the United States sponsored and sold weapons to groups and governments with terrible human rights records, for the sake of $$$ and profit. His foreign policy was messed up and the US government committed, or allowed, the murder of many in places like Iraq and Somalia, crises unreported, leading to more agitation and anti-American sentiments in those places. And all that is really the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of shocking information just in this one chapter, and if reading that Bernie Sanders book moved me to the left so much, I can hardly even imagine what reading a few select chapters of this book will do in moving me politically.

[If my soul was made of stone]

Cathy van Eck's Between Air and Electricity: Microphones and Loudspeakers as Musical Instruments, on the recommendation of a former professor, as study material for a High Concept piece I've been deep in the slow process of precomposing for about a month. Experimental music is a rare field of culture in which the Dutch are in fact progressive and admirable.

[Schiff for Senate]

Now reading the chapter 'The Coming Revolt of the Guards' in Zinn's book. It is very, very well written and I strongly recommend reading it. The chapter vividly reveals how the top 1% have maintained their grip on power and money through dividing the 99% in crafty and artful ways (one instance: the rich themselves evade taxes through loopholes and other forms, but they have the middle class largely help the poor - thus pitting the middle and lower classes against each other, and leaving the real culprits - the ultra-rich - scot free), and by 'uniting' them all by diverting their attention onto imaginary foreign 'enemies' and around patriotic slogans and fervour. These people have divided the 99% such that said 99% are unable to see their common enemy - the top 1% - and instead focus on each other (the poor, racial minorities, women, immigrants, criminals that are a symptom of the way the government has failed the common people) or imaginary forces. Zinn discusses how a national mindset that we need national leaders to rescue/save us (FDR during the Great Depression, Lincoln during the Civil War, etcetera) has been cultivated (Zinn also talks about how mainstream textbooks tend to be excessively deferential to the establishment and to government/state, and too dismissive of revolution, and how his book is a counterforce of sorts inthat it takes the opposite side), but how occasionally people break through that mindset and rebel against a System and an Establishment that exploits them in favour of the 1%. He points to examples of revolt and protest such as the 1960s - but how, inevitably, such protests fade away as our attentions are diverted to other things. He demonstrates how the government has tactically given people just enough for enough of them to be satisfied, and few enough to  be vocally unsatisfied, to keep the government going, and to keep the top 1% as the ruling class.

[Benjamin Frank]

Now reading the chapter 'The Coming Revolt of the Guards' in Zinn's book. It is very, very well written and I strongly recommend reading it. The chapter vividly reveals how the top 1% have maintained their grip on power and money through dividing the 99% in crafty and artful ways (one instance: the rich themselves evade taxes through loopholes and other forms, but they have the middle class largely help the poor - thus pitting the middle and lower classes against each other, and leaving the real culprits - the ultra-rich - scot free), and by 'uniting' them all by diverting their attention onto imaginary foreign 'enemies' and around patriotic slogans and fervour. These people have divided the 99% such that said 99% are unable to see their common enemy - the top 1% - and instead focus on each other (the poor, racial minorities, women, immigrants, criminals that are a symptom of the way the government has failed the common people) or imaginary forces. Zinn discusses how a national mindset that we need national leaders to rescue/save us (FDR during the Great Depression, Lincoln during the Civil War, etcetera) has been cultivated (Zinn also talks about how mainstream textbooks tend to be excessively deferential to the establishment and to government/state, and too dismissive of revolution, and how his book is a counterforce of sorts inthat it takes the opposite side), but how occasionally people break through that mindset and rebel against a System and an Establishment that exploits them in favour of the 1%. He points to examples of revolt and protest such as the 1960s - but how, inevitably, such protests fade away as our attentions are diverted to other things. He demonstrates how the government has tactically given people just enough for enough of them to be satisfied, and few enough to  be vocally unsatisfied, to keep the government going, and to keep the top 1% as the ruling class.

Another book in this vein, if you're not familiar with it, is 'A History of the Modern World' originally written by Robert Roswell Palmer.  It's been revised a number of times but I have one of the earlier editions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Modern_World

By 'modern world' the author meant fom approximately 1500. The author uses neutral language throughout but takes sides on some issue (I think ending colonization when he finally says something like 'if awareness of history doesn't radicalize you, nothing will.')

The book radicalized me more than I ever thought it could and it's informed my position on how the modern Republican Party, owned by the genuine elite wealthy and the owners of the mega churches, are indeed a modern neoFeudalist and fascist party.

Although it seems these elites in the place of the original Feudalism, Europe, have accepted democracy, it's very clear that the genuine elites in the United States have not. I think this is mostly over their unwillingness to pay taxes in general, and specifically to maintain the 'welfare state' but I think, as I've written before on this board many times, that their opposition stems from the original dual founding myths of the United States: rugged individualism and the Calvinist prosperity gospel, which, in both cases, make 'greed is good' into some kind of moral cause.

[Benjamin Frank]

Finished The Kill Order. In its place I intend to read (at least a couple of chapters of) A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.

I earlier read the chapter, 'The Clinton Presidency', the second last chapter in the book. Right now, I decided to begin by rereading it. It is the sort of text that really reinforces and drives home what Klobmentum says - that the Democrats weren't and aren't really that liberal at all, particularly Bill Clinton. The author's ideology appears to be similar to that of Klobmentum and especially Big Abraham. But the points are very well articulated. Reread half the chapter, and the gist of it is that Clinton was a conciliatory moderate who caved into Republicans on most issues, despite public opinion to the contrary. His 'welfare reform' was basically throwing everyone on welfare under the bus, including the many who genuinely require it. He cut necessary programs helping the poor, the young, the old, the sick and the needy, but, to appease the rich and the defence industry, he neither increased taxes on the rich, nor decreased the military budget or tried to tackle the growing military industrial complex. Under his watch, the United States sponsored and sold weapons to groups and governments with terrible human rights records, for the sake of $$$ and profit. His foreign policy was messed up and the US government committed, or allowed, the murder of many in places like Iraq and Somalia, crises unreported, leading to more agitation and anti-American sentiments in those places. And all that is really the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of shocking information just in this one chapter, and if reading that Bernie Sanders book moved me to the left so much, I can hardly even imagine what reading a few select chapters of this book will do in moving me politically.

President Clinton did raise taxes on the rich, at least those who pay income taxes, which is actually quite a lot of them (or was at that time.) The top rate was increased from 36% to 39.6%

[Benjamin Frank]

Just read the book Divided Loyalties: the Liberal Party of Canada from 1984-2008 by Brooke Jeffrey. I'm going to post my book review right now.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished The Kill Order. In its place I intend to read (at least a couple of chapters of) A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.

I earlier read the chapter, 'The Clinton Presidency', the second last chapter in the book. Right now, I decided to begin by rereading it. It is the sort of text that really reinforces and drives home what Klobmentum says - that the Democrats weren't and aren't really that liberal at all, particularly Bill Clinton. The author's ideology appears to be similar to that of Klobmentum and especially Big Abraham. But the points are very well articulated. Reread half the chapter, and the gist of it is that Clinton was a conciliatory moderate who caved into Republicans on most issues, despite public opinion to the contrary. His 'welfare reform' was basically throwing everyone on welfare under the bus, including the many who genuinely require it. He cut necessary programs helping the poor, the young, the old, the sick and the needy, but, to appease the rich and the defence industry, he neither increased taxes on the rich, nor decreased the military budget or tried to tackle the growing military industrial complex. Under his watch, the United States sponsored and sold weapons to groups and governments with terrible human rights records, for the sake of $$$ and profit. His foreign policy was messed up and the US government committed, or allowed, the murder of many in places like Iraq and Somalia, crises unreported, leading to more agitation and anti-American sentiments in those places. And all that is really the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of shocking information just in this one chapter, and if reading that Bernie Sanders book moved me to the left so much, I can hardly even imagine what reading a few select chapters of this book will do in moving me politically.

President Clinton did raise taxes on the rich, at least those who pay income taxes, which is actually quite a lot of them (or was at that time.) The top rate was increased from 36% to 39.6%

True, and Zinn does in fact concede that, but it was the epitome of incremental progress. And Clinton caved into the business interests on many other matters, at the expense of workers and American people.