Grand unified books thread

[Grey Fox]

Very good choice Malthus. Awesome books. Except the last one, written after Maurice's death, that one is weird.

[Malthus]

Very good choice Malthus. Awesome books. Except the last one, written after Maurice's death, that one is weird.

I'm getting the distinct impression from the first one it is a very bad idea to seduce the King of France's daughters-in-law, no matter how hott they are. 

[garbon]

Hey, does anyone know any good books about the history of China say turn of the 20th century to 1950s?

[Habbaku]

Hey, does anyone know any good books about the history of China say turn of the 20th century to 1950s?

It's not solely about the history of China, but The Generalissimo by Jay Taylor is an excellent biography of Chiang Kai-Shek and follows him very closely through that period.  It will, if nothing, give you a good perspective on most of the major and minor events.

http://tinyurl.com/khyare7

[Josephus]

Hey, does anyone know any good books about the history of China say turn of the 20th century to 1950s?

History of Modern China, Penguin, covers the time you say pretty much, although it goes to the present. I found it good.

http://www.amazon.ca/Penguin-History-Modern-China-Jonathan/dp/0141975156/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370486700&sr=1-2

[Kleves]

Trying to get through Wolf Hall. It would help if Hilary Mantel could write worth a damn.

[crazy canuck]

Picked up Naill Ferguson's The Great Degeneration over the weekend.

Executive Summary.  That is a few hours I am never going to get back.  It begins with an interesting premise that the rest of the world is catching up to the economies and standards of living of the West because of failing instutions within the West.  In paricularly he picks on failures of the Rule of Law (because access to legal adjudication and remedies have become too combersome and expensive) and the downfall of Civil Society as a result of a drop in volunteerism and the demise of many volunteer service organizations.

All of this leads to greater government expenditures which in turn makes Western economies less able to compete and reliant on the rest of the world to fund its debt.


When I first starting reading it I thought this would be a great book for Berkut as it picks up on many of the ideas he had in his socialism thread.  But the book deals with these concepts in a very superficial manner - as I suppose it must being only about 150 pages.  At the end of the book I thought it read more like a poorly written tea party manifesto then anything.

Its too bad he didnt put a bit more effort into developing his ideas a bit more.  I suspect this was the product of turning some rough lecture notes into a book to satisfy a publishing deal.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-degeneration-niall-ferguson/1113833127?ean=9781594205453

[Gups]

Trying to get through Wolf Hall. It would help if Hilary Mantel could write worth a damn.

You're kidding. She's an excellent writer. It helps to remember that any reference to "he" is to Cromwell.

Currently reading Angels of our better nature by Pinker - very impressed with the 70 pages I've read so far. Interesting thesis, well-researched, impressively written.

Also The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern. Very good so far. A superior version of Norrell & Strange.

[garbon]

Trying to get through Wolf Hall. It would help if Hilary Mantel could write worth a damn.

You're kidding. She's an excellent writer. It helps to remember that any reference to "he" is to Cromwell.

Agreed that her writing is good - that said there is just something about Wolf Hall that had me frequently putting it down until I just gave up.

[Malthus]

Also The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern. Very good so far. A superior version of Norrell & Strange.

For that strand of fantasy, I really enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni . The central idea: both are involuntary immigrants to turn of the century New York. Fun and well-written.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15819028-the-golem-and-the-jinni

[The Brain]

I am preparing to GM the Call of Cthulhu campaign Tatters of the King. Part of my preparation is reading the collection of stories related to Hastur/The King in Yellow/Carcosa published by Chaosium under the name The Hastur Cycle. I'm almost halfway through.

[Josephus]

Also The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern. Very good so far. A superior version of Norrell & Strange.

For that strand of fantasy, I really enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni . The central idea: both are involuntary immigrants to turn of the century New York. Fun and well-written.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15819028-the-golem-and-the-jinni

Yeah, that's in my list of books to read.

[Sheilbh]

Richard Evans 'The Coming of the Third Reich'. I'd read a couple of novels set in 1930s Germany (and Lords of Finance about the inter-war central bankers, including Hjalmar Schacht) and realised I knew nothing about the period beyond a rough idea of Nazism. Like many British kids I studied the collapse of Weimar for GCSE and A-level and have read about the War, but I didn't know the bit in between.

Apparently Evans' trilogy is the best on the Third Reich in general. Even though I knew a bit about Germany in the 20s this was incredible and really well-written. I can't recommend it enough. I'll get the next two ('The Third Reich in Power' and 'The Third Reich at War') and start on them soon.

For lighter reading I'm on the Barchester Chronicles. I still can't work out why I enjoy him so much, but I absolutely love Trollope

[merithyn]

I've been getting into some Agatha Christie lately. I had no idea that she was so prolific.

Also reading Dan Brown's Inferno. It's... interesting. It might be more interesting if I knew a little more - okay, anything - about Florence or Dante'. Brown definitely does a great job of pulling you in, though. I keep finding myself picking up my Nook when I should be picking up my text book.

[garbon]

Also reading Dan Brown's Inferno. It's... interesting. It might be more interesting if I knew a little more - okay, anything - about Florence or Dante'. Brown definitely does a great job of pulling you in, though. I keep finding myself picking up my Nook when I should be picking up my text book.