Grand unified books thread

[Jacob]

Hey if you guys can round up about $3 million or so I'll make a sweet little Flashman indie game. If you can get me $15-20 million I can deliver a nicely polished AA game.

[Syt]

I see Spotify has added a ton of audio books for premium subscribers.

I am delighted to discover that Spotify lets you save your audiobooks in separate folders AND saves your progress. I was worried they'd treat it like any other CD or playlist and you'd have to remember where you left off if you listened to something else in between.

[The Minsky Moment]

I see Spotify has added a ton of audio books for premium subscribers.

I am delighted to discover that Spotify lets you save your audiobooks in separate folders AND saves your progress. I was worried they'd treat it like any other CD or playlist and you'd have to remember where you left off if you listened to something else in between.

Audiobooks by human authors or more of their AI generated shit?

[Syt]

I see Spotify has added a ton of audio books for premium subscribers.

I am delighted to discover that Spotify lets you save your audiobooks in separate folders AND saves your progress. I was worried they'd treat it like any other CD or playlist and you'd have to remember where you left off if you listened to something else in between.

Audiobooks by human authors or more of their AI generated shit?

Actual audio books, e.g. from Random House. Compared some of my Star Wars audio books on Audible and seems to be the same. Same with Neil Gaiman books or Stephen Fry's Mythos (with the authors themselves narrating).

[Savonarola]

I read "Freedom's Forge" by Arthur Herman, a popular history account of the United States conversion to a wartime economy during the Second World War.  It focuses on Bill Knudsen (Chevrolet's Whiz Kid, turned Director of Production for the Army) and ship building magnate Henry Kaiser.  (Kaiser had started his career in construction in British Columbia, but returned to the United States in 1914 when "Kaiser" wasn't such a great last name to have.)

A lot of the book focuses on Detroit, and especially the travails of the Ford's bomber plant at Willow Run.  My grandfather had been a draftsman at Ford when the war broke out and worked on various wartime projects.  He was told to report to Willow Run.  At the time Willow Run was a small town far outside the city with no paved roads (today it's a suburb with the highway directly passing through).  He asked for a raise, his manager went to the director and he said the entire floor of the shop could hear the director thundering "Who does that S.O.B. think he is to get a raise out of the Ford Motor Company."  So he got another job with a supplier; only he didn't tell the draft board.  About three jobs later the draft board caught up with him and made him report for his physical, but (as he already knew) he was 4F since he had had tuberculosis.  When he got there the man ahead of him had only one arm.  The doctor said, "Haven't I see you before?"  The man said, "Yes, this is the fourth time they've sent me here."  The doctor said "Do those S.O.B.s think you're going to grow a new arm?"

The book also covers the 1943 race riots in Detroit.  That was another thing my grandfather told me about.  The riot happened on Detroit's east side, and he lived and worked on the west.  The company he worked for had a black janitor who didn't show up to work for a week.  Everyone had assumed the worst, but when he did return he said "I thought if I had shown up you would have killed me."

Anyhow, it's a fun book and informative of the industrial history of those years.  I was surprised at how many manufacturers in Europe relied on hand assembly rather than machine tools and an assembly line.  It's relevant today with all the talk about bringing manufacturing back to the United States.  In 1938 the United States' industrial base was still devastated from the depression (steel production was about half what it had been in 1929); but the military contracts revitalized manufacturing.  So all we need to do is start Lend-Lease to Ukraine (or, given this administration, Russia), and we're on a way.

[crazy canuck]

I read "Freedom's Forge" by Arthur Herman, a popular history account of the United States conversion to a wartime economy during the Second World War.  It focuses on Bill Knudsen (Chevrolet's Whiz Kid, turned Director of Production for the Army) and ship building magnate Henry Kaiser.  (Kaiser had started his career in construction in British Columbia, but returned to the United States in 1914 when "Kaiser" wasn't such a great last name to have.)

A lot of the book focuses on Detroit, and especially the travails of the Ford's bomber plant at Willow Run.  My grandfather had been a draftsman at Ford when the war broke out and worked on various wartime projects.  He was told to report to Willow Run.  At the time Willow Run was a small town far outside the city with no paved roads (today it's a suburb with the highway directly passing through).  He asked for a raise, his manager went to the director and he said the entire floor of the shop could hear the director thundering "Who does that S.O.B. think he is to get a raise out of the Ford Motor Company."  So he got another job with a supplier; only he didn't tell the draft board.  About three jobs later the draft board caught up with him and made him report for his physical, but (as he already knew) he was 4F since he had had tuberculosis.  When he got there the man ahead of him had only one arm.  The doctor said, "Haven't I see you before?"  The man said, "Yes, this is the fourth time they've sent me here."  The doctor said "Do those S.O.B.s think you're going to grow a new arm?"

The book also covers the 1943 race riots in Detroit.  That was another thing my grandfather told me about.  The riot happened on Detroit's east side, and he lived and worked on the west.  The company he worked for had a black janitor who didn't show up to work for a week.  Everyone had assumed the worst, but when he did return he said "I thought if I had shown up you would have killed me."

Anyhow, it's a fun book and informative of the industrial history of those years.  I was surprised at how many manufacturers in Europe relied on hand assembly rather than machine tools and an assembly line.  It's relevant today with all the talk about bringing manufacturing back to the United States.  In 1938 the United States' industrial base was still devastated from the depression (steel production was about half what it had been in 1929); but the military contracts revitalized manufacturing.  So all we need to do is start Lend-Lease to Ukraine (or, given this administration, Russia), and we're on a way.

Kaiser's grandson ran one of British Colombia's largest resource extraction companies-mainly coal.  Kaiser Industries.  He also became the owner of the Denver Broncos.

[Admiral Yi]

Howdy Malthus

[grumbler]

For Black Company fans, Glen Cook is releasing a new book in the series, Lies Weeping in November.

Personally, I think that the series ended at the right spot with Soldiers Live in 2007 and anything further will be less interesting because it will seem like beating a dead horse (example: 2018's awkward Port of Shadows).  I'd much prefer a new Garrett PI book if Cook is looking to write some potboilers.

[Razgovory]

Damn, I thought Glen Cook was dead.

[Syt]

Actual audio books, e.g. from Random House. Compared some of my Star Wars audio books on Audible and seems to be the same. Same with Neil Gaiman books or Stephen Fry's Mythos (with the authors themselves narrating).

Addendum: Turns out you only get 12h with your monthly subscription. If you want more, you can buy it for the rate of EUR 10 for 10 hours.

(Fortunately I by chance picked a book that was pretty much exactly 12 hours.)

In short: unless you listen to audio books a max of 12 hours per month - Audible is the better deal still.