Grand unified books thread

[crazy canuck]

An excellent piece on why the warning in 1984 continues to be critically important for the right and left

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/1984-george-orwell/590638/

[Berkut]

Reading the Elon Musk biography.

It is pretty incredible.

[Savonarola]

I finished a collection of four of Tolstoy's "Short" stories.  The first three ("Family Happiness," "The Death of Ivan Illyich," and "The Kreutzer Sonata") were all what I'd expect from a Tolstoy short story.  The stories are a critique of Russian society in which the main characters go through an intense period of purgation to reach an epiphany which corresponds to Tolstoy's worldview.  This view grew progressively more ascetic as Tolstoy grew older and the stories become progressively bleaker.

The final story, "Hadji Murat" is different; it's historical fiction set during the Russian colonial wars in (plus ça change) Chechnya.  That's a rollicking adventure tale filled with treacherous mountain natives, crafty Russian generals, beautiful princesses, put-upon soldiers and a dim-witted Czar.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem quite complete (it was published posthumously) and the narrative wanders.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm currently gritting my teeth, trying to make it to the end of Crete, 1941, by Antony Beevor.  It's a horrible disappointment.  I loved his books on Stalingrad, Berlin and the Spanish Civil War.

He covers the British expeditionary force to mainland Greece as well, and the evacuation to Crete, the airborne landing itself, but you can tell he didn't care that much about those and what he really wanted to write about was post-airdrop resistance, or more specifically the colorful cast of characters sent by British Special Operation Executive to Crete to recruit and organize the resistance.  There's no real narrative flow in this part.  It seems like he just lined up note cards in chronological order and plopped them on a page. 

Do not recommend.

[grumbler]

Reading the Elon Musk biography.

It is pretty incredible.

Just now finished it myself.  I agree that it's a fascinating read.  I went into it of two minds about Musk, and came out the same, but I think I understand him and his methods a lot better now.

I'd have liked it more if the author had gone more into detail on the turnover among SpaceX and Tesla employees.  Long work hours from highly motivated 25-year-olds achieve high productivity and lower costs in the short term, but risk losing valuable skills as workers get older and have other competing interests.

[The Brain]

A while ago I got Alien Next Door, which is a cute little book about the famous xenomorph getting into everyday situations. Today I got delivered its sister volume Jonesy: Nine Lives On The Nostromo, which is about what Jonesy gets up to off camera in Alien. It's not the same artist, but they share some similarities. They're cute and dirt cheap, so why not get both, but if you only get one then get Alien Next Door. They don't have any text so everyone can enjoy them.

[The Brain]

I also got a brand new book on Charles XII that I hadn't heard about until it showed up on Amazon: Charles XII: Warrior King (edited by Hattendorf et al.), part 4 of something called Protagonists of History in International Perspective. 20 scholars from 12 countries write about how Charles XII appeared in the eyes of various countries. Haven't started it yet, but it seems pretty nice, color pics etc. It wasn't cheap mind.

[Malthus]

I also got a brand new book on Charles XII that I hadn't heard about until it showed up on Amazon: Charles XII: Warrior King (edited by Hattendorf et al.), part 4 of something called Protagonists of History in International Perspective. 20 scholars from 12 countries write about how Charles XII appeared in the eyes of various countries. Haven't started it yet, but it seems pretty nice, color pics etc. It wasn't cheap mind.

The books I wanted that you recommended were also - expensive. I'm going to borrow them from the library, something I don't ordinarily do ... 

[The Brain]

I also got a brand new book on Charles XII that I hadn't heard about until it showed up on Amazon: Charles XII: Warrior King (edited by Hattendorf et al.), part 4 of something called Protagonists of History in International Perspective. 20 scholars from 12 countries write about how Charles XII appeared in the eyes of various countries. Haven't started it yet, but it seems pretty nice, color pics etc. It wasn't cheap mind.

The books I wanted that you recommended were also - expensive. I'm going to borrow them from the library, something I don't ordinarily do ... 

Shouldn't have blown your money on strollers.

[jimmy olsen]

I also got a brand new book on Charles XII that I hadn't heard about until it showed up on Amazon: Charles XII: Warrior King (edited by Hattendorf et al.), part 4 of something called Protagonists of History in International Perspective. 20 scholars from 12 countries write about how Charles XII appeared in the eyes of various countries. Haven't started it yet, but it seems pretty nice, color pics etc. It wasn't cheap mind.

The books I wanted that you recommended were also - expensive. I'm going to borrow them from the library, something I don't ordinarily do ... 

Action your fanart off to make ends meet.

[Malthus]

Action your fanart off to make ends meet.

Drawing fan art is not a road to riches. Fact is, there are thousands of desperate fan artists selling commissions online, and so the prices tend to be low.

I'm often asked to sell my stuff, but trust me, it's not worth going through the effort to sell: I simply spend too much time on each piece. Each one takes at a minimum 10 hours to make; I couldn't sell them at a price that would pay me enough to be worth it. 

[Syt]

10 hours? Just charge your lawyer rate

[Malthus]

10 hours? Just charge your lawyer rate

If that was at all likely, I would. 

[Savonarola]

And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

Life sucks for the Don Cossacks.  Then the First World War occurs and life sucks for the Don Cossacks.  Then the Russian Revolution happens and life sucks for the Don Cossacks.  Then the civil war happens and life really sucks for the Don Cossacks.

Even knowing the Sholokov won the Nobel Prize, I didn't go into this book with high expectaions.  Sholokhov was Stalin's favorite writer, (and a good friend of Stalin.)  Fortunately Stalin's taste in literature was quite a bit better than his taste in the visual arts; and the book is far from Socialist Realism.  The book doesn't portray the civil war as good versus evil; but instead captures the confusion of the era.  It's not at all clear that the Cossacks would have been any better off with the Nationalists or even a military dictatorship than they were with the Bolsheviks.  It raises the question "What place do a pastoral warrior people have in the workers' and peasants' revolution?"  It's probably only because Sholokhov was such a loyal party man and a friend of Stalin's that he could get away with any political question.

The book gives both a vivid picture of Cossack life as well as the landscape around the Don valley.  It also presents a number of Cossack folk songs; including one from which Pete Seeger cribbed the lyrics to "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?"

[Maladict]

And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

It's on my shelf, but I've been fearing it wouldn't be as good as I'd hope it to be.