Grand unified books thread

[The Brain]

Fuck. Recently I read The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, by Serhii Plokhy. I found it enjoyable and it seemed like a good introduction to the subject. So when I started on his Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy I expected a solid account of Chernobyl. But no. On page two of the preface I came across weirdness:

"Originally it [the reactor core] had contained more than 250 pounds of enriched uranium ..." Technically this is true, but it gives the impression that the core contained only hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium. Quick research suggests that he likely has read the amount of enriched uranium in one fuel assembly as being the amount in the entire core. OK, so a bit weird that he doesn't know much about nuclear reactors and thinks the core was tiny, and weird that it made it through to print. Still, mistakes happen, I read on...

"...- enough to pollute and devastate most of Europe." Really? Some hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium? I struggle on, but fatigue is building...

...and then he launches into a crescendo of weird. "And if the other three reactors of the Chernobyl power plant had been damaged by the explosion of the first, then hardly any living and breathing organisms would have remained on the planet." This is of course complete fantasy. Too bad that he's a fantasist, now I cannot trust anything he writes. So I stopped reading the book. I fucking hate it when this happens.

And get this: the guy is a Harvard professor. What a fucking joke. They're hiring anyone these days.

[Oexmelin]

They're hiring anyone these days.

But, yeah. Unfortunately, Harvard is interested in whatever promotes the Harvard brand; in addition, there are pressures to publish quickly books that will garner attention. A position in the Ivy League often translates into self-indulgence. His first book was probably very good (and it's about the Cossaks, and the early-modern period, quite far from 20th century Chernobyl) - and then suddenly people start treating you like you are an expert in all things East Europeans. After a while, you start believing them. 

[Malthus]

Fuck. Recently I read The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, by Serhii Plokhy. I found it enjoyable and it seemed like a good introduction to the subject. So when I started on his Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy I expected a solid account of Chernobyl. But no. On page two of the preface I came across weirdness:

"Originally it [the reactor core] had contained more than 250 pounds of enriched uranium ..." Technically this is true, but it gives the impression that the core contained only hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium. Quick research suggests that he likely has read the amount of enriched uranium in one fuel assembly as being the amount in the entire core. OK, so a bit weird that he doesn't know much about nuclear reactors and thinks the core was tiny, and weird that it made it through to print. Still, mistakes happen, I read on...

"...- enough to pollute and devastate most of Europe." Really? Some hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium? I struggle on, but fatigue is building...

...and then he launches into a crescendo of weird. "And if the other three reactors of the Chernobyl power plant had been damaged by the explosion of the first, then hardly any living and breathing organisms would have remained on the planet." This is of course complete fantasy. Too bad that he's a fantasist, now I cannot trust anything he writes. So I stopped reading the book. I fucking hate it when this happens.

And get this: the guy is a Harvard professor. What a fucking joke. They're hiring anyone these days.

This is, in a nutshell, what I disliked about the Chernobyl TV series: the drama was excellent, but the overstating of the effects of the tragedy was just unnecessary and misleading.

They can be excused, though, since apparently reputable historians did no better!

[Sheilbh]

I think the show is based on that book and he was a consultant.

I enjoyed his book on Ukraine when I was visiting. Though he does have a perspective, which is fine.

[The Brain]

They're hiring anyone these days.

But, yeah. Unfortunately, Harvard is interested in whatever promotes the Harvard brand; in addition, there are pressures to publish quickly books that will garner attention. A position in the Ivy League often translates into self-indulgence. His first book was probably very good (and it's about the Cossaks, and the early-modern period, quite far from 20th century Chernobyl) - and then suddenly people start treating you like you are an expert in all things East Europeans. After a while, you start believing them.

Sounds plausible.

[Hamilcar]

I started "Skin in the game" by Taleb. Some of the ideas are interesting, but Taleb has such a pathological ego that I find it hard to push through. The faux Mafia talk is a very annoying affectation.

[mongers]

I started "Skin in the game" by Taleb. Some of the ideas are interesting, but Taleb has such a pathological ego that I find it hard to push through. The faux Mafia talk is a very annoying affectation.

Taleb is in interesting character, perhaps more so than he is a writer; I got through The Black Swan and thought it could have been condensed into half a dozen chapters. Haven't picked up any of his later books. 

[frunk]

I started "Skin in the game" by Taleb. Some of the ideas are interesting, but Taleb has such a pathological ego that I find it hard to push through. The faux Mafia talk is a very annoying affectation.

Taleb is in interesting character, perhaps more so than he is a writer; I got through The Black Swan and thought it could have been condensed into half a dozen chapters. Haven't picked up any of his later books. 

Yeah, he's pretty interesting when he stays on firmer mathematical and scientific foundations.  When he wonders off from there it's a bit of a mess.

[Malthus]

I am enjoying the trilogy by Simon Winder - Germania, Danubia and Lotharingia. Someone here recommended these, and they are great reads - I've dogeared many passages to read to my kid! 

[Habbaku]

 

[crazy canuck]

I am enjoying the trilogy by Simon Winder - Germania, Danubia and Lotharingia. Someone here recommended these, and they are great reads - I've dogeared many passages to read to my kid! 

Yeah, Habs directed me to the series.  Loved it.

[Admiral Yi]

The Economist has a lengthy review of a book called We Fight Fascists, dealing with a part of British history I didn't know even existed.  Mosley was released from internment at the end of WWII, and started up again right where he had left off.  How bizarre is that to start preaching fascism in the streets of the UK right after defeating the Nazis.  This book is about the mostly Jewish group that fought against Mosley's group.

The reviewer mentions a couple factors that played into anti-Semitism at the time, in particular the Jewish insurgency in Palestine.  He also mentions the parallel with modern antifas.

[grumbler]

Just finished QUANTUM by Patricia Cornwell and boy, is it bad!  Impossibly multi-skilled heroine (she makes Buckaroo Bonzai look like a tyro), dialogue that refuses to say anything for the entire book, digressions into car fix up tips and how NASA launches rockets (half the words in the book are digressions, and the reader starts skipping whole chunks of the book looking for the resumption of the story), a ridiculous plot premise (two adult identical twins cannot be told apart even though they have lived apart for year, except one has a tiny scar on one finger), incredibly stupid heroine decision-making, and, to top it off, the book just ends without resolving a single one of the dozens of "mysteries" it introduces. 

I got it for free so cannot complain about the money I spent on it, but I can complain about the time.  Stay far, far away.

[mongers]

@LRBbookshop

page 94 of the new le carré. surely this isn't a coincidence (read down the initial letters of each line)

[Malthus]

Currently reading Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep.

So far, it is very good - an interesting mix of true crime and social commentary. Haven't come to Harper Lee's involvement yet.

The point of the book is that famous author Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, decides she will base her next book on the trial of a Black man accused of murdering a Black preacher during a funeral; the man clearly did the killing (there were 300 witnesses) but argued it was justified ... because the preacher was a serial killer who had gotten away with it for years. Lee attends the trial hearings and works for years on her book - but never publishes it. Furious Hours is an exploration of the case, its effect on Lee, and the state of the South at that time (the 1970s).