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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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A new author for me. A murder mystery based around Jack the Ripper. Well written, interesting, engrossing and an unexpected twist. Love a twist.
What I didn’t realise until after reading was that it’s actually young adult fiction. Definitely works at all levels. Part of a trilogy.
I've tackled The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Sushona Zuboff. It incorporates the story of how Google became the all-knowing eye in the sky (and everywhere else) and how others are following suit. They can't be stopped now. They used deception to normalize their illegal actions and stall tactics in hundreds of lawsuits. The lengths they went to in order to dupe us all are amazing, astounding, and quite troubling. We've been had.
Cracking book. Great story, gripping. If you like a good crime story with a great investigation, have a read.
I recently finished reading his book Rules of Civility which I borrowed on spec as an ebook from the library, without a clue as to its content or focus, and was surprised to end up having enjoyed it immensely. I was a bit unsure of the approach at first as it's rather unusual in the manner of presenting its so many cultural references to the era. By the end though, I was sorry to be running out of pages. Anyway now I've borrowed A Gentleman in Moscow to see if I will like that one too.
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it; my sister-in-law - knowing that I used to teach Russian (and Soviet) history, thought that I would appreciate it, and - moreover - felt that - given the lived realities of lock-down life, that the book was more than usually apt for current circumstances.
One, Two, Three, Four; The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown. So far it is superb.
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds (2018) by David Goggins.
Talk about an inspirational biography. This man is incredible, and the trajectory of his life is even more incredible; a must read book if you ask me. Goggins grew up with an abusive father, just a few miles from the KKK's headquarters. In his youth it was not uncommon to be beaten by his dad at home just to be greeted with racial slurs (or, worse, threats and violence) at school. Someone keyed "We'll kill you, N*****" on his car in high school and he regularly found racial slurs on his belongings. As a result, he became a morbidly obese man whose only job in life was to hunt for cockroaches in restaurants. Until he finally said "No.". He said "No." to himself, not to the world. Not to the racists, not to his abusive dad. He found a way to get out of it by doing something at the limit of the impossible. He became a Navy SEAL, losing over 100lbs in less than 3 months just to qualify for the entry tests. Not only he did it, but he did the infamous SEAL's Hell Week - something that most people fail at - three times in a row, to the point in which he had to subdue pain from a ruptured muscle by compressing it hard to the point of numbness with duck tape. He then went to run one of the hardest ultramarathons in the world, on top of other marathons. He then entered the Guinness World Book of Records for most pull-ups in a day. And more, and more. You get the story.
What I liked about this book is that he doesn't hide anything. He truly shows his way of thinking, his pain, his failures as much as he shows his accomplishments. It's not easy to tell the world that midway through an ultra-marathon you collapse just to be fully covered in your own feces and a pool of piss of blood. Yet, he doesn't hide it or even romanticize it.
Note 1: I listened to the Audiobook because it contains hours of extra features. I love what Goggins did with the audiobook version. At the end of the chapter (or even right after describing some important parts) he added Q&A's with the audiobook reader. So what you get is an audiobook + interview + podcast all integrated in one.
Note 2: This book is full of racial slurs and cussing. Goggins explains that he didn't want to hide behind softening words. So, if you have kids don't listen to the audiobook unless you want to teach them an entire dictionary of insults and bad words.
Note 2b: If you don't like cussing, there is a "clean version" of the paperback edition.
Note 3: I immediately bought a hardcopy of this book as I want to re-read it immediately.
I highly recommend that you listen to some of his interviews on youtube. The one with Joe Rogan is pretty neat.
Talk about an inspirational biography. This man is incredible, and the trajectory of his life is even more incredible; a must read book if you ask me. Goggins grew up with an abusive father, just a few miles from the KKK's headquarters. In his youth it was not uncommon to be beaten by his dad at home just to be greeted with racial slurs (or, worse, threats and violence) at school. Someone keyed "We'll kill you, N*****" on his car in high school and he regularly found racial slurs on his belongings. As a result, he became a morbidly obese man whose only job in life was to hunt for cockroaches in restaurants. Until he finally said "No.". He said "No." to himself, not to the world. Not to the racists, not to his abusive dad. He found a way to get out of it by doing something at the limit of the impossible. He became a Navy SEAL, losing over 100lbs in less than 3 months just to qualify for the entry tests. Not only he did it, but he did the infamous SEAL's Hell Week - something that most people fail at - three times in a row, to the point in which he had to subdue pain from a ruptured muscle by compressing it hard to the point of numbness with duck tape. He then went to run one of the hardest ultramarathons in the world, on top of other marathons. He then entered the Guinness World Book of Records for most pull-ups in a day. And more, and more. You get the story.
What I liked about this book is that he doesn't hide anything. He truly shows his way of thinking, his pain, his failures as much as he shows his accomplishments. It's not easy to tell the world that midway through an ultra-marathon you collapse just to be fully covered in your own feces and a pool of piss of blood. Yet, he doesn't hide it or even romanticize it.
Note 1: I listened to the Audiobook because it contains hours of extra features. I love what Goggins did with the audiobook version. At the end of the chapter (or even right after describing some important parts) he added Q&A's with the audiobook reader. So what you get is an audiobook + interview + podcast all integrated in one.
Note 2: This book is full of racial slurs and cussing. Goggins explains that he didn't want to hide behind softening words. So, if you have kids don't listen to the audiobook unless you want to teach them an entire dictionary of insults and bad words.
Note 2b: If you don't like cussing, there is a "clean version" of the paperback edition.
Note 3: I immediately bought a hardcopy of this book as I want to re-read it immediately.
I highly recommend that you listen to some of his interviews on youtube. The one with Joe Rogan is pretty neat.
That sounds very interesting and inspirational. Thanks for posting about it.Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds (2018) by David Goggins.
Talk about an inspirational biography. This man is incredible, and the trajectory of his life is even more incredible; a must read book if you ask me. Goggins grew up with an abusive father, just a few miles from the KKK's headquarters. In his youth it was not uncommon to be beaten by his dad at home just to be greeted with racial slurs (or, worse, threats and violence) at school. Someone keyed "We'll kill you, N*****" on his car in high school and he regularly found racial slurs on his belongings. As a result, he became a morbidly obese man whose only job in life was to hunt for cockroaches in restaurants. Until he finally said "No.". He said "No." to himself, not to the world. Not to the racists, not to his abusive dad. He found a way to get out of it by doing something at the limit of the impossible. He became a Navy SEAL, losing over 100lbs in less than 3 months just to qualify for the entry tests. Not only he did it, but he did the infamous SEAL's Hell Week - something that most people fail at - three times in a row, to the point in which he had to subdue pain from a ruptured muscle by compressing it hard to the point of numbness with duck tape. He then went to run one of the hardest ultramarathons in the world, on top of other marathons. He then entered the Guinness World Book of Records for most pull-ups in a day. And more, and more. You get the story.
What I liked about this book is that he doesn't hide anything. He truly shows his way of thinking, his pain, his failures as much as he shows his accomplishments. It's not easy to tell the world that midway through an ultra-marathon you collapse just to be fully covered in your own feces and a pool of piss of blood. Yet, he doesn't hide it or even romanticize it.
Note 1: I listened to the Audiobook because it contains hours of extra features. I love what Goggins did with the audiobook version. At the end of the chapter (or even right after describing some important parts) he added Q&A's with the audiobook reader. So what you get is an audiobook + interview + podcast all integrated in one.
Note 2: This book is full of racial slurs and cussing. Goggins explains that he didn't want to hide behind softening words. So, if you have kids don't listen to the audiobook unless you want to teach them an entire dictionary of insults and bad words.
Note 2b: If you don't like cussing, there is a "clean version" of the paperback edition.
Note 3: I immediately bought a hardcopy of this book as I want to re-read it immediately.
I highly recommend that you listen to some of his interviews on youtube. The one with Joe Rogan is pretty neat.
Just started reading David Baldacci's 'A Gambling Man.' Recommended by a friend.
In recent weeks, (well, mainly over the past month, but, much of it over the past fortnight), I have read several books, mostly fantasy.
These have included:
The Empire Trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, Mistress of the Empire) by Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist;
The Draconis Memoria Trilogy (The Waking Fire; The Legion of Flame; The Empire of Ashes) by Anthony Ryan;
The Blue Sword, and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley;
The Leviathan Trilogy (Leviathan, Behemoth, Goliath) by Scott Westerfield;
The Privilege of the Sword - Ellen Kushner;
The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell.
These have included:
The Empire Trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, Mistress of the Empire) by Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist;
The Draconis Memoria Trilogy (The Waking Fire; The Legion of Flame; The Empire of Ashes) by Anthony Ryan;
The Blue Sword, and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley;
The Leviathan Trilogy (Leviathan, Behemoth, Goliath) by Scott Westerfield;
The Privilege of the Sword - Ellen Kushner;
The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell.
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Let me know what you think of it; personally, I loved that book (a gift from my German sister-in-law).
The first chapter of "Battle Cry of Freedom - The American Civil War" by James M McPherson is a must read, a superb analysis and synthesis (social, cultural, economic - and yes political - history) of the development of the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Can you summarise his conclusions?
Anything new, or interesting, or challenging or original?
While I might suffer four minutes, I will not spend 14 minutes of my life to watch a video.
Besides, I hate videos, and adore books.
Another recent read was the biography of U S Grant by Ron Chernow.