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Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #50 :marseyreading:

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

I didn't read Atomised this week and instead started Confessions of a Mask, which is basically Mishima's autobiography as a closeted teenager during the Shōwa Era Japan, plus weird sadomasochistic tendencies like getting an erection and masturbating to St. Sebastian's painting. I'll finish Houellebecq's “magnus opus” eventually.

!bookworms !classics

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I read "Holocaust Industry" by Norman Finkelstein and now im reading "The Gambler" by Dostoevsky. Just like when I watched Gone with the Wind I self-inserted as Rhett because he got constantly used by Scarlett now im self-inserting as Alexei the gambler who gets manipulated by Polina constantly... Why are books so blackpilling

https://i.rdrama.net/images/17165610694311323.webp

With that being said its a great book, im also writing essays about each book I read in order to make me think about the book.

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Just like when I watched Gone with the Wind I self-inserted as Rhett because he got constantly used by Scarlett

Muhhhh Ashley!

Scarlett simped so hard for a :marseymid: married man. At least Rhett realized she was full of shit, but it wouldn't surprise me if they went back together into their toxic marriage.

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Scarlett is just a piece of shit average woman, falls in love with Ashley then marries a random guy who loved her (me) just to make him jealous, doesnt work that guy dies and she doesnt give a frick at all. Then marries a second guy (also me) because of his money and screws her sister over. And thirdly marries Rhett but still can't get over Ashley. Seriously pisses me off

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I unironically love Scarlett as a character :marseysouthernbelle7:. Not because she's a likable person, but because she's flawed, she's a great example of an actual strong female character.

Compare it with modern hollywood girlbosses who are always righteous Mary Sue's or at least the writers wanted them to he seem as righteous despite bitchiness. Scarlett O'Hara is different, we know she's a b-word and not a good person right from the beginning, but she's not a hopeless damsel in distress either. She's resourceful, adaptable, cunning and manipulative. Going by 19th century societal norms Scarlett played her game with perfection, her downfall was being madly obsessed with Ashley.

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Yeah true, have you read The Gambler?

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No, but I think @TR did

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I haven't, only read his major works plus notes from the underground and the eternal husband

The Eternal husband is pretty funny, it has the OG "alpha" and "beta" :andrewtate: male characters in the story.

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Machiavelli - The Prince

There's a good reason why it's so well regarded. It's a very succinct guide to how to be an effective dictator (hopefully a benevolent one). It's really not all that much about plotting and scheming, more about understanding human nature. Like being nice to people doesn't always make them loyal. Most of it is timeless advice but he uses some examples from Italy in his own time so you'll want wikipedia open to just take a glance every once in a while.

It reminded me of Sun Tzu a lot in that he distills the basics of his art down into a simple form easy to understand.

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read it recently, great book

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I read the version that had some annotations by historical european leaders like Napoleon and some Swedish queen.

There's a part about the great conquerors of history like Caesar and Alexander. Napoleon inserted his name there on his copy of the book, back when he was still a mid ranking officer.

:g#igachad4:

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I am about half way through Red Seas Under Red Skies but I kind of got into a slog with it. To prep I reread The Lies of Locke Lamora and I have a hard time reading two books in the same series consecutively. I think I'll try to read a different book first and I'm tied between Mazirian the Magician and Piranesi.

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Finished reading "The Perfect Run". In a post apocalyptic alternate present, the destiny of humanity was permanently altered when someone known as "The Alchemist" decided to seemingly at random distribute vials that granted superpowers to those who drank them. The powers are vaguely defined by the colour of the elixir and can range from things like pyromancy to supernatural luck and the ability to have a supernatural understanding of a hyper specific domain of science.

Many years before the story, the main character drank a potion that gave him the power to create "save points" that let him turn back time when he dies. The main character has lived for hundreds of years in the time others have lived less than a decade. Searching for his first love (a filthy commie), the main character travels through post-apocalyptic Europe until he finally arrives at New Rome. New Rome was founded by a pharmaceutical company that is in a ongoing power struggle with mafia family run by some mutant supremacist schizo who has his top henchmen named after the old Roman pantheon. Can the main character achieve "the perfect run"? One where all his favourite people die, and worst enemies suffer? Yeah, obviously.

It was a decent read, it is very heavy on the pop culture references though, mostly capeshit, starshit and vidya gaymes. The main character is an eccentric a bit of a deadpool like type, but it is revealed that he is not as crazy as you might think, as it turns out his eccentric behaviour was deliberately modelled after someone that saved him as a child

My favourite reveal was The Alchemist the Alchemist was exposed to an alien wreck from an alternate reality, it was there where she gained the power to pull alternate reality versions of herself into her own world to help her. And it was also there she gained her "purpose". She learns of a galactic civilization that once mastered the usage of supernatural forces, and is scared shitless at the thought that they might come for earth, she also develops human supremacist ideas, and believe that gifting superpowers to mankind will allow humanity to become the dominant species in the universe. What she does not know though, is that the civilization she fears is already dead.

And the power that lets her bring in alternate universe versions of herself? It does not work the way she thinks. These alternate universes are created by her power, using her as a model. So even when she brings in a version of herself that is an expert on quantum physics, it will always be a version of herself that shares her exact political views, speaks French, and already shares her biases. So her power creates an echo chamber that validates her worst impulses, it takes her and her alternate universe girl pals only a couple of days to convince themselves that they have to kill her lab partners.

She actually says at one point that she entertained the idea that she is in an echo chamber at some point, but she and her girl pals ultimately agreed that it was a ridiculous assumption. :#marseyxd:


:#marseydisintegrate: :!#marseyflamewar::space::!marseyagree:

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You had a chance to not be completely worthless, but it looks like you threw it away. At least you're consistent.

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So true.


:#marseydisintegrate: :!#marseyflamewar::space::!marseyagree:

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Wittgensteins tractatus.first book I actually had to take notes on as I read it, it helps casting everything he writes into math

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Started rereading The Second Apocalypse, it gets a lot of shit but I really liked it the first time and it's so dense that I've already noticed a lot of things I didn't catch or really understand the first time through.

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Getting into some Jung . Starting with Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. Very approachable book with an odd mix of wisdom and dreams about peepees.

Rereading 48 Laws of Power and Leviathan and Its Enemies. My eventual goal in life/retirement plan is to become a warlord that controls an underground reservior of water a la Immortan Joe, so i figure these books are a decent start on that.

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Jung is a fricking :marseytom: r-slur :marseybikechainincident: bar none but Freud

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User above you has peepee envy :#marseyfreud:

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“Civilwarland in Bad Decline” by George Saunders. Unlike most of the other short story collections I've read, I'm not bored to death. The premise of each story is ridiculous too. They all take place at obscure theme parks or companies like an authentic civil war village or a raccoon catch and release company.

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Hey, anyone know of any good books about Medieval European history? Like, between the "fall" of western Rome and up to like 1500 or so.

I'm reading this book on it now titled Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500 but it's a textbook and seems somewhat dry to just read on its own (I'm sure in an actual history class there would be some additional discussion about the topics that aren't present in the book itself).

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Histoire du Moyen Âge by Georges Minois. It covers the European middle ages and some Bizantine history from the year 400 (late antiquity) until 1500. That's the one I know but I don't think it was translated to English.

If you're interested in Byzantine History then Judith Herring's “Byzantium, the surprising life of a medieval empire” is a great and fun compendium. For the Vikings there's Neil Price's book even if he goes into woke nonsense (he talks about transgender or gender fluid vikings on a chapter, super eye-rolling).

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Saved, thanks. I don't speak French so I'll skip that one but I'm really just trying to fill in "holes" in my understanding of history and the Byzantine empire is definitely one of those holes.

I recently finished The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy which was kinda refreshing in how direct it was. For example he minced no words in describing how useless the Italians were during WW2 due to their poor organization, outdated military hardware, and comically low literacy rate. Just savage.

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Grapes of wrath, i finished east of eden a while ago and enjoyed it. I'm not that into grapes so far.

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I'm about halfway through The Sun Also Rises and I'm enjoying it well enough but absolutely nothing is happening. It's my first Hemingway so maybe this is just his thing, I dunno.

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I don't read.

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Hi i am an 18 year old guy after a little bit of thinking i discovered that relationships and s*x aren't the best way for passing on my genes here is an alternative strategy :work 12 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week every week for 30 years save and invest 90 to 99 percent of your income than when you are in your 50s and you are wealthy enough you can buy womens eggs and rent wombs to carry your babies you only have to give semen than when the babies are born dana test them all and take them only if are yours than raise them to grow the family net worth and expend the tribe by breading with woman with certain genetic traits

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