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Jay wrote:

I'll make a recommendation that dovetails nicely with this - Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul. It's a critique of scientific management and the consequences of reason without conscience as applied within the American economy and government. It was written in the early 90's and is slightly dated, but still worth a read.

Dilbert_X wrote:

I have a week in Melbourne in December, recommend me some books.
Ideally
- Futurism
- Economic and/or Social analysis

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

I have a week in Melbourne in December, recommend me some books.
Ideally
- Futurism
- Economic and/or Social analysis

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil

Robins sang in a wood near the river, clear as spring water, fresh as the curled, crisped heart of a lettuce. Like the tinkle of a harpsichord, their song has a misty brightness of nostalgia. The wood smelt of bark and ashes and dead leaves. Circles of cold sky shone at the end of rides. A cock bullfinch squatted on a sagging larch twig. He stretched his neck up towards the twig above him, bit off a bud with a delicate snip and twist of his bill, and chewed it ruminatively. Then he hung his head downwards and snipped off buds from a lower twig. He was a red and black fatty, idly grazing, occasionally exerting himself to breathe out the husky 'du-dudu' of his song, fat dewlap gently quivering. He was like a munching bullock feeding on hawthorn leaves. But the pull and twist of his bill to break off a bud reminded me of a peregrine breaking the neck of its prey. Whatever is destroyed, the act of destruction does not vary much. Beauty is vapour from the pit of death.

Last edited by uziq (2016-11-04 03:22:33)

Dilbert_X wrote:

Sure, you're right.

I enjoyed Cry Wolf, A Kestrel for a Knave, Watership Down etc, I'll add it to my next list.

uziq wrote:

Jay wrote:

I set up my home library in three sections: reason, memory and imagination and read one book from each section in turn. Too much of one type of book burns you out in my experience.

those sound like quite cold and abstract categories, but sure, the idea is sound.

i generally tend to have a non-fiction/history/philosophy book on the go at the same time as a novel, or a play. then a book of poetry on my bedside table or in my rucksack or whatever. reading a poem or three a day can really embed lines and images in your head. reading non-fiction alongside other forms of writing and thought causes all sorts of unforeseen illuminations. i really don't understand people who say they see no point in reading novels or works of imagination: they present life in all its contradiction, messiness, chaos, muddle. there are no clear arguments or presentations: you get those from the non-fiction books you read alongside them. novels instruct you on feeling and intuition. i'm deeply suspicious of people who spend their entire lives rooted in textbooks, polemics and non-fiction.

also reading a shitload of non-fiction at once just causes a sort of saturation and overload for me. i take notes on books that i really enjoy or find interesting. but you can only keep so much high-level theory or argumentation in your head at once.