Your current reading list

The Black Flag Cafe is the place travelers come to share stories and advice. Moderated by Robert Young Pelton the author of The World's Most Dangerous Places.

Moderator: coldharvest

Re: Your current reading list

Postby Ultra Swain » Tue May 22, 2012 1:16 pm

Q wrote:Fuckin' books, how do they work?


Dude, your ICP reference, pure fucking gold.
Geez,am I NOT ALLOWED TO BE INTENSE FOR JUST 10 FUCKING SECONDS??!!!!!!!
User avatar
Ultra Swain
Snappyus Answerus
 
Posts: 10447
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:24 pm
Location: Raw Water

Re: Your current reading list

Postby Detroit_Pierogi » Thu May 24, 2012 6:22 pm

En route from Amazon:

Image


Image
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
User avatar
Detroit_Pierogi
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 255
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:54 pm
Location: Rollin' Deep Cover On The Incognito Tip

Re: Your current reading list

Postby Detroit_Pierogi » Thu May 24, 2012 6:31 pm

Just finished these.


Image



Image
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
User avatar
Detroit_Pierogi
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 255
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:54 pm
Location: Rollin' Deep Cover On The Incognito Tip

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:24 pm

I recently watched a documentary on fractal geometry and chaos theory which just set me on a jag to delve more deeply into the subject.
I found a first edition of Chaos and Fractals at a used bookstore for $15. This was a major score for a Springer/Verlag book as they're usually $100+. I just got done reading (Mis)behavior of Markets by Benoit Mandelbrot. It's nice when guys like Mandelbrot agree with you that most of the SOP of market theory is BS. I also have a copy of Gleick's Making a New Science which has been collecting dust for a while. I got partway through it while bicycling across the US a few years ago but never managed to get through it once I got home.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:32 am

Anyway, I think it's interesting that the weather is probably more predictable in most places than the financial markets. It's almost never going to snow in Honolulu, but you can sure as hell wake up in the morning to find a smoking crater where your portfolio used to be.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

Re: Your current reading list

Postby vagabond » Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:25 pm

Finished this in literally four hours:

Image

Was a good, fun read and more enjoyable (and made more sense) than the movie.
"If you were born near someplace called "The Erg of ____" you lost the lottery." - Kurt the Wise

"If you're stupid, the whole world is a dangerous place." - friendlyskies
User avatar
vagabond
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:20 pm
Location: LA

Re: Your current reading list

Postby JITW » Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:04 am

Image
DEATH VALLEY MAGAZINE
The Magazine for Professional Adventurers and Interesting People
http://www.deathvalleymag.com
User avatar
JITW
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 978
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:28 am
Location: Virginia - Iraq - Kurdistan - Indonesia - Thailand

Re: Your current reading list

Postby diamondcutter13 » Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:12 pm

Image
Great story about the classic commando raid, I'd like to read a more modern version like Ray Mear's Real Heros of Telemark (already listened to the audio book).

Image
Entertaining read, revisit of familiar characters.

Image
only just started it but good so far.
Tacuero ceruisa, vigilate hoc
User avatar
diamondcutter13
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:14 am
Location: The Great White North, Loyalist Township.

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:24 am

I just spent an afternoon reading Norah Vincent's Self Made Man. She is a lesbian writer who spent over a year living as a man and noting the cultural differences between men and women. I'm not sure I learned a whole lot, though. Yup, it's different being a man vs a woman and posturing can be more important among men, for example. I think it may have been more interesting to have a straight woman's perspective. After all, she was already dating women in her normal life, etc. Some of the female reviewers on Amazon say it was an eye opener for them, so maybe it would be more useful to them. Some of the situations were generally interesting, though.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

Re: Your current reading list

Postby coldharvest » Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:05 pm

1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World
I know the law. And I have spent my entire life in its flagrant disregard.
User avatar
coldharvest
Abdul Rahman
 
Posts: 25677
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:36 am
Location: Island of Misfit Toys

Re: Your current reading list

Postby Michael » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:22 pm

Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin
Michael
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 754
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:04 am
Location: Nevada

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:39 am

coldharvest wrote:1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World

Tried on several occasions to read 1984 and couldn't get further than a couple of chapters. Loved Animal Farm and Brave New World though.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:48 am

Michael wrote:Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin

I spent almost four months in the former Soviet Union last year. Having seen a number of the memorials for the Great Patriotic War (every city and village) and visited a number of their museums for the same, I am still a bit gobsmacked by them. Oh, hey, great, Stalin's murdering was stemmed by his need to throw bodies at another murdering bastard. Does not compute...
The most shocking bit about WWII for the USSR was that more of them died in that conflict than any other in human history.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

Re: Your current reading list

Postby Michael » Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:53 am

ktrout wrote:
Michael wrote:Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin

I spent almost four months in the former Soviet Union last year. Having seen a number of the memorials for the Great Patriotic War (every city and village) and visited a number of their museums for the same, I am still a bit gobsmacked by them. Oh, hey, great, Stalin's murdering was stemmed by his need to throw bodies at another murdering bastard. Does not compute...
The most shocking bit about WWII for the USSR was that more of them died in that conflict than any other in human history.

The book actually goes a little further back than the war...14 million dead between 1933 and '45, primarily in Ukraine and Poland (along with the Baltic countries and Byelorus), half due to starvation...starts with Stalin's collectivization of agriculture in the early '30s and an estimated 3.3 million dead. Hitler definitely racked up the higher body count once he got things rolling...ain't no good guys in that scenario.
Michael
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 754
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:04 am
Location: Nevada

Re: Your current reading list

Postby ktrout » Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:20 am

Yeah, might not even compare to Mao Zi Dong, though. That batshit crazy motherfucker may have snuffed up to 100 million with his policies.
Be nice to me. I'm a rug muncher.
User avatar
ktrout
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 3091
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 6:12 am
Location: USDA Climate zone 9b

PreviousNext

Return to Black Flag Cafe

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests