*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[Yuwipi Woman]

It's eerily prescient, but at the same time it's very late 1960s, not in a hippy way, but in that it extrapolates trends of that era into the 21st century. E.g. Yatakang instead of North Vietnam, Beninia instead of Biafra or Ghana, etc. Of course in it dope is legal and tobacco is not, which isn't quite how it turned out, but not that wide of the mark either.

I haven't read it since the 1980s, but by G-d I salute your taste in reading material.

I just got through re-reading Shockwave Rider. He got a lot right in that book too. I believe he was influenced by Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock. I've been wondering if I should give it a read. It was a bestseller years ago, but its sure to be completely out of date now.

 

[Idris2002]

I just got through re-reading Shockwave Rider. He got a lot right in that book too. I believe he was influenced by Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock. I've been wondering if I should give it a read. It was a bestseller years ago, but its sure to be completely out of date now.

I don't think I read Future Shock, but I did read The Third Wave, and it was one of those books that is essentially a collection of factoids and talking points. Interesting enough, but I wouldn't recommend you spend 20 smackers on the paperback.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I don't think I read Future Shock, but I did read The Third Wave, and it was one of those books that is essentially a collection of factoids and talking points. Interesting enough, but I wouldn't recommend you spend 20 smackers on the paperback.

Spending 20 bucks on a paperback isn't something that happens often. If fact, I can't recall ever doing it previously. That's how much I wanted a copy of Stand on Zanzibar.

 

[Idris2002]

Spending 20 bucks on a paperback isn't something that happens often. If fact, I can't recall ever doing it previously. That's how much I wanted a copy of Stand on Zanzibar.

And did you like your electric razor so much you bought the company?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

And did you like your electric razor so much you bought the company?

I must be stupid this morning.

 

[Idris2002]

I must be stupid this morning.

 

[Idris2002]

Looks like Future Shock is widely available as an online PDF, so you got that going for you, which is nice.

 

[Orang Utan]

I gave that book away a couple of years ago!

 

[maya]

IIRC Alvin Toffler also edited a non-fiction essay collection with futurists ('predict the future' social studies dudes, not the 1920s italian/russian modernists) in the mid-70s which got published as a neat paperback called "The Futurists"... Interesting (if somewhat outdated reading)

Yuwipi Woman , if you loved Stand on Zanzibar you'll probably also like his "The Sheep Look Up", which is equally good IMO- It all looks very prescient now, dealing with a post-collapse ecological dystopian scenario (people have to wear gasmask-style face shields because the air is so polluted they literally won't survive without it)

this book offers a dramatic and prophetic look at the potential consequences of the escalating destruction of Earth. In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some form of ailment. The water is polluted, and only the poor drink from the tap. The government is ineffectual, and corporate interests scramble to make a profit from water purifiers, gas masks, and organic foods. Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The Trainites, environmental activists and sometime terrorists, want him to lead their movement. The government wants him in jail, or preferably, executed. The media wants a circus. Everyone has a plan for Train, but Train has a plan of his own.

 

[Gingerman]

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Looks like Future Shock is widely available as an online PDF, so you got that going for you, which is nice.

I've seen old paperbacks cheap too. You can pick them up at garage sales for 50 cents.

IIRC Alvin Toffler also edited a non-fiction essay collection with futurists ('predict the future' social studies dudes, not the 1920s italian/russian modernists) in the mid-70s which got published as a neat paperback called "The Futurists"... Interesting (if somewhat outdated reading)

Yuwipi Woman , if you loved Stand on Zanzibar you'll probably also like his "The Sheep Look Up", which is equally good IMO- It all looks very prescient now, dealing with a post-collapse ecological dystopian scenario (people have to wear gasmask-style face shields because the air is so polluted they literally won't survive without it)

I've read that, but its been a while. I might be due a re-read.

I believe it was also part of his unofficial dystopian series of four books. I'm not remembering the fourth at the moment.

 

[Voley]

John Cooper Clarke - Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt. Has everything in it you'd expect and is consequently totally fucking brilliant. I have just regaled my Mother with the joys of 'Evidently Chicken Town'; a touching parent/child moment that everyone should enjoy, I think. They should update it to include his more recent opus 'Get Back On Drugs You Fat Fuck'. Other than that, it's flawless.

 

[weltweit]

I am just about to embark on someone's WWII war memoirs. Their war was remarkable in that they went from the expeditionary force through evacuation at Dunkirk onwards in active service and through the whole thing without so much as a scratch, while many alongside them were not so lucky.

 

[Dillinger4]

John Cooper Clarke - Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt. Has everything in it you'd expect and is consequently totally fucking brilliant. I have just regaled my Mother with the joys of 'Evidently Chicken Town'; a touching parent/child moment that everyone should enjoy, I think. They should update it to include his more recent opus 'Get Back On Drugs You Fat Fuck'. Other than that, it's flawless.

Have you ever tried reading Evidently Chicken Town out loud? It is well fucking hard to read it and it sound right. And whenever I read it, I get really tired of swearing about half way through and feel like I never want to swear again.

 

[Orang Utan]

I am just about to embark on someone's WWII war memoirs. Their war was remarkable in that they went from the expeditionary force through evacuation at Dunkirk onwards in active service and through the whole thing without so much as a scratch, while many alongside them were not so lucky.

Someone's? How dare you?

 

[weltweit]

Someone's? How dare you?

What ?

 

[MellySingsDoom]

Ian Bone "Bash The Rich" - I wasn't too sure about this one initially, tbh, but it's actually turned out to be a highly entertaining, informative and frequently hilarious read so far. Starts off in a wham-bam fashion, and carries on from there. Bone puts the boot into various sacred cows, whilst always keeping a sense of self-deprecation and self-awareness about himself. There's evident pride from Ian about the way his parents fought against the class/political system during his early years, and his own political journey is covered with great aplomb. Am v much looking forward to continuing to read this book

 

[Orang Utan]

What ?

I'm just starting reading Anna Karenina by someone or other. Doesn't matter who.

 

[weltweit]

I'm just starting reading Anna Karenina by someone or other. Doesn't matter who.

The author is now in their nineties, a family friend, and whose name I wish to keep private!

 

[Orang Utan]

The author is now in their nineties, a family friend, and whose name I wish to keep private!

Fair enough. It's just a pet bugbear of mine
(((writers)))

 

[weltweit]

Fair enough. It's just a pet bugbear of mine
(((writers)))

I was listening to a R4 program about the publishing industry tonight, interesting how many people are self publishing digital books these days, an Amazon guy was saying between 20-30 of the top 100 kindle books by sales were self published.

 

[Dillinger4]

I am going out today, but naturally I am taking a bag of books with me.

In that bag:

17 Contradictions and the End of Capitalism by David Harvey
The Diamond Sutra by Bill Porter
Zen Baggage by Bill Porter
Number: The Language of Science by Tobias Dantzig

The chapter about the division of labour in 17 Contradictions is really really good.

 

[Dillinger4]

I am fun.

 

[Voley]

Have you ever tried reading Evidently Chicken Town out loud? It is well fucking hard to read it and it sound right. And whenever I read it, I get really tired of swearing about half way through and feel like I never want to swear again.

Yes, to my Mum. Her favourite bit was 'the fucking drains are fucking fucked'.

 

[seventh bullet]

Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class - Joel Andreas

Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History - Alexander C. Cook (editor)

JimW

 

[JimW]

Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class - Joel Andreas

Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History - Alexander C. Cook (editor)

JimW

Not heard of that second one -will look it up.
I really enjoyed what I read of the Andreas, but as per usual haven't actually finished it (got about halfway IIRC). He'd set out his thesis of a compromise/collaboration between the old academic elites and the incoming revolutionary political elite - thought he made a pretty compelling case - and he'd looked at the class composition of various Red Guard factions. Can't remember why I put it down,probably work distraction. What's your take so far/do I miss the best bits at the end?

 

[seventh bullet]

I've only started it, but like you say it appears to be a demonstration of how that compromise during the GPCR instead of one or the other saw the creation of today's intelligentsia and their dominance in top-level government positions. The blocking of access to higher education (for a time) in favour of the children of the new PLA/Party elite was a cause for frustration and rebellion among some members of Red Guard groups with considerable capabilities by way of cultural capital but tainted by pre-revolutionary class connections. On Red Guard class-based resentments/motivations for violence, I'm reminded of that article by Geremie R. Barme you showed me a few years ago (Beijing's Bloody August) with the revealing anecdotes of a man, who as poor lower class kid, joined a Red Guard group to lash out violently and torment his social superiors.

Society's never fair. Even in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution the Red Guards were divided into different classes. Look at the kids in ‘United Action’. They were from 1 August High School, all privileged kids; they wore real army uniforms; they had black leather shoes, all shining, that's if they weren't wearing snow white sandshoes. They all sped around on brand new ‘Forever’ brand pushbikes, too. When a pack of them went riding past it was like the Praetorian Guard. They really were in your face. They were all from high-level cadre families, or army brats. How could alley-scum like me compete with that? In the Cultural Revolution they were still the ruling class. Our rebellion was a joke; sure it felt good, but we were only the shit-kickers for those people. You've got to face the facts.

I haven't started the other book yet but it looks good. There's an essay on the Naxalites in India by an author I've read before. From the looks of it seems like it might be a rehash of her earlier writing. And with Naxalite long being a term to inaccurately describe Maoists in India generally as well as apolitical banditry, I'm guessing if it's like her older book then it focuses on the original Naxalites: West Bengal-based radicals who came under the brief leadership of Charu Mazumdar and the CPI (M-L). And with that two things. Firstly, a superficial understanding and mechanical adoption of Maoist theory which made sense in China (also, many students in Calcutta never read Mao in the original and got their information about India from newspapers printed in the PRC or 'Maoist' theory distilled into tracts written by others inside their country. And secondly, in practice their methods became distinctly un-Maoist and brought rapid disaster. Even today, it's an awful, nowhere struggle that enjoys more hardship that success.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

Just started reading Planesrunner book 1 by Ian McDonald, seems like a cracking alternate Earths romp, while I take a break in the seemingly endless Wudang series by Kylie Chan which is basically Harry Potter crossed with the X-Men via the Chinese/Taoist pantheon, and rubbish but quite enjoyable and morish a bit like a Mr Kipling mincepie.

And because I can't focus on one book for long I always need a few on the go especially mixing up fiction with non-fiction I'm reading Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher. A great guide to negotiating, from a business perspective but it's applicable to unions and politics as well imo.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

The Good Terrorist - Doris Lessing.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

The Good Terrorist - Doris Lessing.

I found that to be an awful book, really depressing, can't remember why don't think it was because I sympathised with the characters more the inevitability of their stupidity