for finding great history books , i have to agree, i usuall start with a school overview on a subject, eg hitler and the second world war or a short booklet on the tudors... find something that interests you eg ..the battle of britain, or the munich putsch and then go find a book or two that covers that particular topic and drill down.
The video stopped before I could write down the exact question, but for the question about the life of a Senator, surely Robert Caro's (currently) four-book series on LBJ qualifies. In spades. Granted it's set in a now gone world, but the portrayal is vivid and endlessly complex.
I’m also fascinated by whales. There’s a recent (2020) book called “Fathoms: the world in the whale” by Rebecca Giggs that talks about whales science (and history) in a pretty engaging way.
I think _show, don't tell_ is a product of people conflating mediums, itself a product of the universal success of film. Most writing books advocate - and indeed the bulk of brick and mortar novelist's today write - something much closer to screenplays than art which takes advantage of all the tools available to the novelist. _Gravity's Rainbow_ is incredibly visual, yet imagine if Pynchon stuck to this dictum. What a boring book that would have been. Victor Hugo - as many philosophically bent writers - made telling his stock in trade.
I could have some long conversations with you about dogs, long novels, reading out from a central point, deconstruction et al No cutlery needed as its non confrontational! My Martha depends on me so much. My husband is pretty good but she’s my shadow. In her old age she reminds me of my mum in law when she had dementia, wandering around, eating her food all over the floor - no mum in law did NOT do that - forgetting that she’s just been out and her deep deep sleep. None the less if we go out for a walk it takes a few minutes but then she’s dancing around at the end of her lead as if she was half her age. I hope my dotage is as wonderful as yours. I waste too many reading hours in your company. I swear it would be easier if I just moved in! Thank you for the laughs and the joy. 😊🌷 The Expanse! Oh yes..
Re subvocalisation It’s possible that your dislike of Dickens is because of your way reading. He was a performer and I can’t think of reading his work without the “voices. “
Gertrude Stein said that, as a writer, you should only read really good or really bad books. The danger is in reading things that are mediocre. There’s much to be learned from stuff that’s really bad. Also, without taking a position, I will say that taking this seriously would increase your chances of Stein herself.
The more I read the more value I find in books all along the spectrum. A number of books come to mind where the experience of reading them was mediocre and yet the memory of them is nostalgic. For me, I think it's that the often stilted prose, flat characters or bad dialogue plaguing such mediocre books just simply falls away, and you're left with the memory of the underlying story and the world in which it occurred. (The inverse is likely not true.)
Yes, I agree completely: you radiate a special kind of charm. And you're also the funniest person I've ever known.
You are a CHAD, Steve. Plain and simple ❤️
The Time-Life Old West books are great fun and wonderfully written and illustrated. I also love the T-L Seafarers series.
for finding great history books , i have to agree, i usuall start with a school overview on a subject, eg hitler and the second world war or a short booklet on the tudors...
find something that interests you eg ..the battle of britain, or the munich putsch and then go find a book or two that covers that particular topic and drill down.
"Chad" is not exclusive to the incel community, it's also just slang for a "cool guy".
i believe that reading without self vocalizing is a myth
Son of Tarzan is my favourite too!
The video stopped before I could write down the exact question, but for the question about the life of a Senator, surely Robert Caro's (currently) four-book series on LBJ qualifies. In spades. Granted it's set in a now gone world, but the portrayal is vivid and endlessly complex.
I'm not well informed about Julian Assange, but how can he be a traitor to the US if he's Australian?
Hah! It's not that hard!
I’m also fascinated by whales. There’s a recent (2020) book called “Fathoms: the world in the whale” by Rebecca Giggs that talks about whales science (and history) in a pretty engaging way.
I think _show, don't tell_ is a product of people conflating mediums, itself a product of the universal success of film. Most writing books advocate - and indeed the bulk of brick and mortar novelist's today write - something much closer to screenplays than art which takes advantage of all the tools available to the novelist. _Gravity's Rainbow_ is incredibly visual, yet imagine if Pynchon stuck to this dictum. What a boring book that would have been. Victor Hugo - as many philosophically bent writers - made telling his stock in trade.
I was doing that more for the general populace. Of course, I knew you would've read it by now ;)
The Lion in Winter:
Why does no one mention Geoffrey for King?
Because you've been dead five years.
I could have some long conversations with you about dogs, long novels, reading out from a central point, deconstruction et al No cutlery needed as its non confrontational! My Martha depends on me so much. My husband is pretty good but she’s my shadow. In her old age she reminds me of my mum in law when she had dementia, wandering around, eating her food all over the floor - no mum in law did NOT do that - forgetting that she’s just been out and her deep deep sleep. None the less if we go out for a walk it takes a few minutes but then she’s dancing around at the end of her lead as if she was half her age.
I hope my dotage is as wonderful as yours. I waste too many reading hours in your company. I swear it would be easier if I just moved in! Thank you for the laughs and the joy. 😊🌷 The Expanse! Oh yes..
"she's my shadow" - yes, yes indeed. I've had dogs like that, and it's always very touching.
Re subvocalisation
It’s possible that your dislike of Dickens is because of your way reading. He was a performer and I can’t think of reading his work without the “voices. “
If you say so! He wrote printed words on the page - millions of them. If that's not the way to read him, maybe he should have taken to the stage!
Gertrude Stein said that, as a writer, you should only read really good or really bad books. The danger is in reading things that are mediocre. There’s much to be learned from stuff that’s really bad. Also, without taking a position, I will say that taking this seriously would increase your chances of Stein herself.
The more I read the more value I find in books all along the spectrum. A number of books come to mind where the experience of reading them was mediocre and yet the memory of them is nostalgic. For me, I think it's that the often stilted prose, flat characters or bad dialogue plaguing such mediocre books just simply falls away, and you're left with the memory of the underlying story and the world in which it occurred. (The inverse is likely not true.)