Anybody read a good book lately?

[Eagaholic]

The Men Who Stare at Goats: Here's my problem with this book. The author manages to string together a long series of random tidbits in what appears to be a coherent manner, but ultimately there was no point to anything we as readers have learned. "Hey everyone, look at all of the weird things our armed forces experimented with during the war on terror! They played a Barney song over and over! They played a Sesame Street song and the composer tried to sue for royalties! Maybe the CIA killed someone once or maybe they gave them LSD in an experiment and they lost their shtein."

It's all sort of fascinating in its premise (did the secretary of the armed services really believe that he could walk through walls? can you really kill gerbils with your impure thoughts?), but when I was done reading I wasn't sure what the point was. Sometimes the author is praising the idea of alternative battle methods. Sometimes he's mocking. Sometimes he's indifferent as a reporter. Sometimes he is actively goading people into delivering absurd information.

It was entertaining, but by and large it didn't really deliver on its promise as an absurdly entertaining collection of information with a defined message of some sort.

It sounds pretty much like the movie. It was worth seeing, mostly because it was a mildly refreshing change from all the same old reheated Hollywood drivel, but the weak ending left it kind of flat. If still alive, Hunter S. Thompson should have been consulted. It had much unrealized potential for something experimental involving hallucinogens, automatic weapons and armored vehicles.

[ice grillin you]

actually read TWO books on my cruise




frightening portrait of a man and his family in the bush administration's post katrina new orleans




talks about the making of one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time and how it affected the author - a nerdy black kid who was into punk music before hearing this album and how it transformed his life....im a huge hip-hop head and the album is my all time favorite in the history of music so i thought the book was fantastic

[reese125]

igy--you deeply touched someone with your post...so much so a guest is printing it out. nice job.

[rjs246]

Ugh, I've found myself reading mostly non-fiction lately and it's really grating on me (currently reading McMafia, which is pretty interesting). I do enough thinking on my own, I don't need to be learning while trying to enjoy my free time as well... anyway, any recommendations for some interesting, quality fiction would be great.

[Seabiscuit36]

nice RJS, i'll have to check that out.  I've said it a million times, but Check out any TJ English books

[rjs246]

Wait, TJ English write non-fiction. I'm looking for fiction you sneaky basterd!

[Seabiscuit36]

Wait, TJ English write non-fiction. I'm looking for fiction you sneaky basterd!

ha, a cool name like TJ English sounds like a fiction writer, but he does in depth Underworld stuff.  I'm a big fan.

[rjs246]

Underworld, as in Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight leather, or some other sort of Underworld that no one cares about and isn't nearly as sexy?

[Seabiscuit36]

unfortunately not about Kate Beckinsale and werewolves, but he does write about Cuba and the secks shows Lansky and Luciano attended

[Eagles_Legendz]

Just read the Gunslinger as part of the Dark Tower series.  It was fun.  Didn't 'wow' me but got me interested enough to read the 2nd book.

[mussa]

Just read the Gunslinger as part of the Dark Tower series.  It was fun.  Didn't 'wow' me but got me interested enough to read the 2nd book.

Don't worry it gets much better. Much being an understatement.

[ice grillin you]

<----------jerk off

[rjs246]

Wrong thread sucka.

[hbionic]

I picked up "America The Book" written by the folks at the daily show published in
'04. I can't stop laughing its so farging hilarious. 

If you have any sense of humor...spend the $5 bucks I did and buy it.

Good times. 

[rjs246]

I'm slowly getting through McMafia and it is fascinating for two reasons.

First, there is a whole lot of discussion of human trafficking and I'm in the middle of season 2 of The Wire so all of the international and domestic trafficking themes are meshing nicely between the book and the show.

Second, the book asserts that there are two major contributing factors to the expansion of international organized crime over the past 20 years. The fall of the USSR (leaving a massive and chaotic economic vacuum) and the deregulation of international financial markets which opened the door to globalization and international money laundering on a stunning scale. Obviously the topic of regulating financial markets is pretty topical, what with the recession that everyone keeps talking about.