http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/75637 en-US Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:27:21 -0800 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 11498535 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:27:21 -0800 This book has got to be one of the most read (or at least most discussed) political commentary texts of the last ten years. It seems like everyone I know is familiar with the thesis – that Kansas is an example of what is strange (and Frank thinks, wrong) about American electoral politics – people will vote against their economic interests if they think such voting is in line with their moral concerns. So, though the Republican party shits all over working class people, they will continue to vote for them because the party stands for pro life and other conservative social causes that resonate in the Heartland. Frank’s proposal to the Democratic Party seems to be to run an economic populism platform, and downplay the social issues that don’t resonate outside of the coasts. This is basically the campaign strategy of John Edwards. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in Iowa, which shares a lot of similarities with the Kansas of Frank’s book.

Frank is at least partially right in his thesis. People do not always vote their economic interests (Frank has joked in the past that this book could just as easily have been called What’s the Matter with Connecticut). But to reduce people’s “interests’ to their economic interests is simplistic, and not enough time is spent on how economic issues are framed with great success by the Republicans.

There are some throw away parts of this one as well, Frank does a mini-profile of Pope Michael, which is just stupid, and there isn’t hard sociological data to back up a lot of Frank’s assertions. Still, this a book that was worth reading.

One random side note – I was fascinated by how a number of the pro life activists in this book equate themselves with the radical struggle against Slavery (Think John Brown and Bloody Kansas). Many of my lefty friends idolize John Brown, and it is interesting to see the same hero worship from the other side.]]>
author: Thomas Frank
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 01/02/08
shelves:
review:

This book has got to be one of the most read (or at least most discussed) political commentary texts of the last ten years. It seems like everyone I know is familiar with the thesis – that Kansas is an example of what is strange (and Frank thinks, wrong) about American electoral politics – people will vote against their economic interests if they think such voting is in line with their moral concerns. So, though the Republican party shits all over working class people, they will continue to vote for them because the party stands for pro life and other conservative social causes that resonate in the Heartland. Frank’s proposal to the Democratic Party seems to be to run an economic populism platform, and downplay the social issues that don’t resonate outside of the coasts. This is basically the campaign strategy of John Edwards. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in Iowa, which shares a lot of similarities with the Kansas of Frank’s book.

Frank is at least partially right in his thesis. People do not always vote their economic interests (Frank has joked in the past that this book could just as easily have been called What’s the Matter with Connecticut). But to reduce people’s “interests’ to their economic interests is simplistic, and not enough time is spent on how economic issues are framed with great success by the Republicans.

There are some throw away parts of this one as well, Frank does a mini-profile of Pope Michael, which is just stupid, and there isn’t hard sociological data to back up a lot of Frank’s assertions. Still, this a book that was worth reading.

One random side note – I was fascinated by how a number of the pro life activists in this book equate themselves with the radical struggle against Slavery (Think John Brown and Bloody Kansas). Many of my lefty friends idolize John Brown, and it is interesting to see the same hero worship from the other side.
]]> 11446051 Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:20:42 -0800
author: Phil Evans
name: atthesametime
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1983
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 01/02/08
shelves:
review:
A comic book telling of the history of Ireland. This is from the early days of the “beginners” series, when the books still had a distinctly left political character. This one lets its politics show by being largely sympathetic to the Irish struggle for independence and towards those who used violence to help bring about that independence.
]]> 10618869 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:58:42 -0800 I think one of the great misconceptions about Capital is that it is dry and difficult. Many people seem to think that reading it would be a chore. Not true. I think if you were to read it on your own or in a study group, you’d find it funny, engaging and not all that hard. It assumes perhaps a small amount of understanding of classical political economy (Malthus, Smith, Ricardo, etc) but not much. I’d say if you’re going to read it, read it in a group, because some of the ideas need to be worked out, but four friends of average intelligence can understand this book with a minimal level of effort.

That said, is it worth it for you to take the time? I’d say so. While I may think a number of Marx’s ideas are just plain wrong* and the ideas of many of those who followed in his footsteps to be even more misguided, I still think this is worth the time. Besides being a book by the man who has influenced world events more than anyone else in the last two hundred years, it is also just really fucking well written and a goddamn good, and important, read.

A friend of mine, wrote, in what is the best one liner about Capital ever, that – “this is literature”. It definitely is, with all the complications that come with that classification. This book does not explain the workings of a capitalist economy. It is not a science textbook. It is a brilliant work that is part flawed history, part political theory and part a discussion of classical political economy. Everyone should read it, but no one should take it all at face value.
]]>
author: Karl Marx
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1867
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 12/18/07
shelves:
review:

I think one of the great misconceptions about Capital is that it is dry and difficult. Many people seem to think that reading it would be a chore. Not true. I think if you were to read it on your own or in a study group, you’d find it funny, engaging and not all that hard. It assumes perhaps a small amount of understanding of classical political economy (Malthus, Smith, Ricardo, etc) but not much. I’d say if you’re going to read it, read it in a group, because some of the ideas need to be worked out, but four friends of average intelligence can understand this book with a minimal level of effort.

That said, is it worth it for you to take the time? I’d say so. While I may think a number of Marx’s ideas are just plain wrong* and the ideas of many of those who followed in his footsteps to be even more misguided, I still think this is worth the time. Besides being a book by the man who has influenced world events more than anyone else in the last two hundred years, it is also just really fucking well written and a goddamn good, and important, read.

A friend of mine, wrote, in what is the best one liner about Capital ever, that – “this is literature”. It definitely is, with all the complications that come with that classification. This book does not explain the workings of a capitalist economy. It is not a science textbook. It is a brilliant work that is part flawed history, part political theory and part a discussion of classical political economy. Everyone should read it, but no one should take it all at face value.

]]> 10425911 Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:28:19 -0800
author: Eric R. Wolf
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 12/14/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 10184096 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:51:37 -0800
There is a certain superiority in all food writing I guess, but I have never seen it presented with so much, um, testosterone. Food writing is often food bragging, which I don't mind. I like hearing war stories about crazy meals eaten, but Harrison takes this to a new metaphysical level where hunting, fishing and gorging yourself are the only pursuits that make a man a man. I found it at times to be a little silly, basically. Ice fishing is cool and all, but it doesn’t make you John Wayne.

And who wants to be John Wayne anyway?
]]>
author: Jim Harrison
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 01/04
date added: 12/09/07
shelves:
review:
I don’t think I learned much about cuisine or wine from reading this, but I did learn that Harrison is very concerned with metaphysical question of what it means to be a big man with big appetites.

There is a certain superiority in all food writing I guess, but I have never seen it presented with so much, um, testosterone. Food writing is often food bragging, which I don't mind. I like hearing war stories about crazy meals eaten, but Harrison takes this to a new metaphysical level where hunting, fishing and gorging yourself are the only pursuits that make a man a man. I found it at times to be a little silly, basically. Ice fishing is cool and all, but it doesn’t make you John Wayne.

And who wants to be John Wayne anyway?

]]> 10031272 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:06:11 -0800
author: Alice Sebold
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 01/04
date added: 12/06/07
shelves:
review:
Sebold walks a fine line between cheesy and brilliant here. Dead child narrators are not an easy trick, and at times the book is a little maudlin. But, the scene where the child narrates her own murder gae me chills. Definitely worth a look.
]]> 9732605 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:40:26 -0800
]]>
author: Neal Stephenson
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/29/07
shelves:
review:
This is the third volume in Stephenson’s ambitious and fun recounting of the world events circa the late 18th century. This has got the birth of the royal society, the growing pains of international trade and the intrigues at Versailles for starters. As I remember, this volume is tying up a number of lose ends, and focuses more on the Royal Society and Versailles then on the swashbuckling adventurers that take up a lot of space in volume two. It’s good fun, especially if you have any interest in doorstop historical fiction.


]]> 9568251 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:03:20 -0800
author: Bertrand Russell
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 11/26/07
shelves: philosophy
review:
I read this for an intro to Philosophy course, and odds are, if you went to college you did too. Not one of Russell’s great works, but an essential of the undergraduate philosophy experience.
]]> 9568214 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:02:36 -0800
*Now a days we all know, but when this came out, and I read it, I think the term was thrown around a lot by people who didn’t really understand its meaning.]]>
author: James Mann
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/26/07
shelves: politics
review:
The best book on the personalities that made up the first Bush term, and believe me, I have read a bunch of them. All the Woodward books and other beltway books of the season come and go, but Mann’s book I think will be seen as the best contemporary accounting of the personalities from the first terms( Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft, Powell, Armitage, Wolfowitz, etc, etc) that you’re going to find. This is obvious a book that is highly critical of all the figures in that presidency, but not the propagandistic way other books are. Mann is harsh, but fair and does an especially good job of explaining what the hell neoconservatives actually is* and the really nasty hatred between the Cheney people and the Powell people. Even after however many years, this is still essential reading for political junkies.

*Now a days we all know, but when this came out, and I read it, I think the term was thrown around a lot by people who didn’t really understand its meaning.
]]> 9568142 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:01:35 -0800
author: Robert Skidelsky
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/26/07
shelves:
review:
The first volume of Skidelsky’s three volume telling of the life of the man who is arguably the 20th century’s most famous economist. This volume covers birth and all that crap, and then the very juicy years of JMK at Cambridge. Besides his economic work Keynes was a pretty interesting, and fucked up individual. He was an unrepentant racist, at least for a time a self identified homosexual, and an endlessly curious man who thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room (and on many occasions, including the peace negations at Versailles, probably was). He was close with Virginia Wolff and that crowd in these days, though he and they would distance from each other in the coming years, as JMK’s political success made him less attractive to the literati. There’s a one volume abridgment of Skidlesky’s work, and if you’re interested in Keynes, I imagine that one is more than enough to satiate you curiosity, but if not, I think this volume, which covers more Keynes development as a contradictory, often dislikable and totally fascinating individual is the better of the two volumes I read.
]]> 9567932 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:59:10 -0800
This volume of Skidelsky’s biography covers the time when Keynes began to become the major world player that history remembers him for being. This was the time of the depression, obviously, and the build up to WWII. Keynes ideas of deficit spending and huge government projects, were at the time (and for the next forty years), credited with bringing the U.S. and the world out of the depression. Keynes writing (especially The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money) and recommendations during this period (and the rest of his life) are what got him the title of the man who saved capitalism.

But besides his economic work Keynes personality really interests me. One point of note in this volume is Keynes marriage (after a young adulthood of almost total homosexual relationships) to the wife he would love for the rest of his life, Lydia Lopokova. Keynes love for Lopokova didn’t end his passion for men, it just complicated his personal life some, making him and this book, even more interesting to a gossip hound/ amateur economic historian like myself.]]>
author: Robert Skidelsky
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/26/07
shelves: biography, economics
review:
This is the definitive biography on John Maynard Keynes.

This volume of Skidelsky’s biography covers the time when Keynes began to become the major world player that history remembers him for being. This was the time of the depression, obviously, and the build up to WWII. Keynes ideas of deficit spending and huge government projects, were at the time (and for the next forty years), credited with bringing the U.S. and the world out of the depression. Keynes writing (especially The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money) and recommendations during this period (and the rest of his life) are what got him the title of the man who saved capitalism.

But besides his economic work Keynes personality really interests me. One point of note in this volume is Keynes marriage (after a young adulthood of almost total homosexual relationships) to the wife he would love for the rest of his life, Lydia Lopokova. Keynes love for Lopokova didn’t end his passion for men, it just complicated his personal life some, making him and this book, even more interesting to a gossip hound/ amateur economic historian like myself.
]]> 8895338 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:25:35 -0800
author: Didier Eribon
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.10
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/09/07
shelves: biography, philosophy
review:
There are, as far as I know, three Foucault biographies available in English. I have read all of them. Eribon’s was the first to appear (I believe) but if memory serves, the least interesting. The Passions of Michel Foucault is the most gossipy (and it still doesn’t really give up that much dirt) and The Lives of Michel Foucault does a better job of giving you a sense of Foucalt’s place in theory/philosophy/whatever. Eribon knew Foucault, and apparently well, but that doesn’t come across in the book at all, what we get instead is a decent, but not the best biography of a man who is still one of my intellectual heroes.
]]> 8894412 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:12:39 -0800
author: Marilynne Robinson
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/09/07
shelves:
review:
On the surface, this book should not have appealed to me at all. The story of a small town minister in the mid west, it had nothing that would usually interest me (besides some references to John Brown). But Gilead remains one of the most highly realized and best-constructed novels I have ever read. You can read this in a matter of days, and if you want to see fiction delivered at the highest level of the craft, you should pick it up.
]]> 8851443 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:32:27 -0800
And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth, it means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.

Which leads me to my next point. This book is dangerous. Its dangerous because it feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and no few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.
]]>
author: John Perkins
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/08/07
shelves: business, totalcrap
review:
This is garbage. Worse than that, I think this book is dangerous. First of all, I think Perkins is a total liar. I don’t doubt that there are people out there that make their living by betting against developing countries, and I don’t doubt that there are people who have an economic incentive for progressive third world leaders to fail. But I really doubt that the way these people ply their trade is by having beautiful blonds show young business guys (in this case, Perkins) the dark path by intellectually seducing them in Boston apartments while going around calling themselves hitmen. It really stretches the realm of the believable.

And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth, it means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.

Which leads me to my next point. This book is dangerous. Its dangerous because it feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and no few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.

]]> 8849732 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:56:40 -0800
That being said, I remember enjoying it as a good skewer of the financial world from a woman who was a part of it (Prins is a former director at legendary Goldman Sachs, and , last time I checked, now works for a progressive think tank). I have to say my politics aren’t nearly as left wing economically as they were just a couple of years ago, but I still think books like this are super relevant. It is obvious that places like Goldman Sachs are in it for the money, and the policies of deregulation helped people like Enron do the nasty things they did, but it is still nice to see those arguments laid our in a smart way.]]>
author: Nomi Prins
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/08/07
shelves:
review:
First I should note that as we go back further and further, my memories of these books are on occasion going to get dimmer and dimmer (I read Prins’s book, for example in early 2005).

That being said, I remember enjoying it as a good skewer of the financial world from a woman who was a part of it (Prins is a former director at legendary Goldman Sachs, and , last time I checked, now works for a progressive think tank). I have to say my politics aren’t nearly as left wing economically as they were just a couple of years ago, but I still think books like this are super relevant. It is obvious that places like Goldman Sachs are in it for the money, and the policies of deregulation helped people like Enron do the nasty things they did, but it is still nice to see those arguments laid our in a smart way.
]]> 8620855 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:20:54 -0700
The parts of the book that document Delany’s continued unsafe sex in the cruising scene in New York right when the AIDS epidemic was really getting going are harrowing and Delany should be championed for his honesty in portraying this world. No edits appeared to have been made to these letters so we get what Delany was thinking about AIDS at a time when no one really knew what it was. He thought for a while he might be immune, he thought maybe you couldn’t get it from oral sex, he though a lot of things that turned out to be totally wrong. And reading him talking about how he and his community were thinking about this disease as it was first being discussed gave me chills. With all the unprotected sex Delany had in those days, it is amazing he survived, and we are better off because we have had another twenty five years of a brilliant writer and and we have this book which is an amazing document of a crazy time in downtown New York and a remarkable look into one of my favorite writers life.
]]>
author: Samuel R. Delany
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/03/07
shelves:
review:
I have a Samuel Delany fetish. I have a google alert on the man’s name for Christ’s sake. I have read a bunch of his work, and hope to one day read it all, so I think I can say with some confidence that if you’re interested in Delany and his work, you have to get this book. This is a collection of letters Delany wrote to friends, fans and business acquaintances in the year 1984. He talks about his interests in post structuralism and how it was informing his work, about what movies and films he is seeing, about problems with his partner and in detail about his incredibly risky sex life at the time.

The parts of the book that document Delany’s continued unsafe sex in the cruising scene in New York right when the AIDS epidemic was really getting going are harrowing and Delany should be championed for his honesty in portraying this world. No edits appeared to have been made to these letters so we get what Delany was thinking about AIDS at a time when no one really knew what it was. He thought for a while he might be immune, he thought maybe you couldn’t get it from oral sex, he though a lot of things that turned out to be totally wrong. And reading him talking about how he and his community were thinking about this disease as it was first being discussed gave me chills. With all the unprotected sex Delany had in those days, it is amazing he survived, and we are better off because we have had another twenty five years of a brilliant writer and and we have this book which is an amazing document of a crazy time in downtown New York and a remarkable look into one of my favorite writers life.

]]> 8617111 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:02:55 -0700
If you’re into business books, this is a must read.
]]>
author: Kurt Eichenwald
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/03/07
shelves: business
review:
The countries best business writer, who also wrote the amazing The Informant gives the definitive account of what happened at Enron. The accounting explanations in here can get a little hairy (because what was going inside Enron’s accounting was pretty bizarre) but it is still a fascinating read. I don’t know what is more bizarre, that these dudes thought they could get away with what was basically an elaborate shell game, or that they did get away with an elaborate shell game for so long.

If you’re into business books, this is a must read.

]]> 8615458 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:06:04 -0700
Barnett also has a number of other predictions which may be hogwash, but may also lead to something really interesting. For instance, he toys with the idea that NAFTA will lead to a more EU style unification and the that the EU will soon be much more of a cohesive state. Interesting ideas and an interesting book. It’s a couple of years old now, but still worth picking up.]]>
author: Thomas P.M. Barnett
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 11/03/07
shelves: politics
review:
I was dialing around cable at my parent’s house one day a couple of years ago and ran across the most incredible power point presentation being given by a dude from the Naval War College on CSPAN about how the U.S. should think about security threats in the future. Basically his point was that those alienated from global capitalism are those we need to be most worried about and that places like Central Africa will soon join Afghanistan as geographical locations from which threats will arise. That presentation became this book and it is seriously worth reading. Barnett makes his living predicting bad shit for the U.S. government (and now, I believe, also for big corporations) and he is very good at what he does. Obviously sites of threats to the U.S. are also sites for new modes of positive resistance (those these things are not interchangeable) and also sights for economic development, so this book struck really close to a lot of my interests.

Barnett also has a number of other predictions which may be hogwash, but may also lead to something really interesting. For instance, he toys with the idea that NAFTA will lead to a more EU style unification and the that the EU will soon be much more of a cohesive state. Interesting ideas and an interesting book. It’s a couple of years old now, but still worth picking up.
]]> 8612824 Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:59:38 -0700
author: Dean Karnazes
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/06
date added: 11/03/07
shelves: thejock
review:
The book that got me started on my obsession with ultra endurance athletes. Karnazes is arguably insane, and definitely a ridiculous self promoter, his most recent stunt was 50 marathons in 50 days. He has also won Badwater, the craziest of the crazy ultramarathons. This is a fun book if reading about nut jobs who eat whole pizzas while they run through the Marin Hills is your idea of a fun read.
]]> 6558435 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:58:15 -0700
I love most of Delany’s work, the essays on french theory, the memoirs on growing up black, queer and dyslexic in New York City, the science fiction, most of the gay porn (though not even I can stomach Hogg). When I saw this volume of his collected writings on writing, I had high hopes. I was disappointed. Delany on just about anything other than writing is an interesting, but here, I think he fell short. Good books on writing are hard to come by, beyond the technical nature of writing, there is little that can really be imparted in an essay, and especially and essay by a guy who is more comfortable with Lacan and spaceships than he is with self help talk of finding the writers voice.

If you’re looking for some good Delany, instead of About Writing, read Dhalgren, Nova, Longer Views, The Motion of Light in Water and 1984]]>
author: Samuel R. Delany
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: fiction
review:
I am of the opinion that Samuel Delany’s Dhalgren is one of the most important novels of the last forty years. It is as challenging as Gravity’s Rainbow, but much more rewarding and politically complicated. And a friend said once, it makes you feel kind of funny when you read it.

I love most of Delany’s work, the essays on french theory, the memoirs on growing up black, queer and dyslexic in New York City, the science fiction, most of the gay porn (though not even I can stomach Hogg). When I saw this volume of his collected writings on writing, I had high hopes. I was disappointed. Delany on just about anything other than writing is an interesting, but here, I think he fell short. Good books on writing are hard to come by, beyond the technical nature of writing, there is little that can really be imparted in an essay, and especially and essay by a guy who is more comfortable with Lacan and spaceships than he is with self help talk of finding the writers voice.

If you’re looking for some good Delany, instead of About Writing, read Dhalgren, Nova, Longer Views, The Motion of Light in Water and 1984
]]> 6558339 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:56:00 -0700
Pride of Baghdad is about a group of lions set free by the US invasion of Iraq and their attempt to navigate the city during the invasion. It is a short little book (I almost feel guilty giving it a number in the notebook) but strangely moving. Its written by Brian Vaughn, who also writes Y: The Last Man, which is among the best comic books I have ever read (review forthcoming). The dialogue is great, and the art is fantastic. I think they downplayed the politics more, and the story doesn’t have the complexity of Y, but it is still a moving little work.]]>
author: Brian K. Vaughan
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/06
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: graphicnovels
review:
As if being into SF novels and spending my Friday nights outlining torts didn’t label me as a total loser, I have started getting back into graphic novels as well. I don’t really know where this is coming from, but whatever, expect a bunch of reviews in the coming months. There’s a lot of talent people in comics putting out some smart stuff, including this little book.

Pride of Baghdad is about a group of lions set free by the US invasion of Iraq and their attempt to navigate the city during the invasion. It is a short little book (I almost feel guilty giving it a number in the notebook) but strangely moving. Its written by Brian Vaughn, who also writes Y: The Last Man, which is among the best comic books I have ever read (review forthcoming). The dialogue is great, and the art is fantastic. I think they downplayed the politics more, and the story doesn’t have the complexity of Y, but it is still a moving little work.
]]> 6558256 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:54:42 -0700
Then, when I was dealing with the break up, and having no TV, I thought I would again resort the to page turner to get my mind off my misery. In the hospital, I picked the DaVinci Code. The day after the breakup, I picked The Historian. I am batting .000 cause they both totally fucking suck.

I will say this for the Da Vinci code, it is miserable, but it is a page turner, you do want to read the next chapter after every cliffhanger ending. But the Historian is just straight up bad. I am told years of research went into this, which probably explain the mind numbing cultural detail. Apparently, not only can you write about vampires and exotic locales in a totally tepid and uninteresting style, but you can also become a bestseller by doing it.]]>
author: Elizabeth Kostova
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at: 01/06
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: fiction, totalcrap
review:
When my (now ex) girlfriend had surgery, I was so nervous, I didn’t know what to do. I waited at the hospital getting so anxious that I couldn’t read the book I’d brought. Solution: page turner bought in the hospital lobby.

Then, when I was dealing with the break up, and having no TV, I thought I would again resort the to page turner to get my mind off my misery. In the hospital, I picked the DaVinci Code. The day after the breakup, I picked The Historian. I am batting .000 cause they both totally fucking suck.

I will say this for the Da Vinci code, it is miserable, but it is a page turner, you do want to read the next chapter after every cliffhanger ending. But the Historian is just straight up bad. I am told years of research went into this, which probably explain the mind numbing cultural detail. Apparently, not only can you write about vampires and exotic locales in a totally tepid and uninteresting style, but you can also become a bestseller by doing it.
]]> 6558200 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:52:21 -0700
I am sick of all encompassing theories. But I am also wary of an all out relativism. Appiah seems to be trying to walk a line somewhere in the middle. He argues that through engagement, "contamination" and tolerance we can create a new ethics what exactly this means in practical application isn’t always clear, and this small book doesn't answer all the questions I have, but it’s a start.]]>
author: Kwame Anthony Appiah
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: politics
review:
I have to say I find Appiah’s cosmopolitanism to be incredibly appealing. Call me a globalized liberal who thinks we can work most things out, but the fact that besides a bedrock belief in toleration of all but intolerance, there is little else that exists as a absolute in Appiah's thinking is attractive to me.

I am sick of all encompassing theories. But I am also wary of an all out relativism. Appiah seems to be trying to walk a line somewhere in the middle. He argues that through engagement, "contamination" and tolerance we can create a new ethics what exactly this means in practical application isn’t always clear, and this small book doesn't answer all the questions I have, but it’s a start.
]]> 6558064 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:49:58 -0700
Norton has far more time for Strauss himself than she does for his followers. She does an excellent job of pointing out the absurdity of many of the Straussian's work, citing for one example, Allan Bloom, the author of The Closing of the American Mind.

In Closing of the American Mind, Bloom argues with the growing inclusion of those less gifted (or rich, or, by extension, not white) into the colleges of the nation, America was losing its intellectual rigor. Basically, its been down hill since the G.I. Bill and a liberal education is not what it once was. As Norton points out, in making this arguement, Bloom counted on those liberal in power to behave like, well, liberals, and not mention that as a Jew and a gay man, he really had no place in the academy that he was championing anyway. There is a genius here in knowing your enemy will not make use of your personal life to point out the contradictions in your thinking, but there is also an obvious self hatred that is both sad and disturbing.
Norton's bit on the more overtly political Straussian's isn't nearly as interesting. The book to read for that side of the story is the Rise of the Vulcans by Jim Mann.]]>
author: Anne Norton
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/21/07
shelves:
review:
Though the neocon movement seems more and more like a thing of history, this is a nice quick and easy read that is wonderfully catty about Straussian's in the academy. It includes an excellent line about how she doesn't want to hear about the glories of war from slope shouldered men with soft hands sitting in the academic lounge at the University of Chicago.

Norton has far more time for Strauss himself than she does for his followers. She does an excellent job of pointing out the absurdity of many of the Straussian's work, citing for one example, Allan Bloom, the author of The Closing of the American Mind.

In Closing of the American Mind, Bloom argues with the growing inclusion of those less gifted (or rich, or, by extension, not white) into the colleges of the nation, America was losing its intellectual rigor. Basically, its been down hill since the G.I. Bill and a liberal education is not what it once was. As Norton points out, in making this arguement, Bloom counted on those liberal in power to behave like, well, liberals, and not mention that as a Jew and a gay man, he really had no place in the academy that he was championing anyway. There is a genius here in knowing your enemy will not make use of your personal life to point out the contradictions in your thinking, but there is also an obvious self hatred that is both sad and disturbing.
Norton's bit on the more overtly political Straussian's isn't nearly as interesting. The book to read for that side of the story is the Rise of the Vulcans by Jim Mann.
]]> 6557980 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:49:10 -0700 I know people who have read Oakes and loved him, but I found this book to be more than a little disconcerting. It is almost entirely the story of slaveholders and the way they lived and thought. Which is fine, we need books on slaveholders. But in Oakes’s move to humanize a class of people few in the modern age want to reckon, with he ends up downplaying the horrific nature of slavery.

As I remember, there was a lot of talk about the feelings of family and paternalism that the slave owners had towards their slaves, and a lot of talk about how most slave owners weren’t of the Thomas Jefferson plantation type, but were hard working people with less than a handful of slaves who were just trying to get ahead.

That’s all well and good, and it might actually be true. Maybe I am just not sophisticated enough in my reading of the book, but I think in portraying the way slave owners thought about themselves, Oakes loses sight of what they actually were – motherfuckers to a person.]]>
author: James Oakes
name: atthesametime
average rating: 2.00
book published: 1998
rating: 2
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: ushistory
review:

I know people who have read Oakes and loved him, but I found this book to be more than a little disconcerting. It is almost entirely the story of slaveholders and the way they lived and thought. Which is fine, we need books on slaveholders. But in Oakes’s move to humanize a class of people few in the modern age want to reckon, with he ends up downplaying the horrific nature of slavery.

As I remember, there was a lot of talk about the feelings of family and paternalism that the slave owners had towards their slaves, and a lot of talk about how most slave owners weren’t of the Thomas Jefferson plantation type, but were hard working people with less than a handful of slaves who were just trying to get ahead.

That’s all well and good, and it might actually be true. Maybe I am just not sophisticated enough in my reading of the book, but I think in portraying the way slave owners thought about themselves, Oakes loses sight of what they actually were – motherfuckers to a person.
]]> 6557892 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:47:33 -0700 Rumsfeld is a dick
Won’t flow the forces we need
We will be too light

- Colonel Steve Rotkoff’s in his war diary from the early planning stages of the Iraq war.

Frankly, I don’t know why I always read these Woodward books. They’re not very good, and all the juicy bits get talked to death in the papers before I ever start reading the books themselves. You already know all the bombshells in this one, the memos, the incompetence, the lies. There’s no point going into it.

The one thing that is interesting is the about face Woodward has done on the Bush team. He is clearly disgusted with Rumsfeld, and unimpressed with Bush himself. This is a long way from his stance in Plan of Attack. But, as I am told, as goes Woodward, so goes Washington.]]>
author: Bob Woodward
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/21/07
shelves: politics
review:
Rumsfeld is a dick
Won’t flow the forces we need
We will be too light

- Colonel Steve Rotkoff’s in his war diary from the early planning stages of the Iraq war.

Frankly, I don’t know why I always read these Woodward books. They’re not very good, and all the juicy bits get talked to death in the papers before I ever start reading the books themselves. You already know all the bombshells in this one, the memos, the incompetence, the lies. There’s no point going into it.

The one thing that is interesting is the about face Woodward has done on the Bush team. He is clearly disgusted with Rumsfeld, and unimpressed with Bush himself. This is a long way from his stance in Plan of Attack. But, as I am told, as goes Woodward, so goes Washington.
]]> 6352966 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:31:58 -0700
How’s that for sentence? Read Kolchin, and you’ll get a number just as long.]]>
author: Peter Kolchin
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: history, ushistory
review:
If you’re going to read one overview book on the history of slavery in America, and you want it to include not only the racism and sexism that were (and are) endemic in the slavery era, but you also want a good discussion of the economic consequences of slavery, and at least some explanation of why the practice was beginning to fail both morally and economically by the late 1800s, you could do worse than read Kolchin’s book.

How’s that for sentence? Read Kolchin, and you’ll get a number just as long.
]]> 6352883 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:30:40 -0700
I can boil down Diamonds argument into a couple sentences: Why has the west been the dominate power for the last couple centuries? Because the West had access to (you guessed it) guns, germs and steel. Why did they have access to guns germs and steel before everyone else? Accidents of geography and evolution.

That’s pretty much it. If all you care about is the thesis, I have just saved you hours of reading time. If you’re interested in how he got there, or want to feel like a fucking idiot because your range of knowledge is no where near Diamonds, then read the book.]]>
author: Jared Diamond
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: worldhistory
review:
There is a whole industry of books that explain why the world is the way it is. They are all by definition reductive and fail to grasp the actual complexities of the development of humanity. But, that being said, Guns Germs and Steel is among the best.

I can boil down Diamonds argument into a couple sentences: Why has the west been the dominate power for the last couple centuries? Because the West had access to (you guessed it) guns, germs and steel. Why did they have access to guns germs and steel before everyone else? Accidents of geography and evolution.

That’s pretty much it. If all you care about is the thesis, I have just saved you hours of reading time. If you’re interested in how he got there, or want to feel like a fucking idiot because your range of knowledge is no where near Diamonds, then read the book.
]]> 6352815 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:29:37 -0700
This book isn’t only about Parchman. It is more generally about the total failure of reconstruction, the abandonment of the idea of equality by America, and the very real price too many African Americans had to pay for the nation’s lack of guts in the face of Southern White Racism.]]>
author: David M. Oshinsky
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: history, ushistory
review:
This book is a must read on the Jim Crow era. When I was reading it, there were times I felt sick to my stomach. Oshinky lays out the horror and despicable racism of the Jim Crow South better than any other author I have read. Worse Than Slavery focuses on the infamous Parchman Farm, a prison farm in Mississippi. Parchman was work camp you were lucky to survive and the stories of how people got there, why the farm was useful for the Mississippi government and what the experience of life on the farm was like for those unlucky enough to end up there gives you a real sense of both the physical and emotional assault on people of color that was present and the economic impact of the Jim Crow era on the deep south.

This book isn’t only about Parchman. It is more generally about the total failure of reconstruction, the abandonment of the idea of equality by America, and the very real price too many African Americans had to pay for the nation’s lack of guts in the face of Southern White Racism.
]]> 6352728 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:28:33 -0700
Well, I got an overview, and from a progressive perspective as well. This is the first popular book of Supreme Court history I have read, so its hard for me to say if they are all this dryly written, but seriously, my constitutional law casebook has got more razzle dazzle.

The book is comprehensive. It covers every case you need to know about if you’re interested in individual rights from Dred Scott to Rasul v. Bush. Still, I’m a law nerd and it took me months to finally finish this one. Then again, when I get home at night the last thing I want to do is read more about interstate commerce and labor.]]>
author: Peter Irons
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 01/06
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: history, law
review:
I bought this one at the beginning of my first semester of law school thinking it would be a good idea to get an overview of the major Supreme Court decisions, and a bonus if I got that overview from a progressive perspective.

Well, I got an overview, and from a progressive perspective as well. This is the first popular book of Supreme Court history I have read, so its hard for me to say if they are all this dryly written, but seriously, my constitutional law casebook has got more razzle dazzle.

The book is comprehensive. It covers every case you need to know about if you’re interested in individual rights from Dred Scott to Rasul v. Bush. Still, I’m a law nerd and it took me months to finally finish this one. Then again, when I get home at night the last thing I want to do is read more about interstate commerce and labor.
]]> 6352573 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:25:57 -0700
author: Peter Dicken
name: atthesametime
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: economics, politics
review:
This one almost didn’t make the list because it borders so closely on a textbook. Still, I read the damn thing cover to cover in a political economy class, so I figured I should get to count it. Anyway, if you want to teach yourself the basics of international political economy, this would be an excellent place to start.
]]> 6352251 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:20:23 -0700
I could recount the narrative here for you, how she got an education in the harem from other women, how the harem wasn’t only a place of repression but was also a place of empowerment, how she was interested in European culture from an early age** but really you should just read it for yourself.

*We’re talking about the turn of the century, and yes there were still Harems
** If there isn’t a book out there about the relationships between early nationalist voices and the arts and culture of the colonial powers, there ought to be.]]>
author: Huda Sha Rawi
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: memoir, middleeast
review:
Huda Shaarawi lead a pretty fucking amazing life. She started out life in the harem* of her father, and ended it being a feminist and a nationalist hero. This isn’t a particularly well written book, but when you lead a life that was intertwined with so many world events, your memoir doesn’t have to be well written to be engaging.

I could recount the narrative here for you, how she got an education in the harem from other women, how the harem wasn’t only a place of repression but was also a place of empowerment, how she was interested in European culture from an early age** but really you should just read it for yourself.

*We’re talking about the turn of the century, and yes there were still Harems
** If there isn’t a book out there about the relationships between early nationalist voices and the arts and culture of the colonial powers, there ought to be.
]]> 6352185 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:18:58 -0700
author: China Miéville
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
I think this is my favorite of Mieville’s trilogy of novels set in the world in and surrounding New Crobuzon. I can’t say why I like this one best, I think because the monsters in Perdido Street Station were too… monstery, and the socialism in the Iron Council was too… socialist. Plus, I am a total sucker for sea stories, and this one is a sea story. I wish Mieville would quit writing children's stories and get back to writing really smart “weird” fiction
]]> 6351990 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:18:10 -0700
author: China Miéville
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/17/07
shelves: fantasy, fiction, genrefiction
review:
The first in the series, an excellent pseudo horror novel. Full of monsters and a wonderfully well imagine steampunk kinda world. Worth getting if you're into this sort of thing.
]]> 6290505 Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:27:48 -0700
Besides that, I remember this one as being surprisingly honest about Kurosawa’s flaws and his struggles throughout his career and with a number of insights about his earlier films. Worth a read if you’re into the man.
]]>
author: Akira Kurosawa
name: atthesametime
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 01/05
date added: 09/16/07
shelves: cinema, memoir
review:
Its funny what you remember about books. When I started thinking about writing this review the first thing I remember from this book (I read it about two and a half years ago now) was that Kurosawa sure did drink a lot.

Besides that, I remember this one as being surprisingly honest about Kurosawa’s flaws and his struggles throughout hi