Packers Huddle

APB wrote: ↑

16 Jul 2022 11:26

With all the recent media comparisons to the 1949 released George Orwell classic, 1984, I decided to give it a read.

Wow.

First of all, it's a good read. The story flows nicely with characters you can relate to and include storylines that are eerily similar to trends in modern day society. The twists and turns are engaging and ultimately the ending leaves you emotionally jarred.

And yes, there are definite modern parallels you can draw from the story written over 70 years ago. Some of it was unbelievably similar! I'm purposefully trying to be vague for those of you who have not read it as to not spoil it.

But anyway, I enjoyed the book and would certainly recommend reading it if you have not already done so.

FYI for some of us lazies out there

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1 ... 0503684707

APB wrote: ↑

21 Jul 2022 18:30

And now I’m on to The Martian by Andy Weir.

I must admit, I wasn’t terribly hyped about starting this book mainly because I didn’t think the movie was all that good. Based upon book reviews and awards, though, I decided to give it a shot.

I’m about 1/3 through and boy am I glad I did! The Mark Watney character in the book is fun, brilliant, sometimes hapless, and hilariously crude as he navigates his way through survival on the Red Planet - all things not conveyed by Matt Damon in the screen portrayal. The story, too, just reads so much better than the big screen is able to convey.

As I said, I’m only 1/3 of the way through but I already give it a big thumbs up and highly recommend.

Finished the book. Really, really good book!

Rewatched the movie. Now I think it sucks even more!

Cheesehead Chatter

APB wrote: ↑

25 Jul 2022 14:11

Rewatched the movie. Now I think it sucks even more!

When Matt Damon said they were going to "science the &%$@ out of this" I tuned right out. It's still a running joke in our house.

I really liked the movie, but can’t compare it to the book though, haven’t read it.

BF004 wrote: ↑

29 Jul 2022 06:47

I really liked the movie, but can’t compare it to the book though, haven’t read it.

Based upon what I've witnessed from your forum persona, I highly recommend you read the book. You'll love the Mark Watney book character.

APB wrote: ↑

16 Jul 2022 11:26

With all the recent media comparisons to the 1949 released George Orwell classic, 1984, I decided to give it a read.

Wow.

First of all, it's a good read. The story flows nicely with characters you can relate to and include storylines that are eerily similar to trends in modern day society. The twists and turns are engaging and ultimately the ending leaves you emotionally jarred.

And yes, there are definite modern parallels you can draw from the story written over 70 years ago. Some of it was unbelievably similar! I'm purposefully trying to be vague for those of you who have not read it as to not spoil it.

But anyway, I enjoyed the book and would certainly recommend reading it if you have not already done so.

Read 1984 so long ago I hardly remember it. I should read it again. That and "Helter Skelter". That I read when it came out. Be warned, it's not for the squeamish.

But on a positive note, this thread has inspired me to pick up a book and read. It's been a while. The last book I read was "To rescue the Republic" by Brett Baier. A good book on U.S. Grant and trying to heal the country after the Civil war.

Raptorman wrote: ↑

30 Jul 2022 21:53

APB wrote: ↑

16 Jul 2022 11:26

With all the recent media comparisons to the 1949 released George Orwell classic, 1984, I decided to give it a read.

Wow.

First of all, it's a good read. The story flows nicely with characters you can relate to and include storylines that are eerily similar to trends in modern day society. The twists and turns are engaging and ultimately the ending leaves you emotionally jarred.

And yes, there are definite modern parallels you can draw from the story written over 70 years ago. Some of it was unbelievably similar! I'm purposefully trying to be vague for those of you who have not read it as to not spoil it.

But anyway, I enjoyed the book and would certainly recommend reading it if you have not already done so.

Read 1984 so long ago I hardly remember it. I should read it again. That and "Helter Skelter". That I read when it came out. Be warned, it's not for the squeamish.

But on a positive note, this thread has inspired me to pick up a book and read. It's been a while. The last book I read was "To rescue the Republic" by Brett Baier. A good book on U.S. Grant and trying to heal the country after the Civil war.

I highly recommend When Pride Still Mattered.

Listening to East of Eden at the moment. I've read it twice, but it's still one of my favorites and I like getting 25 hours of a book for one credit on Audible instead of the usual 5-10 hours of most modern novels. I might go back and listen to 1984, after all the talk here, but it's so bleak. I always preferred the equal/opposite dystopia in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Value, Price, and Profit by Karl Marx!

Also, a dense textbook on Political Economy by Soviet scholars. xD

1984, Read chapters ep2 season6, I dont know where to put them, then today I read the rest of it.

Now I kinda wanna read Animal Farm again.

Trying to find out more about Robert Kennedy Jr. since he announced his candidacy for President in 2024. Just started his recent NYT bestseller The Real Anthony Fauci.

If I’ve gleaned anything this far, it’s that Kennedy has no love for Tony Fauci, and for apparent good reason. The actual data and subsequent actions by Fauci are reprehensible. Haven’t gotten far enough into the book that details Bill Gates’ role in all of it but the tidbits offered so far do not favor him at all. Looking forward to getting some time to really see what Kennedy has to say.

I have History of the Medieval World on my wishlist, haven't gotten to that one yet.

The Master and Margarita - Bulgakov

The Geography of Nowhere - Kunstler

For you guys interested in medieval history I highly recommend A Distant Mirror by Tuchman, came out almost fifty years ago but probably my favorite on the subject. I have Joachim Whaley's Germany and the Holy Roman Empire sitting waiting for me to start next.

I'm most of the way through The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David Anthony.

Man oh man what a book. A firehose of proof written right on the precipice of DNA based archeology that is fully compatible with the window DNA opened, unlike most European histories pre-DNA. Virtually all European men are descendants of these people, not Mesopotamia.

Next I want to read Barry Cunliffe's latest book about the Celts, a successor to this one chronologically (tho ofc different authors, though Anthony reference's Cunliffe's work, hard not to in the field of european history). He was one of the leaders of the Celtic from the west theory that was thoroughly trounced by dna evidence, which his latest book acknowledges, unlike his previous.

recently finished on audible and would recommend:

Partisans by Nicole Hemmer

Spoiler

A theory that Reagan was not the beginning of the modern conservative era, but actually the end of the previous era. Highlights specific players and movements from the 1990s through the 2010s to examine how the party has changed and what it cares about and how it came to be that way (she's a conservative media scholar)

Elite Capture by Olufemi O. Taiwo

Spoiler

A very short, but well-constricted critique by an African-born Marxist challenging the ideas of liberalism and woke rhetoric from the left. He makes the case that deferring to the most relevant minority in any given room likely still empowers the opinions of an elite, rather than of the people, leaving a broad culture thinking they are doing right by the working oppressed but instead glomming onto ideas and word choices formulated by elites.

Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick J. Deneen

Spoiler

A well-written book with an incomplete thesis basically indicating that the whole liberal experiment--the traditional liberalism which would contain both our conservative agrarian founders and our more progressive urban founders--will inevitably lead to an overbearing government as people focus more on their own individualism so thoroughly that only a government power can come in and pick up the pieces and provide the structure that a more communal orientation would have don outside of government. A really strange "conservative" anti-founding ideology book. Like he wants to try something wholly new, but fails to propose what it might look like. Written to appeal to all walks, but clearly a conservative book

The Bitter End by a handful of researchers

Spoiler

A look back on the 2020 election (and the campaigns that led to it) using insane amounts of data and analysis to get to the roots of what was driving voting behavior. These authors have done this post-election for the past 3 elections now. Very insightful.

So that's a moderate author who studies conservative media, a full-on marxist who is (not in his words) criticizing the establishment left culture of orthodoxy as elitist; a conservatism who believes the whole American experiment based on liberty is and was always doomed to lead to self-involved people deferring their power to an overlord; and political scientists examining how thoroughly Trump lost the 2020 election and how people felt about various people and issues along the way, right up through January 6th.

Narrow topics, broad ideologies. Encourage every one.

Been on a sports biography kick of late.

Recently finished 'Path Lit by Lightning' about Jim Thorpe.

Pretty fascinating insight and very well written.

Waldo wrote: ↑

26 May 2023 16:05

I have History of the Medieval World on my wishlist, haven't gotten to that one yet.

It was good. 3/4 the way through "The History of the Renaissance World". I can applaud the effort that Susan Wise Bauer has put forth in this "trilogy", but by the time you reach Renaissance book it becomes such a high level view of history that it becomes very difficult to remember events as you make your way through. I did not have this problem with "Ancient History" one, but it really becomes evident by the time you reach the final book.

Nips wrote: ↑

22 Jul 2023 21:02

Been on a sports biography kick of late.

Recently finished 'Path Lit by Lightning' about Jim Thorpe.

Pretty fascinating insight and very well written.

For some reason I don't find myself reading sports/player biographies. I end up picking up a "big" release, the last one I think being "Leader of the Pack" - Aaron Rodgers, and I don't think I ever read it. Maybe I can't get myself to read sports biographies because I already spend a huge part of my life watching sports.