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Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction …
I'm glad I read it, it's incredibly well written, original, painful, funny and insightful.
Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction infused anti-war novel by Kurt …
Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction …
Hard to put down.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the …
Many people feel that their jobs could be accomplished in much less than 8 hours every day, but social and economic stigma forces us to spend needless time at work, which most would rather spend doing other things.
On top of that, some jobs that exist in current society can be considered outright malicious and exploitative, and as such society would benefit from these not being done.
The author presents various examples for both arguments supplemented by self reports from persons in different professions which corroborate that this is a shared feeling, and explore the different impacts such work arrangements have on people.
The explicit goal of the book is to highlight that our current economic system is very far from the rational ideal it sells itself as, and to point out the negative impacts this has on an individual and social level, to foster debate about the problem as …
Many people feel that their jobs could be accomplished in much less than 8 hours every day, but social and economic stigma forces us to spend needless time at work, which most would rather spend doing other things.
On top of that, some jobs that exist in current society can be considered outright malicious and exploitative, and as such society would benefit from these not being done.
The author presents various examples for both arguments supplemented by self reports from persons in different professions which corroborate that this is a shared feeling, and explore the different impacts such work arrangements have on people.
The explicit goal of the book is to highlight that our current economic system is very far from the rational ideal it sells itself as, and to point out the negative impacts this has on an individual and social level, to foster debate about the problem as a first step to addressing it.
While he does suggest Universal Basic Income could help solve some of these issues, he clearly states his goal is not to promote this or any other policy as a unique solution.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the …
As usual with Graeber, very interesting and insightful.
Content warning Description of some stories, adult themes
(The version I read was M'Hashish Taped and Translated from the Moghrebi by Paul Bowles, 1970 reprint)
The book consists of a collection of short stories focused on male consumers of hashish in Morocco, some which celebrate the pleasure it brings its users, others which mock the crazy behavior of people (under the influence and otherwise).
Some notable highlights: One story establishes in fable tone that a hashish smoker (calm, hungry, eager for sex) is a much better husband than a drunk (aggressive, sleepy and impotent). Another describes a man drugging and raping a guest of his housemate in a fit of homoerotic rage. A lot of involuntary gay sex in the stories.
Repeats some points made in "Escape from Freedom", with less of the psychological insight. The last chapter is very particular - it veers off into proposing a political program for the Socialist Party-Socialist Democratic Federation to develop what he terms Humanistic Socialism. One of the most notable points is his constant warning of the danger of mass manipulation by subconscious means.
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist is a non-fiction book by …
This book is a transcript of three talks given by Feynman in April 1963. The talks deal with a variety of topics: science, religion, politics, language - valuable insight into the thoughts and opinions of one of the greatest American scientists of the past century. Highly worth a read.
Very noteworthy and currently timely comments from Feynman concerning the risks of the "Americanism" movement and the "Birch society", which has gone from a fringe movement when he denounced it in the 60s to being some of the leading ideologues of the Trump regime.
This being a verbatim transcript of public lectures, there are some errors, clearly he misspeaks some times, repeats himself and uses some crutches ("and so on") - it could have used some editing, but it was published posthumously against Feynman's will.
"Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous …
"Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money …
Valuable reinterpretation of the meaning of debt and money.
Well written, interesting content and ample references to look for further material. Highly worth a read for anyone wanting to learn about modern Chinese history. The author tries to remain hopeful despite the facts of the story showing the rapid erosion of liberties in China in recent years.
Very interesting stories of modern China, worth a read for anyone wishing to learn about the unofficial history of the country over the past decades.
Started reading recently and it's hard to put down. Very interesting insights into modern China.
