I like both fiction and nonfiction. My interest in nonfiction includes political theory & occasionally research papers. If I finish a book quickly, I probably found a short audiobook somewhere. My watchlists: Anime/manga: anilist.co/user/AniLakes/ Movies: letterboxd.com/LakesAtTheMovie/ TV shows: www.serializd.com/user/Lakes/profile
Pronouns: they/he (prefered), she/her (acceptable)
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No need to spend the day at an archaeological dig when you can simply make …
Ever since its publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan has unsettled and challenged how we …
I might not fully agree with this book. But it's hard to argue or not sympathize with his cynical view of ideology as a whole. All ideologies have failed us in some way. He seems to suggest that social ills are both an inevitable part of life & re-enforced by our dogmatic allegiance to ridding of them.
No need to spend the day at an archaeological dig when you can simply make …
The bit about the coal breaker boys in the 1900s was an interesting & haunting one. He ends it by saying to be thankful for the present since modern machines have made this job obsolete. However I can't help but think of how Congolese kids are mining for lithium right now as we speak. Hopefully, this practice will become obsolete too. But I'm worried about what will take its place.
No need to spend the day at an archaeological dig when you can simply make …
For some reason, I keep reading this book in youtuber brutalmoose's voice.
Anarchism is the boldest of revolutionary social movements to emerge from the struggle against capitalism, …
apparently the audiobook channel i used didnt upload all the chapters so i'm continuing this
Blood In My Eye was completed only days before it's author was killed. George Jackson died on August 21, 1971 …
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution is a 1938 book by Trinidadian historian C. L. R. …
I didn't entirely agreed with every argument against veganism in this. Quite frankly the "murder isnt hierarchical." argument is just weird as hell. However the main one I agree on & even thought about myself was the consumerist savior approach to animal liberation. I still don't think eating meat is moral. But I also don't think avoiding animal products does much to liberate them when things like faux-fur & chemical fertilizers contribute to environmental collapse. Plus it's hard to consistently boycott animal products if you have meat-eating pets.
No need to spend the day at an archaeological dig when you can simply make …
I sympathize with his hatred of bologna. It tastes like rubber meat.
This is more of a 3.5 stars. The book was really interesting. I really liked the historical stuff & peer reviewed citations. I agree that these ideologies change too much to be coherent, especially if we look at the main parties. I also agree with the much larger point on conformity & confirmation bias. I think their solutions for this are decent.
But certain parts of the book felt like they lived in a bubble of their own. Although maybe this is just because of my own biases. For example, I wished they acknowledged the fact Hitler killed socialists/communists or the interview where he said he saw socialists as corrupting the word "socialist" which he used to mean collectivist more generally. It doesn't disprove their point, but rather shows how easily these terms can be manipulated. They also seem to have less to say on the ways leftists differ. Some …
This is more of a 3.5 stars. The book was really interesting. I really liked the historical stuff & peer reviewed citations. I agree that these ideologies change too much to be coherent, especially if we look at the main parties. I also agree with the much larger point on conformity & confirmation bias. I think their solutions for this are decent.
But certain parts of the book felt like they lived in a bubble of their own. Although maybe this is just because of my own biases. For example, I wished they acknowledged the fact Hitler killed socialists/communists or the interview where he said he saw socialists as corrupting the word "socialist" which he used to mean collectivist more generally. It doesn't disprove their point, but rather shows how easily these terms can be manipulated. They also seem to have less to say on the ways leftists differ. Some parts felt a bit condescending and repetitive too. But I guess part of that is a common problem in works that try to challenge ideology and bias. They often end up being a bit biased and condescending themselves.
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian …
I'm listening to chapter 3 right now. I have mixed feelings about it. But the things he says come off as racist even if it was still better than most europeans at the time. It's a bit uncomfortable to sit through.
My fav character in this is the grandma. She is a little silly & mischievous.
From Wikipedia: "A collection of political, social and philosophical essays written and published by anarchist …
I'm listening to Vivan Strange's reading of this. I find her commentary expanding upon the book to be more interesting and emotionally resonant than the book itself. Not to say it's a bad book (it's not) but it sometimes feels both incomplete & simplistic in its romanticism/lifestylism. Sure, Vivan Strange's additions are also idealistic. But I find something more valuable in a critique of how we view selfishness & altruism as a binary rather than just presenting the "lover" as a completely honest & anti-consumerist ideal. Ironically the former feels more honest to me. Although the book made me understand the idea of shoplifting as a form of protest a bit more. I also wonder if pokemon go offered that new outdoor game the author wanted, just worsened the issue or perhaps a bit of both (probably both).
This is a decent book. But it feels as if he went "man i should have said that" after an argument and then wrote a book about it.
