Books which we have read and recommend

[Rakkum]

I'm still looking to read a good book on acting.

Not strictly on acting but Keith Johnstone's Impro is phenomenal.

 

[Rakkum]

The intent to live.

In a few short sentences, what was your main takeaway from that book?

 

[dark hawk]

Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin

I recently finished reading this book, and Colvin did a great job explaining how talent can be developed.

He also describes what kind of preparation Tiger Woods, Mozart and the Polgar sisters underwent. While Colvin explained these cases in detail and provided evidence that talent is overrated, I still can think of a few notable examples which would appear to disprove what Colvin suggests. For example, Polymaths like Da Vinci, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, and geniuses like Euler, Byron, Ramanujan, seem to buck the trend Colvin proves. There might be more examples but these ones are enough to make my point. So do these examples disprove the theory that talent is overrated or am I missing key details from their lives?

 

[ulrich]

For example, Polymaths like Da Vinci, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, and geniuses like Euler, Byron, Ramanujan, seem to buck the trend Colvin proves. There might be more examples but these ones are enough to make my point. So do these examples disprove the theory that talent is overrated or am I missing key details from their lives?

You are probably trusting romanticized stories of these people.

Newton, for example, barked to three trees at the same time: alchemy, astrology and physics... we only remember him for one of them. The guy also never married, never had kids and was notable for being a loner. Not exactly what you would call successful by modern standards.

Galileo is best remembered for claiming that the sun was the center of the universe... a theory that he could not even prove with the technology of his time and that he defended, without evidence, fighting and alienating his own benefactors: the Franciscans and the Pope.
(Who do you think was paying for Galileo’s research?).

Da Vinci, as far as I know, was somewhat unknown in his time and became really famous a couple of centuries later when Europe had a little Renaissance revival.
Most of his “inventions” are really just drafts, showing an intense dedication to study... not necessarily to creating.


I think all these guys were great and certainly very profilic but given that centuries have passed and information is limited, I think it is wise to assume we’re experiencing a halo/fame effect.

 

[Protean]

Another recommendation: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. It's been on my list for years and I just finally got around to reading it. Very thought provoking story here guys. Everything from masculinity, to religion and society is touched here.

 

[Tim Iron]

Influence by Robert Caldini

 

[POB]

I recall Brian tracy being recommended by BlackDragon as well. Okay fellas you convinced me, gonna check it out

The best of Brian Tracy is on YouTube...for free!
Look for his corporate speeches and audio classes (the seven Cs series is golden)
I just saved it on audio format so I can listen to him while commuting or waiting for appointments (he is a self-motivational genius!).

Wonder why nobody mentioned Musashi...one of the best books out there for men, plus its a great read.
Jurassic Park is also great if you are interested in learning a bit about genetics and chaos theory (the movie is a very loose adaptation by the way).
Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever one of the best books about taking care of your health that's easy to read, has actionable steps and is not fitness based.

 

[Orgasmatron]

A life-changing book I've read is "No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Robert A Glover.

As a recovering "nice" guy, the book held a mirror to myself and said "That's you." It called out the root of why I do typical nice guy things. For approval. I wasn't aware fully until I read this book.

I recommend it for any guy that ever wonders why girls go for the jerks. Or wonders why their niceness is not appreciated. Eye-opener.

If you apply the concepts, it's intoxicating to not hold your true self back for approval.

Just started reading this and so far it's basically me to a tee.

Looking forward to working through it and stopping being such a needy approval seeking dweeb

 

[DarkKnight]

Perhaps I am going to read that no more nice guy too.. simply because I have trouble with relating with that and it seems so prevalent.

 

[sunnygirl]

Great to see other avid readers, here are books I've read that really resonated with me.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Dead Poets Society by Nancy Klainbeum
1984 by George Orwell
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
The Handsmaid Tale by Margaret Atwood (I'm aware this novel has more feminist leanings though if that's not your thing)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Influential/Self Improvement Books that I recommend and have improved my life:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Subtle Art Not Giving an F by Mark Manson

 

[Teevster]

Here is my reading list.

-Teevster

 

[HoofHearted]

Newton, for example, barked to three trees at the same time: alchemy, astrology and physics

Did have a lasting and profound effect on *astronomy*

That's why we call it Kepler's Third Law (modified by Newton), and you know, the invention of the Newtonian reflector.

Anyways, you all should learn some ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and then read the classics.

Edit lol at all u fools kickin back reading some Kant/Hobbes to relax

 

[Conquistador]

Anyways, you all should learn some ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and then read the classics.

Are you familiar with any of those languages yourself, out of curiosity?

Edit lol at all u fools kickin back reading some Kant/Hobbes to relax

I'd be interested to here what Teevster thinks of this point.

Well...one man's turgid nightmare is another man's escapist paradise. Difficulty ≠ stress.

Also, you know Chase is currently making his way through On War, right? He's mentioned it in a few articles (I'm disappointed he hasn't made a seduction analogy out of Book III Chapter 4, it would have been funny).
I've never read Kant and not really Hobbes either, but I've successfully completed Clausewitz's unfinished monolith, so...yeah.

 

[HoofHearted]

Can't make a comment about 'On War,' never read it or even heard of it.

Can comment on Kant and Hobbes, have scholarship there which is why it amuses me.

 

[Chase]

Mine:

Recommended Reading

Here's another diversion from the ordinary (we're getting a lot of that this week - the "Do You Like Someone?" infographic yesterday, and now a book post), but we had a few requests over the past few days for a recommended reading list... and since those are fun to do and I haven't done one on...

www.girlschase.com

Recommended Reading 2018: Lubbock's List and More

A collection of books across many genres Chase recommends. History, business, biography, psychology, spirituality, self-defense… there’s much to read. I wrote a post in 2012 about books I’d read and would recommend to readers. It’s been six years since then, and I’ve had numerous folks over the...

www.girlschase.com

Since I read so slow, it takes me time to get through new things. Looks like I'm doing an updated list once every 6 years... next one to come in 2024, I suppose!

Can't make a comment about 'On War,' never read it or even heard of it.

I've probably made more highlights in On War than anything I've read.

More due to my own interests + paucity of direct experience in the field than anything else though, I suppose. Writing fiction with military elements in it while having no military experience... kinda need to listen to the guy who's the expert here...

Incidentally, von Clausewitz was influenced by Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers, and his treatment of military strategy takes notes from the structure of their arguments in terms of how it crafts its own.

Chase

 

[Conquistador]

Incidentally, von Clausewitz was influenced by Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers, and his treatment of military strategy takes notes from the structure of their arguments in terms of how it crafts its own.

Legions of readers have shut his book and dismissed him as a blowhard right in Book I Chapter 1 because they didn't understand the Hegelian (thesis-antithesis->synthesis) flow of his argument.

 

[HoofHearted]

Reading, to me, is never a waste of time (I spent several hours yesterday doing it myself).

Almost invariably, anybody who has talked to me about German idealism hasn't read any of it, and I envy them that. Then again, I might go out of my way to avoid anybody that actually has read any, but that's separate topic

I read slow as well (not naturally, I had to learn). Some of the smartest people in history were slow readers. Wouldn't touch either of those lists, call it taste, but come the apocalypse I'm wiping with Gladwell first.

Internet says On War is a 750 page tome, unfinished, complete with indices, written by a Prussian general who died in 1831. And I hope it was painful.

It might be admirable, or masochistic, to undertake such a task in the name of producing your fiction. I just cannot help but feel your time might actually be better spent producing fiction.

I remember I was writing a novel that contained several depictions of the natural world. Not being very outdoorsy, I began to realize I didn't have much vocabulary actually about... outside. What is the definition of a mountain peak? A pass? I knew what a birch tree was. There were so many fuckin' birch trees in that book. What other kind of trees were out there, I wondered.

So I bought various texts in physical geography and its subfields (silvology) and began to read. Genus, phylum, you name it, I became one with the wood.

Sure made me feel better. Turns out I was just gaming myself, didn't actually need any of it, just a spinning of the wheels. By the way, daily word count went down at this time.

Just an anecdote from the abyss. You know best about how you create.

But as long as you monkeys are reading, at least you're staying out of jail.

I only really stopped by this thread to defend Ike, because he also had difficulties getting laid and I get that, and you all tried to deny his major impact on astronomy, which is classically what you do at night when you're all alone and not getting laid. But give the man his dues. Here's a list of three books you can peck on for the sake of fairness.

1. The Fables of Avianus -- They're short and in most translations they rhyme the way you guys like
2. The Passenger (Cormac McCarthy) -- you could just wait for the movie
3. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (novelization, Matthew Stover) -- Just read it. You'll see

 

[Chase]

Legions of readers have shut his book and dismissed him as a blowhard right in Book I Chapter 1 because they didn't understand the Hegelian (thesis-antithesis->synthesis) flow of his argument.

Really? It's such a tightly edited, compelling start to the book.

If you're going to close the book, I'd expect you'd do so in one of the more sprawling chapters about dated military tactics, rather than the timeless perspective on war as an extension of diplomacy.

I had people telling me it's a really hard read, and you should read such and such works first... I'm halfway through, not sure what the "hard" parts are about it. Maybe I've played too many military RTS games for it to be abstract to me.

I read slow as well (not naturally, I had to learn). Some of the smartest people in history were slow readers. Wouldn't touch either of those lists, call it taste, but come the apocalypse I'm wiping with Gladwell first.

Yeah, everybody's different...

written by a Prussian general who died in 1831. And I hope it was painful.

Sounds like you've got a bone to pick against the Prussians. Must've been all that Kant you swam through.

It might be admirable, or masochistic, to undertake such a task in the name of producing your fiction. I just cannot help but feel your time might actually be better spent producing fiction.

I have a strong need to want to grasp as much of the workings of the world as possible. War, for better or worse, is a major facet of life.

Most people in history have been a lot more personally familiar with war than us non-military Americans have been. It's kind of a weird state of affairs, that just going by historical precedent probably is a lot more temporary than we realize.

I remember I was writing a novel that contained several depictions of the natural world. Not being very outdoorsy, I began to realize I didn't have much vocabulary actually about... outside. What is the definition of a mountain peak? A pass? I knew what a birch tree was. There were so many fuckin' birch trees in that book. What other kind of trees were out there, I wondered.

So I bought various texts in physical geography and its subfields (silvology) and began to read. Genus, phylum, you name it, I became one with the wood.

Sure made me feel better. Turns out I was just gaming myself, didn't actually need any of it, just a spinning of the wheels. By the way, daily word count went down at this time.

Just an anecdote from the abyss. You know best about how you create.

Haha. I'm sure.

The vocabulary of a specialist is always going to be far superior to someone unfamiliar with a field. Moby Dick is filled with terms about ships and whales and the sea I'd never come across before that book. There's no way I could remember them all.

Lovecraft, my favorite fiction writer, was an amateur architectural antiquarian, and his descriptions of buildings contain all sorts of building parts whose names he seemed to have encyclopedic knowledge of. Know the difference between a colonnade and a balustrade, or where a cornice goes, or what a gambrel roof is? Even if you pick up a few of these terms you'd never get to Lovecraft-level vocabulary unless you made a study of it. And no one wants to do that unless it's something he just wants to do.

Anyway, I'll read something to fill gaps on how people behave in specific situations and big picture stuff. Always a dual role there... if it's not a topic I'm genuinely interested in, I'll find some faster way to get whatever knowledge I need.

Vocab in general, that's what the Internet's for! I wrote a chapter in a swamp... what's the name of those trees growing there? Cypress trees, the Internet says. There are now cypress trees all over that swamp. I wrote a chapter on a mountainside... what's the loose rock and pebble on a mountainside called? Scree, the Internet says. "They scrambled across the scree, kicking loose stones and pebbles in their wake."

But as long as you monkeys are reading, at least you're staying out of jail.

Hear hear.

Well, unless we have readers who are reading the site from jail... and also reading books.

Can't imagine there are too many men interested in seduction in jail though. Unless they have very different targets than us.

Chase

 

[HoofHearted]

The vocabulary of a specialist is always going to be far superior to someone unfamiliar with a field. Moby Dick is filled with terms about ships and whales and the sea I'd never come across before that book. There's no way I could remember them all.

I've come to disagree with maybe an underlying premise here, perhaps. It's certainly true that experts have more words to describe their fields.

However, in the production of fiction, the more conceptual a word is, the more it tends to shift away from sensory experience/something imagistic. IME the real master prose stylists evade this pitfall. One of my favorite authors just wrote a book that described a small piece of drift of wood on a beach contorted to resemble a human shape. Used the word 'homunculus.' Nobody needed that.

But you don't have to be a master prose stylist to tell a story. You don't even have to be one to get me to like your book (it's so rare).

Moby Dick is peculiarly readable.

 

[BrideBeGone]

I don't read nearly as often as I used to, but one book that I learned A LOT from and highly recommend is "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell. He also wrote "The Tipping Point," and "David and Goliath," both excellent as well.

Taken from Wikipedia -- "Blink" is about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant--in the blink of an eye--that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error?

In other words, developing your intuition and learning to act upon it and TRUST it! It's so powerful and so under-utilized imo.

For me, I rarely have to ask for advice anymore, even during the toughest of times. I trust my own intuition and doing so has really served me well.

Anyhoo, super great book.

Another fav is "To Kill A Mockingbird," I just LOVED that book and also "The Executioner's Song" by Truman Capote who won a Pulitzer prize for it.

In fact, reading The Executioner's Song, I got so engrossed in Gary Gilmore (the protagonist in the book), I cut myself off from the world for a few days, went to the library to read news clippings of the events up to and surrounding his death by gunfire (at his own request).