Favorite Books and Authors

[taty994945]

.....

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by KillaQueen

spy, they didn't hang their bodies anywhere. they backed them against a wall and shot the crap out of them. and that didn't take place in a square or anyhing. it could be called a public execution if you consider the fact that it was filmed and later aired on national television, without censoring anything. .

Oh I see...I think the Greek media were a bit misleading there, the way they presented the footage and the comments of the reporters suggested that he and his wife were hanged from a square into public display.
They probably wanted to draw analogies with Mussolini.

[rosh]

Originally Posted by taty994945

Who the hell is Ayn Rand?

a homphobic writer who was in lurv with herself

but thats just my opinion, hehe


serious answer : [tho she was homophobic]

she was an author who wrote lots of novels espousing her theory of objectivism.

objectivism is a philosophical theory which regards reason and logic as absolutes. it says that all knowledge is based upon evidences which your 5 senses can perceive and understand. so any beliefs or theories you hold need to be proved by logical methods of inquiry, then tested by logical methods to verify the belief.

so its very scientific in its approach to all areas of knowledge.

[taty994945]

.....

[Rachel]

Can't say I've ever heard of these books

I guess my head is too buried in smut

[coolasfcuk]

reading is over-reated!

of course, i read lots of architecture related stuff, but i am excited to be taking a seminar over in the film department, which reaquires reading lots of Maurice Merleau-Ponty... as well as some Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan, Hannah Arendt.
I've always wanted to take a class with a hardcore feminist, and well, the woman teaching it is one, in fact she is very hard core, her interest include: Feminist theory, Psychoanalysis, Film theory, Cultural studies, Designated emphasis in women, gender, and sexuality. I hope it's FUN!

[PowerPuff Grrl]

Originally Posted by coolasfcuk

reading is over-reated!

of course, i read lots of architecture related stuff, but i am excited to be taking a seminar over in the film department, which reaquires reading lots of Maurice Merleau-Ponty... as well as some Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan, Hannah Arendt.
I've always wanted to take a class with a hardcore feminist, and well, the woman teaching it is one, in fact she is very hard core, her interest include: Feminist theory, Psychoanalysis, Film theory, Cultural studies, Designated emphasis in women, gender, and sexuality. I hope it's FUN!

Laura Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is practically the ultimate feminist contribution to film theory. Other names you could check out are Althusseur and Susan Sontag.

ETA:
I myself am totally into the social science, history, and political science of non-fiction.
Last several books I've read have been Naomi's Wolf's Fire with Fire, basically describes why feminism fell apart during the nineties, why nobody these days claims to be a feminist, and why it is now practically synonymous with dyke, man-hating and communist.

Then there's Fareed Zakaria's Future of Freedom, he argues that democracy and liberty are too completely different things that are often confused in the West. He proves how nations that are democratic often have very little liberty and that democracy is a horrible transitional mode of government. Liberty can exist without democracy and that nations that are attempting to achieve democracy have a better chance doing so with very restrictive governments (in a representative sense).
He also proves that too much democracy can be a bad thing, as is the case with the US.

Right now I'm reading Debra J. Dickerson's End of Blackness; it's about how the Black civil right's movement is currently failing because it continues to harbour a sense of victimization, Naomi Wolf's book also said that same thing about feminism in that now the main coarse of action should be to empower women, in Dickerson's case Blacks.

Some other books I have read and loved were: What is the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank, Samantha Power's A Problem from Hell, The trouble With Islam Today by Irshad Manji, and Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind (<-- very interresting if you're into films).
Books I'm planning on reading are the The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul, and Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

So many books, so little time to mention all of them.

If anybody can recommend some cool non-fiction books I would sincerely love it!

PS: Thank you so much Killaqueen, for answering.

[cirrus]

oooh oooh.... "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston is great. I prefer fun books, though, so I'd have to say "Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch" by local Atlanta author Hollis Gillespie, and now i'm beginning a book about gay prostitutes named "City Of Night"

[xmad]

My favorite book: Mein Kampf (in English:my struggle , in Persian:nabarde man)

[PowerPuff Grrl]

Originally Posted by xmad

My favorite book: Mein Kampf (in English:my struggle , in Persian:nabarde man)

And that just killed the thread.
It was great while it lasted guys!

[Rachel]

Huh?!!

[marina]

Originally Posted by Rachel

Huh?!!

What huh?......somebody in love with Mein Kampf (Hitler) and that is sad

[rosh]

Originally Posted by Rachel

Huh?!!

rachel, mein kampf was written by adolf hitler. it details his childhood, what he thought was germanys betrayal during wwI, his desire for revenge against france, and the way his new party could gain power in germany. also little bits on his racist agenda, and his glorification of the aryan race. so it was his own little book on propoganda really.

[Lux]

mein kampf is scary stuff. granted, they took an effort to document everything. EVERYTHING

[Rachel]

Thanks for the explanation rosh, yep, sick stuff

[KillaQueen]

Originally Posted by PowerPuff Grrl

And that just killed the thread.
It was great while it lasted guys!

well, we already had the hitler discussion with our little nazi lover here, so i doubt it'll start again, but who knows?

[xmad]

Originally Posted by PowerPuff Grrl

And that just killed the thread.
It was great while it lasted guys!

You dont have to read my post.

Originally Posted by KillaQueen

well, we already had the hitler discussion with our little nazi lover here, so i doubt it'll start again, but who knows?

All I said was name of the book.Did I mention anything about Hitler??
Why do I wanna say anything about him when I know all of you hate him?

[KillaQueen]

Originally Posted by xmad

All I said was name of the book.Did I mention anything about Hitler??
Why do I wanna say anything about him when I know all of you hate him?

no, don't worry. that's good. let's stick to the subject.

[Linda16]

I read a lot, beacuse my profession is related to literature. At the same time it is impossible for me to name any favourite author or book. It all depends on the time, mood, your age, education. A certain book may mean everything to you at the right moment. And when you read it afterwards, it could be dull and meaningless. After all, I agree with KillaQueen that Orwell manged to depict brilliantly a totalitarian regime. I believe that anyone who has such kind of experiences can relate to his book perfectly.

[haku]

Originally Posted by xmad

All I said was name of the book.Did I mention anything about Hitler?

Almost everybody knows who wrote Mein Kampf and the outrageous content of the book, you don't have to say anything more than that to make people aware that you support the Nazi ideology, which is of course bound to shock people and cause reactions.