Thread: What are you reading?

Originally Posted by Valar Morghulis

Me years ago

any good?

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

any good?

Yeah, it was.

I got a better sense of his internal lunacy from the book, than I did the movie

I started Weaveworld last night. By Clive Barker.

Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born to Run.
One of the best autobiographies I've read.
Very well written, full of stories and the wisdom gained from a lifetime of being on the road in a band.
The man has a definite way with words.

Gulag by Anne Applebaum. Never have read any of her work on Russian history and she has a new one on the Ukrainian famine coming out in October. Haven't read any Russian history for a year or so and thought it'd be a good place to turn.

Also Sitting Ball by Robert Utley.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Gulag by Anne Applebaum. Never have read any of her work on Russian history and she has a new one on the Ukrainian famine coming out in October. Haven't read any Russian history for a year or so and thought it'd be a good place to turn. Also Sitting Ball by Robert Utley.

Have you read any Dostoyevsky?

Originally Posted by Valar Morghulis

Have you read any Dostoyevsky?

I think Doctor Zhivago is the only Russian novel I've read, back in college. Mostly text books. Applebaum's work gets good reviews and reads better than a text book so far, so that's what intrigued me, so I thought I'd give it a go.

After I binged Narcos and El Chapo I remember I had a book I bought a year or so ago about the Drug War in Mexico. I'd always wanted to read more about the history of Mexico and how the drug cartels and corruption began. I'm not finished yet, but it's really good. Crazy shit and incredibly interesting. It gives lots of history, but more importantly it has a lot of interviews from people "on the frontlines" so to speak.



Before I remember I had El Narco, I got on amazon and ordered another one which I will probably read afterwards. I judge books by their covers, and this one is a winner already:

Anna Kendrick autobiography. It's really funny and well written.

Originally Posted by aberdien

After I binged Narcos and El Chapo I remember I had a book I bought a year or so ago about the Drug War in Mexico. I'd always wanted to read more about the history of Mexico and how the drug cartels and corruption began. I'm not finished yet, but it's really good. Crazy shit and incredibly interesting. It gives lots of history, but more importantly it has a lot of interviews from people "on the frontlines" so to speak.



Before I remember I had El Narco, I got on amazon and ordered another one which I will probably read afterwards. I judge books by their covers, and this one is a winner already:

How far into El Narco are you? I'm intrigued!

I'm working on finishing up my re-read of all of Brent weeks works. I finished the Night Angel series I'm up to book 3 of the Lightbringer series.

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

How far into El Narco are you? I'm intrigued!

I'm on chapter 8 out of 16 chapters. I was skeptical at first because I couldn't get into the first chapter when I tried to read it a while back, but it's pretty excellent thus far.

When Los Zetas enter the picture...JFC

I finished El Narco. It's rare I actually finish reading a book but this was definitely one of the more interesting books i've read. It covers the Narco trade very comprehensively. Here are my long-winded thoughts:

It's separated into 3 sections: History, Anatomy, Destiny. The first section traces the history of the drug trade in Mexico, including where it began and how people got involved. He discusses the politics of the drug trade frequently - how did the government corruption start, when did the capos start getting power, when did the US CIA and DEA get involved, and what initiatives attempted to fix the issues. I didn't know a whole lot about Mexican politics, so understanding the PRI (the one political party that ruled Mexico from 1929-2000) and the politics of the last 20 years of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon was really good information on how the government became corrupt, how the police became untrustworthy, and how the poor people came to accept involvement in the drug trade as a better alternative. And it is ridiculous how quickly this shit escalated from the almost innocence of the old game in the 60s and 70s where there was almost a code of ethics compared to now, where you have the military-trained Los Zetas who kidnap, behead, and torture for fun. Crazy shit.

The second section considers the culture of the cartels. It answers questions such as how the drugs are trafficked, how they convince people to join them, the relation with music (narcocorridos), and how the religious faith of those is reconciled with the dirty work of the drug trade. There is no shortage of gruesome descriptions of murder scenes, sicarios, and snuff films. The writer compares the tactics of these modern cartels to the kind of training and torture used by Al Qaeda (the book was written in 2011 before ISIS was en vogue). There is also a chapter in this section devoted to defining the drug war and these drug cartels in terms of them being a terrorist group, a rebellion, an insurgency, etc. What are their goals? What ideologies do they espouse? Are they trying to overthrow the government and should they be fought as if they were? Is a Civil War looming?

The final section discusses the growing desparation and what the future holds for the drug wars. There is a lot of talk about how kidnappings have risen in recent years. People are indiscriminately held for ransom, rich people, random poor people, and even migrants who are on their way to the USA. Fingers are cut off and sent in the mail to loved ones, or innocents are brought into the desert and forced to fight to the death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_S...nando_massacre) shit like that. How will it all end? Will it ever end? What should be done? Naturally, decriminalization and legalization is put forth as something to try by people like Vicente Fox, and the former President of Colombia during Escobar's fall. They conclude that fighting this war for so long has been ineffective (particularly since it started in 06), and all it has done is made Mexico more violent and dangerous. In other words, according to people like Fox and Gaviria, it's time to try something like legalization and taxation and see if it helps weaken the cartels and at least improve things a little bit.

Overall the book is excellent. It explains a lot of things I did not know about Mexico, the drug trade, why people go, and just how ****** up and complicated it really is. The cartels are so violent and powerful now that I find it hard to believe they will ever be eliminated. The writer of the book is a British journalist, so seeing him get up and close and interview former capos, current sicarios, generals fighting the drug war who get assassinated a few days after talking to him, and telling stories about relatively innocent lower level people who end up losing their lives, and even teenagers who are on that path, it's all very illuminating and gives the book a personal touch. If you have watched Narcos/El Chapo on netflix, you will probably like this book. There are a lot of familiar characters. Highly recommended.

I'd be interested to hear from Slick about his perspective as a resident of Mexico. I'm sure he is in a much safer area and perhaps his view of the situation is less cynical than that of an observer.

Originally Posted by aberdien

I finished El Narco. It's rare I actually finish reading a book but this was definitely one of the more interesting books i've read. It covers the Narco trade very comprehensively. Here are my long-winded thoughts:

It's separated into 3 sections: History, Anatomy, Destiny. The first section traces the history of the drug trade in Mexico, including where it began and how people got involved. He discusses the politics of the drug trade frequently - how did the government corruption start, when did the capos start getting power, when did the US CIA and DEA get involved, and what initiatives attempted to fix the issues. I didn't know a whole lot about Mexican politics, so understanding the PRI (the one political party that ruled Mexico from 1929-2000) and the politics of the last 20 years of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon was really good information on how the government became corrupt, how the police became untrustworthy, and how the poor people came to accept involvement in the drug trade as a better alternative. And it is ridiculous how quickly this shit escalated from the almost innocence of the old game in the 60s and 70s where there was almost a code of ethics compared to now, where you have the military-trained Los Zetas who kidnap, behead, and torture for fun. Crazy shit.

The second section considers the culture of the cartels. It answers questions such as how the drugs are trafficked, how they convince people to join them, the relation with music (narcocorridos), and how the religious faith of those is reconciled with the dirty work of the drug trade. There is no shortage of gruesome descriptions of murder scenes, sicarios, and snuff films. The writer compares the tactics of these modern cartels to the kind of training and torture used by Al Qaeda (the book was written in 2011 before ISIS was en vogue). There is also a chapter in this section devoted to defining the drug war and these drug cartels in terms of them being a terrorist group, a rebellion, an insurgency, etc. What are their goals? What ideologies do they espouse? Are they trying to overthrow the government and should they be fought as if they were? Is a Civil War looming?

The final section discusses the growing desparation and what the future holds for the drug wars. There is a lot of talk about how kidnappings have risen in recent years. People are indiscriminately held for ransom, rich people, random poor people, and even migrants who are on their way to the USA. Fingers are cut off and sent in the mail to loved ones, or innocents are brought into the desert and forced to fight to the death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_S...nando_massacre) shit like that. How will it all end? Will it ever end? What should be done? Naturally, decriminalization and legalization is put forth as something to try by people like Vicente Fox, and the former President of Colombia during Escobar's fall. They conclude that fighting this war for so long has been ineffective (particularly since it started in 06), and all it has done is made Mexico more violent and dangerous. In other words, according to people like Fox and Gaviria, it's time to try something like legalization and taxation and see if it helps weaken the cartels and at least improve things a little bit.

Overall the book is excellent. It explains a lot of things I did not know about Mexico, the drug trade, why people go, and just how ****** up and complicated it really is. The cartels are so violent and powerful now that I find it hard to believe they will ever be eliminated. The writer of the book is a British journalist, so seeing him get up and close and interview former capos, current sicarios, generals fighting the drug war who get assassinated a few days after talking to him, and telling stories about relatively innocent lower level people who end up losing their lives, and even teenagers who are on that path, it's all very illuminating and gives the book a personal touch. If you have watched Narcos/El Chapo on netflix, you will probably like this book. There are a lot of familiar characters. Highly recommended.

I'd be interested to hear from Slick about his perspective as a resident of Mexico. I'm sure he is in a much safer area and perhaps his view of the situation is less cynical than that of an observer.

I mean, I'll read the book before I read that long-winded post. Good grief!

My perspective is this. People are scared to death of them. They shake down small businesses, they run the taxis and the bars and nightclubs. If a cop or someone in the military tries to stop them they kill them and their entire families.

There have been places in Mexico such as the state of Guerrero where the general population gets so tired of the police and government doing nothing that they take up arms themselves but that doesn't usually end well.

It is a very serious problem. It's only a matter of time before they come to the dive shop and ask for their "nomina."

The day they do, I'm effing out of here.