Thread: What are you reading?

Originally Posted by SR

Hawg, tell us how you feel about Sapiens.

Gladly!

BTW SR is referencing a sidebar discussion between me and Dave the Wanker about Sapiens with a few dramatic flare-ups and some emotional switchbacks.

Sapiens is written by an articulate gay man with a bit of a liberal bias that pervades the work. This is not unwelcome nor surprising, but I could never quite get comfortable with his voice. I never came to trust him in the way I trust authors like George Orwell (in his essays), or Daniel Yergin, or Richard Rhodes, or David McCollough, or Chernow. My spidey senses continued to tingle, my BS detector was on alert (and maybe chirped just once or twice, mildly).

His facts are fine, and the book alternated between fantastic and plodding. For example, he spends some time on the idea that abstraction (e.g., the notion of a 'corporation') is what allowed the incredible exponential world domination of the homo sapiens.

I also like the treatment of the overlapping species period when Neanderthal and sapiens and other human species competed.

The early section of the book up until the agricultural revolution, I like. About the first 1/3. Then the next 1/3d felt like a rehash of history with no special twist. Author spent a lot of time on the concept of money and similar aspects of human culture and exchange, but it didn't do anything for me--this was the plodding middle 1/3d of the book.

And I stopped there, DNF. I'm told it gets better again, that it becomes interesting when the ancient aspects of our species are applied to contemporary society.

I'd recommend the book for the first 1/3d alone, it reframes the way I view human existence. So for that, I'm a fan.

However, I still don't trust the author and thought the book wore out its welcome too quickly for me.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

Gladly!

BTW SR is referencing a sidebar discussion between me and Dave the Wanker about Sapiens with a few dramatic flare-ups and some emotional switchbacks.

Sapiens is written by an articulate gay man with a bit of a liberal bias that pervades the work. This is not unwelcome nor surprising, but I could never quite get comfortable with his voice. I never came to trust him in the way I trust authors like George Orwell (in his essays), or Daniel Yergin, or Richard Rhodes, or David McCollough, or Chernow. My spidey senses continued to tingle, my BS detector was on alert (and maybe chirped just once or twice, mildly).

His facts are fine, and the book alternated between fantastic and plodding. For example, he spends some time on the idea that abstraction (e.g., the notion of a 'corporation') is what allowed the incredible exponential world domination of the homo sapiens.

I also like the treatment of the overlapping species period when Neanderthal and sapiens and other human species competed.

The early section of the book up until the agricultural revolution, I like. About the first 1/3. Then the next 1/3d felt like a rehash of history with no special twist. Author spent a lot of time on the concept of money and similar aspects of human culture and exchange, but it didn't do anything for me--this was the plodding middle 1/3d of the book.

And I stopped there, DNF. I'm told it gets better again, that it becomes interesting when the ancient aspects of our species are applied to contemporary society.

I'd recommend the book for the first 1/3d alone, it reframes the way I view human existence. So for that, I'm a fan.

However, I still don't trust the author and thought the book wore out its welcome too quickly for me.

Thanks.

Glad I could spur some conversation!

Listened to almost all of the Killers of the Flower Moon audiobook today. Crazy stuff, totally makes sense why Scorsese is making a movie about it.

Rolled open my old tattered copy of Helter Skelter….

Not sure if my wife was trying to tell me something, but for Christmas she got me We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends

It's a good, short read about the "loneliness epidemic" that many men in their 30-40's seem to be facing as careers, family, etc. become the most "important" thing in their lives and friendships go by the wayside until one day they wake up as empty nesters with no close friends and severe depression. The best part is this book bumps right up against the start of the pandemic and touches a bit on the new challenges there near the end. This book is vulnerable and funny in all the best ways.

All in all, the book seemed to raise good questions but all the solutions the author tried met with varying degrees of success. My main takeaway is that men can't keep relationships going via phone calls like women (especially when I don't think I've talked to a friend more than 30 seconds on the phone ever), so find something you can do shoulder to shoulder with your best buds (we tend to value activities over deep conversations) and try to make it as important as everything else in your life. Every dude should have a "Wednesday night" on his schedule with some close friends if possible.

Grady Hendrix's "Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction"

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

Grady Hendrix's "Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction"

Interesting choice, not something I would picked up.

I'm reading The Other Emily by Dean Koontz. Just started but I like it so far. Koontz is my go to comfort author. I'm a horror junkie and for my money he writes pop-horror as well and in some ways better than King. King almost always has to add in some weird ass sexual element, which is cool every once in a while but with King it comes across as some weird obsession. Koontz's characters always feel more genuine and down to earth. King's prose is better, but overall I prefer Koontz.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

I'm reading The Other Emily by Dean Koontz. Just started but I like it so far. Koontz is my go to comfort author. I'm a horror junkie and for my money he writes pop-horror as well and in some ways better than King. King almost always has to add in some weird ass sexual element, which is cool every once in a while but with King it comes across as some weird obsession. Koontz's characters always feel more genuine and down to earth. King's prose is better, but overall I prefer Koontz.

King at his best is tough to match. But I've actually read far more books by Koontz. When Watchers came along in 8th or 9th grade, whenever that was, man oh man. Kicked off a spree in which I read every single mass-market Koontz book until their were none left. That ended in the early 90's, shortly after The Bad Place. From then it was sporadic--I never caught with the Odd Thomas stuff--but most were solid.

I have reread a couple of his early novels and one held up quite well (Phantoms), while the other wasn't as staggeringly brilliant as I remember (Lightning).

I continue to dabble with a writing project and came across what I call the Koontz formula:

1. Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible. Naturally that trouble depends on your genre, but in short, it’s the worst possible dilemma you can think of for your main character. For a thriller, it might be a life or death situation. In a romance novel, it could mean a young woman must decide between two equally qualified suitors—and then her choice is revealed a disaster.

And again, this trouble must bear stakes dire high enough to carry the entire novel.

One caveat: whatever the dilemma, it will mean little to readers if they don’t first find reasons to care about your character.

2. Everything your character does to get out of the terrible trouble makes things only worse. Avoid the temptation to make life easy for your protagonist. Every complication must proceed logically from the one before it, and things must grow progressively worse until….

3. The situation appears hopeless. Novelist Angela Hunt refers to this as The Bleakest Moment. Even you should wonder how you’re ever going to write your character out of this.

Your predicament is so hopeless that your lead must use every new muscle and technique gained from facing a book full of obstacles to become heroic and prove that things only appeared beyond repair.

4. Finally, your hero succeeds (or fails*) against all odds. Reward readers with the payoff they expected by keeping your hero on stage, taking action.

What are your favorite Koontz novels?

Dopamine Nation, nonfiction.

This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting… The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.

The author describes her addiction to vampire novels that led her to an addiction to, well, not sure what you call it, but something like smut in high heels. It's a great book for our times.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Nonfiction by John Donahue and JT Malloy. Wife picked it up, starting it now, I’ll let you know.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

I'm reading The Other Emily by Dean Koontz. Just started but I like it so far. Koontz is my go to comfort author. I'm a horror junkie and for my money he writes pop-horror as well and in some ways better than King. King almost always has to add in some weird ass sexual element, which is cool every once in a while but with King it comes across as some weird obsession. Koontz's characters always feel more genuine and down to earth. King's prose is better, but overall I prefer Koontz.

Koontz over the ass...traditional!

Originally Posted by chazoe60

I'm reading The Other Emily by Dean Koontz. Just started but I like it so far. Koontz is my go to comfort author. I'm a horror junkie and for my money he writes pop-horror as well and in some ways better than King. King almost always has to add in some weird ass sexual element, which is cool every once in a while but with King it comes across as some weird obsession. Koontz's characters always feel more genuine and down to earth. King's prose is better, but overall I prefer Koontz.

Love dean koontz books. Agree totally with this..

SR recommended a book called Code Name: Johnny Walker. Reading it. Kicks ass. Story of an Iraqi family man who ends up working with Seals.