Still reading, but busy writing...
01/27/2012 20:24
I’m not able to take the time right now to review the last few books I’ve read, because I’m in the midst of a couple of writing projects. But I’d highly recommend a couple of them, and I think I’ll make my notes and comments public on Amazon’s Kindle notes aggregator, so here’s a quick list:
Matt Taibbi, Griftopia: Taibbi is the guy who invented the term “vampire squid” to describe Goldman Sachs. I agree with him 100% on Goldman, and I enjoyed this book. My favorite quote: “The insurmountable hurdle for so-called populist movements is having the nerve to attack the rich instead of the poor” (p. 31). The best part of the book: when he moves on from the mortgage crisis, which everyone pretty much knows about by now, to Goldman’s manipulation of the government to get control of commodity markets. The story of why gas prices went over $4.00 is still not understood, and while I was reading this I noticed oil was heading upwards of $115 per barrel. Supply? Demand? Or more speculation?
Neil Gaiman, Sandman Volume 4: Season of Mists: They say it’s about at volume 4 that Gaiman found his voice and really hit his stride. They are right. This is MYTH.
William Gibson, Distrust That Particular Flavor: A series of thoughtful essays. Gibson reminds us that the media mediates -- or hyper mediates -- and often stands between us and genuine experience. And that sci-fi is about the present, not the future. And that HG Wells was awfully smart and maybe merits a closer look.
Peter Ackroyd, London: A Biography: Recommended by Gibson (above). A great source for London enthusiasts, and an interesting model for anyone thinking of writing about a place.
Clive Finlayson: The Humans Who Went Extinct: There’s a lot of good stuff about H. sapiens in here, in addition to some interesting stuff about Neanderthals.
David J. Meltzer: First Peoples in a New World: He’s accused of being on the conservative side of the pre-Clovis arguments, but he does accept Monte Verde’s claims, and he provides a good glimpse of not only the recent discoveries of American archaeology, but of the evolution of the profession.
Matt Taibbi, Griftopia: Taibbi is the guy who invented the term “vampire squid” to describe Goldman Sachs. I agree with him 100% on Goldman, and I enjoyed this book. My favorite quote: “The insurmountable hurdle for so-called populist movements is having the nerve to attack the rich instead of the poor” (p. 31). The best part of the book: when he moves on from the mortgage crisis, which everyone pretty much knows about by now, to Goldman’s manipulation of the government to get control of commodity markets. The story of why gas prices went over $4.00 is still not understood, and while I was reading this I noticed oil was heading upwards of $115 per barrel. Supply? Demand? Or more speculation?
Neil Gaiman, Sandman Volume 4: Season of Mists: They say it’s about at volume 4 that Gaiman found his voice and really hit his stride. They are right. This is MYTH.
William Gibson, Distrust That Particular Flavor: A series of thoughtful essays. Gibson reminds us that the media mediates -- or hyper mediates -- and often stands between us and genuine experience. And that sci-fi is about the present, not the future. And that HG Wells was awfully smart and maybe merits a closer look.
Peter Ackroyd, London: A Biography: Recommended by Gibson (above). A great source for London enthusiasts, and an interesting model for anyone thinking of writing about a place.
Clive Finlayson: The Humans Who Went Extinct: There’s a lot of good stuff about H. sapiens in here, in addition to some interesting stuff about Neanderthals.
David J. Meltzer: First Peoples in a New World: He’s accused of being on the conservative side of the pre-Clovis arguments, but he does accept Monte Verde’s claims, and he provides a good glimpse of not only the recent discoveries of American archaeology, but of the evolution of the profession.
