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Literature thread Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 14:28:10 [Preview] No. 22380
I think we had one of these long ago, before the ameriball slide.

I have been looking into ancient literature recently and have a list of two but was hoping Bernd could help bulk up my list:
Epic of Gilgamesh
Beowulf


Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 15:12:20 [Preview] No.22382 del
Some ancient titles I have on my to-read list:
Augustine of Hippo - Confessions and City of God
Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War
Herodotus - Histories
Aristotle and Plato - haven't picked titles yet, not sure if other Greek philosophers are really worth to read
Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews
Sun Tzu - Art of War (actually I've read it already)
The list lack in roman literature but aside from Augustine I dont know who to pick.

Other than that last book I've read was Tanith First and Only by Dan Abnett. It's an action book set in warhammer 40k universe. Author is pretty cool and I'll be getting more books from the series.


Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 15:54:41 [Preview] No.22384 del
>>22382
>Tanakh
>All 3 books of Maccabees
>Talmud
>All medieval Kabbalistic teachings
>Communist Manifesto
>Diary of Anne Frank


Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 16:10:48 [Preview] No.22385 del
I'm reading the Zhuangzi right now, it's breddy good. Like most of those old Chinese books I'd recommend an annotated version as the cultural references can become pretty vague at times.


Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 16:35:05 [Preview] No.22387 del
>>22380
Finished Iliad some time ago and was reading Nibelungenlied recently but Icebreaker (by Suvorov) broke in, so I wish to finish that first. Frankly I find Nlied. tedious and the metric makes me go crazy. Would be fine with a poem few strophe long but Nlied. has over 2000. Iliad was also unnecessarily long but at least that had very, very nice depictions of combat (but mostly just personal heroics, but were other details of battles too).


Bernd 01/15/2019 (Tue) 21:23:33 [Preview] No.22423 del
I'm getting into Asimov's Foundation series right now. I love the big picture-centered worldbuilding with history composed of massive, impersonal processes and tendencies spanning centuries and millenia, and this is given great in-universe emphasis.


Bernd 01/16/2019 (Wed) 06:36:46 [Preview] No.22435 del
>>22423
It's a classic.
My problem was that every book features new heroes basically dismissing previous ones just at the time I accustomed to them and became curious of their story, which made me less and less interested in the whole series. I would have favoured few main heroes from one time period who explore and discover the mystery of the Foundation.


Bernd 01/16/2019 (Wed) 11:28:53 [Preview] No.22438 del
>>22380
Lately I've read epic of manas, I can say it's much better than illiad.
Also I've read art of war quite while ago.

Right now I'm reading a book called rising sun victorious, it's a book about how could japan win ww2.


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 06:46:40 [Preview] No.22458 del
>>22438
Are there other Central Asian epics?
Our national epic was written in the 19th century. Still didn't read, maybe only some lines in high school or in primary.

>>22380
Iliad were already mentioned, then there's Odyssey and the Aeneid.
The Nibelungenlied can be paired up with Edda.


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 12:09:01 [Preview] No.22459 del
>>22458
The epic of manas is the longest epic in the world, there are people in kırgızistan that are memorizing it.

As for others we have ergenekon, türeyiş, yaradışış and many others, though I dont suggest just giving them a good glance, as on internet shills vandalizing lots of stuff. I dont make research or reads on internet unless I have to.


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 17:59:19 [Preview] No.22466 del
>>22459
Is there any info when were those written and by whom?

Also this might interest you:
http://mek.oszk.hu/00500/00595/html/epics1.htm#3
A Hungarian epic about Buda and Attila (translated to English) by Arany János, a great writer and poet of ours.
There's another one by Zrínyi Miklós, titled: The Siege of Sziget or The Peril of Sziget, and about this siege:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Szigetv%C3%A1r


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 20:33:31 [Preview] No.22482 del
>>22466
It's unknown created by whom, it was memorized and it was documented by german türkologist radloff.

I'll read that.

As for siege of zigetvar, I find it very amusing those numbers, drafting 100.000 people both technologically and logistically was impossible for ottomans until early-mid 1800's, not to mention there is no way you can draft so high amount of people due to celali uprisings, considering bulk of army was ethnic Türks. But I digress, I read about it years ago it was nice, I can always show respect to people bravely defending their home, zrinski had a proper soldier's martrydom. Aftermath they also handled it well enough, there was no demonizing or blatantly forging history like balkanites often do.

Also it's mentioned briefly in our history books for highschoolers.


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 20:58:40 [Preview] No.22484 del
>>22459
>yaradışış
yaradılış*


Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 21:41:30 [Preview] No.22485 del
>>22482
Offtopic: a book of mine (a Hungarian military history book published in the '80s) says the army of the Sultan consisted 42-50 000 regulars and unknown number of irregulars whose number reached some ten thousands.


cont Bernd 01/17/2019 (Thu) 21:45:13 [Preview] No.22486 del
>>22485
Oh, it also says János Zsigmond (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sigismund_Z%C3%A1polya), the Vlah voivod, the Moldavian voivod and the Crimean Khan were ordered to send troops.


Bernd 01/18/2019 (Fri) 00:15:23 [Preview] No.22488 del
>>22466
I read half of it, my eyes getting tired, I'l' read rest of it tomorrow.

>>22486
most likely correct.


Bernd 01/18/2019 (Fri) 06:30:53 [Preview] No.22490 del
>>22488
No rush. :^)
You can find some notes in the end about some words, places and names. Might be inadequate to some extent.


Bernd 01/20/2019 (Sun) 17:22:22 [Preview] No.22533 del
Also added to my list.
Don Quixote
Dantes inferno
Cantebury tales

Great recommendations itt. Thanks.


Bernd 01/20/2019 (Sun) 17:34:55 [Preview] No.22537 del
>>22533
>Cantebury tales
Isn't those liek mandatory reading materials in high-school on the Small Island?


Bernd 01/20/2019 (Sun) 21:13:22 [Preview] No.22544 del
>>22537
Oh god, I wish. Literally, we studied a book about a retard and black poetry talking about the suffering of blacks. In history we never even learned about the British except to see how they owned slaves and basically raped india.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 14:17:48 [Preview] No.22558 del
(56.75 KB 230x212 1493861516753.png)
>>22544
>Literally, we studied a book about a retard and black poetry talking about the suffering of blacks. In history we never even learned about the British except to see how they owned slaves and basically raped india.
So it wasn't just my school? Fuck I hate this shit country.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 16:13:14 [Preview] No.22560 del
(36.53 KB 297x322 GottStrafeEngland.jpg)
>>22544
>>22558
Well you should have thought before enslaving others and raping India, perfidious Anglos.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 16:16:02 [Preview] No.22561 del
>>22544
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bcKKt8Lvcn4 [Embed]
Is this what they actually teach in England?


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 16:17:12 [Preview] No.22562 del
>>22544
>>22560
I wish we could learn more about industrial capacity of austro-hungary instead of learning about russian and british military campaigns in highschool.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 16:19:22 [Preview] No.22564 del


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 16:29:14 [Preview] No.22565 del
>>22561
Dawwwww
That's what I do in Tropico 4. Even the music is similar.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 17:02:30 [Preview] No.22567 del
(1.08 MB 3000x2015 books.jpg)
This is what a Hungarian student have to should read during his high-school years:

9th grade
Sophocles: Antigone
Homer: Iliad, Odyssey (only some parts)
Bible (some parts)
Dante: Divine Comedy (some parts) (btw I read The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl, not bad)
Cervantes: Don Quijote
Boccaccio: Decameron
Shakespeare: R&J or Hamlet, plus a comedy
Moliére: Tartuffe

10th grade
Voltaire: Candide
Goethe: Faust
Hoffmann: Der goldne Topf
Hugo: Notre-Dame de Paris
Pushkin: Onegin

11th grade
Stendhal: Le rouge et le noir
Balzac: Father Goriot
Flaubert: Madame Bovary
Gogol: The mantle
Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Tostoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (tho as if Anna Karenina would be more familiar to me)
Ibsen: A Doll's House (again for me Peer Gynt sounds more familiar)
Chekov: The Seagull (or Uncle Vanya or Three Sisters)

12th grade
Mann: Tonio Kröger, Death in Venice
Kafka: Metamorphosis
Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus
Brecht: Mother Courage
Dürrenmatt: The Physicists

This list is from few years ago and there's some deviation in all schools. Beside what I note here's three other examples what can be on the list:
Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac
Verne: In Search of the Castaways
Orwell: Animal Farm (we had to read this one)


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 17:07:47 [Preview] No.22568 del
>>22567
no wonder europeans are so civcucked
i read only two books in school (one voluntary)


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 17:14:03 [Preview] No.22569 del
>>22568
I preferred to read what I chose by my own will. Tho I read Crime and Punishment and that was nice.
From the list above I missed a lot, tho I read summaries to know what they are about (as most of my classmates did, there was a chance of strict questioning by the teacher), now I don't remember any.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 17:20:11 [Preview] No.22570 del
>>22567
Ofc, beside these we had to read bunch of Hungarian stuff too.


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 20:28:59 [Preview] No.22575 del
>>22570
like, how to make gulyas and renounce trianon?


Bernd 01/21/2019 (Mon) 21:50:13 [Preview] No.22576 del
>>22575
And throat-singing. And steppenigging.
Nah, it's the usual fiction literature like the list above. Epics and novels and such. Some on par with the foreign counterparts, some are even better.


Bernd 01/22/2019 (Tue) 14:27:06 [Preview] No.22587 del
(7.23 KB 230x219 1475448976907.jpg)
>>22567
Damn, Hungarian school is kc tier as fuck.


Bernd 01/22/2019 (Tue) 17:43:24 [Preview] No.22606 del
Here's my current list. "Literature" can mean a bunch of things. I'm going to take it by it's literal definition here, meaning any body of written works, historical or legend, like BO seemed to do here: >>22382
>Norse sagas in general
>Gesta Danorum
>Etymologiae (by Isidore of Seville)
>Shahnameh
>Tarikh iftitah Al-Andalus
Everything else that I haven't read has already been mentioned here by BO.


Bernd 01/22/2019 (Tue) 18:28:29 [Preview] No.22611 del
>>22567
My high school only had us read postmodern garbage.


Bernd 01/22/2019 (Tue) 18:40:15 [Preview] No.22614 del
>>22606
Those sound nice. Read a couple of sagas, and planning more.

>>22587
Yeah the education was model "Prussian way". In the past decades some softening can be seen. Now they put emphasis on the understanding of stuff and not on the knowing data.

>>22611
Life is suffering on the decadent Scandinavia. I don't really understand how can they leave out everything that was part of the road which built our civilization.


Bernd 01/22/2019 (Tue) 19:32:08 [Preview] No.22665 del
(49.51 KB 297x409 1458601448401.jpg)
>>22560
>Gott strafe England!
>he's actually punching Scotland
Really makes you think


Bernd 01/25/2019 (Fri) 17:36:25 [Preview] No.22772 del
>>22665
Germany's other great enemy is France. France's oldest ally is Scotland. Striking both England and France at the same time means striking Scotland.


Bernd 01/26/2019 (Sat) 14:48:41 [Preview] No.22800 del
>>22772
Ruthless and uncompromising efficiency.


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 03:29:47 [Preview] No.22822 del
>>22382
If you want to read Aristotle and Plato, start with Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 11:16:43 [Preview] No.22826 del
>>22822
Thanks Bernd.
Any recommendations on Cicero?


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 11:22:42 [Preview] No.22827 del
>>22826
Pronounce Cicero the Italian way.


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 13:02:05 [Preview] No.22833 del
>>22829
Oh, you're from /ca/.
Welcome.


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 14:44:03 [Preview] No.22834 del
>>22380
You can put on your list the Mahabharata, or at least the Bhagavad Gita.


Bernd 01/27/2019 (Sun) 16:21:52 [Preview] No.22837 del
>>22826
I think the best starting place for Cicero would be De Officiis (On Duties).


Bernd 02/01/2019 (Fri) 21:59:46 [Preview] No.22962 del
Here's a useful one. You can never know.


Bernd 02/01/2019 (Fri) 22:07:57 [Preview] No.22963 del
Hmm. Once there was a site by a Canadian fellow, he was some kind of a nuke war eggsbert, and his site was about this with hard data (e.g. expected fallout dispersion depending on wind, radiation levels and their effects on a human, radiation absorption in different materials etc.), and info what can be expected what to do what not etc. He published all that in a downloadable book too. I can't seem to find it, probably because many details now missing from my mind.


Bernd 02/02/2019 (Sat) 08:36:54 [Preview] No.22965 del
>>22963
I can't find this site. Here, Bernd, have instead an atlas used in secondary schools.


Bernd 02/02/2019 (Sat) 08:37:19 [Preview] No.22966 del
>>22965
History atlas.


Bernd 02/02/2019 (Sat) 10:32:02 [Preview] No.22968 del
(314.21 KB 600x800 fesz-van.jpg)
On this site >>22742 under the link of Economic History Books I found a title for me to widen my horizon about economics: Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction by Robert Allan. It's on libgen.
Yes it's short and it does seem - for now - that all the info it shares was in our high school books as well. Nevertheless it's gonna be a good summary and refreshing.
When I finish it I chose Fesz van by Bartus László to move on. The topic is a Hungarian sect, the Hit Gyülekezete (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Church,_Hungary) with a focus on the leading preacher, Németh Sándor.
The author himself was a member of this church so he got his stuff from his own experience, but was not just a simple follower but was among the the inner circle of the most prominent members. In his civilian life he was an accomplished investigative journalist worked for several important newspapers.
This church isn't a sinister organization or something, I think the book is more about it's holier-then-thou attitude compared to how things really looked like behind the scenes, the dirt, the corruption, the pettiness, and the leading pastor's Pride, Greed and Anger. The book itself has a humorous, ironic intonation, great many years ago read a few pages and I had a few smiles here and there. I'm looking forward to it.


Bernd 02/02/2019 (Sat) 13:08:01 [Preview] No.22969 del
Reading kitab al-asnam, it's written two centuries after muhammed's exodus. It's about pre islamic arabia, so expect bias, but still it's a nice knowledge source.

https://answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/


Bernd 02/02/2019 (Sat) 13:31:38 [Preview] No.22971 del
>>22969
>Yaghuth
>Ya'uq
>Yog-Shothoth


Bernd 03/10/2019 (Sun) 08:32:01 [Preview] No.23655 del
>>22968
Finished this a while ago (now reading a Ray Mears book). It is fairly chaotic in it's structure. It tells a chain of events - some individual, some interconnected - but not entirely in a linear fashion, often jumps back and forth in time. As I said it's the author's experience, his memories of the time he spent in this sect, his impression of people, his rationalization of events. It also holds serious accusations, many can't be proven due lack of evidence, maybe witnesses could be put forward but I don't think they have the will for that. Frankly, if only half of it true - the more innocent half - it's still a grim picture.
Frankly whatever can be told about a sect with a psychopathic leader followed by tens of thousands of fundamentalist believers can be told about the Faith Church. And as malicious.

Their history started back in the '80s, the author follows a decade from about 1989 to 1999. In the beginning the followers were a group of Christians backing liberal ideology working toward the regime change. They opposed both the tyrannical communist system but also the not less tyrannical catholic church (and their imitators the protestant churches). They also saw an intertwining between the historical churches and the conservative political groups, parties, so they supported the liberals - and in time they infiltrated the main liberal party, the SZDSZ, and gained so much influence in it, that they could paralyze the work of the party itself. But this part is at the end of the story of the book.
The writer was/is a religious man, got religious higher education as well, but couldn't find that emotional experience, the feeling of redemption in the historical churches. He found it in this small sect and declares this was the main attractiveness of it in the beginning.


cont. Bernd 03/10/2019 (Sun) 09:04:08 [Preview] No.23656 del
>>23655
The other charming factor was the leading preacher's preaching. He is an uneducated simple provincial bumpkin who barely could/can speak in grammatically correct fashion. But his speeches from the Bible, about the Bible had an elementally captivating power. Until he stopped doing that and started to base his speeches on his own daily life (if guzzled much goose liver he preached temperance, if his wife nagged him much he preached about Jezebel, if he had conflict with a follower he preached about that follower's sin - the preacher couldn't be the sinner ofc - etc).
But with time the leading preacher built up a cult of personality centered around himself and started to break down the will of his immediate followers, held them under emotional terror, and built an inner circle with the only job of execute his will. But this will changed a lot depending on his own fears, general insecurities and his wife's whims. Those in the inner circle were always in constant conflicts with themselves, most had nagging conscious, and also could see the insanity of certain plans and ideas of the leading preacher so one of their job became of managing his ideas and trying to steer it into acceptable directions.
The leading preacher and his wife also built distrust between the members, and between the members and their families. They extracted confessions out of them and used it against them. The wives of the members became informants who ratted out the husbands to the LP's wife who also ordered them to influence their husband's mind in a desired direction. Worth to mention: only men could get hold an office in the strirct hierarchy of the church.
There is the monetary side of things too. They collected tithe. "Into pocket." But also encouraged the believers to donate as much as they could. The fate of hundreds of millions HUF is unknown. They gave jobs to some followers, but either for wage that was barely enough for starvation, or they employed them as voluntary workers for free. In return they said true believers will be rewarded by God and will make them rich - the poor are sinners and should be scorned. This led to the indebtedness of many as they tried to prove to the each other they are well off.
The leading preacher also aspired to lead the country, this is why he sent his men into the SZDSZ which was the only party who tolerated them and they could tolerate. In the party's leadership there were only few "Faithies" but on lower levels there were more and more party soldiers in their colors. And they were the most diligent workers for the liberal party - as long as the leading preacher wished so. And they were controlled with tight reins. "Faithy" representatives of the parliament could be the most busy bees sometimes, but when the leading preacher had no opinion on things or didn't know what to do they were just empty dolls siting on their arses.


cont. Bernd 03/10/2019 (Sun) 09:21:36 [Preview] No.23657 del
>>23656
The leading preacher had other ambitions. He wanted a school and always tried to meddle in it's operation. He wanted a church newspaper than a public one. The first crashed and burnt then the public one degraded into a /pol/-tier tabloid with conspiracy theories and constant sputtering against the catholic church, and prophecies.
Then in late '90s came the new wave. New wave in the preaching. The leading preacher didn't pray to the Holy Spirit anymore - for miracle healings for example - but he sent the Holy Spirit to do his bidding. With this they cultivated mass hysteria among the congregation. Uncontrollable shaking, laughter, crying, kicking, screaming and shit like that. Like in a good American sect.

The book contains all this and more, sprinkled with a good amount of irony and quips. It made me wonder how this church is doing nowadays.


Bernd 03/15/2019 (Fri) 00:05:29 [Preview] No.23738 del
Took a break from Foundation (I'm on the last half of the second book) to read this. I finished it quite fast. At some point in the future I'll make a thread describing it.


15th March - National Holiday Bernd 03/15/2019 (Fri) 18:59:53 [Preview] No.23753 del
This year I decided to show Bernd a look of the literature side of the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49. Not at the whole thing just one work. It's The Baron's Sons by Jókai Mór, a historical novel.
Epub related, Bernd also can read it here if he is curious, not too long but not short either:
https://www.literaturebase.com/ebook-34674-The-Barons-Sons-A-Romance-of-the-Hungarian-Revolution-of-1848/

The author (in his full name: Ásvai Jókay Móric) is one of our great writers, his works are studied during school years by every Hungarian, and recognized on international level too. He not just had first hand experience of the Revolution but was among the central figures of it for a while, then he was a chief editor of a main political newspaper. For this book he also used a historical work and articles of the press as a source.
The Barons's Sons was first published in Hungarian in 1869, and the first English edition in 1900. Both romanticist and realist features mingling in this work.
The personal involvement of Jókai in the Revolution makes it unavoidable to view his own side as good and his idealistic leaning makes him paint the morality of his characters dual, black and white, and themselves are stereotyped, tho vacillating supporting characters are also present. The events are grandiose and cataclysmic, in general this is especially true to his battle scenes which are the tales of heroism.
The realism manifests in his genre scenes, the way he presents the everyday life of the characters, especially on the folksier side.
The story runs on several threads with several central figures. Jókai favors much action and movement during the acts, and uses a few plot twists to make things more complicated and exciting. He doesn't treat the antagonists with contempt if it need be he can show the human side of some (tho it is usually a tool to emphasize on the quality of the heroes) but every bad guy/gul meets his/her well deserved fate.
The subject matter, the Revolution and War of Independence is viewed through a fictional family's struggle during the events. And now some spoilers are coming, tho it can be think of it as a teaser too since I this won't be complete.
The baron, the head of the aristocrat Baradlay family, in the title is a "stone hearted man" and he is dying in the beginning of the story due some heart failure. His testament he tries to arrange the future of his wife and three sons in such heartless, very rational and calculating way that after his pass his wife disobeys him and do everything in reverse. While the family has estates on the Hungary they spend part of their life in Wien (since they are aristocrats close to the Court) and the Austrian revolution of 13th March finds them there. Through hardships and adventures they find their way home.
The youngest brother however fell in love an Austrian lady (not sure anymore if she's an aristocrat as well or from a wealthy patrician family). A very rotten one. Her family is close to the Baradlays too and she plays a cruel game with the revolutionaries, while serves the Court purposes. To make matters more difficult the second son is a hussar officer who leads his unit home, but also he was considered a suitor by the lady and now is pursued by the previous suitor who is a cavalry officer in the Habsburg army.
Nevertheless they arrive back home safely, the Hungarian revolution turns into a war of independence. The two older sons participate actively. They participate in a friendly "duel" during the retake of the Buda castle, they lead their own units and race against each other to reach a certain target.
The war fails, the Habsburgs are back, retribution is coming, the responsibles has to be punished, the two older sons' future looks grim. Then the youngest steps up and with his sacrifice he saves his brothers.
At the end the story jumps twenty years and look at the characters of the story how their lives turned out.

A movie adaptation was made in 1965.


Bernd 03/15/2019 (Fri) 19:04:55 [Preview] No.23754 del
>>23738
I'm looking forward to it.


Bernd 04/05/2019 (Fri) 20:58:39 [Preview] No.24382 del
(59.24 KB 331x486 Cover.jpg)
Just finished The Iron King by Maurice Druon.
Historical novel, the first one from The Accursed Kings series which centers around the fall of the Capetian kings and the rise of Valois'. The story starts with Philip the Fair, the Iron King, who with his actions against the Templars starts the avalanche of the events that sweeps his House away and sets off the Hundred Years War.
Breddy gud, I enjoyed it. Will continue with the others but first I might read something else. We'll see.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 08:56:57 [Preview] No.24390 del
i read 3 books on Systems Theory/Systems Engineering

one was pure garbage (dropped)
another one was semi-garbage shitposting and memes (but still interesting), it was a book used in unis (probably explains its low quality lol)
and this one (original) is actually interesting and somewhat kc tier (it even says technology will become degenerate and enslave everyone 1984 style even tho the book is not about it)


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 09:09:38 [Preview] No.24391 del
So sometimes I check the e-book section of torrent sites to see what people like to download not read. There's always some "how to hack" and "how to make money" books, just as well about sex, small talk and cooking among the most popular. And ofc about people, how to get to know them, interact with them or even manipulate them.
A while ago I saw this one: Working With Difficult People by Amy Cooper Hakim and Muriel Solomon yes, nice names, the first one is the daughter of the second btw and since it's a frequent topic during talks with a friend of mine how people behave at workplaces like how one's behaviour change with a promotion or how the grunts socialize or how some try to compensate their inferiority complex - well all this I would call kind of a gossiping I dl'd this one because it is really about bosses and coworkers and might help with our observations and analysis.
But until now it just gathered the dust on my HDD, so it is high time to get through it.
Read a chapter and it has an unusual structure, it describes certain types of behaviour of a hypothetical boss or coworker (and I think underling) then what "I", the reader, think in this situation, then comes the other's thought - which explains why he behaves like that - and then tactics how to diffuse the situation in a way that will benefit not just the reader but the other guy and the workplace, so in a constructive way. The aim isn't making snappy comebacks or the "destruction" of the opponent.
It reads a little odd, since the thoughts described as "my" thoughts wouldn't be necessarily such in those situations and needs a little imagination to place myself in that skin.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 09:12:04 [Preview] No.24392 del
>>24390
>Bertalanffy
Heh, Hungarian.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 10:06:25 [Preview] No.24394 del
Is there anyone who actually reads ebooks? I find it very to read them, even on a tablet


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 10:22:29 [Preview] No.24395 del
>>24394
i read fictional shit only on paper
but i read on average one book in 5 years
also i have eink thingy but actually never used it doesn't really look like paper


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 10:57:38 [Preview] No.24396 del
>>24394
Me. I use an e-ink e-book reader. Breddy gud, even the most simple with 8 level grey scale is usable - tho it looks like as if it was printed on the darkest recycled paper. They don't have backlight so they won't burn your eyes out like lcd screens. The bad thing is that since it's plastic the screen reflects light so direct ones should be avoided. Inconsistent file formatting also means more inconvenience.
Small weight is a plus, some real books are uncomfortable to hold or keep them open (without ripping the pages out) it is non issue with these. Pricing also priceless if you are willing to use "backup copies" of e-books acquired for free, if you read many books ofc. If only "one book in 5 years" then you better off buying a physical copy.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 11:55:41 [Preview] No.24397 del
>>24394
I read ebook in the bed every night before go sleep. I use headlamp for that, it's very convenient for me. My book is 6", so it's good for fb2/epub formats, but it's pain to read pdf.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 12:24:16 [Preview] No.24403 del
(151.19 KB 800x600 1548971870609.jpg)


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 12:26:21 [Preview] No.24404 del
>>24396
I just prefer having a psysical book. Paperbacks are so light and usually pretty cheap.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:23:20 [Preview] No.24407 del
>>24404
But not necessarily will be the one I want to read. We have a surge in book prices for a few years now, even antiquaries sell some very expensive. Also I have books which are very large and uncomfortable to handle (For example Hungary's Military History is 5*21*28 cm and over a kilo, per volume).
If I was a firstworlder, I would buy physical books, and now that one can order it online from anywhere on the globe it doesn't matter that many aren't even published here. Also books have nice smell. And a variety of use. My monitor is standing on Brehm.
On the other hand I don't mind using an e-book reader, not the looks of it, and it's easier to hold it on the loo or in bed.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:38:13 [Preview] No.24411 del
>>24407
and psysical books last longer than digital


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:38:45 [Preview] No.24412 del
and its easier to impress women if you have a library

or so I imagine it


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:54:48 [Preview] No.24414 del
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i wanted to buy a book from norther scotland author but never did it

iirc there was a site where you could buy books from unusual places like where authors like in alaska or so

please rate


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:55:31 [Preview] No.24415 del
>>24414
live in alaska*


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 13:58:31 [Preview] No.24416 del
>>24414
I usually buy from amazon or bookdepository

amazon.de has free shipping and so has bookdepository


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 14:16:56 [Preview] No.24420 del
>>24414
What prevented you buying? If you have the capital it's nice to support authors living places behind God's back.


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 14:39:51 [Preview] No.24426 del
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>>24420
i mostly assburgered
also there was a nice kc tier map on this site that showed from where the books are like with books covers as icons on the map and you could pick something like remote island and shit


Bernd 04/06/2019 (Sat) 14:43:51 [Preview] No.24429 del
>>24426
that is something I miss alot, good quality book with leather covers and good good quality paper.


Bernd 04/08/2019 (Mon) 16:41:35 [Preview] No.24547 del
between two ages by zbigniew brzezinski is a useful book


Bernd 04/12/2019 (Fri) 11:05:42 [Preview] No.24769 del
I ordered the good soldier svejk and saturnin. They seem like good books and ive not read alot of Czech authors.


Bernd 04/12/2019 (Fri) 14:01:48 [Preview] No.24778 del
Beowulf is not ancient
Check out the enuma elish


Bernd 04/13/2019 (Sat) 15:16:35 [Preview] No.24819 del
(1.65 MB 1092x1023 joseph_bong.png)
>>24769
Svejk is dope. You won't regret the purchase. I don't know the other.


Bernd 05/01/2019 (Wed) 12:53:16 [Preview] No.25440 del
>>24391
Sooo, this is an all right book, it does gives some solid advice. It also reads as a self-knowledge book for those who are more conscious about themselves, one can see if he belongs in any of those groups of problem people. But ofc this is for dealing with others mainly, and some of the stuff can help outside work as well.
Also it has a neger character named Tyrone.
The book lists great many archetypes of annoying coworkers, so I won't bother with that, but will list the main groups which are also chapter titles:
1. hostile or angry
2. pushy or presumptuous
3. deceitful or underhanded
4. shrewd or manipulative
5. rude or abrasive
6. egotistical or self-centered
7. procrastinating or vacillating
8. rigid or obstinate
9. tight-lipped or uncommunicative
10. complaining or critical
From this last one am gonna copypaste here the first paragraph:
We expect others to be thick-skinned while our own egos are as fragile as eggshells. If I give you my unsolicited opinion, it’s to help you improve. If you give me your unasked-for advice, you’re criticizing me. Giving and receiving top-notch criticism is an exceedingly delicate art.
Yeah, this is true in general on other fields of life.


cont. Bernd 05/01/2019 (Wed) 13:01:47 [Preview] No.25442 del
>>25440
As I stated previously the book isn't about how to fuck them up or get them fired or something but how to make the situation workable, how to cooperate with them, and mybe how to help them change their behaviour for the better.
Because Bernd can benefit this in his life, I also copypaste the "10 Important Guidlines to Remember", so if he doesn't read the book itself, still can get something useful. I know Bernds are frequently cynical and/or pessimist people, usually resenting others so the next lines might sound a little too optimistic or even tacky, even tho they are practical.
1. Put problem people in proper perspective.
You’re nothing but an afterthought to them, so don’t take their antics personally. They’re not concerned about you because they’re too busy worrying about themselves. You just happen to be either an obstacle or an essential ingredient to their getting what they want. You have to figure out how to break free of their control.
2. Take your pick—positive or negative.
You can’t concentrate on constructive, creative alternatives while you cling to negative feelings. Go somewhere to vent your emotions and cool off. Think about the result you really want, the consequence or outcome that most benefits you. That will help you let go of the hurt.
3. Don’t expect difficult people to change.
They won’t—and in one way that’s good. Because their behavior is often predictable, this enables you to plan ahead, plotting the tactics you’ll use the next time. Troublemakers may not change, but by choosing a better approach, you can change the outcome.
4. Learn to respond as well as to listen.
Come forward and state that you feel annoyed, upset, enraged. No one can read your mind. Sometimes the offense was totally unintentional and can be easily resolved if allowed to surface. Ask questions instead of making accusations. If you let others save face, you give them room to change their minds.
5. Give and request frequent feedback.
Regardless of your position in the organization, you need to know the perceptions of your boss, peers, and workers. Don’t stew about what someone else may be thinking—ask! Use open-ended questions to let emotional people vent their feelings before you try to reason with them and explore options. When you link your objectives with another’s wants, not only do you have his or her attention, but you both win something.


cont Bernd 05/01/2019 (Wed) 13:03:29 [Preview] No.25443 del
>>25442
6. Look at policies and procedures first.
That starts the discussion on a professional level and prevents blaming a person’s distasteful attitude or sinister motive. Don’t place blame unless you made a mistake for which you apologize quickly and move on. If you both pay attention to each other’s needs when identifying options—your stand may depend on which side of the desk you sit on—each of you can feel you are exercising some control. At times all that’s needed is a simple change in the system.
7. Deal directly and discreetly.
You don’t want an audience for personal disagreements. Confront your accusers, tactfully putting your foot down when others are walking all over you. Get right to the point; a preamble of excuses or warm-ups robs your effectiveness. Choose face-to-face talks or phone calls over emails or text messages. After all, tone and inflection can be easily misconstrued in a written message. Still, it is a great tactic to follow up an oral dialogue with an emailed recap.
8. Document for self-protection.
Get potentially troublesome verbal agreements in writing to prevent the other party from reneging. On assignments you fear may be hazardous to the health of your career, keep your boss informed with periodic progress reports. Copy all relevant parties on emails, as evidence, in case a misunderstanding should occur. Create a separate Outlook folder, so that you may easily store and retrieve these messages for which you’ve created a “paper trail.”'
9. Be straightforward and unemotional.
The more you remain calm and matter-of-fact, the sooner you gain another’s confidence. People want to feel you’re leveling with them, that they can trust you. Remember that respect from others begins with self-respect. Don’t continue a conversation with anyone, even your boss, who refuses to give you the courtesy you deserve. You have options, such as asking for politeness or leaving the room.
10. Be gracious.
Someone else’s rudeness doesn’t give you the right to be rude. Turn a bad situation to your advantage by disarming the offenders, treating them with the kindness you’d like to be shown, sharing credit, and allowing others to feel important. Make friends with your enemies—you never know when you’ll need them. Others won’t have to run you down to build themselves up if you’re gracious in showing appreciation and giving recognition. When your own ego is healthy, you are rich. You can afford to be generous.


cont. Bernd 05/01/2019 (Wed) 13:11:35 [Preview] No.25444 del
>>25443
Also they give some "tactical talk" examples for certain situations, how to start what we should say in difficult situations. This is also practical so here we go:
When you disagree:
- It seems to me that the problem is . . .
- My concern is that we may not have enough . . .
- Please explain this to me. There appears to be an error. . . .
- While I don’t agree with your conclusion, you certainly have the right to your opinion.
- Would it be possible for you to recheck . . . ?

When you're interrupted:
- Pardon me, I’m not through. Just give me a few seconds to finish my point.

When you run into a buzz saw:
- Obviously, you’re too upset to discuss this now. I’ll talk to you later.
- We don’t have to agree, but is there any reason we can’t be civil to each other?
- I can see why you may feel that way. . . .
- You’d have every right to feel that way if that were the case.
- I understand you have a problem with that, but I expect to be treated with courtesy, respect, and the professionalism I’ve earned.
- Please tell me frankly what I’ve done to offend you.

When you're being pressured:
- I don’t feel totally comfortable [with that] [talking about that]. . . .
- Don’t you think it would be a good idea to hold off until . . . ?

When you reprimand:
- What steps would you suggest to correct that?
- I’m sure you don’t realize it, but . . .
- Perhaps you didn’t understand the consequences that could result from . . .
- Maybe I failed to make myself clear. . . .

When you want to express your anger:
- I have to tell you that I felt offended by that remark.
- I was upset when I realized the decision was based on . . .
- I felt I was treated badly when I wasn’t informed in advance about the change.

When you want to clear up confusion:
- I’d appreciate your help with this muddled negotiation. Is it true that you said . . . ?
- When all the facts are in and verified, it will be apparent that . . .
- It looks like following this system got our signals crossed. However, we can . . .
- Perhaps I misunderstood. Are you saying that . . . ?
- Let me see if I understand this. Would I be correct in assuming that you feel . . . ?

That's it. Some of them may even be useful on imageboards in some altered form, or as is.


Bernd 05/02/2019 (Thu) 10:28:28 [Preview] No.25481 del
>>25440
>>25442
>>25443
>>25444
Idea is nice but the sentences are too american. Atleast in here you'd come off as too 'nice' in a bad way, by that I'm meaning being a dishonest cunt don't express himself. Thank dog I can tell people eat dick here for being cunt and still stay alive the next day.


Bernd 05/03/2019 (Fri) 15:43:40 [Preview] No.25518 del
>>25481
It's actually about expressing yourself. All clear. Also you can adapt them and change what's necessary. The books also talks about dishonest people.
>Thank dog I can tell people eat dick here for being cunt and still stay alive the next day.
And while doing that you don't solve the problem. You are creating hurt egos. The other will feel obliged to come back at you, or he suffers quietly in which case you are the problem person at the workplace whomst this book about.


Bernd 05/03/2019 (Fri) 15:51:37 [Preview] No.25519 del
>>25518
its too complicated. KISS (keep it simple stupid) is very good.

an example. you cant cheat an honest man.


Bernd 05/03/2019 (Fri) 20:54:59 [Preview] No.25525 del
>>25518
By that I didn't mean just being dick to people for no reason, bold talk is okay here except for zoomers.

You'd come off as weak and dishonest with such sentences here. I would guess in russia as well since they are bold as much as us if not more.


Bernd 05/03/2019 (Fri) 22:11:46 [Preview] No.25527 del
>>25519
KISS is Jewish


Bernd 05/23/2019 (Thu) 23:13:30 [Preview] No.26446 del
Finished Foundation's Edge some time ago. Asimov outdid himself on the ending. The General has an anti-climax which makes perfect sense in his universe's logic and influences the following story. The Mule and Search by the Foundation have shocking twists, more in the former than in the latter. Search by the Foundation is also one of the most engaging segments to read with good themes like freedom and paranoia.
So this first sequel ends with a climatic standoff forcing the protagonist to take a difficult decision. I hated his choice, though.

Right now I'm reading Jünger's Storm of Steel. I expected to immediately find him entering loaded enemy trenches and killing tommies in close combat with a bayonet, but so far it's 1917 and he hasn't done that yet. But he has experienced combat and exchanged small arms fire with the enemy aswell as withstood machine gun fire and several intimidating artillery barrages, barely evading death on several occasions and seeing most of his comrades die.
It's not a book of nonstop war and drama. It alternates between a little bit of everything: banal details of day-to-day life, sightseeing in the beautiful scenery and having small talk. It's what makes it realistic, as life, even in war, is also like that. A lot of his descriptions of emotion or the scenery use flowery metaphors: an empty road in the night feels like a cemetery, sudden noisy danger is like a cuckoo clock, flares are fireworks, sneaking near enemy lines at night makes one simultaneously feel like huntsman and prey.

I've found one passage endearing:

In the bed next to mine lay a sergeant who had lost a leg, and was fighting a bad case of blood poisoning. Mad periods of fever alternated with cold shivering. His temperature chart performed leaps like a
wild mustang. The doctors tried to keep him alive on champagne and camphor, but the needle seemed to be pointing unmistakably to death. What was strange, though, was that, having been delirious for the past few days, at the hour of his death he was once more completely lucid, and made some arrangements for what was to be done afterwards. For instance, he had the sister read him his favourite chapter from the Bible, then he took his leave of us all, by asking our forgiveness for having kept us up at night so often with his fever attacks. At the end, he whispered in a voice to which he tried to give a humorous inflection: 'Ey, Fritz, have yer got a bit of bread for me?' and, a few minutes later, he was dead. That last sentence was a reference to our male nurse, Fritz, an elderly man, whose accent we sometimes imitated, and we were profoundly moved by it because it showed the dying man's wish to cheer us up.


Bernd 05/24/2019 (Fri) 06:49:17 [Preview] No.26454 del
>>26446
The forrest is another great book by junger if you are interested in anarchism


Bernd 10/06/2019 (Sun) 09:12:59 [Preview] No.29499 del
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Just finished the Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon.
Well, not finished finished because I left off at Chapter 4 of the last - 7th - book, The King Without a Kingdom, but I just can't go on because it turned out the whole thing was written as a first person narration. And if I wanted first person narration I would just listen mine.
All in all it was a nice experience, he is a good writer, I very enjoyed how he presented his characters, how he can change the reader's feelings toward them. In one book he can build sympathy for one and in the next creating an antagonist out of him so the next protagonist can shine instead. Or the other way around, a first seemingly despicable person he can make a likable or at least understandable by showing his motivations, his struggle.
I dunno how deep was Druon's research in history when he prepared for each volume. How much he made up, how much actual history made colorful with his own imagination, or how much he found ready if folklore and popular tradition and how much of it he loaned for his work.
The events are playing in Kingdom of France in the first half of the 14th century, the buildup for the Hundred Years War, and the main characters are from the court of France and England, and a couple of fictional ones. The books are deep in intrigue and anyone who plays and enjoys Crusader Kings II almost should be a mandatory read.


Bernd 10/07/2019 (Mon) 05:32:26 [Preview] No.29516 del
Decided to read Altered Carbon since I saw the tv-show, which was all right.
Read the Prologue on the loo. It's awesome. This too is a first person poin-of-view but done way better. It has actual conversations and not just a monologue, and the writing is very immersive. The author describe the scene and events very vividly. For now I'm enthusiastic about the book.


Bernd 10/07/2019 (Mon) 07:29:40 [Preview] No.29517 del
Finally read Fahrenheit 451. Wow. How he could have predicted so much as far back as the 30's and 40's is surreal. I once read that Brave new world is the ultimate pairing with 1984 to describe a dystopian nightmare but fuck both of those books. What made it so scary is how on the nose he had it. It's like it was written by modern day Bernd trapped in a 90s world of normies. What makes it even scarier is he didn't even think as far ahead as we are with the more advanced caged communication forms such as social media. Amazing and depressing, this world sucks.


Bernd 10/07/2019 (Mon) 18:06:43 [Preview] No.29523 del
>>29517
Am putting that on the list. Maybe after Altered Carbon. Tho I should finish Brave New World first, I was at halfway when my previous e-book reader gave back it's soul to it's maker, then I haven't continued.


Bernd 10/08/2019 (Tue) 01:22:45 [Preview] No.29527 del
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Found something interesting in Symbiotic Planet: A new view of evolution. It's well established that plastids and mitochondria in eukaryotes are prokaryotes assimilated into larger beings and turned into organelles through endosymbiosis. But the author here outlines symbiosis as the key mover in evolution and adds a third endosymbiotic organelle, centrioles/kinetosomes, which she claims derive from spirochetes and are the first merger to have taken place in biological history. She admits this is an extreme and fringe view with little evidence. This is the first time I hear of this. She also mentions that in earlier literature the nucleus itself was debated as the result of endosymbiosis but does not believe it because there are no extant nucleus-like prokaryotes.


Bernd 10/08/2019 (Tue) 20:23:13 [Preview] No.29543 del
>>29527
Fuck spirochetes to be honest.


Bernd 10/11/2019 (Fri) 17:42:45 [Preview] No.30215 del
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>The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of ebin poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. It is regarded as the national ebin of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature.
>Joukahainen loses and pledges his sister's hand in return for his life; the sister (Aino) soon drowns herself in the sea.
>while returning home from paying taxes, he meets and seduces a young maiden, only to find out that she is his sister. She kills herself and Kullervo returns home distressed.
you think all the Norse tales are pretty fugged, but the Finns are even more fugged.


Bernd 10/11/2019 (Fri) 17:50:53 [Preview] No.30217 del
>>30215
>Aino
>Ainu
Coincidence?


Bernd 10/11/2019 (Fri) 18:06:39 [Preview] No.30227 del
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>>30217
made me think that the Uralic brothers in the steppes of middle Europe must have some ebin of their own, but it's just some strange mixture. From The Siege of Sziget:
>The story is framed by God's anger at the Hungarians for having abandoned their faith, and his decision to send Archangel Michael into hell to awaken a fury to be sent into the heart of Sultan Suleiman.
>Part XII is an illicit romance between Deliman and Cumilla. This part combines themes of romance, eroticism, and morbidity. They have several liaisons, and both are presented in a negative light. In the end, Cumilla is accidentally poisoned and Deliman goes mad for several days, killing hundreds of Turks.


Bernd 10/11/2019 (Fri) 18:34:41 [Preview] No.30249 del
>>30227
Hungarian literature has many curious stuff, as far as I know mostly tragic, sad things as a whole. Very little concrete from the ancient past, Christianity hit that hard, even tho many element survived in tales and in ballads but hard to evaluate them and there's also many parallels with surrounding cultures and cannot know if they are a product of a common very ancient past or was loaned to or from.


Bernd 10/11/2019 (Fri) 18:50:48 [Preview] No.30251 del
I remember a story, a short novel I think, it was written in the last century but in it's core I think it has some relation to folklore.
It's narrated from the viewpoint of a child in a poor rural family during their hard times. He tells about an evening when his grandpa went into the "smelly". It's basically his suicide by going into a cave with sulfuric gases. He dress up in his nice suit, has a ritualistic last supper and leaves. The whole thing has a very tense and depressing atmosphere.
Supposedly this type of suicide, to kill the least useful members of the family during hardships wasn't known on the Hungary but it was/is among steppe people. Also Eskimos.


Bernd 11/03/2019 (Sun) 16:31:04 [Preview] No.31237 del
>>29516
Finsheded it. And continueded with Broken Angels, the second book of the trilogy (I think there's only three books in this series).
Altered Carbon was breddy gud. The story felt a little cheap maybe but the writing style was entertaining. The vivid descriptions I mentioned accompany the reader through the whole book.
Strong cyberpunk setting.
The human personality and mind can be stored "on stacks" and can be placed in different bodies, "sleeves". And this is how they travel in space. They colonized other planets, some take hundreds of years to travel to, and now if someone wants to move between planets they "needlecast" his consciousness to the destination because sending data is faster then moving bodies, and at the new place he is just placed into a new sleeve (maybe even into a clone, since dns is also just a data that can be sent).
Some - with enough wealth - can use the resleeving process as a way of immortality, but it takes a certain type of person who actually can deal with the psychological challenge of living a very long time.
Also consciousness can be stored indefinitely.


Bernd 11/03/2019 (Sun) 19:09:43 [Preview] No.31240 del
>>30227
>>30227
>Deliman goes mad
Deli means mad in Türkish. not sure intentional.


Bernd 12/26/2019 (Thu) 08:55:11 [Preview] No.33453 del
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I read this one. Not sure if leadership can be learnt from it but it's full of nice stories, basically it's kind of a memoir or anecdote collection.
Frohman is the inventor of EPROM, and was the CEO or whatever of Intel Israel. Not sure if I would suggest to read it, I almost stopped reading it a couple of times, but it's short, so why the hell not, and contains a few details and insights, such as this:
>The Israeli business environment is pretty freewheeling. There is a much greater tendency on the part of companies there than in the United States to engage in activities that skirt the law. In my experience, for example, an Israeli company is far more likely to try to get around the laws governing corporate taxation than a typical American company. The basic attitude is “ let’s try it; the worst thing that can happen is we get caught — in which case, either we pay the fine or try to fight it in court and see what happens.”
Jews jewing Jews.


Bernd 01/04/2020 (Sat) 12:27:57 [Preview] No.33773 del
Third of the Takeshi Kovacs novels. So far so good.
The first introduces concepts and is fairly original and good for the new xp. Second has moments but it was only all right.
The third is better for now, I'm over 100 pages in, and the main hero feels a little underpowered but it's all well it allows to side characters to have actual roles, and Tak is somewhat just along the ride.


Bernd 01/27/2020 (Mon) 11:53:24 [Preview] No.34285 del
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I have almost finished this.

It's alright but it seems more game of throne like than his other works from what I can remember. There is quite a bit of s*x in it, which annoys me. The characters are not very likeable either, they are all horrid people apart from Eumenes.


Bernd 01/27/2020 (Mon) 16:29:13 [Preview] No.34289 del
>>34285
>Fabbri
Is he Italian or Hungarian?
I assume it's a fantasy novel.
>sex
I'm gonna be done with this >>33773 today. Literally 3 pages left. This and the other books of the trilogy contain two-three vividly described sex scenes. It's liek a basic requirement in these fresh contemporary books to include a few pages of it. Ok this is normal human function, but even meals aren't depicted graphically even tho it is often done in the open. What's next? Writing pages about defecating? Oh, GRRM done that already.
I'm not complaining here, just makes me wonder. Tho in the case the books I mentioned they kinda used to add to the atmosphere, they add to the world's authenticity. Like having sex in virtuality or on futuristic stimulants and such.
>The characters are not very likeable either
Is it a low fantasy?


Bernd 01/28/2020 (Tue) 10:13:53 [Preview] No.34309 del
>>34289
It's historical Fiction, he's English but he could have some other background.

This doesn't have vivid sex scenes but often characters will be doing rude things while discussing other things, it's pointless and annoying.

>It's liek a basic requirement in these fresh contemporary books to include a few pages of it

Yeah, it feels like it is made to be more contemporary in other ways too. I haven;t read much that has come out in the last few years but I noticed this book often doesn't use paragraphs to enter a new scene, the next scene will flow on in the next sentence even if it takes part later and in a different place, the pacing in general seems much faster.

>Is it a low fantasy?

It's about the breakup of Alexander the great's Empire. Most characters are devious and cruel but that's just the way it was, most of the events where they behave this way are based on historical accounts.


Bernd 01/28/2020 (Tue) 17:46:42 [Preview] No.34318 del
>>34309
Oh. So that Alexander. For some reason I didn't make the connection.
Realistically portraying a human bean isn't easy, it can slide from the classical good-bad setup to bad-bad. Showing the character flaws which not just lead to the acts, but makes the person understandable, and his acts maybe even pardonable, is one thing. Beside that a human - if not psychopath, and even most real psychos aren't all dark in their every action - is capable of practicing kindness and they do quite often. Most people are inherently trusting and helpful (this is what conmen exploit to their own advantage). Even those who appear intimidating or seemingly unfriendly, that's usually just a defensive mechanism of theirs because they got hurt and they just don't want to repeat it.
Yes they capable of being coldly calculating and cruel in the execution, but this is the level of politics (like inheritance struggle) and beside that they have their private lives, and they do what they do out of necessity.
I think Druon do well in the Accursed Kings series >>29499 He could change my feelings toward a character by standing his deeds in different lights.


Bernd 02/25/2020 (Tue) 17:39:16 [Preview] No.34651 del
You won't see any country (an English translation goes by "And Still the Earth")
Dystopian sci-fi novel set in São Paulo a few decades after its release in 1981. Depicts a totalitarian regime ruling a rump state (much having been sold to foreigners) long after a total environmental collapse, and focuses on the environmental theme. I might describe the worldbuilding and summarize the plot but for now I'll translate the first five paragraphs:

Mephitic. The stench comes from the corpses, thrash and excrement which pile beyond the Official Permitted Circles, past the Very Poor Encampments. I pray they don't hear me designate such regions by popular nicknames. I barely know what could happen to me. Isolation, I think.
They tried everything to eliminate this stench of death and decomposition which continually agonizes us. Did they? Nothing was achieved. The trucks, cheerfully painted in yellow and green, dump corpses, night and day. We know, because such things are always known. That's how it is.
There's no time to cremate all bodies. They pile them up and wait. Sewers open themselves to open air, unload in trolleys, on the dry riverbed. The thrash forms seventy seven hills which wave, all settled. And the sun, so violent, corrodes and rots the flesh in few hours.
The infect stench of the dead mixes to that of the impotent insecticides and the formols. Acrid, it makes the nose bleed, in afternoons of temperature inversion. It crosses the obligatory masks, dries the mouth, eyes tear up, cracks the skin. On ground level, animals die.
A pestilential atmosphere is formed which a battery of powerful fans uselessly seeks to expel. To far away from the limits of the oikumene, a word that the sociologists, idle, recovered from Antiquity, to designate the meager space in which we live. We live?

This is just the protagonist thinking as he wakes up, what follows is initially nowhere as dreary. Then he gradually moves away from his middle class neighborhood to several points of the city including the thrash.


Bernd 02/25/2020 (Tue) 20:33:07 [Preview] No.34654 del
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>>34651
Intriguing.
You finished or still reading?

Am reading The Expanse novels. Now the second one. It's fairly entertaining, better than the tv-show. I think it's main pro, that it explores the era between our first excursions into space and the multi-system civilizations and empires which are the usual settings for such science fiction stories (think of the Foundation series or the Dune). Also keeps to physics usually. There are trajectories and velocity and stuff.


Bernd 02/25/2020 (Tue) 21:04:49 [Preview] No.34657 del
>>34654
Just finished.


Bernd 03/12/2020 (Thu) 21:29:27 [Preview] No.35100 del
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Halfway through this book written in the turn of the last century. It's about immigrant, specifically German, settlement of the frontier in the late 19th century, following the course of pioneers Milkau and Lentz to get a plot of land and their life afterwards. It seeks a realistic depiction of the land in its entirety, both in its topography, vegetation, weather and so on and in all of its human geography -the presence of either immigrants or natives, the usage of language -with widespread bilingualism among the natives- festivals, religious cerimonies, the Germans' provinces of origin, mindsets and so on. Yet it's philosophical as much as it is descriptive, as the protagonists embody contrasting worldviews and discuss them as they contemplate the land -Milkau believes in humanism, collectivism, pacifism, cooperation, miscigenation and the value of religion, mythology and folk tales, while Lentz has an outlook of competition, individualism, materialism and racial supremacy. Through the land's description and the protagonists' dialogue the book covers themes such as race (a lot), settlers' relationship with the State, man and nature, heartland and frontier and decaying slaveholding society (it's set not long after abolition and Milkau meets a former slave right at the beginning) versus bold pioneer society.


Bernd 03/21/2020 (Sat) 19:03:19 [Preview] No.35350 del
>>34654
Moved onto the third volume. The first two are entertaining enough and the concept itself worth the read, now this one took a 90 degree turn downward. Right at the starting chapters it introduces new point of view characters (three for now), instead of continuing directly the story with the already established heroes, whom I just can't give a damn. And one of these new faces is Strong Woman character (the 4th one among the POV personas) from a mixed-race lesbian relationship (and whom btw is a pastor), who gets arrested a Wife Beater, but she had to resort to trickery to do that and she feels bad about it. Sounds a little heavy handed? Cause it reads so. I'm seriously considering reading something else.


Bernd 08/16/2020 (Sun) 12:07:10 [Preview] No.39319 del
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>>34654
So I finished all the books published until now.
On average they were ok. The story base is solid, but they ruin it with with boring fillers which does not add to the story and just mildly to the characters (in the 8th book they still shoveling more coloring info on heroes the reader get to know in the first one for example - "ok he/she is like this or that can we get move on with the story finally?!"), and with heavy handed stronk woman forcing. They ride this trend in American popular media that these types have to be everywhere, and in these books men feels like children and only women as if they were the only adults around. Men depicted emotional and confused while women rational and reasonable and not one of them bleeds from her vagina ever. And somehow all the important positions in institutions somehow women get, and they do it right, men always mismanage them. I guess this comes with the shift in the target audience, books have to be sold, they have to make profit and women being better consumers and the book isn't really for the sci-fi fanatics, but it's a soap opera in novel format.
Other details. Hmm. Many Hungarian words and names, relatively at least. One group of people, the Belters, who live in the asteroid belt created a new culture, and they speak "Belter creole", an amalgamation of many languages. I recognized German and Spanish words, fairly lot in their speak which often were thrown in to set the ambience. Beside that compared to their proportion Hungarian seemed over-represented, not complaining nice thing to read, but curious. Maybe the authors liked the Woken Furies with its many Hungarian names, toponyms.
They also try to stay within the physical, gravitational realities of space, action-reaction balance, vectors, orbits, speed of light, communication lags and such. Ofc as the time advances - with decades - they add more gadget X's and technobabbles. Some techs on the other hand are so 2010s, like everyone has a device very much reminding to smart phones - well that's what the readers know as high tech, that's what they get.
Supposedly one novel is still on it's way. Probably will read it just to finish the whole story. Do I recommend it for Bernd, probably not, some would definitely rage about that woman thing - it bugged me, they would flatline for that - others would find the whole thing plain stupid. Maybe to some.


Bernd 08/16/2020 (Sun) 12:24:22 [Preview] No.39321 del
>>35100
I have ordered the book, it sounds good


Bernd 10/09/2020 (Fri) 15:31:19 [Preview] No.40495 del
Here's the book thread.


Bernd 10/29/2020 (Thu) 05:22:18 [Preview] No.40768 del
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Does manga count as literature here? I just finished reading every volume of Cromartie High School, at the behest of the British bernd that was here who recommended it to me, and I wanted to post about it itt


Bernd 10/29/2020 (Thu) 05:50:22 [Preview] No.40769 del
>>40768
Sure, why not.
Not sure what the classification of comics are. Some needs extensive reading, others not at all. The constant is the pictures, drawings, so maybe it's related to those artforms. You can make a comic out of photos as well. Hmm.


Bernd 10/30/2020 (Fri) 21:44:13 [Preview] No.40782 del
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>>40768

Ok. Here goes:
Cromartie High school is a manga about badasses doing badass things. Really good manga. Lots of joges and hijinks going on. According to it's wiki page, The series is a parody of Japanese "yankii" (juvenile delinquent) manga of the 1970s and 1980s.

There were some really good chapters around, like the Mechazawa chapter or the one that references the Planet of the Apes movies. It has a really clever twist, but I don't really want to spoil it. Just go read the manga. I also really liked the one chapter were a "duo of badasses" from another town that kick the tar out of everyone in the local city. There were multiple chapters were I wasn't sure why they were cut from the anime.

But then there were chapters that really sucked, like the ones dedicated to those KISS band knockoffs or the sumo chapters. They were really boring. I could understand why it didn't show up in the anime at all. It was very entertaining to read all the way through. The manga artist, Eiji Nonaka , is currently working on a spinoff manga from the perspective of the adult teachers from the school. We'll see how that goes.


Bernd 11/02/2020 (Mon) 17:12:48 [Preview] No.40835 del
>>40782
>spinoff manga from the perspective of the adult teachers from the school.
Those stories are fascinating which show the same event from the view of several participants, from different sides (or just one, whatever).
Sadly I can't recall such from the top of my head at the moment. I think Guy Ritchie in some of his movies, like the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, employs that technique. The Expanse novel series has similar as it tells scenes from the view of alternating characters - it's not really how they saw the same particular event, but consequent events; this is also fun, but not the same.
Oh yeah I've just remembered one notable novel series: Vampire: the Masquerade clan novels. It tells a story of an event and how the different clans participated in it.


Bernd 11/02/2020 (Mon) 17:15:59 [Preview] No.40836 del
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Bernd 11/03/2020 (Tue) 04:51:51 [Preview] No.40840 del
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>>40836
Yah forgot to reply to yourself bernd

>>40835
>Those stories are fascinating which show the same event from the view of several participants, from different sides (or just one, whatever).

I can think of liek 2 things that are similar. One would be "Pulp Fiction". made by Quentin Tarantino. It's one story viewed through the eyes of 3 different people on different timelines. It's really hard to describe unless you see it from beginning to end. Gud film btw

The other would be a gba game called "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories". Once you beat the game, you get an option to do a new game with a character you never expect and play the same story in a somewhat different timeline. And the story really unfolds afterwards. I can't really give too many details without spoiling it. You'd have to play it from beginning to end to get it.


Bernd 11/03/2020 (Tue) 06:50:57 [Preview] No.40842 del
>>40840
>forgot to reply to yourself
Yeah.

I saw Pulp Fiction, breddy gud. Tarantino movies in general are enjoyable.
Most likely never gonna play with Kingdom Hearts, so feel free to spoiler it (or not, maybe someone out there would play it).


Bernd 11/05/2020 (Thu) 00:23:06 [Preview] No.40861 del
>>40842
>I saw Pulp Fiction, breddy gud. Tarantino movies in general are enjoyable.

Yeah they really are. His early ones at least. I liked Reservoir Dogs a lot. Would be good to watch one of his films for movie night tbh

>Most likely never gonna play with Kingdom Hearts, so feel free to spoiler it (or not, maybe someone out there would play it).

Kingdom hearts lore is a legit Mali-tier clusterfuck of a story. So I think I'll need some time to explain even that game fam


Bernd 07/13/2021 (Tue) 14:27:14 [Preview] No.44390 del
Read this. The translation of Rambo: First Blood Part II.
It's not good. Probably the original ain't that swell either, but the translation is kinda lame, and there are a couple of places where I knew what had to be the original and the translator did not know how to put it into Hungarian. Those points are a bit cringey.
The novel First Blood started the Rambo saga, by adapting it into a movie, then they made sequels to the film. The second movie was Rambo: First Blood Part II, and this novel is the adaptation of that, and not the other way around. Most likely this fact also reduced the quality.


Bernd 07/13/2021 (Tue) 17:45:26 [Preview] No.44396 del
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>>44390
>Rambo: First Blood Part II.

It must be a joke book overall.

Original Rambo movie was based on single book (by same author though) that didn't allow any sequels, just because Rambo died in the end. Rambo was also different, but overall that book was pretty good and movie also was pretty good in script sense, even with changes - fight of forgotten soldier against own people who don't care about him etc.

But other movies were just and exploitation of Rambo style. Second one was patriotic action movie, third one was much more patriotic (and more surreal in terms of realism) movie, fourth one was postmodern act with hyperbolized Rambo who just shoots everyone. So, books about these movies must be pretty, hm, bad, because everything reduced to just guns and explosions (and it isn't good for book as for movie). Especially considering that main character lost every personality trait excluding muscles.

I mean, it is very strange that Morrell decided to wrote continuation, especially based on movie. I've read first one (in Russian long ago) and thought that it must not be continued just because it is shameful for author to make books about "movie Rambo" after he wrote about "real" one. But looks like money issues, as always, prevail.


Bernd 07/13/2021 (Tue) 18:01:11 [Preview] No.44399 del
>>44396
In fact I have original Rambo and planned to read it next, or soon at least. I read another book these days, but only 20 pages left or something the like, so I need another one anyway.
This book about the second movie, playing in Vietnam still has the inner conflict Rambo goes through. In prison, in relation to the CIA guy and how they treat him, the POW camp in Vietnam, his meeting with the prisoners there, his torture, his relation with Co (Vietnamese chick guide), his relation with Trautman (the colonel, his superior)... I have to read the first book first to judge. I don't remember the movie exactly, so I'm not sure where the books diverge.


Bernd 07/18/2021 (Sun) 07:49:23 [Preview] No.44450 del
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I'm ~80 pages in, and it is different. The translation feels off similarly, but how the characters are presented is different. For now it seems the book has two heroes, two point-of-view characters. One is Rambo ofc, the other is Teasle, the sheriff of the town. They both have their inner struggles, both of their backgrounds are presented, their insecurities, their thought processes. Rambo is no way of a superhuman-fighter-machine. Making mistakes left and right, unconscious reactions they can't come over by sheer will or cool head. I think this isn't really comes off from the screen when watching the movie, but I have to rewatch to tell exactly. The motivations of Teasle can be seen and understood, even tho maybe won't wake sympathy towards him.
I reserve the right for final judgement, after I read it in whole.


Bernd 07/18/2021 (Sun) 10:36:09 [Preview] No.44452 del
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>>44396
Wait, that chart is wrong. He kills a bunch of guys in First Blood. At page ~80, he already killed 4, and when he killed the first one, he was nekkid (so "shirt off").


Bernd 07/19/2021 (Mon) 07:56:43 [Preview] No.44462 del
>>44452
>Wait, that chart is wrong. He kills a bunch of guys in First Blood. At page ~80, he already killed 4, and when he killed the first one, he was nekkid (so "shirt off").

That chart is about movies, not books. First movie differs from book in many parts - movie Rambo is much more positive hero who doesn't want to kill anyone (that's especially fun considering later movies). That policeman is also worse in movie, more like typical bad guy enemy.


Bernd 07/19/2021 (Mon) 08:05:12 [Preview] No.44464 del
>>44462
But I think even in the film he kills more people. I know he places traps out, and do some damage in the town too, explosions and shit.
Ehh, I really have to watch it again.


Bernd 07/20/2021 (Tue) 08:42:35 [Preview] No.44482 del
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>>44464

Internet says that there is some kind of "controversy" about kills in movie. Some people count indirect kills that may happen, some not, but technically Rambo almost didn't kill anyone directly.

He is the very pacifistic man.


Bernd 07/20/2021 (Tue) 13:48:47 [Preview] No.44486 del
>>44482
#notjustindians
https://tube.cadence.moe/watch?v=CWzUK4Qjsws
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CWzUK4Qjsws [Embed]


Bernd 07/25/2021 (Sun) 18:06:51 [Preview] No.44552 del
>>44482
Done reading an watched the movie too. I forgot there were Hungarians in the production crew.
Yes the film differs from the novel, but also follows the events faithfully. The chief discrepancy is the killings, as you said the hero takes care not to kill anyone (directly).
The book is a great struggle between the two heroes. The translation is a bit clumsy but better than the second one (what I read previously).
And yes. The ending is not permissive regarding to sequels.

Now I read Tarzan. Well, a Tarzan novel.


Bernd 08/02/2021 (Mon) 19:46:11 [Preview] No.44654 del
Getting near to the end of the book, not good, not bad, I prefer Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, the only other Tarzan book I ever read.
One detail I'm gonna mention. The novel (published in 1933) features a mad scientist, who discovers how traits are inherited, genes and such, and he figures out he can implant stem cells from one specimen to another and give the traits of the first to the second one. It can be done within species and he creates speaking and thinking gorillas and a society out of them resembling to 16th century England.
But this scientists go even further solving immortality. Well, at least his. He realizes consuming stem cells can revitalize the body, and for while he survives on the children of his ape society.
This story very much reminds me of something...


Bernd 08/02/2021 (Mon) 19:46:51 [Preview] No.44655 del
>>44654
>But this scientists
*scientist
singular


Bernd 08/06/2021 (Fri) 23:00:04 [Preview] No.44684 del
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Currently reading a chilling and very unnerving book titled "The Island of Doctor Moreau" by H.G. Wells. It involves a shipwrecked British man washing up on an island owned by a manic scientist that engages in vivisection to splice animals together to make them "act and appear human". The book was created during a time when animal vivisection was an heated debate in the UK. I think this was the author's way of expressing how he felt about everything. It's a really skin turning story in the way it makes a reader feel about everything. Maybe don't read it if you have a weak stomach.

I think the anime called "Full Metal Alchemist" had a character that was similar to him IIRC


Bernd 08/07/2021 (Sat) 11:34:46 [Preview] No.44690 del
>>44684
I started into the Vampire: The Masquerade Clan novels. I like those, read them a couple of times. They are short.
Now I read them in English,
But now you sold me that Wells book.


Bernd 08/07/2021 (Sat) 12:02:05 [Preview] No.44691 del
>>44684
Have Bernd read any other of his books? I know he is a notable writer, but haven't had the luck yet.


Bernd 08/14/2021 (Sat) 09:33:59 [Preview] No.44743 del
>>44684
I'm a good way in that book. Remands me very much of Lovecraft. In writing style. Awkward and mechanical. Smoother than Lovecraft. Also this style somewhat reminds me of Tolkien.
Anyway I've no problem with the story, and I suspect of a philosophical layer, Beast and Man, within Man, etc. We'll see.


Bernd 08/17/2021 (Tue) 04:43:14 [Preview] No.44762 del
>>44743
>>44690
>I started into the Vampire: The Masquerade Clan novels. I like those, read them a couple of times. They are short.
>Now I read them in English,
>But now you sold me that Wells book.

it gud bernd

>>44743
>Anyway I've no problem with the story, and I suspect of a philosophical layer, Beast and Man, within Man, etc. We'll see.
I believe that was the point bernd


Dutch bernd Bernd 08/17/2021 (Tue) 04:44:10 [Preview] No.44763 del
>>44691
>Have Bernd read any other of his books? I know he is a notable writer, but haven't had the luck yet.

bernd only reads haplotype maps and posts on kc. Books are verbotim

>>44762
And I'm still with a turkeyball


Bernd 08/17/2021 (Tue) 12:58:50 [Preview] No.44775 del
>>44691
>Have Bernd read any other of his books? I know he is a notable writer, but haven't had the luck yet.
The War of the Worlds is a nice, short read. The sci-fi concepts are already familiar a hundred years later. But near the end there's an interesting section in which one of the characters wonders about humanity's fate under Martian occupation, there'd be a cattle-like existence until an underground resistance would drive out the occupiers.


Bernd 08/20/2021 (Fri) 19:51:45 [Preview] No.44812 del
>>44762
I enjoyed that Wells book despite it's shortcomings. A bit depressing too.
Thinking on the hero's story, as time passes, and the events getting further and further from him into the past, at one point he would probably wonder if all these things happened to him. And he have to fight other's perception of him, not to influence him believing these things did not happen, he's just cuckoo.

>>44775
Gonna check that too. Thanks.


Bernd 09/23/2021 (Thu) 15:47:02 [Preview] No.45088 del
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>>44775
I'm about halfway in that book. Again the style I find clumsy and cumbersome (the recitation of the events by itself too, but ugh, all those town and street and place names..., maybe I could follow it on a map), the story is engaging however. I'm familiar with at least the Tom Cruise movie from all of its adaptations.
It is sprinkled with nice details, like how they searched for the brigadier general's HQ but they couldn't find it in the chaos, or the machinists of the trains did not want to risk returning to London. He also has a great imagination with the "Heat Ray" (laser? the book was written in 1897), or with the walker which was recycled in later works like Star Wars (and even maybe was an inspiration for mechs). The "space ship" of the martian is very Verne-like, they are shot here from a giant gun.
So what's in the book I like it very much, how it is presented, it's a bit of pain. Maybe the Hungarian translation is different, I might check that out.
Just by a search we can see many nice re-imagination of the essence of the book.


Bernd 09/23/2021 (Thu) 15:51:20 [Preview] No.45089 del
>>45088
At one point Wells mentions the "unspeakable" nature of the martians. Did he inspired Lovecraft with the Cephalopod looks of the Martians?


Dutch bernd Bernd 09/24/2021 (Fri) 20:19:33 [Preview] No.45097 del
>>45088
>>45089
Where the movies based on the novels good though? that is the important question


Bernd 09/24/2021 (Fri) 20:27:42 [Preview] No.45098 del
>>45097
I did not much care for the Tom Cruise movie.


Dutch bernd Bernd 09/29/2021 (Wed) 23:21:24 [Preview] No.45139 del
>>45098
That movie was ehh. What about the BBC broadcast? That one was really huge at the time


Bernd 09/30/2021 (Thu) 06:53:45 [Preview] No.45145 del
>>45139
I don't think I know that.
Meanwhile I finished the book. I think its main appeal is that the events also happen in the late 19th century, so the setting of the alien invasion is unusual for me. These clashes usually happen in our time (since these are written by our contemporaries), or in the distant future.
Beside this I can appreciate the visionary performance of Wells.


Bernd 10/24/2021 (Sun) 23:32:02 [Preview] No.45386 del
I don't usually read stuff like this, partly because of being wary about disinfo, of which there's plenty out there, so I'm humbly asking bernd if he has read any of these and whether it was worth it. If I don't find a way to get it from a local bookstore I'll pirate it since I don't like the idea of Amazon not only having data like my address and credit card number, but also labelling me as a "government skeptic". It was also entertaining how obvious disinfo books were recommended by Amazon alongside these, even hollow earth tier books, the old discreditation by association trick couldn't be more plain to the eye.
>Dark Alliance by Gary Webb
>The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade by Alfred W. McCoy


Bernd 10/25/2021 (Mon) 06:34:09 [Preview] No.45390 del
>>45386
Hahh! Watch Snowfall. I mentioned it in the movie/tv-show thread. I see it's about the same topic.
>if he has read any of these
No. But this made me curious.
I thought it is a fact this happened.


Bernd 01/30/2022 (Sun) 05:20:20 [Preview] No.46251 del
>>45390
If there's someone I don't trust about these things it's the media, they likely distract from important issues. I've been trying to find something similar to those two books which focuses on Escobar and the aftermath of his death, it's been almost 30 years already.


Bernd 01/30/2022 (Sun) 08:12:38 [Preview] No.46254 del
>>46251
Well Snowfall isn't a documentary, the inspiration for it came from the topic of the books you mentioned.
Try searching related search words from Escobar through Cartel to organized crime, on libgen. Ofc the quality of books will vary but some of them eventually will give more sources to look up.


Bernd 01/30/2022 (Sun) 14:45:04 [Preview] No.46257 del
>>45386
From what little I read about Dark Alliance, I got the impression rebuttals minimized the CIA's total relevance within the drug trade but did not refute that it was linked to it.


Bernd 02/07/2022 (Mon) 00:48:27 [Preview] No.46359 del
Do you know this author?
t.thinking about reading it


Bernd 02/07/2022 (Mon) 08:40:21 [Preview] No.46364 del
>>46359
I'm aware of his existence. I only have second hand experience about one of his work, Sátántangó, which was made into a film and what I saw. That has some political and social commentary, but the story is too fictitious and surreal so if there's a critique for example that might be too subtle.
If you read it you could give your impressions, I'm curious.


Bernd 02/07/2022 (Mon) 19:56:22 [Preview] No.46366 del
>>46365
Huh, it seems some cooperation was going on with Tarr, the director. They seem to be friends.


Bernd 02/10/2022 (Thu) 11:53:37 [Preview] No.46388 del
>>22382
Histories was mostly bullsht random locals told to H. when he was on holiday just to fuck with him.
My favorite is the woman who had sex with a donkey in Egypt, and the locals who claim everyone saw this happening.

On Greek history he's reliable, but a great deal of what he writes are just amusing anecdotes, first hand misunderstandings and rumor.

Often he just relates the bullshit random people believe about flying worms and birds delivering cinamon from the edge of the world.
He doubted England was a real place.

Great read; not really history.


Bernd 04/14/2022 (Thu) 18:07:03 [Preview] No.47229 del
Reading Dark Ages clan novels these days. It's Vampire the Masquerade in the high middle ages, the events start with the sack of Constantinople in 1204.
Ain't very good to be honest. It's passable. Characters aren't relatable much, and the story is written kinda heavy handedly. Ofc these type of books should reflect gameplay, maybe this is why it feels a bit dry. Also it's too linear. The events in the books follow each other and there is no overlap, like in the VtM clan novels, where some of the events are shown from different perspective of the participants within some of the books. Despite the recurring characters this tool - which could potentially make it way more interesting - is entirely missing. I also don't like certain details like the blood laced wine (it's clearly was made up so the authors can write about vampires snipping from cups because that's liek medieval right?!).
Maybe I can count one thing as a plus. The difference of the vampire unlife between the modern setting and this medieval one. Like the slow ass travel, and how the problems with it solved without techno-gadgets.
I hope I'll finish it, it isn't much that keeps me going.


Bernd 04/14/2022 (Thu) 18:17:17 [Preview] No.47230 del
>>46388
The part about the Scythians and the related folks is actually quite reliable and many what he wrote was confirmed in other sources and by archaeology. But for example the geography of Scythia is absolutely vague.
Stuff like gold guarding griffins can be made to make sense. Griffins in the art of steppe people is a notable motif, they feature on pottery, carpets, jewelry, carvings, and whatnot, and they can be found in grave goods, where much golden wares were buried.
Many things can be a matter of interpretation. Plus historians apply criticism to their sources, and test them to other sources.


Bernd 04/14/2022 (Thu) 20:37:22 [Preview] No.47234 del
>>47229
Funnily enough Im replaying Bloodlines game currently. Some kind of telepathy must be real.


Bernd 04/14/2022 (Thu) 20:41:56 [Preview] No.47236 del
>>47234
Patrician choice.


Bernd 04/20/2022 (Wed) 03:32:47 [Preview] No.47286 del
>>40842
>Most likely never gonna play with Kingdom Hearts, so feel free to spoiler it (or not, maybe someone out there would play it).

Might as well reply to this 2 year old post now

The basic gist of the game is altering your memories so you remember something, some events and somebody who never existed. The main baddies of the game do that to the main protagonist by making him think he knew someone from their childhood who's actually a witch altering the main protagonists name with the intent of making the protagonist an empty husk/puppet that the main baddies can use as their weapon to own the world. The main baddies even go so far as making your childhood friend hate you and want to kill you constantly during the game but he's actually a replica of your friend because your friend is gone to the dark zone or something like that. That's never clear until near the end of the game. Throughout the story, the plot unravels in such a way that's honestly pretty mature for a GBA game. With so much betrayal, heartbreak and deception that it sometimes feels like a mature adult novel instead of a regular video game.


It's definitely a game that's better played and enjoyed slowly instead of being told the main plot twists of the game. Story wise, it's the peak of the series in terms of pacing, atmosphere, music and setting. KHII was good, but not so good story wise. The game series takes a nose dive story wise IMHO. It's the only game that reminds me of the movie Memento iirc.

It's also one of the most advanced and high production inside the entire GBA. Highly recommend if you have a few weeks to finish it, because it's also somewhat long for a GBA game.


Bernd 04/20/2022 (Wed) 03:35:28 [Preview] No.47287 del
>>47286
Here's the longer explanation of the game if bernds want to see it

https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts:_Chain_of_Memories

https://www.khwiki.com/Kingdom_Hearts_Chain_of_Memories


Just read some comic books. Gonna give some reviews for them soon


Bernd 08/31/2022 (Wed) 10:16 [Preview] No.48614 del
Reading pulp fictions from the Hungarian (Jewish) author, Rejtő Jenő - or P. Howard/Gibson Lawery. He traveled a lot, in Europe, France, in the Mediterranean, sometimes living among the lowest of society. I think he has background in theater, and writing plays. He had a characteristic humour, his books are full of funny and absurd situations and dialogues. He frequently reused his own tropes, sometimes even names (some stories are connected, tied together in a series, but some are not). Some lines are written poorly, sometimes the logic is weak, sometimes just cringe. Most book has some romance plot too, fairly schematic. So all in all really a mixed bag, but enjoyable. Those who like them usually overrates them, but I also think more people should read them because they mean an easier approach to literature, a more palatable for wider audiences, than the classics we have to read in school.
I notice things in the stories I did not before. How they reflect the view the author had to the world, the politics and the goings, contemporary and near past events. For example in one series in the beginning the English and American interests clash in the earlier books, and in the later ones English and American intelligence services are depicted working very close to each other. Or in the legionnaire books - while the geographical descriptions are a bit naive - the events of the French colonization in Sub-Saharan Africa is quite realistic. It's refreshing to find new things to gain from these books.

>>47286
>to own the world.
OF COURSE!
>pretty mature for a GBA game.
>feels like a mature adult novel instead of a regular video game.
That sounds good.


Bernd 08/31/2022 (Wed) 10:18 [Preview] No.48615 del
>>48614
Oh, he was an author of the interwar period.


Bernd 10/19/2022 (Wed) 06:45 [Preview] No.49049 del
>>49046
I can't tell you more than what I read on those pages. And what Wikipedia says.
As for the reddit comment about archive.org borrowing and possible saving that book instead just a loan: the browser cache method could work.
I have not borrowed book like this ever, so I'm not sure how it works, however I browsed a site which archives many documents and offers views. The viewer of that particular site loads pages in pdf formats, and all are cached on the hard drive by the browser, so it was a matter of going through the pages, and then copypasting the files from the cache to somewhere, then unifying them into a single pdf with a suitable program.
Protip: before browsing it is a good idea to empty the cache so only the files for that book will be in there, makes the sorting of the files easier.
You also have to find the directory for your browser's cache.


Bernd 10/20/2022 (Thu) 23:31 [Preview] No.49059 del
>>49049
apparently the rights were bought to faust and it was subsequently censored. I was wondering how urfaust differed to faust, what parts might be missing. this will take a while to translate and go through but so far the online translations seem ok to read. if you know anything about getting hold of a digital copy of faust 1st edition, originally published 1808 that would be great, if not no problem, your advice was good and maybe if I get stuck on certain words in translation I could post them here and maybe you wil see them. thanks for the help


Bernd 10/22/2022 (Sat) 15:31 [Preview] No.49065 del
>>49059
>if you know anything about getting hold of a digital copy of faust 1st edition
I know very little about this, and I suspect it's barely possible if it is. Many things don't get digitized. That deutschen textarchiv sounds the closest. If needs registration or paying some fee, maybe you should think about that.


Dutch bernd Bernd 10/23/2022 (Sun) 15:41 [Preview] No.49077 del
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>>48614
>OF COURSE!
I mean it's a cliche premise, but the game handles it too well for anyone to notice it. That was Kingdom hearts at its peak of story telling. KH2 was ok but not as good as that one. And all other subsequent titles suffer from Nomura's bad writing style

>That sounds good.
It really is If you beat the main game, you get the option of playing as Riku, your childhood friend, and playing through the castle in his POV, absolutely shrekking all the enemies that you thought since you're completely OP with Riku's magic powers


Bernd 01/27/2023 (Fri) 14:51 [Preview] No.49715 del
I hate epubs don't have pages.


The Little Pig and the Wolves Bernd 04/07/2023 (Fri) 19:38 [Preview] No.50074 del
Late frosts and snows always reminding me a specific Hungarian folk tale, The Little Pig and the Wolves. Folk tales are literature, so here we go.
I give Bernd a story in writing and in vid then explain the context.
One day when the pig was cooking at home the wolf asked to let him in into his house because it was freezing outside. The pig was smarter and denied the wolf. So this tried to trick the pig asking if he could put only his hind leg through the door. Then he slowly moved backwards more and more. The pig put some water to boil, and grabbed a bag which he led the wolves into gradually. Then when the wolf was all in, he scalded him with the boiling water, and fled up to a tree. The wolves got his pals and since they couldn't climb trees they stood into each others' neck, the hairless one standing on the ground. They almost reached him, when the pig screamed: "boiling water upon the bald one!" which made that scared and run away collapsing the whole bunch. The little pig lived until he died.

The main charters of the story are the pig and the wolf. These are two of 28 lunar houses (or as the Chinese calls em: xiu, the Twenty-Eight Mansions, or the Hindis: nakshatras), he pig is the first one in the Taurus zodiac (~April 20 - May 20), the wolf is the second (between the dog and the griffin) in the Aries (~March 20 - April 20) - ofc both in Chinese and Hindi, and probably Arabic and Western and whatever traditions all stations have their own names. Have to note, the lunar houses don't cover each zodiac by the day if we want to go by calendar, from the simple fact that they are ~14 days long, and zodiacs 30. For example Aries has 3 houses (the griffin is still belonging to that), but Taurus only two, so they hang into each others' parent zodiac here and there.
Here's a mosaic work of a handicraft/industrial art artist.
So the lunar houses follow each other like this in chronological order: dog, wolf, griffin, pig (and then pigeon/dove - isn't featuring now).


Bernd 04/07/2023 (Fri) 19:50 [Preview] No.50075 del
(1.01 MB 1920x1080 taurus-milky-way-on.png)
So let's tell the story again, with explanations.
In the tale the order of appearance is backwards, first the pig which tells us when we are in the story. We are well in spring. Then the wolf appears with the frost, he can't get into the pig's house, because it would mean turning back time, this is why he enters backwards, but it proves to be a dead end... in a bag. The pig with the warm rains of May "scalds" the wolf, basically turning back him into a dog (pushing back him in the calendar), reminding him of his place. The pig flees up to the tree, which is safe since wolves can't climb trees. Interesting, pigs can't either, but he is capable. Why? How? The tree is the Tree of Life or World Tree, which is nothing else but the Milky Way. The position of the Taurus zodiac is such, that it reaches into the Milky Way. This is how the pig can climb up, but since the Aries with the wolf is further away, it can never into it.
Now the wolf brings his buddies (some version says 10 more, which makes the sum of the characters 12, an interesting number if we are talking about the zodiac), and they stand upon each other. This band of wolves together represent a different kind of myhtic monster, the griffin. Little known fact that double headed eagles (for example in CoA but the iconography goes back the the ancient Middle East) are griffins. And when the wolves stand in each others' necks they have to balance out by standing towards opposite directions making the pile "double" headed (looking one way and the other). A griffin's body also a carnivore mammal (these days we call it a lion, but for example in Sumerian lions essentially were called dogs, or at least they use the same cuneiform to them, and in historical time they knew little about Linné and his system).
Then the pig have to remind the wolf to it's place again (go into your own house DOG!), to get free from the chilly biting of the remnants of winter (wolves and their hunger are typically associated with winter).


Bernd 04/08/2023 (Sat) 16:31 [Preview] No.50081 del
Note, all the Hungarian folk tales can be placed in a specific part of the year, some tells a story about the whole Sun cycle.
Btw the German tales, collected by the Grimm brothers also have these themes or at least the researchers tried to group them to fit the four seasons. I know little about this, but there are certain patterns, and scenes, which are classic metaphors like the awakening of Sleeping Beauty is the awakening the nature in spring. I dunno how much they operate with the zodiac, but Hungarian folk tales are very much use them to build the narration, they (or rather the journey of the Sun throughout the year) are the engine of them.


Dutch bernd Bernd 05/17/2023 (Wed) 04:10 [Preview] No.50254 del
>>50081
>>50075
>>50074
Intradesting

Imma contribute some content to this thread. Here's a collection of fairy tales from around the world.

https://www.worldoftales.com/index.html

And some copies of the Grimm fairy tales

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/old/grimm10.pdf

https://www.worldoftales.com/fairy_tales/Grimm_fairy_tales.html

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

Also a copy of some Epic tales from Europe

r8


Dutch bernd Bernd 05/17/2023 (Wed) 04:30 [Preview] No.50255 del
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(436.33 KB 2000x3000 FMA.jpeg)
What are bernd's opinions on the "Evil devouring mother" archetype? It's a common theme in movies, stories, short novels, fairy tales, and films.

And it's not just something that appears in films and movies. I've seen and lived with these type of people during the years I've been alive. Maybe all of these stories and fairy tales are based on real people and real life experiences that the author has been through.

Here's a good example of the archetype, Full Metal Alchemist. Main villain is literally every thing related to the archetype.

And here's her main theme: Dante's theme

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=EpAbJCzmDBk

Provide serious discussions over this topic. And personal anecdotes over it.


Bernd 05/17/2023 (Wed) 10:09 [Preview] No.50258 del
>>50255
I was thrown for a minute but you are talking about Full Metal Alchemist the anime, not the manga or Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood.

I never saw that one so I had never heard of her, it turns out she isn't actually part of the manga and is original to the earlier anime. Which makes sense.

Full Metal Alchemist was made before the manga was finished so they ran out of material and had to make things up to finish it. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was made afterwards and is faithful to the manga and the one I watched, I think most people recommend watching Brotherhood as well, it's also one of the highest rated anime on MAL.


Bernd 05/17/2023 (Wed) 16:06 [Preview] No.50259 del
>>50254
>collection of fairy tales
Awesome. Thanks Bernd.
These day I read a MAGUS novel, after I might pick some tales, am actually curious.

>>50255
>Evil devouring mother archetype
I can't recall any. I'm thinking in liek Greek mythology terms at the moment tho. But I have to read what you posted first and get familiar with Wild Metal Country Full Metal Alchemist a bit. Because I have no idea about that.


Bernd 05/17/2023 (Wed) 16:09 [Preview] No.50260 del
>>50254
I also like the design of the World of Tales website.


Bernd 05/18/2023 (Thu) 08:25 [Preview] No.50261 del
>>50255
Okay, I skimmed through the screenshots.
Hera comes to mind, the jealous wife who despises everyone Zeus is willing to give his male attention to. She wields great power and knowledge, and also has a gentle side given the circumstances.
That poster also mentions Jung, this reminded me of a book I came across during all my readings by Jean Shinoda Bloen who apparently was a Jungian psychiatrist: Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women
She describes several archetypes of female behaviour patterns, and put them on the basis of Goddesses in Greek mythology. One of them ofc is Hera. I'll try to look this up.


Bernd 06/07/2023 (Wed) 20:01 [Preview] No.50358 del
>>50261
>She describes several archetypes of female behaviour patterns, and put them on the basis of Goddesses in Greek mythology. One of them ofc is Hera. I'll try to look this up.

The Illiad is mayb another good example. Lots of people died bc 3 goddesses where being petty about their looks. Liek who cares who's the prettiest. People died!

>>50260
>I also like the design of the World of Tales website.
Thank u. It has a really nice early 1990s website design that I raly raly liek. :D

>>50258
>I never saw that one so I had never heard of her, it turns out she isn't actually part of the manga and is original to the earlier anime. Which makes sense.


Sorry forgot to bring that info up. The manga and the anime where different on purpose bc the manga creator wanted it that way.


Bernd 06/17/2023 (Sat) 20:26 [Preview] No.50442 del
>>50358
Here's the book about the goddesses, and I post the one about the Gods too to complement it.
I started to browse the chapter about Hera, I might write about what I found. But yeah, she is the jealous wife (not unfounded jealousy...) who often strikes out - not onto her husband, but at her rivals, rivals' kids, and innocent bystanders. She's not all that, way more to her, but one characteristic side.


Bernd 06/20/2023 (Tue) 09:38 [Preview] No.50459 del
So Hera vs. "Evil Devouring Mother"

First let's take a look at the case of Snow White.
She's the daughter of a royal couple, her mom dies, and her father takes another (young?) women as wife. She gets jealous and wants Snow White killed. The rest of the story isn't much interesting in our case.
The same thing happens in Cinderella to some extent. Her mother dies, her father marries again and her step-mom shits on her on every occasion she gets. No murder attempt this time, but she suffers.
To me it's quite clear that in both cases the step-mom, the new wife considers the heroin a competition. She is a reminder of the late wife - whom possible the pater familias very much loved. She is also viewed by the new wife as a distraction for her husband, who has to divide his attention between the new wife and the daughter.
I'm reading in Wikipee that in some version of Snow White, no new wife appears, but the actual mother is the one who gets jealous of her and wants to get rid of her.


cont. Bernd 06/20/2023 (Tue) 09:54 [Preview] No.50460 del
>>50459
Now as for the Greek goddess Hera.
Based on that psychology book, quite a lot can be said about her, most of which I won't type out. The most important thing about her is that she is The Wife. Nothing else. This is in the center of her personality. She can be a mother as this comes with the title of being The Wife, but she'll never be The Mother (which title should go to Demeter, I did not read her chapter now).
To be The Wife she needs The Husband whom will be more important than any children of hers, not to mention some previous wife's... And Hera gets into fits of jealousy, and can be quite vindictive and destructive - rarely towards the husband, but sometimes against own children.
But she has no other reason to harm anyone, just those she perceives as rivals for attention of the husband. If she becomes a widow, she loses the core of her characteristic, she's not The Wife anymore. Beyond other things this also could trigger seeking revenge on those who are at fault in the loss of the husband - or at least whom she perceives the culpable.
She doesn't care much about other male attention. And she doesn't care much about other transgressions of her husband, and she frequently places the interest of the husband over her own.
How much this really fits onto the "evil devouring mother" stereotype? Or the Snow White/Cinderella tale? Some. But then if we go along with the Greek goddess metaphor one goddess rarely covers the personality of a woman. So there might be other goddesses in play.
For example the step-mom of Snow White was jealous of her looks in general, which could imply she feared she'll distract the attention of other males. This is not really Hera-like.
I might read more.


Bernd 06/20/2023 (Tue) 09:54 [Preview] No.50461 del
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>>50460
Forgot to include at least one pic.


Bernd 06/20/2023 (Tue) 16:38 [Preview] No.50462 del
>>50255
>>50459
I think the notion of this archetype is flawed to begin with.
Snow White is a fairy tail which I will mention the importance of that in a moment but even ignoring this, a new wife treating a non related child like that is nothing unexpected and happens the other way around as well. Lions will kill the offspring of a new pride it takes over because they are not related to him, I think something like this happens in Lion King but I don't remember that movie much. But of course, that's also the plot of Hamlet, kind of. So I don't think gender relates to it at all nor motherhood nor fatherhood.

Anyway, the reason Snow White being a fairytail is important is because fairytails are basically self insert fantasies for peasants children and the like.

The motives of the stepmother of Snow White or Cinderella don't really matter in this and are not the driving factor behind the story, the driving factor is the idea that a normal girl is actually a princess and the most beautiful in the world and that the only reason she is in her situations is because the somebody else is evil and force her away. It's fairly common in even today's media, the protagonist is often raised modestly but is actually somehow royal or special in another way all along they just did not know it because of reasons.
Starwars is an example of it and Starwars also has a parental antagonist though in this case he actually is the parent. Naruto is similar but a case where the parents are not antagonists, in his case the parents are good people but died when he was a baby rather than that a parent was bad and force him out, but you kind of have to pick one of these for such a story as if one's parents are good and still alive why would they kick you out as a child?


Bernd 06/20/2023 (Tue) 17:17 [Preview] No.50463 del
>>50462
All characters in fiction have their own personality traits and behaviour patterns - which comes from real life characteristics and preferred actions, as you pointed out - and all can be sorted along these archetypes of gods and goddesses, based on Greek mythology, defined by this psychologist (psychiatrist, etc. whatever). Even before her people recognized these patterns and there are only a finite amount of patterns, and all kinds of categorization were created. One categorization is of the zodiac for example, or someone thought the temperament was the result of the balance of bodily fluids (like blood, bile, etc.), others categorized along 4 (+1) elements. And there are mixes of these theories too (and there are the personality systems of tabletop rpgs, like DnD has it's 3x3 matrix). That INPT-ESJT whatever categorization is also the same, we can recognize various demeanor of these fictional characters.
Sure in those fairytales the story of the main hero/heroin is the driving factor, but Snow White and Cinderella also have their own goddesses in themselves. Just read the book and think of how they behave and you'll see the patterns.
But the topic is at hand is the "evil devouring mother" and how it appears in literature.
And the great advantage of this goddesses/gods categorization over any other is that each god and goddess has their own stories, tales, not one but quite a few. Frankly even Greeks made up these gods and goddesses by fitting them upon certain roles they saw in themselves.
I really don't understand why I have to explain this, btw.

Btw just because someone is a parent it doesn't mean she's a Hera or Demeter. She can be very well Aphrodite and she has her own parenting patterns too. Or Athene, or Persephone, or the others. They have their behaviour pattern as children, young woman, adult woman, old woman. And more than one goddess and god can live in one person, many can influence the person's actions and feelings.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 02:59 [Preview] No.50465 del
>>50463
What God or goddess does Darth Vader act like? What deity does Snow White's Step Mother act like?(you said yourself that Hera does not fit). The idea that every archetype is based on a deity is flawed as well because they simply aren't and the books you posted are people clutching at straws, trying to make them all archetypes and attribute traits to them that are not there to do so while ignoring other important aspects of their personality if it does not fit their views. For example they don't mention Athena turning Arachane into a spider, throwing away a musical instrument because it made her look silly when she played it or the things she did in the Trojan wars and the pretty petty reasons that she did them for.
And while I do think that the Greek gods were fairly human, that was the point, they are characters in stories unlike the Christian god who is a force of nature. I still would not read to much into that and assume all their actions are human and normal. Zeus after all married his sister and had a child with his mother.

I disagree that the Greeks made their mythic stories after roles they saw in themselves, they are there to entertain and to explain the world as well as in many cases to give legendary ancestry to certain individuals and their families. Zeus is not some kind of reflection on society, he is a larger than life character in a story(well several stories), that applies to Athena and most other deities as well.

They aren't really parents though which is part of my point. Snow white's step mother is her step mother and kicks her out of home fairly early, she is not a parental figure and they don't even live with each other, similar thing with Darth Vader. Sure he is biologically related but he is not involved in any way in raising Luke.

Also saying that multiple deities can live in one individual is a cop out. That's not how archetypes work nor is it how things like the INPT thing work.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 05:33 [Preview] No.50467 del
>>50465
>What God or goddess does Darth Vader act like?
Read the books and found out yourself. Abandoning family for career, fighting own children, trying to mold his son to be himself live through him. Take your pick.
>you said yourself that Hera does not fit)
I said not a perfect fit, and I suspect that other archetype(s) is/are in to play. They are Hera both in case of Snow White and Cinderella, and especially in the version of Snow White when the actual mother is out to kill her.
You see those chicks on youtube doing hunting or riding speedbikes or whatever boyish crap? Now they are Pallas Athene, The Daddy's Daughter, born from The Daddy's mind. For example.
>They aren't really parents though which is part of my point. Snow white's step mother is her step mother and kicks her out of home fairly early, she is not a parental figure and they don't even live with each other
This is the point. Hera isn't The Mother, she isn't a parent (what a shitty mom for Hephaestus she is), she can play the parent if that happens, but she isn't The Mother. Snow White's step isn't a mother either (the step-mother status further accenting this, especially if in the version told she is young), she is a wife (when she is the biological mother in the particular version, she doesn't take that role either, doesn't want it, she just wants to be The Wife, the only woman in the life of The Husband).


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 06:29 [Preview] No.50468 del
>>50467
I'm not going to do that, they are long books and not very good. If you think a deity does actually fit him then say what one.

As I said before, mixing archetypes is a cop out, if it has to be mixed it's not an archetype and you are just picking and choosing things to make up a new character.
Hera does not match.

>You see those chicks on youtube doing hunting or riding speedbikes or whatever boyish crap? Now they are Pallas Athene, The Daddy's Daughter, born from The Daddy's mind. For example.
That's a fairly reductionist and flawed view of things. Firstly, not all speed bike or hunting girls are daddies girls nor do all daddies girls ride speed bikes and hunt. But secondly, this treats dirt bike riding and hunting the same as war and strategy when they are not, there does also happen to be a goddess of hunting by the way. And thirdly, Athena is not boyish, she is vain as mentioned before but also has the feminine modesty of a girl as seen when she blinds the son of her companion when he sees her bathing. She is not a tomboy.
She also does not share much in common with Zeus, she is not of his mind and does not act as he does. I mean really, how many girls does Athena rape? How many wives does she have? Saying that she is of his mind is reading far too much into her birth story.

Hera does not want to be the only woman in her husbands life, she just wants her husband to stop cheating and blames other women for that. She is not a step mother, she is a wife with a disloyal husband. She has female children that live with her and she does not take action against many of the non related women that are prevalent in the cosmos and even that are the daughters of Zeus in some cases, such as Athena. She does not take action against Athena because Athena is not sleeping with her husband or the product of another woman sleeping with her husband, though in one version of the story he is mad as Zeus for giving birth by himself, but she is mad at Zeus, she does not take it out on Athena.
These gods and goddess simply don't fit into the simplistic archetypes that you and the authors of those books try to make them fit into.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 06:34 [Preview] No.50469 del
>>50468
They are really not simplistic. You try to make it simplistic. Just read Hera, she is very complex (and the others too).


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 06:36 [Preview] No.50470 del
To be honest all the ib users should read these books (and others), it would save them world of hurt in life on the expense of the little hurt of the ego these books cause.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 07:07 [Preview] No.50472 del
>>50469
They are simplistic, I already pointed that out. Athena is not a daddies girl tomboy and Hera is not a wicked stepmother.
I read the one on Athena, I'm not wasting more of my time reading what silly things they have to say about Hera.

>>50470
I disagree, they are bad books, false in their assumptions and of no use.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 09:56 [Preview] No.50473 del
>>50472
>tomboy
Never said she was a tomboy.
>Hera is not a wicked stepmother.
Nowhere it is written that she is just that. She has the "potential" to become one, due to unfortunate circumstances. In some stories in Greek mythology she is. And that role in those stories is parallel with the mom/step-mom of Snow White and Cinderella.
A woman who "is" Hera isn't destined to get cheated on. It just means that the most important thing to her, the one thing that makes her feel fulfilled is to be a wife. She then might have the best marriage ever till the rest of her life. That is a fulfilled Hera, good for her. But his Zeus might not be a faithful one, one who considers his vows seriously, then she can turn into the jealous Hera. Some Heras are simply suspicious ones despite their Zeus being a good husband, right on time at home after work, she still becomes jealous. Sometimes she realizes that his Zeus isn't the king of gods, and fails the expectations of being a successful man she can be proud wife of, then she turns into the archetypal nagging harpy. There is way more to Hera then just wicked stepmom, which she very well can be.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 11:12 [Preview] No.50474 del
>>50473
You strongly implied it. But anyway, she's not a daddies girl either. The relationship between the two is vague, she does curse Arachne for insulting him but that does not say as much as the author of that book thinks it does. That would be the expected response for the child of any Greek family back then. But she certainly is not off his mind, she acts fairly different to him.
Anyway, other than this what the book says about her 'archetype' is that she is a hard-working professionally minded woman with an attraction towards strong men. All of that is false. She is a goddess, it's hard to say if she works hard or at all and it's really hard to say whether she works harder or less hard than other gods and goddess, though there certainly are some that work a lot harder than she does. She is also not romantically attracted to anybody, she does not help heroes out of attraction nor is she a friend of them. She is a goddess.

Everybody has the potential to become one. But under the same circumstances of Cinderella's step mother or Snow Whites step mother, she would not. If Snow White was the product of her husband cheating on her then maybe, but she was not.
Targetting a child because they are the product of your spouse cheating on you is a lot different than targetting a child because she is more beautiful than you or simply using one as slave labour. But also, when Paris did say that Aphrodite was the fairest goddess, Hera(and Athena) did not target Aphrodite, they targetted Paris. And a lot of her actions in the Trojan war were against Zeus and the interests and demands of Zeus as well.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 15:56 [Preview] No.50477 del
>>50474
>You strongly implied it.
Not at all. "Tomboys" are boyish looking girls. They might not do any boyish activities at all. But if they do certainly not spending it as father-daughter fun time. Why? Because their father hates them. Why? Because right at birth she gave the first disappointment in the line of many following disappointments: she was born as a girl. Yes, the father expected a boy, and she will be reminded of this for a long time. Not all such girls turn out to be "tomboys" before you start saying I implied that..., but even these won't be much girly, especially before they hit puberty. Her father will never tell her he loves her, and never commends her being a beaut. Not even when she would be actually pretty.
The Daddy's Girl is a pretty girl not all but most of them will believe this. Why? Because Daddy loves her being a girl. The father either just did not mind his child born as a girl, or he wanted a girl in the first place. And he will be the main influencing factor in her life. Mom is just a background item. He will be the role model when she browses for a mate. The strong man. And she (usually) will sift them well. Unlike most those women who never get love from their father and spend the rest of their lives sucking on various cocks in hope to finally please their daddy. So well that she might remain alone. Or perhaps she will wed several men, not one measuring up to her father.
Athene literally was born out of Zeus head. Zeus is her sole parent. They must have had quality father-daughter time while she grew up there. Athena had quite manly "occupation", had her own arms no less. And was also pretty. She won't be automatically The Daddy's Girl, but that's an example for this archetype.
I see what you don't like. That the author is a feminist, and there are some political load in the wording of the book.
But I have to tell you, Hera herself gave a punch to the author when she recognized in horror that herself has Hera tendencies.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 16:56 [Preview] No.50480 del
>>50477
Tomboys aren't hated by their fathers for being tomboys, that's absurd and many tomboys are daddies girls as well.

Mostly I agree about daddies girls though, they have higher self esteem due to their father pampering them and their adoration of their father causes them to have higher standards in men, though the mother is not just a background item.

I would not assume that they had quality father daughter time, as they are deities and he is Zeus. Also she was born from Zeus's head already fully grown and armed.
Her occupation and character isn't really manly, in many ways that's the whole point. There are two War Gods, Ares could be considered to be a manly war God whereas Athena is a feminine one.
And daddies girls aren't manly or feminine, there are those that hunt with their dad but also daddies little princesses that don't do anything even vaguely masculine.
There simply isn't that much of a strong relationship between Athena and Zeus, she is not a daddies girl any more than any other girl is.

I don't care if she is a feminist or not and I did not notice anything political about the book, and for the record I also strongly disagree with Freud.
There is a tendency, particularly in psychology, to create the ideas that support your own views first and then to look for any scraps of an argument that might support that later, whilst ignoring anything that goes against it and ignoring context as well. In addition to that psychology is prone to feel good ideas and stories that make people feel special rather than any kind of actual truth. That's why she labelled the book, Goddess in every Woman in the first place. If those archetypes were independent of association with Goddesses most of my problems with that book would be gone. Maybe, thinking on that I still have other issues with it. My first thought was that the archetype of hard-working career driven woman with strong relationship with her father is a real archetype but then plenty of daddies girls don't work at all and plenty of women that have strong work ethics don't have strong relations with their fathers. So even then its not really very useful. So then what's left? That women with strong work ethics exist? Well that should be obvious, we don't need a book to tell us that.


Bernd 06/21/2023 (Wed) 17:10 [Preview] No.50481 del
>>50480
>Also she was born from Zeus's head already fully grown and armed.
Therefore she spent all her childhood in his father's head, having quality time together.


Bernd 12/30/2023 (Sat) 20:54 [Preview] No.51451 del
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Finished Joe Abercrombie's second trilogy set in the world of First Law. I enjoyed it very much, although I'm not fond of the modern theme and setting for I'm not fond of modern history. I understand Victorian era novels (like Oliver Twist) are considered the golden era of Bri'ish literature, it's just doesn't hold much of my attention at all.
Anyway despite this, it is still entertaining, and I'm looking forward to the next trilogy when Bayaz claims back what's his.
Meanwhile Abercrombie has other books, I think even in this setting. He is very good at what he does.

At the moment however I'm organizing my MAGUS novels, and filling the gaps, getting those which I do not have and have not read yet. Some might be even good.



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