The Bookstore - Staffed by Pippa (Disclaimer: Pippa Not Included)

[Realticule]

I was planning to make this thread last night but now is as good time as any.

So what's this thread for? Two simple things:

1.) Suggest and talk about books you like, preferably with some sales pitch.
2.) Post your oshis talking about or reading books here, clips welcomed.

Let's start the discussion with something simple (stolen from my post on the homelands that was fun):

What was the last book you read that had an impact on you? Not just in some intellectual fart sniffing manner, but as in made you think differently.

For me it was "The Man Who Was Thursday" by Chesterton, and it's not a highly intellectual work, if anything it's a very short read, but it has a strange abstract nature to it that I always knew where it was going but didn't quite know how it would get there, except for the ending which best captured that "it's all a bunch of crap" mentality. So for me it wasn't anything said in the book, it was just a fun read that did things in a different enough way that made it fun and the takeaway was just that sometimes it doesn't matter.

I also just like the different covers people have come up with over time for it as each represents a topic in the story but doesn't really give away what the story is about as each contradicts the other.

 

[agility_]

I feel mandatory reading for vtubing-related activities should include Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Neuromancer by William Gibson. If anything, Snow Crash helped establish stuff we take for granted today such as virtual identities and avatars. It came out around the time Shadowrun was doing the rounds as a pen & paper rpg.

 

[Harrow Prime]

Apologies if this isn't for this thread, but whoever recommended War and Peace is insane. This thing is bigger than my ego.
Regardless, I'll be sure to finish it and give my thoughts on it hopefully within the next month. I'll leave this here and edit it when I do.

 

[The Proctor]

Please note that you should always support your local gigantic soulless corporation. Please do NOT google yandex, then use yandex to search for a pdf of literally any book ever.

 

[uquusquad]

I would like to recommend The true history of the american revolution by Sydney George Fisher (free pdf version is available on archive.org).
Imagine a history book filled to the brim with primary sources and citations, but it is written by a radical Tory who takes the british side during the american revolution. Its an incredibly easy read, despite its age its written in quite modern english and it is very entertaining because the author truly takes the "mainstream" pro revolutionary narrative apart, revealing just how much of a shitshow the revolution was. There are a bunch of ridiculous stories that seem completely made up, until you look up the sources mentioned in the footnotes and you realize "holy fuck this shit actually happened". Such as
- the british general Howe being an american sympathiser, and basically just taking a vacation with his army in Philadelphia & taking a bunch of mistresses instead of waging a war.
- the british general Clinton paying off the indians to attack americans, the indians would line up prisoners so their matriach could behead them with her tomahawk .
- Benedict Anold spying for Clinton and trying to win the war for the british, his plan only failed because his aide/ messenger was robbed by some hoodlums and sold to the patriots.
- the americans actually claiming that they where the most loyal subjects of the king and they were only fighting against the abuses of the british parliament.
- the "patriots" being a minority of less than 30% and essentially being the 17th century equivalant of antifa.
It is truly a wild read, because it essentially tells us about all the forgotten bad parts that happened during that time and constructs a convincing pro- british perspective out of it. It really makes you wonder if they are other forgotten historical perspectives from the loosing side of a war.
Another history book is the Ancient city by fustel de coulanges, the first half is about the ancient fire cults and religious rites of ancient greece and rome (pre-republic rome).
No good pitch here, I just think those ancient cults would make an amazing setting for a fantasy novel, far cooler than the gay pantheons we see in every fantasy world today.

Edit :

A free copy of the ancient city is available on archive.org
perhaps a better pitch. The author went through all of the ancient greek and latin literature, literally the entirety of the classics in their original language, and uses them to reconstruct the early greek cities, their religion, laws and institutions. That religion was actually already in decline by the times many of our sources and the classics were written. Replaced with the now famous pantheon of gods. These ancient cults were totalitarian. Influencing every aspect of live from marriage, property rights, inheritance, sex, cooking , slavery, founding of cities, selection of kings/ruler to the the patrician - plebian divide, anything really. The two pillars of that faith were fire-worship and ancestor worship. Every cult was a family with a hearth fire that was never allowed to burn out. That eternal flame was in the minds of the primitive people a god, after all it grew when they fed it with sacrifices and turned useless junk into edible food. Clearly it must have been a god. They also believed that their ancestors if worshipped properly turned into a guardian deity. These cults and religious practices were SECRET!! No family would allow outsiders to see their fire-god or worship their ancestors, even the thought of telling them your secret rites and rituals was pure blasphemy. The book is a great read because this faith is totally alien to us now and this book is the only comprehensive study on it, the second half of the book is about boring stuff like revolutions and how the city turned from priestly monarchies to aristocracies and then democracy and/or tyranny.

 

[PassiveUnaggressive]

Most Pratchett books are good, if not really good. It's been a long time, but I'm fond of most books involving Vimes iirc

 

[Realticule]

Another book I'd say people should read, and one that's rather short is "The Myth of Robber Barons"

It's a book that was published in the very early 90's and takes a contrarian look at some American monopolists in that they often times fought the government in the same industry in which they were in and won, despite being faced with infinite money printing in a sense. One thing that I think is very interesting, is that the book doesn't just take the counter point, but actually in the later chapters challenges the education system by pointing out what things school text books cover and what they omit in favor of a narrative. It's very interesting to see how even a hundred years ago the narrative was being pushed in academia.

 

[Moff Albert]

Two of my absolute favorite books of all time are Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and I'd say if you haven't checked them out, definitely give them a try. Both of these stories are hundreds of years old and thousands of pages long, but I still think they're very compelling and worth a read to this day.

Journey to the West is the tale of an epic pilgrimage of a Buddhist monk who is sent to gather scriptures from India by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Along the way, he is joined by several disciples that aid him on his quest, most importantly Sun Wukong, an immortal ape who has a bit of a mischievous streak and a short temper. They have all sorts of adventures and face numerous problems along the way, and there are plenty of fight scenes and comedic moments throughout. One thing that may strike you is that things might start to feel familiar once you start reading it. As most probably already know, Sun Wukong is a very, very important figure in East Asian culture, and as such he and his abilities have been been emulated, copied, and adapted in numerous other stories. A lot of the tropes used in this book would also set the groundwork for many stories to come, and as such I'd argue that this novel is one of the most influential stories in the world.

Now, if you're in for a slightly more grounded story, I'd recommend Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a partial fictionalization of the accounts of the wars in China following the fall of the Han Dynasty. The story follows literally dozens of different characters after the fall, each forging their own way forward to unite their shattered country. As such, there comes to be a clash of ideals, and the characters either team up or go to war with eachother, each one believing that they have what it takes to reunite the people under one banner. This book is full of military and political intrigue, and if you like that sort of thing, I highly recommend it. Like Journey to the West, this story is very influential to East Asian culture, and it's impact is still seen to this day. (By the way, Cao Cao is best boy.)

I'm trying to read the other two Chinese classic novels right now, but I've been very short on time lately. Water Margin is pretty interesting so far, and I have not yet touched Dreams of Red Mansions, but someday, maybe, I can say I've read all four of what are considered to be the Four Classics of China. (Not a Sinoboo, btw.)

 

[Nenélove]

Two of my absolute favorite books of all time are Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and I'd say if you haven't checked them out, definitely give them a try. Both of these stories are hundreds of years old and thousands of pages long, but I still think they're very compelling and worth a read to this day.

Journey to the West is the tale of an epic pilgrimage of a Buddhist monk who is sent to gather scriptures from India by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Along the way, he is joined by several disciples that aid him on his quest, most importantly Sun Wukong, an immortal ape who has a bit of a mischievous streak and a short temper. They have all sorts of adventures and face numerous problems along the way, and there are plenty of fight scenes and comedic moments throughout. One thing that may strike you is that things might start to feel familiar once you start reading it. As most probably already know, Sun Wukong is a very, very important figure in East Asian culture, and as such he and his abilities have been been emulated, copied, and adapted in numerous other stories. A lot of the tropes used in this book would also set the groundwork for many stories to come, and as such I'd argue that this novel is one of the most influential stories in the world.

Now, if you're in for a slightly more grounded story, I'd recommend Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a partial fictionalization of the accounts of the wars in China following the fall of the Han Dynasty. The story follows literally dozens of different characters after the fall, each forging their own way forward to unite their shattered country. As such, there comes to be a clash of ideals, and the characters either team up or go to war with eachother, each one believing that they have what it takes to reunite the people under one banner. This book is full of military and political intrigue, and if you like that sort of thing, I highly recommend it. Like Journey to the West, this story is very influential to East Asian culture, and it's impact is still seen to this day. (By the way, Cao Cao is best boy.)

I'm trying to read the other two Chinese classic novels right now, but I've been very short on time lately. Water Margin is pretty interesting so far, and I have not yet touched Dreams of Red Mansions, but someday, maybe, I can say I've read all four of what are considered to be the Four Classics of China. (Not a Sinoboo, btw.)

Why are chinks so obsessed with romance of three kingdoms? Is it because communism wiped out their entire fucking culture and turned it into nothing but a cynical process to be productive?

 

[Godzilla1984]

Why are chinks so obsessed with romance of three kingdoms? Is it because communism wiped out their entire fucking culture and turned it into nothing but a cynical process to be productive?

Unironically, yes.
The CCP wiped out everything not related to the CCP being the be-all end-all of China.
Most of what has survived was Chinese historians going 'fuck this' and hiding knowledge and relics.
The purge of history is rule 0 for totalitarian governments; see 1984.
You see this with Soviet Russia wiping out the Orthodox church and it making a roaring comeback the instant that it could.
This is why the CCP cracks down on Christians and Muslims all the time; can't have alternative, or, god forbid, free thought.

 

[The Proctor]

I would recommend basically anything published by Thomas Sowell. His book Basic Economics should be required reading for everyone age 12 and up. I like him not because he simply preaches about his ideals, but because he creates a concrete foundation for an entire model of thought regarding economic theory and practice. I don't consider him infallible by any means (his attitudes towards copyright and corporate activities can come across as more than a little simplistic and naïve at times), but he clearly lays out his ideas in understandable ways and encourages the reader to think for themselves.

His history books are also very objective and foundational. He methodically explains why certain historical trends occurred the way they did thanks to factors as simple as how rivers formed in Africa as opposed to continental Europe. His analysis of Black culture and why it is the way it is in Black Rednecks & White Liberals is both engaging and very informative, and even my Southern friends agree that he's right on the money when he describes both black & white culture in their locals.

There's also Anton Sutton's works if you feel like going on an extremely detailed deep-dive into how the West essentially built the Soviet Union for it and gave the Soviets all the shiny toys they used to killed and oppress millions. I consider heavily-bookmarked copies of his Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development series to be mandatory reading for anyone who feels like making tankies cry.

 

[uquusquad]

Why are chinks so obsessed with romance of three kingdoms? Is it because communism wiped out their entire fucking culture and turned it into nothing but a cynical process to be productive?

It was actually the favorite book of mao zedong. He read it in his childhood and loved it, therefore every "cultured" chinese man today must love it .

I would recommend basically anything published by Thomas Sowell. His book Basic Economics should be required reading for everyone age 12 and up. [...]

I found his Basic Economics when I was in my lolbertarian phase in highschool. Its a great introduction for right leaning normies, however I think everyone who is already on the right should go for some harder stuff. I recommend going into the Austrian school of economics: Mises, Rothbard and/or Hans Hermann Hoppe. I think hoppe wrote one of the easiest introductions for that school (its free on mises.org) . After reading the austrian school I recommend reading its almost forgotten german nemesis Friedrich List ( he is almost forgotten because I think only chinese people read him lol. Germans don't even know he existed.) In List's magnum opus you will see the blueprint for the prussian (later german) economy, the economy of the second french empire, and to a degree parts of modern china. Its essentially mercantilism on steroids, boosted with industrialism. Both of these economic systems /schools are completely and fundamentally opposed to the Clown Fiesta we call economics today. Reading two opposing views, that also oppose modernity is a surefire way to expand your mind

 

[Kazuma]

Kind of off topic but Anna's Archive is a really good site for finding books in various formats such as pdf or epub.

 

[Realticule]

A book I think everyone should read is "When Genius Failed" a story of how the highest rated academics can utterly fuck everything up beyond all reason.

It's the story of an investment firm from the 90's known as Long Term Capital Management and what really makes this an eerie read is that I'm guessing a lot of us here know of 2008 and the financial collapse, the bailouts, and all that. However, the same exact shit, almost exactly happened in the 90's here, with the distinction being that it was the Bond market (a very stable and unexciting market, just like real estate), that caused this and the bailouts done then were later used a blue print for 2008 to some extent.

No one talks about this shit, but worse yet it's not even that LTCM became big on its own, it became big off of bailouts by the IMF in much the same way how Warren Buffet became huge after 2008, except they doubled down and fucked up.

It's a read that even someone not into finance can understand and if you're paying attention during it you really get a sense of how long government intervention and other bullshit has been fucking with money and finances, to the point that everything that happened in the last twenty plus years isn't that surprising. It's something that really shaped my views on finance years ago and it's a book that's highly beneficial regardless if you're into investing.

 

[uquusquad]

If you can read german I would like to recommend "Der Bürgergeneral" by Goethe.
Free on google books
It is unlike any of his other works, because it is incredibly short and written in a way most elementary school kids could understand.
It is an anti-french, anti-jacobin, anti-revolutionary play, satirizing germans that supported the French Revolution. It is quite the interesting piece of history as it shows how the old german nobility viewed the common revolutionary. (also to any german speaker: if you were forced to read goethe in school (like me) and his writing made you suicidal; no need to worry. Der Bürgergeneral is written in very simple prose, the jokes have 0 subtlety and are very straight forward / easy to understand. It is a propaganda play after all.)

 

[Nenélove]

If you can read german I would like to recommend "Der Bürgergeneral" by Goethe.
Free on google books
It is unlike any of his other works, because it is incredibly short (13 pages) and written in a way most elementary school kids could understand.
It is an anti-french, anti-jacobin, anti-revolutionary play, satirizing germans that supported the French Revolution. It is quite the interesting piece of history as it shows how the old german nobility viewed the common revolutionary. (also to any german speaker: if you were forced to read goethe in school (like me) and his writing made you suicidal; no need to worry. Der Bürgergeneral is written in very simple prose, the jokes have 0 subtlety and are very straight forward / easy to understand. It is a propaganda play after all.)

I know another german book that is unlike any other...

 

[CalciumAnimal]

Gonna recommend the Midkemia series of books by Raymond E Feist it's some solid Fantasy even if it get's a bit "u have a force field dog well i have a T Rex that eats force field dogs" at the end

From a book about an orphan stumbling into power to a book about a exile becoming a paragon to a book about a merchant becoming late stage capitalism.

It's all apparently based on the D&D campaign he played with his friends

If your unsure where to Start that would be the Riftwar Cycle (Magician:Apprentice Magician:Master Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon)

 

[Banana Hammock]

The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. Also, everything by Isaac Asimov. Too lazy/tired to summarize them right now, but I'm sure that most of you have at least heard of all of them other than Abhorsen.

 

[MrProcessor]

I can recommend The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers:

Oumai Hastur hasn't discussed it as far as I know, but she did base her entire character around it:

Spoiler: Oumai Hastur

This came off as pretty large so I thought I'd put spoiler tags on it.

 

[Harrow Prime]

Can anyone tell me if reading the Myth of Sisyphus is worth my time? By the Camus fella.