What are you reading? Books, articles or publications of any kind!

Rorschach

Didnt pay $250 for this custom title
Iain M Banks. Excession is my favourite, have re read so many times.
Thats a favourite of mine too, along with Use of Weapons and Matter

working my way through the last vol8ume of the lightbringer series by brent weeks. as much as i enjoy it, 1200 pages a volume can really drag out and I find myself wanting to split it in 3 and read something else in the middle.
Interested in your thoughts on that. I had some issues with it
 

Norco Maniac

Is back!
You seem to like long complex epics - read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson?
Somehow managed to overlook him :0 a lot of book were out of print for ages.
Heinlein, Asimov, Niven, Walter Jon Williams, i would scour the oldest bookshops.

Also a big fan of Sheri S Tepper, Mary Gentle and Katharine Kerr.

I mostly read on the Kindle or iBooks these days for convenience.

Trying to find podcasts that aren't in annoying American accents too.
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
I really like Iain M Banks, favourite of his is The Algebraist. Keep coming back to it.
I think I've read all the Culture series, but this one is outside that, isn't it?

Iain M Banks. Excession is my favourite, have re read so many times.
This is a good one! And the Hydrogen Sonata.

Have you read any of Alistair Reynolds books? The Revelation Space books are very cool.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
As I'm keen to see this thread include a wide variety of mediums, I figured I'd post this article with a few excepts and my thoughts on why I find it interesting.

This article is good as it's short, it provides sources to follow and provides a good overview of where things are at today:

After a year of fighting, Myanmar’s junta is showing frustration
https://www.9dashline.com/article/after-a-year-of-fighting-myanmars-junta-is-showing-frustration

Within a month, signs of armed resistance emerged and by the summer of 2021, several armed civilian militias had mushroomed across the length and breadth of Myanmar. Unlike the older Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) who had been seeking political autonomy within a federalised state structure for decades, these new militias — or People’s Defence Forces (PDF) have the more revolutionary goal of completely replacing the current military.

It isn’t just the PDFs that are independently attacking the military. Four EAOs — the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO)/Army (KIA), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)/Karenni Army (KA), the Chin National Front (CNF)/Army (CNA) and the Karen National Union (KNU)/Liberation Army (KNLA) — have also allied with PDFs to join the revolutionary fray.

Desperate to push the PDFs back, the military has increasingly begun to rely on indiscriminate kinetic options — airstrikes, heavy artillery attacks, violent raids in “rebel villages”, and scorched earth strategies...

According to some reports, some 2,000 soldiers have switched sides to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) as of December 2021. The NUG provides a far higher estimate of 8,000, combining military and police defections.

... reports also suggest that the military is training and arming its ultranationalist civilian supporters, political affiliates, and former soldiers. Many of them are already fighting alongside junta troops as part of vigilante militias known as Pyu Saw Htee (which began surfacing around May). The military is also relying on mercenaries from across the border, such as Indian insurgents who have bases in western Myanmar.

Thoughts:
  • This battle will last for a long time as the resistance will be tracked and executed should they capitulate. So it's a fight to the death
  • There are foreign organisations - such as the Free Burma Rangers - who have been training and arming resistance to those fighting the military. They are experienced in guerilla warfare and have some level of funding and support from external actors
  • In the short term, the question becomes how will the resistance fund itself - the ethnic orgs have been exporting drugs, gambling, etc. for a long time to support their separatist causes. The temptation will be there for the PDFs to do the same, as well as squeeze the local population for support. The FARC in Colombia are a good example of how a resistance group morphs into a tyrannical organised crime group over time
  • Should the military collapse, a few things are likely to happen. First, there will likely be wide-spread reprisals and brutality, which will reduce the legitimacy of those opposing the military. Second, the disparate forces who have come together to fight the military will splinter and compete based on their own interests and desire for power in the new national structures. Lastly, there will be ungoverned spaces that other organisations will look to exploit
  • This is important in a regional sense as instability radiates problems across borders, from people movement, to weapons, to crime groups, etc. etc. Secondly, Myanmar is strategically placed as it provides a point for China to bypass the Malacca Strait, which it fears can become a maritime choke point easy to close off to Chinese vessels, challenging China's access to supply and markets. There are already pipelines and ports being built by China for this purpose.
 

birddog69

Likes Bikes and Dirt
@johnny A very good read on the effects of the Spanish Civil War is a novel by Isabel Allende titled " Long Petal of the Sea". She is one of my favorite authors. I have read probably 30 books and short story collections by her. I have now also read a couple in Spanish. Check it out.
 

Asininedrivel

caviar connoisseur
As I'm keen to see this thread include a wide variety of mediums, I figured I'd post this article with a few excepts and my thoughts on why I find it interesting.

This article is good as it's short, it provides sources to follow and provides a good overview of where things are at today:

After a year of fighting, Myanmar’s junta is showing frustration
https://www.9dashline.com/article/after-a-year-of-fighting-myanmars-junta-is-showing-frustration

Within a month, signs of armed resistance emerged and by the summer of 2021, several armed civilian militias had mushroomed across the length and breadth of Myanmar. Unlike the older Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) who had been seeking political autonomy within a federalised state structure for decades, these new militias — or People’s Defence Forces (PDF) have the more revolutionary goal of completely replacing the current military.

It isn’t just the PDFs that are independently attacking the military. Four EAOs — the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO)/Army (KIA), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)/Karenni Army (KA), the Chin National Front (CNF)/Army (CNA) and the Karen National Union (KNU)/Liberation Army (KNLA) — have also allied with PDFs to join the revolutionary fray.

Desperate to push the PDFs back, the military has increasingly begun to rely on indiscriminate kinetic options — airstrikes, heavy artillery attacks, violent raids in “rebel villages”, and scorched earth strategies...

According to some reports, some 2,000 soldiers have switched sides to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) as of December 2021. The NUG provides a far higher estimate of 8,000, combining military and police defections.

... reports also suggest that the military is training and arming its ultranationalist civilian supporters, political affiliates, and former soldiers. Many of them are already fighting alongside junta troops as part of vigilante militias known as Pyu Saw Htee (which began surfacing around May). The military is also relying on mercenaries from across the border, such as Indian insurgents who have bases in western Myanmar.

Thoughts:
  • This battle will last for a long time as the resistance will be tracked and executed should they capitulate. So it's a fight to the death
  • There are foreign organisations - such as the Free Burma Rangers - who have been training and arming resistance to those fighting the military. They are experienced in guerilla warfare and have some level of funding and support from external actors
  • In the short term, the question becomes how will the resistance fund itself - the ethnic orgs have been exporting drugs, gambling, etc. for a long time to support their separatist causes. The temptation will be there for the PDFs to do the same, as well as squeeze the local population for support. The FARC in Colombia are a good example of how a resistance group morphs into a tyrannical organised crime group over time
  • Should the military collapse, a few things are likely to happen. First, there will likely be wide-spread reprisals and brutality, which will reduce the legitimacy of those opposing the military. Second, the disparate forces who have come together to fight the military will splinter and compete based on their own interests and desire for power in the new national structures. Lastly, there will be ungoverned spaces that other organisations will look to exploit
  • This is important in a regional sense as instability radiates problems across borders, from people movement, to weapons, to crime groups, etc. etc. Secondly, Myanmar is strategically placed as it provides a point for China to bypass the Malacca Strait, which it fears can become a maritime choke point easy to close off to Chinese vessels, challenging China's access to supply and markets. There are already pipelines and ports being built by China for this purpose.
Starting to sound pretty Syria-ish. Wait and see if it turns into a regional proxy war too...

What's this all doing for Myanmar's new capital city? Is that just mothballed now?
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Starting to sound pretty Syria-ish. Wait and see if it turns into a regional proxy war too...

What's this all doing for Myanmar's new capital city? Is that just mothballed now?
Not quite sure who would be the powers using Myanmar as a proxy battle ground. US won't want the distraction or to get involved, China would have preferred the previous govt, but doesn't GAF who it is, as long as they can build their pipelines and ports (China is erecting a big fence along that border ATM, with cameras and sensors all over it). India can do without the instability on its borders and Thailand DGAF as long as they don't end up with border regions full of more refugees and militia groups. ASEAN as a whole just wishes Myanmar would stop causing trouble for them in general (during cyclone Nargis they were implicitly threatened with expulsion from the grouping).

Don't think it's having an impact on Naypitaw - it's probably good as it provides a bit of a buffer from the military leadership and those who wish to attack it.
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
If You Don’t See the Fnord it Can’t Eat You
https://2x4.org/ideas/2010/if-you-dont-see-the-fnord-it-cant-eat-you/

“Very nice,” I said. “But why did you bring me up here?”

“It’s time for you to see the fnords, he replied. Then I woke up in bed and it was the next morning. I made breakfast in a pretty nasty mood, wondering if I’d seen the fnords, whatever the hell they were, in the hours he had blacked out, or if I would see them as soon as I went out into the street. I had some pretty gruesome ideas about them, I must admit. Creatures with three eyes and tentacles, survivors from Atlantis, who walked among us, invisible due to some form of mind shield, and did hideous work for the Illuminati. It was unnerving to contemplate, and I finally gave in to my fears and peeked out the window, thinking it might be better to see them from a distance first.

Nothing. Just ordinary sleepy people, heading for their buses and subways.

That calmed me a little, so I set out the toast and coffee and fetched the New York Times from the hallway. I turned the radio to WBAI and caught some good Vivaldi, sat down, grabbed a piece of toast and started skimming the first page.

Then I saw the fnords.
 

smaj

Likes Dirt
All the talk of Iain M Banks in this thread had me hankering after some sci-fi. I picked up "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir. The blurb sounded a bit cliched, but the telling of the story has me hooked.
 

smaj

Likes Dirt
Nearly finished "Pandora's Star," by Peter F. Hamilton. A massive slab of a book (a touch under 1200 pages), with 1100 pages of setup and 100 pages of stuff actually happening :) Having said that, I am keen to read the second book now. Lots of interesting concepts, and a good narrative, though some bits were a little slow.

Also just finished reading "e: the story of a number" by Eli Maor for the second time. Great book, good combination of maths and history. Keen to read more about the rivalry between Newton and Leibniz, and about the Bernoullis (and also would love to know more about Euler).
 

Rorschach

Didnt pay $250 for this custom title
Nearly finished "Pandora's Star," by Peter F. Hamilton. A massive slab of a book (a touch under 1200 pages), with 1100 pages of setup and 100 pages of stuff actually happening :) Having said that, I am keen to read the second book now. Lots of interesting concepts, and a good narrative, though some bits were a little slow.
I quite like his books, have read this and Judas Unchained a few times as well as the Nights Dawn and Void trilogies, Salvation Sequence and Fallen Dragon. I really like his books
He's also what got me onto a Kindle. Was reading the Void trilogy and going away for a week I had to take 2 doorsteps with me. Coupled with carting them around and falling asleep reading the damn things only for them to smash me in the face made me take the jump
 

smaj

Likes Dirt
I quite like his books, have read this and Judas Unchained a few times as well as the Nights Dawn and Void trilogies, Salvation Sequence and Fallen Dragon. I really like his books
Very keen to read some more of his stuff. Think I need a short break first though :) Once I learnt to stop trying to rush reading it and just relax and enjoy the long, winding narrative, I really began to enjoy it a lot more.

He's also what got me onto a Kindle. Was reading the Void trilogy and going away for a week I had to take 2 doorsteps with me. Coupled with carting them around and falling asleep reading the damn things only for them to smash me in the face made me take the jump
I'm looking forward to a lighter book :) I had been gripping the cover hard enough that I'd rubbed some of the foil lettering off...
 

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Crunching my way through this at the moment. Not convinced by it yet, but the big historical trends are interesting to think about and as an exercise in high-altitude thinking, it's a good article to give you a workout.

Democracy Disrupted
Governance in an Increasingly Virtual and Massively Distributed World.
Eric B. Schnurer
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
Just finished the millenium series (girl with the dragon tattoo etc.)

First three books written by the original author, published after he died. Next three by another dude.

First three were excellent. Top notch writing and translations. Next three were ok. I thought that the translation buffer would smooth out any wierd writing quirks between the two authors, not so. Very obviously written by different people, but were still enjoyable.

Highly reccomend the first three.book 2 and 3 are effectively one story, but book 1 100% makes you want to know more about these characters.
 

Rorschach

Didnt pay $250 for this custom title
Just finished the millenium series (girl with the dragon tattoo etc.)

First three books written by the original author, published after he died. Next three by another dude.

First three were excellent. Top notch writing and translations. Next three were ok. I thought that the translation buffer would smooth out any wierd writing quirks between the two authors, not so. Very obviously written by different people, but were still enjoyable.

Highly reccomend the first three.book 2 and 3 are effectively one story, but book 1 100% makes you want to know more about these characters.
Should revisit these, read the originals years ago after seeing the original version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

A friend reminded me about the Hyperion Cantos the other day, should have another look at that. Read them 3 times and always come back
On Kindle this time though, sick of being smashed in the face reading the doorstop combined versions when I fall asleep reading them
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
Should revisit these, read the originals years ago after seeing the original version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

A friend reminded me about the Hyperion Cantos the other day, should have another look at that. Read them 3 times and always come back
On Kindle this time though, sick of being smashed in the face reading the doorstop combined versions when I fall asleep reading them
The American movie with Daniel Craig is head and shoulders above the swedish original. Some of the scenes are shot for shot identical, but the American one has production value in spades
 

Rorschach

Didnt pay $250 for this custom title
The American movie with Daniel Craig is head and shoulders above the swedish original. Some of the scenes are shot for shot identical, but the American one has production value in spades
Plus directed by David Fincher, who has made a fair few of my all-time favourite films in Seven and Fight Club
Great film
 
Top