Post: #101

Has anyone read The Privileged Sex by Martin van Creveld? Sounds interesting.

Quote:The constant theme he examines in venues from Ancient Rome to medieval Austria to Betty Friedania is that groups of men everywhere and always supply society, protection, and resources to groups of women. With prodigious scholarship, he shows that the law and social norms have privileged women over men, at all places and all times. Briskly and efficiently he describes the "false consciousness" (delighted to use the famous phrase) which permits the President of a large sophisticated community (ours) to continue to parrot among countless others the deceiving and moronic stat that women earn 77 cents on the male dollar. Men work longer, more dangerously, don't take 4-8 years off to childbear. Women like and accept and may prefer part-time work far more than men.

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/20...larsh.html

Post: #102

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1566630185
The story of a rich alpha, a beta in love, a young alpha with mad player skills, with a bunch of Huxley's typical philosophical talk. I don't necessarily agree with the overall moral to the story that Huxley was going for, but I found myself entertained nonetheless by some of the scenes.

Post: #103

Hey guys - I just put my first book reviews on my site, all for books that I would highly recommend

American Desperado - story of the "alpha" life of a drug smuggler
World War Z - most unique narrative ever, touches on political and human issues.
Emergency - where "The Game" served as one mans journey to discover the evolutionary need to reproduce, this book does the same with survival

Check out my blog post for more detailed reviews:
http://kidstrangelove.wordpress.com/2013...view-post/

Post: #104

This just got brought up over at Heartiste -- a classic I need to re-read every couple of years:

Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne (1964).

Quote:The second half of the book catalogues a series of "mind games" in which people interact through a patterned and predictable series of "transactions" which are superficially plausible (that is, they may appear normal to bystanders or even to the people involved), but which actually conceal motivations, include private significance to the parties involved, and lead to a well-defined predictable outcome, usually counterproductive. The book uses casual, often humorous phrases such as "See What You Made Me Do," "Why Don't You — Yes But," and "Ain't It Awful" as a way of briefly describing each game. In reality, the "winner" of a mind game is the person that returns to the Adult ego-state first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Peopl...%28book%29

Another red pill book in the same vein:
Scripts People Live: Transactional Analysis of Life Scripts by Claude Steiner

Quote:Not everyone has a script, since not everyone is following a forced, premature, early-childhood decision... [But] the fact that a person has a script is a detriment to the possibilities of living to the fullest human potential." (Pg. 123-124) Scripts covered in the book include: Rescuer/Persecutor/Victim; Poor Little Me; Queen Bee; Big Daddy; Jock; Intellectual, etc.

Post: #105

Just read the alchemist thanks to a few suggestions in here - really good book.

Post: #106

The Art of War, The 48 laws of power, the 50th law, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, are the main ones that spring to my mind.

Post: #107

The Wisdom of Psychopaths by Kevin Dutton

Interesting book on psychopathy and how science currently views this "illness". It's beginning to dawn on some scientists that a low degree of psychopathy - subpsychopathy - can bring certain advantages in our modern world; many business CEOs, elite soldiers and neurosurgeons (among other professions) exhibit different traits of psychopathy. These traits include manipulating people to your own ends, disregarding the emotions of others and fearlessness. Sounds like a little something called The Dark Triad...

The Second World War by Anthony Beevor

This is the book I'm currently reading. I'd read a lot of good things about Beevor's works and had been looking for a large tome on WW2 to dive into, so this book felt like a natural choice. Beevor is a great writer; there's an urgency in the prose that propels you further into the escalating conflict of this gargantuan war. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is dizzying. I have a feeling I will learn a lot from it.

Thirteen by Richard Morgan

This is a hard boiled Sci-fi, set 100 years into the future. It revolves around Carl Marsalis, a man who's been genetically engineered to be alpha. Cave-man alpha. He's part of a new breed of men called Thirteens, a genetic throwback to humanity's dark, violent beginnings. Thirteens are hyper-violent, fearless and intelligent. As they serve no purpose other than war and destruction, Thirteens are shipped to Mars in times of peace, in order to protect society from these brutal and unpredictable men.

Carl Marsalis, however, has a certain degree of control over his genetic heritage, which makes him suitable for tracking down and apprehending rogue Thirteens. When a shuttle from Mars crashes into the Pacific Ocean, its crew cannibalized, Marsalis is called in to investigate...

Good writing, a tight plot and interesting themes makes this book stand out among other Sci-fi yarns.

Post: #108

So many good ones out there. But there are a few that I keep coming back to over and over again. If you get a chance, check these two out:
1. "Prisoners of the Japanese" by Gavan Daws. I bought this at a bookstore in Seoul back in the late 1990s and sat down to read it at a fast food joint. I stayed there for about 3 hours straight reading this. It was that good. It's a collection of anecdotes and narratives from Americans, British, and Australians who were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese Army in the Pacific during the Second World War. It has to be one of the best accounts of men and suffering I've ever read, period. It's a precious resource of oral history. It's also useful for providing a window into how men behave under pressure. In these camps, there was starvation, disease, cowardice, heroism, good leadership, bad leadership, and everything in between. This books shows you what human nature really is.
2. "Asad" by Patrick Seale. This is a detailed and informed biography of former Syrian president Hafez al Assad. If ever there was a master of the art of statecraft, it was old man Assad. Even those who are not interested in Middle East politics will find this biography a fascinating account of the rise to power of a driven yet inscrutable man. How he accomplished his ascent to the throne, and how he kept power, is a compelling lesson in leadership.

Post: #109

I recommend the book Model by Mark Manson, must read if you have inner-game problems with women.

Post: #110

I am in the process of reading a fascinating book - "Stalin: the Enduring Legacy". The book puts forth the thesis that Stalin saved Russia from communism and the world from globalism. Stalin rejected international communism and reversed the Bolshevik policies by re-instituting the traditional Russian family. The Trotskyites who favored these policies went to the United States. He also opposed globalism and rejected the US plan to use the UN as a world government, which led to the cold war. This may account for what we observe today - the anti-family Bolshevik policies of feminism, gay rights, abortion (which Stalin made illegal) are more promoted today in the West then in Russia.

http://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Enduring-Le...ing+legacy

Post: #111

Any of Mark Dillof's books are excellent. I would start with "Awakening with the Enemy".

Post: #112

Just finishing Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

A wonderful novel describing a woman's rationalizations, the alpha, the beta, SWPL life and hypocrisy, think-tank warmongers. I am amazed.

Post: #113

This Book is called "As a Man Thinketh" and is free. You can find it in PDF all over the Web.
Suprisingly It's over 100 years old. It speaks about how we, as men, can think a certain way and so it shall Manifest that way. This has been spoken upon numerous times but here is some Raw Nitty Gritty that is an excelllent read.

This a link to one of the many free PDFs
http://wahiduddin.net/thinketh/as_a_man_thinketh.pdf

Quote:Thought and Character
The aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so
comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally
what he thinks,
his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden
seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called
"spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those which are deliberately executed.
Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter
fruitage of his own husbandry.
Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are
By thought we wrought and built. If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind . . . If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow - sure.
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the
hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a
thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-
cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result
of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys
himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and
peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse
and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all
the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is
more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this - that man is the master of thought, the
molder of character, and maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.
As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every
situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself
what he wills.
Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation
he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household. When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to
search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his
energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the
conscious
master, and man
can only thus become by discovering
within himself
the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of
application, self-analysis, and experience.
Only by much searching and mining are gold an diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected
with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder

Post: #114

I'm only about a third of the way through, but so far I'd highly recommend "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahnemann.

It's a well-written exploration of how the mind makes decisions, breaking the brain up into two separate operating systems, system 1 and system 2, and explaining the roles they play in thinking. It's fascinating from a number of viewpoints, and is useful when thinking about attraction, learning, teaching, problem solving, etc.

Post: #115

I'm looking for a book on the history of Ancient Greece. I've checked out The Landmark Thucydides but I don't feel intellectually mature enough to read it yet. It's the kind of book one should read while sipping whisky and smoking pipe in the study of an 18th century mansion.

Any recommendations? Big plus if it's available on Kindle, though not necessary.

Post: #116

Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick by Lawrence Sutin

Post: #117

(08-23-2013 10:10 AM)DarianFrey Wrote:  I'm looking for a book on the history of Ancient Greece. I've checked out The Landmark Thucydides but I don't feel intellectually mature enough to read it yet. It's the kind of book one should read while sipping whisky and smoking pipe in the study of an 18th century mansion.

Any recommendations? Big plus if it's available on Kindle, though not necessary.

Don't worry, Thucydides History of the Peloponesian War doesn't need a mature intellect.

It's very plain and direct in its prose.

More than anything, it requires patience.

It can be a huge slog at times and you question why you decided to read it in the first place.

I personally didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Post: #118

(08-28-2013 06:15 PM)dk902 Wrote:  

(08-23-2013 10:10 AM)DarianFrey Wrote:  I'm looking for a book on the history of Ancient Greece. I've checked out The Landmark Thucydides but I don't feel intellectually mature enough to read it yet. It's the kind of book one should read while sipping whisky and smoking pipe in the study of an 18th century mansion.

Any recommendations? Big plus if it's available on Kindle, though not necessary.

Don't worry, Thucydides History of the Peloponesian War doesn't need a mature intellect.

It's very plain and direct in its prose.

More than anything, it requires patience.

It can be a huge slog at times and you question why you decided to read it in the first place.

I personally didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

My recommendation: "The Life of Greece" by Will Durant. You just can't beat him for depth and wisdom.

Post: #119

If you're interested in the history of Latin America, do yourself a favour and check out Conquistadors - Searching for El Dorado by John Pemberton.

It's an excellent read and gives you an insight into how the modern history of the continent was shaped.

Whilst the Conquistadores are remembered for their cruelty and enslavement of the indigenous population, some of their stories are fascinating.

The stories of the main protagonists Hernan Cortes, Francisco Pizarro and Cabeza de Vaca all share a similar trait - taking big risks and getting big rewards.

Post: #120

The Sicilian By Mario Puzo. This is the story about an Italian thief that refuses to give up. Also this book goes along great with The Godfather series. Its well written and the main character is a great example of how to conduct yourself as a man.

Post: #121

Iceberg Slim - Pimp: The Story of My Life

A 1960s autobiographic novel of a pimp.

If you don't mind the 60s slang, it gives you some good insights into the pimp / ho dynamics, where the pimp plays the role of the ultimate alpha that never shows weakness, while the ho is always looking for soft spots.

Post: #122

I'm almost done with "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. I'm reading it on a kindle, but the book itself is about 900 pages although I don't know how many pages the endnotes fill up. It is a Pulitzer prize winner and written over 20 years ago. It goes into a lot of detail covering short bios of various scientific minds of the 20th centuries and also a lot of WWII info. To get an idea of the kind of detail, nuclear fission wasn't discovered until about 30% in and the Trinity test (first detonation) wasn't until about 65%. Although it is lengthy, it does a pretty good job of showing what it was like to be building a weapon of unimaginable power with the sole intention of dropping it on a population. I recommend it to anyone interested in science and/or various WWII history.

Post: #123

Inferno - Brown

Post: #124

Shantaram - best travel story ever written. *fiction* (Australian man escapes prison to India) 900+ pages!

Also, Papillion

Post: #125

just finished Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia

i'm 'mirin this guy's heroicism