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The Best Books I Read in 2013

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Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#151

Post by vram22 »

The Navigator - by Morris West. Not new. Has a good story along with a few implied lessons about handling yourself and others. Set in the context of a sea voyage from Hawaii, to find a remote, uncharted island where ancient Polynesian navigators go to die. Is a bit like "Robinson Crusoe" or "The Swiss Family Robinson", after they find the island, with some masala (to use an Indian term) thrown in :-)

Masala:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_(film_genre)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966.The_Navigator

http://www.amazon.com/The-Navigator-Morris-L-West/dp/0688030...

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#152

Post by evacuationdrill »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #121
evacuationdrill wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How far was Argo from the facts?

There's a page or two on Wikipedia about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film) The basic idea (making a sci-fi film as a cover for getting people out of Iran) is true, after that it's fairly heavily dramatised and pro-Americanised. Worth saying that Affleck has always been relatively upfront about the dramatisation when asked about it in interviews, though I've not seen him asked about his depiction of t…

Crap, I was thinking of Zero Dark Thirty actually. I haven't seen Argo.

Thanks for the info, though. I have read about it before, and it's definitely an example of truth being stranger than fiction.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#153

Post by gknoy »

mmorris wrote: post #126
StavrosK wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where was this from? I can't find the source material.

This is from Rupert Goold's production of Macbeth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_(2010_TV_drama) You can stream it from PBS's website (there might be some geographic restrictions though, at least according to the comments): http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/macbeth/watch-the-ful...

I've seen it on my Netflix streaming list for several months as well.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#154

Post by gbog »

xradionut wrote: post #109
throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Books teach you stuff"

Books may teach you stuff others want you to think, not necessary the truth. But then again, most people can't handle the truth.

I think you're misguided here, the most difficult to handle truth has to be written in a book. Movies are not good at explaining real things because they focus on short snippets of life, and direct knowledge do not scale.

For example truth about something like cultural revolution in China or religious wars in Europe is likely best conveyed in books.

Maybe when a truth is so bad it cannot be written then it has to be sung, or hummed, and music would be the deepest and most reptilian way to keep memories.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#155

Post by theuiguru »

jmduke wrote: post #9
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

My mantra: Non-fiction teaches you about the world. Fiction teaches you about yourself.

"Every protagonist of every story, show or movie is the story of my life."

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#156

Post by d_theorist »

onebaddude wrote: post #124
d_theorist wrote: post #89

>I read a lot, but I don’t always choose what’s on the bestseller list. Wait. Is he saying that sometimes he does choose what's on the bestseller list?

> "Is he saying that sometimes he does choose what's on the bestseller list?" Is that a problem for you? Does it make your hipster friends angry? Let's see what I read from the bestseller's list this year, off the top of my head: Quiet, Thinking Fast and Slow, Devil in the White City, Steve Jobs, and yes, 1 or 2 of the Game of Thrones books. I also read The Corrections, which wasn't on the best-seller list this year,…

Ha. I was making as joke that Bill is so powerful that he can choose what goes on the bestseller lists (sometimes).

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#157

Post by DonGateley »

MichaelGG wrote: post #50

I see he mentioned Catcher in the Rye . I read it after hearing so many people say how it was such an influential book for them. John Lennon was even killed by a guy supposedly inspired by this book, and it's been often banned (some of the scenes might be unsuitable for a conservative school, I suppose). Can any technical-types here explain if they found it particularly impressive? It's well written but I didn't thin…

I consider it the most harmful book ever written. It's impact on the mood and choices of several generations has been devastating if not catastrophic.

Had he been offed in the war the U.S., at least, would be a much more optimistic and forward thinking place.

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#159

Post by Amygaz »

xradionut wrote: post #109
throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Books teach you stuff"

Books may teach you stuff others want you to think, not necessary the truth. But then again, most people can't handle the truth.

Amen to that! The other thing is that books don't have to teach you anything. it might just be to disconnect, open up your mind, see something in a different way. I would not necessarily call that "teaching". It can help with creativity tremendously! But then again, not every one can't handle creativity!

Re: The Best Books I Read in 2013

#160

Post by grey-area »

baby wrote: post #7
Jun8 wrote: post #6

"But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works." Boy oh boy, if I had a quarter every time I heard that probably I could get a tall Starbucks latte. Many, many people are under the assumption that fiction is stuff that somebody made up and hence useless while non-fiction gives you information about the world; so if you're a busy person, read non-fiction (it's of, course de…

Still, fiction is fiction. It's like all those questions : would you rather do this, or live all your life with this. They are fun, but they are useless as they never happened. There is no point thinking about them besides playing with your imagination. Fiction is the same to me, yes it came from a real context, but it's still a work of fiction and doesn't teach you anything about real life. e.g. Are you gonna learn…

Are you gonna learn about dating by reading romantic novels or real life stories?

I contend that you'd learn an awful lot more about love and relationships from a novel like Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina, than you ever will from 'non-fiction' like The Game (which you've mentioned up-thread).

Drawing a clear distinction between fiction and non-fiction is in my opinion pointless - you can tell any story you like by using selected facts, you can tell multiple stories with the same facts, and people often do twist the truth when reminiscing and celebrating the past, or present the truth from a very limited, insular point of view in so-called non-fiction books. So in this sense I see non-fiction as very similar to fiction; it's used to tell stories, to present the world as the author sees it, and to educate and entertain. All of these functions are performed by both fiction and non-fiction, and in both cases we're trusting the author to tell us something about the world from their perspective.

The best stories (be they memories of a real-world event, or imagined events based on life experience) transcend the particular and become lessons about human behaviour and life.

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