No.71013
>>70983Maybe. It’s not that similar to à rebours, but I read it around the same time as à rebours. It’s also about a NEET nobleman who refuses to participate in society and spends a great deal of the the book in his bed. It features a succubus and a love interest tho.
No.71022
>>71013'to kill a mockingbird' is also a book about NEET I think
No.71041
Joe Abercrombie's writing is peak. Ive read 5 of his books this year and im going to finish his entire written works by December.
No.71042
>>71041It's nice when you find a writer you really like. For me it's Athur C. Clarke. I've read all of his books.
No.71058
>>71056> the book of five ringsPhilosophy for virgin otakus
No.71059
>>71056>Finished Miyamato Musashi's The Five Rings What did you learn?
No.71061
>>71059My big takeaway was probably in the water book where he talks about having a commanding gaze. He reccomends keeping your eyes from wandering and trying to survey an entire area without using your eyes. Theres a lot of Buddhist philosophy weaved into the text that sounds interesting at first but is just a bunch of nothing burgers dressed up like poetry that was fun to read too. I definitely wouldn't reccomend this book for someone who isn't in a career that would benefit from seeing life as a series of conflicts. Id like to meet someone who did learn something from this book. For me, I rarely interact with people, and if I do I benefit mostly from just being pleasant towards them. I dont generally have a lot of conflict in my life right now, so there wasn't a lot in this book that was applicable to me.
No.71068
>>71061What about the stoics? Just cuz they came from the ruling class do you think that nothing they taught can help you?
No.71073
>>71056I remember reading this book together with the Hagakure when I was a teenager and going through that classic samurai phase. I guess I was hoping for some life advice, but instead I got a pretty straightforward manual on swordsmanship. There's some good (but basic) advice on things like footwork, etc. more than there is advice on life in that book.
And don't even get me started on the Hagakure. I was hoping it was going to be the Japanese equivalent of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (although I cam to dislike that book too) and instead I got a bunch of nonsense about the extremely contrived social etiquette of 17th century Japan written by a bureaucrat LARPing as a samurai.
No.71088
>>71073Be careful what you read
No.71105
>>71102Imbue your soul with Sectarian Paddy rage and it will become clear
Also knowing stuff about the Odyssey helps
No.71106
>>71102it was quite a ride. i read it last year not knowing what to expect at all. i checked notes and resources online about half way through and had to re read entire chapters over and over again
being esl didnt help lol
No.71128
>>70190Do you know of any other anti-feminism books?
No.71134
>>70190Try Ballard's High rise. It's about the hate u give to succubi. Actually, its about a hell of a lot of things
No.71150
does someone tried to read finnegans wake?
No.71151
>>71150Nope, but it sounds iteresting. Tell me about it :)
No.71152
>>71151it's a book written by james joyce (the guy who wrote ulysses). the book is written in different languages and it's very difficult to read aparently…here's the wiki page, it will help you
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_Wake No.71153
>>71150>>71152I've had a copy of it for years and couldn't get more than like 15 pages in, even though I'm told things get better right after that. I can't even remember what any of it was about by now ofc
No.71154
>>71152>the book is written in different languagesOh, I never thought that a book could be written in different languages. I have not read novels that much, since I mostly read history and have read a few essays and philosophy books. However I bought some novel books to get an approach to them. I have also read a few novels, 5 maybe and all of them are short but nice.
No.71155
>>71153Can you show a pic of your copy?
No.71159
>>71156What a weird cover, it looks like an old psychology book's cover or any pychonaut thing >_>
No.71160
>>71157Wow, are you the guy from above?
I mean the prior reply
>>71156 No.71162
>>71157why did you warn him for his post, mods? he did nothing wrong
No.71165
>>71157>Cosmic Trigger trilogy by Robert Anton WilsonTotal Mind fuck books
>>71157>Joyce's UlisesBook like this and these are dangerous bacause it let your brain start to think in new strange ways and make new neuronal connection pathways to it.
And i not talking in the nazifag subhuman conspiracy political schizo sense but more in a enlightened human sense on how your brain work.
No.71166
Reading reinventing collapse by dmitry orlov now, it's pretty good
No.71168
>>71165Is this a novel or a research work?
No.71169
Reading this novella my Dad recommended..
For the sake of following Des'ree's advice in her one song XD..
No.71175
>>69208I would rather read anything else than infinit jest. If I'm going to read fiction it should be fun, or a classic
No.71176
>>71168>Is this a novel or a research work?Cosmic trigger books are biographies of RAW with some "tricks" here and there, reading the first book can change your brain chemistry and let you start to see new things that maybe were there before or not. Its like a lovecraft or a mind fuck book of these like Valis that in a way can turn you schizo for a time in a healthy way. Maybe there's forces of outer space or who knows.
>Research workIf you want a Research work Thesis (i not joking, its was a psychology thesis of RAW) read
>Prometheus RisingBut you gonna need a lot of knowledge on RAW topic of interest and semantics and you need to do the exercises and in same say the other hidden exercises out of the exercises section in plain text.
>AlsoIf you want to play with Prometheus Rising first read Cosmic Trigger 1, if you want 2, and 3 if you want more fringe things. You can get more new ideas in the book Lion of Light by RAW and same way the exercises and games in Quantum Psychology.
Good luck playing with Psychonautics Wizard.
No.71178
>>68295reading is such a Chad hobby
No.71179
>>71176RAW's works are based on pseudoscience and should be treated as fiction. They're not something to rely on for understanding reality any more than tarot cards or astrology.
No.71180
>>71176I see. That looks interesting. I won't can read that soon because I have so many pending readings.
I never read something like that anyway, so I'll put it on my list.
No.71182
>>71179>RAW's works are based on pseudoscience and should be treated as fiction.Back in time i have the same opinion (i kinda atheist too serious rational), i know he uses a lot of hard fucking maybe quack joking jargon related to techno psycho babble, but when you start to do the exercises and read the books you gonna start to have the experiences. There's another book similar to Prometheus rising relates to altered states of mind and psychonautics.
>They're not something to rely on for understanding reality any more than tarot cards or astrology.It not a religion or definition of reality, it for having fun experiences and turn more agnostic or have doubts of wathever is your firm too right reality tunnel, even if you are a too rational scientific mind like, christian born, buddhist, or a Atheist or a Thelemite smoking weed.
That's the whole purpose of the books, not adoctrination of beliefs or maps or system, but to see and gain new ways to think against the dogmatic or traditional way.
I gained new skills and a lot of funny trippy experiences with books like these, and back in time i was too much material rational mindlike. Now i more agnostic but still grounded against quacks and sectarian assholes of beliefs.
Take the psychonautic approach to experimentation and you gonna get it.
>Tarot and etcThese are just symbols to me, nothing more, wathever emotion or hypnosis belief you gain if is true, random or absolute true to you today or maybe some day or everyday if you want is your belief of the day.
That's the way to think in raw semantics.
No.71183
>>71180>>71182>>71179>>71176>Books like theseIf you want another book related to Psychonautics and funny experiences without drugs like RAW books, go read
>Stoned Free / Free Rides: How to Get High Without Drugs by Douglas Rushkoff and Patrick WellsThis book teach you a lot of techniques, maybe it can be kinda old book with a lot of pseudoscience woo-woo beliefs kinda new ager minded but the techniques still work and there's no need to take a dogmatic belief of the books (i still to rational and i know that a lot of the techniques work based in mind-body-suggestionability relationship and not a woo-woo occult force, the book is in a way like this with more focus in experimentation)
>AlsoBe warned that maybe some techniques are dangerous for your health but you can get how to manage that with a little investigation of these topics in modern internet.
No.71255
>Shogun
>Dune
>LotR
>ASoIaF
Currently reading these four, or trying to at least. Feels like it will take forever, but I'm determined to finish them all.
No.71273
>>71255If you enjoy asoiaf, you should read some of the stuff Joe Abercrombie wrote. He still publishes and is working on a new trilogy unlike GRRM who hates his fans.
I read a book that was reccomended by a friend called "The Power of One" about a British South African during apartheid. Its like a white savior story where the British descendants unites all the tribes of Africa and defeats Nazis. 0/10 would not reccomend. It has a few impossible to ignore plot contrivances that dont get resolved in a very satisfying way.
What should I reccomend my friend read as punishment?
No.71294
>>71255Wouldn't it be better if you read them one at a time? Especially if they are long.
No.71309
Just bought Tender Is the Flesh
No.71328
hi wiz today i want to share with you my favorite short story, ex oblivione by lovecraft
>When the last days were upon me, and the ugly trifles of existence began to drive me to madness like the small drops of water that torturers let fall ceaselessly upon one spot of their victim’s body, I loved the irradiate refuge of sleep. In my dreams I found a little of the beauty I had vainly sought in life, and wandered through old gardens and enchanted woods.
>Once when the wind was soft and scented I heard the south calling, and sailed endlessly and languorously under strange stars.
>Once when the gentle rain fell I glided in a barge down a sunless stream under the earth till I reached another world of purple twilight, iridescent arbours, and undying roses.
>And once I walked through a golden valley that led to shadowy groves and ruins, and ended in a mighty wall green with antique vines, and pierced by a little gate of bronze.
>Many times I walked through that valley, and longer and longer would I pause in the spectral half-light where the giant trees squirmed and twisted grotesquely, and the grey ground stretched damply from trunk to trunk, sometimes disclosing the mould-stained stones of buried temples. And always the goal of my fancies was the mighty vine-grown wall with the little gate of bronze therein.
>After a while, as the days of waking became less and less bearable from their greyness and sameness, I would often drift in opiate peace through the valley and the shadowy groves, and wonder how I might seize them for my eternal dwelling-place, so that I need no more crawl back to a dull world stript of interest and new colours. And as I looked upon the little gate in the mighty wall, I felt that beyond it lay a dream-country from which, once it was entered, there would be no return.
>So each night in sleep I strove to find the hidden latch of the gate in the ivied antique wall, though it was exceedingly well hidden. And I would tell myself that the realm beyond the wall was not more lasting merely, but more lovely and radiant as well.
>Then one night in the dream-city of Zakarion I found a yellowed papyrus filled with the thoughts of dream-sages who dwelt of old in that city, and who were too wise ever to be born in the waking world. Therein were written many things concerning the world of dream, and among them was lore of a golden valley and a sacred grove with temples, and a high wall pierced by a little bronze gate. When I saw this lore, I knew that it touched on the scenes I had haunted, and I therefore read long in the yellowed papyrus.
>Some of the dream-sages wrote gorgeously of the wonders beyond the irrepassable gate, but others told of horror and disappointment. I knew not which to believe, yet longed more and more to cross forever into the unknown land; for doubt and secrecy are the lure of lures, and no new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace. So when I learned of the drug which would unlock the gate and drive me through, I resolved to take it when next I awaked.
>Last night I swallowed the drug and floated dreamily into the golden valley and the shadowy groves; and when I came this time to the antique wall, I saw that the small gate of bronze was ajar. From beyond came a glow that weirdly lit the giant twisted trees and the tops of the buried temples, and I drifted on songfully, expectant of the glories of the land from whence I should never return.
>But as the gate swung wider and the sorcery of drug and dream pushed me through, I knew that all sights and glories were at an end; for in that new realm was neither land nor sea, but only the white void of unpeopled and illimitable space. So, happier than I had ever dared hoped to be, I dissolved again into that native infinity of crystal oblivion from which the daemon Life had called me for one brief and desolate hour.
No.71366
Picked up the Defence of Socrates by Plato the other day. Basically he was executed because his mockery of a certain stupidity offended certain powerful people. The stated reason of going against the polytheistic religion was just the usual legal bullshit.
No.71367
>>71366You don't mess with the City and expect to get out alive especially after Athens lost to Sparta
He had plenty of chances to save his life but wanted to take a stand and be martyred
No.71369
>>71367I don't know much about the history of Ancient Greece, I'm only interested in the philosophy. Socrates mentions during his trial he was hearing voices, really shows how high intelligence goes paired with high dopamine/schizophrenia.