Whatcha reading?

[Dr. Medulla]

56) How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie. Audiobook. 1936. Well, first published 1936. It's been scribbled around with while keeping the same authorial voice, so after keeping to charmingly dusty, contemporaneous references and concepts like idolising Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford and the Tea Pot Dome scandal, then all of a sudden dropping a story about Stevie Wonder, as though Carnegie kept an eye on productive and inspiring events from beyond the very grave. Embarrassed to read a book with this title, surely it's basic and associated with seedy men who want you to buy from them as they maintain too much eye contact? Annoyingly, it had the effect of reminding me, a guy who can easily let shyness slide into aloof rudeness, of the basics of interacting with people and will help with the professional communication that I picked it up for.

I've never read it, but it's a neat cultural item emerging from the Great Depression, when so many in the middle class had lost confidence. It's also distinctly liberal in its outlook—does the world seem unfair? No, the world is not unfair, you just need to assert yourself to succeed.

[Flex]

One of Charles Manson's favorite books!

[Dr. Medulla]

One of Charles Manson's favorite books!

Not quite. He loved How To Manipulate Hippies and Be Influenced by Beatles.

[Silent Majority]

56) How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie. Audiobook. 1936. Well, first published 1936. It's been scribbled around with while keeping the same authorial voice, so after keeping to charmingly dusty, contemporaneous references and concepts like idolising Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford and the Tea Pot Dome scandal, then all of a sudden dropping a story about Stevie Wonder, as though Carnegie kept an eye on productive and inspiring events from beyond the very grave. Embarrassed to read a book with this title, surely it's basic and associated with seedy men who want you to buy from them as they maintain too much eye contact? Annoyingly, it had the effect of reminding me, a guy who can easily let shyness slide into aloof rudeness, of the basics of interacting with people and will help with the professional communication that I picked it up for.

I've never read it, but it's a neat cultural item emerging from the Great Depression, when so many in the middle class had lost confidence. It's also distinctly liberal in its outlook—does the world seem unfair? No, the world is not unfair, you just need to assert yourself to succeed.

To my mind, it was concerned less with assertiveness - Get Confident Stupid! - and more with not treating people like shit.

[Dr. Medulla]

56) How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie. Audiobook. 1936. Well, first published 1936. It's been scribbled around with while keeping the same authorial voice, so after keeping to charmingly dusty, contemporaneous references and concepts like idolising Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford and the Tea Pot Dome scandal, then all of a sudden dropping a story about Stevie Wonder, as though Carnegie kept an eye on productive and inspiring events from beyond the very grave. Embarrassed to read a book with this title, surely it's basic and associated with seedy men who want you to buy from them as they maintain too much eye contact? Annoyingly, it had the effect of reminding me, a guy who can easily let shyness slide into aloof rudeness, of the basics of interacting with people and will help with the professional communication that I picked it up for.

I've never read it, but it's a neat cultural item emerging from the Great Depression, when so many in the middle class had lost confidence. It's also distinctly liberal in its outlook—does the world seem unfair? No, the world is not unfair, you just need to assert yourself to succeed.

To my mind, it was concerned less with assertiveness - Get Confident Stupid! - and more with not treating people like shit.

Huh—that's not how I've seen assessed (but then I haven't read it). At worst, it's been treated as a guide for being a sociopath. But such criticism comes from those who see change necessarily thru a systemic gaze.

[revbob]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

[Dr. Medulla]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

[revbob]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

Yeah you know those academic types.

[Dr. Medulla]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

Yeah you know those academic types.

I've shocked students by explaining that the average book published by an academic press sells around 750 copies (maybe it's 500?). And most of those go to libraries. And then think of those books that do get used in the classroom. Now think of all those books that must sell just a handful. Just way too much stuff getting published (and unread) because that's part of the game.

[Dr. Medulla]

Finished listening to Drew Magary's memoir while putting together deck furniture (the instructions were a masterwork in unwanted minimalism). Not really that compelling except to people who just plain love Magary. I'm glad he's gotten his life back and all, but the story wasn't terribly interesting.

And I started listening to:

Jim Ruland, Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records. I was kinda bummed when the first iteration of my punk class showed zero interest in the business of punk labels, but I'm still attracted to studies of the challenges (and failures) of radically indie labels.

[Silent Majority]

Finished listening to Drew Magary's memoir while putting together deck furniture (the instructions were a masterwork in unwanted minimalism). Not really that compelling except to people who just plain love Magary. I'm glad he's gotten his life back and all, but the story wasn't terribly interesting.

And I started listening to:

Jim Ruland, Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records. I was kinda bummed when the first iteration of my punk class showed zero interest in the business of punk labels, but I'm still attracted to studies of the challenges (and failures) of radically indie labels.

Ooh, that looks like an interesting listen. May find a place on the shortlist.

[tepista]

First of a trilogy, I'd seen and loved the TV series a few years back. So the first book covers about 4 days, starting when a passenger plane lands in New York, the entire 200 passengers dead. The next night they're all gone from the morgue. They're vampires and they gone home to turn their loved ones, all part of the insidious plot by "The Master" to turn the whole planet, breaking a truce between the other ancients. My copy has a contest to meet Guillermo del Toro in person. I know I get over excited about shit, but there was not a single dull page out of the nearly 600. Action packed from the open.

[revbob]

First of a trilogy, I'd seen and loved the TV series a few years back. So the first book covers about 4 days, starting when a passenger plane lands in New York, the entire 200 passengers dead. The next night they're all gone from the morgue. They're vampires and they gone home to turn their loved ones, all part of the insidious plot by "The Master" to turn the whole planet, breaking a truce between the other ancients. My copy has a contest to meet Guillermo del Toro in person. I know I get over excited about shit, but there was not a single dull page out of the nearly 600. Action packed from the open.

Loved the show, hated the kid.

[tepista]

First of a trilogy, I'd seen and loved the TV series a few years back. So the first book covers about 4 days, starting when a passenger plane lands in New York, the entire 200 passengers dead. The next night they're all gone from the morgue. They're vampires and they gone home to turn their loved ones, all part of the insidious plot by "The Master" to turn the whole planet, breaking a truce between the other ancients. My copy has a contest to meet Guillermo del Toro in person. I know I get over excited about shit, but there was not a single dull page out of the nearly 600. Action packed from the open.

Loved the show, hated the kid.

Monkey said the same. The kid has been introduced and has a role, but he hasn't done much other than exist. Oh, he prefers the Yankees over his dad's Red Sox.

[revbob]

First of a trilogy, I'd seen and loved the TV series a few years back. So the first book covers about 4 days, starting when a passenger plane lands in New York, the entire 200 passengers dead. The next night they're all gone from the morgue. They're vampires and they gone home to turn their loved ones, all part of the insidious plot by "The Master" to turn the whole planet, breaking a truce between the other ancients. My copy has a contest to meet Guillermo del Toro in person. I know I get over excited about shit, but there was not a single dull page out of the nearly 600. Action packed from the open.

Loved the show, hated the kid.

Monkey said the same. The kid has been introduced and has a role, but he hasn't done much other than exist. Oh, he prefers the Yankees over his dad's Red Sox.

Trying to give him one redeeming quality