Whatcha reading?

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Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

Kory wrote:
23 Feb 2023, 5:05pm
Don't forget to cure your bone-itis!
My only regret!
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Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

13) Who Is Michael Ovitz - Michael Ovitz. Audiobook. 2018. This is what you want out of a powerful dickhead's memoir, the story of his soul's gradual erosion in business and mafia like pursuit of power and wealth. He's aware of it happening to him but makes no moves to get back to humanity. A thrilling story of showbusiness from an angle that you rarely hear from, Ovitz's work as an agent to huge clients helped him build up CAA as a leverage to push the studios in the direction that suited him and the creatives and he started the work of putting million dollar packages together. I enjoyed the book, I couldn't abide time with the man.

14) The Cult of the Customer - Shep Hyken. 2009. Audiobook. I could write this book better at this point. In fact, fuck it, I will write this better.

15) Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare. 1593. Listened to and read. He's picking up ability here, getting better at characters and marshalling his language. I don't agree with the thesis that this is his first play due to its qualities. There's too much confidence and ability shown, though he still has a way to go.

16) Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers - Bridget Brennan. Audiobook. 2019. No real content here, at least nothing in the specifics I was seeking.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 9:36am
13) Who Is Michael Ovitz - Michael Ovitz. Audiobook. 2018. This is what you want out of a powerful dickhead's memoir, the story of his soul's gradual erosion in business and mafia like pursuit of power and wealth. He's aware of it happening to him but makes no moves to get back to humanity. A thrilling story of showbusiness from an angle that you rarely hear from, Ovitz's work as an agent to huge clients helped him build up CAA as a leverage to push the studios in the direction that suited him and the creatives and he started the work of putting million dollar packages together. I enjoyed the book, I couldn't abide time with the man.

14) The Cult of the Customer - Shep Hyken. 2009. Audiobook. I could write this book better at this point. In fact, fuck it, I will write this better.

15) Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare. 1593. Listened to and read. He's picking up ability here, getting better at characters and marshalling his language. I don't agree with the thesis that this is his first play due to its qualities. There's too much confidence and ability shown, though he still has a way to go.

16) Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers - Bridget Brennan. Audiobook. 2019. No real content here, at least nothing in the specifics I was seeking.
I don't think I've asked why you're reading these business books. Research? Morbidest curiosity?
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 10:01am
I don't think I've asked why you're reading these business books. Research? Morbidest curiosity?
Image
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 10:49am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 10:01am
I don't think I've asked why you're reading these business books. Research? Morbidest curiosity?
Image
He gazed up at the pasty, soft face. Thirty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the callow stare. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Tony Blair.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 10:01am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 9:36am
13) Who Is Michael Ovitz - Michael Ovitz. Audiobook. 2018. This is what you want out of a powerful dickhead's memoir, the story of his soul's gradual erosion in business and mafia like pursuit of power and wealth. He's aware of it happening to him but makes no moves to get back to humanity. A thrilling story of showbusiness from an angle that you rarely hear from, Ovitz's work as an agent to huge clients helped him build up CAA as a leverage to push the studios in the direction that suited him and the creatives and he started the work of putting million dollar packages together. I enjoyed the book, I couldn't abide time with the man.

14) The Cult of the Customer - Shep Hyken. 2009. Audiobook. I could write this book better at this point. In fact, fuck it, I will write this better.

15) Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare. 1593. Listened to and read. He's picking up ability here, getting better at characters and marshalling his language. I don't agree with the thesis that this is his first play due to its qualities. There's too much confidence and ability shown, though he still has a way to go.

16) Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers - Bridget Brennan. Audiobook. 2019. No real content here, at least nothing in the specifics I was seeking.
I don't think I've asked why you're reading these business books. Research? Morbidest curiosity?
Research, yeah. At my interview, I talked myself into a role that was very slightly beyond my experience, so I've been playing a bit of catch up. Fortunately, there's very little to it, so I think most of my future work based reading will be specifically customer experience based or biographies of people and companies I find interesting.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
26 Feb 2023, 8:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 10:01am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Feb 2023, 9:36am
13) Who Is Michael Ovitz - Michael Ovitz. Audiobook. 2018. This is what you want out of a powerful dickhead's memoir, the story of his soul's gradual erosion in business and mafia like pursuit of power and wealth. He's aware of it happening to him but makes no moves to get back to humanity. A thrilling story of showbusiness from an angle that you rarely hear from, Ovitz's work as an agent to huge clients helped him build up CAA as a leverage to push the studios in the direction that suited him and the creatives and he started the work of putting million dollar packages together. I enjoyed the book, I couldn't abide time with the man.

14) The Cult of the Customer - Shep Hyken. 2009. Audiobook. I could write this book better at this point. In fact, fuck it, I will write this better.

15) Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare. 1593. Listened to and read. He's picking up ability here, getting better at characters and marshalling his language. I don't agree with the thesis that this is his first play due to its qualities. There's too much confidence and ability shown, though he still has a way to go.

16) Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers - Bridget Brennan. Audiobook. 2019. No real content here, at least nothing in the specifics I was seeking.
I don't think I've asked why you're reading these business books. Research? Morbidest curiosity?
Research, yeah. At my interview, I talked myself into a role that was very slightly beyond my experience, so I've been playing a bit of catch up. Fortunately, there's very little to it, so I think most of my future work based reading will be specifically customer experience based or biographies of people and companies I find interesting.
Oh, it's work research! I thought you might be researching a novel idea—the story of a business executive who [fill in the middle chunk of the narrative] and then jumps out a window.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Image
Mathias Haeussler, Inventing Elvis. Part of my quest to find a pre-Beatles rock book for my class next year. This also has the advantage of being fairly short (getting students to read anything more than 200 pages is a struggle). Fingers crossed it's something that I can work with.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Image
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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"Asimov: the choice for space boner fiction" - eumaas
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Image
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finished listening to Shermer’s Conspiracy this morning. An odd book that on the surface seems reasonable, yet is littered with enough oddities to make me less persuaded. For example, he declares MSNBC to be extreme left (as a counter to Fox News as extreme right). For someone who endorses reasoned inquiry, it’s a dumb resort to a non-existent binary to seem fair, or he really doesn’t know what extreme left means.

Or, while rejecting ad hominem argumentation, he cites Vincent Bugliosi a great deal in his debunking of JFK assassination conspiracies. That Bugliosi is a skilled prosecutor means we should accept his defense of the Warren Commission. But then ignores the fact that Bugliosi thought RFK was killed by a conspiracy. So … should we accept Bugliosi as a sober judge of evidence or not? He also endorses Bugliosi’s contempt for those who believe JFK was victim of conspiracy but hadn’t actually read the Warren Commission report. Okay, that has some merit, but what about people who accept the WC’s findings but haven’t read the report? Aren’t they just as dumb? And perhaps I misheard, but Shermer seemed to reject skepticism of official truth unless one had an alternate explanation handy (a rejection of the “just asking questions” position). That seems quite goofy to me that one needs an alternative explanation before being allowed to reject the conventional. I admit I take that one more personally. JFK is about the only big conspiracy theory that I agree with in general, yet I’m not really sold on any of the explanations in circulation, only that I don’t find the WC explanation persuasive either. So my doubt all around makes me dumb or duplicitous, I guess.

There are also errors of fact in other areas that may just be oversights/lack of fact checking, but then there’s strange lengthy detours into the origins of the First World War and examples of US presidents who lied. Padding? A bone thrown to conspiracy buffs? Anyway, there interesting sections on human evolution and our hardwired inclination to find patterns, but a lot of messiness alongside it.

edit: Oh, he also falls in the pragmatist's trap, whereby engaging all points of view equally is the proper way of going about things. So, sure, genocidal viewpoints should be approached with the same respect as liberal ones! And he credits scientific reason with ending racial slavery—science proved that all people are equal and that shamed the enslavers or something—but misses the part where racism and racial slavery was devised on scientific principles in the first place.

Up next …
Image
Jared Diamond, Upheaval. My suspicion is that Diamond will be tempted to go too big and round the edges to create a grand theory of everything, but, hey, nothing wrong with reading/listening to metanarratives.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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And I just finished up Popco. A frustrating book because it's pregnant with so many mysteries and puzzles, yet in the end doesn't satisfyingly commit to any of them. Reaching the last page, there's a heavy sigh of so what?

Up next:
Image
Lee Mortimer and Jack Lait, USA Confidential. I learned of this via another book. These guys were sleazy journalists with Bircher leanings, seeing the US as sinking into moral decay (clearly a Commie plot!). This, as I understand it, is a compendium of sin in the American 1950s, akin, I hope, to the scandal mags that show up in James Ellroy's 1950s novels.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Olaf
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Olaf »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
Image
Mathias Haeussler, Inventing Elvis. Part of my quest to find a pre-Beatles rock book for my class next year. This also has the advantage of being fairly short (getting students to read anything more than 200 pages is a struggle). Fingers crossed it's something that I can work with.
Well, is it?
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Olaf wrote:
08 Mar 2023, 4:47pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
Image
Mathias Haeussler, Inventing Elvis. Part of my quest to find a pre-Beatles rock book for my class next year. This also has the advantage of being fairly short (getting students to read anything more than 200 pages is a struggle). Fingers crossed it's something that I can work with.
Well, is it?
I haven't gotten very far in—distractions like dogs with balloons and albinos smoking cigars—but it does seem promising. Blends biography with the social.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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