We got any Henry Miller fans here? I'm not as big on novels as I used to be, but 'Tropic of Cancer' is probably my all-time favorite novel.

Nowadays, I basically only read the weekly issue of the Economist and the occasional history book.

I read Tropic of Cancer and I think Capricorn too (were talking around 25 years ago) and really enjoyed Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

I know it’s widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th C but what did you like so much about it?

I've also read Capricorn - and Black Spring. I wasn't nearly as impressed.

I like it because it opened up my perspective about what good writing can be. It was like Miller opened up an armory of verbosity and profanity and released it upon an unsuspecting world! He's like the drunken Dr. Seuss to me and I owe him a great debt.

I went full shill and picked up The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History like some god damn normie. And it was a bad choice. It's well written and informative.

But the graphic detail of how influenze kills you in the early portion of the book was not what I need right now.

^ Podcast recommendation - This Podcast Will Kill You. Two Ph.D epidemiologists break down the root, cause, symptoms, and effects of various diseases/viruses, with current and succinct information regarding transmissions and outlook, alongside primary documents. You'll hate it!

Oh baby. On that note I just started the third episode of Last Podcast on the Left's JFK series and while the boys have done some great send-ups of certain psychos (like Ted Kaczynski), the pure character assassination they're perpetrating on Lee Oswald is just bullying and it's amazing. I'll never be able to think about the JFK assassination again without picturing Oswald in his underwear practicing leaping in his apartment while his poor Russian wife just pours another drink.

This was excellent. It weaves hilarious elements like the biting depiction of white america with tragic themes like the humiliation of aging, the reactionary nature of identity, and the mental toll of social expectations. Great writing, imagery, and character building all around too. I've met every character in this book, I may even be one.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...EA4KRRZWIjDh_w
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter

^How is it? Currently reading GEB.

That is one strange book - I don't think I ever finished it (GEB, that is).

Super intriguing so far and a lighter read than I expected with his down to earth writing style and self-critical analogies. Trying not to read things into it but it seems like he's exploring a lot of the same questions and inconsistencies that I got hung up on in the free will and consciousness discussions that I've had on here with batlord.

Some of the math explanations take a close reading or two for me, feels like I would absorb that information a lot better in a lecture setting with real time diagrams than reading it. Maybe not though, proofs were my least favourite part of my math schooling and it could just be that bias.

I probably should've done it the other way around but GEB's on my queue after Loop. What do you think about GEB so far?