|
Best Porn Sites | Live Sex | Register | FAQ | Members List | Calendar |
General Discussion & News Want to speak your mind about something ... do it here. |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
December 1st, 2018, 02:52 AM | #2521 |
Hedonistic Thrill Seeker⚡
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: NYC, NY
Posts: 1,623
Thanks: 27,668
Thanked 36,474 Times in 1,627 Posts
|
Jon Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)
Decided to revisit Krakauer's Under the banner of Heaven after watching some riveting doco on LDS guru Warren Jeffs' scandal
A Story of Violent Faith and a proof that Islam doesn't hold a monopoly on fundamentalism On July 24, 1984, brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty broke into the home of their brother, Allen Lafferty, and murdered his wife and infant daughter. After being caught, both brothers maintained that they were justified in the killing because they’d received commandment from God to commit the murder. In order to try and explain this otherwise inexplicable crime, Krakauer explores the history of Mormonism and the branch off of Mormon Fundamentalism in the United States, starting all the way back with Joseph Smith and the founding of the religion and following it’s often violent roots to the present. Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. |
December 1st, 2018, 03:34 AM | #2522 |
An Old Salt
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,097
Thanks: 71,697
Thanked 279,686 Times in 8,089 Posts
|
|
December 1st, 2018, 01:16 PM | #2523 |
Vintage Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 442
Thanks: 23,113
Thanked 5,879 Times in 438 Posts
|
|
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to jesegr For This Useful Post: |
December 2nd, 2018, 09:59 AM | #2524 |
Vintage Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,401
Thanks: 15,119
Thanked 26,611 Times in 1,476 Posts
|
Just signed upto RB digital, downloaded audio app & Adobe reader app onto desktop, signed in using library card, downloaded a couple of Lee Child E books, 1 rebus audio book, no more traipsing to library. Some other books are out(virtual) one i`m 1st & 2nd in hold for those.
21 days usage then they disappear from apps, 12 items at any one time can be in My Library. |
December 11th, 2018, 08:54 PM | #2525 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ketchikan, Alaska
Posts: 12,370
Thanks: 72,886
Thanked 329,223 Times in 12,399 Posts
|
|
The Following 15 Users Say Thank You to reaper621 For This Useful Post: |
December 11th, 2018, 09:40 PM | #2526 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 10,657
Thanks: 180,485
Thanked 188,145 Times in 10,453 Posts
|
|
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to Brecht For This Useful Post: |
December 11th, 2018, 10:11 PM | #2527 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 390
Thanks: 182
Thanked 2,436 Times in 368 Posts
|
Working my way through The Beastie Boys book by Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz which is ostensibly an autobiography of the RnR HoF inducted band, but is actually a lot more.
I will freely admit that although I have a copy of License To Ill on CD, I'm not a fan of theg roup because they came across as complete assholes early in their career and when they did turn the corner on all that it seemed to be more of a publicity move than actual sincere change of heart. But the book shows that they were three Jewish middle class kids growing up in NYC who semi immersed themselves in various music scenes/genres and from that melting pot emerged first a hardcore/punk band which morphed into a hippity hop rap group. It is I dare say beautifully written and gives a good sense of what it was actually like to be a teenager in NYC in the late 70's early '80's. Still boggles my mind that not only did the Beasties and their thirty foot tall dick tour with Madonna, but she didn't kick them off her tour even though they were acting like the worst kind of teenage asshats. Strongly recommend checking it out. |
The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to ShutUpLutz! For This Useful Post: |
December 16th, 2018, 01:49 PM | #2528 | ||
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: England
Posts: 26,266
Thanks: 162,477
Thanked 278,818 Times in 26,211 Posts
|
The Farthest Shore - Ursula Le Guin
It has been a while since I last read Ursula Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea books, at least 25 years. There are similarities with the Harry Potter idea, particularly the constant presence of an academy for training children with the required gift to become wizards. I haven't read the Harry Potter books so I can't compare them. I can only say that the Le Guin books are very well written, full of strong characters, interesting story lines and intriguing themes and ideas. There are six altogether, but many of those who have read all six regard the last three, written much later in the authors' life, as a completely separate trilogy exploring different ideas. I can say that the first three are mutually consistent and that the author is careful to not to break the rules of her imaginary universe. The Farthest Shore is the third one and as well as being about growing up and finding your own identity, it is also about the eternal cycle of life and death. Tolkien sometimes considered this theme, for example in the relationship between the humans and the elves, in which the elves are ultimately doomed to leave Middle Earth because they are immortal. But Le Guin makes this theme into the central theme of her story. The plot of the book concerns the disaster which lands on the whole of Earthsea. Reports keep coming in of distant places where magic no longer works and nature itself is out of joint. In these stories, magic is a natural thing, not supernatural, and it is because nature and the environment are losing harmony that magic is losing power. The main protangonist is a teenaged boy called Arren, a young royal and future heir to the principality of Havnor Island who is a messenger from his father, the reigning prince, asking the wizards of Roke Academy in general and the Arch-Mage especially for help and advice. The island flocks have suffered a murraine rather like anthrax and many of the spring lambs died at birth or were born deformed - the young prince only says "deformed" but it is clear to the wizards that he means more, something extremely bad. Unfortunately, other distant islands have reported similar problems. The spells which normally maintain health and balance have lost their power. Many of the wizards, sorcerers and wise women have even stopped practicing altogether. Many communities have lost their faith and are regressing towards barbarism. Trade is languishing as production declines and there is a growing epidemic of piracy, slave-taking and general lawlessness. The world is out of joint. The Arch-Mage of Roke Academy is a man in late middle age who was once the young wizard and growing boy hero of A Wizard of Earthsea. In this book, he has a different role, that of a mentor - he recognises that part of restoring the balance might mean restoring the whole island archipelago kingdom, and that if that turns out to be so, then Arren is actually the legitimate future whole island king. Also, though he has no magical power, Arren has the strong commitment to risk death and worse rather than let his home island disintegrate into chaos as he fears is only too possible. He is really still a boy, just turning into a man; but he is stout hearted and if he can see a man's deed which needs to be done, he'll do it no matter what. But it only as the story progresses that the Arch-Mage's idea that a monarchy must be restored gradually emerges. It emerges explicitly for the first time in the last third of the book: Quote:
Ultimately it is through the agency of a very old and powerful dragon whom Arch Mage Sparrowhawk once fought and then befriended that the evil-doer is traced. The dragon's name is Orm Embar, and I found his dialogue with the Arch Mage most interesting. As well as being the enemy of men, the false wizard has upset the lives of the dragons, who are normally predators of humanity - but it turns out that dragons have standards too, and lines they won't cross. Orm Embar is expressing his horror and loathing of the fallen world the false wizard has made of Earthsea. Dragons speak a different language called "the old speech" (like Latin perhaps) which wizards learn but non-wizards usually do not know, so after he has talked to the dragon, the Arch-Mage Sparrowhawk tells Arren what the dragon said. Quote:
The book was written in 1968, 50 years ago - but it has a message for today, yes indeedy.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. |
||
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to scoundrel For This Useful Post: |
December 17th, 2018, 07:24 AM | #2529 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,256
Thanks: 79,772
Thanked 37,956 Times in 2,261 Posts
|
'How Not To Die: The Foods Scientifically Proven To Prevent And Reverse Disease' by Dr Michael Greger
As Dr Greger himself says, he doesn't advocate a paleo-diet or a vegan diet or a pescatarian diet, he advocates an evidence-based diet, and given that more than a quarter of the pages of this book are just a list of all the scientific papers he cites, it would be difficult to argue with him. It's full of fascinating facts and practical advice, like if you have a relative suffering from Alzheimers, adding a little saffron to their food should have aid their cognitive functioning, or that consuming broccoli helps relieve respiratory conditions. Fascinating stuff. |
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to rosestone For This Useful Post: |
December 17th, 2018, 08:32 AM | #2530 |
Vintage Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Seattle
Posts: 4,909
Thanks: 42,425
Thanked 62,697 Times in 4,879 Posts
|
"The Hemingses of Monticello" is a formidable study of four generations of the Hemings family; three of those generations were slaves when Thomas Jefferson also lived there, but he plays a very small role in the granular story.
This is a stellar example of the history of the inarticulate, and magnificently written. At 700 pages it takes some work, but it is well worth the effort. |
|
|