The Book Thread

[trundler]

The historical inaccuracies peddled in Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons were ****ing woeful and part of why I don't read popular fiction but sidelining the vast majority of literature probably isn't wise.

 

[Spark]

haha he's been reading the durants, which while outdated in understanding, is thorough and ahead of its time.

i love a person who earnestly lists what each major greek city trades with other major greek cities. between their love for history and philosophy the durants could have written an amazing epic fantasy saga if they'd lived for 200 years instead of a normal human lifetime.

I have volumes 8 and 10 of those, picked it up a year and a half ago in NYC. Should actually read them some day...

 

[Flem274*]

I skip the bits to do with archaeology and prehistory given our understanding of those things has been greatly refined since their time. But as a general overview it stands the test of time.

oh yeah it's an amazing work (and you should read the archaeology and prehistory parts they're fascinating) but we've had almost a century of digging holes since he wrote the first book, so we know a lot more now and this should be kept in mind when reading their work.

 

[trundler]

have you reached the saucy egyptian love poetry yet?

it's the best thing about history. battle tactics are cool, but the characters and how things work day to day is where it's at. plus the best battle stories are the ludicrous ones, like a battle between rome and macedon starting early due to a rogue mule or caesar solving every problem by making an engineer build something cool.

the best alexander story is when he met the gauls and asked them what they feared the most. they looked at each other then turned back to him and said 'the sky falling on our heads' which kinda confused alexander but they seemed so earnest about it he shrugged and went with it.

I'm still in the cradle of civilization bits. I agree that what's most fascinating about history is how people did the regular stuff instead of the extraordinary, once in a lifetime things.

Oh I absolutely agree about archaeology but I sort of end up cross-referencing those bits and reading about them from elsewhere. Things like the Bronze Age Collapse really dink you dink.

 

[trundler]

Suggest me a book you ****ing nerds

 

[trundler]

In addition to this I'd like a volunteer to periodically pester me to read it

 

[Flem274*]

Suggest me a book you ****ing nerds

well if you like history read historical fiction or fantasy with a heavy emphasis on history nerding.

so lord of the rings (fantasy) or pillars of the earth (historical fic) are my picks for you.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm still in the cradle of civilization bits. I agree that what's most fascinating about history is how people did the regular stuff instead of the extraordinary, once in a lifetime things.

did you see we've recently dug up a boat around egypt that seems a lot like what herodotus described? that guy gets called a bs artist a lot, but sometimes he's vindicated.

also iirc the egyptian love poetry was written by women towards men. i vote we bring this stuff back. if they want efforts in dates i want very graphic acts written to me in old timey language, hieroglyphics encouraged.

 

[trundler]

did you see we've recently dug up a boat around egypt that seems a lot like what herodotus described? that guy gets called a bs artist a lot, but sometimes he's vindicated.

also iirc the egyptian love poetry was written by women towards men. i vote we bring this stuff back. if they want efforts in dates i want very graphic acts written to me in old timey language, hieroglyphics encouraged.

Link me up boy. Did read a bit about how there's archaeological evidence about a massive flood. Pretty interesting when mythology and history intertwine.

I've noticed how every other pop song is about a woman trying to win over a man or whinging about heartbreak when that isn't an accurate reflection of reality at all. Your true market value as a dude is pretty heartbreaking tbh.

 

[Flem274*]

one of the applicable to fiction parts about reading history (rant inspired by watching game of thrones failure analysis again) is it shows up game of thrones and the grimdark edge lording copycats (martin is great don't get me wrong) for being ahistorical despite it really wanting you to think it's a realistic representation of the era.

there were definitely periods and locations that were grimdark (3rd century roman empire, the mongols), but grimdark society wouldn't last long in reality. people did horrible things like raze cities to the ground and pile up the skulls, but people also wanted to try to be good people and be seen to be good people.

 

[Spark]

Suggest me a book you ****ing nerds

suggest an actual topic

 

[Spark]

one of the applicable to fiction parts about reading history (rant inspired by watching game of thrones failure analysis again) is it shows up game of thrones and the grimdark edge lording copycats (martin is great don't get me wrong) for being ahistorical despite it really wanting you to think it's a realistic representation of the era.

there were definitely periods and locations that were grimdark (3rd century roman empire, the mongols), but grimdark society wouldn't last long in reality. people did horrible things like raze cities to the ground and pile up the skulls, but people also wanted to try to be good people and be seen to be good people.

the roman empire qualification isn't even necessary; the crisis of the 3rd century has nothing on the roughly contemporaneous three kingdoms/sixteen kingdoms period in china, where you had mass depopulation, cannibal princes and actual 20th century style deliberate extermination genocides

 

[trundler]

suggest an actual topic

Something with philosophical/historical undertones. Not full on Thus Spoke Zarathustra though. Tough nut to crack.

 

[Flem274*]

Link me up boy. Did read a bit about how there's archaeological evidence about a massive flood. Pretty interesting when mythology and history intertwine.

I've noticed how every other pop song is about a woman trying to win over a man or whinging about heartbreak when that isn't an accurate reflection of reality at all. Your true market value as a dude is pretty heartbreaking tbh.

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-stun...cal-evidence-of-a-boat-described-by-herodotus

also you're 12 calm down on the doom and gloom.

 

[trundler]

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-stun...cal-evidence-of-a-boat-described-by-herodotus

also you're 12 calm down on the doom and gloom.

Teen angst and doom and gloom go hand in hand

 

[Flem274*]

the roman empire qualification isn't even necessary; the crisis of the 3rd century has nothing on the roughly contemporaneous three kingdoms/sixteen kingdoms period in china, where you had mass depopulation, cannibal princes and actual 20th century style deliberate extermination genocides

is this what romance of the three kingdoms is based on?

my chinese history before 1900 is really really sketchy.

 

[Spark]

is this what romance of the three kingdoms is based on?

my chinese history before 1900 is really really sketchy.

the romance of the three kingdoms is indeed based on the three kingdoms period. apparently it has a ridiculously long dramatis personae though.

 

[sledger]

Something with philosophical/historical undertones. Not full on Thus Spoke Zarathustra though. Tough nut to crack.

Foucault's Pendulum

 

[Flem274*]

the romance of the three kingdoms is indeed based on the three kingdoms period. apparently it has a ridiculously long dramatis personae though.

sweet. getting back into chinese history has been on my radar for a while. ever since reading wild swans as an 11 year old i've always wanted to go to china. i've seen the movie the great wall though so i am an expert on the monster invasions.

i also need to refresh my maori history because it's been 10 years. we should teach pre-european maori history in schools, it's cool. blows my mind how bad the first maori settlers had it judging by archaeological evidence. settling nz was hard work. the maori golden age owes those battlers everything.

 

[sledger]

I gave up on American Gods halfway through. Great concept but poorly written and the plot wasn’t interesting me at all.

Missed this earlier, but actually really surprised about this as well. The prose is note exactly "classic", for lack of a better word, but I found it really compelling and easy to get on with.