ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
A little while ago I looked for ‘minimalism’ at the local library. I got quite an interesting selection of books. Short recap here:
The last ‘minimalism’ book I’ve read is ‘Weg ermee’ (English translation would be ‘Get rid of it’) by Dennis Storm. His book seemed rather popular the library, but naturally I had no idea who he was (a TV presenter).
One of the main themes in the book is ‘Living at home as if you were travelling’. It’s a concept mentioned by Fumio Sasaki as well, but he did it so casually, a reader will almost miss it. Dennis Storm is far less extreme than Fumio Sasaki.
In this small book Dennis Storm describes the qualities of a good hotel room and how that should be enough. Other themes are sustainability, reducing the amount of choices you have to make and quality over quantity. Writing is short and to the point, you can finish this book in about two hours.
Vähintään yhdeksänkymmentä prosenttia suomalainen!
Words to live by no doubt, but harder to put into practice than it would seem for most of us. I think a hotel room is too extreme, especially for example if you cook at home. I try and abide by Saint Alton Brown's mantra, of no "uni-taskers," or items that only serve one function in the kitchen. He made exception for a fire extinguisher, but I go a tad bit farther and rationalize a rice cooker. I do a lot of Chinese and other Asian cooking and it's convenient to have rice made while I do the main course, it's automatic and I don't have to pay attention to it. But you still need a lot of things if you take cooking seriously.
Right now I'm trying to finish two books before I get into recent purchases, first the biography of Pancho Barnes the aviatrix, and second Ed Wood's collection of his pulp magazine stories. They are quite a hoot, lurid as can be of course, as was typical for pulp detective and true crime magazines at the time. Better than his movies, but I notice he writes in very short sentences, the use of commas is almost unheard of, semi-colons seem to be treated like garlic to a vampire. Quite the opposite of my favorite writer Gene Wolfe, one of his novels had a single sentence that was a bit over a page long!
Let's just say Ed Wood was writing for a significantly less erudite audience and leave it at that...
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Agreed. I think he meant the hotel room analogy in a metaphorical kind of way though, as he later mention trimming unnecessary cutlery in the kitchen cupboard.
Personally I don't like the word minimalism. Some people would use the word intentionality instead. I don't particularly like that either, but it does reflect how one can make certain decisions, for instance the way you rationalize your rice cooker, so in that way intentionality might be a better word.
One of my fondest minimalist/intentionality moments was when an elderly lady rang my doorbell to ask if I wanted to make a donation to a certain charity. After I opened the door she noticed my interior (the part that was visible to her) and asked me if I just moved in or was about to move out. I told her I'd been living there for a number of years. She then replied that she asked because my apartment looked so empty. I told her I could discard at least half of what I owned and not really notice it. She thought for a few seconds and then said: "Well, how much does one need anyway?"
That story reminds me so much of when I first moved into our last house, my wife and I. She was at home and I was at work and this woman from the neighborhood dropped by to do a welcome, bit late we'd been there months. She looked around and told my wife "Oh, I see you haven't decorated yet." Grrrr.
One of the things that I have problems with is getting rid of things. One is getting around to cleaning out, I just did a major run in the bedroom with socks and clothes, and need to do more in the closet. I only need one pair of dress pants now for example. For weddings and funerals, and the occasional symphony concert. But I have way way more old electronics and such, but the technologist in me can't just throw them away, and selling them not only brings little money but is a hassle. I should probably donate them, even though I'm not in a bracket to benefit from deducting it from my taxes. For example, I probably have 50 pairs of RCA cables!
On a related note, I have now officially given up on MasterLinking my house. The Beolink Wireless 1's stopped working with my new alarm system stomping on them. I pulled both BL2000s and now I need to get rid of them too. Plus all the Wireless 1's. I'm running a little Tibo box I got from Steve at Sounds Heavenly with my BL8000s in the dining room, and am using the Beolit 15 in the master bedroom. So, add more electronics that are surplus to requirements.
Jeff how has your alarm system impacted on your Masterlink ?
I have just finished reading The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Fistenberg. Its about the effects of radio waves etc on people animals plants and insects.
I think it is an important and well researched read.
You will be going back to Masterlink if you read this Jeff
I was setup using Beolink Wireless 1's as running wires in this house is problematic. Previously they worked most of the time, occasionally the microwave would blow them offline but not always and restarting the music fixed it. With the new alarm, about every 45 sec to a minute the Wirelless 1's shut down and then immediately restart, so the speakers shut down and then turn back on almost immediately, but it interrupts the music. I know the alarm is on 2.4 GHz and definitely interferes with the Wireless 1, which was never a product noted for its stability anyway.
Jeff:One of the things that I have problems with is getting rid of things. One is getting around to cleaning out, I just did a major run in the bedroom with socks and clothes, and need to do more in the closet. I only need one pair of dress pants now for example. For weddings and funerals, and the occasional symphony concert. But I have way way more old electronics and such, but the technologist in me can't just throw them away, and selling them not only brings little money but is a hassle. I should probably donate them, even though I'm not in a bracket to benefit from deducting it from my taxes. For example, I probably have 50 pairs of RCA cables!
One of the ways to deal with the issue of not being able to throw away things is to work out how much money it costs to store them. This concept is written about by Fumio Sasaki, Marie Kondo and Dennis Storm. Dennis Storm mentions a friend who needed a room fo about 10 square meters to store junk. Houses his friend was looking at were about € 4,000 per square meter, so the junk room would cost about € 40,000 in additional mortgage. Not worth it, if the junk is only word a couple of hundred of Euros.
50 pairs of RCA cables probably don't take up that much space and would be cheaper to store, though.
I finished 'Trance' the first novel in the Alex Madison series by Adam Southward. While the premise of the book sounds interesting - a criminal who uses some type of mental control over his victims - I can't help but feeling I've read this somewhere before. The protagonist is a self centered psychologist. The other main characters appear to be a little flat. The book could have been a little shorter as well. Overall I was a bit disappointed, but maybe the sequel - which is called 'Pain' - is better.
beocool: I finished 'Trance' the first novel in the Alex Madison series by Adam Southward. While the premise of the book sounds interesting - a criminal who uses some type of mental control over his victims - I can't help but feeling I've read this somewhere before. The protagonist is a self centered psychologist. The other main characters appear to be a little flat. The book could have been a little shorter as well. Overall I was a bit disappointed, but maybe the sequel - which is called 'Pain' - is better.
Sounds sort of like the Hannibal Lechter stuff, especially the TV series.
As for storage space, that'd be a better metric if I didn't own my house outright and if it was a smaller house. I figure I've got over 3000 sq ft to play with, not counting the catacombs under the house. How many RCA cables does one need? 5 pair? 10 pair? I figure I need to keep all the assorted B&O connector paraphernalia just in case as a lot of it is harder to find. But I also have 5 cassette decks! More than I have cassettes. Craziness!
Rich:If I shop for groceries early enough on a Sunday when nothing much is otherwise planned, I’ll often pick up the New York Times from the supermarket and spend the better part of the day skimming/scanning/reading it cover to cover. Today I learned in the Times of the Finnish tradition of kalsarikannit, or getting drunk at home in your underwear. According to the Times, the English translation is “pantsdrunk.” So, Mika, or any of our other Finnish friends out there: is this actually a thing?
Today I learned in the Times of the Finnish tradition of kalsarikannit, or getting drunk at home in your underwear. According to the Times, the English translation is “pantsdrunk.”
So, Mika, or any of our other Finnish friends out there: is this actually a thing?
That's interesting, Rich. I found some info on the subject here:
http://thusspoketero.blogspot.com/2017/06/no-that-is-not-what-kalsarikannit-means.html
Just finished 'Oh oh Amerika', by Dutch journalist Charles Groenhuijsen. Groenhuijsen spend two decades in the US. The book is an easy to read and enjoyable insight into the United States. It is however a little dated as it was released in 2015. On the plus side it's easy to read and discusses quite a few topics, on the downside there are some spelling mistakes here and there and the writer is sometimes a bit too subjective. The book appears to be a little superficial, but this must be by choice as I've heard his earlier books are more substantial.
'Made in Sweden part 1: the father' by Anders Roslund and Stefan Thunberg. This book is the first in a series of two, both of them based on a true story. It's about three brothers, one of their childhood friends and the girlfriend of the oldest brother who teamed up to become bankrobbers. Also the cop who is trying to chase them is a key figure. There are flashbacks to the violent childhoods of both the brothers and the policeman. The fourth son is actually the co-writer of the book.
With all these ingredients it promises to be a good read. If you're looking for a gripping crime novel you need to look elsewhere, though. Writing is good, but slow-paced and I think the main theme of the book is really 'what turns a person into a criminal'.
beocool: Just finished 'Oh oh Amerika', by Dutch journalist Charles Groenhuijsen. Groenhuijsen spend two decades in the US. The book is an easy to read and enjoyable insight into the United States. It is however a little dated as it was released in 2015. On the plus side it's easy to read and discusses quite a few topics, on the downside there are some spelling mistakes here and there and the writer is sometimes a bit too subjective. The book appears to be a little superficial, but this must be by choice as I've heard his earlier books are more substantial.
That sounds interesting, I looked and can't seem to find it over here, especially in English. It's always entertaining to read what people write about your home country, see their insights and what they do and don't understand. I remember being in a bookstore in London in the early 2000s skimming through a book some English author had written about the US and chuckling at how wrong he was about about everything. Subjective would have been a polite way of putting it, grinding his own ax would be a better one.
I've got "The City And The City" in my Kindle to read soon, and I have found a TV show of the book on Amazon that's in my queue. Which to do first? Read the book or watch the show? Probably watch the show, as reading the book first usually makes watching the show disappointing. I made the mistake of reading "Dune" for the first time right before seeing the movie.
Jeff, I had a quick look at Charles Groenhuijsen's website and it looks as if his books are only available in Dutch. I think he is subjective, but not so much on being too European in looking at the States. In fact he was once criticized here for being too American. I was referring more to his political opinion that is very clear in the book.
Jeff: I've got "The City And The City" in my Kindle to read soon, and I have found a TV show of the book on Amazon that's in my queue. Which to do first? Read the book or watch the show? Probably watch the show, as reading the book first usually makes watching the show disappointing. I made the mistake of reading "Dune" for the first time right before seeing the movie. Jeff I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Just finished the Pianoman by Dutch writer Bernlef. This short book of just 89 pages is loosely based on the Andreas Grassl story of 2005.
Main character is the very quiet Thomas who goes on a journey and ends up in a mental instution in England, where the only thing he does to communicate is playing the piano. The writing is restrained and the characters in the book develop in a way that one would hardly notice. Most interesting is perhaps not the main character, but the way people respond to his quietness. I totally enjoyed it, but sadly it's only available in Dutch.
Duels: On this occasion Jeff I’d recommend the book first. The premise is quite unusual and it unfolds beautifully in the book. I think watching the tv show first would dampen the effect. Whichever you do first will probably lessen the impact of the other. But I have read the book (as you know) and seen the show and was pleased that I did it this way around.
On this occasion Jeff I’d recommend the book first. The premise is quite unusual and it unfolds beautifully in the book. I think watching the tv show first would dampen the effect. Whichever you do first will probably lessen the impact of the other. But I have read the book (as you know) and seen the show and was pleased that I did it this way around.
Thanks! I'll approach it in that order. I'm almost through, finally, with the book about Pancho Barnes. I got distracted for a while with the Ed Wood torrid stories. One thing unusual for the day, often the killer is male but he gets ultimately killed by a female killer. Reminds me of a movie "American Strays" which consists of a number of vignettes which are interrelated. In one, there's a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman who is a serial killer. He runs into a woman who kills door to door salesmen. Naturally they fall in love and go off on a killing spree.
Sometimes a book ends up in your hands by chance. Someone left a a copy of 'Manhatan' by Rob Ruggenberg in the main entrance of my apartment building.
The story is set around 1643 and begins with Peye Davids, son of an Amsterdam prostitute and an unknown father. By chance he hears that Willem Kieft, director general of New Netherland, is probably his father. He decides to go there to take revenge on his father. Just off the American coast the ship on which he is travelling, is wrecked. He washes up on a beach, where the Indian girl Waupatukway finds him. They become friends and meet the child slave Manuel Congo, who ran away from New Amsterdam after he was convicted. From there on their story unfolds.
Even though this is a fictional story the writer did a lot research on the topic. I learned quite a few things on this piece of forgotten history.
I really enjoy a good historical novel if the author does their research and gets the history right. One reason I loved all 20 of the Lyndsey Davis "Falco" novels is the author's detailed research. Set in Emperor Vespasian's Rome, the protagonist was a man named Marcus Didius Falco, ex army, who works as a "personal informer," that is a private detective. She does excellent research, and each novel seems to be focused on some different aspect of Rome that the story is built around. One i involving corruption in the olive oil trade from Spain, one involving theft of silver from Britain, always something interesting.
I finished reading 'I robot' by Isaac Asimov earlier today. I'm not big on science fiction and as a consequence, this is the first Asimov I've read. Without a reference point I didn't have clear expectations of this book. The writing seems a bit dated to me, as is the amount of tobacco that is smoked in the book. But the issues that are handled in the book are surprisingly contemporary. The science fiction genre lends itself well to addressing questions about the future of technology, robots and artificial intelligence, and this book is a good example of that. The characters in the book, however fail to come alive.
Wall, Asimov's work is quite old, definitely written in an earlier era. He was a chemist, so he has a very hard science kind of science fiction. And to be honest I agree, his characters seldom came alive as well as they might have. He is an acknowledged master of the genre though, and in my opinion if he'd written nothing other than his story "Nightfall" he'd be guaranteed a place in literary history. The story "I, Robot' was made into episodes of both the original Outer Limits and the later Outer Limits remakes. It was a great story, ahead of the curve for AI stories.
I read him early in my life, followed by Robert Heinlein. Then my tastes moved toward more, well, humanist rather than technical authors, PKDick, Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury. Gene Wolfe is sill my favorite author.
I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. So of course I decided to read. I chose 'Free Will' by Sam Harris. An interesting topic and one that I haven't made up my mind upon. It's not a hardcore scientific work and despite this is quite a big topic, Harris made it easy to read.
After I finished 'Free Will' I reread an old folk story: Stone soup. in this story three hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys. I fell asleep after
'Meditations' by Marcus Aurelius. This book was originally a series of private journal entries from what was probably the most powerful man on the planet at the time (161 to 180 A.D.). As such it's probably unique document. Aurelius' views on mistreatment, bad circumstances and the absurdities of life are remarkably applicable in todays world. This book is a classic for good reason.
It's been almost 40 years since I've read that, you remind me I should put it back in my list and read it again. The last of the pagan philosopher kings. Who also dealt with a plague during his years as emperor, small pox I believe is what's believed to be the disease, which also killed him.
No problem, Jeff. Hope you'll enjoy it again after nearly 4 decades. I've just read 'The Courage to be dislikes' by by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.
Most of us are probably familiar with Freud and Jung, but Alfred Adler is less well known, at least where I live. This book is an introduction into Adler's view of psychology. It basically is a dialogue between a youth and a philosopher. The youth has some issues he struggles with and the philosopher hands him a solution in the form of Adler's psychology.
One of the key ideas in the book is that a person's past experiences do not determine the person's future, which is a much more positive message than the opposite view that Freud is known for.
This book is probably a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with Adler's work and want to know more.
Sounds interesting beocool. Of course, I've never had a problem with being OK with being disliked, as anyone who's read my posts on here would probably attest!
Given the nature of many Asian cultures and the rigid cultural environment, fear of ostracization, etc. the fact this is two Japanese authors is interesting. I remember reading that, when discussing how a culture that has such a safe, crime free society in general, Japanese soldiers were responsible for such devastating cruelty abroad during the war, the phrase "A man away from home has no neighbors" was mentioned.
The Courage to be Disliked.
Well that is really strange. I've just read that book too, as it came up as a free Amazon library read!
Yes, don't limit yourself by over thinking how others might react!
Graham
To continue the Latin classics theme, if you've never read "The Twelve Caesars" by Suetonius, it's well worth a read. He was Emperor Hadrian's secretary and had access to the archives, and writes about each of the first 12 Caesars in order, with three sections each. The first concerns the family history, who is related to who and other things Romans thought very important. Second section is devoted to official acts as emperor, and the third section is the juicy stuff, all the gossip and stories. Such as Julius Caesar being called "every woman's man and every man's woman" and other such salacious tidbits.
vikinger: The Courage to be Disliked. Well that is really strange. I've just read that book too, as it came up as a free Amazon library read! Yes, don't limit yourself by over thinking how others might react! Graham
Sound advice, Graham
Sounds like a great suggestion, Jeff. It'll go on my long list of books to read. Iv'e read 'Free will' by Sam Harris lately and he mentioned 'Meditations on Violence' by sgt. Rory Miller in there. That book is about the differences between martial arts and the subject martial arts were designed to deal with: Violence. Miller is a corrections officer and martial artist and instructor in both fields. I have very limited experience in these areas, but the case Miller makes seems solid. I enjoyed reading it.
I just downloaded Miller's book and added it to my list, it sounds interesting. Back when I studied at one school in particular, if the master found out you had gotten into a fight (which I didn't) you would have to explain it to him, the situation, details, and why you weren't able to just walk away. And I've seen him throw more than one person out of the school when he felt that person was using what he'd learned to start fights. I can't think of a single master/instructor I studied with who was not similar in how they viewed things.
I finally got around to finishing the Pancho Barnes book, quite a woman/character, but her death was sad and somewhat questionable. A woman who lived life on her terms not anyone else's.
Hope you like the book, Jeff. Not much reading over here, I'm afraid. I've been busy DIY'ing and just started a new. Both things have taken up a lot of time and energy.
Last book I read was Matti Rönkä's debut 'Tappajan näköinen mies', which would translate in English to 'a man looking like a killer' or something of that ilk. It's a novel that gives a good insight into the Russian/Finnish crime syndicates. The plot is rather simple, but with two twists at the end. It's an OK read, but definitely not one of Scandinavian's top crime novels.
Last weekend I finished 'The identity man' by Andrew Klavan. It's about a petty thief, Shannon, who is framed for murders he didn't commit. While he's on the run he comes in contact with a mysterious character who gives him a complete new identity, only to find out the police are still after him.
It's a relatively short book, only 280 pages. Characters are well described and the plot is never really that surprising, but solid. I only knew Klavan as a political commentator, which I won't discuss here for obvious reasons, but I will say that his ideas on society and government are a significant part of the book. It was published in 2010. In this book there is a situation of rioting, not unlike the ones we've seen lately, this book could easily have been written today. There's some strong language in there and Klavan isn't afraid to be quite explicit, but that never bothered me. Overall an enjoying read.
beocool: Hope you like the book, Jeff. Not much reading over here, I'm afraid. I've been busy DIY'ing and just started a new. Both things have taken up a lot of time and energy. Last book I read was Matti Rönkä's debut 'Tappajan näköinen mies', which would translate in English to 'a man looking like a killer' or something of that ilk. It's a novel that gives a good insight into the Russian/Finnish crime syndicates. The plot is rather simple, but with two twists at the end. It's an OK read, but definitely not one of Scandinavian's top crime novels.
I got distracted before I could start it by a tome called "Unrestricted Warfare" written by a pair of colonels in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. They are very astute, and the book is quite unsettling as you can see it being played out in today's world. Was originally written in I think 1998.
Earlier this week I finished 'Strovuur' ('straw fire' In English) by Dutch writer Gerwin van der Werf. I found this book at the library and the thing that intrigued me was the car on the frontcover: a yellow Mitsubishi Sapporo. These cars weren't sold in great quantities where I live and it must be at least two decades since I've last seen one. I decided on the spot to give this book a go.
Main character is the 17 year old Fay, who ran away from school to join Elvin, her 20 year old cousin, who has just been sacked from his job as a pizza delivery boy, on a trip to Paris. Means of transport is Elvin's car, a yellow 1980 Mitsubishi Sapporo, as you've guessed by now. He loves his car very much but during the six day road trip the car gets in worse shape little by little until it fails altogether. Needless to say they never reach Paris, but they'll end up in Metz.
Both Elvin and Fay have a bad relationship with their parents. Fay loved her father but he took his own life in Metz when she was 14. That's also the main theme of the book: Fay looking for answers about why her dad this and coming to terms with it
It's a weird book, in the sense that I ddn't particularly liked it at first, but it has grown on me page by page.
I seldom find a book that gets better the more I read it, unfortunately most get worse it seems! Interesting sounding book. I have to admit I've not been reading enough lately, there's been a lot to do around the house and a lot of paperwork and by the time evening rolls around I usually just watch some telly for an hour or two and nod off. I've got quite a backlog in my queue on my Kindle. The book on Unrestricted Warfare is hard to read more than a bit at a time, for two reasons. One is it's translated from Chinese and the style mirrors a lot of such things, many short sentences saying similar things in a very declarative manner. The other is that it's depressing as you can see what they propose going on all around us today. This book has been out for 20 years plus and people have not even remotely grasped its import and have stumbled right into traps set.
I really should read something else. I had the same problem trying to watch the Atlas Shrugged movies, I could see the same stuff happening before my eyes and it was just too "real" I guess.
Still working my way through "Unrestricted Warfare" and I'm finding it incredibly informative and completely unpleasant, as I can see the things it talks about happening not only now but being applied over the past couple of decades. In a way it's like reading "Mein Kampf," just like with that tome we were told in explicit terms what was being planned and no one paid any attention to it.
I recently read a story by Herman Melville, fortunately a bit easier to wade through than "Moby ***," "Bartleby, The Scribener." I found it because I happened to view a movie that I found on Amazon Prime Video, "Bartleby." The book is set in a lawyers office in the late 19th cethntury, the movie has moved it to a public records office for a city government, a drone civil servant job. Bartleby is hired, either for a scribener (copier) or file clerk as the case may be. He starts refusing to do work, always replying to a request with "I would prefer not to." He withdraws more and more and does less and less and his employer is at his wits end trying to even get him to leave when he's fired. It's an interesting philosophical story, looking at people who withdraw from society, people who try to help the unhelpable, and such. I recommend both the story and movie.
I found this thread and wanted to share some of the books I am reading write now or I read in the past and found useful and entertaining.
I hope some of you will enjoy those books. And I am looking forward to try some of the books and stories you shared :)