Category: books

DiMortuiSunt April Book Giveaway! #1

My review for Sacramento Book Review:

I found it troubling and eerie at how much of today I see in the world Jackson Lears relates in his newest book Rebirth of a Nation, which chronicles the history of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War I. Lears makes the similarities between then and now a theme throughout the book, pointing them out when they are especially telling. Rebirth of a Nation is not an important book because it paints a vivid picture of early modern American culture; it is a brilliant book because it reminds of how and why we have the federal government we do and the headaches and troubles earlier Americans faced to get us here. Various government institutions and policies (the FDA, for example) which we take for granted today, or worse denigrate, are explained in the context of which they were created, enlightening such issues as modern banking and its regulation, the Federal Reserve, the eight-hour workday, unions, a mixed economy, and more. Lears wraps all of that radical change in an American desire, both individual and societal, for a rebirth into a state akin to grace whether through war, social justice, or labor. Rebirth of a Nation is a must-read for lovers of American history.

If you’re a fan of history or the United States this is a great book that covers a pivotal period in US History as the country shifted from its original rural agrarian base to a urban industrial one.

So, if you’d like a free book. Just make a comment down below and you’ll be entered. One person, chosen at random, will win it next Friday.

The DiMortuiSunt Book Giveaway!

Everyone Likes Free Stuff!

I get a lot of books. Way too many books. I don’t really have room for all the books I get. I feel bad taking them to used bookstores (and that business model isn’t doing that great anyway.) The local library doesn’t want to take books from me anymore and it feels downright criminal to toss them into the recycle bin.

What am I going to do with all these books?

Then I remember I had this blog. This blog that people occasionally read, if they are good people they then mention it to their friends who also read it. I could give the books away to these people!

So this is how it’s going to work: every Friday in April I will post a picture of a book as well as a short book review of it. Anyone who comments on the post will be put in a random drawing for the book to be held the following Friday when the next book becomes available.

Seeing as I only have maybe 30-60 people who view this blog there is a reasonable chance that you just might win a book. If this is successful (wholly to be determined by me) than I’ll do it every month or so.

PS – don’t be a dick and require a bunch of legalese gobbley-gook or this will go away and you’ll never get your book!

PPS – I’ll pay shipping.

 

 

An Early Birthday Present: the Amazon Kindle

the new "shiny"

I convinced my wife to get my birthday present two months early this year. Why? Because I couldn’t wait any longer for an Amazon Kindle. The Kindle had been on my wishlist for over half-a-year and we had already discussed getting it for my birthday. I didn’t see the point in waiting until then, though. To tell the truth the wait was slowly driving me crazy!

When we got our tax return I set aside some of it and in late February ordered a Kindle.  Three days later it arrived. They do this neat trick with the packaging where they put a protective sheet of plastic over the Kindle’s screen with text on it, except when you peel it off you discover that the text is on the actual screen of the Kindle.

Why do I need an ebook reader? I don’t really. Why did I want one? Several reasons, here are the big ones:

Space

I want to take books with me on vacation but am tired of how much room they take up in luggage. I know, you’re thinking one paper or hardback book isn’t that bulky. That is true. I don’t take one book, in general, I bring along four to six books ranging in size from 150 to 1,000+ pages. That many books take up a lot of space. Now those books take up less space than a single paperback.

I have three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in my house and three more that go up half as high. All of them are overflowing with books. I have a box of books in my garage, two more at my parent’s house and I gave away five or six boxes of books last time I was visiting my parents. I get anywhere from three to ten books (free) each month. I no longer have the space (real or mental) for so many books. The Kindle can hold hundreds of books (thousands if the advertising is to be believed) on its hard drive and an infinite amount more on Amazon’s servers with out me ever having to wonder where I’m going to find room for all of them.

Portability

I’m reading the collected works of Josephus right now. This is a book that is 6″ x 10″ x 3,” weighs nearly three pounds,  has tiny text, and is printed in double column. It is not an easy book to read sitting down in a chair. It is impossible to read on the go, or in little snatches. The complete works of Josephus on the Kindle is single column, print as large as I want, and never weighs more than 8.7 ounces.

I can also put pdfs onto the Kindle which is a nice feature to have when I attend game nights or sessions with friends. I have all the rule books at my fingertips on the Kindle without carrying around numerous rule books, print-outs, and FAQs.

Free Wireless

D got me the more expensive version of the Kindle that comes with free wireless for life. The Kindle doesn’t have a full featured web browser or a touch interface but it’s UI works well enough when you need to connect to the Internet in a hurry. Not just for purchasing books but for checking or sending emails, reference work, or reading the news. I’ve found Instapaper to be a wonderful application for the Kindle. As I see stories on-line through out the day that interest me I click a single button on my browser and when I get home at night I have a nice digest of them waiting for me on the Kindle.

Price

This isn’t the most important point, I should be borrowing more books from my library as opposed to purchasing them. I can’t deny that the reduced price of ebooks makes justifying a purchase easier.  The two to five dollars off an ebook is the difference between an impulse purchase and a “maybe I’ll look into it later.” Compulsive and impulse buying isn’t a plus if it’s done merely to consume. But, it does make me willing to take a risk on unknown authors and books  and I see anything that exposes me to more writing as a good thing.

I don’t see the Kindle as a replacement for my books and I will certainly always love a nice worn hardback book with dog-eared pages and notes in the margins. Nor, will I tire of discovering these in used books. The written word will always be an important part of my life and I am too much of a Luddite to ever fully give up material objects.

But, it will be nice to sit in the hammock in the backyard with a 2,000+ page book without having to worry about throwing my back out.

What I’m Reading Massive Update

I’ve finished a number of books but have yet to update either the “What I Recommend” or “What I Am Reading” pages, and since I have a bunch to unload, I’m just going to do it here. First, though other news. If you go over to Gamestooge and click on “About Us” you’ll see that I am now the Senior Writer over there. Also If you go over to 2old2play you’ll see that I’m a contributor writer there as well!  Now all the work I do over there is free, but hey people are reading my writing which is a start, right? Lets hope so!

Okay, this is going to be quick and dirty:

The Thin Red Line by James Jones – Buy it – By far the best war novel I’ve ever read, Jones’ portrayal of the assault on Guadalcanal by American troops during WW2 is unforgiving. Jones prose and story is so powerful its focus is not on the action but rather the people in it, exploring how humans can and do kill each other and the toll it takes on all of us. I can’t recommend this book enough to those who wish to see past the hollow glory that warfare provides… A scathing rebuttal of those who would have us believe war is noble and the greatest endeavor man has ever participated in

The Prince of the Marshes by Rory Stewart – Check it out at your local library – Mr. Stewart went to Iraq in August of 2003 as part of the temporary Coalition Provincial Authority that the United States and Allies set up in Iraq before the Iraqi elections. He served for a year there as a deputy governor of Amara then Nasiriyah in Southern Iraq.  This book’s value comes in that Stewart doesn’t pull any punches, he just reports the facts as he witnessed and what he witnessed was largely corruption, chaos, and incompetence.  Not that you should be surprised by that, like it or not, Iraq is our generations Vietnam, an ugly wound that will only be healed once all of us are gone…

A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster – Niche Book – This book would only interest you if you’re at all interested in Game Design (any type digital, analog, board, card, etc.) Koster recognized that in his field there was no authority or theory behind how games should be designed, what makes them interesting, compelling and fun to those who play them. Game Designers largely grope in the dark while making their games, at best they were operating intuitively and hoping for the best. It’s one of the reasons copying is so blatant in the industry.  Koster tries to provide a foundation for further research and theory to be built upon. Beginning with what “fun” means and how that applies to humans. Koster states that fun is merely learning and that games are a great way for us to learn. That games are serious business worthy of serious scholarly study and that as such games should begin to live up to their historical stature.

I don’t recommend getting this from Amazon as the folks there are selling it for close to $100, instead check out half.com for a better deal, well worth the read if your interested at all in the emerging field of ludology.

The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort – Avoid – Mr. Belfort has quite an opinion of himself, despite the fact that as far as I can tell, no one really cared much about him until this book came out… Unless you were once an employee of his brokerage firm or knew the man there isn’t anything here for you to read. Full of shallow conversation, ridiculous hyperbole, and needless swearing (not to mention one unbelievable incident after another). This book will be my first experiment in making a false book, I wouldn’t want it to end up in anyone Else’s hands, I’d just feel too guilty doing that to somebody… Terrible just terrible. One more thing, I question whether Mr. Belfort actually knows the definitions of some of the words he uses… Complete narcissistic tripe.

Elric of Melnibone by Micheal Moorcock – Buy it – Moorcock is hailed as one of the creators of “new fantasy”, trying to separate himself from the epic archetypal stories as told by J.R.R Tolkien as his many imitators, this is where he got started. If you’re a player of either Warhammer or its Sci-Fi cousin 40k, these should especially interest you as Moorcock is the largest influence on the idea of chaos in the Warhammer worlds. Elric of Melnibone is the first in a 6 part series introducing us to Elric a dark anti-hero. The emperor of a nation declining into decadence and beholden to demonic forces, Elric is an albino, weak of body, philosophical and strong of mind. He sustains himself through drugs and his vampiric sword… I’ve just started these and haven’t been disappointed and excellent start to a series and definitely not in the normal vein of the genre. You can find the books in the series individually at either half.com or abebooks.

There you go all caught up on what I read, and if you think you’re going to purchase one of these please use the links above as I get a small bit of the proceeds!

Coming up next, Analog Gaming 2

%d bloggers like this: