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David_Gerard comments on February 2012 Media Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: RobertLumley 05 February 2012 02:23PM

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Comment author: David_Gerard 05 February 2012 07:32:21PM *  0 points [-]

I fill my phone with books. (So yeah, I'm paying £20/mo for an MP3 player and book reader that occasionally annoys me with phone calls.) Mostly nonfiction.

I've just finished Actually (the last collection of essays and reviews) by Christopher Hitchens. A doorstop, a lot of which is still available on the original magazines' sites. Patchy - quite a lot was clearly dashed off in half an hour after a boozy night out, and he was brilliant but skated by on brilliance rather too often - but ultimately worth ploughing through. I would recommend the curious start on better Hitchens (god is not Great, Hitch-22, Letters To A Young Contrarian in that order) where he wasn't phoning it in.

The nice thing about books of reviews is pointers. So right now I'm on Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West, the 2007 Penguin edition with a lengthy intro by Hitchens. The book is a doorstop-sized travelogue of Yugoslavia in the 1930s, a subject I have little interest in; I'm bothering only because a literature fan like Hitchens raved about it. And so far it's page-turningly good.

I've also just finished the audiobook version of god is not Great, read by the author. A book so clearly written to be read out loud. If you liked the book, I most strongly recommend the audiobook. Even if you dislike audiobooks, as I do.

Comment author: [deleted] 05 February 2012 08:35:40PM *  1 point [-]

I don't know you, but for some reason I have a strong sense that you would like this book.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 06 February 2012 04:11:47PM 0 points [-]

I've been recommending it. I think it would appeal to most LessWrongians.

Comment author: [deleted] 07 February 2012 06:05:15AM 0 points [-]

Have you read anything else in the same vein that you'd also recommend?

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 07 February 2012 12:25:50PM 0 points [-]

Not that I can think of-- that's why that book was so much fun.

Comment author: David_Gerard 05 February 2012 08:39:10PM *  -1 points [-]

Ha! Never heard of it, but yes, I suspect I would :-)

Comment author: [deleted] 05 February 2012 08:52:13PM *  0 points [-]

If you do end up reading it and you'd like to share your impressions, feel free to PM me.