War Room book thread

Some light end of term reading

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Currently reading an HTML/CSS book and reading a Javascript book after that.

Before that, the most recent book I read is 'Dreams of My Father' by Barack Obama.

It was a pretty interesting book. Much more race-focused than I would have preferred but I really enjoyed learning about Barack's upbringing.
 
I like hearing or reading arguments for a certain stance on a certain issue that is often associated with one side of the political spectrum but from the opposite end. I don't think I care enough about animal rights to read it though, could you give us some cliffs or relate your favorite parts of the book?
It's written from the Christian fundamentalist point of view from the Genesis verse about God giving mankind dominion over the fish, fowl and cattle, although I'm not sure Scully is a true fundamentalist. It's not a 'go vegan' book per se, it's more of an appeal to emotion and reason in the way humans treat animals, and he tears apart all of he weak arguments that people make about not having any responsibility to the lives and suffering of animals, but not just from a Christian perspective. It's a better written and more convincing book than Peter Singers Animal liberation, imo. His speech writing ability truly shines. He's critical of some of singers utilitarian arguments as well.

Here's some good quotes from his book.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4857.Matthew_Scully



Speaking of other sides of the political spectrum, there's strangely a growing vegan movement in the white supremacy movement.
https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/evb4zw/why-so-many-white-supremacists-are-into-veganism
 
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Finished Fire and Fury and now starting Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice
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From Goodreads:
In Life’s Work, an outspoken, Christian reproductive justice advocate and abortion provider (one of the few doctors to provide such services to women in Mississippi and Alabama) pulls from his personal and professional journeys as well as the scientific training he received as a doctor to reveal how he came to believe, unequivocally, that helping women in need, without judgment, is precisely the Christian thing to do.

Dr. Willie Parker grew up in the Deep South, lived in a Christian household, and converted to an even more fundamentalist form of Christianity as a young man. But upon reading an interpretation of the Good Samaritan in a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he realized that in order to be a true Christian, he must show compassion for all women regardless of their needs. In 2009, he stopped practicing obstetrics to focus entirely on providing safe abortions for the women who need help the most—often women in poverty and women of color—and in the hot bed of the pro-choice debate: the South. He soon thereafter traded in his private practice and his penthouse apartment in Hawaii for the life of an itinerant abortion provider, focusing most recently on women in the Deep South.

In Life’s Work, Dr. Willie Parker tells a deeply personal and thought-provoking narrative that illuminates the complex societal, political, religious, and personal realities of abortion in the United States from the unique perspective of someone who performs them and defends the right to do so every day. He also looks at how a new wave of anti-abortion activism, aimed at making incremental changes in laws and regulations state by state, are slowly chipping away at the rights of women to control their own lives. In revealing his daily battle against mandatory waiting periods and bogus rules governing the width of hallways, Dr. Parker uncovers the growing number of strings attached to the right to choose and makes a powerful Christian case for championing reproductive rights.
 
Mentioned in another thread, but just started these two:

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and

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ahoy all!

currently reading;
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a book on thanatophobia, which should strike terror within us all, but somehow doesn't.

periodically re-reading;
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a heroic story about rabbits.

- IGIT
 
Noah Smith had a piece on that (what you're calling "thanatophobia" rather than the book) that reflects my thinking:

https://blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/70052298910/noah-smith-you-are-already-in-the-afterlife

hi and good afternoon Jack,

i read the Smith piece, but i don't feel any better.

i get what the author is getting at - i think about it alot when i'm shooting events. i see myself as guarding anecdotal stuff that we forget all day long, constantly. if we forget it, it might as well never have happened.

i get it. to me, its a horrifying thought, of course.

i don't understand how any of you can't be paralyzed by your impending demise on at least a weekly basis.

its crazy to me.

- IGIT
 
I just finished Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. The book is a highly suspenseful true story built around a series of murders of wealthy Native Americans in the 1920s that I had never heard about.

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Finally finished this. As is normal with me, once I really get invested in a book I binge on it, often reading late into the morning. I think it's well constructed; it's pieced together in such a way that it builds momentum similar to how a political thriller might. I don't read much nonfiction (something I'm trying to fix because fiction has gotten pretty boring), so I really appreciated how well the story unfolded.

It's a great read, but the events are blood curdling. It's tough to read this and not wonder how a tribe like the Osage could ever be expected to trust society not to take advantage of them.
 
So far it seems to be based on the assault of humans
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Finally finished this. As is normal with me, once I really get invested in a book I binge on it, often reading late into the morning. I think it's well constructed; it's pieced together in such a way that it builds momentum similar to how a political thriller might. I don't read much nonfiction (something I'm trying to fix because fiction has gotten pretty boring), so I really appreciated how well the story unfolded.

It's a great read, but the events are blood curdling. It's tough to read this and not wonder how a tribe like the Osage could ever be expected to trust society not to take advantage of them.

Agreed. The depth of corruption in the state of Oklahoma at that time was astounding. So many people in authority who were willing to be complicit in the murder and coverup of not just innocent Native Americans, which was terrible enough, but even the few whites who tried to help them.
 
Finished Fire and Fury and now starting Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice
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From Goodreads:
Almost done with the book. Great reading for people interested in abortion rights topics.
The author is a Christian, black, male doctor serving abortion providers in the Deep South, so he has an interesting perspective on the politics of race, religion, women's rights, and medicine surrounding the issue. The book covers his extremely humble beginnings as bright, religious kid born to a single mother in poverty. His early experiences shaped his views that people should receive compassionate, judgement free care. With the help of friends, then advisers, he becomes the first person in his family to go to college, and then medical school where he develops a passion for OBGYN. His observations on how women seeking abortions are treated by Christians is directly in conflict with his interpretation of Jesus, which eventually leads to his decision to become a nomadic, full time abortion provider who constantly splits his time between several undeserved clinics in the deep south, including the only clinic in the entire state Mississippi. He does so at the risk of his comfort, personal privacy and even his life.
Chapters of the book are dedicated to explaining the history of abortion procedures, reproductive biology, the history of the Reagan and the Evangelical attack on abortion providers, TRAP laws, terrorism, the cynicism of the "Black Genocide" campaign, debunking "life begins at conception" religious argument, and many other topics relevant to the subject.
All in all, I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the subject of abortion. It might even be a good read for Pro-Life supporters who want to challenge their perceptions.
 
Tried reading Mein Kampf, taken a pause from it since reading it feels like a chore, listening to Hitler rant about how stupid everyone is. I will come to back it later; stopped at chapter 7. Now I am reading Dune, which is much more enjoyable.
 
Tried reading Mein Kampf, taken a pause from it since reading it feels like a chore, listening to Hitler rant about how stupid everyone is. I will come to back it later; stopped at chapter 7. Now I am reading Dune, which is much more enjoyable.
Dune > Mein Kampf
 
Recently finished "Children of Dune."

I'm tempted to buy the remaining three books in the series. I'm currently enjoying "The Blade Itself", normally fantasy books end up boring and predictable, but so far I'm enjoying this one a lot.
 
Just finished this
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Next up is
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The title translates to "What google really wants. - How the most influential company in the world is changing our future."
 
2 books at the moment:
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CTH is a populist, left-wing satirical podcast. It's probably one of the funniest political themed podcasts you can subscribe to. The book is an extension of the show.

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Started reading this as a recommendation from @panamaican. Truly fascinating insight into the world of privileged elite.
 
Mentioned in another thread, but just started these two:

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I've read through parts of that one. I usually go the the index and look for specific people to read about. I recently bought The Essential Russell Kirk for five dollars. There is a good essay on Orestes Brownson I have read more than once.

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