The Royal Library of Alexandria (SP Book Discussion)

Miscellaneous Blather
#1

So, Blackfyre mentioned that he misses the cultural threads that we used to have. I thought I’d resurrect the thread on books (or comics, articles, or any other form of textual medium really). You all had some great recommendations for me back in the day, and I’d love to keep that going.

Feel free to discuss fiction, nonfiction, science-fiction, fantasy, history, military tactical manuals, tank operator manuals, propaganda pamphlets, or anything else you all desire.

I’d like to offer up a few suggestions myself. I recently read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It was kind of slow to get started, but I really enjoyed the rest of the book. It’s epic low fantasy with a definite grimdark edge to it. Other than ASoIaF, I don’t think I’d read much gritty fantasy. I prefer more fantastical things with lots of magic like the Wheel of Time or mostly anything by Brandon Sanderson usually. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of them.

I also read Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald. I’ve recently begun to be really interested in storytelling, story structure, and the writing process. This book was a very good introduction to the basics of story structure and storytelling. By the end of it, I was starting to notice things that the author talked about in most of the media I consume. It was a bit like peeling back the curtain and seeing how the sausage was made (although in this case it increased the enjoyment of said sausage instead of making me recoil in disgust). It was a good, quick read. If you’d like more stuff like this, I highly recommend the YouTube channels Nerdwriter, Lessons from the Screenplay, and Every Frame a Painting.

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#2

While this thread and idea for alternative discussions started, I’ve begun reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This was inspired by the interesting review of Nemo’s War, which looks like a fascinating game. I’ve been considering buying and spending some time with it. So I figured I should take a look at the source. (I love how easy it is to get books to read on an iPad, and for free!)

Is there any media others have been inspired to look at from a game?

I’m not exactly sure how theses discussions worked on the old forum, so help me out if I’m not doing it right.

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#3

I read The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy because of a game I don’t own and never played. I was interested in knowing whether the tactics of the war on land would seem of sufficient interest that I’d want to compare them to their simulation by the Battleground Historical Warfare set in the period. I quite liked the book—can’t speak to its accuracy, as I’m not well-versed in the history otherwise, but it was very readable, clear, and gave just the amount of detail I was looking for. If you’re interested: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Carthage-265-146BC-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304366420/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X86GFBRH7RJZ2YEGX9C2&dpID=51sVa08diFL&preST=SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40&dpSrc=detail

But it pretty much persuaded me that the maniple thing wasn’t that appealing to me, and I didn’t think Battleground was an ideal system to capture it. Love the idea of the system otherwise, though.

#4

Goldsworthy’s books are always interesting.

My favourite is “How Rome Fell,” which covers the Empire from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the fall of the Empire.

It’s a fascinating read.

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#5

@MisterMentat I enjoyed the trilogy from Joe Abercrombie. Read them a while back but every now and then still thinking about the plot. The characters are really awesome.

@KYakerDude I am reading The Witcher series now. It is a decent serie. I am really interested in how the story develops. Havent played the games yet, but I do have bought the Witcher3 GOTY edition, so maybe this winter I am gonna play it.

Next book after finishing the witcher series will be “One second later” Heard some good stuff about it. An Electric Magnetic Pulse disables all electronics and people start strugling and fighting for survival.

Another very good series is the Night Angel trilogy from Brent Weeks. Really enjoyed that one. Cant recommand it enough. It is a bit fantasy, but not your usual elves and stuff. It is about an assasin. Well, just find out for yourself.

#6

I’ve read a lot of Joe Abercrombie. For all that he voluntary assumed the Grimdark label, I don’t think it’s a meaningful tag. Rather, he writes unheroic fantasy, where the best are compromised and the worst have their reasons. I absolutely recommend the Shattered Sea trilogy (the “Half a…” books) despite the YA tag. What starts out as seemingly a fairly conventional unwilling-heir-goes-on-quest-to-reclaim-kingdom becomes something else entirely (damn - we need a spoiler tag).

Edit: extra approving nod for Every Frame a Painting. Brilliant series, and it’s impossible to watch films in the same way afterwards. The more we know :blush:

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#7

Europa Universalis (the very first one…good old days) had me look into the History of the Teutonic Order as well as the early days of Novgorod and the final struggles of the byzantine empire.

On a more mundane note:
Stellaris made me read the excellent Ringworld novels of Larry Niven (again)

#8

I read and loved these books. I keep thinking about re-reading them. So many books, so little time.

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#9

England and the Aeroplane, Edgerton. A short (160-odd pages) and sharp polemic blowing holes in popular knowledge about how industrially declining Britain was before WWI, and during, and after, and before WWII, and during, and after. Declinist narratives are super cool but they’re also bullshit. Edgerton points out the strong industrial/technocratic trend Britain has been following since the Industrial Revolution, covered by a bucolic self-image popular even in times of war. Edgerton highlights what he calls the warfare state, and liberal militarism, backed by increasing investment and production. See also Britain’s War Machine.

#10

Are these histories or historical fiction?

#11

They’re histories.

Well-researched and everything.

He also did an Antony & Cleopatra book which I didn’t like as much, but it was really interesting to read. Especially with me being somebody who’s only familiar with more popular information about the whole thing.

And he did a book on Julius Caesar, but I haven’t read that one yet.

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#12

History. Goldsworthy’s excellent.

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#13

I just discovered he has two books that have come out since Antony & Cleopatra.

I’ll have to look those up (Pax Romana and Augustus)

#14

Thanks, I’ll have to check him out.

Currently reading The Second World War by Antony Beevor. I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for one-volume bricks about conflicts rather than books that delve into a smaller part of the war. For example, I’d rather read a book that covers the entire Civil War rather than one that focused solely on Gettysburg. I don’t know why. Probably because there’s less detail and whatnot in the bigger overview books, and if I get bogged down in too much detail my head swims.

One conflict that fascinates me but I’ve never been able to get my head around is the War of the Roses. Anyone have a good book for it that isn’t “so and so was the son of so-and-so, who was the cousin of so-and-so, who knew the king by way of his wife so-and-so who betrayed so-and-so”… All the ones I’ve tried to read have lost me with all the damn names and titles. Maybe it’s because I’m in the US and don’t quite follow how all the titles and whatnot fit together. I’ve started the Conn Iggulden novels, but they’re historical fiction, so I was hoping for something more on the historical side.

#15

You want a brick of a book about the Second World War, try A World at Arms by Gerhard Weinberg.

I read it a long time ago, but it was amazingly detailed yet gave a great overview of the war.

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#16

One conflict that fascinates me but I’ve never been able to get my head around is the War of the Roses. Anyone have a good book for it that isn’t “so and so was the son of so-and-so, who was the cousin of so-and-so, who knew the king by way of his wife so-and-so who betrayed so-and-so”… All the ones I’ve tried to read have lost me with all the damn names and titles. Maybe it’s because I’m in the US and don’t quite follow how all the titles and whatnot fit together.

Probably inescapable, sadly. Same for me. The lineages are so important they get everywhere.

For entry-level stuff, Osprey’s done a book on The War of the Roses and like all of their books it’s okay.

Trevor Royle’s The Wars of the Roses is a popular narrative approach but it still good. John (Jack?) Gillingham and Desmond Seward both have WotR books and both are very good, Gillingham is a little more serious and dry.

A great wedge into a subject is often to pick the most interesting bit and lever yourself into the rest of it. For that I humbly suggest Hick’s Warwick the Kingmaker. Warwick had his hand so far up the arses of several kings he could pick their teeth.

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#17

I’m not sure when, but I guarantee I’ll be plagiarizing this in an upcoming article.

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#18

is a popular narrative approach but it still good.

Hulk consider more careful next time.

#19

I recently finished Bosworth: the Birth of the Tudors by Chris Skidmore and it was decent. Not excellent, and it does have the titles issue you’re talking about, but it covers from Henry VI and onward to Bosworth.

It also has the aftermath too, which was nice.

#20

You guys read a lot of history. That doesn’t really surprise me at all though. I’ve always been a sci-fi and fantasy kind of guy along with books on math and programming. I’m also reading Charles Pinter’s A Book on Abstract Algebra and the creatively named Deep Learning on surprise surprise, deep learning.

I highly recommend both of them if any of you are interested in math (for the first) or neural networks. The abstract algebra book is one of the best math books I’ve ever read. There a a lot of short chapters with tons of grouped exercises for reinforcement of the ideas. The deep learning book is an excellent survey of the field with a lot of the foundational material one would need to understand current papers.

As an aside, @Private_Prinny, is your name somehow inspired by the Disgaea series?

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