I mentioned my book on the original forum.

But I did get a chance to show an old tv show and movie to some S-A's today. They have an assignment to compare the Social Constructivist approach to social problems with the Objective Perspective. Basically, with the OP, we just intuitively know what a social problem is, while the SC approach says we should not just accept our attitudes and conclusions because cultural and class bias influences what we think about a certain societal issue. SC's main backing is the way American society has drastically changed it's attitude towards social issues and problems in the past.

For one example, I wanted the students to understand how domestic violence views have radically changed, so I had them watch some youtube clips of the old Jackie Gleason "Honeymooners" tv show. One clip had a montage of Ralph warning Alice time and time again that "one of these days" he oughta send her to the moon -- always emphasized with an uppercut. The s-a's quickly got the point of how there was no way a tv show today would make jokes and a catchphrase out of threatening to beat a woman.

The movie clips I showed them were from 1939's Reefer Madness -- how the movie producers wanted to warn you that if you smoked reefer you would go insane, kill someone in a hit-and-run, and decide to rape others. They couldn't stop laughing at the film.

Methland by Nick Reding....great read!

The Hunger Games trilogy was a quick, interesting read.
I also got a kick out of Adam Carolla's book.

TheAdvisingBear;533893 said:

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I mentioned my book on the original forum.

But I did get a chance to show an old tv show and movie to some S-A's today. They have an assignment to compare the Social Constructivist approach to social problems with the Objective Perspective. Basically, with the OP, we just intuitively know what a social problem is, while the SC approach says we should not just accept our attitudes and conclusions because cultural and class bias influences what we think about a certain societal issue. SC's main backing is the way American society has drastically changed it's attitude towards social issues and problems in the past.

For one example, I wanted the students to understand how domestic violence views have radically changed, so I had them watch some youtube clips of the old Jackie Gleason "Honeymooners" tv show. One clip had a montage of Ralph warning Alice time and time again that "one of these days" he oughta send her to the moon -- always emphasized with an uppercut. The s-a's quickly got the point of how there was no way a tv show today would make jokes and a catchphrase out of threatening to beat a woman. They are popular shows but hardly the norm of their generation just like the honeymooners.

The movie clips I showed them were from 1939's Reefer Madness -- how the movie producers wanted to warn you that if you smoked reefer you would go insane, kill someone in a hit-and-run, and decide to rape others. They couldn't stop laughing at the film.

---

Although i somewhat agree, I feel that the examples were some what anecdotal. Homer is pretty violent with son Bart. Roseanne and husband were not the most ambivalent. Two and a half men treat women like garbage. They did not represent most if the shows during their era just like honeymooners did not as well. They all played characters within the context of their world.

New read: " The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexi. Sherman Alexi reveals much about his native American heritage with a wonderful wit and marvelous sense of humor. I never get tired of this writer.

Re-reading: "Fatal Decision, Anzio and the battle for Rome" by Carlo D'Este. I was into WWII history some years ago and have recently started to re-read a few of the books. D'Este is a retired US Army colonel, born in Oakland, CA. He has written highly readable, well detailed accounts of some of the campaigns. His books include two accounts of the Italian campaign, this one and "Bitter Victory" about the invasion of Sicily. He is quite descriptive of both the American and British commanders, their capabilities and their faults. There are also interesting accounts of small unit actions and individual feats.

Like many others on the board I am a big fan of Michael Lewis, have read most of his previous books, "The Big Short" is on my bedside table.

"Winner Take All Politics" by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson provides a good description of it's title.

A semi retired architect, I am also into that subject. I am currently reading "James Frazier Stirling, Notes From the Archive" by Anthony Vidler. Stirling was one of the major post war figures in architecture in Britain, part of a movement called the New Brutalism characterized by rough exterior materials such as poured concrete frankly expressed. His projects had some influence in the US in the 60's and 70's. He designed campus buildings at Harvard, Cornell, and Rice and taught at Harvard and Yale.

piemelon;530139 said:

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"Death of Manolete" , by San Franciscan, Barnaby Conrad. Taking my wife to Madrid next spring, her favorite city but I have never been there. Hoping to sneak in a couple of bullfights, along with the Prado et. al. I've read these books so many time they are getting threadbare.

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Just back from Madrid. First time in 25 years; a lot has changed, but then again, not so much. Los Madrilenos are still crazy partiers. Saw a few bull fights and everything else. Went out to see El Escorial, Segovia, and Avila on day tours which is highly recomended. Great time!!

Bullfighting is great, isn't it?! Nothing better than watching a desperate and terrified creature tortured for entertainment. Who wouldn't like that? Seriously, you've got to be depraved and sadistic to want that. Creating a demand for that blood sport? Shame on you.

Haas8388;533951 said:

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Just back from Madrid. First time in 25 years; a lot has changed, but then again, not so much. Los Madrilenos are still crazy partiers. Saw a few bull fights and everything else. Went out to see El Escorial, Segovia, and Avila on day tours which is highly recomended. Great time!!

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The trip across the Castille is surprisingly familiar looking landscape. Did you get to Salamanca?

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman

As a 43 year old english major, I decided last fall it was about time to read War and Peace. Took months over the winter, and got over 1,200 pages into it. With 250 left I was finally completely fed up and sent it back to the used book store.

After a few Michael Connolleys and Robert Crais to cleanse the pallate, I'm working my way through Tom Coyne's "A Course Called Ireland." It's helping me deal with the addiction created by my 10 day golf trip there in June.

unly reed bluprintz dun by blubleed

XTasy;529917 said:

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Me no read

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Any Game of Thrones fans here? You should definitely check out the books the show is based on, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Definitely not your typical fantasy novels.

I once read that the entire Evening News would fit on about 1/4 of a newspaper page. An informed, educated citizenry is the key to a pluralistic democracy and now almost no one reads. The people in this country are probably the stupidest of any 1st World country I have been in and if you want to see one cause look no further than the decline of reading. That is why opinion has replaced fact as the coin of the political realm.

:rant

chitownbear;532606 said:

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There aren't as many readers as there used to be, it seems. Are we surprised? I'm not. What we call civilization is on its last legs...think Rome, 450 a.d. These apparently inevitable cycles are most annoying. The barbarians, by the way, are ALREADY inside the gates. Also true of old Rome, back in 450.

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GreyBear - I wasn't aware of the forum. I know I am no computer wizard, but I'd have used it if I'd known about it. I love the threads here about books, so I'll add to this lengthening one:
About the financial crisis- the Big Short as mentioned before
All the Devils are Here by Joe Nocera and McLean
The Quants by Scott Patterson
House of Cards by William Cohan
Bad Money by Kevin Phillips
WW II and Military The Unbroken - Hillenbrand
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers and Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfischer
The Hump by John Plating
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
1938 by Giles MacDonogh
Hog Pilots and Blue Water Grunts or any other book by Robert Kaplan
The Regiment by Michael Asher also Death in the Sahara
General History: The Greater Journey or any other book by David McCullough
Molotov's Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonsky
An Empire of their Own (Hollywood) Neal Gabler
Scorpions by Noah Feldman
White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger
My Paper Chase by Harold Evans
Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak
The Balfour Declaration by Jonathan Schneer
Odessa by Charles King
Sorry for the long list, but those are among my favorites so far this year.

Just started reading All the Devils Are Here

Liar's Poker, The Blind Side, and The Big Short are all great books. Haven't read Lewis' other books.

Murdering McKinley was a great book about the assassination of President McKinely and it consequences.

CAL6371;534015 said:

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.. those are among my favorites [U]so far this year[/U].

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Man, 6371, sounds like the War&Peace guy, elsewhere in this thread, oughta take the speed reading contest you did.. or taught??

#AwesomeList

dajo9;534020 said:

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... Murdering McKinley was a great book about the assassination of President McKinely and its consequences.

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.. ain't half bad once you get used to it.

Haven't read that one, Dajo, but for anybody who appreciates a droll approach to ghoulish matters ya can't go wrong with Sarah Vowell's Assassinations Vacation, released in 2005.

She revisits the locations and circumstances for most presidential slayings [All??Maybe so, or skips Dallas. Can't be sure since my forgetter went into overdrive.]

Anyways, yes, recommended also:

GreyBear;529916 said:

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That's what it seems like, if only because very few have made posts on our "Good Books Board"

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Just imo Greybear, it's an unnatural act for a Growls poster to hide recommendations on an auxiliary board where presumably nobody is gonna see it.

Instant gratification instincts argue for sharing right here.

Um, purely by coincidence, I've got another one to promote..


A Growls booth thread, about the Cal guy wearing a rugby shirt on tv while riding in the last space shuttle, finally reminded me of an outstanding book, done biography style, of what it was actually like to apply for, qualify, and pilot space shuttles.

Fair warning, this isn't a sanitized PR puff piece. Couple particulars.. ruthless depictions of ex-bosses, admitted personality shortcomings, and even spills details about his tense working relationship with Sally Ride.

Eventually stress made him quit. Nope, not his stress. Much worse, suffered by his family standing by on "death watch" at every launch opportunity.

"Riding Rockets" by Mike Mullane, @2007. Give it 4 thumbs Up.

SiniCal - actually I am not a speed reader and have never read War and Peace. I took a course in hs, but then I slowed back down. Going to law school (Boalt) can make you a slow reader because lawyers parse ever word.
I haven't been well lately and, being retired, I have a lot of time on my hands, so I have read 59 books (20,000 pages) so far this year - I am three months ahead of my pace last year (76 books). Reading and going on the Bear Insider site are my primary occupations (outside of parenting my kids). But I do love a good book.

Its a series of Trotters essays from 1910 to ? Amazing how this book on human behavior has stood the test of time. Read it in school in the 50's and stumbled across my copy of it in a box of junk.

CAL6371;534070 said:

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SiniCal - actually I am not a speed reader and have never read War and Peace.
I took a course in hs, but then I slowed back down. Going to law school (Boalt)
can make you a slow reader because lawyers parse ever word.
I haven't been well lately and, being retired, I have a lot of time on my hands,
so I have read 59 books (20,000 pages) so far this year - I am three months
ahead of my pace last year (76 books). Reading and going on the Bear
Insider site are my primary occupations (outside of parenting my kids).
But I do love a good book.

---

..only since another poster, Gunga la Gunga, found the extreme length a challenging slog:
http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=533977#poststop

I'm done working too, since the mid 90s, so also do appreciate the wonder of a well spun tale.

Thank you for those recommendations and may Oski's Blessing help with the health issues.

#GoBears!

This one won't qualify as one recently read, but one of my favorite books in the not-widely-read category is "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder. (Amazon Link) The book alternates between the (true) story of a Gold Rush Era shipwreck and the modern (1980s, IIRC) efforts to find the ship. I recommended it to many friends and every single one loved it.

Thanks for the kind word - went to a new Dr Friday wearing a Cal fb t shirt - he was also a Cal grad (Class of '90).

This book looks good SiniCal...thanks for the heads up


I was an American History major but have been dabbling in science topics for good reading. I am currently revisiting two of my favorites from back in the day.
Enjoy some rex:


Absolutely disgusting, fascinating and informative. From tapeworms to isopods to ichneumon wasps, "parasites are complex, highly adapted creatures that are at the heart of the story of life." Zimmer (At the Water's Edge) devotes his second book to the enormous variety of one- and many-celled organisms that live on and inside other animals and plants. The gruesome trypanosomes that cause sleeping sickness had nearly been routed from Sudan when the country's civil war began: now they're back. Costa Rican researcher Daniel Brooks has discovered dozens of parasites, including flies that lay eggs in deer noses: "snot bots." And those are only the creatures from the prologue.

AND


Walter Alvarez is one of the Berkeley scientists responsible for the theory, now well-established, that the dinosaurs perished after a huge asteroid or comet hit the Yucatan Peninsula sixty-five million years ago, setting off a monstrous tsunami and a sequence of disastrous climatic changes. In telling his story, Alvarez explains the way geologists read the earth's history in rock formations such as those found in the Bottaccione Gorge at Gubbio, Italy.

GO BEARS!

.. http://reading.berkeley.edu

/*** leadin snippet..
..these are the personal choices of Berkeley faculty and staff members recommended for you. Most books are available at the University Library, local libraries, and bookstores. We hope you will find the time to read some of them.

The 2011 theme is "Social Media"
****/

Any list that includes Isaac Asimov's "I Robot" short story collection ain't all bad (polar opposite compared to the unwatchable Hollywood flick of the same name).

Source: http://twitter.com/#!/Cal/status/94824347922989057

Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality by Samuel Barondes...a UCSF psychiatrist and it sounds really good.

SiniCal;534088 said:

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..only since another poster, Gunga la Gunga, found the extreme length a challenging slog:
http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=533977#poststop

---

I got seven pages into War and Peace before putting it down. This was in my early twenties, IIRC. Russian literature is tough, not least because of all the different names they use for each other. I remember trying to read Dr. Zhivago in high school, and hated it even though I got through it. I read it again about ten years ago, and thought it was wonderful (and contains the most depressing final paragraph ever written, IMO). Most Russians I know will tell you that Pasternak was a hack compared to Bulgakov, and The Master and Margarita is the best work to come out of Soviet times. I'm inclined to agree, but it took me three times reading it to figure out what the hell it was all about. (I'm reminded of Max Weber's response to a query about why his writings were so opaque: "It took me thirty years to figure this stuff out, why should it take you any less?")

Recent books I've read are Hitchens' God is Not Great, Tolkien's Silmarillion (another book I think one needs to reread to appreciate fully), Shaara's The Final Storm (formulaic, not as fresh as his older stuff), and Cohen's Freedom's Orator, about Mario Savio. Still slogging through that one bit by bit.

BearsWiin;534134 said:

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I got seven pages into War and Peace before putting it down. This was in my early twenties, IIRC. Russian literature is tough...

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I can relate Wiin. Staggered thru Crime&Punishment a couple chapters before bailing. Next stop, as soon as possible: internet equivalent of the 20th century's Cliff notes.

Russian masters accomodate poorly to American taste. I'm guessing it's because moderns are used to instant gratification. Shucks, I can hardly force myself watch a touted YT vid anymore if it's longer than 3, erm, possibly 4 mins if I absolutely gotta. Contrast that with loong snowed in 19th C winters, might could 'splain pathological focus.

Personal PS: All the best to you & your clan. I've still got a few snaps shared ~Sept '03, Karen and young'n, you sporting the infamous tie-dye, in front of the Griz statuesque for instance. Scouted a college strategy yet?

#YearsPassLikeRaindrops #GoBears..SOON!

So for the pulp mystery/thriller/spy genre -- ie. the summer book -- gimme your "masters." I'm certainly no expert here, but have found every Michael Connolly to be heads and shoulders above others of his kind.

Sandford is okay, but after 5 or 6 I'm done. Crais seems okay, but just not there. Coben, no thanks. Who's the guy who does Reacher -- fairly average, and annoying.

SiniCal;534151 said:

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I can relate Wiin. Staggered thru Crime&Punishment a couple chapters before bailing. Next stop, as soon as possible: internet equivalent of the 20th century's Cliff notes.

Russian masters accomodate poorly to American taste. I'm guessing it's because moderns are used to instant gratification. Shucks, I can hardly force myself watch a touted YT vid anymore if it's longer than 3, erm, possibly 4 mins if I absolutely gotta. Contrast that with loong snowed in 19th C winters, might could 'splain pathological focus.

Personal PS: All the best to you & your clan. I've still got a few snaps shared ~Sept '03, Karen and young'n, you sporting the infamous tie-dye, in front of the Griz statuesque for instance. Scouted a college strategy yet?

#YearsPassLikeRaindrops #GoBears..SOON!

---

I can easily read 19th century American or English literature, with the exception of Melville who, IMO, comes closest to the Russian style (slow, overly wordy), and there wasn't much to do in American or British winters either. I'm thinking it has something to do with the difference in culture (PSc people aren't supposed to use that word), on-the-go protestant work-ethic types forging and building a new society compared to the passive orthodox nature of the narod. Western readers just don't have the time or patience for the slow build/unfolding of a story. Or perhaps the relative openness of the west allowed for faster, more active stories where people actually DO stuff, while the repressive authoritarian structure of the east constricted writers to slower studies of human nature where Big Events happen to people, instead of people making things happen. We should discuss this further sometime, over vodka and cucumbers.

2003 was a good year for Cal tye-die shirts. Both wife and I got some, I think at Bancroft Clothing Co., and the wife still gets compliments on hers when she wears it to games. Haven't seen any good ones on sale since, oddly. Wore one of my Ted-Head shirts to the gym this morning. There's a furd guy whom I see there from time to time, and I think seeing it pisses him off.

Thought of you on Tuesday as the clan and I hiked a bit round the rim of Hetch Hetchy. First hike outside the valley floor for us (driving to Glacier Point doesn't count). Kids are still young, tho, so we didn't get far, and with six years until college, we don't have much of a plan yet. Oldest did tell me a few weeks ago that he wants to go to Cal, so maybe all those games I dragged him to as a young'un did impress something upon him.

Zbig was never in a position to assign me anything, as he was never one of my profs. He just had an office down the hall from mine at CSIS, in some other lifetime.

BearsWiin;534163 said:

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We should discuss this further sometime, over vodka and cucumbers.

2003 was a good year for Cal tye-die shirts. Both wife and I got some, I think at Bancroft Clothing Co., and the wife still gets compliments on hers when she wears it to games. Haven't seen any good ones on sale since, oddly. Wore one of my Ted-Head shirts to the gym this morning. There's a furd guy whom I see there from time to time, and I think seeing it pisses him off.

Thought of you on Tuesday as the clan and I hiked a bit round the rim of Hetch Hetchy. First hike outside the valley floor for us (driving to Glacier Point doesn't count). Kids are still young, tho, so we didn't get far, and with six years until college, we don't have much of a plan yet. Oldest did tell me a few weeks ago that he wants to go to Cal, so maybe all those games I dragged him to as a young'un did impress something upon him.

Zbig was never in a position to assign me anything, as he was never one of my profs. He just had an office down the hall from mine at CSIS, in some other lifetime.

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Misc replies, connected to whichever para you like..

o Tshirts are a continuing sore spot for me (Fail'd)

o Yeahbut, sorry, I can't stand cukes.

o You dodged a bullet timewise. A few weeks ago iirc some folks got washed off a bridge on the trail around HH, a mile or two in. We walked past there, a loong time ago, 4th day of a stroll downhill from Tuolumne trailhead. No kidding, the last night a bear brought down an entire tree where overnight we'd lofted essential supplies. My bad, obviously shoulda picked a bigger one.. tired out.. in the rain.. an hour after sunset.

o Whenever an Odyssey speeds past I crane my neck to see if this time the license plate has consecutive I's. Nope.

o You're no longer terrified by a certain CSIS director's hush puppies?

o Where the heck has 8285 wandered off too, huh? Huh??

o All the best to you and yours.

#MemoriesAreMadeOfThis #GoBears!

Hope I'm not barging in, have tried to keep my post to Fresno St related threads. but hey, my daughter attends Cal.

great thread, tried twice on the Barkboard to start "What are you reading
Forum", couldn't get it off the ground.

Currently reading older historical stuff. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by T Synder. brutal, brutal book, getting hard to read, detailing the atrocities from 1932 to 1944. Also reading "The Law" by Frederick Bastiat, the fundemental necessity to govern & live by the rule of Law..

Just finished "the Mountains of California" John Muir, Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King written about 1870 or so. Both good stuff easily downloaded into my Kindle for free.

Raisinsofwrath;534253 said:

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Hope I'm not barging in, have tried to keep my post to Fresno St related threads. but hey, my daughter attends Cal.

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Then welcome to the thread Papa Bear....

GO BEARS!

I second the suggestion by BB of " Unbroken " by Hillenbrand. A very well written true story of Louie Zamperini, the great miler pre WW 2 from sc who is still living at 96.

Raisinsofwrath;534253 said:

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Hope I'm not barging in, have tried to keep my post to Fresno St related threads. but hey, my daughter attends Cal...

Just finished "the Mountains of California" by John Muir...

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All the best to your daughter in Berkeley, and sympathy to families forced to shoulder hugely unfair tuition rates in these dark days. Whoops, too preachy, right?

Mountains of California has a decades long honored place on our bookshelf, a classic choice, congratulations ROW. Hopefully I'm not confused with another volume [stuff happens when folks get too old, ya know?] but isn't there a scene there where Saint Muir climbs all the way up and out of the Yosy valley, after a tremendous snow storm, hell or high water intent to witness windblown snow banners off peaks in the far distance? He succeeds scoring the view, then, whoopsie, accidentally rides an express avalanche all the way (~4,000 feet!) back to the valley floor. And great thanks be given to Oski that JM was none the worse for the experience.

What moderns might not remember of the early days was, absent the internet (hyuck), or TV (chuckle) or even pics from their cell phone (yep, the running gag is getting old, soorry), the entire world could only visualize Sierra magic thru the gift of inspired imagery, such as John became rightfully famous for.

Whoops, too preachy by 10, once again sincere apologies tendered; thus endeth the lesson of the day.

Barging in grapesof, whoops - sorry, RaisinsOfWrath? Heck no, like Liverflukes said. AH clip: grab a brew.. don't cost nothin':


#EducationIsGood #WellMetWithNoInjuriesToEitherTeam #GoBears