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Book recommendations thread

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  • #362
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,052 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    MRnotlob606 wrote: »
    I know this is sort of back to basics but I'd recommend "The Prince" By niccolo machiavelli

    Would anyone be able to recommend a good translation? Might pick this up.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • #363
    Blowfish
    Registered Users Posts: 5,112 ✭✭✭Blowfish


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    Would anyone be able to recommend a good translation? Might pick this up.
    It's available for free on gutenberg.org.


  • #364
    CarrotFlowers
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭CarrotFlowers


    Could I get some recommendations for books on current affairs - specific to Ireland, as well as International. Also suggested resources for getting up-to-speed.

    Thanks in advance. Sorry I know it's a very broad question.


  • #365
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    CarrotFlowers wrote: »
    Could I get some recommendations for books on current affairs - specific to Ireland, as well as International. Also suggested resources for getting up-to-speed.

    Thanks in advance. Sorry I know it's a very broad question.

    In my opinion, the best way to understand history is to read the biographies of the men who shaped it. This has the advantage of implanting a consistent narrative and colourful personalities into the occasionally colourless facts and statistics of historical record, and makes the whole telling more satisfying & engaging.

    So that you could improve your knowledge of current affairs, I would recommend the following biographies, in chronological order of the time-period they cover:

    'Fianna Fail: a Biography of the Party', Noel Whelan
    'Lenihan: His Life and Loyalties', biography of Brian Lenihan Snr. by James Downey
    'Bertie Ahern: The Man Who Blew the Boom: Power & Money', by Colm Keena
    'Brian Lenihan: In Calm & Crisis', biography of Brian Lenihan Jr. by various contributors including Mary O'Rourke, Christine Lagarde, Mary McAleese, Noel Whelan

    In terms of international politics, I'd recommend
    'A Journey: My Political Life', autobiography of Tony Blair
    'Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas', by Edward Klein - if you get no other book from this list, get that one.
    'The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia', I've just read this and it's excellent; it chronicles the ascent of capitalism and the Russian oligarchs after the fall of the Soviet Union.


  • #366
    Right2waterMW
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Right2waterMW


    Right2water Midwest along with Limerick Says No to Water Charges, Meters and Policies of Austerity are holding a weekly March. We meet in Arthurs Quay Park every Sunday at 12.30 and we March at 13.00. You may ask why we do this. We do this because we oppose Irish Water and the imposition of Water Charges. We do not believe in a civilised society that Water should be turned into a commodity. However at all the mass demonstrations it has been mentioned more than once that it has become about more than Water Charges. In Ireland, Europe and the wider world we are fighting against the rampant Neo liberal agenda. The pursuit of profit above all else. This ideology is damaging people’s lives; it is damaging societies and economies. It is eroding democracies at an alarming rate. In Ireland the struggle against water charges is back on the agenda again with the creation of Irish Water.

    Communities against water charges recognise this threat from what we call Neo liberal capitalism and we feel we need to do something now to stop this. We believe access to water is a human right and commodification of water is an attack on Human Rights. We also know that the Neo liberals are looking to privatise not just water, but that they are coming for our Education System, Health System, and our Social Welfare System. We believe this has to be stopped and stopped now.

    The battle for Ireland’s water is a battle we that we are not going to lose. So in this regards we are inviting all like-minded people to join us every Sunday at Arthurs Quay Park Limerick as we March against the failed policy of Austerity in Ireland and also against water charges and Irish Water. See Facebook page Limerick Says No To Water Charges, Meters and Policies Of Austerity for more info

    There is an alternative available to the Irish people. You can read more about the Right2water policy principles that and also the fiscal frame work document.
    You can read more about the ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK FOR A PROGRESSIVE IRISH GOVERNMENT and the Right2ater policy principles by searching Right2water on Google


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  • #367
    Right2waterMW
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Right2waterMW


    Hi there

    I posted earlier it was titled " "Invitation to from Right2water Midwest" the thread seems to have been removed.

    Can you explain why ?


    Best regards;

    R2WMW

    Scofflaw wrote: »
    We've long had a policy of removing all petitions, calls to action, surveys, announcements of political meetings and new parties, etc etc, on the basis that they're not really appropriate to a discussion forum because they don't really generate discussion.

    However, as per the "in the news" thread, it seems more reasonable to give such posts a permanent home, since they may well be of interest to posters.

    So, if you are posting such things, this is now where you should post for them. If you're interested in them, this is where you should look, because this is where the mods will be sweeping them when people inevitably fail to do it themselves.

    cordially,
    Scofflaw


  • #368
    K-9
    Registered Users Posts: 43,311 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    Hi, stuff like calls to march or demonstrations go into this one thread, it's consistent policy on the politics board, that's why your post was moved here.

    Thanks.

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



  • #369
    gobsh!te
    Registered Users Posts: 333 ✭✭gobsh!te


    Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell


  • #370
    GeneralSherman
    Registered Users Posts: 109 ✭✭GeneralSherman


    Is this thread dead ?
    Please recommend a book about JFK ... his politics and term in office. I'm not interested in the SEX or the assassination theories. So many books about him it's hard to know what is worth a read.

    Thanks !


  • #371
    Listowel Man
    Registered Users Posts: 82 ✭✭Listowel Man


    the next book i am going to read is THE CHINAMAN by stephen leather

    its about a pacifist who takes on the IRA after one of their bombs kills his family

    it has been adapted for cinema starring pierce brosnan whose character has a beard and glasses like you know who


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  • #372
    demfad
    Registered Users Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭demfad


    'Winter is coming' by Garry Kasparov

    Based on Putin's Authoritanarianism in Russia. Important for understanding this especially in view of current ge global politics. (Written before TRump win)


  • #373
    laoch na mona
    Registered Users Posts: 2,965 ✭✭✭laoch na mona


    The age of Jihad by Patrick Cockburn, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a insight into how the current situation in the middle east has developed. He goes back to before the fall of Saddam


  • #374
    Inquitus
    Registered Users Posts: 13,729 ✭✭✭✭Inquitus


    ‘Mao’ by Jung Chang

    Read this on my summer holidays this year, fascinating read, Mao as portrayed in this book is an absolute Monster without even one mildly redeeming feature. We all know he was an awful tyrant, but even going into reading it knowing that, the truth is far worse than one could imagine. He is perhaps the most awful human being in all of modern history.


  • #375
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Inquitus wrote: »
    ‘Mao’ by Jung Chang

    Seconded, it's an excellent book. I can recommend her Wild Swans also, for a more personal perspective on modern Chinese history.

    I've just finished David Cay Johnston's The Making of Donald Trump. It manages to be shocking without being particularly surprising: like Mao, it paints a vivid picture of a man utterly without redeeming qualities.


  • #376
    Permabear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


  • #377
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,659 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    To get a somewhat better understanding of events in the Middle East I read the following and would recommend:
    Blood Year by David Kilculldn, an Australian COIN expert.
    The new threat by Jason Burke, Guardian journalist for that area.


  • #378
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Permabear wrote: »
    This post had been deleted.
    It might, if there were the hint of a suspicion that Trump does, in fact, have any redeeming qualities. But hey: if you think Art of the Deal paints a more realistic portrait, who am I to argue?


  • #379
    Permabear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


  • #380
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Permabear wrote: »
    This post had been deleted.
    Argumentum ad populum? Seriously? :)
    Personally, I try to stay away from tendentious books whose sole purpose is to paint their subjects as devils with no redeeming qualities, because they feed into black and white habits of thought that I don't like.
    I don't know that that was the book's purpose. It reads as a well-researched recitation of documented facts. I'm not convinced that it's the author's fault that the subject comes out of it looking as bad as he does.

    I've read things (admittedly, not entire books) that are complimentary of him. None of them seem to be grounded in anything but the authors' willingness to see Trump's faults as virtues.

    But, you're right: this isn't a Trump thread. I'm curious: how come you didn't level the same criticism at Jung Chang?


  • #381
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,052 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Mod: Permabear & OscarBravo, please feel free to move this to a new thread. I'd rather this thread remained solely dedicated to book recommendations.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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  • #382
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,052 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Mod: Listowel Man, if you'd like to discuss works of fiction, please take it to the Literature forum.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • #383
    patsman07
    Registered Users Posts: 282 ✭✭patsman07


    GeneralSherman wrote: »
    Is this thread dead ?
    Please recommend a book about JFK ... his politics and term in office. I'm not interested in the SEX or the assassination theories. So many books about him it's hard to know what is worth a read.

    Thanks !

    "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek. Comprehensively covers Kennedy's politics, he wasn't the liberal hero he has been made out to be.

    Has anyone read Douglas Murray's new book "The Strange Death of Europe"?
    Thinking of buying it.


  • #384
    marienbad
    Registered Users Posts: 9,463 ✭✭✭marienbad


    This Blessed Plot by Hugo Young

    Published in 19997 and tracing the UK's relationship with the EU from Churchill in 1945 to Blair in the 90's

    Came across it at a recycling centre and it was one of the more fascinating reads in recent times , how absolutely nothing in the arguments against and all the so called unknown pitfalls were and are all documented .

    Also shows how the natural scepticism of and adversarial system of Uk politics and committees will be a huge loss . The Uk will definitely be missed


  • #385
    Anatom
    Registered Users Posts: 1,164 ✭✭✭Anatom


    I've just finished "The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805 - 1905" by Ferdinand Mount. It follows the fortunes of the Low family from Scotland who, like so many others at the time, went out to India to serve with the British Army. A fascinating ready which shows how Britain's attitude to India changed over the years.


  • #386
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder is a short but excellent read.


  • #387
    todolist
    Registered Users Posts: 811 ✭✭✭todolist


    patsman07 wrote: »
    "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek. Comprehensively covers Kennedy's politics, he wasn't the liberal hero he has been made out to be.

    Has anyone read Douglas Murray's new book "The Strange Death of Europe"?
    Thinking of buying it.
    By todays standards JFK would be a Republican.The first thing he did as President was introduce a tax cut.The Democrats of today have nothing in common with Kennedy.They are so far to the left.


  • #388
    spacecoyote
    Registered Users Posts: 8,427 ✭✭✭spacecoyote


    http://voxeu.org/content/economics-and-policy-age-trump

    Just posted this in the Donald Trump thread, but given its a book, and might get lost in that thread, I thought I'd pop it up here in this thread too.


  • #389
    patsman07
    Registered Users Posts: 282 ✭✭patsman07


    todolist wrote: »
    By todays standards JFK would be a Republican.The first thing he did as President was introduce a tax cut.The Democrats of today have nothing in common with Kennedy.They are so far to the left.

    I disagree. I think he was a Liberal at heart, but political considerations always came before his Liberal ideals. He faced down Big Business in the form of Steel barons, on International Relations he was certainly more a dove than a hawk, with the exception of the Bay of Pigs, which he inherited from Eisenhower. Indeed had he lost the 1960 election, I shudder to think how Nixon would have handled the Missile Crisis.


  • #390
    daenne
    Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭daenne


    Hey. Any easy reads for someone who's not into reading books but is interested in the topics and wants to get into reading? Any suggestions? Ideally I'd love to read something so interesting it would suck me in and I wouldn't be able to put the book down until it's finished. Middle East/Africa/humanitarian themes/crises/development etc. Thanks!


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  • #391
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,052 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    daenne wrote: »
    Hey. Any easy reads for someone who's not into reading books but is interested in the topics and wants to get into reading? Any suggestions? Ideally I'd love to read something so interesting it would suck me in and I wouldn't be able to put the book down until it's finished. Middle East/Africa/humanitarian themes/crises/development etc. Thanks!

    I picked up Robert Fisk's book a few years back but it's a beastly tome and hard reading much of the time:

    The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East

    I also got Simon Sebag-Montefiore's biography of Jerusalem which is very well-written and I would highly recommend:

    Jerusalem: The Biography

    On the humanities front, there is Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind which is on my reading list and looks very good.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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