Ok, this thread can be for every kind of literature, from novels to comics and both printed as well as audiobooks. Throw your recommendations or reviews or just tell us about your feelings about something you are just reading/listening. Because we are sim racing and motor sport fans, I start with the proper subject and here's something I just got for myself: These books are obviously second hand and they were published by Autocourse back in the days CART was alive and well. I must say that these are awesome stuff for someone, who is interested in CART series or a general motorsport fan. There is everything in these pages, such as some technical stuff, driver analysis and of course full review of season races and results. Huge amount of text is complemented with high quality photography, some of them the best I've seen in motorsport. Just by browsing these books, you can immediately see how well estabilished, competitive and simply awesome the 90's CART series was. And more so, it also makes the quick demise of the series in the 2000's even more baffling if not tragic in the scope of motorsports history. Series was well and alive when these books were printed, but the seeds for the inevitable end were already planted, like the CART/IRL split in 1996 and 1998 public stock offering of the CART organization. But CART was trluy an international series, top of the line only shadowed by the F1, combining beatifully some of the best oval and both permanent and temporary road course tracks in North America and also in other parts of the world. At some point, CART offered another path way for skilled open wheel drivers that couldn't for some reason get big team seat in F1. For example, Alex Zanardi, who raced in F1 from 1991-94, won both championships during the seasons depicted in the books. He transferred back to F1 and Williams for the 1999 season and later came back to race in CART for a while until his serious injury and foot amputation in 2001. I really love the modern Indycar racing as it offers some of the best open wheel racing at the moment, but just by looking at these pages, it is obvious how damaging the US open wheel Civil War was to the sports in North America. Most of the sponsors and public switched to the growing Nascar during the 90's and 2000's and Indycar is a mere shadow of the CART glory days, although series has growing interest and TV ratings in the states. It is still long way to go.
Only the good die young, but let's keep this thread alive! Hope someone is still reading books. Also something about motorsport,with tons of fotos an facts. I'm reading just a chapter a day! So it might last a little longer. GROUP 5 There's another about Group C, i'm gonna get.
ZANARDI!!!!!! my favorite driver of that era. I would watch Bobby Labonte in NASCAR and then watch Zanardi in CART
"Oh freddled gruntbuggly thy micturations are to me As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee. Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes. And booptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles, Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!" Unforgettable lines of Vogon poetry in An absurd story about a hitchiker's guide and 42 being the answer to the great question of life, the universe and everything. More about the pan galactic gargle blaster, the infinite improbability drive, the reason why Norway has fjords in the book or here. Five brilliant novels by Douglas Adams. I couldn't stop read and I couldn't stop smile. I think I read it 5 or 6 times meanwhile.
I just finished in audiobook form Kurt Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools: It is a story about Enron scandal, IMO the most fascinating corporate scandal of all time. Just before CoF I finished the more famous Smartest Guys in the Room, which made into a documentary film also. Both books offer great view into the twisted corporate culture of Enron. Still, they are very different. SGitR is almost traditional chronology of Enron corp. and of the main actors in the company. However, CoF throws in a story of persons. Eichenwald has used lot's of interviews and with those, has reconstructed conversations and feelings of people working in Enron while both books also rely heavily on official documents both from the company and government. Interestingly both books also deliver very different view on the demise of the Enron: while SGitR is sort of very black-and-white, painting most of the Enron directors greedy (which many definitely were) and pretty much criminal in their negligence of the management of the corporation, CoF on the otherhand tells a story of utmost incompetence of the leadership and Enron CFO, Andy Fastow, was the with couple of his closest employees, the actual bad guy. It is difficult to say which portrayal is more correct, but as the world usually isn't just black or white, I tend to lean more to the CoF side although mere incompetence of the directors or board just can't explain everything. Many of the directors were later on indicted and were thrown in to a prison, so wide spread criminality is obvious. I highly recommend both books if you are interested in corporate mismanagement, business ethics or white collar crime in general. Heck, if you are interested in disaster stories like sinking of Titanic, you'll love both books. I'd suggest first reading the SGitR, as it is much clearer on its timeline of events and explains better how different decisions led to something. With the basic understanding of the events, CoF is much easier to follow and as said, digs deeper on the people of Enron. Both books can throw in some pretty complicated accounting stuff, but evertything is manageable even if you aren't a professional. Google is your friend here if you want to get more clear in details on "off book partnerships", "related parties" and other financial stuff and how Enron used all of them to "cook the books".
Jacques Rancière: Disagreement Probably should have said at least something bout it. If you're interested in (political) philosophy this is one of those modern pamphlets (in its best sense) that can change your view of what politics is. It's not an easy read, but it's one of radical theory's more accessible contributions. "The people are nothing more than the undifferentiated mass of those who have no positive qualification - no wealth, no virtue - but who are nonetheless acknowledged to enjoy the same freedom as those who do. The people who make up the people are in fact simply free like the rest. Now it is this simple identity with those who are otherwise superior to them in all things that gives them a specific qualification. The demos attributes to itself as its proper lot the equality that belongs to all citizens." It offers very interesting insights on how political societies work in their core and why actual politics only occurs once those who have no speech and no freedom openly declare their equality with those who have the say, once those who are not counted as being part of a demos emancipate themselves and include themselves in the calculation of the demos. "Politics occurs because, or when, the natural order of the shepherd kings, the warlords, or property owners is interrupted by a freedom that crops up and makes real the ultimate equality on which any social order rests. But this initial logos is tainted with a primary contradiction. There is order in society because some people command and others obey, but in order to obey an order at least two things are required: you must understand the order and you must understand that you must obey it. And to do that, you must already be the equal of the person who is ordering you. It is this equality that gnaws away at any natural order." If those two quotes didn't make you scream or fall asleep I think you should give it a go, at least the first 3 chapters (60 small pages ) on which Rancière describes his principles of politics, police and disagreement.
LeMans coming up. I picked my LeMans magazin from last year. A great voyage through the decades with impressive pictures and interesting reports. In the beginning the dominant Bentleys The 50's with the tragic battle between Mercedes an Jaguar Porsche with the 917 Porsche with the 956/962 Sauber Mercedes with the C9 british fans always a bit special Mazda takes the chance with the 787B BMW V12 LMR, the last winner before 2000 Spectacular take offs see the lucky guy in the right corner Kudos to Tom Kristensen!
Revisiting Master and Margarita (Мастер и Маргарита) by Michail Bulgakow atm. As I tried to write a somewhat fitting yet comprehensive synopsis I realized I couldn't, cause....well, it's one of the greatest books ever written, period. It has everything, from love-story to meta-lyricism, system criticism at its best, it's funny as hell (^^), features talking cats and the devil himself, and on a sidenote it delivers a very well-though new evangelion. One of my 10 must reads. You can find full text versions in English and German if you know how to use a search engine, but I'd encourage everyone to go out and buy a copy. It is really worth it, something you will talk about (and recommend) to all your friends. Seriously.