Suggested reading?

Submitted by wojtek on December 30, 2016

I recall starting a similar thread, but i can't find it :/ what are reading currently (it can be any genre)? Do you have a book you recommend?

jondwhite

7 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jondwhite on December 30, 2016

Demanding the Impossible by Peter Marshall had a major influence on my political understanding. It is hefty though.

adri

7 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on December 31, 2016

I had a very Chomsky christmas this year. I got Manufacturing Consent and Who Rules the World?. I also got Guérin's Anarchism, with of course an introduction by Chomsky.

wojtek

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on January 13, 2017

Svetlana Alexievich's journalism <3
https://granta.com/boys-in-zinc/

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/from-second-hand-time-by-svetlana-alexievich-1/

She gave a fascinating lecture at Oxford University:
https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/elliot-lecture-history-russian-soviet-soul

potrokin

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by potrokin on January 13, 2017

I have recently been reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, it's a fictional book about life before and during colonialism in Africa, I found it to be a very good book. I've recently started reading A Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde for Uni aswell, it's a moral examination of extreme egoism. As for books about anarchism I would very much recommend What Is Anarchism? by Alexander Berkman and the Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin. I would also recommend Anarchy by Malatesta and Anarchy In Action by Colin Ward. Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich is great aswell.

potrokin

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by potrokin on January 13, 2017

jondwhite

Demanding the Impossible by Peter Marshall had a major influence on my political understanding. It is hefty though.

Thats a very good book.

sabot

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by sabot on January 13, 2017

You talking about this thread?:
http://libcom.org/forums/history-culture/what-are-you-reading-24052010

There's also libcom's reading list:
http://libcom.org/library/libcomorg-reading-guide

This list is decent too:
https://edensauvage.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/reading-list-for-aspiring-ultra-lefts/

Khawaga

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on January 14, 2017

Political Economy of Slavery by Genovese. A book on Machine Learning, and the first book in Ken MacLeod's Corporation Wars series. All good so far.

tigersiskillers

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by tigersiskillers on January 14, 2017

potrokin

jondwhite

Demanding the Impossible by Peter Marshall had a major influence on my political understanding. It is hefty though.

Thats a very good book.

I disagree. It's years since I read it, but the aim of the book seems to be to outline a historical anarchist current dating back through history, rather than focus on the fact that the concrete Anarchist movement came from the workers movement - it's inherently anti-capitalist, not just anti-state. He wants to build this broader picture that can encompass taoism etc because his project is a big tent 'anarchism without adjectives'. Hence the inclusion of non-anarchists like Gandhi. I think he's even more explicit about this in the more recent editions (I have an old copy).

This doesn't mean there's not good material in the book, just that to be a good book you'd have to rip out half the chapters and add in a lot more about capitalism and class.

wojtek

7 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on January 27, 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/08/britains-secret-wars-oman

adri

7 years 1 month ago

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Submitted by adri on January 31, 2017

I just finished Wolff's Capitalism's Crisis Deepens. It's a nice overview of American capitalism since the Great Depression and the New Deal policies that were implemented then (the rise and fall of Keynesianism and then Neoliberalism in the 70s onward). I'm not too keen on his cooperative ideas within a market system or the Marxian approach he takes when talking about things (saying that traditional socialist countries "socialized" rather than nationalized the means of production, stuff like that, etc.) I think he's reinventing the wheel a bit, often pointing out the failures of "traditional socialism" like the Soviet Union which just gave economic decision-making over to state officials, rather than just aligning himself with the libertarian socialist tradition.

I was thinking about reading Rudolf Rocker's Anarcho-Syndicalism next.

wojtek

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on February 14, 2017

Long read about Poland and immigration:
https://granta.com/a-land-without-strangers/

adri

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on February 16, 2017

Dean Baker's Conservative Nanny State. Putting aside his liberal economic prescriptions and celebration of markets, he fulfills the book's title thesis quite well, showing how conservatives are in favor of government intervention only when it benefits corporations and the rich (and of course not the mass of people.)

Tom Henry

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Tom Henry on February 16, 2017

The Foundation Pit; Jude the Obscure; Spinoza's Ethics; Archaeology of Violence; ...

Khawaga

7 years 1 month ago

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Submitted by Khawaga on February 28, 2017

Nick Bostrum's Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Quite interesting so far, though a bit dry. The book basically points out how a superintelligence could develop, whether it would be hostile or not etc. So basically a sophisticated Skynet argument.

In general, I am reading lots on AI these days.

petey

7 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by petey on March 1, 2017

i read kier hardie's pamphlet on marx that was put up here lately. flowery stuff, i was ready to be done with it by the time i got to the last page.

adri

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on April 25, 2017

I obtained these recently: Capital (first time having a paperback copy, though I've read most of Part 1 before), The Great Transformation, Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Worker's Councils, Kronstadt and The Russian Anarchists by Paul Avrich. Most of you are probably already familiar with these. I regret not getting a reading guide for Capital, which I'd recommend to help make sense of it all. I've been making do with this for the time being, http://libcom.org/library/reading-guide-capital-simon-clarke.

Auld-bod

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Auld-bod on May 2, 2017

If you’re looking for an interesting page turner this summer, I’d recommend Stuart Cosgrove’s, ‘Detroit 67 - The Year That Changed Soul’ (2016).

The book is a tapestry of interweaving histories of the city. The author uses the Motown label as a connecting thread, though it is the city that is at the centre of the story. The chapter titles will give an idea of the scope of the book: January: Snow; February: Crime; March: Home; April: Love; May: Strike; June: War; July: Riot, etc.

There is a lot of material new to me, like ‘the blue flu’, when the police banned from striking, reported unfit for duty. Or the July ‘ballistic lynching’ of three black teenagers at the Algiers Motel.

It is well written and even if it sometimes appears to go off at a tangent Cosgrove tugs the pieces back into place.

Khawaga

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on May 2, 2017

I regret not getting a reading guide for Capital, which I'd recommend to help make sense of it all. I've been making do with this for the time being, http://libcom.org/library/reading-guide-capital-simon-clarke.

Get Michael Heinrich's intro. It's also available on this site.

adri

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on May 2, 2017

Khawaga

I regret not getting a reading guide for Capital, which I'd recommend to help make sense of it all. I've been making do with this for the time being, http://libcom.org/library/reading-guide-capital-simon-clarke.

Get Michael Heinrich's intro. It's also available on this site.

I actually downloaded that from the site and have been reading it at work during breaks on my phone (fitting place to read about capitalism), haha. I'm really liking it so far, not too overly complicated, though I'm sure some people here have their problems with Heinrich.

Khawaga

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on May 2, 2017

though I'm sure some people here have their problems with Heinrich.

Some people, sure, but his books has mostly been well-received here. The English translator even used to post here. My main gripe with that book is how little space he devotes to circulation, which is typical for most Marxists but untypical for value-form folks (hence, my disappointment).

Entdinglichung

6 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Entdinglichung on May 3, 2017

have started reading Philipp Scheidemann's Das historische Versagen der SPD. Schriften aus dem Exil ('The historical failure of the SPD. Writings from the Exile'), ... Scheidemann, a mainstream social democrat was the first republican prime minister of Germany 1918/19 but side-lined by his party after 1920 (still being a backbench MP and lord-mayor of his home city Kassel), with his exile writings (only published in 2002, more then 60 years after his death), he tries to provide an honest reckoning of the failures of his party (and his own political activities) especially in 1918/19 and 1932/33

adri

6 years 9 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on June 27, 2017

Simon Reynolds' Rip it up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984.

potrokin

6 years 9 months ago

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Submitted by potrokin on June 27, 2017

I've just finished reading Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle and before that the latest part of his autobiographies, Thatcher Stole My Trousers- both a good read and a good laugh.

potrokin

6 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by potrokin on July 27, 2017

I started reading Metro 2033 today. Really enjoying it.

jef costello

6 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on July 27, 2017

Just finished Freedomland by Richard Price, it's pretty good, it does wrap up its main plotline but like most Price novels a lot of ideas and thoughts seem unfinished, not plotlines exactly, it depends on my mood whether I like the openness or get pissed off by the lack of closure, I think in this case it shows good writing in that there is a lot that we would like to meanr more about and don't, and that is part of the point of the story, again as it usually is with Price. It is pretty interesting in terms of the relationship between race and police.

A maiden weeping by Jeri Westerson, mediaeval noir series, they are getting sillier and more formulaic as the series goes on (shorter too it seems) but they are enjoyable enough, I'll probably read the next one when it comes out. A little nod to gay rights every so often too, the author also writes LBGT erotica.

A couple by Iceberg Slim - some stunningly clunky dialogue and rather cliched plots but some compelling moments in spite of the rather grim and unpleasant world, mainly due to all the pimping. Doesn't teach you much about that world really, I think one book is about all you need to read.

City of Quartz: interesting book about L.A. I feel like I have said this before. It's from a class struggle perspective and looks into the various land/labour/tenants movements and the general wielding of power.

The Haha Dave King, interesting book about a vietnam vet who can't talk due to a brain injury and how his life suddenly changes when he has to look after his ex grilfriend's son. Sounds clichéd but it well-written even if the end doesn't quite ring true and leaves one or two quite important threads hanging. Worth a read just becuase the feeling of entering into the head of someone that is incapable of talking is very interesting.

jef costello

6 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on August 17, 2017

Six days of the condor, Quite a fun action novel that was later made into a film. Lazy graduate ends up working as an analyst for the CIA and his job is basically to read novels to look for for new plots and security leaks, then all his colleagues get assassinated and he goes on the run.

Meat Joseph D'Lacey : seems like a heavy-handed vegan analogy and is one. Not a bad book but raising humans for meat is a bit silly and the book gets silliers.

Child 44: feels like someone lifted huge chunks of Gorky Park and Citizen X to make this, it does trivialise Chikatilo who killed at least 40 kids. The author also pretty much admits that he had to make the killer unrealistic to make the story interesting which is pretty much admitting that he is using something pretty terrible for shock value to hang on an uninspired story.

Children of Men PD James: Not bad but basically creates an interesting world and then decides to do very little with it. Also at one point the character explicitly tells someone else not to make it into a christian allegory but the ending is full of cheap christian imagery. Someone else should have taken over with 50 pages to go.

Long white con : Iceberg Slim. Stunningly bad dialogue and uneven, frequently awful prose. NBot reading any more by this guy.

Cool Hand Luke : more christian imagery/allegory but a good read, not always enjoyable as it is about how prison is designed to break you as part of a society that breaks you.

adri

6 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on September 5, 2017

I unexpectedly got an issue of the Socialist Standard in the mail after signing up on their website. Didn't think they'd mail it to me for free, especially when I live in the States... I'm guessing the first time is complimentary or something.

silent_starling

6 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by silent_starling on September 14, 2017

I'm reading The Success of Open Source by Steven Weber. I was kind of expecting it to be biased or propagandistic, but it turned out to be more objective and academic, which I really like.

So many other books mentioned in this thread... and so little time for reading! I wish I could read them all.

twinshia_BKNN

6 years 6 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by twinshia_BKNN on September 14, 2017

I am reading On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky and plan to read Bakunin's Selected Texts afterward.

adri

5 years 10 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on June 2, 2018

Nietzsche and Anarchy, anonymously authored book published by Active/Elephant Editions. It tries relating Nietzschean ideas to anarchism (also pointing out their influence on certain anarchists, e.g. Goldman and Rocker). Not that knowledgeable about Nietzsche myself. I don't think the author has a very good understanding of anarchist communism, however, with passages like these:

Anarchy, as I understand it, means: no domination. No rulers, and no slaves. For Nietzsche, this is a laughable idea. Many would agree with him. Nietzsche thinks: every project that presents itself as a project of freedom is really just another project of domination in disguise – if it succeeds in overcoming the stronger forces that are currently dominating it, it will become a new tyrant in turn. Just look at the histories of christianity, democracy, socialism, or whatever other social movement.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/shahin-nietzsche-and-anarchy
https://www.akpress.org/nietzscheandanarchy.html

wojtek

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on December 10, 2018

Anyone read this already?
https://deepvellum.org/product/the-anarchist-who-shared-my-name/

cactus9

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by cactus9 on December 14, 2018

I'm just reading "Hired", it's about low wage Britain. The 1st chapter is very good.

blackrails

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by blackrails on December 14, 2018

I quite recently read ’New Forms of Worker Organization: The Syndicalist and Autonomist Restoration of Class-Struggle Unionism’ by Ness/Lynd, and can recommend it.
It was a little scary to read the part about Russia and how their new-ish anti striking laws has affected the situation, since that’s happening here in Sweden now.

jef costello

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on December 15, 2018

Rivethead - Ben Hamper. About working the assembly line at GM during the end of the peak days into the 80s. Pretty interesting stuff by a pretty interesting guy, even though there is still a fair bit of misogyny.

Neuromancer - William Gibson. This book is why every film has a ridiculous idea of what computer hacking is. That said the book is well worth a read, I've been reading a bit of older sci fi over the last year and enjoying it.

Dynamo - Tariq Goddard. I quite liked this, about the competition between the factory team and the secret police team. I feel like I've mentioned this before, the writer thinks the real story ahd a happy ending when the guy lost his whole family to the purges. Anyway the book is quite good. Worth a pound fromm a charity shop anyway.

adri

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on January 21, 2019

I got a copy of Ken Knabb's Situationist International Anthology which I look forward to reading at some point.

I was also reading Kautsky's Economic Doctrines of Marx, which probably makes me a heretic and traitor, to supplement my re-reading of Marx's Capital. Does anyone know if this is actually worth reading or would it be better sticking with Heinrich's or someone else's intro to Capital? I don't see much issue with it as far as the section on commodities goes. Lenin apparently liked it as well according to the note on MIA (if that's what's trying to be said here):

Despite Lenin’s denunciation of Kautsky this book was considered such an excellent introduction to its subject that it was still being used as a text-book at the Lenin School in Moscow in 1931. This translation is that of 1925 republished by the NCLC in 1936.

Khawaga

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on January 17, 2019

Does anyone know if this is actually worth reading or would it be better sticking with Heinrich's or someone else's intro to Capital?

Never hurts to read different interpretations of it. When I first read through Capital, I used Harvey's lectures, which I now have major issues with, but they still helped me. I am sure you'd get something out of Kautsky, though Heinrich's intro is the best (I do have issues with it, however, like how he spends only ten pages on all of Volume 2...).

adri

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on January 17, 2019

Khawaga

Does anyone know if this is actually worth reading or would it be better sticking with Heinrich's or someone else's intro to Capital?

Never hurts to read different interpretations of it. When I first read through Capital, I used Harvey's lectures, which I now have major issues with, but they still helped me. I am sure you'd get something out of Kautsky, though Heinrich's intro is the best (I do have issues with it, however, like how he spends only ten pages on all of Volume 2...).

What's wrong with his lectures exactly (something with this I guess)? I saw a few minutes of his video lectures and read his 17 Contradictions book; I think I took issue with his representation of anarchists at one point. It seems he has a new book on Capital out: A Companion to Marx's Capital: Complete Edition.

Khawaga

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on January 18, 2019

Yes, I think the cristicuffs review is spot on. He just doesn't appreciate the value form or understand abstract labour at all, so on some very key concepts he just doesn't explain things at all. His understanding of the commodity fetish is off (as often happens, he confuses it for the money fetish) and in general doesn't seem to understand that all economic forms are fetishes that leads to inverted behaviour or skewed thinking. There was more, but it's been years ago since I listened to his lectures, so I can't remember. Still, I don't think they're bad (and in some parts are actually quite good for someone who is new to Marx's analysis), and I think one of Harvey's later books (the madness of economic reason) is quite good in explaining capital as a total system and how it leads to irrational behaviour.

Oh, I found 17 Contradictions to be a mixed bag; it is certainly not for a beginner, he rambles at times, uses strange examples, and the various chapters seems to fizzle out. He doesn't really explain what contradictions really are and how they are resolved, so again, like most of the stuff I've read by him, it's a mixed bag of some really good stuff and some stuff that will just confuse you.

It seems he has a new book on Capital out: A Companion to Marx's Capital: Complete Edition.

Is it new or is it just the omnibus of the companions to Vol 1 and Vols 2 and 3?

Agent of the I…

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Agent of the I… on January 18, 2019

Khawaga

It seems he has a new book on Capital out: A Companion to Marx's Capital: Complete Edition.

Is it new or is it just the omnibus of the companions to Vol 1 and Vols 2 and 3?

It's an omnibus, combining volumes one and two of A Companion to Marx's Capital. It's probably convenient if you prefer physical copies of books.

adri

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on January 21, 2019

Khawaga

Yes, I think the cristicuffs review is spot on. He just doesn't appreciate the value form or understand abstract labour at all, so on some very key concepts he just doesn't explain things at all. His understanding of the commodity fetish is off (as often happens, he confuses it for the money fetish) and in general doesn't seem to understand that all economic forms are fetishes that leads to inverted behaviour or skewed thinking. There was more, but it's been years ago since I listened to his lectures, so I can't remember. Still, I don't think they're bad (and in some parts are actually quite good for someone who is new to Marx's analysis), and I think one of Harvey's later books (the madness of economic reason) is quite good in explaining capital as a total system and how it leads to irrational behaviour.

Thanks, I'll be wary of all that when I get to reading his Companion. I'm still enjoying the Kautsky book at the moment (still on part 1); I think it does a good job getting across ideas presented in Capital, especially with all the examples it uses. It feels like a lot of Marx's analysis is beginning to sink in, which I don't guess happens immediately after reading through Capital once (or Heinrich and others for that matter...).

This seems like a good description of commodity fetishism from Kautsky:

As soon, however, as various kinds of work were carried on by individuals independently of each other, as soon, therefore, as production became planless, the relations of producers to each other appeared as the relations of products. Henceforth the determination of the relations of producers to each other no longer rested with themselves; these relations developed independently of the wills of men; the social powers grew over their heads. To the simple intelligences of past centuries they seemed to be divine powers, and to later enlightened centuries they seemed to be the powers of Nature.

The natural forms of commodities are now invested with qualities which seem to be mystical, in so far as they cannot be explained from the relations of producers to each other. Just as the fetish worshipper ascribed to his fetish qualities which had no existence in its natural constitution, so to bourgeois economy the community seems a sensuous thing endowed with supersensuous qualities. Marx calls this “the fetishism attaching to labour products when they present themselves as commodities – a fetishism which is inseparable from the mode of production."

adri

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on January 24, 2019

The translation is a bit suspect though, not sure who Mary is:

It is therefore understandable why Mary excluded merchant’s capital and interest-bearing capital from the first two volumes of Capital; these books are devoted to an analysis of the basic laws of capital.

Agent of the I…

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Agent of the I… on January 24, 2019

What's a good book on the history of feminist ideas, one that explains the waves and different competing schools of thought that it encompasses? I guess I'm looking for something that is sort of academic but from a socialist perspective. I've read Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks, which I thought was okay. It doesn't fit what I'm looking for though.

jura

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jura on January 24, 2019

Lise Vogel's Marxism and the Oppression of Women covers the marxist part. It's not a history of feminism per se, though.

R Totale

5 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on January 25, 2019

For socialist feminist history, you might want to try Sheila Rowbotham? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Rowbotham

Not sure exactly what book'd best suit what you're looking for, but Hidden from History: 300 years of Women's Oppression and the Fight against it and/or The Past is Before Us: Feminism in Action since the 1960s might be relevant?

wojtek

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on March 20, 2019

New non-fiction writing from Sweden:
https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2019-sweden-kopparbergsvaegen-20-mathias-rosenlund-saskia-vogel

https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2019-who-dreams-of-us-new-swedish-language-writing-saskia-vogel

adri

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on March 21, 2019

Goetia's "Capitalism is Awfully Nice" in Fifth Estate (basically deals with how everyone is inauthentic, phony kiss-asses under capitalism). Mostly rings true but I think it's lacking in its critique of capitalism. FE's politics generally are a mess (anarcho primitivist type stuff etc.; I don't think consistency in politics is really what they're going for to be fair) and nothing I'd really recommend.

Sike

4 years 12 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Sike on April 2, 2019

Any opinions about Otto Ruhle's abridged version of Capital? I've seen mixed opinions of it.

adri

4 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by adri on April 28, 2019

Sike

Any opinions about Otto Ruhle's abridged version of Capital? I've seen mixed opinions of it.

I'd be interested in that too.

Also if anyone has recommendations for guides/commentaries to volumes 2 and 3 of Capital i'd be very grateful. I was kind of looking for something like Cleaver's chapter-by-chapter commentary to volume 1 that he has here

http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/357k/357ksg.html

Raphael

4 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Raphael on May 4, 2019

I like Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread, Mark Bray's Antifa, Thomas Picketty's Capital in the 21st Century and Neil Faulkner's A Radical History of the World