What are you currently reading?

[AndyD.]

The Tragic and the Ecstatic

Probably the best, most thorough book I've ever read on Tristan und Isolde (mostly the opera, but the old story as well). It's not super-scholarly, but the insights within insure it will take you weeks to get through it. I take that back, this is not one of those books you read to "just get through". It has too many fascinating insights that are meant to be chewed over thoroughly.

[Fëanor]

Can a book about mortgage bond mezzanine tranches, collateralized debt obligations, and credit default swaps be engrossing and fun to read?

Why, yes -- yes it can. Michael Lewis gets inside the minds of a few, eccentric individuals who shorted, (bet against), the subprime mortgage market and all its absurd derivatives, and made 100s of millions of dollars. Smarter than the rest of us, eh? A page-turner ...

Michael Lewis: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

[Philoctetes]

Bunch of books on China and United States relations.

[smitty1931]

The Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes by Barry Grant. Picked this up on the new shelf at the local library. Worth reading if you are a Holmes fan.

[The Diner]

A novel about dead guys walkin' around, eatin' the living folks.

[Florestan]

A novel about dead guys walkin' around, eatin' the living folks.

Should be the zillionth you read, ain't it?   

[The Diner]

Should be the zillionth you read, ain't it?   

I don't really read all that much zombie fiction, surprisingly enough. Damn that book was sick, yet I could not stop reading... Great job.

[Antoine Marchand]

[The Diner]

This, by a Facebook friend:

Quite good. The protagonist is a fat bastard, he is.

[SonicMan46]

Oxford History of Western Music - see the attachment!  Just received a catalog from Oxford University Press - this is now available as a 5-volume paperback edition as cheaply as $124 on the Amazon Marketplace - just curious if others have seen this massive effort - published for about 4-5x that amount as a hardback when released back in 2009.

SO, PLEASE PROVIDE SOME OPINIONS - I"M QUITE INTERESTED AT THIS PRICE! - thanks all - Dave

[Drasko]

Merchant of Venice, in Serbian translation, 'Serbian Literary Co-op' edition from 1943 (during German occupation). In foreword translator Svetislav Stefanovic says that 'necessary' changes and corrections of both text and foreword were made for this edition. The biggest 'necessary change' I noticed is that Shylock's act III monologue is gone completely (Hath not a Jew eyes? ...). Haven't yet noticed any other major excisions.
I'm always fascinated by these kinds of silent witnesses of times.     

[smitty1931]

The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Common sense approach to Religion. Subtitle is Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Recommended.

[SonicMan46]

The Medieval World at War (2009), ed. by Matthew Bennett - this is a wonderful looking book (I have a fascination w/ this time period) - an expensive book on release but just $13 for me from the History Book Club (and a hardback copy) - 

[Florestan]

Merchant of Venice, in Serbian translation, 'Serbian Literary Co-op' edition from 1943 (during German occupation). In foreword translator Svetislav Stefanovic says that 'necessary' changes and corrections of both text and foreword were made for this edition. The biggest 'necessary change' I noticed is that Shylock's act III monologue is gone completely (Hath not a Jew eyes? ...). Haven't yet noticed any other major excisions.
I'm always fascinated by these kinds of silent witnesses of times.     

Interesting information.

As an aside, could you please let me know whether there is any difference between Mletacka and Venecija and what's the origin of the former word?

[Drasko]

As an aside, could you please let me know whether there is any difference between Mletacka and Venecija and what's the origin of the former word?

There is some difference, but nothing is very clear cut. Mletačka Republika is Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrian) name for Venetian Republic, and Mleci, Mlečani or Mlečići for its citizens. And that would be more commonly used form in everyday speech - e.g. we are in war with Mleci (not we are in war with Mletačka Republika), you came back from Mletaka, you traded with Mlecima ...
On the other hand Venecija is the name of the city itself (and always was), and today, when there is no more Venetian Republic, when you refer to the denizens of Venice you'd say Venecijanci, not Mleci.
I don't know the etymology of the word, and I'm not even sure that there is a very clear one. The one I heard but strikes me as far-out is Latini (another name used for Venetians) -> Latte -> Mleko -> Mlečići. 

[Florestan]

There is some difference, but nothing is very clear cut. Mletačka Republika is Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrian) name for Venetian Republic, and Mleci, Mlečani or Mlečići for its citizens. And that would be more commonly used form in everyday speech - e.g. we are in war with Mleci (not we are in war with Mletačka Republika), you came back from Mletaka, you traded with Mlecima ...
On the other hand Venecija is the name of the city itself (and always was), and today, when there is no more Venetian Republic, when you refer to the denizens of Venice you'd say Venecijanci, not Mleci.
I don't know the etymology of the word, and I'm not even sure that there is a very clear one. The one I heard but strikes me as far-out is Latini (another name used for Venetians) -> Latte -> Mleko -> Mlečići.

Thanks for this very informative reply. Indeed that etymology sounds rather far-fetched, and this Wikipedia note isn't very helpful either. Anyway, it's interesting that Serbo-Croatian use for the historical Venetian state and its citizens a name that is not derived from "Venezia". I am not aware of any other language with this feature.

[val]

MICHEL ONFRAY:         "Le Crepuscule d'une idole"         (2010)

After his attacks on religion, now Onfray writes a devastating book against Freud. I agree with Onfray that Freud theories are not really scientific, but belong more to a philosophical tradition that started with Schopenhauer. But saying that those theories are just an expression of Freud's inner ghosts seems very exaggerated and established with a very parcial selection of proofs.

[Drasko]

I am not aware of any other language with this feature.

Neiter am I. Now you got me curious about the etymology of the name. Friend of mine teaches linguistics at university, maybe he'll know or know who will know. I'll ask him next time I see him.

[Florestan]

Neiter am I. Now you got me curious about the etymology of the name. Friend of mine teaches linguistics at university, maybe he'll know or know who will know. I'll ask him next time I see him.

Please do. I'm curious too. 

[Fëanor]

Just finished ...

Robert B. Reich: Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future



... Wherein the author argues that the economic malaise which has effected the US increasingly over the last 1/4 century, is fundamentally cause by the middle class having too little income to sustain the growth of the economy. The middle class' standard of living has only been sustained 'till now by them working more, harder, and longer, and by borrowing. However since the "Great Recession" of 2008-2009, they have essentially reached the limits of what these expedients can provide.

As for the causes, Reich primarily blames reduced taxation and other privileges granted by Congress to the rich. In turn, Reich blames that on the increasing influence of campaign contributions by the rich, lobbyists, and acculturation of members of Congress to the wealthiest class.

So far I'm in perfect agreement with Robert Reich, but I'm not so sure of the feasibility of the remedies he suggests.

Reich suggests a number of programs; to name the principal ones:

   
• "Reverse income tax", i.e. actually payout to very low income people, and more or less lower taxes up to $160k of income
• Higher taxes those above that mark, including equal rates on capital gains as on other income
• A "carbon tax"
• Universal Medicare.

I agree that these measures might work if they could be implemented. However they can't be. "Reverse income tax" in the USA? Please. Americans believe their country is one of "boundless opportunity" where anyone can make it: the corollary is that if you don't make it you're a listless bum and undeserving of any consideration.

Reich is optimistic that American will see the light and get back to a more sensible course but I'm not sure at all. E.g. he believes that American CEOs will wake up and see that it is ultimately in their interest to support measures such as he describes. This is a daydream. The very rich today see themselves as global players, no longer reliant on, or beholden to, their fellow citizens. They simply what to grab as much from the middle-class as they can and invest where ever in the world they can squeeze out a few more basis points of return.