Books you're reading (64 Viewers)

Shoryuken

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2005
1,418
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Not exactly a fun reading but still quite interesting and important if i ever decide to run for politics and engage in war-like activity.:D

Nah but seriously this book was written by a man in the 1500-1600(im not good with remebering years) century. Niccolo wrote a "To do" book that was written for a king in italy which was going to help the king to rule his kingdom in the ebst possible way.

Its topics include everything from how to gain power to how to be loved by the people.

It was an interesting read and actually gave me a new way of handling my friends that always want to borrow money from me.:cheesy:
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,786
++ [ originally posted by swag ] ++
I started reading Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World. It's nothing exceptional so far per se, but it's a very good read. I'm still on the section going over the Ultras and the crime bosses associated with Red Star Belgrade after the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 90s. Definitely a page-turner.
OK... I just finished this book while on vacation (or if you prefer, "holiday" :p ) recently. Some good chapters about corruption in Brasil and how naive Pele was about everything, the twisted social politics behind Rangers-Celtic matches, and some funny stuff about Nigerians playing in the Ukraine. The author makes a good case for why he is a Barca fan and everyone else might want to be, his chapter on soccer and Islam is pretty encouraging, and I think he's spot on with his analysis of soccer in America.

But he completely put the blinders on when it comes to Italian football. In fact, I would argue that it easily represents his worst and most myopic chapter in the entire book. Part of the problem could have been timing -- he talks about his experience at the AC Milan clubhouse two days after the 2003 CL Final. So he characterizes Italian soccer today as if it's still stuck in the 1940s with catenaccio and that all matches end 1-0, as if teams like Lecce don't even exist. Worse yet, IMO, is his generalization that Italian football is bankrupt (part true), corrupt (part true), and has no redeeming qualities for which to say anything positive (completely bogus).

The irony here is that he clearly identifies groups of Americans who literally hate soccer (actively, and who are not just passively ambivalent about it) as a gut-level reaction to it without ever really watching the sport. And yet he is 100% guilty himself of pursuing only a one-dimensional pre-/mis-conception about Italian football, chosing a thesis and only seeking out the evidence to support it... ignoring anything else.

I still recommend the book. But you have to ignore the fact that he has barely lifted a finger to look beyond stereotypes in a few instances, particularly around Serie A.
 

Rami

The Linuxologist
Dec 24, 2004
8,065
++ [ originally posted by swag ] ++


OK... I just finished this book while on vacation (or if you prefer, "holiday" :p ) recently. Some good chapters about corruption in Brasil and how naive Pele was about everything, the twisted social politics behind Rangers-Celtic matches, and some funny stuff about Nigerians playing in the Ukraine. The author makes a good case for why he is a Barca fan and everyone else might want to be, his chapter on soccer and Islam is pretty encouraging , and I think he's spot on with his analysis of soccer in America.

But he completely put the blinders on when it comes to Italian football. In fact, I would argue that it easily represents his worst and most myopic chapter in the entire book. Part of the problem could have been timing -- he talks about his experience at the AC Milan clubhouse two days after the 2003 CL Final. So he characterizes Italian soccer today as if it's still stuck in the 1940s with catenaccio and that all matches end 1-0, as if teams like Lecce don't even exist. Worse yet, IMO, is his generalization that Italian football is bankrupt (part true), corrupt (part true), and has no redeeming qualities for which to say anything positive (completely bogus).

The irony here is that he clearly identifies groups of Americans who literally hate soccer (actively, and who are not just passively ambivalent about it) as a gut-level reaction to it without ever really watching the sport. And yet he is 100% guilty himself of pursuing only a one-dimensional pre-/mis-conception about Italian football, chosing a thesis and only seeking out the evidence to support it... ignoring anything else.

I still recommend the book. But you have to ignore the fact that he has barely lifted a finger to look beyond stereotypes in a few instances, particularly around Serie A.
:confused:

What did he have to day about that??!!!

I see it totally irrelevant...
 

baggio

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2003
19,250
++ [ originally posted by Nawaf ] ++


My mom's currently reading it.. I might take it from her later.. :p

Its getting rave reviews here. Worth a read it seems. That too coming from someone who last read a book for his 10th standard exams.
 
Mar 6, 2005
6,223
++ [ originally posted by baggio ] ++



Its getting rave reviews here. Worth a read it seems. That too coming from someone who last read a book for his 10th standard exams.
My mom's nearly done with it.. I'll read a few chapters, and then tell ya what I think of it.. :p
 

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