Books are Good, Actually

For August, we read How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm! We discuss the author's background, our impressions of the book, addressing critiques and what we can do as a society and as individuals.

Articles mentioned -

https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/sabotage-can-be-done-softly-on-andreas-malms-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline/

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/how-to-blow-up-a-movement-malms-new-book-dreams-of-sabotage-but-ignores-consequences

September - Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner

October - The Occult Book by John Michael Greer

November -  Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti

December - Hammer and Hoe by Robin D. G. Kelley

January+ - Less than Nothing by Slavoj Zizek

For July, we read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark we use a reading guide questions to discuss our book, how Jonathan and Mr. Norrell are a representation of liberal and conservative thought. This is also our first time recording in the same room! Jimmy references more podcasts he listens to and we have the rest of the year's reading list. 

https://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/1463/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell

Reading List - 

August - How to Blow Up A Pipeline by Andreas Malm

September - Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner

October - The Occult Book by John Michael Greer

November -  Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti

December - Hammer and Hoe by Robin D. G. Kelley

January+ - Less than Nothing by Slavoj Zizek

For June, we read Masters of Doom by David Kushner, a brief overview of Masters of Doom, a lot of talk Daikatana, The Two Johns and their break up, Joe Lieberman and Columbine, surprising crossovers, the influence of Doom and Quake on video games and future esports, what the Two Johns are up to and our history with id games. 

Bill Gates in Doom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dVAhFYjp9c 

July - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell by Susanna Clark

For the month of May, we discuss the book Against the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid Ross! We discuss definitions of fascism, things we learned from our reading, do the definitions of fascism hold up in a modern age, and how can leftists create networks across the globe. 

Additional Notes: 

Response to a critique - https://towardfreedom.org/story/archives/americas/against-the-fascist-creep-mistaken-histories/

Definition of Fascism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_fascism

Additional Podcasts: 

Behind the Bastards 

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-the-birth-of-american-30110960/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/does-punching-nazis-work-a-conversation-29751052/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-silly-bastards-behind-the-modern-29745220/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-how-the-john-birch-75193831/

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/behind-the-insurrections-how-fascism-76855632/

I Don't Speak German - https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/

Youtube: 

The Great Replacement isn't Real - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbxVfSqtt8

June - Masters of Doom by David Kushner

July - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell by Susanna Clark

For April we read, The Assassination of Fred Hampton by Jeffrey Haas! We discuss the overarching book, what is Fred Hampton's legacy, was justice served, when to take up armed resistance, and the new documents obtained from the FBI about COINTELPRO. Also Jimmy says redact a lot! 

Dollop Episode about Fred Hampton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlgLMEdslAI

Behind the Bastards about Fred Hampton - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-one-the-bastards-who-killed-the-black-panthers/id1373812661?i=1000463894711

Jacobin Article - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/03/fred-hampton-black-panther-party-fbi-documents

Weather Underground - https://www.globalresearch.ca/weather-underground-members-speak-out-on-the-media-imperialism-and-solidarity-in-the-age-of-trump/5606614

Revolutionary Left Series on Fred Hampton - 

https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/fred-hampton

https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/fred-hampton-foia

Revolutionary Left on George Jackson - 

https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/blood-in-my-eye

May - Against the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid Ross

June - Masters of Doom by David Kushner

July - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell by Susanna Clark

For March, we read Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon. We discuss our impressions, do a brief overview with the help of the Standford Encyclopedia article, and some discussion questions. 

Youtube video mentioned - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE5BTPb0X2g

Summary - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/

Discussion questions - https://blogs.ubc.ca/chendricks/tag/black-skin-white-masks/

Upcoming books - 

April - The Assassination of Fred Hampton by Jeffrey Haas

May - Against the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid Ross

June - Masters of Doom by David Kushner

For February we read Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich! This episode we go over the book, our knowledge of drugs and war, was meth part of the success and downfall of the Third Reich, perception changed about Third Reich (spoilers: they are big dumb dumbs),  Hitler farted a lot (potentially), and the criticism of the book. Also, meth is bad!

Articles: 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/16/blitzed-drugs-in-nazi-germany-by-norman-ohler-review

https://www.ft.com/content/3989c0b2-9132-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/books/review/blitzed-drugs-third-reich-norman-ohler.html

Upcoming Books:

March - Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

April - The Assassination of Fred Hampton by Jeffrey Haas

May - Against the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid Ross

For January, we read The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond. We discuss our experience with open source software, Microsoft going into open source, Eric's predictions, why we didn't like chapter 3, and Eric's, RMS, and Linus Tovald's bad behaviour. We also have a tangent about how great Windows XP is!

February - Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler  

March - Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

April - The Assassination of Fred Hampton by Jeffrey Haas

For December we read The Caliban and the Witch! We do a brief rundown of the book, discuss interesting facts we learned from witch-hunts,  we thought of why men didn't help, occultism in the contemporary times and occultism and capitalism. We also had a special guest of Jimmy's cat!

January Book - 

The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond

For November, we read Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier. We talk about crunch, wooden voice acting, game making under socialism! 

Things mentioned in the podcast: 

Youtuber Matt McMuscles https://www.youtube.com/c/MattMcMuscles

Valve Employee Handbook https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/publications

Unity https://unity.com/

Godot https://godotengine.org/

December - Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

January - The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond