A small collection of insurrectionalist texts. I found them interesting. One thing I find valuable about insurrectionalist theory is its radical critique of organization. I may not agree with the conclusion they arrive at, but the process of really questioning why we need organization, which aspects of organization are useful and which can be discarded, is valuable in my opinion. The texts are well selected I think. But the form is lacking. Either the translation is really bad, or the texts were badly written to begin with. It's more likely that the problem lies with the translation, since all three texts have this problem.
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silly little guy he/it
My languages in order of proficiency: German French English Chinese. The reason I read so much in English is only because most pirated epubs are in English. I have no consistent grading system, the stars are based on vibes, don't read into it. I am not a critic; my "reviews" simply document what it was like for me to read the book in question.
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possm's books
2024 Reading Goal
90% complete! possm has read 27 of 30 books.
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possm reviewed Affinität und informelle Organisation (Hourriya. Internationalistische anarchistische Pamphlets, #2)
Partly interesting ideas, bad form
3 stars
possm finished reading Affinität und informelle Organisation (Hourriya. Internationalistische anarchistische Pamphlets, #2)
Affinität und informelle Organisation (Hourriya. Internationalistische anarchistische Pamphlets, #2)
possm started reading Affinität und informelle Organisation (Hourriya. Internationalistische anarchistische Pamphlets, #2)
Affinität und informelle Organisation (Hourriya. Internationalistische anarchistische Pamphlets, #2)
possm reviewed Utopie by Alexander Neupert-Doppler
Good historical overview
3 stars
History of the idea of utopia within (mostly German) leftist thought, from the early socialists to Habermas etc. The focus on German thinkers is justified because the book's target audience is the German Left. I would have liked more connection to political praxis. The intro and the outro reference praxis, but the rest of the book stays within the realm of theory. It's not super fun to read, but pretty good and educative.
possm finished reading Utopie by Alexander Neupert-Doppler
possm started reading Utopie by Alexander Neupert-Doppler
possm reviewed Judentum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Religionen der Welt)
Good primer on the history and practice of Judaism
3 stars
I read this little book hoping to patch up my general knowledge about Judaism, and I feel like my expectations have been met. The larger half of the book is a history of Judaism. It does its job quite well and is reasonably well written. The second, shorter half is concerned with religious practice, this part is a little less entertaining, a little more chaotic, it feels like the author was struggling deciding what to include and what to leave out. All in all this book met, but did not exceed, my expectations. Solid 3/5 stars. Also little sidenote: the author is weirdly concerned with demographics and birthrates. You'll find sentences like: "mixed marriages lead to a loss of thousands of Jews every year" like my guy that is some crazy phrasing. Anyway. I'd like to find a similar little book for the other world religions, especially Islam which I …
I read this little book hoping to patch up my general knowledge about Judaism, and I feel like my expectations have been met. The larger half of the book is a history of Judaism. It does its job quite well and is reasonably well written. The second, shorter half is concerned with religious practice, this part is a little less entertaining, a little more chaotic, it feels like the author was struggling deciding what to include and what to leave out. All in all this book met, but did not exceed, my expectations. Solid 3/5 stars. Also little sidenote: the author is weirdly concerned with demographics and birthrates. You'll find sentences like: "mixed marriages lead to a loss of thousands of Jews every year" like my guy that is some crazy phrasing. Anyway. I'd like to find a similar little book for the other world religions, especially Islam which I feel embarrassingly uneducated about.
possm finished reading Judentum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Religionen der Welt)
Judentum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Religionen der Welt)
possm started reading Judentum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Religionen der Welt)
Judentum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Religionen der Welt)
possm started reading The Perils of Interpreting by Henrietta Harrison
The Perils of Interpreting by Henrietta Harrison
A fascinating history of China’s relations with the West—told through the lives of two eighteenth-century translators
possm reviewed Staring at the Sun by Irvin D. Yalom
Life changing
5 stars
My therapist recommended I read this. She is very good at her job.
possm finished reading Staring at the Sun by Irvin D. Yalom
possm started reading Staring at the Sun by Irvin D. Yalom
possm reviewed A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Feng Youlan
Classic
4 stars
It's not that short. There's some very early-20th-century theories: for example, one explains the differences between the Greek and Chinese philosophical traditions being the result of geographic and economic conditions (maritime merchants vs landbound farmers). When taken with a big grain of salt these sorts of theories are fun to read, I simply take them as storytelling and not as scientific. The book is geared towards an audience that knows the Western philosophers and is discovering the Chinese.