What Are You Reading?

[Nissa]

Triple post, whatever. In any case, I just read Cancer Ward, and apparently Women's Day on March 8 is of Soviet invention. Originally made in celebration of "women proletariat" all around the world. Yeah.

[TheEconomist]

Doesn't surprise me at all, LOL.

Ironically, Capitalism afforded Women more rights than Communism. As usual.

[Nissa]

And did you see the facebook reminder too? Holy crap. Though to be fair, the only reason I know about it is because I read a book from about fifty or so years ago.

Cancer Ward is an okay book, but you have to take it more in terms of a character study/historical commentary rather than a story. The plot kind of just goes on little by little. It's about a bunch of people in a cancer ward, as you'd imagine, and what kinds of cancers they have and with what attitudes they carry on. Being set in 1955, it's also subtextually about what Soviet Russia would do after the death of Stalin.

The theme of the book is more or less that communism is a cancer, and Russia's future could resemble any one of the cancer victims in the ward. They could be cured, suffer some form of amputation, get "secondaries" after the first round of cancer ends, suffer irreversible radiation damage, or get discharged because there's nothing that can be done. As much as I like the historical bent, the ending isn't really fulfilling, because of this theme. Though I guess if someone were to write a sequel based on what actually happened to Russia, that could be interesting.

[TheEconomist]

Gotta say Nissa, you read some interesting books. I thought I read a lot of complex material. Clearly, you've got me beat, especially at this point in my life. Props to you.

[Nissa]

Well, it's just because I read a lot of history related things. You've got me beat so far as math/economics goes.

[TheEconomist]

Regardless, props are due. You are awesome.

As an aside, you'd be surprised (or not) how simply having a knowledge of history gives you better economic insight than a lot of economists who do lots of analysis, research, and reading.

[ragnarok]

Regardless, props are due. You are awesome.

As an aside, you'd be surprised (or not) how simply having a knowledge of history gives you better economic insight than a lot of economists who do lots of analysis, research, and reading.

That's because they suffer the problem which even Blizzard admitted in LotV: history is understood by looking at it via the backward lens, not by living in the moment. And since a lot of economists are doing it from the latter....

[TheEconomist]

history is understood by looking at it via the backward lens, not by living in the moment. And since a lot of economists are doing it from the latter....

No. No. No. No. No. No.

[Turalyon]

That's because they suffer the problem which even Blizzard admitted in LotV: history is understood by looking at it via the backward lens, not by living in the moment. And since a lot of economists are doing it from the latter....

Ragnarism (noun): A statement that appears to be a joke but is meant to be taken seriously, often to unwittingly tragic consequence for the person who makes such a statement. Distinct from but related to "non sequitur".

[Nissa]

Oh Rag, never stop ragging.

Well, right now I'm reading Feuding Allies, a book about all the political drama that went on during WWII and all the flaming egos involved. Holy crap was it bad. It's no wonder Stalin took advantage of them so badly. He was an expert in manipulating the people who didn't take him seriously within the USSR, so manipulating foreigners was just as easy for him.