Відео

To anyone curious about gravity’s rainbow I’m sorry, but I found the quote that sums up best why I like it and other books that have a common motif structured around morality in which we can’t just paint people good or bad.. you essentially are a bad person for reading a book like this. You purposely put yourself through the things you read just to get something out of it. You are no different from a Pavlov dog in which you enjoy sweet drops of water sprinkled on your tongue everytime you hear the ringing of that good little lucky yellow bell… to which I have to ask why are you reading? Are you just reading for fun or do you actually want to think?. But that’s not the quote I want to leave you but here’s a quote I need to leave you. From a video game in which I promise you… no one will play: pathologic or plague utopia……………. Video games come in such a variety of forms that it is almost impossible to perceive them as a single phenomenon. We are fascinated by games that not only entertain, but also provide food for thought and encourage the player to change for the better. That is why our favorite genre is survival, and our method of choice is a challenge. Perception is on its peak when the situation is critical, it is most acute on the edge. That is why we put the players in the dire circumstances and allow them to find the solution themselves. We don’t like preaching. We’d rather ask questions than give answers. To us, a game as a dialogue between its developers and the players, and a player is a co-author. Our job is to set the stage, redefine the laws of the world, introduce the problem, and point out how its core connects with everyday reality. The players do the rest, completing the act by virtue of their unique interpretations. Each game of ours is an experiment. In most cases they lead to unexpected results - meaning they’re successful.

You Amy Hungerford look alikes….. I just want to say………. Thank you for actually giving this an honest review. Most women do not take the time to read this book, and most men explain why: you are not supposed to enjoy this book. It’s not like taking a bite out of a Toblerone and getting satisfaction like from some product that we know is going to bring us joy. We read to make us think, and to better understand somewhat different aspects of ourselves and others and I will openly and honestly tell you this. I have a fart fetish in which it was from this book I came up with the best fart joke ever. But I’m not going to tell you it. It’s my joke and no one else’s. But this book has given me new charisma, new courage to were even I heard myself quoting some parts from the book in which I didn’t even read it before… “I am gravity in which the bomb goes against.” I forgot which character said that in which i ruined Puyallup state fair by screaming on the rides… “I am the atom bomb in which gravity is attracted to me. Not the other way around!” The woman told me to shut up on the ride and i couldn’t contain myself. I will argue however, there is soul in the book. Just not our soul.

His audience knowing their bible would have known what he was saying when he was talking about the ligaments of the body and how the community being the body of christ would need to be together and how you can't have one without the other. 1 Corinthians 12 is where you will find this metaphor.

If the book is legit then why all the backlash and bans? I appreciate your honest take on the book. I am going to now read it.

This is probably my favorite novel of any genre. Each chapter is written as a short story, in a sense. My favorite part is where the kids visit the "Time Machine"; an old, possibly senile Civil War veteran who couldn't quite remember which side he fought for. But his stories were so descriptive that the kids who listened to him could actually believe he could take them 'back in time' by the way he spoke about his experiences!

📚 Just finished reading "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton! 🌟 This classic novel dives deep into the struggles of the Greasers and Socs, highlighting the harsh realities of class conflict and the search for identity. 🤜🤛 With unforgettable characters and a powerful message, it’s a must-read for anyone who loves a compelling story. ✨ If you haven’t picked it up yet, I highly recommend it! #TheOutsiders #BookReview #MustRead #S.E.Hinton

You are a hell of a story teller!

Excellent review. Insightful.

Crikey...I came to your channel through Treasure Island. Then the UA-cam algorithm passed me on to your comments on Huxley's Brave New World! My favourite books! What do you think of "The Doors of Perception"?

I have an equally old copy and devoured it after it was languishing on my shelf for over 20 years. I've no idea how I came about owning it. The style of English takes some getting used to, but I got over that in a jiffy. You say there's no romance, but I disagree. There's a romance for the sea and the undiscovered which no longer exists in this day and age. There's a hint of it when you see cargo ships on the horizon at night and hear the fog horns. I have to say that it's definitely one of my favourite stories. It is indeed delicious! Thanks for this discussion 🙂 By the way, I'm also in love with the book Robinson Crusoe. Common theme.

"Boy-book"? "Hyper-masculine"? Is it possible you're missing that the author is satirizing those things? And the humor is "gross-sex fart-joke silly limericky humor"? Some. But there are moments -- passages -- of gentle, delicate, and hilarious humor too, as when he describes eating horrible-tasting British wartime candy with his girlfriend and her landlord. And at other times, there is simply beautiful writing, which arrives in such an offhand manner that you almost miss it, like the description of a view of a city at dawn: "Crystals growing in the morning's beaker." You missed so much. Too bad.

Relistened to your book review. Very informative. Thanks 📚

Great chat about a very unhinged novel

I can't hear the audio well it cuts out at the end really bad

How do you untrain your brain after years of conditioning? How can one be sure that a thought is their own and not some kind of post hypnotic suggestion or entrained thought.

This book may not contain "likable characters" but you yourself are one. This is a mature, engaging and light-hearted review of a complex and divisive book that doesn't reduce it to, or pander to Lowest-Common-Denominator readings. And that's refreshing.

Thank you for reviewing this book so honestly. for me Gravity's Rainbow describes our present condition in which we worship corporations and the military industrial complex. I do believe that there's a spirituality implicit in the book, but only implicit, as the world where it takes place is pure nihilism. Against the Day seems like Gravity's Rainbow's conjugate, and moreover a book written for the future, and here you'll find hope and characters with volition, despite the obvious evil in the world.

It's an objectively bad book, but people insist on hyping it up. There's a great video of 2 guys comparing it to Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, and they expose how poorly written and lacking GR is in comparison. What I find fascinating is why everyone feels the need to be in the club of those who "like" this sludge pile. I think there's something psychologically interesting there, in the cult mentality and how people bullshit their way through reviews of it. Like, as far as the characters, your point is a good one, but this just shows how reductive and lacking in any depth Pynchon was. He didn't understand people at all. He didn't understand society. Even if you have a kernel of truth (which was already explored by John Steinbeck with far more nuance decades earlier), to have such a flat, 1 dimensional world with such flat, 1 dimensional characters is bad writing.

Good to see you. Where ya been? I enjoyed your review of Gravity’s Rainbow and The “R-wording” of the Mind. Be well. ☮️

Some people think Slothrop's penis conditioning is the trauma of male infant circumcision, the violence of which, and muting of feeling and connections to own body intimacy, conditions males towards violence and war as they've already been nonconsensually desensitized surgically. it became 'normalized' in US in ww2. It's part of 'male rights' about autonomy of their own bodies being taken away by the power structures.

Yours is one of the most interesting, thoughtful and honest takes on GR I've seen on youtube. Thank you. About the humor tho: I was, too, surprised how much not simply jokes but straight up buffoonery happens in this book. Characters not only recite poems and songs on the regular but many scenes morph into entire music numbers, with labrat cabaret shows and whatnot bursting out of the page at you. And... all of it feels JOYLESS. As if existing in constant fear with war and death everpresent in the background of everyday vacuums life out of Life itself making ghosts of us all.

Narratives over truth. Sound familiar? Politics, MSM, iPhones, apps, social media and academia have followed this playbook for a while now and most people no longer control their own minds. Every time your cell phone DINGS, narratives are reinforced. Turn off apps, stop watching network news, be skeptical about everything. Save yourself. Not a great review, but a very important work.

So life isn't full enough of sad and desperate complexities that we need to spend our days reading books like this one? I, for one, will not. I guess some people have called this an "important" book. Leave out the "r" in that description and I will agree.

On my fourth read (and one listen) since 1973. Love it as much as ever.

Love your honesty. Now I have to read this difficult book too. I will be woman #4.

Great to hear your review! Although Gravity’s Rainbow is the undisputed world champion of boy books, one could argue that it’s actually a feminist satire which critiques the masculine drive to death inherent in the systems and institutions of control which dominate and divide our world while longing for a return to a pre-historical time when the sacred feminine principles of wholeness and fecundity immanent from the earth still governed societies and consciousness.

Story of my life!!!!!

Gravity's rainbow is the world we live in. You gotta find your own optimism. It's mostly built up layers of shit.

This is on our book club list and I am 50 pages in. Your summary, and listening to others speak on it, makes me feel like putting it down. Instead I can pick up great Buddhists texts and stories. I get this book is genius. But is reading it going to help me? I have recently read Milton's Paradise Lost, The Invisible Man and Hamlet twice . But what I want is hope. Ulysses, War and Peace, TBK offer hope. Other books too. I thought reading the greatest literary works solidly for two years would be more rewarding. But recently I have felt there is a lack of positivity in too many books. We are conditioned, so to couteract that we need conditioning that encourages positive free will choices and world views. Your right about the characters in GR. They all appear flat and devoid of spirit as spirit has to include love an empathy. Should I carry on? There is more enlightning stuff to read. As the bombs pound Gaza the machine is allowing this to continue. Time for the Machine to Stop (EM Forster).

Fantastic review. I disagree a bit that the book has no soul. It can definitely be very grim a lot of the time. But the book 1) Is poetically vulgar and very funny (in my opinion), which doesn't suggest soul-lessness. 2) Is a beautiful defence and championing of the "preterite"

this is why totalitaria executes those who won't bend, also reminds me of what the character depicting albert speer said in the movie "nuremberg": "nazi germany was built on empty platitudes, everyone was a yes man, because all the no men were killed."

Ah yes, when it’s about smart, dashing and brave men, masculinity is amazing and one has to add a sultry tone to truly appreciate it

I understand, I also can’t tolerate “girl” books, jokes about fashion sense, the looks of their boyfriends, and the banality of their menstrual cycle. Seems like a very superficial reading and a bit of a weird takeaway to call this book “hyper-masculine”.

Read the whole book before doing a review

What a great review! I think you understood the book better than many “experts”, you really are an insightful and intelligent reader. You got yourself a new subscriber!

I just started binge-watching your videos, particularly ones where you reviewed books that I've read. It's sad to see that your last video was 7 months ago, where have you gone?!

I stumbled across your video because - while in the process of reading the novel for a third time - I had been looking around for relevant content. I do enjoy your perspective. And, of course, there's a few things I don't quite agree with. Sorry for the long read, I guess it must be those damn 1000+ pages... 1. One commentator mentioned that Pynchon's protagonists are not there to be liked. I totally agree with that, and I'd go even one step further: they're not there to be envied either. When concentrating on all the sexual content, on a very superficial level one could get to view Slothrop as something one wants to be him(!)self: sleeps with many women, and, Pynchon goes into length not to leave any doubt, satisfies all of them. Remembering that we're not talking about pornographic material one will probably notice that along the novel that this is really more of a parody. I don't think Pynchon made this up just for fun (although I can't help but think that he must have been stoned while writing at least parts of the novel). Slothrop is not in control of his life. He was sent into the "zone" while still being constantly observed. Just the same he is controlled by his sexuality. Hence, all his traits boil down to the same thing: he is a creature struggling for self-determination but always failing to achieve this. 2. Of course, Pynchon is a man. But, though being a man myself, I don't agree with your point of this being a very "male" novel. "Masculinity" is not what the novel is but rather what it is about (and that in a pretty critical way). The rocket as a phallus symbol is of course a choice that was made very deliberately (culminating brilliantly in the novel's end with Weissmann's lover shot into the sky in a gigantic penis). It symbolises male quest for dominance, both sexually and in society with technology being one of the tools employed in this. And yes, all these years and lots of sociologic-feminist papers later we may not find this particularly innovative anymore, but consider the time it was written. 3. Beside sexuality, atrocities are another main concept. In Gravity's Rainbow there are a few references to the genocide commited by Germans in their African colonies from "V". In "V" this is described from an observer's perspective (who, when looking closely is not that much an observer but rather an accomplice). The atrocities shown in "V" are described seemingly without any compassion (by the way, just like the episode on the "bad priest" dying trapped while being ripped apart by children). However, when reading more of Pynchon's novels we understand that compassion is actually one of his central themes. But activating one's moral compass remains up to the reader. Similar ideas can be found in Gravity's Rainbow, think of the Africans' collective suicide for example. To me this all seems rather consistent: look what our "civilisation" has done (and keeps doing). 4. Shock. People are forced to eat excrements, incest, etc. - the world has come to a point where all structure, all values are lost (hey, this is what your ambitions and your innovativeness have brought us, man!). 5. Finally, back to the novel's (alleged) "maleness". Of course, I have only my own perspective. Between the lines I seem to hear that you feel distant from what is described in the novel, probably even alienated. I am pretty sure that the same is the case for most readers. Could it be, that we tend to be alienated in different ways but pretty much end up at the same point anyway?

Spoken like a true Liberal…

I was born 30 years after Ray Bradbury but many of these stories reminded me of my childhood. Love it.

It happened to me

All need to barricade where they sleep or risk receiving an unconsented mind implant, learn to birth at home and don't accept food/drinks , you'll be made retarded or end up like me.😂

I love this review. The first one I saw that explained the disgusting stuff.

I watched your two reviews of what the democratic platform is, but could not find your review of the republican party platform. Did you read it also? I was curious how the two compared, in your opinion.

This is the first book that changed my life. As a farm boy in Minnesota it let me dream beyond my lot in life.

You don't need to go back to the Nazis for examples of this - turn on mainstream media and you'll get a much more contemporary example.

This book will expain to you what you are living through right now and how all communist/totalitarian revolutions and societies operate.

Thank you very much! Your review is helpful...and yet somewhat perplexing because you spend about 24 minutes explaining in detail why the book is "cringe" [well not only], and then one minute concluding the book is sublime. You're saying all the cringing will be worth it at the end and the cheese will be transubstantiated into gold? This year I read Blood Meridian which re-inspired me to read great books, but following the Blood Meridian thread they have been quite MALE, e.g. the Iliad; and male authors like Faulkner and Shakespeare. They have female characters but... Right now I'm trying to balance things out with Middlemarch and some Chaucer.

Can’t hear because the audio keeps cutting out.

Turn ya government Emergency Alert off on ya phone..

My mom read this to me when I was a kid. She even had me play on piano the Mother Thing’s words, and the notes match up so well it is very much like language. I’ve re-read it several times & even had a full cast recording of it (that company, unfortunately, no longer has the rights, so it’s no longer available). I’m glad Cliff & Pee-Wee represented Earth, and not some of the other humans in Space…