General > Random

The Fifth Risk

(1/8) > >>

PonoBill:
I'm reading Michael Lewis' The Fifth Risk, the third book I've read on the Trump presidency. I've read Michael Wolff's stunning book “Fire and Fury”, then Bob Woodward’s “Fear” and finally this. I say finally because I doubt I'll be willing to read a fourth one.

I try to get a little bit of balance in my reading, so I spent some painful hours trying to read some Michael Savage books. Couldn't do it. Fucking evil idiot yelling into an echo chamber of little minds.

That isn't to say that any of the three books above are slanted to the left. As far as I can tell from the outside they are serious journalism, deeply sourced. The Fifth Risk seems particularly even-handed, though Bob Woodward's book was disconcertingly consistent with the image Trump projects, the strongly negative picture emerges only as a whole, with a dysfunctional and startlingly stupid overall team in place running the country. Michael Wolff's book reads like an embedded journalist, a fly on the wall, invited in to watch what SHOULD have been a campaign disaster that pushed a team into power that was not ready to win.

So far, I'm really entranced by this book. Great writing helps, but the perspective is so crisp and connects to things I know about with accuracy. It's a lot shorter, I'll probably blow through it today. And then I'm going to read Asian and European history and historical fiction for a few months to purge the slime with old disasters that don't smell so bad across the gulf of centuries.

stoneaxe:
I need to get caught up......Kindle I assume. I need to get another paperwhite....that one you sent died.

I assume you've read the Griff Hosker Viking books.....not as good as Cornwell but still a fun read.

eastbound:
always curious re paperwhite, stones--seems they can be read in bright outdoor light--something that's tough to do with my ipad

ima read the lewis book, pono--big short was great, as have been the many of his ive read

didnt read the other trump books bc they were so chronicled in the media--when i skimmed em, seemed i'd already heard re any of the revelatory shit

i lasted about 90 seconds skimming omaraosa's book--couldve been written by a child, it's so simplistic

wonder what the mueller "book" will end up containing?? he's certainly been thorough, and has access to many ex-admin people who have been compelled to spill guts, who were present when illegality might have taken place--like, if mueller doesnt have much, i will have to accept that--and trump will end up even more shockingly normalized--uggggh that

stoneaxe:
Paperwhites are awesome...you can read in bright sunlight. They have a waterproof version now.

PonoBill:
Paperwhites are cheap, the easiest reading of all the readers in any lighting situation, and sturdy. I've read close to a thousand books on Kindle readers (my Kind;e account says 947, but some of those were bought and read by other family members)--I've tried them all, and it's the only thing I use other than my cell phone when I'm stuck somewhere without my kindle. I drop mine all the time--no effect. I have an old one, beat to shit, been through four covers.  Diane got me a newer, fancy one with a bigger screen and more doodads--and I didn't like it. Heavier. I think I paid a hundred bucks for this thing. I used to read on an ipad, but no longer--sucked in sun and five times the weight. I rarely use my iPad for anything anymore, in fact Diane broke the screen on hers so I gave her mine and stuck a protector on it after drizzling in a little windshield repair stuff. I mostly use it for flying my drone.

Eastbound--I don't think you could actually get the big picture of Fear by reading a bunch of excerpts. I'd be a lot more comfortable with things as they are if I'd read only certain portions, and I'd have a false notion of the meaning of Trumps presidency if I'd read a collection of the worst stuff. Someone once said the starting thing about true evil is that it is so banal. Or words to that effect. That's what I come away with. The reader's digest version wouldn't give a real perspective. If I'm going to have to suffer through this, you should too.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page