what books are essential to understand more the american mindset? i've been living in the US for the past 4 years and still not part of the culture and i think i will never be and that's ok but if i can indulge myself a little bit more it would be beneficial for me career wise
>>24987244>a book about drug addicts made me understand americaLol kekd
>>24987238Nigger
>>24987223That means nothing now. Even naturalized citizens have to be worried. Those born here are also arrested just the same by the border control/ICE. Chile has elected the son of a literal Nazi though.
>>24987213The Closing of the American Mind
>>24987213What don't you understand/struggle with?
>>24987342weakens your position of pointing out wankers & trad larpers when you type out ‘et cetera’
why should an art form be philosophical.
>>24987342>I used to firmly believe that literature was the highest form of art because of the very strong abstract nature of the written word: much of the work has to be done by the reader to mentally process what one sees as physical, visible symbols that represent sounds that link to both concrete and abstract ideas. In other words, the reader has to actually try to read.I agree. You should believe in that again. Not gonna read the rest though, I can't stand to look at your downfall.
>>24987168Competitive games and their associated tier lists have precipitated an catastrophic epistemological shift within the young generations. This autistic obsession with constructive nonsense hierarchies over everything is not only a waste of time but intellectually meaningless.
>>24987168Film and Television are trash. Even vidya is more high brow, because you can interact with shit.Watching a movie is very passive, like getting fucked in the ass by a giant BBC.
The polls for the main voting have closed. Now it has come for the tiebreaking.>https://forms.gle/eXmHiPgimFmzUwMA6Each book will be scored on a scale from 0 to 4. The scores from all voters will be added, and books will be ranked by their total score.You can edit your responses after voting. To limit one vote per person, a Google account is required to vote, but will not be collected or viewable in any way.The Top 100 before tiebreaking are in picrel. The full information is in this spreadsheet.>https://files.catbox.moe/iek244.odsVoting closes on Jan 7, 23:59 EST. Thank you for voting!
>>24986682>Children Of Men didn't make it on the listUncultured, illiterate fucking niggers
Mein Kampf was an option this year and I don't think it made the top 100 cut, the years prior where the faggot running the poll refused to allow it is now shown to be a stupid censoring jew as a result
>>24986944300 legitimate votes vs 100 illegitimatevotes is better than 50 legitimate votes and 25 illegitimate votes. Again though, the focus should be on eliminating the illegitimate rather than preventing.
>>24986682>https://forms.gle/eXmHiPgimFmzUwMA6can't vote unless I vote on all the books, including ones I haven't read
>>24987422just give them all 0s if you dont want to vote ?
PBUH?
>>24986092Should I make a thread with 100 quotes of Ibn Arabi showing how he's thoroughly incompatible with Shankara and Guenon?
>>24986052How did Guénon cope with Shankara plagiarizing the Buddha?
>>24974797is it possible to be a christian esoteric in this sense or are they incompatible
>>24987291You can if you want, but that would only be highlighting how much of a hylic you are, and how you perpetually seethe at Guenon and live him live rent-free in your head.You can cope about the body as much as you want but Ibn Arabi's doctrine is explicitly non-dualist and everyone agrees about this, they just classify it as a different type of non-dualism than Shankara's, but for Guenon this is not important since in his worldview the different non-dualism doctrines as just particular ways of explaining the same metaphysical truth of non-dualism but adapted to particular cultures and eras, even when they disagree on specific theological details or give differing accounts of creation etc. They both lead to a highly similar final stage of enlightenment that Shankara and Ibn Arabi both in almost the same ways. If you make a list of all the different components and facets of the highest enlightenment for Shankara and Ibn Arabi, roughly 90% of the list is clearly stated in the works of both thinkers and only 10% differs.Furthermore, Guenon follows a Qunawian-reading of Akbari metaphysics as does Jami, al-Jili and the Shadhili Tariqah Guenon belonged too, and al-Qunawi formalizes Ibn Arabis metaphysics in way that that brings it even closer to Advaita than it was understood just based on Ibn Arabi's texts without Qunawi's clarifications and systemizations. Qunawi makes the Divine Essence completely indeterminate, and beyond all change and predicates as in Advaita, and he insists that all language in Ibn Arabi about the dynamism of the Divine refers only to the tajalli and not the Divine Essence. The way that Qunawai makes the taʿayyunāt or determinations account for the manifestation of tajalli while leaving the Essence totally unchanged closely parallels Shankara's account of maya and the paramartha/vyavahara distinction. >>24987349I don't know, I'm not an expert in Christianity and it interests me less than most eastern traditions. From what I understand there is no authentic esoteric lineage going back centuries that is preserved within Christianity that is 'strictly Christian' and not based on external influence. EO Theosis is not a secret teaching but is just a method taught to monks. If you want to be a Christian and practice esoterism with a centuries-old history that isn't some totally modern made-up BS as far as I know you have to practice Christian Hermeticism or become a Masonic Christian; but the issue with these is masonry today doesn't seem very esoteric and is more like a networking club and I don't know of any reputable Christian Hermetic organization with a long documented history going back centuries.You can regard yourself as privately having an "esoteric view" of Christian where you take a heavily Neoplatonic or idealist reading (see pic related especially the top-left) even to the point of being non-dualistic, but this is not the same as actually participating in a living esoteric tradition for many reasons.
>>24987299>How did Guénon cope with Shankara plagiarizing the Buddha?Shankara doesn't do that, the very notion is absurd.All of the basic principles of Advaita and Hindu metaphysics generally are described already in the Upanishads including pre-Buddhist ones. Centuries before Buddha even existed the Upanishads are already talking about karma, rebirth, monasticism, the superiority of insight over rites, non-dualism, liberation through gnosis, etc and Shankara takes these ideas directly from their source in the Upanishads, Buddha is completely irrelevant to all this. Most of the critiques that Buddhists like to claim Buddha was the first to make are already acknowledged as potential misunderstandings in Upanishads that predate Buddha.Most of the influence is actually going the other way. First Buddha takes his whole metaphysical scheme of rebirth and karma from the Upanishads and just adds anicca and anatta; but even on top of this later Buddhist texts adopt ideas from Hindu texts that are not clearly taught by Buddha.The Upanishads are the first to first talk about things like non-dualism and self-luminous awareness and Buddha doesn't clearly talk about those in the Pali Canon, but then those are the exact things that Mahayana and Vajrayana writings often spend much of their time talking about when they aren't talking about emptiness or compassion. Without the concepts of non-dualism and luminous awareness, first articulated by the Upanishads and not Buddha, Tibetan Buddhism as a whole would not even exist and if it did it would be completely unrecognizable.
I finished reading this yesterday and honestly it was kind of boring.The first few chapters detailing how the Spanish plundered the continent were great but then when it comes to the 20th century he gets bogged down into way too much detail and mentions a bunch of literally whos and corporations that make me lose interest.
>>24987149There's like nine Aerospace companies in India alone. You don't hear much about them because India, but they exist.>>24986921That sounds like a political problem.
>>24987161Red Cocaine
>>24987173>1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htmEh, even worse, and related, counts?
>>24987187It wasn't the free market that created Autobus.And China is the only country with a tech ecosystem because they were smart enough to keep out Google and Fagbook.
>>24987371>There's like nine Aerospace companies in India alonewe are talking about successful internationally compettive businesses. india cannot even go to an airshow without causing a catastrophe
>hates allegory in literature>likes the metamorphosisExplain.
>>24985583That's cool that you know Kafka's intent.
>>24985229>>24985178is english an inferior language? being described as a bug like being and being a bug are totally different
>>24985175metamorphosis doesn't have to be read allegorically, and if you read kafka's other works, he is less allegorical and more weird than you'd think. although he definitely was inspired by the style of allegories to some extent.when discussing metamorphosis with people I know, it's always the ones who want to make it about the modern man or whatever that fail to remember the most important details, because they are unique to Gregor, like the frame in his room which he made.>>24985598>Why do some good artists and philosophers and such have random retarded opinions about fundamental aspects of human experience?nabokov hates generalities which allegories deal in, and he likes stories with particularity of style, detail, character etc which, if not completely antithetical to an allegory's intent (though particularity does hinder universality), is less important.
>>24985806Explain the meaningful difference for the purposes of Metamorphosis
>>24985175
The book I have enjoyed the most this year has been The Unbearable Lightness of Being. In it, the author seeks to describe what it means for an individual to accept or reject the responsibilities that arise in their life.Specifically, it describes two lifestyles. On the one hand, there is a life that accepts responsibility. This life is more grounded, connected to the earth, and experiences life in its fullness, since many of its actions have an impact on the world—to the point that the weight of those actions can end up crushing the individual to the ground. On the other hand, a life of lightness enjoys its own existence by avoiding any responsibility in order to focus on oneself, even though this life ultimately feels a sense of unease when realizing that all its actions end up being insignificant in the face of the world.In summary, the idea that responsibilities make us more or less connected to the world around us has surprised me greatly.What book have you enjoyed the most this year?
The Wager - GrannThe Wall - Haushoferthe Sweet Science - Lieblingthese are probably the three i enjoyed the most
>>24984129I love Kudera bookzI don't think they're about anything. Just being a boomer, having the secks and enjoying the good life.
>>24984492Sounds gay af my nigger I'd rather watch grass grow and paint dry
>>24984706>I've read a great quantity of books this year, as I consciously tried to give my life a more "productive" direction. Ultimately, I ended up treating every book as a merchandise to be consumed, "done with". I enslaved myself to the numbers in a spreadsheet; as a result, I can't say I've authentically enjoyed a book in this year of Our Lord (most of the time it felt like a duty I had to fulfill).This should be the sticky for this pseudointellectual insecurity board
>>24985105Blindness, 100%.
Discuss good narrative history books on any subject.
>>24986544I used to read that stuff but now find that reading well-researched historical novels is just more fun. Then I end up looking up proper non-popular historical research anyway.
>>24986936He makes some perfunctory woke noises but that's all. It's mandatory to get anything published unfortunately, so you as a reader have to learn to distinguish between actual woketard writing vs a writer going through the motions to appease the publishing gatekeepers.
Destiny of the Republic was great read, the Netflix miniseries was meh but it did lead me to the book.
>>24986732>For a millennium, though, their history has largely been filtered through the writings of their victims.So for a thousand years they pillaged and raped, but it's wrong to judge them for this?
1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth
>Translations are not reading>It is easy>You can not utilise English without French>Women will fawn over you>You might get a French gf
>>24987234Remove 120,000,000 people and the majority is still non-white, even if we assume the US and all of Europe is 100% white. Ain't much better bud
>>24987254>Remove 120,000,000 people and the majority is still non-whiteNot in terms of native speakers. And considering we're talking about literature, native speakers is a better measure of that literature's racial make-up.
>>24987289Alright niggerman, I'm not doing the math for you to shift the goal post again
>>24987234>>24987289extreme cope
>>24987234English isn't just another language within India. It's used as a lingua franca and is the official language of numerous states and political institutions. There are major incentives within India to learn English, so the number of speakers is only going to rise. >The Indians who come to the west struggle to speak EnglishThey struggle because they speak Indian dialects of English and have never had to consider how that differs from what's considered standard English.
There is much a man might learn from the minds of women, were he willing to lay aside pride and hear them with humility.
>>24986404>Were he willing to lay aside prideAnd common sense, and basic decency, and humanity. You don't listen to subhumans or subhuman enablers, Anon. Down that road lies madness.
>>24987036But this is what women mean when they say something's missing from male writers. Few are willing to admit the female urge to cuckold their husbands. Her instinct is to mould her husband into a beta bitch then cheat on him after wondering where the attraction went, and does not even consider the idea that she did it herself.
>>24986404Freemasonic thread
>>24986748How many of the philosophers in OP's pic argued for abortion?
hello world
You do have a basic understanding of how human language works, don't you?
>>24987025I'll take bloated over passive-aggressive and patronising
>>24987042Just because I’m reduced to venting my frustration and deep self-resentment in passive-aggressive 4chan posts doesn’t make what I said less true
>>24986658The book keeps building up and up. It starts out with a short history and purpose of linguistics. Then introduces you to an oversimplified and intuitive model of syntax.Then it's like "Consider these new sentences (new data). They are problematic for our current model / Our model needs changesbecause clearly it can be more accurate."So then you make some small changes to your model/understanding and you actually have a reason for the changes instead of it coming out of nowhere. You slowly build up to a modern and precise theory of syntax.
>>24985112Well grammar was the only college course I aced without any studying whatsoever. As soon as I learned the terminology and understood the sentence diagrams I was just showing up and completing the exercises with no effort.
Easy Parsing And Analysis Book by J. C. Nesfieldhttps://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.272041/page/n29/mode/1upPrinciples of general grammar. Comp. and arranged for the use of colleges and schools by Roemer, Jeanhttps://archive.org/details/principlesgener00roemgoogPrinciples of general grammar : adapted to the capacity of youth, and proper to serve as an introduction to the study of languages by Silvestre de Sacy, A. I. (Antoine Isaac)https://archive.org/details/principlesgener00sacygooghttps://archive.org/details/parsingbookcont01weldgooghttps://archive.org/details/parsingsimplifi00unkngooghttps://archive.org/details/classbookofparsi00yeagComment too long. Click here to view the full text.
One year anniversary of elite readership
>>24985972>yikersfoid take. disregarded.
the irony is /lit/ has gotten way less "elite" over the last several years, genre slop "generals" and a bunch of wannabe writers shilling trash. that article might have been funny/true ten years ago.
why are women so fucking stupid and annoying? if didn't have this stupid unconscious biological impulse to have sex with them i'd never want to be around one again.
>>24985966Some people are built different, they are capable of having original thoughts. No amount of reading can teach you this, it doesn't matter if you're a Classics PhD or Anonymous.
>>24985979>ten years ago.at the latest. the election did a real number on this board
Smile, /lit/! You’re doing the rounds on xitter againhttps://x.com/andrewchen/status/2005289538189738278?s=46
>>24985013Did you go at it blind first, or with the skeleton key as you did it?
>>24982152>schools, popular social movements, and even the government in most cases teach you to be hedonist, nihilist, and a moral relativistNo they don't.>rise in youth religionAlso not happening. Go outside. Get off the internet. Talk to people and breath fresh air.
>>24987055Dude loves reading about ancient Jewish laws around how much money your daughter is worth to marry her to her rapist and how your daughter should be stoned to death on your doorstep if you marry her off as a non-virgin.
>>24978972>I like small niche thing/community>I am compelled to share small niche thing/community I like with millions of strangers from whom I can derive absolutely no benefit materially or psychologically that have ruined absolutely everything else they’ve been allowed to touchI will NEVER understand this impulse.
>>24987336Yes. Greek and Norse texts about the exact same thing too.
Through the years literature and humanities have only brought me poverty and bleakness. If I only had a liking to maths, I would be better off in life. Can you force yourself to like maths? Anyone else in this predicament? I don’t think I’ve ever more than a handful of times used directly, referenced or discussed what I learned reading on a social setting to outweigh the negatives. I feellike all of this isn’t really worth it in the end.
>>24984122>getting back problems at 26 due to working at a deskCan't relate, since I worked as a "field engineer" (read: guy who fixes big machines) during all of my summer internships and after graduating college.t. guy with a MechE degree who also reads history books and gay novels for fun
>>24984784Go pick up a guy at a Warhammer40k convention or tournament. The guys there are turbovirgins and have a good income (otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford Warhammer).>>24987274It's not, but that is the purpose of math - to make things easier to understand.>>24987119It's not a meme, but finding a job in it is hard. Real robotics with outside of research stuff tends to just be upgraded manufacturing.>>24987016>>24986813Programming is a good skill to have though. It will eventually become like writing where everyone will be expected to be able to do some scripting. Simple formal logic will absolutely be mandatory to graduate from high school.I wouldn't call programming soulless, but it's the most mentally draining thing I've done. Everything about that job is mentally difficult. You're constantly learning new shit (that then becomes obsolete in a 5-10 years) while trying to use it to solve problems that you haven't solved before. Day in and day out. There's never a point where you go "ok, I got the hang of it and now I'm cruising." There's always some new thing you have to learn.
>>24987327Damn that's really sad but I wish you didn't mention he killed himself so I could dunk on him>>24987337The petit bourgeois have a role in the capitalist system. I don't believe in capitalism but I don't hate it enough on an ideological religious marxist kind of way, so I certainly desire upper middle-class life.>slightly unrelated personal rantMany wagies start failed businesses yes but people have retarded business sense and do not understand credit. I just saw a Dave Rubin clip of a couple who have over a million in business credit card debt trying to start a summer camp. Most new business are frenzied manic episodes that can last weeks to months and I know this because that was literally all the endeavors I got into from 17-20. But I never straddled myself with debt so every failed business only got me 3 months of embarrassment from everybody I ranted about the business to. You have infinite attempts if you have grindset and enough liquid capital (from wage slaving). My eventual dream is to own a publishing house nested in my own private school so I can have my own hermetically sealed community of idealogues
>>24987272>STEM-medLiterally the only STEM paths that are still kinda profitable after AIpocalypse are:>civil engineering>mechanical/electrical engineering (especially if working on utilities)>chemical engineering (if you're working for Dupont or something)Math is only useful if you either do something like optimizing missile trajectories for the US DoD (which you still need an Operations Research MSc or above in order to get into), and Physics is really only useful if you go into something like semiconductors or optics, but otherwise nobody is really working on pure math or pure physics for money.The one field that has lost the most utility and profitability is Computer Science, now that everybody and their gay dad can run Claude/ChatGPT/Grok/Gemini and write enterprise-level software, leaving Computer Science degree holders with the only distinction of knowing more proofs on the Theory of Computation than the average man. It's only a matter of time before they start poaching on EE and ME too, the way they've also been doing to artists and graphic designers, and I honestly believe that the only jobs that will last the longest will be the ones involving giving orders and supervising a bunch of underpaid workers (say, in construction or manufacturing) simply because it's cheaper than buying a robot to do the same job, and while there are people who will have their doubts about it, I say all occupations will be at risk of being automated for as long as business owners care more about maximizing profits over giving good workers a liveable wage and setting hard limits on what should be left up to automation.
>>24987379I don't hate capitalism either. I think it's neat, but every time people talk about capitalism they look at the people who won big. They completely ignore all the people who started businesses but failed or are struggling.I hate how stifling regulation is. Doing business in a video game is fun. You would think it would be similar in real life, but it's not. It's not because everything has a million rules and you're expected to pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars to tell you whether you can do what you want to do legally. Like you can't even write a web novel and get Patreon bucks without jumping through legal hurdles. It's so stupid.
How come the rate of readership keeps declining but Barnes and Noble just keeps getting more popular over time
Indigo is infinitely superior.
>>24982655>zoomers>”offline”lol even
>>24982655>Ironically, they got the idea to read more from social mediaHow dare you. I've been a life-long bibliophile.
>>24982802Get an e-reader faggot.
>>24986604Which?
