Something I'd wish I'd said when you asked if I micro-specialized: with science fiction, I'm really interested in the New Wave and people I see as inheritors of that movement. I don't even really have a taste for the older classic science fiction authors, though I'll read a bit.

My favourite KZfaqrs in the same room, a great deal of thoughtful fun. I love being taken outside my comfort zone. I read history, philosophy, anything written in Greek or Latin, fantasy, classical English lit, SF , biographies, letters, essays, and anything that you two recommend. I'm reading an Eleic book by Michael Moorcock at the moment, I read and have read a lot of Sword and Sorcery, but also his experimental fiction too. I suppose it's because compared to you lads, I'm ancient.

Not all of us SFF readers are insolent 😅 would love to chat with you sometime Steve. This was a nice discussion to listen to

I was taught to read at 3, so there is hope Jared. My grandfather read whatever he fancied to me, including Chandler, but also "The Wind in the Willow" etc. He had an auctioner brother, who would buy in boxes of books and I was allowed to read anything. Hence at 6 or so I discovered Dickens, and yes I didn't understand everything, but it formed a base to reread from later.

Guys you talked about the Chinese thought book , but no details. One of you please post what it was, as I'm desperate to read it. Iloved the discussion about sifferent styles of BookTubing. It made this a classic video, superb chaps.

My dad only reads WW2 books as well. It used to stun me as a kid that how can he read about one thing over and over. But now I have come to realise that there are many folks who read similarly, it’s almost like a comfort food or nostalgia trip for them I guess.

Hi there Mr Donoghue, I was wondering what are your favorite animal-themed books (examples: White Fang, The Peregrine, etc). Could also be a good idea for a video.

Steve needs to get us a video review of The Power Broker, or a joint review of the same book!

I think I have identified the book as " The Rise of Chinese Thought" by Whang Hui. Unfortunately it is £56 as an ebook and the physical copy is even more expensive. I'll wait until I can find it secondhand. My enthusiasm is somewhat flattened. I suppose it is because it's 1000 pages and a minority interest, unfortunately.

SFF BookTuber here to extend the olive branch, Steve!

i used to watch the Tripod tv show. i'd like to try the books.

I was wondering what streaming service you used this time? It didn’t cut you off 40 minutes in like the free version of Zoom.

Can understand why your wife was perplexed, one doesn't teach at the top uni there without being party-message aligned, especially if one were involved with Tiananman. Not that you shouldn't read it, but it's somewhat akin to trying to understand contemporary American thought by reading a Trump biography. 'Red dust' helped me understand a lot when I lived there, as did the poetry of Li Bai, the works of Lu Xun, Journey to the West, and an understanding that talking about the weather is rarely talking about the weather, even though it's likely take a lifetime to puzzle out what message was actually being conveyed

The brief section in this discussion you two had here about people lying about reading, very specifically just reminded me of the complete opposite attitude; the "200 pages a day" Booktube trend, where you're thinly-veiled-admitting that you cram read (or reading at all) simply to impress others. A booktuber I used to watch did this, as well as other channels I've seen do it. It sounds nauseating to try if you don't read that fast, which I don't think many people do.

I don’t understand how a reader can be timid, to me reading is exploration.

Steve's idea that philosophy is an attempt at making the universe subservient to man's thought is funny, because I'm not sure you can make that claim without also making it about science and mathematics - which I assume he wouldn't do.

When Steve goes a day without posting a video we all assume some were recorded but the rants were deemed too extreme. Nice discussion guys. I find alternating between an important book (fiction or non) and a lighter contemporary read works well.

Hello Steve. I read a lot of romance books. You don’t hear male you tubers talk about reading romance books. There’s only a small amount of people on KZfaq who talk about romance books.

I have to disagree about Ayn Rand. I've read Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and several other minor works in college but while I think she came up with interesting plots her writing was not very good. In fact it's some of the worst writing I've ever read

Is Jared a Trump fan like you and I are, Steve?

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