What books did you read in 2011?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I discovered Graham Joyce and have got through these-

The Tooth Fairy
The Facts of Life
The Limits of Enchantment
Indigo
Requiem
Memoirs of a Master Forger

Others...

"Anno Dracula"- Kim Newman
"The Damned United"- David Peace
"The island at the end of the world"- Sam Taylor

And several others I can't remember.
King Leopold's Ghosts

[onodera]

Basically, KH only reads sci-fi and finance-related books. I guess geeky yuppies do exist, after all.

[dannubis]

Plus, he obviously has too much time on his hands...

[Elok]

Pinker's been the center of a lively controversy since that book came out. I'm sure he loves it. His argument, IIUC, is a statistical one; as a percentage of population, violent deaths have declined. The controversy is whether that is meaningful. As one critic I read pointed out, consider a village of 100 where one person dies in a fistfight and a nation of two million that ethnic-cleanses five thousand people. By Pinker's metric, the little village is "more violent," and that's correct in a sense, but not very satisfying.

[-Jrabbit]

I don't really have (or, more accurately, make) the time for much pleasure reading these days.

[C0ckney]

I can't imagine what strolling through Rio at 3 in the morning would be like.

it's not too bad actually, although certain areas can be dangerous.

[giblets]

State-sanctioned violence is way way way down in the developed world. State policing (probably helped by surveillance and the media) is also far far far more effective than it's ever been in the developed world. The existence of a legal structure for civil grievances in the developed world means no more duels, blood feuds, etc.

But developed world.

18th century Mexico City was probably no more violent than 18th century Paris. Compare them today, though, and the disparity is huge.

I sincerely hope Pinker addresses that while the overall or average violence may have declined, the disparity is greater than it probably has ever been. Which is why I laugh at this concept that 'the better angels' of human nature have triumphed.

You go walk the streets of Bogota and tell us of 'better angels', Mr. Pinker.

What the hell are you basing this "Mexico City was probably no more violent than Paris in the 18th century" thing on? Did you just pull it out of your butt? Is your argument "my preconceived notions of the past aren't more violent then my preconceived notions about the present so you're wrong!" ????

[Al B. Sure!]

What the hell are you basing this "Mexico City was probably no more violent than Paris in the 18th century" thing on? Did you just pull it out of your butt? Is your argument "my preconceived notions of the past aren't more violent then my preconceived notions about the present so you're wrong!" ????

That's one of the other questions I asked. How is this violence being measured?

[Elok]

I've seen better dodges, Al.

[Al B. Sure!]

There:

How is violence being measured? If it is in violent deaths, what role do improvements in medicine play? Are other forms of violence being accounted for? What about unreported crimes? Is violence being considered from state-sources [which was surely higher in the past of the Western world] and are wartime casualties being included? What are modern violence rates being compared to? What is being used to represent 'traditional' violence rates? How significant is the differentiation in violence rates between areas today (for example, Brussels vs. Camden, NJ vs. Capetown vs. Bogota) and how do they compare with violence differentials in the past?

Taken as a sum, I'm sure violence has decreased if only because the State is typically no longer slaughtering the population and instead has become more effective against rogue criminals, but Pinker appears to be making a dangerous presentation that probably hides the high violence disparity between, let's say Western Europe, and the Third World.

[giblets]

Taken as a sum, I'm sure violence has decreased if only because the State is typically no longer slaughtering the population and instead has become more effective against rogue criminals, but Pinker appears to be making a dangerous presentation that probably hides the high violence disparity between, let's say Western Europe, and the Third World.

So you admit he's right but the fact that the developing world has made less progress is supposed to be an objection to what he's saying. I guess you'll also throw a fit if someone claims the world has gotten richer and you'll say that it ignores a huge disparity between the rich and poor.

[BeBMan]

I'm too much of a lazy frakk for a list, but last of 2011, and first of 2012 for me was/is Eco's "The Prague Cemetery" which was kinda difficult at the start both due to the style and the pages of racist and other prejudice esp. early on and later as a re-ocurring theme (since these are the views of the main character and the book deals - again - with conspiracies, like the forgery of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"), but if you liked "Foucault's Pendulum" you'll like this one as well.

[DinoDoc]

That's one of the other questions I asked. How is this violence being measured?

http://stevenpinker.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions-about-better-angels-our-nature-why-violence-has-declined

Personally if you are going to quibble about the man's work, I would be more interested in how he might explain the inherent contradiction between Better Angels and his earlier work Blank Slate

[Guynemer]

Lots of stuff, some of which I don't remember the titles of as my good ladywife brought them home from the library for me. But a couple that have stood out are:

Scalped--a comic book/graphic novel series about an FBI agent who goes undercover back on the reservation where he was born

and Reamde, the new Neal Stephenson novel, which like most of his books is kinda hard to explain, but involves MMORPGs, drug running, hackers, MI6, the Russian mob, Jihadists, etc. Haven't quite finished this one yet--like nearly all of his novels, it takes a solid 100-150 pages (out of 1000+) to get rolling--but it is a blast.

Most of my reading is either medical stuff or proofreading Galnemer's stuff.

[Hauldren Collider]

I honestly don't read enough books...I can't remember the books I read last year. Probably around five. It's a bit sad. I did read a book recently that consisted of three of Gilbert and Sullivan's plays (Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance and Mikado).

I also read Red Mars and hated it. Kim Stanley Robinson is clever but needs to never write sex scenes. He's just horrible at it.