Tag: Review

Book Review, Culture

Brilliant Materialist Interpretation of Modern European History

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Eric Hobsbawm’s four-volume survey of European history from the French Revolution to the Fall of the Eastern Bloc is the premier materialist text of its generation. While giving solid notice to culture and politics, Hobsbawm’s first interest is in the movements of economics and production, and how these tides shaped the broader history of the period.

Readable, engaging, fast-paced – an indispensable survey of the past two centuries.

Just released in audio format – click here 

Plenty of used paperbacks – click here

Kermode’s reading is solid – but the audio quality is poor. Tantor usually does better – how about a remix?

Still – five stars for this extraordinary book!

Painting: Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People

Delacroix-LibertyLeading

Culture

Firesign Theatre – 50 Years!

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Surreal audio at its finest! These mind-bending journeys into the absurd recesses of American culture have aged well – or perhaps they haven’t aged at all.

It’s like listening to an old radio show, only there are always several things happening at once, and they don’t quite make sense till you understand the whole album and figure out who all the different characters are.

Which takes about 200 listens. So get started! See youtube links below.

Historical Note – classic rock-era albums require repeated listens to grasp the flow of the entire work. The early tracks on an album make more sense after you get to know the later ones, etc. Ditto for Firesign – there are layers of interweaving meanings, references, characterizations….

Choose one or two albums and play them a hundred times in the next week/month/year/decade. Don’t worry – all will become clear in the end!

Where to start? Depends on who you ask, and what time of day. Try these:

How Can You Be In Two Places At Once (includes the original Nick Danger episode)

Don’t Crush the Dwarf (featuring “High School Madness”)

Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death (End of Millennium Radio Show)

Firesign-ImmortalityCover

 

Book Review, Culture

Marx’ Capital – New Audio Version

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More economics satires & musings by Luke Hauser

Capital Volume I: A Critique of Political Economy

by Karl Marx | Read by Derek Le Page

Audio Recording Via Audible

Capital is one of the half-dozen most important economic texts of the past 200 years – and perhaps the most readable. Volume One contains the key material. How great to settle into a good reading.

Marx takes the labor theory of value as developed by Adam Smith and others and shows its implications for workers, managers, and owners – a worthy goal, and critical reading for anyone interested in economics regardless of your outlook.

No, Marx can’t “prove” that labor is the basis of all economic value. That’s because you Continue reading “Marx’ Capital – New Audio Version” →