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/lit/ - Literature

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2340043 No.2340043 [Reply] [Original]

Anyone else absolutely love the "A Very Short Introduction" series?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Short_Introductions

I've read Anarchism, Ethics, Fascism, Feminism, Foucault, Human Evolution, Myth, Philosophy, Postmodernism, Psychiatry, and Socialism from the series so far. I'll probably read Relativity or Renaissance Art next.

Of those, the topics I already knew a bit about were anarchism, feminism, philosophy, and socialism. The information about those topics was solid, and I learned a bit about each that I didn't already know, even though these are supposedly "very short introductions."

I seriously recommend these books. You can probably get most of them on Megauplohwait... via torrent or whatever else.

>> No.2340049

Are they better than wikipedia

>> No.2340060

>>2340049
They're published by Oxford.

Downside: They can't protest SOPA and PIPA.

>> No.2340137
File: 236 KB, 405x544, bpeters_cf_aps_bumper6_12x16.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2340137

I loved AVSI: Anarchism and Tocqueville.
I've been thinking of picking some other topics form the library someday.

>> No.2340916

>>2340043
>Fascism

how biased is it?

>> No.2340936

>>2340916
How biased is this post?

The author is Dr Kevin Passmore of Cardiff

>> No.2340944

I bought economics and i'm reading it shortly. It looks good, i'm pretty sure i'll check out some other ones too.

>> No.2340950

ahhhhh I love these. I have like 30 of them - they make a shelf in my book case look like an abstract painting.

>> No.2340961

I've read a couple, wasn't particularly impressed.

>> No.2340967

they're good. I've got architecture and short answers to very big questions.
I like them. They don't pretend to be anything other than that which they are. Very good if you want to find out about a subject without having to read heavy volumes. Then you can decide if you want to find out more for yourself

>> No.2340998

I read the one on The French Revolution. I plan to read more. I also appreciate the very good "Further Reading" section the always have in the back.

>> No.2341074

>>2340936
did they point out that fascism is the optimal form of government?

>> No.2341096

I own philosophy and the one about Maquis De Sade. The Sade one was far more interesting, the philosophy one i havent read fully, but it began blandly.

>> No.2341100

I torrented the set with about 160 of them.

Looks like a lot of interesting stuff, and I definitely have high hopes. Might buy some if I like them, since they seem so cheap.

>> No.2341118
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2341118

Hadn't heard of these. They look great. Gonna torrent. Thanks OP, actually quite a useful thread.

Kisses

>> No.2341127

I read Philosophy, Ethics, Sikhism, Anarchism and The Elements. Mostly good stuff.

>> No.2341167

I'm interested in like these books but I don't think my English as good as to read these books. My english level is indermetiate or upper intermediate in some tests. Do you think should I read?

>> No.2341182

>>2341167
Judging by your post, not yet.
Although trying couldn't hurt.

>> No.2341198

The only one I've gotten so far is Memory, pretty good. This is the only series I'd consider torrenting. I don't really enjoy reading books on a screen, and as well, there are so many that if I bought all the ones I wanted to read, I'd be out of money fairly quickly.

>> No.2341208

Anybody has a torrent? I can't find those where I live.

>> No.2341216

>>2341208
btjunkie

>> No.2341864

>>>/rs/Very+Short+Introduction&from=ALL

>> No.2341867

>>2341118

I giggled even though I like DFW.Deal with it /lit/fags.

>> No.2342014

Never heard of these before; there's a similar though shitty series sold in most Barnes & Nobles.

>> No.2342018

I've only read a couple but from what I've seen they're generally very, very good for their intended purpose

yep

>> No.2342043

>>2341074
That's subjective. But I felt it was pretty unbiased. It just told the history, where fascism originated, what fascists actually believe, etc.

>> No.2342079

the one on islam is pretty bad

it starts with a close reading of the opening sura of the koran, that should tell you enough to know its bad scholarship

>> No.2342346

>>2342079
No, it's not enough. Care to explain?

>> No.2342393

I haven't read any of them in that format, but Roger Scruton's "Beauty" was reprinted in that series, and it's quite good.

>> No.2342414

>>2342346
it doesn't say there all evil terrists who want to take our freedom so it's bad scholarship

>> No.2342416

*are freedom

>> No.2342441

A few years ago I was bored at the college bookstore between classes so I bought the Nothing introduction for $10. It seemed really interesting, but I've yet to finish it...Gonna look for a torrent though, hopefully they're in epub.

>> No.2342443

What's an interesting art movement to read about?

>> No.2342468

Goddammit all the collections I find are in pdf. WHY!? I want to be able to read on my ereader. Anyone know where I can find them in epub, mobi, or html?

>> No.2342571

>>2342468
http://ebook.hamstersoft.com/en/home

>> No.2342575

>>2342443
rococo

>> No.2342587

http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Very-Short-Introductions-158-books/6230670c0dd5d40bb3e33ca082f2c1bf1ef29
0eafbdc

Thank me later, /lit/, it's legit as the shit.

>> No.2342589

I study in Oxford and these little niglets are sold everywhere. I borrowed one about Russian literature from a friend once and was not particularly impressed.

>> No.2342592

>>2342587
I love you so fucking muck

>> No.2342601

>>2342571
I know but whenever I convert automatically there are random line spacings between words and weird stuff. I'd convert it manually but when I copy the text from the pdf none of the line spacings are copied which means I would have to read the whole book to know when to start a new paragraph just to make a proper epub. Goddamn pdf should carry over line spacing when you copy the text.

>> No.2342603
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2342603

>>2342589
That's because you study at Oxford. You are getting the Very Long Introduction series.
Enjoy.

>> No.2342606

Are they better or worse than teaching company lectures

>> No.2342609

>>2342606
Less boring than most lectures.

>> No.2342617

Yes, i love them as well. Having read a couple of them. I plan on reading more of them in the future. For those interested, there is a torrent with them. http://torrentz.eu/670c0dd5d40bb3e33ca082f2c1bf1ef290eafbdc

>> No.2342635
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2342635

>pdf

When will everyone move onto glorious epub or html?

>> No.2342639

>>2342635
as long as i get it, i don't care

>> No.2342645

HTML is best. All details and can easily be converted to anything else. Theres no reason to use adobe's whore child, really.

>> No.2342706

>>2340936
>More shitposting from the tripfag


Thanks, OP.

>> No.2342758

>Very short

How about some lectures? I don't see this on /lit/ very often. The last time I did, I wasn't able to save any of the links or torrent files as I was on another computer.
One big torrent of them would be great.

>> No.2342790

>>2342758
Classes on mp3. Teaching Company Courses

Classics of American Literature
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=yi90oyal

Classics of British Literature
[X] http://www.mediafire.com/?i9pgq7tmviv9xda

Classic Novels - Meeting the Challenge of Great Literature
http://www.mediafire.com/?e71rsls9dn6svy1

Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=regjl8hy

History of World Literature
http://www.mediafire.com/?8dur52dlc84muq4

Literary Modernism
http://www.mediafire.com/?2gdzuyier74t9ct

Masterworks of Early 20th Century Literature
http://www.mediafire.com/?x6ja8hk3dsc7sja

Science Fiction - The Literature of Technological Imagination
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmfmq7ttqzifjfe

The English Novel
http://www.mediafire.com/?h6f9yzfopq2o6xz

Understanding Literature, Life and Drama.rar
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P88U3DVM

Analysis and Critique - How to Engage and Write about Anything
[X] http://www.mediafire.com/?3yxq9t22f1zczgl

How to Read and Why - Harold Bloom
http://www.mediafire.com/?hdedtdjnqk4jt5t

Giants of Philosophy
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=akuwovsu
>>2342706
1. Not a trip
2. He was probably a fascist. Dumbest people next to Christfags

>> No.2342793

>>2342790
>posting megaupload links

oh u

>> No.2342796

>>2342758

Why would anyone use lectures instead of reading material? Reading is much faster than listening. Well, perhaps except for the blind, then lectures are understandable.

>>2342645
>>2342635

PDFs work best on my computers. I prefer to download them rather than to have to download EPUB or whatever and then convert them. I don't use an ebook reader. Why would I prefer EPUB/HTML etc.?

>> No.2342800
File: 282 KB, 1280x1024, My-R-L-Stine-s-collection-goosebumps-9096950-1280-1024.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2342800

Is that a stack of Goosebumps, OP?

>> No.2342802

>>2342793
Ah yes. Very sad I didn't get those first. Not a total loss though.
The rest from that thread.

UC Berkeley podcasts a few Japanese Literature courses.
http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/japanese-7a-001-fall-2011/id460481868
http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/japanese-7b-001-spring-2010/id354825483
http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/japanese-159-001-spring-2010/id354825492

Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition
http://www.mediafire.com/?j4awaj3st7u9ffy

Twentieth Century American Fiction
http://www.mediafire.com/?hx2qw31te6tveu9

The Skeptic_s Guide to the Great Books
http://www.mediafire.com/?cefb6xc7dq7mmkk

----Some sites----

http://www.openculture.com/literature_free_courses

http://forgottenbooks.org/

http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/
>Ancient/historic texts

http://www.archive.org/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/
>Religious tracts; grimoires

http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/index_welsh.html
>Welsh texts with English translations

http://www.readbookonline.net/

http://trove.nla.gov.au/
>Australian scans

http://www.shortstoryarchive.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/

http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/digitalscriptorium/
>Scans of illuminated texts

http://www.library.theoi.com/
>Ancient Greek texts

>Occult texts (of varying quality)
http://english.grimoar.cz

>Public domain audiobooks (read by volunteers; obviously also of varying quality)
http://librivox.org

>> No.2342808

>>2342796
You don't have to convert epubs to read them on a computer, just download an epub reader. pdfs are basically impossible on ebook readers unless you have a huge one.

>> No.2342813

>>2342790
>2. He was probably a fascist. Dumbest people next to Christfags

>Asserters gonna assert.

Prove it.

>> No.2342821

>>2342813
1. Fa
2. ⊢ ∃xFx

>> No.2342881

>>2342821
>1. Fa

?

>> No.2342940

chapter 1 Why migration matters

>historically migration has underpinned economic growth and
nation-building and enriched cultures. Migration also presents

OH GOD. DAT BULLSHIT.

>Implying the economic growth and "cultural enrichment" the author is talking about is interchangeable with contemporary immigration.

>Implying the immigration of today, importing millions of ethnically and culturally dissimilar peoples (as opposed to when immigration was restricted to Europeans only), is not inherently divisive, yet continued on the pretext that somehow people who differ so greatly and hold sentiments so completely in conflict with western values will enrich our culture.

I just read through Migrants in society.

>It is important to conclude this section with one final observation.
This is that there is often a gap between the findings of academic
research such as that cited here, and public and even political
96
International Migration
opinions. Even where research points unambiguously to the
conclusion that immigrants contribute to economic growth, do not
compete for jobs, do not lower wages for the native-born, and
represent good value in cost–benefit terms, this is not how they will
necessarily be viewed. In the USA and Europe there has
consistently found to have been a correlation between negative
public opinion on the scale of immigration and high unemployment
levels, even where no direct relationship between the two can be
established. Similarly in Malaysia and South Africa, for example,
immigration is regularly blamed for unemployment.

Dat bias. I suppose it wouldn't be published if it wasn't left-leaning.

>> No.2342968

>>2342808

Except if the reader supports re-flow for the PDF file. I'm not sure which of them support that.

I'm referring to the annoying formatting that results from reading EPUB files on the computer.

>> No.2342983

They look good, but they're expensive to be so small in size. However I will begin purchasing some, looks like a series I will want

>> No.2342987

>>2342940
ya, migration has usually accompanied the utter destruction of civilizations and genocides of their native people, but hey lets make up pure bullshit to justify our modern immigration policies!

Always have to love these "help the economy" arguments, you can clearly tell that the only measure of economy they are using is GDP, as if the aggregate size of the economy is anything related to individuals.

Or, even if there was a benefit, they are just advocating selling our country out. Treachery for money... fucking disgusting.

>> No.2343002
File: 17 KB, 320x214, roma_flagJPEG.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2343002

This is NOT a fascists thread

>> No.2343004

>>2342940
>hurr durr

Those dirty potato heads are takin ar jerbs!

Oops, wrong decade.

Retard.

>> No.2343011

>>2343004
>I'll mock a strawman, this is valid debate tactics!

>> No.2343019

>>2343011
How is it a strawman? The exact same arguments you're using have been used since the dawn of fucking civilization, only to seem absurd a while later.

What difference is there between your xenophobia and xenophobia against Irish immigrants in the 19th century?

You discard well-established economic facts because they fail to confirm your preconceptions...and call them left-leaning when they're the exact opposite. It's the leftist protectionist nationalistic welfare state that is anti-immigrant.

>> No.2343022

>>2343011
>I will greentext. This is my valuable time well spent.

>> No.2343024

>>2343002
LOL Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ is a roma?

THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING.


>>2343004
>THIS NIGGER THINKS THAT WAS A REBUTTAL

LOLOLOLOLOL

>IMPLYING I EVEN MENTIONED ANYTHING ABOUT "TAKING JOBS".

>> No.2343030

>>2343019
are you an idiot?

>>2342793
>>2342802
It's only the domain name which has been taken i believe, can't you still just connect via IP?

>> No.2343031
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2343031

>>2343024
What timezone are you working on?
Maybe you need to sleep.

>> No.2343033

>>2343024
the fuck is a roma? I believe you mean gypsy.

>> No.2343065

>>2343019
First of all, he isn't the one who posted the commentwhich created your buttpain.

>What difference is there between your xenophobia and xenophobia against Irish immigrants in the 19th century?

BECAUSE THEY ***COULD*** ASSIMULATE.

THEY DIDN'T HAVE THEIR STUPID FUCKING BELIEFS WHICH SATURATE THE MINDS OF THE CURRECT MASS OF IMMIGRANTS (i.e Islam). They segregate themselves into their little enclaves in defiance of the rest of society - how are they supposed to assimulate? Also, the fact that they looked similar to the majority allowed them to eventually blend in. The divisiveness of this pluralistic ideology is quite evident if you are well versed in history and turn on your fucking goddamn TV at least once a week.

>INB4 THAT GYPSY NAMEFAG GETS MAD


>You discard well-established economic facts because they fail to confirm your preconceptions...and call them left-leaning when they're the exact opposite.
No, it was just the leftist bias on this specific paragraph I pointed out.

>It's the leftist protectionist nationalistic welfare state that is anti-immigrant.
Ok.

>>2343033
My mistake.

>> No.2343067

>>2343065
>Also, the fact that they looked similar to the majority allowed them to eventually blend in.

By this, of course, I mean later generations would eventually assimulate. Not first generation.

>> No.2343070

>>2343065
>Ok.

Don't say ok to that, almost nowhere will you find leftists who are actually "national socialists".

Essentially, they know that whites won't support their bullshit, so they want to import non-whites to vote for them and form the underclass.

It's in fact, utterly crazy that he claims it's the RIGHT WING who are supporting immigration, and the left wing who oppose it.

>> No.2343076

>>2343070
>Don't say ok to that,
I wasn't agreeing; i couldn't be bothered to go on.

>It's in fact, utterly crazy that he claims it's the RIGHT WING who are supporting immigration, and the left wing who oppose it.
Yes, that was rubbish.

>> No.2344315

bump

>> No.2344470

Richard Tuck's Very Short Introduction to Thomas Hobbes is particularly good.

Cracking start to my Hobbes research last year.

>> No.2344673

>>2342940
Reality is biased to the left, deal with it.

>> No.2344693

Can't believe the thread got to this length and >>2340049 still hasn't been answered.