Author Topic: books to read  (Read 431215 times)

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Alan

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3420 on: January 10, 2021, 06:43:46 PM »
Chandler is probably in my top 5. Wish he'd written more novels and stories.
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matty_c

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3421 on: January 10, 2021, 07:20:00 PM »
W Somerset Maugham "Of Human Bondage" has been a long read. It's not that the novel is particularly difficult to understand, but rather the depth of thought and its effect on interpersonal relationships experienced by each character, particularly Philip, is expansive and despite the book having been written in 1915, relatable. Not so much the background or tangible experience, but the growth of person and again, thought, presented through Philip is in some ways reminiscent of my own and that of others I've known in seeking a path in their early 20s. Granted, I didn't have a trust fund, but I owned a car and do remember well traveling around with a camera and skateboard, experiencing women and art, heroes quickly crushed. I've got about 1/3 left to read and hope to be done soon. No spoilers please

That dude’s my favourite writer. His short stories are fucking mint. If I was an art wanker I’d say something about his shit being almost brechtian

Pretty cool dude was the highest paid author in the world like proper famous and on the sly putting from the rough the whole time
He didn’t give a fuck, sickest cunt
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Peter Zagreus

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3422 on: January 10, 2021, 08:26:14 PM »
Also, recently discovered early sci-fi guy Olaf Stapledon. I had a whole post written out about the following books, but my internet blinked out when I tried to post. Maybe just marvel at these retro covers and look him up if you're interested.




Sluggloaph

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3423 on: January 11, 2021, 10:55:06 AM »
On a pulpy, LA, novels-from-1939 kick this week:





Don't have these editions, of course. Both titles are great. I especially recommend the West, though. Really remarkable.
Read day of the locust in school, sick. Is that the one with the graphic cock fight scene? Also the dudes homer simpson right?
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Peter Zagreus

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3424 on: January 11, 2021, 11:08:34 AM »
Yes to both! The cockfight scene really is remarkable, as hard to read as it is. West must have sat (stood?) in on a couple of real cockfights for research purposes.

Deputy Wendell

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3425 on: January 12, 2021, 07:55:36 AM »
i'm working on the schedule for the literature class ("Encountering Modernity") that i'm fortunate enough to be teaching this semester. in addition to Shelley's Frankenstein, Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, and Hamid's Exit West the department makes us teach out of volume 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Literature.

i'm definitely assigning James Baldwin's essay "Notes of a Native Son," and so while looking for some kind of brief clip on Youtube on Richard Wright's Native Son to provide some background/context--since Baldwin's essay (and the book of essays it comes from) is essentially a response to Wright's novel and the character Bigger Thomas--i came across this trailer for a film i did not even know existed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghfwH5jWTbc

Ashton Sanders is truly outstanding in Moonlight and this looks incredible...and i'm just curious for anyone who has seen it and is familiar with the novel, if you have any thoughts on specific scenes that are doing interesting things with Wright's original character of Bigger Thomas?

Sluggloaph

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3426 on: January 12, 2021, 09:57:15 AM »
Yes to both! The cockfight scene really is remarkable, as hard to read as it is. West must have sat (stood?) in on a couple of real cockfights for research purposes.
Yea thats a definite. Research or mayb he was low key a fan. Either case classic "pulpy l.a.novel" for sure.
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The real veganshawn

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3427 on: January 12, 2021, 01:45:59 PM »
Currently reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
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botefdunn

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3428 on: January 12, 2021, 04:31:56 PM »
Reading The Gulag Archipelago, written by a prisoner in the Soviet Union. Hard to read but really good. It’s the book that flipped a lot of Soviet sympathetic thinkers against the Soviet Union.

Gulag Archipelago is a great book. Solzhenytsin (the author) was indeed a prisoner, but he was also a nobel prize-winning author later in life. Only pointing this out because if you like Gulag you should definitely check out some of his other stuff. "The First Circle" and "Cancer Ward" are both excellent, dark subject matter but written about with a sharp, dry sort of humour.

Sluggloaph

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3429 on: January 12, 2021, 05:09:57 PM »
^reading, almost finished, house of the dead. Russian prison stories are fucking brutal!
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brycickle

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3430 on: January 12, 2021, 10:36:30 PM »
i'm working on the schedule for the literature class ("Encountering Modernity") that i'm fortunate enough to be teaching this semester. in addition to Shelley's Frankenstein, Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, and Hamid's Exit West the department makes us teach out of volume 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Literature.

i'm definitely assigning James Baldwin's essay "Notes of a Native Son," and so while looking for some kind of brief clip on Youtube on Richard Wright's Native Son to provide some background/context--since Baldwin's essay (and the book of essays it comes from) is essentially a response to Wright's novel and the character Bigger Thomas--i came across this trailer for a film i did not even know existed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghfwH5jWTbc

Ashton Sanders is truly outstanding in Moonlight and this looks incredible...and i'm just curious for anyone who has seen it and is familiar with the novel, if you have any thoughts on specific scenes that are doing interesting things with Wright's original character of Bigger Thomas?
It's been a very long time since I read "Native Son", so it's hard for me to comment faithfully on similarities or deviations from the text that occur in the movie. I do know that when I watched this, the general plot made me feel like I was revisiting the book, if that makes sense. So I guess I would say that it is probably relatively faithful to the source material, just in a modern setting. Which, race and class relations in modern day Chicago probably haven't really changed that much since the time that Wright wrote the book. Anyway, I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, and the movie was good too.

 You and the D00D have turned this thread into a horrible head-on-collision between a short bus full of regular kids and a van full of paraplegics.



Deputy Wendell

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3431 on: January 13, 2021, 09:10:30 AM »
Expand Quote
i'm working on the schedule for the literature class ("Encountering Modernity") that i'm fortunate enough to be teaching this semester. in addition to Shelley's Frankenstein, Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, and Hamid's Exit West the department makes us teach out of volume 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Literature.

i'm definitely assigning James Baldwin's essay "Notes of a Native Son," and so while looking for some kind of brief clip on Youtube on Richard Wright's Native Son to provide some background/context--since Baldwin's essay (and the book of essays it comes from) is essentially a response to Wright's novel and the character Bigger Thomas--i came across this trailer for a film i did not even know existed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghfwH5jWTbc

Ashton Sanders is truly outstanding in Moonlight and this looks incredible...and i'm just curious for anyone who has seen it and is familiar with the novel, if you have any thoughts on specific scenes that are doing interesting things with Wright's original character of Bigger Thomas?
[close]
It's been a very long time since I read "Native Son", so it's hard for me to comment faithfully on similarities or deviations from the text that occur in the movie. I do know that when I watched this, the general plot made me feel like I was revisiting the book, if that makes sense. So I guess I would say that it is probably relatively faithful to the source material, just in a modern setting. Which, race and class relations in modern day Chicago probably haven't really changed that much since the time that Wright wrote the book. Anyway, I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, and the movie was good too.

i'm much obliged for your thoughts brycickle--i'm looking forward to seeing it whether it plays a part in my class or not...we'll be reading and discussing Baldwin (and perhaps Wright) in the section of the course dealing with "Urban Realism," so it may be interesting to think about then and now in a city like Chicago...cheers.

LordManHammer

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3432 on: January 19, 2021, 08:49:50 AM »

So depressingly accurate and that just hold my head above water and usually falls from grace. This guy's life mirrors mine in a lot of aspects.
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Freelancevagrant

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3433 on: January 19, 2021, 08:58:26 AM »
I just picked up two books yesterday.

1. Antifa: The Anti Fascist Handbook. By Dr. Mark Bray, I’m a huge fan of Dr. Bray and will support him and the cause by any means necessary.

2. Liber Null and Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll. I’m fascinated by ritual magik, the left hand path, and chaos magic so this a must.
Well I have like 9 Andy Anderson dated flight decks.

AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3434 on: January 19, 2021, 09:42:29 AM »
Halfway through Obama's A Promised Land. As said, usually I'm not into politician's memoirs, but in the light of the shitshow of 2021, Obama's quite a refreshing read. As could be expected, it's at times overly dramatic and Hollywood-esque with him shedding tears over letters from parents of fallen soldiers, blablabla... but at its core, it also provides valuable insight into how different institutions and key players in America work in practice. In its best moments, Obama carries you through the conflicting ideas and feelings behind his decisions. Not being from the US myself, this has taught me a lot about certain unwritten rules in US politics that I hadn't been aware of. There's also some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff (probably not always the whole truth, of course).

I also like Obama as a person. Obviously, he's trying really hard to come off as the guy-next-door, but it's also nice to listen to a politician, who doesn't shy away from questioning himself and his motivations in politics and who somewhat believes in the value of modesty. I'm also buying his inner conflict between pragmatism and idealism. Obama never seemed like a power-hungry narcissist to me.

While Obama is being fair to almost all fellow politicians, he also proves that Mitch McConnell is a complete dipshit, and tells you not just between the lines.

That being said, it's about time to get back to my normal reading. Just had these in the mail. Can't decide which one to read first:






Lorem_Ipsum

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3435 on: January 19, 2021, 10:00:47 AM »
Cool to see Raymond Chandler in here. If you like his style, I recommend checking out Dashiell Hammett as well. His novel Red Harvest was used heavily as inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's period pieces, which in turn influenced the creation of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Some cool Western - Japanese - back to Western ties in there.

Sluggloaph

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3436 on: January 19, 2021, 10:04:03 AM »
Tolstoy, for sure. The golden age of Russian literature is the cats pajamas.
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fuhkin_powahfood_kid

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3437 on: January 19, 2021, 12:40:57 PM »
"There There" was written by Tommy Orange a few years back and follows a dozen Indians, mostly around contemporary Oakland CA. Brutal and honest. felt it in my gut, my heart, and bones.

"And don’t make the mistake of calling us resilient. To not have been destroyed, to not have given up, to have survived, is no badge of honor. Would you call an attempted murder victim resilient?"

« Last Edit: January 19, 2021, 01:09:09 PM by IusedToSkateMore »
If you plant ice, you’re gonna harvest wind

DaleSr

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3438 on: January 19, 2021, 02:05:23 PM »
Halfway through Obama's A Promised Land. As said, usually I'm not into politician's memoirs, but in the light of the shitshow of 2021, Obama's quite a refreshing read. As could be expected, it's at times overly dramatic and Hollywood-esque with him shedding tears over letters from parents of fallen soldiers, blablabla... but at its core, it also provides valuable insight into how different institutions and key players in America work in practice. In its best moments, Obama carries you through the conflicting ideas and feelings behind his decisions. Not being from the US myself, this has taught me a lot about certain unwritten rules in US politics that I hadn't been aware of. There's also some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff (probably not always the whole truth, of course).

I also like Obama as a person. Obviously, he's trying really hard to come off as the guy-next-door, but it's also nice to listen to a politician, who doesn't shy away from questioning himself and his motivations in politics and who somewhat believes in the value of modesty. I'm also buying his inner conflict between pragmatism and idealism. Obama never seemed like a power-hungry narcissist to me.

While Obama is being fair to almost all fellow politicians, he also proves that Mitch McConnell is a complete dipshit, and tells you not just between the lines.

That being said, it's about time to get back to my normal reading. Just had these in the mail. Can't decide which one to read first:







I think reading through Obama's memoir and seeing him continue to try and argue in good faith and work in a bipartisanship manner after the midterms where they got swept by the tea party shows that he was dangerously naive. He should have been more combative and he should have followed Reid's example and pushed aggressively for his agenda instead of meeting in the middle with the frothing psychos who hated him.

MorningSesh

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3439 on: January 19, 2021, 02:50:50 PM »
Just finished Walker Ryan’s book over the weekend. Anyone else read it? I thought it was good.

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3440 on: January 19, 2021, 03:18:04 PM »
Expand Quote
Halfway through Obama's A Promised Land. As said, usually I'm not into politician's memoirs, but in the light of the shitshow of 2021, Obama's quite a refreshing read. As could be expected, it's at times overly dramatic and Hollywood-esque with him shedding tears over letters from parents of fallen soldiers, blablabla... but at its core, it also provides valuable insight into how different institutions and key players in America work in practice. In its best moments, Obama carries you through the conflicting ideas and feelings behind his decisions. Not being from the US myself, this has taught me a lot about certain unwritten rules in US politics that I hadn't been aware of. There's also some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff (probably not always the whole truth, of course).

I also like Obama as a person. Obviously, he's trying really hard to come off as the guy-next-door, but it's also nice to listen to a politician, who doesn't shy away from questioning himself and his motivations in politics and who somewhat believes in the value of modesty. I'm also buying his inner conflict between pragmatism and idealism. Obama never seemed like a power-hungry narcissist to me.

While Obama is being fair to almost all fellow politicians, he also proves that Mitch McConnell is a complete dipshit, and tells you not just between the lines.

That being said, it's about time to get back to my normal reading. Just had these in the mail. Can't decide which one to read first:






[close]

I think reading through Obama's memoir and seeing him continue to try and argue in good faith and work in a bipartisanship manner after the midterms where they got swept by the tea party shows that he was dangerously naive. He should have been more combative and he should have followed Reid's example and pushed aggressively for his agenda instead of meeting in the middle with the frothing psychos who hated him.

naive or just doing his job? Dems can't truly push back.
If you plant ice, you’re gonna harvest wind

matty_c

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3441 on: January 21, 2021, 02:00:31 AM »
I’ve uh, been reading a whole bunch of war books last couple weeks, they’re like crack to me.
Can anyone recommend?

Ones I read already are

Dispatches
Chickenhawk
Lone survivor
Marine corps tank battles
War
Black hawk down
A bright shining lie
Fearless
Seal team six
Matterhorn
We were soldiers once and young
American sniper
Kill anything that moves
Night drop
Seal of honour
Going after cacciato - almost finished and I have bogged down wtf is the whole book like a dream sequence or what? It’s alright though

I am not counting stuff like Vonnegut, Hemingway, Joseph Heller or any of the Russians. They’re great books but I read them already - I’m sorta locked in to more non fiction type stuff right now, but yeah a couple I listed above are fiction

Cheers

Edit

Where are you cunts stealing your books from I usually go to pdfdrive but I’d be interested if there’s other good sites. Many you gotta join, fuck around with all these links and bullshit and it just seems suss
Anyone know any ones like pdfdrive?
« Last Edit: January 21, 2021, 05:13:08 AM by matty_c »
listen to cosmic psychos

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3442 on: January 21, 2021, 09:16:41 AM »
Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time - Joseph Frank (shit is a phonebook)

I fuck with Russian lit/poetry so shout out to Lermontov and Solzhenitsyn. Just read Marina Tsetaeva's biography which was pretty damn good too.

Might be a stretch, but if any PALS know any worthwhile Hungarian and/or Czech authors, lemme know.

Cheers.

oyolar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3443 on: January 21, 2021, 09:22:56 AM »
Lászl󠋲asznahorkai is intense.

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3444 on: January 21, 2021, 11:24:48 AM »
I’ve uh, been reading a whole bunch of war books last couple weeks, they’re like crack to me.
Can anyone recommend?

Ones I read already are

Dispatches
Chickenhawk
Lone survivor
Marine corps tank battles
War
Black hawk down
A bright shining lie
Fearless
Seal team six
Matterhorn
We were soldiers once and young
American sniper
Kill anything that moves
Night drop
Seal of honour
Going after cacciato - almost finished and I have bogged down wtf is the whole book like a dream sequence or what? It’s alright though

I am not counting stuff like Vonnegut, Hemingway, Joseph Heller or any of the Russians. They’re great books but I read them already - I’m sorta locked in to more non fiction type stuff right now, but yeah a couple I listed above are fiction

Cheers

Edit

Where are you cunts stealing your books from I usually go to pdfdrive but I’d be interested if there’s other good sites. Many you gotta join, fuck around with all these links and bullshit and it just seems suss
Anyone know any ones like pdfdrive?

b-ok.cc/

anything you can imagine, no payment needed. z library, boyeee
If you plant ice, you’re gonna harvest wind

matty_c

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3445 on: January 21, 2021, 12:15:38 PM »
Unreal, thanks mate!
listen to cosmic psychos

Hands down Hass out

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3446 on: January 21, 2021, 06:09:26 PM »
Expand Quote
I’ve uh, been reading a whole bunch of war books last couple weeks, they’re like crack to me.
Can anyone recommend?

Ones I read already are

Dispatches
Chickenhawk
Lone survivor
Marine corps tank battles
War
Black hawk down
A bright shining lie
Fearless
Seal team six
Matterhorn
We were soldiers once and young
American sniper
Kill anything that moves
Night drop
Seal of honour
Going after cacciato - almost finished and I have bogged down wtf is the whole book like a dream sequence or what? It’s alright though

I am not counting stuff like Vonnegut, Hemingway, Joseph Heller or any of the Russians. They’re great books but I read them already - I’m sorta locked in to more non fiction type stuff right now, but yeah a couple I listed above are fiction

Cheers

Edit

Where are you cunts stealing your books from I usually go to pdfdrive but I’d be interested if there’s other good sites. Many you gotta join, fuck around with all these links and bullshit and it just seems suss
Anyone know any ones like pdfdrive?
[close]

b-ok.cc/

anything you can imagine, no payment needed. z library, boyeee



childhood

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3447 on: January 26, 2021, 02:19:13 PM »
largepdf.com & libgen.is are also both good resources for books/scientific articles/magazines/etc.

Largepdf specifically, I used to download a bunch of graphic novels, early on in quarantine when I was trying to get into that kind of thing.

b-ok.cc / z library is probably the best though. Most user friendly too, I've even gotten my mom into getting books off there for her kindle.


This is an essay, not a book, but since there's so many Cormac McCarthy fans on here, I figured I would post his first ever published non-fiction essay (largely about the development of language in humans) that came out a few years ago. I dunno if everyone has read it already, I only just learned about it a few days ago.
https://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/the-kekul-problem

AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3448 on: February 05, 2021, 12:42:18 PM »
Tolstoy, for sure. The golden age of Russian literature is the cats pajamas.

Yeah, right on. That's exactly what I did. It was great: depressing, bleak, but ultimately great. Exactly what I was looking for. The Russians never disappoint (well, at least not Dostoyevski, Tolstoy or Bulgakow...).

On to Last Evenings on Earth and that book on climate change. I'm on the fence between fiction and non-fiction. Might as well read both at the same time.

AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice

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Re: books to read
« Reply #3449 on: February 05, 2021, 12:48:12 PM »
Expand Quote
Halfway through Obama's A Promised Land. As said, usually I'm not into politician's memoirs, but in the light of the shitshow of 2021, Obama's quite a refreshing read. As could be expected, it's at times overly dramatic and Hollywood-esque with him shedding tears over letters from parents of fallen soldiers, blablabla... but at its core, it also provides valuable insight into how different institutions and key players in America work in practice. In its best moments, Obama carries you through the conflicting ideas and feelings behind his decisions. Not being from the US myself, this has taught me a lot about certain unwritten rules in US politics that I hadn't been aware of. There's also some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff (probably not always the whole truth, of course).

I also like Obama as a person. Obviously, he's trying really hard to come off as the guy-next-door, but it's also nice to listen to a politician, who doesn't shy away from questioning himself and his motivations in politics and who somewhat believes in the value of modesty. I'm also buying his inner conflict between pragmatism and idealism. Obama never seemed like a power-hungry narcissist to me.

While Obama is being fair to almost all fellow politicians, he also proves that Mitch McConnell is a complete dipshit, and tells you not just between the lines.

That being said, it's about time to get back to my normal reading. Just had these in the mail. Can't decide which one to read first:






[close]

I think reading through Obama's memoir and seeing him continue to try and argue in good faith and work in a bipartisanship manner after the midterms where they got swept by the tea party shows that he was dangerously naive. He should have been more combative and he should have followed Reid's example and pushed aggressively for his agenda instead of meeting in the middle with the frothing psychos who hated him.

Yeah, I concur. Reading his memoir, it feels like Obama is aware of that mistake himself, but he still tries to explain and justify why he wanted to work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner. In all fairness, I'm not sure he saw "birtherism" and other outright crazy, vicious right-wing attacks on him coming, when all he wanted was unify the country and its political institutions. But yeah, definitely naive in hindsight.