What books are you reading ? (conspiracy related, science, etc...)

[NorCal Dave]

I have listed to some of Bart Ehrmans stuff on youtube, how would you rate him?

Like @FatPhil above, I also spent most of my youth in church, mostly assorted evangelical places, going to and leading Bible study. I find Ehrman usually pretty good. He grew up in the church and IIRC, like me he sorta fell away the more he learned. Unlike me, he went on to get advanced degrees and learned to read ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Greek and God knows what else.

He has the southern evangelical church upbringing and background, with the academic chops to explain things well.

 

[JMartJr]

Like @FatPhil above, I also spent most of my youth in church, mostly assorted evangelical places, going to and leading Bible study. I find Ehrman usually pretty good. He grew up in the church and IIRC, like me he sorta fell away the more he learned. Unlike me, he went on to get advanced degrees and learned to read ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Greek and God knows what else.

He has the southern evangelical church upbringing and background, with the academic chops to explain things well.

Interesting, I'll have to check him out.

 

[derwoodii]

not so much conspiracy book but its got zombies and a weird writers perspective that strangely parallel my own family anglo chinese mix and history



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220815054-first-name-second-name

First Name Second Name

Steve MinOn

4.11
72 ratings19 reviews
The journey will be long and difficult, one thousand miles. Try not to be too obvious. Stick to the backroads. You'll know you've arrived when you get there. Stephen Bolin leaves a bizarre note by his deathbed, asking his sisters to take his body back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. When they ignore his request, Stephen's corpse makes the nocturnal pilgrimage alone. But what is compelling him and what will he find there? His journey, as a kind of jiangshi, takes him back through his turbulent family history: from his Chinese great-grandfather's life on the goldfields in 1860s Queensland, to his Scottish grandparents' migration to Australia as ten-pound Poms, and to his own coming of age and coming out in Brisbane and London. Original and satirical, First Name Second Name follows four generations of one family through a reckoning with racial, familial and sexual identity.

 

[yoshy]

I have listed to some of Bart Ehrmans stuff on youtube, how would you rate him?

He's one of the most prolific modern Biblical scholars for good reason! He has the rare combo of writing influential scholarly work and several bestsellers for lay audiences, while also loving doing podcasts, interviews, debates, and basically any other media. His podcast on Youtube (which just had a special episode with Dan McClellan!). The podcast is named after one of his bestselling books Misquoting Jesus, though the podcast is not limited to that specific book or topic. He has lots of good debates on youtube as well, mostly against evangelical apologists but also some against Jesus mythicists (though Ehrman is now an atheist, he agrees with the consensus that Jesus was a real person).

 

[NorCal Dave]

Anybody who always wanted to write a book about a quirky bit of history might look into this -- the time is probably right, as the need for secrecy is passed (the ship was converted into an oil driller, where it had a busy career, and then was eventually scrapped -- according to Wikipedia at a Chinese ship breaker, so there can't have been a lot of concerns about secrecy at that point!) and many of those involved will still be alive.

Offered as an idea, just mention me in the part at the end where the author thanks everybody!

Didn't want to go further OT on the other thread. There are some books already, with The Taking of K-129 being pretty comprehensive:

And Project Azorian:

Not exactly conspiracy books, but I suppose Hughes did conspire with the CIA to provide the cover story. If nothing else, the cover of Project Azorian gives an idea of how the secret grappling device was lowered from the secret "moon pool" in the ship so that spying eyes couldn't tell what was going on. Had the grapple worked, the Soviet submarine would have been brought up from the depths and concealed in the "moon pool".

And while not a book, there is also the informative documentary:

By the late '70s the ship had been mothballed to Suisun Bay below I680 on the Benicia bridge. My dad took me fishing a few times off the mothball fleet, including the Glomare. In later years, trips to the Bay Area would often involve crossing that bridge and seeing the unique outline the Glomare next to the mostly mothballed transport ships. I didn't understand the full story until maybe 10 years ago.

 

[yoshy]

Didn't want to go further OT on the other thread. There are some books already, with The Taking of K-129 being pretty comprehensive:

And Project Azorian:

Not exactly conspiracy books, but I suppose Hughes did conspire with the CIA to provide the cover story. If nothing else, the cover of Project Azorian gives an idea of how the secret grappling device was lowered from the secret "moon pool" in the ship so that spying eyes couldn't tell what was going on. Had the grapple worked, the Soviet submarine would have been brought up from the depths and concealed in the "moon pool".

And while not a book, there is also the informative documentary:

By the late '70s the ship had been mothballed to Suisun Bay below I680 on the Benicia bridge. My dad took me fishing a few times off the mothball fleet, including the Glomare. In later years, trips to the Bay Area would often involve crossing that bridge and seeing the unique outline the Glomare next to the mostly mothballed transport ships. I didn't understand the full story until maybe 10 years ago.

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Never heard of any of this, and it looks fascinating! I'm adding the documentary to my watch list

 

[NorCal Dave]

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Never heard of any of this, and it looks fascinating! I'm adding the documentary to my watch list

Yeah, I vaguely knew of the ship and a back story, but once I dug a bit, it's almost bonkers. Can they find a sunken Soviet sub in the middle of the Pacific when the Soviets can't? If they can find it, can they retrieve it from the ocean floor? Without anyone knowing what they were doing? And what did they get for the ungodly amount of money they spent? A very interesting bit of history.

 

[Fin]

If graphic novel submissions are accepted: I've been really enjoying The Department of Truth. Edgy, colourful art style. Deep conspiracy rabbit hole shenanigans.

"Cole Turner has studied conspiracy theories all his life, but he isn't prepared for what happens when he discovers that all of them are true, from the JFK assassination to flat Earth theory and reptilian shapeshifters. One organization has been covering them up for generations. What is the deep, dark secret behind the Department of Truth?"

I've not had as much fun with "Blue Book" vol 1&2 but for UFO history buffs its been worth the price of admission. Vol 1 was Betty & Barney Hill. Vol 2 is Kenneth Arnold + Maury Island. I haven't finished it yet.

 

[JMartJr]

I had no idea Kenneth Arnold was so dang heroic looking.

 

[obiwanbenobi]

I have listed to some of Bart Ehrmans stuff on youtube, how would you rate him?

He's ok. It's just that once you start asking questions why not just go back to the part where human sins must be paid for by the life of other innocent creatures and ask, "Is that really a just and loving system of being?" It certainly became unsustainable.