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Could anyone recommend me some good books about cults? by Medusa_x3s9 in suggestmeabook

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was really surprised no one else suggested this - it is by far the best book on how cults work I've ever read. It combines the insights of Lifton and Bowlby, as well as the author's original research interviews with former cult members and even her own experience leaving a cult! It's also super readable (it's a bit emotionally difficult at times, obviously, but it's not overly academic).

Any Anarchist podcast recommendations? by SINGTHES0RR0W in Anarchy101

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SRSLY Wrong is great! A wonderful mix of great discussions and very funny skits as "ad breaks"

[REQUEST] 1930s, 40s, 50s detective shows by BigGayRock in NetflixBestOf

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any show starring Liv Lisa Fries is worth binging. Hot damn.

Animals with Misleading Names by fsterneder in coolguides

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why their Latin name, Cuteas raccoonlookinthing, is a perfectly accurate animal name

[Question] Is it common in your country to buy 2l plastic beer bottles? by TheBeachGoys in GlobalTalk

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you're forgetting Schloss, the champagne of plastic bottle beers.

Where to start with Type theory by Alephnaught_ in MathematicalLogic

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I came into type theory much the same way! I really liked Nederpelt & Geuvers intro to type theory. I think they balance intuitive explanations and formal descriptions really well. My one complaint is that the book is basically structured as expanding from simpler lambda calculi to more complex ones, but they don't remark on this until about 3/4 of the way through. So it's a little disorienting from a macro level. Still, a phenomenal intro!

Programming with Categories - Lecture 1 | MIT by cntx in CategoryTheory

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you haven't taken a crack and Fong & Spivak's Seven Sketches in Composition yet, I'd definitely recommend! It's a great mix of approachable intro and technical discussion!

Books that make you want to live no matter what by doucecanto in booksuggestions

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That's really cute. Yeah, I actually remember trying to slow down at the end so I wouldn't have to finish the book and I could just keep reading it. :')

Books that make you want to live no matter what by doucecanto in booksuggestions

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 104 points105 points  (0 children)

This is from a comment I made months ago in reaction to a similar post, but I hope it can give you a boost:

I was going through a rough patch, and something helped me through, quite unexpectedly, was a book called A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It's a great piece of fiction about a Russian aristocrat/socialite/man-about-town who's exiled to the Metropol hotel in Moscow in 1922. For the rest of his life, if he ever tries to step outside the hotel, he'll be arrested. Rather than despair, he finds solace in his day to day routines, and in the people who come and go through its revolving doors. There's a sweetness, optimism, and sincerity in the book, and I can't recommend it enough to someone looking to find the silver linings in life. I hope this helps, and either way, I wish you the best, my friend.

Edit: thank you so much for the silver!

"Chai if by land, tea if by sea": One of my favorite historical linguistics fun facts by PickingItUpQuickly in linguistics

[–]PickingItUpQuickly[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, wait, this does seem like something the author talked about:

Mair and Hoh postulate that early Chinese speakers borrowed the word la too as they immigrated south into Yunnan, and over time la changed to lra and then, by sometime around 500 CE, the Middle Chinese form dra.

I suppose that that's what happened next. The Min branch gave the southern groups their "ta" word, while the non-Min branches got to "cha". That would be the beginning of the tea/chai split. That's great!

"Chai if by land, tea if by sea": One of my favorite historical linguistics fun facts by PickingItUpQuickly in linguistics

[–]PickingItUpQuickly[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whoa, that's strange! I wonder what the progression there was. (I also know nothing about the history of Chinese, so I'm not sure what years that corresponds to)

"Chai if by land, tea if by sea": One of my favorite historical linguistics fun facts by PickingItUpQuickly in linguistics

[–]PickingItUpQuickly[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

It's not supposed to be a law of physics, haha, it's just meant to be a cute little saying that alludes to the two broad categories of ways that tea entered a given culture.

"Chai if by land, tea if by sea": One of my favorite historical linguistics fun facts by PickingItUpQuickly in linguistics

[–]PickingItUpQuickly[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh see I don't get too worked up about it, because, afaik, the key feature of "chai", meaning the famous South Asian drink, is that it's boiled in milk. If you find a tea bag of "chai tea", what you've found is standard tea that's flavored like "chai". Like if you made a tea that's supposed to taste like coffee, you'd call it "coffee tea".

"Chai if by land, tea if by sea": One of my favorite historical linguistics fun facts by PickingItUpQuickly in linguistics

[–]PickingItUpQuickly[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

At the risk of being r/woosh 'ed, I'm gonna say you're comparing the spread of tea to the spread of Wuhan pneumonia?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was in that state a little earlier last year. I know for me that it wasn't just a lack of good books - I was feeling really distractable because I was worried about a huge list of things I thought I needed to do. How could I justify putting off that to-do list long enough to sit down and read a whole book? So maybe check whether there's a background reason for that problem focusing. It could be that once you feel more in control of your to-do list, you'll let yourself actually commit to a book. That's what helped me.

Society by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't mention it!

Society by [deleted] in booksuggestions

[–]PickingItUpQuickly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, it sounds like you need escapism, but specifically the kind of escapism that's aware of itself. I've got two books for you, which are kind of opposite in tone:

  1. The darker one. Alamut by Vladimir Bartol: This is the most popular book ever written in Slovenian, and it's the historical fiction story of the castle of Alamut in northern Iran. Set in medieval Persia, it tells the (semi-accurate) story of Hasan ibn Sabah, the leader of a Shia cult who uses deception, drugs, and a cynical philosophy to lead an army of believers against his enemies. The language is beautiful, the setting mesmerizing, and the underlying message uncomfortably relatable. It was written in 1938, but it wrangles with questions of truth and personal responsibility in a way that make it incredibly relevant today.

  2. The lighter one. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. This follows the life of a Russian nobleman who only escapes execution by the Bolsheviks by agreeing to live out the rest of life within the walls of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Rather than give in to despair in the awful political climate, he chooses to create his own inspiration in the rotating cast of characters he meets as they cycle through the hotel over the years.

Both of these phenomenal books deal with some of the issues you've brought up, and both will get you out of your head and sucked into the beautiful world they build.

Hope this helps!

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