Saturday, April 5, 2008

Reading list and a book review

I've noticed that, according to my near-anal strict organization of my books on their shelves, that I have far too many subjects in my book collection than there is in my reading order list. Yes, I read books by a certain order, what of it? So anyways, here's the (new) list which I post here merely for future use by me:
1. General history
2. Terry Pratchett
3. Holocaust
4. Fantasy fiction
5. Zoology and animal behavior
6. Douglas Adams
7. Zionism and jewish history
8. Historical romance
9. Communism
10. General fiction
11. Churchill' Second World War
12. Stephen King

Book Report: Ugh, waste of time. Mind you, it was even slimmer than Color of Magic so it took even less time to finish. Here's my Goodreads review:
I can't say I found any use in this book that I haven't found in other books; besides a few tidbits about holocaust denial, and some details about post-war and historical Auschwitz the town there was nothing new in this book.
It's the pocket book Auschwitz history, it touches every subject there is to learn about the camp, the guards, the prisoners, the resistance, the factories, everything (besides the great Canada corruption scandal which got Rudolf Hoss kicked out of the place) but in such ...more I can't say I found any use in this book that I haven't found in other books; besides a few tidbits about holocaust denial, and some details about post-war and historical Auschwitz the town there was nothing new in this book.
It's the pocket book Auschwitz history, it touches every subject there is to learn about the camp, the guards, the prisoners, the resistance, the factories, everything (besides the great Canada corruption scandal which got Rudolf Hoss kicked out of the place) but in such small details, mere names, dates and numbers.
This is dangerous; one of the biggest values tragedies like the holocaust can have to humanity is the education, so history won't repeat itself, but when everything is summarized so quickly and minimalistic ally, how can anything properly educational can come out of it?
The first page in the book is a dislodged, mixed up snippets of testimonies (each only a few lines) and that's about the only touch into the human experience of the crimes committed in that camp, when the best way to make people come out of the shock of the horrific details is by seeing human emotions in fellow humans who survived the camp.

I don't recommend this book, at all, not for a proper reading

Am now reading: Sergei Lukyanenko's The Night Watch

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