Travis Dickerson Recording Studio Forum

Fast Food Nation  

this link will give you at taste, but to get the whole order you\'ll have to grab a copy of the book.

this book has something for everyone.  sex, drugs and slaughterhouses... science, technology, disney, economy, agriculture and gore!  it really gives you some insight on what is and has been happening with the US economy.  a must read.

http://books.google.com/books?id=yNFN1OpnkBkC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=Wernher+von+Braun+fast+food+nation&source=web&ots=l-djtD9p2Z&sig=S5G40fASWJPMr6DnknYJuXeQyUI&hl=en#PPP1,M1

I read it last year, haven\'t eaten in a McDonald\'s since. Mind-blowing story. How about how they treat the workers in the slaughterhouses? They get injured or even killed and they have to walk away for little money due in many cases to their citizenship status and lack of representation. The other thing that stood out in my mind was the chemicals used to create the magical "flavorings" in processed food-it\'s one reason we try to eat as much organic food as possible in my house.

QuoteI read it last year, haven\'t eaten in a McDonald\'s since. Mind-blowing story. How about how they treat the workers in the slaughterhouses? They get injured or even killed and they have to walk away for little money ....

seriously...  what?  your head\'s cut off?  back to work.  what about that guy Kenny.  holy mole.  is that where they got the idea for the South Park character or what?  

Title: Armed Madhouse
Author: Greg Palast
Published: 2006

I\'ve bought this book for 5 people-all were blown away:

http://www.braxia.com/community_journal/tad_coffin/armed_madhouse_review

I wish the Iron Crane Pentalogy was available in english.  I would really like to check it out.

What We Knew by Eric A. Johnson & Karl-Heinz Reuband. Subtitled Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany

Text -- interviews with "Jewish Survivors" and "Ordinary Germans". Eye-opening points of view from people living during the Nazi regime. A very broad cross-section of opinion. Not all stereotypical by any means.

Subtext -- just how easy it was/is/would be for something similar to happen anywhere else (too many current examples to list them all).

Well worth a read, a book that makes you think about your own values and those of the dominant culture of the country you live in.

the Valis Trilogy by Phillip K Dick

Valis book 1 is about the hidden mystery of Gnostic Christianity and reality as revealed through a pink laser and a detective story, in which God is both the missing person and the perpetrator of the ultimate crime.

Divine Invasion book 2 asks what if God (or a being called Yah) were alive and in exile on a distant planet?.... the powers and factions that be all try to stop it, very spiritual stuff here.

Transmigration of Timothy Archer book 3... (kinda stuck on this one...)
an urban Episcopal bishop haunted by the suicides of his son and mistress and driven by them into a bizarre quest for the identity of Christ.

Vintage paperback 12.00 dollars US for each...

Chris DiCicco

Hey Chris - Philip Dick is one of my favorites. I have heard of but never read Valis, sounds interesting. Obvioulsy Ubik & a Scanner Darkly are great reads. (I read that Ubik is going to be turned into a movie in the near future). Obvioulsy the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was turned into my favorite sci-fi movie of all time (Blade Runner) - Hopefully Ubik will also be a great film. When I get some free time I will read Valis and we can compare notes. Currently I just started reading Kim Stanley Robinsons "Mars"trilogy- Red Mars, Green Mars & Blue Mars. About the colonization of Mars - I am only 1/2 way through the first book and am really enjoying it. Orson Scott Card is another great writer - Enders Game is a good book of his.

Now if you are in the mood for a really weird book you gotta read Geek Love by Kathrine Dunn. It is about a sideshow freak circus but goes alot deeper... It was rumored a few years ago that Tim Burton was going to try to make it into a movie but could not get the funding due to its content. Too bad for us  

Anything written by this man-the late, great Robert Anton Wilson.

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

He was beyond intelligent. He became very ill later in life, virtually with no money. That\'s incredible when you consider his massive body of writing and work. People should spread the word and share his amazing wisdom.

Probably a few people have picked up the book "The Dragons Of Eden" since the album came out.

I think it\'s great when people are inspired to read something they may not have thought to.

While watching Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story I noticed that Bruce Lee was reading "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway so I picked that up and read it.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend\'s or of thine own were: any man\'s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

-John Donne

I am reading some kinda heady stuff

1 the Dream Drugstore by J. Allen Hobson

and

2 the new Bass Player with Robert Turjillo on the cover

I\'m like a foot scratch into both of them and thats not very much.

Chris DiCicco

Last Christmas, I got a copy of The Omnivore\'s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It was much more interesting to me than Fast Food Nation, which I thought got a little preachy at times. The Omnivore\'s Dilemma is neat because it\'s simultaneously scientific about the problems of devoting ourselves too much to corn as well as dealing with the ethics of being an omnivore vs. being a vegetarian. It also doesn\'t make you feel guilty; it just makes you think.

Good one, Megasaurus! A very thought-provoking book.

On the fiction side, I\'ve just finished Terry Pratchett\'s "Nation". Not a Discworld novel, but also thought-provoking. A good read, as are all of his many books.

QuoteLast Christmas, I got a copy of The Omnivore\'s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It was much more interesting to me than Fast Food Nation, which I thought got a little preachy at times. The Omnivore\'s Dilemma is neat because it\'s simultaneously scientific about the problems of devoting ourselves too much to corn as well as dealing with the ethics of being an omnivore vs. being a vegetarian. It also doesn\'t make you feel guilty; it just makes you think.

I\'ve been meaning to read that one.  Thanks for the reminder.

It\'s sad to say, but once you are informed about all the waste, negativity and abuse you support buy NOT making informed choices when you shop for food, you should feel guilty.

Maybe I *should* feel guilty, but I much more appreciate having straight facts laid out in front of me with no judgment. That way, I can make my own decisions. I end up feeling more respected that way.
I dunno. It\'s kinda the same reason why I dislike PETA, even though I agree with some of their points.
Sorry for being off topic! We can resume talking about books now