# Books!



## NYC Composer (Aug 6, 2015)

I know some of us still read 'em, so I'll start off with a guy who has written some very interesting stuff, always with a quirky style-Jon Ronson. His biggest claim to fame was having written "The Men who Stare at Goats", but I think his two best books are "The Psychopath Test", which will inform and fascinate you with some of the anecdotal stuff and get you laughing at the absurdity of it all, and his most recent, which is both absorbing and troubling because of its subject matter. 

The title says most of it- "So You've Been Publicly Shamed". The main point of it is how the Internet gets used like putting someone in stocks in the public square once was. I found it very timely, and his somewhat Gladwellian and whimsical style keeps you engaged throughout.


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## chimuelo (Aug 6, 2015)

I read books when I am enjoying down time.
Play books and Kindle on a tablet are great.
Theres always time to read.
Last 3 books I read were America the Beautiful Debt Of Honor and The Story.
Just started Popular Economics.
But the Story is an excellent read by a true journalist jailed in the Middle East then jailed by Bush Admin. for not revealing sources.


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## Brendon Williams (Aug 6, 2015)

NYC Composer said:


> I know some of us still read 'em, so I'll start off with a guy who has written some very interesting stuff, always with a quirky style-Jon Ronson. His biggest claim to fame was having written "The Men who Stare at Goats", but I think his two best books are "The Psychopath Test", which will inform and fascinate you with some of the anecdotal stuff and get you laughing at the absurdity of it all, and his most recent, which is both absorbing and troubling because of its subject matter.
> 
> The title says most of it- "So You've Been Publicly Shamed". The main point of it is how the Internet gets used like putting someone in stocks in the public square once was. I found it very timely, and his somewhat Gladwellian and whimsical style keeps you engaged throughout.



I just heard about that book last week and have been interested in reading it ever since. The mob shaming that's been happening on the Internet is a bit terrifying - it gets out of control extremely fast and people seem to take delight in banding together to ruin someone's life.


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## Dave Connor (Aug 6, 2015)

I just paid $140 for a used book. I've never spent anything like that for a book (music scores not included since I've spent far more for those.) It is volume 2 of Otto Klemperer's biography by Peter Heyworth. Klemperer is one of the great conductors of the last century (for those who don't know.) He was the music director at the Kroll Opera in Berlin which was the avant garde in Opera in the 20's and 30's. Modern opera still reflects the advances made under Klemperer at the Kroll along with his fellow conductors Fritz Zweig and Alexander Zemlinksky (also a great composer.) All three being Jewish, they fled the country along with countless other great artists in 1933. My interest is largely due to the fact that I studied conducting with the 89 year old Zweig who was as good a teacher and musician as anyone can be. He was a completely alert sentient being at that time.

If you listen to Klemperer's recording you will hear a tightness and clarity in the orchestra that will have your shaking your head. Where a conductor hopes to have even a single orchestral passage perfectly together in time, dynamics, clarity and expression, Klemperer's recordings such as his famous Fidelio contain perfection in every single passage. So it's revelatory in that way. Also a main criticism but most agree profoundly musical. He is the father of the modern orchestral approach that does away with romantic distortion of the musical line and texture (he and Toscanini.)

Both books could not be better written and perhaps thorough to a fault but are about everything that gave way to the modern orchestra and particularly here in Los Angeles with Klemperer gaining the LA Phil immediately after leaving Germany and Zweig teaching here (Franz Waxman among his conducting students.) I just started volume 2.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 6, 2015)

Brendon Williams said:


> I just heard about that book last week and have been interested in reading it ever since. The mob shaming that's been happening on the Internet is a bit terrifying - it gets out of control extremely fast and people seem to take delight in banding together to ruin someone's life.



Yes, it's definitely like a mob with torches and pitchforks, getiing people fired, putting them into physical danger. Very troubling...


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## Hannes_F (Aug 6, 2015)

Dave Connor said:


> If you listen to Klemperer's recording you will hear a tightness and clarity in the orchestra that will have your shaking your head.



Thanks for the heads up, good hint.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 7, 2015)

Very interesting stuff, Dave!

I can recommend an odd novel I read recently. Entitled "The Sympathizer" and written by Viet Thanh Nguyen (his debut novel) about a Vietnamese military man who emigrates to the U.S. at the end of the war, it comments on the difficulties of growing up Asian in American, the brutality experienced by the South Vietnamese military and their sorrowful and unsatisfied patriotism among many other things. Quite a remarkable first novel.


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## careyford (Aug 8, 2015)

Good off topic thread! I've just read "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport, "The Checklist Manifesto" by Atul Gawande, and "Talent is Overrated" by Geoffrey Colvin. I highly recommend all three for non-fiction choices. I'm most of the way through Rudolph Reti's "Tonality in Modern Music" and I'm getting a lot out of it.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 8, 2015)

careyford said:


> Good off topic thread! I've just read "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport, "The Checklist Manifesto" by Atul Gawande, and "Talent is Overrated" by Geoffrey Colvin. I highly recommend all three for non-fiction choices. I'm most of the way through Rudolph Reti's "Tonality in Modern Music" and I'm getting a lot out of it.


Excellent ! Can you say a little about each?

(Btw- have you read the author Richard Ford? Very good novelist.)


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## gbar (Aug 8, 2015)

Well, the last books I read, I am ashamed to admit, were those Wayward Pines book because I didn't want to wait for the series to play out, and a bunch of stuff was different in the books anyway, and they kind of sucked.


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## Daryl (Aug 9, 2015)

careyford said:


> ..... "Talent is Overrated" by Geoffrey Colvin.


I think that's very similar to Bounce, by Matthew Syed. I don't agree with all the conclusions, but know first hand that some of the others are true, particularly where people mistake talent for hard work. Interesting topic.

D


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## NYC Composer (Aug 9, 2015)

chimuelo said:


> I read books when I am enjoying down time.
> Play books and Kindle on a tablet are great.
> Theres always time to read.
> Last 3 books I read were America the Beautiful Debt Of Honor and The Story.
> ...



The Story sounds very interesting indeed.


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## Pingu (Aug 9, 2015)

Well I used to read high-brow books when I was at school, but now I have so little time that I'm more honest with myself, and just rad for light relief. Just starting my 19th-ish re-reading of everything Terry Pratchett has written. I keep planning to read other stuff, but he's just so much cleverer than all other humourists that I have trouble bringing myself to actually do it.


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## kclements (Aug 9, 2015)

I'm enjoying _Louder than Words_ by Todd Henry.

It's non-fiction, self improvement kind of book, for creatives. I've been enjoying his take on the stages we go through. A lot of the stuff he mentions was a big eye opening for me. Some of it may be the same kind of stuff you can read elsewhere, but I enjoy how Todd focuses it to creative side.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 9, 2015)

Can everybody give a short description of the book or author you're reading and say why it's worthwhile?


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## chimuelo (Aug 9, 2015)

Judith Miller was a real journalist who was in the dirt not embedded and long ago travelled the globe submitting stories about the culture as well as what the US was doing. Often snubbed by Embassy staff.
Which tells you how the real truth is filtered over the last 10 years. Also why corporaions governments and billionaires control the media ever since.
"The Story" is not all about her but the various real journalists she travelled and worked with back when we were informed better.
In my opinion she waited years to release the book as it would have ruined the careers of many fellow journalsts friend and foe which also indicates how she was loyal to the oathes.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 9, 2015)

chimuelo said:


> Judith Miller was a real journalist who was in the dirt not embedded and long ago travelled the globe submitting stories about the culture as well as what the US was doing. Often snubbed by Embassy staff.
> Which tells you how the real truth is filtered over the last 10 years. Also why corporaions governments and billionaires control the media ever since.
> "The Story" is not all about her but the various real journalists she travelled and worked with back when we were informed better.
> In my opinion she waited years to release the book as it would have ruined the careers of many fellow journalsts friend and foe which also indicates how she was loyal to the oathes.



Ah, Judith. I believe she was complicit in selling the Iraq war, and I could never give her my money.


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## gbar (Aug 9, 2015)

chimuelo said:


> Judith Miller was a real journalist



Oh Lordy. Did we ever find those underground WMD factories connected by labyrinthine rail networks in Iraq?

Not likely to make my fiction reading list. I have a similar reaction to Sharyl Atkisson, too, though, and I have no explanation for how she went loopy either.

---

From wikipedia

On May 27, 2004, the day after the _Times'_ mea culpa, James C. Moore quoted Miller in an article in _Salon_:

"You know what ... I was proved fucking right. That's what happened. People who disagreed with me were saying, 'There she goes again.' But I was proved fucking right."[20]

The statement about being "proved...right" was in relation to another Miller story, wherein she'd claimed that trailers found in Iraq had been shown to be mobile weapons labs. However, that claim too was subsequently refuted as mistaken.[21]

It was alleged later in _Editor and Publisher_ that, while Miller's reporting "frequently [did] not meet published _Times_ standards", she was not sanctioned and was given a relatively free rein, because she consistently delivered frequent front-page scoops for the paper by "cultivating top-ranking sources."[22]

In October, 2005, _The New York Times_ Public Editor Byron Calame wrote:

Ms. Miller may still be best known for her role in a series of _Times_ articles in 2002 and 2003 that strongly suggested Saddam Hussein already had or was acquiring an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction ... Many of those articles turned out to be inaccurate ... [T]he problems facing her inside and outside the newsroom will make it difficult for her to return to the paper as a reporter.[23]

Two weeks later, Miller negotiated a private severance package with _Times'_ publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. She contested Calame's claims about her reporting and gave no ground in defending her work. She cited "difficulty" in performing her job effectively after having become "an integral part of the stories [she] was sent to cover."[24]


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## chimuelo (Aug 9, 2015)

Well being dismissive wont lead you to the truth.
She had the courage to admit to her mistakes and was the perfect scapegoat for Haliburton and the NYTimes.
They never apologise.
They basically print lies and when caught apologize for yesterdays page 1 on tomorrows page 34.
Publishers are held liable. Nobody wants to be sued.
Scapegoats are crucial.

Haliburton marches on and is just real lucky I guess with Government contracts.
They made Bank on the BP oil spill.
Just weeks before the spill they acquired a salvage operation with oil spill containment equipment. Only game in the Gulf.
Some folks have all the luck. I bet Obama didnt even know until the options became known.
Guess who delegated the 20 billion?
Bush/Haliburton guy......How quaint.

Another good read is Timothy Geitner. We were told he was a tax cheat etc.etc.
Read that book and you will be impressed.

If you really want to get the truth read published documents.
I have little use for ratings driven media never held accountable.
They make billions now during elections even host the debates.
One big happy family of course with the usual left/right only POVs.

But in all honesty Judith Miller has not been sued.
I really want to read a book by Christine Romer someday.
Too bad we only get the truth later via FOIA requests
Or books.

Pannetta and Gates........no thanks.
Releasing a book while the administration is still in power is only a small piece and what a low blow.
Why cant they show the same class Miller displayed by making sure no others could be harmed.

To each his own.
Sorry for the long post but 1st time I ever stuck up for a reporter.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 9, 2015)

You dismiss Miller's ambition, which either made her lazy, overflattered by her access or complicit. Either way, her little journalistic booboo ended my interest in her as a source of information.

I read Gates book, and Hank Paulson's too. I was impressed at how heroic both believe they are. Deep humility was eschewed in both.

Anyway, it's a book you liked, this is a thread about books, good on you.


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## chimuelo (Aug 10, 2015)

Dismissing nothing.
Wanted to better understand why the administrations we have seem to cave into corporate pressure.
Geithner and Miller both go into detail on many examples off said pressure and how and why leaks are viewed as valuable information when it's actually blackmail via proxy.
Think I'll check out Paulsons book.
Gates pretty much gave his book away on CSPAN. The guy has a great sense of humor considering his dangerous line of work.


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## gbar (Aug 10, 2015)

NYC Composer said:


> You dismiss Miller's ambition, which either made her lazy, overflattered by her access or complicit.



It was a long trip down the rabbit hole for her from what I can tell, and then 9/11 happened and made her just the kind of "star" reporter who would crash and burn due to her own obsessions and ego.

But ... she does write books, and I read those Carlos Castaneda books that turned out to be fiction back in my youth, so who am I ?


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## careyford (Aug 10, 2015)

NYC Composer said:


> Excellent ! Can you say a little about each?
> 
> (Btw- have you read the author Richard Ford? Very good novelist.)



I've read Richard Ford many years ago. Dark for my tastes but very good. As for my recommendations:

So Good They Can't Ignore You
This very well-researched and accessibly written book, blows apart what it calls the myth of "follow your passion." It looks at how this is misleading and potentially dangerous as most people don't necessarily know. In its place, the author makes a solid case for basing career decisions on acquiring valuable skills and developing a passion for what you are doing rather than the other way around. I found the book freeing and have also incorporated it into the advice I give high school and college age composers.


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## careyford (Aug 10, 2015)

Checklist Manifesto by Atal Gawande
A book I've had on my list for years that I finally read! Gawande describes in great detail the difference checklists have made in key industries including surgery, construction and air travel. In dealing with anything that is more complex and/or fast-paced than a person can normally handle (such as flying a complex airplane) checklists can be used to efficiently and effectively ensure crucial steps are not missed. For me in filmmaking and scoring, checklist have been essential! The book has had me reexamine all my processes and reduce the complexity of my checklists adding a lot to my productivity and the completeness of my work even in music projects.


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## careyford (Aug 10, 2015)

Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
Explodes the Mozart-myth through a heavily researched look into why some people are great producers and others are not with the conclusion that there is little evidence to being "born that way" when it comes to fields that require extensive knowledge and experience for accomplishment. I loved this book. It's a great one for musicians to come to terms with where they are in their career and whether they will (or even want to) do what it takes to go to the next level. For me, I got a lot of clarity about what's missing in the next steps for my career.


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## careyford (Aug 10, 2015)

Tonality in Modern Music by Rudolph Reti
This is a deep look at the future of modern musical language from the view of a composer in the 1950's. His premise is that a new language he calls pantonality which I can oversimplify as a synthesis of Debussy post-romantic tonality and atonality is the future. The book was recommended to me by American master David Diamond in the early 90's and still reads as pretty spot on. There are a lot of parallels with EIS although you won't get much in the way of direct exercises here. Fascinating reading if you can plow through prose about music technique. I suspect it would be hard going without being able to read music. In a way it reminds me of Persichetti's line about any note can follow any other note only on a grand scale.


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## careyford (Aug 10, 2015)

Daryl said:


> I think that's very similar to Bounce, by Matthew Syed. I don't agree with all the conclusions, but know first hand that some of the others are true, particularly where people mistake talent for hard work. Interesting topic.
> 
> D


I haven't read Bounce yet, but he refers to it and there is research in common. I've added it to my list. Thanks Daryl.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 10, 2015)

Great and informative reviews, thanks.

It's pretty interesting how sometimes when you read a list of books (usually non-fiction) that interest someone, you can get an idea of their mindset. Anyway, "So Good they Can't Ignore You" sounds interesting to me, as your description of it indicates that it disagrees with how I patterned my life. That makes it perfect for me


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## chimuelo (Aug 10, 2015)

Plus having musicians as critics is much better as nobody here is getting paid for their opinions...


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## NYC Composer (Aug 10, 2015)

For those of you who read fiction and need to waste time on mindless pleasure reading occasionally, I particularly like the detective genre and consider myself a well-informed afficionado. The best ones are series novels with a private eye character, a cop character or one who crosses over. Interestingly, many are ex-alcoholics. 

My current favorite is James Lee Burke, a writer who now lives in Missoula but lived for many years in New Orleans, and he writes a series featuring his sometimes cop Dave Robicheaux, a conflicted character and knight errant who is constantly fighting his demons and the evil he finds in the world.The genre is simplistic, but Burke's writing in amazingly lyrical and wonderfully felicitous. Despite the genre, I believe he is one of America's greatest authors.


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## kclements (Aug 11, 2015)

_Louder than Words - _Todd Henry

We hear the phrase a lot - Find Your Voice. Todd postulates your Voice needs to be developed and finessed over time. It isn't something that we stumble upon (although that can happen) by just looking around. It is something to be discovered and developed. The book discusses ways to work through this. 

The chapters that really spoke to me - he talks about the stages of our creative output. Starting with Discovery, getting the basics. Then you move onto Emulation - learning to play like other artists. Next comes Divergence - finding a different route.

The last phase is Crisis (and this really spoke to me). You've developed a higher level of skills and have "mastered" your art; getting recognition, or payment, or whatever. But then you start to feel stale and have "burn out". This is where you can either leave your art completely and start a new path - which is what I usually do. Or you can go back to the first phase and start again within your field.

Throughout the book, Todd offers advice on how to develop your Voice and design your goals in concert with it. There are followup questions and "homework" assignments to get you thinking about what you want your body of work to become - and not leave it to chance. 

I like Todd's writing style and his conversational tone. I make a lot of notes and highlights and go back and re-read. Todd's intended audience is creative people (defined very broadly), and different from a "business" book that can apple to artists. He gets to the meat of what I am working on with my professional goals. 

Cheers
kc


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## kclements (Aug 11, 2015)

careyford said:


> Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin...



Next on my list. Along with _A Curious Mind_ by Brian Grazer. Thanks for the synapsis.

Cheers
kc


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## NYC Composer (Aug 11, 2015)

Good stuff Kc.

I'm interested that so many of you seem to mainly read directed career books or studies of composers and their music. That's not the case with me, though i do read biographies and autobiographies (Keith Richards most recently, and I did read a recent book on music licensing- still, I tend towards novels, history and politics. Maybe it's an age thing.


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## Michael K. Bain (Aug 11, 2015)

The bible is a great read. My faves are The Book of Esther, Acts, Romans and Hebrews.

But I also enjoy the Hunger Games series. The Divergent Series was okay, but truthfully, that's one of the rare cases in which the movies are better than the books.

If you like a good action/thriller, I highly recommend "The Reckoning" by James Byron Huggins.


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## kclements (Aug 11, 2015)

There are some non self help books in my reading list. But I do tend towards the non-fiction stuff. I'm a pretty slow reader and it takes me a while to get through them. A couple that I have really enjoyed was:

_11/23/63_ by Stephen King. Great book. Love the premise, love the twists, love the story telling. It took me a while to get through it, but man, what a great book. Not at all scary or horror. There were times that I couldn't put it down, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Time travel mixed with consequences for our actions. Very good.

_The Art of Racing in the Rain_ by Garth Stein. Great story - the dog is the narrator. Beautiful, funny, and made me cry. Very enjoyable read.

cheers
kc


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## Michael K. Bain (Aug 11, 2015)

NYC Composer said:


> Good stuff Kc.
> 
> I'm interested that so many of you seem to mainly read directed career books or studies of composers and their music. That's not the case with me, though i do read biographies and autobiographies (Keith Richards most recently, and I did read a recent book on music licensing- still, I tend towards novels, history and politics. Maybe it's an age thing.


Maybe so. I'm 47. I don't read the career books either.


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## kclements (Aug 11, 2015)

Hmmm. I'm 48 and mostly read either "career" books or manuals.

a big part of this has been my crazy, "change careers every couple years" path in life. Again, this is where part of Louder Than Words really resonated with me. I have switched paths so many times that I can't keep track. So I am always looking to pick up new skills or learn new software. Lot of productivity porn in the past - which I think I am past now. 

Now I find myself looking to dig in my heels and dig deeper into composition. Going back to the Discovery stage in Todd's parlance.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 11, 2015)

I admire that. I'm pretty good at music, other than that I'm mainly an expert bloviator.


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## careyford (Aug 11, 2015)

kclements said:


> Next on my list. Along with _A Curious Mind_ by Brian Grazer. Thanks for the synapsis.
> 
> Cheers
> kc


You're welcome!


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## NYC Composer (Aug 21, 2015)

I want to recommend "The Death of Innocents" by Sister Helen Prejean of "Dead Man Walking " fame. It's a hard book, but it needs to be read. I've been back and forth on the death penalty but solidly against it for some years now. Sister Helen writes unflinchingly about the process.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 25, 2015)

Btw-I'm looking for a reasonably objective book about the Middle East, starting around the time of the Shah til now-how we got here and where we are, so it needs to be fairly modern. Any recommendations?


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