The Bookshelf: Enjoy the Decline

Are you young, unemployed,in debt, and worried about the future? Is the decline of the West getting you down? Does the prospect of a desk job, marriage, and kids sound bleak to you?

Fear not, for Aaron Clarey, the infamous Captain Capitalism, will provide. Having already advised you to eschew university, he is now giving you advice on eschewing the modern life path as a whole in his new book, Enjoy the Decline.

Enjoy the Decline, like the rest of the Captain’s books and his blog, is written in a straightforward manner, there is no flowery BS here. The writing is engaging and entertaining and keeps you reading.

It also seems like he may have read my reviews of his earlier books, because, in a departure from his earlier books, it reads like he actually got someone to proofread Enjoy the Decline. I did not notice the grammatical errors and awkward sentences which plagued his earlier books.

The essential argument of Enjoy the Decline is that America is in a terminal, nigh irreversible decline and you should accept that fact. Having adapted yourself to this reality, you should instead spend your time enjoying your one, finite life instead of investing in a society will not only fail to reward you for your investment in it, but actually punish you for it. He then provides some advice to do so.

Clarey marshal’s a good amount of economic data showing you just how screwed the US is and, by extension, how screwed you are, you poor Yank. He supports his contentions. Having done so, he then tells you what yo do about it.

Life is too short for wasting on being angry or sad about, instead the Captain tells you to live it up in hedonism. Work less, avoid (non-STEM) university, live minimalistically, take advantage of government programs, and don’t save for retirement are just some of the advice he gives that would make your mother cry when implemented. He gives some less controversial advice to enjoy your friends and family and to choose your partner well.

The book is kind of depressing and it seems like a metaphysical defeat, on the other hand reality is reality, and I don’t see western civilization improving any time soon, so maybe we are defeated. The advice is solid if you accept the premises. I plan on taking some of the advice but, as a government bureaucrat (parasite!) with a cushy job, only to a degree.

My main problem with the book comes from the Plunder chapter, where he advises taking advantage of government funding and private charity. While I have no problem with people working for government (see government bureaucrat above) or using government programs when needed, I believe men should avoid the regular use of government programs for their own sakes. It will create dependency in a man, not something a man should allow. Also, taking advantage of government is one thing, but taking advantage of private charity just rubs me wrong.

That being said, the book was a good read and it’s an excellent introduction to the MGTOW theme that exists throughout the manosphere.

Recommendation:

I would highly recommend reading Enjoy the Decline. It’s a perspective on life that you don’t often hear from the mainstream and even if you don’t plan to go Galt, its good to expose yourself to a different way of thinking and living and some of the advice may still be applicable.

I also think it would make a decent red pill starter guide for some types of people.

Enjoy the Decline

****

Reviews of previous books by Aaron Clarey:
Worthless
Behind the Housing Crash
Top Shelf

The Bookshelf: How to Read a Book

I finally finished How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler, my first book from the Free Man’s Reading List.

As implied by the title, the book essentially tries to teach you how to properly read a book to best understand it.

The book divides reading into four main types: elementary, inspectional, analytical, and syntopical.

Elementary reading is, more or less, being literate. It’s the ability to read something and understand what it says on a basic level without having to regularly stop to use a dictionary. This is talked about but very briefly; the author seems to, rightly, assume that if you are reading “How to Read a Book” you’re already capable of this level of reading.

Inspectional reading is essentially skimming. It’s going through the main sections, the introductions, the conclusions, and the headers, while skimming the rest to get a general idea of what a book is like. This is what you did when you procrastinated on an essay in college and needed to get a few more sources to meet the minimum requirements for your paper. It is properly used as a prelude to real reading or to find out if a book is worth reading fully.This makes up a short part of the book.

Analytical reading is the next step up. It is reading the book in a thorough manner to be able to fully categorize, summarize, understand, and properly criticeze a book. The discussion of analytical reading is the bulk of the book.

The highest level of reading is syntopical reading. This is reading numerous books on a similar topic and linking them together in the context of each other. The Free Man’s Reading List is essentially a syntopical reading project. This makes up the last few dozen pages of the book.

The book is divided into four main parts.

The first part explains some theory of reading and advice on how to be a demanding reader, as well as the explanations of elementary and inspectional reading.

The second explains how to read analytically in the general.

The third explains how to read analytically in relation to specific genres of work (such as literature, philosophy, social science, etc.).

The fourth explains syntopical reading and encourages you to rad to grow your mind.

There’s also two appendices, the first being a recommended reading list of the classics of Western Civilization and the second having a few exercises (which I did not read or do) to test yourself on the four levels of reading.

The book itself carries a lot of information, almost too much information, on reading and is very thorough on it’s topic matter. It really teaches you how to read a book. This is both a blessing and a curse, some of the information is great, while some of it seems so obvious you almost think the author is condescending to you. As well, given the large amount of information presented, some of the good points are drowned out.

As for the writing style, it was dry. The author has a tendency to use 15 words where 10 would do and sometimes explain things far too precisely or in too much detail instead of assuming the reader has basic competence to understand. Adler could have been more concise.

The first sections and most of the second were not too bad, slightly dry, but nothing all that bad, but the last chapter of the second section and the entire third section was simply mind-numbingly dull; it was so dry it was often hard to concentrate. I’d read on the bus, get through 2 or 3 pages, then fall asleep. Hence, why it took to long to finish. The fourth section was on par with the first and second.

Overall, the first, second, and fourth sections were worth a read, with the occasional skim, but skim over or skip the third section, reading only that which is of particular interest. The book is well-organized, so finding the parts that might interest you is easy.

Recommendation:

If you are embarking on a major reading project, such as the Free Man’s Reading List (hint, hint) I’d definitely recommend reading the first two and fourth sections of How to Read a Book, so you can get the most out of your reading.

As well, read the first two section goes if you are desiring to be a better reader and/or want to better understand what you read in the future.

If you read mostly popular or genre fiction, this book will be worthless to you, don’t bother reading it. The book is designed for helping you read either the intense literary classics, non-fiction, and scientific/philosophical works.

But honestly, give section three no more than a skim. That was almost painful, and was definitely not worth the time/effort which could have gone to reading something else.

The Bookshelf: Three Years of Hate

The now defunct blog, In Mala Fide, (archive here) was a cornerstone of the manosphere and the linkage I received from Ferdinand was instrumental in building my blog’s reader base. While I didn’t always agree with Ferd, his posts always got you thinking and I enjoyed them thoroughly for the last few months of his blog.

So, when I heard that Ferd was releasing a book of his best posts, I immediately went to Amazon and purchased it. Three Years of Hate arrived a few days ago (Amazon.com takes forever to be delivered to Canada and .ca didn’t have it) and I read through it within 3 days.

The book is essentially one man’s cynical raging against the world. If you’ve read In Mala Fide, you know obviously know the style. Ferd writes cogent essays that seethe with a cold, burning hate.  You can feel his animus, directed at everything and anything, as you read. This is nihilism distilled to it’s essence and applied to a random smattering of topics. If you are looking for positivity, look elsewhere. If you are looking to see a number society’s untouchable shibboleths virulently attacked, then you are in the right place.

His writing style is somewhat more in the style of academic/intellectual literature than most blogs in the manosphere, as can be expected from a literary major, but never veers into the realm of intellectual masturbation or unnecessary verbosity or complexity for their own sake. It also does not forsake the use of low humour or foul language. The humour section (particularly the aforementioned article on radio PSA’s) had me laughing to myself.

Ferd covers a wide variety of topics, from radio PSA’s to solipsism to America’s ‘War on the Catholic Church’, all divided into four major sections of the book: Sexuality, What’s Wrong with the World, the Tao of Ferd, and Humour. Sexuality is self-explanatory and includes an expanded version of the manosphere classic “The Eternal Solipsism of the Female Mind”. What is Wrong with the World is primarily socio-political essays. The Tao of Ferd is a random mishmash of articles that seem to be grouped together because they didn’t really fit elsewhere; it includes a few book reviews, some literary analysis (more enjoyable than it sounds), and other miscellania. Humour is self-explanatory and is most definitely humourous.

I only read IMF for the last few months of its existence, so I can’t say much about the essay selection chosen for the book and if any important ones were missing. The essays in the book were all excellent. Each one was well-written and thought-provoking (although, Ferd did criticize the use of thought-provoking in book reviews, so…). Because of this diversity of views, if you know a disenfranchised young man or someone new to the alt-right, this book could be nice intro, as long as they aren’t too easily offended.

Overall, the book is amazing. There are only two reasons I could see not to get it.

1) If you’re really cheap, you could all the essays on the archive free either now or some point in the future (I haven’t checked if they’re all available yet), but you should buy the book anyway to support those who do good work.

2) The book is offensive. If you are easily offended by, well, anything, this is not the book for you. As a random example, one of the essays is titled, The Necessity of Domestic Violence

Recommendation:

Read this book. It is thoroughly entertaining, and will give you a lot to think on. The only reasons not to buy it are if you are going to read the archives instead because you’re cheap (don’t you have a measly $5 to support the guy who wrote In Mala Fide for 3 years) or easily offended. And if you’re easily offended, buy the book anyway, it will be good for you to experience more beyond your narrow experience. It might get you thinking and questioning the socially-created assumptions you hold.

Update to the Free Man’s Reading List

Based on recommendations I have added a section to the Free Man’s Reading List on moral philosophy. While creating the list, I ended up starting, then removing a section on moral philosophy a number of times. In the end I decided not to keep it. I was hesitant to add moral philosophy to the list, as the purpose was to help a free man build himself, not to dictate a man’s values or life philosophy to him. I was worried adding moral philosophy would conflate being a good man and being good at being a man,to paraphrase Jack Donovan.

Upon reconsideration, Chevalier de Johnstone convinced me. I realize that no free man can be complete without some moral purpose. So, here’s a list that hopefully will allow for free men a broad sampling of moral philosophies.

The Bible - Is already in the list, now it has a proper home.

Marcus Aurelius – Meditations is a classic of stoic philosophy.

Plato – The Republic is a classic book on justice and the cardinal virtues.

Aristotle – Nicomachean Ethics is the classic books on virtue ethics (my preferred type of ethics/morality; I will probably write more on virtue ethics at a later time). Read it with Acquinas’ commentary.

Thomas Acquinas – Summa Theologica is the classic on Christian theology and morality.

Adam Smith – Moral Sentiments creates a moral foundation for capitalist action.

GK Chesteron – Everlasting Man is a Christian apologetics books.

CS Lewis -  Mere Christianity is another Christian apologetics book. Along with Chesterton, is among the greatest Christian writers of the 20th century.

Friedrich Nietzsche – On the Genealogy of Morality and the Antichrist present an anti-Christian moral framework.

Alasdair MacIntyre – After Virtue is a modern book arguing for the revival of virtue ethics.

John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism is a defence of utilitarian ethics.

Immanuel Kant – Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals introduces the categorical imperative as opposed to deontology, virtue, or utilitarian ethics.

Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching is fundamental to much of oriental philosophy and religion.

Confuscious – Analects is another fundamental book in oriental philsophy.

I also added some other works elsewhere:

Mortimor Adler – How to Read a Book

GK Chesteron – What’s Wrong with the World

Ron Paul – Liberty Defined

Nassim Talib’s 3 books are added.

Ronald Reagan – Time for Choosing (Speech)

Here are some other notes based on reader responses:

The list is heavily libertarian and firmly planted in the English liberal (classical liberal, not the modern welfare state liberalism) tradition. The list is designed to help men make themselves free in the English tradition of freedom. This is not a reading list for re-establishing traditional culture, for building a reactionary society, or any other such end. It is a list to help a man learn what makes him free, how to think like a free man, and how to be a free man within the English liberal tradition. (I might further discuss freedom within the English liberal tradition and other concepts of liberty at a later time). The inclusion of other reactionary or conservative material would be outside the scope of the list.

Outside of violence and social skills, I tried to avoid adding books on learning specific skills out of the list. Again, the purpose is to let a free man to develop himself so he can be free, not to dictate what a free man should do and learn with his freedom. Outside a few very general, all-purpose skills (such as rational thought, leadership, and ability to react in a crisis), a free man should be able to figure out what specific skills (such as hunting or plumbing) he needs for his life. I will continue to leave what skills to develop out of the list at this time, but reserve the right to add one or two books outlining the general skills “every man should know” in the future should I come across them.

While I have been reading on the Dark Enlightenment, as people have taken to calling it, I did not include information on the DE for two reasons:
1) They did not fit the purpose of the list; while learning uncomfortable truths about forgotten and newly (re-)discovered realities is important, they are not necessary to being a free man.
2) The DE is primarily an internet phenomenon at this time, there is no standard canon for it, and few books, so making a reading guide is not quite so simple. You could point to some books on genetics, evolutionary psychology, the bell curve, etc. and then point people towards Moldbug, Sailer, La Griffe du Lion, et al., but that would require compiling a lot of blog posts.
I think it would be good to make such a reading list, but if I do, it will be in the future.

I considered adding some game resources, in particular Day Bang, but mostly decided against it, Athol’s book being the exception. This was again for two reasons:
1) The narrowness of game. Game literature, particularly the books, are generally aimed at a PUA life-style. While free men may choose to follow this lifestyle, the PUA lifestyle is one of narrow appeal, while this list was meant for all men wanting to be free. Athol’s book was included because it was as much a men’s self-improvement book as it was a game book, and the usefulness of it was much broader. Between MMSL and Greene’s Art of Seduction, I believe the topic of romantic success is covered.
2) Is much the same as #2 for the DE. Most of the “canon” is on the internet and it would require some work compiling the must-read blog posts.
3) Game, outside of the generalizable skills outlined in MMSL and Seduction, is a specific skill set (faking socio-sexual desirability) created for a specific goal (attracting women). I think it would fall into the category of specific skills I was trying to avoid loading the list with.
Same as with the DE, I think a game reading list would be good, but if I make one, it will be in the future.

A reading list has to be manageable. Even before adding the moral philosophy section it was already over 60 books. That’s over a whole year’s worth of reading if you read a book a week (and a lot of these books are heavy material). I want to avoid overloading the list as much as possible to make it possible to actually accomplish. That means a lot of good books will not be on the list. For example, however much I liked O’Rourke’s Eat the Rich (or any of his books/articles, he’s a great author/humourist/commentator), it is not an essential read. In addition, books that will more or less argue what is already contained in other books will not be added further.

The Free Man’s Reading List

Cogitans asks the question:

What should a person, if he wishes to think of himself as a free man of the republic, absolutely must read?

I’m a free man of the dominion and a monarchist myself, but even so, it is still important for a free man to know the basics of freedom. I think building a reading list for free men is an excellent idea, I will create one and try to compile and update it over time as a reference. The permanent list to be updated can be found here. For right now, here’s the books I’ve put on the original list and an explanation. Please feel free to add your input.

Note: I have not read all, or even most of these yet; I’ve maybe read a quarter of them. Those I have read are personally recommended, those I have not are either classics in their field or have been recommended by others and I plan to read in the future.
Another Note: I do not necessarily either endorse or oppose anything expressed in these books. Just because something should be read does not mean it should be followed.

Being a free man is made of two parts: being a man and being free. This reading list will address both parts. Being only a man makes you someone else’s developed slave, being only free leaves you a weak hedonist. The goal is to be both.

The first three writers on the list establish the philosophical basis of freedom, a concept that I think is unique to the English. The fourth, Machiavelli, gives a view of liberty, a more universal concept.

John Locke – His Second Treatise of Government is the philosophical basis of English liberalism. It is a must-read for any free man.

Edmund Burke – Burke is the originator of modern conservatism (also called liberal-conservatism). His Reflection on the Revolution in France is a must-read and his A Vindication of Natural Society would also be important.

Thomas Paine – As a republican counterpoint to Burke’s monarchist liberalism, read Paine’s The Rights of Man and Common Sense. Together Burke and Paine will display the difference between monarchic freedom and republican freedom.

Nicollo Machiavelli -  The Prince is important to understand the nature of power in government, the Discourses are an important work on republicanism and freedom.

Having established the philosophical basis of freedom, we can turn to more modern pro-freedom works:

Barry Goldwater – The Conscience of a Conservative is the classic manifesto of modern American conservatism.

Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a strong moral defence for freedom which also fights the anarcho-capitalism of Rothbard.

FA Hayek – The Road to Serfdom in which Hayek argues that socialism leads to tyranny.

Isabel Paterson – The God of the Machine surveys history through a pro-freedom lens.

Having knowledge of societal freedom, we now turn to personal freedom. You might not be able to free society, but you can free yourself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson – Self-Reliance is an essay on your own self-worth and against conforming to the world.

Freidrech Nietszche – Thus Spake Zarathustra focuses on the concept of the Ubermensch, a self-mastered individual, while On the Geneology of Morality outlines the concept of the slave morality.

Harry Browne – How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World is a book on steps towards finding personal freedom.

Economics is the study of the free interaction of free men, it is the study of the workings of freedom, and having a a base knowledge of economics is essential for a free man. Most of the basics economics books are somewhat interchangeable, but the recommended pro-freedom books to learn the basics of economics are:

Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson will teach you basic economics.

Thomas Sowell – Basic Economics is a more expansive book on basic economics.

Milton Friedman – Capitalism and Freedom is a classic book asserting the good of the free-market from the leader of the Chicago school.

Knowing basic economics, we can then turn to Austrian economics, which pushes even more strongly for economic freedom and rejects mainstream economists’ attempts to control the market.

Frederic Bastiat – That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen. This was the original work that Austrians built upon.

Gene Callahan – Economics for Real People. In itself not important, but it’s said to be a good, simple introduction to Austrian economics. Any other introduction will do, or you can skip it and go straight to the next two books.

Murray Rothbard – Man, Economy, and State is his major work. The most important work of the originator of anarcho-capitalism and a major contributor to Austrian theory.

Ludwig von Mises – Human Action. The magnum opus of the man who really grew modern Austrian economics.

Now that we know what freedom is and how it works, we now must have the ability to be a free man. The first ability is a capacity for violence. Freedom comes from power and strength, as does masculinity, and power and strength come from a capacity for violence, so a knowledge of violence is essential. In addition to all these, you should probably pick up the defining book(s) (if there is one) of whatever martial art you choose to participate in (and every free man should be learning a martial art).

Boston T. Party - Boston’s Gun Bible is the book on firearm use and firearms freedom. Firearms are the modern tool of violence and this will introduce them to you thoroughly.

Improvised Munitions Handbook – The US Army’s guide to improvising weapons; a man should have the ability to get weapons when necessary.

Sun Tzu – The Art of War is the basic guidebook to war and to violence in general. It’s fairly simple and a lot of it is common sense, but it’s common sense for a reason. Read it.

Miyamoto Musashi – The Book of Five Rings is a classic Japanese text on martial arts, strategy, and philosophy.

Dave Grossman – On Killing, On Combat, and the Warrior Mindset are a trilogy on the psychology of violence. Knowing how to commit violence is an entirely different kettle of fish from being able to actually engaging in violence. These books will teach you how to keep your head when the SHTF.

Rory Miller – Meditations on Violence and Facing Violence help you prepare for violence in the real world. Lawrence Kane’s Little Black Book of Violence does much the same. All three will help you be prepared when the SHTF.

A man should have a mission and should have virtues he holds dear. He should be competent enough to be successful and have a diverse array of skills to promote independence. These will help you accomplish your mission (choosing your mission is up to you):

Jack Donovan – The Way of Men is a relatively short book outlining the virtues that make a man a man.

Roy Baumeister – Willpower is a guide to harnessing your willpower based upon modern science so you can better meet your goals.

Robert Greene – Mastery is a book about how to gain mastery (really?) and take control of your life.

Jim Rohn – 5 Major Pieces of the Life Puzzle
Napolean Hill – Think and Grow Rich and the Law of Success
Stephen Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

These last three are a few of the classics in the motivational self-help books. Danger & Play has outlined here why you should read them. Essentially, they outline the virtues you need to accomplish your mission.

A free man should be healthy and strong of body. These books aren’t must reads and aren’t irreplaceable, dozens of other books would likely work just as well, but information on nutrition and health is a must. If you don’t read these specific books, read others that fulfill a similar function.

Mark Sisson – The Primal Blueprint and the Primal Connection. These two books are guides to getting healthy in our modern world through lessons from our primal ancestors. The former is about physical health (ie. the primal/paleo diet), the latter is about mental health.

Mark Rippetoe – Starting Strength and Practical Programming are highly recommended guides to physical training and weight-lifting.

A man should be able to lead others (even if he chooses not to) and interact with others. Here’s some books on leadership and interpersonal communication:

U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual – This book is mandatory for all officers in training in the US Army. That should tell you something.

Robert Greene – The 48 Laws of Power, the 33 Strategies of War, and the Art of Seduction are brutally honest and straight-forward guides to obtaining what you desire in the social arena.

Dale Carnegie – How to Make Friends and Influence People and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Public Speaking. The classic guides to interacting with others; a must read.

Allan Pease – The Definitive Book of Body Language is a good guide to body language. Reading this particular book is not necessary, but read a book on body language, as it makes up a large portion of human communication.

Athol Kay – Married Man sex Life Primer 2011 is essential if you have or plan to have a wife or long-term relationship. It will teach you how keep her and not have her dominate you. It will also introduce you to game.

Robert Glover – No More Mr. Nice Guy is about manning up (in the good way) and get what you want in life and relationships.

Isaac Asimov – Treasury of Humour goes goes through the various types of humour, analyzes them, providing examples, and explains how to tell jokes. Humour is an important part of socializing,a man should know how it works.

One part of being a free man is learning how you’ve been lied to you’re whole life. Now most of the above books will expose the lies you’ve been told, but these will teach you how to think and how they lie to you:

Darrell Huff – How to Lie with Statistics is a short simple guide to how people manipulate numbers to lie to you.

Miriam Joseph – The Trivium outlines the use of classical logic, grammar, and rhetoric.

This hasn’t fit in any of the other categories but I think it is essential:

The Bible -  Regardless of your religious beliefs, one can not deny that the Bible is the fundament upon which Western culture has been built. Western philosophy and civilization, upon which English freedom is built, can not be understood apart from the Bible. I don’t think any man can interact meaningfully with Western culture without having read the Bible.

The prior books have all been non-fiction, but here’s some fiction that should be read:

Robert Heinlein – Starship Troopers. Other books by Heinlein, such as the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Glory Road, and Farnham’s Freehold, are strongly pro-freedom and make excellent reads , but Starship Troopers is an essential book on freedom, responsibility, and republicanism, plus it has tons of violence. What’s not to love?

Jack London – His two classic books Call of the Wild and White Fang form a companion set exploring individualism, primitivism vs. civilization, freedom, and violence.

George Orwell – 1984 and Animal Farm are his two classic works on totalitarianism and must be read. You’ve probably already read them, if not, do so.

Aldous Huxley – Brave New World is based on a totalitarianism more familiar to us; one of pleasure, hedonism, and distraction.

Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 is a classic about the dangers of an entertainment society.

Kurt Vonnegut – Harrison Bergeron is a classic short story about the failures of equality.

Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead are two pro-freedom fiction books that have had massive influence on the freedom movement.

While created this list I realized I have a lot yet to read, and I’m already almost two dozen books behind in my reading list even before this list. It’s something to work towards though.

Here’s a couple of other reading lists I came across while writing this post if you want more to read:

Ron Paul’s freedom reading list.
Francis’ reading list.
Art of Manliness’ The Man’s Essential Library.
Art of Manliness’ 34 Books About Being a Man.
Learn Economics.

The Bookshelf: As I Walk These Broken Roads

Aurini over at Stares at the World has written a post-apocalyptic novel called As I Walk These Broken Roads. I don’t normally review the fiction I read on here, but Aurini is a part of the manosphere/alt-right blogosphere, so I thinks it’s relevant to the blog.

The books is set in post-nuclear holocaust Ontario. The setting is enjoyable; Aurini built a believeable post-apocalyptic world to set his story in. I look forward to the rest of the series where the origins of this world are more fully explored.

The book centres around Wentworth, a mysterious, deadly loner who beings his quest wandering in the figurative desert. Wentworth is a solid, but not particularly original, take on the hypercompetent anti-hero archetype. I like that her was a realistically hypercompetent anti-hero. He never becomes a self-parody and remains solidly in the realm of beleivability, which given the nature of the setting is important. A James Bond or Mike Harmon type would’ve been out of place. As the story progresses Wentworth becomes more fleshed out and takes on more depth. He’s a strong lead for the book.

The other main character is Raxx, a mechanic in a small-town who hasn’t been fully accepted into his adopted home. He has somewhat more depth than Wentworth and complement the main character quite well. Overall, he’s a good character; not as “cool” as Wentworth, but more relatable and “human”.

The villains fit their purposes well and are fairly well developed; their motivations and actions are heinous and interesting, but never unbeleivable. The other minor characters don’t have much depth, but they fill their roles adequately.

Overall, the book is well written. Aurini writes in a straight-forward style with just enough style to pull you in. The action scenes are realistic and well-written. The dialogue is solid and beleivable, while the philosophical conversations are interseting, but never extend too long or interfere with the story.

The book’s story is divided into three general arcs:

The first arc extends over the first few chapters and introduces the setting and characters. This arc is solid and moderately entertaining but not overly engrossing. It functions well as an introduction and leads nicely into the main arc, but is somewhat lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. It feels like Aurini was finding his fiction writing style during this arc.

The second arc comprises the bulk of the book and contains the main storyline. The story picks up here and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The story and villains are excellent. This arc is fantastic, it read like Aurini really got the hang of writing fiction by this point. Whatever the first little arc was missing, Aurini found it here.

The third arc comprises the last few chapters. I thought it was somewhat unnecessary, the book should really have ended after the main storyline was resolved with maybe a short epilogue.  The last part extends the book with adding much to it; I started to lose interest and left the book for a few days, before finishing off the last couple chapters. It seems to have been included as a set-up for the next book in the series, but I think a short epilogue would have set the stage better.

Overall, the book was really good output by Aurini. It started wobbly, but really picked up steam and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I am definitely purchasing the next book in the series whenever Aurini releases it.

Recommendation:

This was a good book; if you like the genre or the concept interests you, pick the book up. It is a entertaining read and definitely worth the time investment.

If you don’t care for post-apocalyptic science fiction and the concept of the book doesn’t interest you, the book probably won’t change your mind.

The Bookshelf: Captain Capitalism: Top Shelf

As mentioned previously, Captain Capitalism (ie: Aaron Clarey) has been a large influence for this blog, so when he released his new book, Top Shelf, I immediately ordered it on Amazon.

The book itself is a simple collection of what CC thought his best posts from his 8 years of prolific  blogging. Coming in at 400+ pages, the book has a whole lot of mini-essays on a wide range of topics primarily in the fields of economics, gender relations, bachelorhood, politics, and education.

Having read through his entire archive about a year ago (a lot of reading), I can’t think of any posts that should have been included that he left out. In addition, there were some good posts in it that I forgotten about. The book is very comprehensive.

The essays are all enjoyable, often thought-provoking, and usually informative. This is good stuff.

Everything is written in an engaging manner by the Captain at the top of his game. Read the first page or two of his blog; if you like what you read, you’ll really enjoy this book.

Grammar nazis may be concerned about the grammar and typos in the book. There are a lot of them, as there are in many blogs, and the Captain made no bones about the fact that he left the original typos in. Overall, I found this doesn’t really hurt the book or its readability, but if you’re OCD about these kinds of things, I might as well give you fair warning.

Another problem that comes up is that in converting his webposts to book format the links and the occasional graph are unavailable. You can understand all the essays even without them, but sometimes you know you’re missing something.

Now, the first question when considering this type of book is, why should I pay for something that I can get for free on his blog?

There are 3 primary reasons:

1) Support the author. The Captain has been giving us free content for almost a decade, paying . This of course doesn’t really benefit you directly, so if you’re a strict homo economicus this won’t really be convincing. Although, if the Captain is not working because his website is providing a minimalistic living, he has more time to devote to giving us more posts.

2) Save time. As I said, I read through the entirety of the CC archive about a year ago, it took me about two weeks during a really slow time at work. It required dozens of hours. Top Shelf skims the cream off and gives it to you in a format that can be read in an evening or two. It let’s you get the Cappy Cap goodness without such a time investment.

3) Hard copy format. I find it a lot more convenient and comfortable to read from a book than off a computer screen and Top Shelf let’s you read dead tree-style. Convenient.

Now comes my biggest complaint about the book and something I’m hoping Aaron will fix in his future books:

Top Shelf needs an index.

There are dozens (I don’t know exactly how many because there’s no index and flipping through counting them would be a pain) of mini-essays  in this book and they do not seem to be arranged in any particular order. If I want to find, re-read, or reference a particular essay, it requires a lot of page-flipping. A basic index listing the page each particular essay is on would be handy.

This complaint aside, I found the book well worth it.

Recommendation:

Buy this book, it is worth it. If you like reading Captain Capitalism’s blog, this book is a must-buy.

If you’ve read his blog and for some weird reason don’t enjoy it, then you probably won’t like this book, so I can’t recommend it.

If you’re really broke, but have a lot of time on your hands then you can read his archives instead.

Other than those two exceptions, I’d recommend getting Top Shelf.

Previous reviews for other books by Aaron Clarey:
Behind the Housing Crash
Worthless

The Bookshelf: Red Pill Reformation

On the Bookshelf today is Red Pill Reformation by MTE. He goes by Rock Throwing Peasant in the comment sections around the manosphere, and his blog is on my blog roll. When I heard he wrote a book on the Christian Red Pill, I was intrigued. I’ve been busy lately, so it’s taken me a while to get around to reading it, but here’s my review (finally).

First, the book is fairly short, about 50 pages, with an additional 30 pages of an action plan, but it’s fairly priced at only $2.99. It’s good value for money.

As for the writing style, it’s very straightforward, basic, and to the point. Occasionally, I find the writing  can sometimes be “choppy”, but overall it reads easy, almost conversationally. He communicates his ideas effectively and functionally.

After a short introduction, the book starts with the typical beta narrative men are sold and contrasts that with the red pill of evolutionary psychology. He outlays the standard analysis of both quite well. There’s nothing new, but its a solid introduction.

I did have one little quibble; he defines hypergamy thus:

It is the innate desire of a woman to pair bond (not necessarily a relationship) with a man of higher value. In layman’s terms, think of the term, “marrying up.” Women who rate a 6 on the 1-10 scale don’t want to mate with a male 6. They want 7-10. They may marry a 5 or 6. They may have sex with a 5 or 6, but they want the 7-10. When their basic needs are met, there is little else on earth that will stop them from spending waking hours thinking about that bartender.

I don’t think he quite gets it right. Wanting to marry a higher quality mate is not exclusive to women’ men want to marry a women above their “number” as well. Hypergamy is a women’s desire for a man who more socially dominant (whether by money, fame, occupation, education, or whatever), while men desire women based primarily on looks and a pleasant personality. It’s not that women necessarily want a man with a “higher number” (although they do) that makes them hypergamous, it’s what they base the number on that does. This is a minor point, he does get the basics of hypergamy right, I just think it was a bit oversimplified and he should have explicated it a bit. The rest is of these section is good, if fairly basic for manosphere writing.

He follows with an excellent section on feminism. It provides an excellent overview of the negative effects of feminism. There’s some stuff included here I didn’t know before. I liked it.

In the next section he lays out the basics of game. Overall, he has a good general overview of the topic. Enough information to ge the basic concept without getting bogged down in detail.

I do have one criticism, the author misuses the term preselection. He writes, “Pre-selection is a female’s natural tendency to subconsciously disqualify 90% of all men she meets from any possibility of romance (carnal or other).” While women will disqualify most men, pre-selection is generally used to refer to a woman selecting a man (or not) based on how she perceives other women value that man.

At the end of the game section, he discusses the morality of game for seduction and how he rejects its use because it removes the moral component of human interaction.

He follows with two good sections on Churchianity and Marriage 2.0. These were solid introductions to the concepts.

He follows in a few sections reconciling manosphere concepts to being a Christian husband, resulting in a patriarch. In essence, he comes to the conclusion that a man is ordained by God to actively and courageously lead his home towards a goal. A good conclusion.

These first sections were the lead-up to the last 3 section which make up the bulk of the piece. These 3 sections go into detail about how to be a patriarch.

The first called “A Family of Disciples” is a practical guide to discipling your family. This will mean nothing to the non-Christians, but if you’re a Christian patriarch, it’s good advice.

The second of these sections is about developing the characteristics of “Integrity, Rational thought, Self-Awareness, Charisma, Confidence, Effective communication, Assertiveness, Optimism, and Physical Appearance.” These characteristics are developed from where game principles and Christian virtue meet. He lays out clearly why you should develop them and gives some advice on how to develop them. It is very well done and the advice is good.

The final section is called “Game and Love” and is more theoretical in nature. Here the author discusses how principles of game and of Christ interact. What I think is the essential point of the section: “God knows the heart of women and has told and shown men how to lead them. Game proponents observed God’s Way and penned the term, “game,” to give a pagan version of it.”

Rock Throwing Peasant ends the book with a 30-Day Action Plan. Everything on this list is good stuff to do/practice, although, a good portion of it is very much focused on Christians and/or the married, so if you aren’t either, fair amounts of the plan may not apply to you. For the married or to-be-married Christian, it is excellent stuf, but it is a lot of stuff. Some of it is fairly easy to do in a single day, but much of it is long-term habits to work on. If you tried to start all of it on it’s recommended day in the month, you’d likely experience willpower depletion. I would recommend practicing everything in the plan, it’s a good plan, but maybe, slow it down a bit. For the developing the larger, long-term habits, implement a new one each week or two.

Overall, the book got better as I read more. It started out a little shaky and there were some theoretical points on game that I think were mistaken. This made me skeptical at first, but the deeper into it I got, the more impressed I became. This is a great book.

It is very much geared towards the married or to-be-married Christian, so its use for those not in this category may be limited. For the red pill aware Christian, this book does a good job of sorting out the relationship between the red pill and Christian virtue, and how to develop yourself into a patriarch.

Recommendation:

This is a great book for its purpose.

If you are a married Christian or a Christian looking to be married: Buy this book. It’s an excellent guide to becoming a patriarch and exerting your leadership in your family.

If you are non-Christian and are married or looking to be married, this book is solid, and I’d recommend it, but it is based heavily upon Christian thought. You would benefit, but not as fully as a Christian would. You’d likely get more from reading Athol’s Primer; read that first, then, if you want more, pick this up. It’s definitely worth its price.

If you are not a Christian and do not plan to get married, I don’t see this book helping you very much. It’s probably not something to put high on your priority list. If you have a theoretical interest in the topic or want to develop yourself through the action plan (although,30 Days of Discipline may be more to your liking), for the price and length, its not too much of an investment if it doesn’t pan out.

If you know a young Christian male you want to introduce the red pill to, Red Pill Reformation would be an excellent place to start. Despite a couple of small quibbles about his theory of game, this book will get him thinking about the red pill, without the immediate negative reaction he might have towards material oriented towards players.

The BookShelf: Suicide of a Superpower

Another book I read over the vacation was Pat Buchanan’s Suicide of a Superpower. Patrick Buchanan is a major player in the paleoconservative movement, having run for president a couple times, and I’ve been contemplating the decline we’re all supposed to be enjoying for a while, so I decided to check it out.

If you’ve been in the alt-right blogosphere for a while, not much of this book is going to be all that new to you. The book is competently written, but lacks the wit and charm of the other recent doom-and-gloomer I’ve read, Mark Steyn.

He starts talking about the economic decline of the US: how it’s becoming a socialist, indebted, “food stamp” nation that outsources it’s productive activity elsewhere to focus on consumption. He then writes about the decline of Christianity and Catholicism both in the West in general and the US in particular and the negative effects of their passing on society. There’s the chapter on the demographic decline of the west, followed by a few chapters on the negative impacts of the diversity cult and tribal politics in the US. He has a chapter on how the Republican’s road to victory should be as “the white party” instead of pandering to minorities and rejects calling a truce on the culture war. A chapter on foreign policy, in which he recommends are scaled-down foreign policy based upon realism. He then gives a list of what he thinks should be done.

Overall, I agree with most of his objectives. America’s foreign policy should be scaled back, as should the welfare state. Tribal politics in the US should end, and the GOP should stop pandering on immigration. I disagree with his stance on economic nationalism, I’m pro-free trade myself, but I respect it. He seems to accept that free trade creates more wealth for consumption, but would rather maintain domestic productivity than increase opportunities for consumption, which is something I can accept as rational, even if I disagree.

It’s a solid book outlining the decline of the US, but nothing in it is all that new. Everybody in the alt-right knows the US is in decline and nothing in the book will really convert liberals and progressives who are actively pushing the decline along into reversing their chosen course. Still, every voice of warning that can be put out there is a good thing; at the very least when the collapse comes, we can all point to this book and say, “we told you so.”

There was one thing that puzzled me about the book though. The cover subtitle asked “Will America survive to 2025?”, but I do not remember reading any timeline of the collapse or how 2025 was some point of collapse mentioned at all in the book itself. I read it a few weeks ago though, so my memory might not be perfect, but it seemed kind of odd to me.

Recommendation:

Suicide of a Superpower is decent book chronicling the cultural decline of the US. If you’re really interested in learning of the decline, look into it, but if you’ve been in the alt-right for a while, there’s probably not much new to read here.

Overall, I think Mark Steyn’s After America did a better and more enjoyable job of chronicling of America’s decline than this book. I’d suggest reading that first. If you’re still interested in learning, give this book a try.

If you’re new to alt-right politics or are questioning what this decline is that we’re always talking about, than I’d recommend reading both Suicide and AA. Together, they will provide you with an introduction to what the alt-right is either fighting or despairing of fighting.

The Bookshelf: Behind the Housing Crash

The next review is of Aaron Clarey’s 2008 book Behind the Housing Crash. Clarey is probably better known in these parts by his moniker Captain Capitalism, and I’ve reviewed one of his previous books: Worthless.

Before I go on, I will mention that the Captain and his blog hold a special place here at this blog. CC was my introduction to manosphere. I had read Roissy on and off for a few years prior, but had never gone beyond that or taken it more seriously than an interesting diversion, but when I started reading CC last winter is when I really began to explore the red pill in earnest.

The book reads a lot like his blog with a similar writing style. That’s mostly good, as the Captain has an enjoyable and engaging writing style. It does have its negatives though, one aspect it shares with blog posts is that there are grammatical errors, awkward sentence constructions, and the like throughout the book. This is fine in blog posts, but just reads off in an actual book. It’s hard to fault Clarey too much for this though, the lack of an editorial process is one of the major problems with self-publishing. The editorial problems only slightly detract from the book, though, so it’s not too big a deal. In a way they

The book itself is essentially an extended diatribe against the corruption of the banking industry and developers. You can feel Aaron’s rage burn through as you read the book. The book does contain a fair amount of analysis and explanation, but at its heart it’s a screed against the greedy, corrupt fools who helped destroy our economy. I think the book benefits from this; you can find analysis of the housing crisis everywhere from every possible ideological angle, but a book detailing an insider’s rage, struggles, and resignation is something more interesting.

That’s where this book shines. The book illustrates how an idealistic young analyst trying to do his job is continually stymied, harassed, and beaten down by the system and incompetents around him until he finally simply does what the corrupt and incompetent in charge desire out of resignation. The anger, cynicism, and alienation the banking system created in this particular employees seeps through every part of this book.

If you want to know why men drop out of economic production to play video games or why there’s a “demise of guys”, this book is a great illustration of the alienation the current labour market engenders in aspiring young adult males.

The stories about his interactions with bankers and developers make this book worth reading. The book is filled with his dealings with corrupt bankers, incompetent managers, and sleazy developers and the stories will sometimes amaze you, sometimes, amuse you, and engender a fair amount of cynicism in you.

I also like his conclusion at the end of the book. Most analysis of the housing crash I’ve seen puts on the blame on their ideological boogeymen. Liberals will blame the bankers and regulators, socialists blame the capitalist system, conservatives blame the government and the irresponsible, libertarians the Fed and the government, etc.

Clarey does not shy away from blaming the bankers, the developers, irresponsible borrowers, and the perverse incentives of the banking system, although, he does excuse the Fed, who I think was partially to blame, but he goes further. The book points out what few analysts seem to, the housing crash was not just some corrupt authority figures and some idiots, it was a systemic corruption at all levels of society. He concludes with blaming the entitlement mentality and the “thin-skinned economy” where being nice is more important than being right.

This is very important. The housing crash only could come about because the entirety of society was (and is) corrupted by an entitlement mentality and people chasing after stuff they had not earned. Clarey does not shy away from coming to this conclusion.

The book ends with a little section of changes that could be made to prevent a future bubble and crash. Most of these seem reasonable to me.

Recommendation:

If you’re interested in the housing crash, want a story of a man being worn down by the system, and/or simply enjoy angry screeds against the incompetent I’d recommend the book, it is engaging, enjoyable, and informative.

If you’re a pedantic grammar-nazi I’d avoid it.