Liedzeit (Author of Kontingente Korrespondenz)

Liedzeit Liedzeit started reading Die schönsten Novellen by Werner Bergengruen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Liedzeit Liedzeit and 2 other people liked Stephan's review of Jim Buffalo 01: Die Geheimnisse des Harems (German Edition): "Ich kam durch Zufall auf diese Serie aus den 1920er Jahren. Der erste Band liefert im wesentlichen nur dein Einstieg - unser zukünftiger Held erlebt ein persönliches Trauma, und bekommt (angedeutet) den Zugang zu einer Super-Maschine, mit der er dann" Read more of this review »
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Liedzeit Liedzeit and 34 other people liked Katia N's review of Lincoln in the Bardo: "Lincoln and Bardo I was going into this book with the idea of resisting its power: - over the last nine months since it is publication it is so much raved and hyped - rarely i would expect something really original being praised so much; - it has won t" Read more of this review »
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Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I never read The Black Swan. I meant to, but somehow never did. So when I came across this book, thinking it was a new one, I bought it. It was actually written before. And it is certainly about Black Swans. That is, rare events. The main thesis is th ...more
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Liedzeit Liedzeit and 1 other person liked James Klagge's review of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity: "A long and diffuse survey of what we know about human pre-history. I am no expert on this, so I have to trust (or not) the authors to guide me through this huge mound of material. My main take-away was that theorists of our pre-histories have tended " Read more of this review »
Oct 18, 2026 01:17PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book Geschichten der Nacht by Laurent Mauvignier	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I finished this book a couple of days ago but could not decide how to review and rate it. One does not wish to come across as a blockhead who hates a book that clearly has some literary value. So I struggled. Maybe I should grant two stars. After all ...more
Oct 18, 2026 03:53AM · 5 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Geschichten der Nacht by Laurent Mauvignier. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Geschichten der Nacht by Laurent Mauvignier <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I had never heard of this book or the author before. But when I saw D.H. Lawrence and Graham Greene praising it and not just with some blurb but a little essay I knew that it be worth reading. And it is quite bizarre. It is the story of a man who has ...more
Oct 18, 2026 01:35AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Liedzeit Liedzeit made a comment on Manny’s review of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case Against Superintelligent AI " What do you mean some distance from superintelligence? Hasn’t Trump just declared we should talk about SI from now on? "
Oct 18, 2026 01:03AM · see review
Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book really liked it Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 13, 2026 08:52AM · 2 likes · like
Liedzeit Liedzeit is on page 120 of 675 of Einstein Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (Goodreads Author) progress:	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 13, 2026 08:50AM · 2 likes · like · see status · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Einstein by Walter Isaacson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Einstein by Walter Isaacson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Liedzeit Liedzeit started reading

Die schönsten Novellen
by Werner Bergengruen

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Liedzeit Liedzeit and 2 other people liked Stephan's review of Jim Buffalo 01: Die Geheimnisse des Harems (German Edition):

"Ich kam durch Zufall auf diese Serie aus den 1920er Jahren. Der erste Band liefert im wesentlichen nur dein Einstieg - unser zukünftiger Held erlebt ein persönliches Trauma, und bekommt (angedeutet) den Zugang zu einer Super-Maschine, mit der er dann" Read more of this review »

Liedzeit Liedzeit and 34 other people liked Katia N's review of Lincoln in the Bardo:

"Lincoln and Bardo

I was going into this book with the idea of resisting its power:
- over the last nine months since it is publication it is so much raved and hyped - rarely i would expect something really original being praised so much;
- it has won t" Read more of this review »

Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Goodreads Author)

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I never read The Black Swan. I meant to, but somehow never did. So when I came across this book, thinking it was a new one, I bought it. It was actually written before. And it is certainly about Black Swans. That is, rare events.

The main thesis is th I never read The Black Swan. I meant to, but somehow never did. So when I came across this book, thinking it was a new one, I bought it. It was actually written before. And it is certainly about Black Swans. That is, rare events.

The main thesis is that people are not good at statistics. What else is new? Okay, it is an old book and it is my fault that I picked it up but there is literally nothing new in it. I would have found it sort of interesting had I read it twenty years ago. But I doubt that I would have liked it.

It is mostly just filling up pages. Some stories about made up (or maybe actual) people like Nero, or John or himself. All of them traders. So there are bad traders that are nevertheless successful, at least for a while. Because of luck. Well, I am not surprised. (I remember before the election there was some story about a scientist who had predicted every president correctly in the last 30 years or so. So what? Someone must have predicted them correctly by sure luck, I was not impressed – and sure enough the guy was wrong this time.)

And yet I have my doubts. Yes, people are stupid. But I do not believe that people will insure themselves against a terrorist attack when they can insure themselves against all misfortunes for the same money.

So there is very little information in the book. And the author is, to put it mildly, a little arrogant. For example, he tells us a couple of times that he is a voracious reader. He likes Popper and is actually telling us that falsification is such a great thing (and that Einstein falsified Newton). Which even twenty years ago was a bit odd. It seems his voracious reading has not acquainted him with Thomas Kuhn.

When people are making fun of philosophers I am immediately annoyed. I agree that Hegel did write some nonsense, and I am not a fan of Sartre but calling him a “philosopher” in quotes is something that I am not prepared to tolerate. (And he, Taleb, is telling us that, contrary to what Sartre thought, Theodore Dreiser was in fact not a good writer!)

How does he himself do? Surely his text is nonsense free? How about this little gem: “Rare events are always unexpected, otherwise they would not occur.” Really? Isn't an event, by definition, something that happens? But let me be charitable and say there are events in the realm of possible worlds and only some of them actually occur in this world. Does that mean that I just have to expect my house to burn down to make this impossible to happen? I could save a lot of money on insurance. Surely, I must have misunderstood him. But no. “Rare events exist precisely because they are unexpected. [...] if the fund manager or trader had expected it [...] the rare event would not have taken place”. (p. 109)

Quite amazing. ...more

Liedzeit Liedzeit and 1 other person liked James Klagge's review of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity:

"A long and diffuse survey of what we know about human pre-history. I am no expert on this, so I have to trust (or not) the authors to guide me through this huge mound of material. My main take-away was that theorists of our pre-histories have tended " Read more of this review »

Liedzeit Liedzeit rated a book

Geschichten der Nacht
by Laurent Mauvignier

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I finished this book a couple of days ago but could not decide how to review and rate it. One does not wish to come across as a blockhead who hates a book that clearly has some literary value.

So I struggled. Maybe I should grant two stars. After all I finished this book a couple of days ago but could not decide how to review and rate it. One does not wish to come across as a blockhead who hates a book that clearly has some literary value.

So I struggled. Maybe I should grant two stars. After all the last two hundred pages actually did what a thriller is supposed to do. They kept me reading because I wanted to learn how this would end.

On the other hand the first three hundred pages were such a pain that it would feel dishonest to pretend that the book was not really that bad. And I certainly did not like the second part. I guess I just accepted the fact that the writing was the way it was.

But to start at the beginning. I had to read the book because it was chosen by my peers as a book to be talked about in our reading circle. I disliked the book from the beginning starting with the title. What is that supposed to mean. At least the English translator was smart enough to change it into The Birthday Party, because that is what it is about. Then there is the first sentence that takes up the entire first page. Congratulations. Then the author does not use quotation marks. This is something I really hate. I know a lot of great writers avoid quotation marks. Presumably thinking that the reader is smart enough to notice when the characters are talking to each other. But then why use capital letters, or spaces between words, or vowels?

As if that were not enough the writer is fond of putting a comma after a question mark and to start a new paragraph with a small letter. I am sure there is a reason for it. The violation of typographical conventions mirrors the meanness of the three brothers who crash a birthday party?

I will not say anything about the contents. I respect the idea to create a thriller with the language of high literature - or more precisely - Goncourt or Booker worthy language. If that was the idea it failed as far as I’m concerned. I cannot even say that the result was boring. I do not mind being bored in literature. If I get some kind of compensation. Some original idea. Some original perspective. I also do not resent pretentiousness in writing, but only if it is accompanied by a tiny bit of humor.

The one thing Mauvignier achieved was making me enjoy the books I read in between for relief even more than I normally would. ...more

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Hadrian the Seventh
by Frederick Rolfe

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I had never heard of this book or the author before. But when I saw D.H. Lawrence and Graham Greene praising it and not just with some blurb but a little essay I knew that it be worth reading.

And it is quite bizarre. It is the story of a man who has I had never heard of this book or the author before. But when I saw D.H. Lawrence and Graham Greene praising it and not just with some blurb but a little essay I knew that it be worth reading.

And it is quite bizarre. It is the story of a man who has been wronged by the church, at least that is what he thinks. His only wish was to become a priest and this was denied him for reasons that do not become entirely clear. Although one has a pretty good idea. Maybe because he liked men better than women and young men better that not so young. And reading it you are sure that Rolfe is talking about himself. (A quick look at the book’s note about the author confirms it.)

After the exposition where our man gets some apologies from a member of the church in the next chapter Rolfe lets himself play the role that he might well have believed would have suited him: that of the reigning Pope. It not really believable but okay, the man who was just ordained becomes the new pope. Where does this lead to? The book was published in 1904. So he would be the successor of Leo XIII. We are then in the very near future. In a future in which Japan has already defeated Russia for example. (If you are writing a book about the future it a very neat trick to have your facts right.)

Basically the book now tells us what a wonderful (deeply pious) pope he would be. For one thing he would tell his cardinals that history has made some decisions that are to be accepted, for example that Queen Elizabeth I. was the rightful queen of England because she was Great. (We real Catholics, of course, do not believe such a thing.) And then he would establish a new world order (I did not entirely understand how this would come about). Whereas his predecessor Alexander VI. had divided the world by a ruler he does it by his deep understanding of politics. England gets the entire continent of Africa but Germany is allowed to annex France and Russia (and Austria of course). France, we are told, has forefeited her right to be an independent country. Hadrian VII. has an especially good relationship with Wilhelm II. who is presented as a likeable (and even humorous) guy. This is all very fascinating but also after a while a little bit boring.

Luckily there is a woman who herself thinks she has been mistreated by the man who now is the Pope. She had in the past unsuccessfully tried to seduce him. She still loves him but hates him too. And now she tries to blackmail him. But this entire subplot is not very well handled.

(Coincidence: One of the young man the new pope is fond of is called McLeod, just like the homosexual hero of the book I have read just before this one.)

All in all this is one of the books that deserves to be admired more than to be loved. ...more