Great book

[snaw]

Never mind that. If you seriously want to understand modern, global, current affairs, read this...

Nah, way to heavy a read.

[ratewhore]

Never mind that. If you seriously want to understand modern, global, current affairs, read this...

[AlfredJPruffock]

Er, except that, flawed though the West may be, we don't enforce a particular religion on pain of death, enshrine the idea of women being nothing more than gossipy vaginas, hold backstreet courts to (usually) punish a woman, etc. Other than that, sure, they're lovely!

Islams rejection of High Heels will prove to be decisive for the domination of the global economy- see my previous thread Crises - What crises ? to understand this.

[OwlHoot]

Hmm, sounds like a good read. I've just ploughed through Castles of Steel by Robert Massie, a brilliant book about the Royal Navy in WW1. Next up to bat is Dreadnought, by the same guy.

[TimberWolf]

Er, except that, flawed though the West may be, we don't enforce a particular religion on pain of death, enshrine the idea of women being nothing more than gossipy vaginas, hold backstreet courts to (usually) punish a woman, etc. Other than that, sure, they're lovely!

To them that is normal though. I expect we are weird in lots of ways to them too.

[snaw]

It's hard to say who is really right and wrong in these things and we can't be truly objective. What makes them wrong from my point of view is killing of people, especially innocent ones. But of course this kind of thing happens on both sides.

It's a hard one to answer, there's nothing controversial in this book in that respect, it doesn't glamorise or justify. It does explain why they think they are justified in killing innocents, and going down the path they've chosen - it even explains how they got to that stage and the problems it's caused them subsequently.

[Bob Dalek]

It's hard to say who is really right and wrong in these things and we can't be truly objective. What makes them wrong from my point of view is killing of people, especially innocent ones. But of course this kind of thing happens on both sides.

Er, except that, flawed though the West may be, we don't enforce a particular religion on pain of death, enshrine the idea of women being nothing more than gossipy vaginas, hold backstreet courts to (usually) punish a woman, etc. Other than that, sure, they're lovely!

[TimberWolf]

Well yes, although it does do a very good job of telling it from how they see the world as well.

It's hard to say who is really right and wrong in these things and we can't be truly objective. What makes them wrong from my point of view is killing of people, especially innocent ones. But of course this kind of thing happens on both sides.

[snaw]

Doubt it. I imagine to Al-Qaeda this book is very biased.

Well yes, although it does do a very good job of telling it from how they see the world as well.

[sasguru]

First time I've bothered to post a recommendation, but just finished reading The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11 which won the Pulitzer prize last year

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looming-Towe.../dp/071399973X

and wanted to recommend it to anyone that's interested in reading about how Al Queda came to be, and the thinking behind these nutters, or the inadequacies of the intelligence services prior to it happening.

Absolutely enthralling, enlightening book, told in a straightforward non-impartial way, it just relays the facts as we know them in a highly readable way. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. Brilliant.

Agreed. Read it last year. If you want to understand Islamic fundamentalism this is the one to read.

[TimberWolf]

First time I've bothered to post a recommendation, but just finished reading The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11 which won the Pulitzer prize last year

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looming-Towe.../dp/071399973X

and wanted to recommend it to anyone that's interested in reading about how Al Queda came to be, and the thinking behind these nutters, or the inadequacies of the intelligence services prior to it happening.

Absolutely enthralling, enlightening book, told in a straightforward non-impartial way, it just relays the facts as we know them in a highly readable way. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. Brilliant.

Doubt it. I imagine to Al-Qaeda this book is very biased.

[snaw]

First time I've bothered to post a recommendation, but just finished reading The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11 which won the Pulitzer prize last year

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looming-Towe.../dp/071399973X

and wanted to recommend it to anyone that's interested in reading about how Al Queda came to be, and the thinking behind these nutters, or the inadequacies of the intelligence services prior to it happening.

Absolutely enthralling, enlightening book, told in a straightforward non-impartial way, it just relays the facts as we know them in a highly readable way. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. Brilliant.