Fiction or Non-Fiction, academic or casual, theory or non-theory, feel free to mention books of any genre and on any topic.

Previous week’s thread.

  • cornishon@lemmygrad.ml
    22·
    1 month ago

    Finished Losurdo’s Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend; started Gerald Horne’s Counter Revolution of 1776; and am in the middle of Rockhill’s Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism.

    I find that I can focus more if I’m reading multiple books at once, switching texts after a chapter or so.

    • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
      6·
      1 month ago

      Check out my speech to text suite, if you’re not using tools it will speedrun your efforts for your friends. https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text

      If you have yt-dlp installed, you can just do:

      This will pull the video (not just from YouTube), transcribe to a txt and SRT files (subtitles), and translate to Spanish, all locally. Translation has some varying results.

      If you have a lot of videos you can pre download them, then run stt with a --batch command on the entire folder containing all your videos.

      Or there is also a simple GUI that you launch with ‘stt gui’

      Unfortunately codeberg had a server outage and may not be entirely back yet so I’m not sure if its accessible right now. If it’s not back let me know and I’ll upload the files somewhere else temporarily.

        • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
          5·
          1 month ago

          run the install command for your OS in a terminal window! They are located here: https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text#quick-install. So if you are on Windows for example it’s the iwr command that’s followed by a link.

          After you have installed stt correctly (the installer will tell you “stt installed, Open a NEW terminal window and type: stt --help”), exit the terminal window and open a new one. In the new windowe, run ‘stt gui’ from your terminal (powershell if on windows). It contains all the options the tool offers. By ‘run from the terminal’ I mean literally just open a terminal window and type the command + enter). It opens a window that looks like this:

          So for example, since you are translating videos, you can paste the youtube URL to the video in the input field, then change the Target field in ‘Model & Language’ to the language you are translating to. If you scroll down in the graphical interface, you will see output formats, and you can select ‘txt’ to make a simple text file, or also check ‘srt’ for a subtitles file - a subtitles file can be immediately loaded into the video.

          Then press the Transcribe button in the bottom left. It can take a while, but it will work. It will save the files on your computer, transcribed and translated!

          It’s still a few instructions but I tried to make the app as user-friendly as I could 🙏 the hardest part is installing it - when it’s running it can’t destroy anything on your computer, at most it creates files (the transcriptions) that you can delete.

          if you want to use the terminal version, do ‘stt transcribe --help’ and it will show you the commands you can use. But the graphical interface is the exact same as the terminal version, you’re not missing out on anything if you use the interface.

            • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
              3·
              1 month ago

              which operating system are you on? I can provide more specific instructions.

              The difficult part is installing the program, using it will come naturally once you’ve done it once or twice.

                • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
                  5·
                  1 month ago

                  Okay, so, I had to look at the windows flow a bit more in-depth. Winget was a good tool but it’s actually unmaintained and people have been reporting some possible malicious packages. So I redid the entire install script to not use winget anymore. It’s much easier to install stuff on Linux, there the install script would have just done everything for you 😭 but no worries, it is what it is.

                  What you will need:

                  • Install the latest Python version here: https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. Python now offers the ‘install manager’, and they said this is how you will install Python from now on. So it’s probably better to use the install manager, and install the latest 3.12.x version of Python from it. Add it to your PATH if there is a checkbox for it, otherwise it will be pretty much useless (it should just be checked by default but it is what it is).
                  • ffmpeg: ffmpeg is required for STT to work. On its own website, ffmpeg links to this website: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/. Scroll down and download ffmpeg-release-full.7z. This is a guide that explains what to do with this zip file afterwards: https://www.wikihow.com/Install-FFmpeg-on-Windows. I’m sorry that ffmpeg is such a mess to install on windows but they don’t provide an installer unfortunately.
                  • yt-dlp: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases. The latest as of writing is yt-dlp 2026.06.09, and the file is simply called yt-dlp.exe. Click on it in the list to download, then run the .exe to install yt-dlp on your computer.
                  • Pandoc: You can install pandoc from here: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases. The latest as of writing is pandoc-3.10-windows-x86_64.msi - it’s also an installer that you just run to install pandoc.

                  Then you can run the install script provided on my codeberg repo. In Powershell (not cmd):

                  iwr https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text/raw/branch/main/install.ps1 | iex

                  The install script is very simple; it just sets up a folder called stt in C:\Users\YourUsername. Everything that STT sets up by itself stays within that stt\ folder. When stt is installed correctly, the installer script will tell you with the words “stt installed. Open a NEW terminal window and type: stt --help”

                  Open a new cmd or powershell, and simply run the command ‘stt gui’. It will open the user interface in a new window, which is probably easier to use. I find that when I was on Windows I preferred user interfaces, and on Linux I prefer command-line tools lol.

                  The first time you actually start transcribing or translating a video, stt will automatically download the models. This happens automatically, you just have to wait. But it means the first transcription will take a bit more time to finish.

                  If you ever want to uninstall stt from your computer, run this in PowerShell:

                  # Windows (PowerShell)
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path.Replace("$HOME\stt\.venv\Scripts", ""), "User")
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $HOME\stt

                  ffmpeg, yt-dlp and pandoc are pretty nice tools to have on any computer. ffmpeg can convert and compress any video file. yt-dlp allows you to download videos from any website by just running ‘yt-dlp https://link.com/’ in the CMD, and pandoc can convert any text format to any other text format, so you can convert . So they are dependencies, but they are generally good tools to have. Python as well is pretty nice to have as a lot of open-source software uses python. You only install it once then most open-source software is available to you.

      • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
        3·
        1 month ago

        Wait

        Wait wait wait…

        This does translation from English into Spanish?!

        For subtitles in a video, correct?

        Hopefully, I am following this convo along well enough.

        Anyway, a translation tool, preferably one I don’t really have to pay for, is what I want for my YouTube and TikTok channels, and one that can put subtitles I the video and put the subtitles or lines basically where they should be as the video goes along lol

        • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
          6·
          1 month ago

          yep, it does everything.

          stt transcribe 'file.mp4' --target-lang es,fr,pt,jp --format srt will transcribe the audio from the video (auto-detects language), then translate the result into their own .srt (subtitles) files. You can chain arguments together such as es,fr,pt,jp -> it will create a different file for each combination. so one .srt for spanish, one .srt for french, etc.

          stt translate 'file.txt' --source-lang en --target-lang --format txt,srt will only translate a previously existing text file. you can chain --format (or any argument, including the input files) to output the translation as plain text file, and another .srt file

          if you have pandoc and yt-dlp installed, the app integrates with them to provide more input and output formats with pandoc, and yt-dlp to download the video automatically from a web page (so instead of ‘file.mp4’ you can provide a youtube link). It automatically uses them, you don’t have to do anything special.

          it also needs python 3.10 or higher and ffmpeg to work. It downloads the models on first use, expect about 5-10 gigabytes of download. Needs I would say around 4GB of Vram at the minimum to work.

          translation can be hit or miss in terms of quality, some language pairs work better than others. If it’s bad, just open deepseek web, switch to expert, paste the original subtitles, and tell it to ‘translate these subtitles to [language], output within three backticks for code formatting’.

    • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
      2·
      1 month ago

      You need to break your anhedonia and depression too.

      Be weary of the burnout.

        • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
          3·
          1 month ago

          I grew up in a mostly Catholic household but never really learned about Islam that much despite father being Turkish.

          I have religious trauma, especially since around 2013 to 2014, linked to my OCD. I am currently doing ERP after “toughing it out” for so long.

            • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
              3·
              1 month ago

              I have read the Qur’an but not the hadiths except maybe a few excerpts.

              Also, my dad is literally a Kemalist and hates any Syrian, Qatari, Saudi, Lebanese, Omani, UAE, etc. immigrants to Türkiye.

              He is not Catholic lol he is actually pretty atheist last I checked, even if the Ottoman aristocratic nobility that he ultimately hails from (no, I shit you not about that part lol) had at least ostensibly Muslim adherents.

              My Mom is Catholic. She is Dominican. My family treats her like shit. 💀💀

              Also, I only really “like” (or I guess am somewhat interested in again now) Catholicism due to Pope Frank and now Pope Leo (especially with what he wrote recently)… but honestly? Most Catholics, especially the born-again variety like J. D. Vance, really suck. Tbh, I did really like the baroque stuff and other aesthetics of Catholicism throughout the centuries… but that’s because Protestant churches are so drab in comparison.

              Also, Protestant churches have a big problem with not only pedophilia and sex pestery like the Catholic Church but also millennarianism too and other really bad apocalyptic belief systems, especially nowadays.

              Tbh, I don’t know what to think about the Catholic Church at this point, but honestly, I look at the Unitarian Universalist church near me and have even thought about attending some events to see what social clubs they have (which I feel like I should at le4do since I may never come back to Virginia).

              They also tend to be leftwing or even kinda leftist depending on the area.

              And I kinda think “Damn, kinda wish most churches were a bit more like that one.”

              But honestly, I am really anti-religion at this point.

              I might actually prefer Khruschev’s policy towards religion over Stalin’s ngl 😭😭

              And the religious trauma I experienced back in around 2013 or 2014 DURING EXAM WEEK MIND YOU honestly fucked me up more than even I seem to really know.

              Filled me with dread, anxiety, raw fear, panic, etc.

              Anyway…

              I guess I should also say that my Mom is also kind-of a “New Age-y” lapsed Catholic and literally loves the Cathars lol

              Ahhhh…

              Yes…

              Those damn Cathars…

              At first, when you read about them in some history book, you’re kinda like “Oh, very cool”

              Then one of your friends, your Mom, someone you know, etc. can’t shut up about them and you’re all like:

              “Girl, we don’t even know that much about them!!” 😭😭

                • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
                  2·
                  1 month ago

                  yeah, i heard about atheist pagans

                  I am deeply interested in paganism now

                  especially since paganism never really dissappeared from 19th century or even 20th century Europe at all.

                  It’s still there.

                  The Druidic order in England seems interesting

                  But honestly, the Turkish groups kinda fascinate me

                  That said

                  I agree on the church bit

                  but I do kinda want a “religion” or “spirituality” or whatever the fuck we call it now

                  just to experiment

                  nothing more

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmygrad.ml
    14·
    1 month ago

    Continuing Nkrumah’s work on Neocolonialism. Coming off of Fanon’s writing really helps contextualize Nkrumah’s writing here, identifying the struggle against Neocolonialism in nominally independent states.

  • DumbBrokeLeftist@lemmygrad.ml
    13·
    1 month ago

    This week, my comrades and I started and finished Wage, Labor, and Capital. It was a doozy. I think that the reading was hard but not too difficult. I learned some new things, and I know for sure I missed some things too. All in all, I’m glad my group is finally moving out of philosophy and starting economics, even if economics hurts my brain and it’s not my favorite.

    I tried starting “The Problem of Recognition in Transitional States, or Sympathy for the Monster (2024)”. I’ve seen a lot of praise heaped on this article, so I want to read it badly, but sometimes the language is too difficult for me to understand. I really want someone with a higher reading comprehension to sit down and read with me. Sadge.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmygrad.ml
      9·
      1 month ago

      Unfortunately, Frome’s prose does hold back her writings from a pedagogical perspective. As brilliant as they often are, they are written from a more academic perspective, which often makes them difficult to parse.

  • Ember_NE@lemmygrad.ml
    12·
    1 month ago

    Reading the Stalin book by Losurdo. So far I like how most of the book is just giving context

    I’ve also picked up a book about Hegel so enjoying that too

  • Orion@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    12·
    1 month ago

    Finally finished Fraud, Famine, and Fascism. Really informative in understanding where the Holodomr myth came from. It did lead me to wonder: are the Nazis in the current Ukrainian government the continuation of the OUN the book mentions?

  • leninbaba@lemmygrad.ml
    11·
    1 month ago

    I’ve finished reading Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage by Paulo Freire and started Neuromancer by William Gibson.

      • leninbaba@lemmygrad.ml
        9·
        1 month ago

        An extraordinary educator and teacher. In the book I read, he discusses how to raise young people who are open to criticism and to offering criticism, as well as the propagandistic education prevalent in the West and how to overcome it. He is not a Marxist-Leninist, but rather closer to democratic socialism; however, his writings on epistemic curiosity, teaching and learning, and solidarity are refreshing and contain insights from which socialists too, have much to learn.

        The fact that evangelical lobbies in the West have also banned his writings and are trying to ban it further proves that the education of the people in Latin America is being stifled.

    • Dialectical Idealist@lemmygrad.ml
      2·
      1 month ago

      I read a lot of science fiction and I haven’t read anything quite like Neuromancer. Feels like reading an action movie in a fully realized cyberpunk world. And, without spoiling anything, a lot of the themes have aged well.

  • red_laborer@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    11·
    1 month ago

    Currently reading:

    • Curriculum of the Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism (Part 1: The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-Leninism), translated and annotated by Luna
    • Dialectical Materialism Vol. 1: Materialism & the Dialectical Method by Maurice Cornforth
    • Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy by Engels

    I recently realized that I’ve never made an effort to specifically study dialectical materialism, so that’s my focus right now as I wait for more opportunities to volunteer with the local PSL. Better late than never, I suppose, and I’m really enjoying it. Eventually, I want to tackle Capital again (got halfway through vol 1 previously). Then I want to revisit Lenin’s Imperialism. After that I’m not sure. H.W. Edwards? Lauesen? Amin? Smith? I also know that at some point I need to look into the national question, but I’m not even sure where to start.

    Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good week.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmygrad.ml
      13·
      1 month ago

      I recommend following Lenin’s imperialism with Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Nkrumah’s work on Neocolonialism, and finally Cheng Enfu’s work on Neoimperialism. Africa is largely absent from Lenin’s book, and Fanon helps analyze the class struggle in the colonial context. Nkrumah carries that to the neocolonial era, and Cheng Enfu carries that to the modern day. This gives you a fairly complete view of how imperialism has aged since Lenin.

    • xokro@lemmygrad.ml
      6·
      1 month ago

      I think you should jump into the following series of articles and speeches by Lenin before getting back into Imperialism. This is something I wish I had done, as it helped me understand the broader context for how imperialism operates when it comes to underdeveloped nation-states and colonialism.

      • Preliminary Draft Theses on the National and Colonial Question (1920)
      • Report on the International Situation and the Fundamental Tasks of the Communist International (1920)
      • Theses on the National and Colonial Question (1920)
      • The Right of Nations to Self-Determination (1914)
  • jefftist@lemmygrad.mlBanned
    10·
    1 month ago

    Personally I’ve been reading a lot of despondent posts on LinkedIn and wanting to lose it on the C-Suite overlords bringing about the AI jobpocalypse, but that’s more of a personal doom-scroll daily event because they got me in October – and not actual literary works. I just ordered “Bullshit Jobs: A Theory” by David Graeber. I’ll keep you posted on if it’s a good read.

  • TheCodfather@lemmygrad.ml
    10·
    1 month ago

    Just finished Phenomenology of the Capitalist Eternisation by João Romeiro Hermeto. Overall really enjoyed it, some parts were slightly beyond my understanding but it was definetely the wakeup call i needed to get more involved than i already am in organising. Capitalism isnt this eternal monolith that many perceive it as, and it can be overcome!

    Moving on to an easier read in Half Earth Socialism by Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass. I played the game based on it a while ago andordered the book before completely forgetting about it. Its very much a utopian book, so im mostly reading it for fun and less for studying but so far it has quite a lot of useful info about the perils of weather control systems. A good break from theory while i focus more on my last term of uni!

      • TheCodfather@lemmygrad.ml
        4·
        1 month ago

        Yep! I believe the developers made the game while the book was being written to give a simulation of the books concepts. So far very cool, and gives a LOT of info that kinda makes me wish i’d read it first tbh

        • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          Oh

          Wait, are you talking about that novel that was written before Disco Elysium came out?

          Or is this an entirely different series?

  • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
    8·
    1 month ago

    With the heatwave seemingly over I may be able to go back Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are. So far in chapter 1 it was very broad and simple, its a book for complete newbies but I hope/expect it picks up in later chapters.

    • Makan@lemmygrad.mlMEnglish
      2·
      1 month ago

      I read a book about the development of language and it deadass makes me want to read more of Lev Vygotsky’s work to this day two years after reading it.

      The book, which came out around 2024, also rebukes and does a rebuttal of many of Chomsky 's claims and works, especially the “language equivalents” thing.

  • Meow@lemmygrad.ml
    7·
    25 days ago

    I’m reading “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” by Karl Marx, 18 pages in and I can feel the shear frustration at France rolling off the text in waves.

  • maoist stannis@lemmygrad.ml
    7·
    1 month ago

    I’ve been listening to oldhead comrade S4A read Fascism and Social Revolution by Rajani Palme Dutt. It’s been very eye-opening, despite not being super far in. I’m still recovering from burnout and a severe depressive episode, and getting back into “reading” (listening, desk job full-time) both fills me with tremendous hope and despair. I’m in the US, and the state of the left here is so dire. There is so much work to be done, and it all feels so impossible at times.

    Can anyone recommend shorter readings by Black American communists? I need a fast faith booster!!