What are you currently reading?

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Short book (actually a series of lectures transcribed) but with great clarity of insight. I found more than a few quotes that really hit home with me and will share some later. Most of the book is an exhortation to unceasing spiritual struggle for the love of Christ. Abp. Averky also shares practical advice including an analysis of common ways in which sinful ideas or thoughts proceed to manifest in our actions, then finally take hold as deeply ingrained evil habits or passions.

I didn't know until I read this that "asceticism" never originally meant a kind of masochistic unhealthy lifestyle. The original Greek word "askesis" actually refers to "exercise" or "training" in the context of an athlete or soldier. Thus true ascetism is the deliberate development of self-constraint of one's selfish will, the waging of war against one's passions and toward the cultivation of virtues in their place.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
Going to leave this thread here for why I will never buy anything from the Wilsons.
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Her and her husband Andrew do debates with feminists and only fans models all the time I think they probably have the most first hand interactions with these people which makes them very qualified to write a book on this topic, the research was very good
For example, she shows in her book that the feminist movement wasnt a grassroots movement but was a top down movement, she talks about the counter protests from other woman who were AGAINST woman voting etc. Dont let a twitter link about her diet and kids schooling put you off, anyway who even went out of their way to write such an insignificant article?
 
GoodShepherd said:
Her and her husband Andrew do debates with feminists and only fans models all the time I think they probably have the most first hand interactions with these people which makes them very qualified to write a book on this topic, the research was very good
For example, she shows in her book that the feminist movement wasnt a grassroots movement but was a top down movement, she talks about the counter protests from other woman who were AGAINST woman voting etc. Dont let a twitter link about her diet and kids schooling put you off, anyway who even went out of their way to write such an insignificant article?
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I'll admit, my first impression of them wasn't the best. They were friends with our former user Brother Augustine until he had a falling out with one of their friends, so they did a hit piece on him. When people show you who they are, believe them. And everything I've seen since then has shown me that they are what they struck me as, grifters looking for an audience.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
I'll admit, my first impression of them wasn't the best. They were friends with our former user Brother Augustine until he had a falling out with one of their friends, so they did a hit piece on him. When people show you who they are, believe them. And everything I've seen since then has shown me that they are what they struck me as, grifters looking for an audience.
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Sometimes people have a fall out with other people I dont see why thats a serious reason not to read someones book or dismiss their research, if they had denied Christ and decided to live an immoral unrepentant life then I would understand your concerns but this isnt the case, like Napolian Hill who admitted he practiced necromancy and communicated with the "dead" and from "them" he got the information and inspiration to write his book Think and Grow Rich (I actually read the book many years ago before I found out), this isnt the case with this book and I think its one of the most important books to read in the west right now and in our times as it deals with this very serious problem thats affecting woman, men and families in our western society, a problem thats didnt happen in the eastern Orthodox countries, this is current stuff that we are actually living through. Orthodox priest Father Moses also read the book and spoke highly of it on his Instagram, other friends of Brother Augustine also seem to still hang out with Rachael and Andrew like David Patrick Harry and Jim Bob etc, I actually am not aware of any hit piece or disagreement they had with brother Augustine but to me thats between them, if they didnt deal with each other in the best of ways thats a problem they must sort out with their priests and themselves its really not a big deal in my opinion, if you want I can send the author this twitter link and have her personally respond to those accusations and post the reply on here?
 
Brother Augustine had run afoul of Jay Dyer and the online Orthodoxbro sphere that Dyer is a major player in. The Wilsons were trying to break into that sphere at the time and Dyer had basically told everyone in his Discord server to not associate with BA which I'm guessing is what caused the Wilsons to sour with BA as well even though they had just met IRL and had a positive interaction at some sort of Orthodox conference. Andrew would do these special 'trash talk' streams where he would choose a specific figure that he disliked and spend the entire time dumpling on them an BA was the subject of one. I remember seeing it on The Crucible YouTube channel before they started migrating all their content to Rumble.
 
Wutang said:
Brother Augustine had run afoul of Jay Dyer and the online Orthodoxbro sphere that Dyer is a major player in. The Wilsons were trying to break into that sphere at the time and Dyer had basically told everyone in his Discord server to not associate with BA which I'm guessing is what caused the Wilsons to sour with BA as well even though they had just met IRL and had a positive interaction at some sort of Orthodox conference. Andrew would do these special 'trash talk' streams where he would choose a specific figure that he disliked and spend the entire time dumpling on them an BA was the subject of one. I remember seeing it on The Crucible YouTube channel before they started migrating all their content to Rumble.
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I remember this incident from a few years ago although I wasn't wrapped up in it very much at the time. I did think the hit job on BA was uncalled for.

I bought the book @GoodShepherd recommended, and have read about 40%. I am finding it very informative. They tie feminism in with occult movements and liberal non-Christian thinking going back to the 1800s. I am familiar with a number of details they are bringing up, and can clearly see the patterns she is pointing out.

I recently read Brother Augustine's book on Freemasonry, and it's clear that the things he says about Freemasonry vs Christianity are closely paralleled in the development of feminism.

One of Wilson's points is that the story and history of feminism is entirely told by feminists, typically professors of Women's Studies. Not only are they biased, they actually have no problem presenting false information to make their cases, because they believe achieving effective propaganda is far more important than impartial truth.

That being the case, I think anyone who goes digging and brings out the other side of the story of feminism is likely to be somewhat of a contrarian, and likely has a few skeletons in their own closet. I'm fine with that. I'd like to see the case she makes, and I'm able to take it with a grain of salt and keep her limitations in mind.
 
GoodShepherd said:
Sometimes people have a fall out with other people I dont see why thats a serious reason not to read someones book or dismiss their research, if they had denied Christ and decided to live an immoral unrepentant life then I would understand your concerns but this isnt the case, like Napolian Hill who admitted he practiced necromancy and communicated with the "dead" and from "them" he got the information and inspiration to write his book Think and Grow Rich (I actually read the book many years ago before I found out), this isnt the case with this book and I think its one of the most important books to read in the west right now and in our times as it deals with this very serious problem thats affecting woman, men and families in our western society, a problem thats didnt happen in the eastern Orthodox countries, this is current stuff that we are actually living through. Orthodox priest Father Moses also read the book and spoke highly of it on his Instagram, other friends of Brother Augustine also seem to still hang out with Rachael and Andrew like David Patrick Harry and Jim Bob etc, I actually am not aware of any hit piece or disagreement they had with brother Augustine but to me thats between them, if they didnt deal with each other in the best of ways thats a problem they must sort out with their priests and themselves its really not a big deal in my opinion, if you want I can send the author this twitter link and have her personally respond to those accusations and post the reply on here?
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So, anyway... I'm currently reading the new Blake Crouch book "Famous" and so far it's been a really good read. I'm about half-way through and had an absolute laugh out loud moment because of such an absurd moment.

I'm still waiting for the twist (because there's always some kind of twist is Crouch's books). So far, a very entertaining and easy read. It's a good weekend book.
 
I'm nearly done reading Johnny Reb & Billy Yank by Alexander Hunter, a veteran of the Civil War and the Army of Northern Virginia. Really enjoyed his prose throughout. It's made me want to read more military memoirs from common soldiers, and I went to my local bookstore to pick up a few. They were mixed in with all the history books so it was hard to find any but I came away with a couple (Company Commander, On To Berlin, Blood Red Snow). In the past I've read Storm of Steel and Goodbye to All That and I wanted to ask if anyone here has any recommendations of military memoirs, or maybe even just memoirs in general, sometimes I enjoy listening to someone's experience in life, although now everyone is good at the telling of it.
 
thinkreadwritecode said:
I'm nearly done reading Johnny Reb & Billy Yank by Alexander Hunter, a veteran of the Civil War and the Army of Northern Virginia. Really enjoyed his prose throughout. It's made me want to read more military memoirs from common soldiers, and I went to my local bookstore to pick up a few. They were mixed in with all the history books so it was hard to find any but I came away with a couple (Company Commander, On To Berlin, Blood Red Snow). In the past I've read Storm of Steel and Goodbye to All That and I wanted to ask if anyone here has any recommendations of military memoirs, or maybe even just memoirs in general, sometimes I enjoy listening to someone's experience in life, although now everyone is good at the telling of it.
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I recently finished reading With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge, a first person account from the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa by a 60mm mortar crewman. His son, Henry, recently published a book (The Old Breed, The Complete Story Revealed) containing a lot of the stuff originally not published in With the Old Breed as well as a lot of personal stories of growing up with his father. I read this as well and found them both fantastic. If you have seen The Pacific miniseries on HBO you may be familiar with Sledge as he is a character in the show and the show was partially based on his book.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
"I have had kids out of wedlock with two different men."
"I wasn't promiscuous or careless."
Leave It Ok GIF by myHQ
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Apparently she was previously married and had a divorce, I dont see why having a bad past before becoming an Orthodox Christian some how makes her current research and book on feminism invalid? I read her book it was really good, one of the best works on this topic in our day and age, very very important read for us on this forum, I dont know if there are other authors whom you might prefer on this topic but find them and study this modern topic, I dont want to mess up this great thread with too much commenting, @GodfatherPartTwo we shall speak again some other time🙏🏻
 
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Anyone here read this? I bet a few here have. A how-to book written by an 18 year old girl living with her dad in the 70s about how they lived a middle class life on $700 a year each (around $10,000 USD today) by raising chickens and rabbits in their basement, working odd jobs temporarily, selling small things here and there, and just being content with the small pleasures in life. Not being a miser, but more “if you want efficiency, go work in a grimy factory and buy lobster— if you want to live right, go catch crayfish all of a summer’s day.”

I wasn’t raised to be thrifty or all that resourceful at all, and I’ve spent my entire adult life unlearning consumerism and the generally accepted path of college > work > retire (maybe) > die all while getting yourself into debt along the way.

Other good reads on this topic:
  • The 2009-2015 Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) blogs. I wish I applied more of what I read as a teenager back then. You know what’s funny? All the people in the comments section complaining about housing prices in 2013 :)
  • Mr Money Mustache blog
  • Early Retirement Extreme blog
  • No More Harvard Debt blog
  • The Simple Path to Wealth
  • The Richest Man in Babylon
The blogs do lean liberal/libertarian/agnostic/overpopulationists/tree hugger so take the best and leave the rest. Most of the guys who wrote this stuff were engineers which reflects in their writing. These ideas can be easily repackaged for conservative, family-oriented people (and I suspect they are among the more savvy). I am continually surprised how many of these recommendations are a shoe-in for a pious Christian life (live simply, be wise with your money so you can give more, don’t let your body become undisciplined through comfort, etc).

Many people act like you need to make a million dollars a year to afford a large family, but as long as you stay out of debt, avoid lifestyle creep, keep the big 3 costs reasonable (food, transportation, housing) and stay away from typical middle/upper class money sinks, you can have a really good time for not a lot of money. Or at least, you can spend the cash on things that are important to your family instead of car payments, crappy takeout, and travel team sports starting at age 6.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this stuff has been a huge source of optimism for us in a sea of black pill, and it reinforces the concept that we really do have control over our lives and where we go. I can think of many people in my life who could literally be millionaires if they applied these concepts instead of feeling sorry for themselves and sabotaging opportunities. I wish I was exaggerating, but our thoughts determine our lives.
 
thinkreadwritecode said:
I wonder what that girl and her father's living situation was. Was their home paid off already? Was it a house they were gifted? I could easily live off of 10k a year if I didn't have rent.
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The books covers it all. You can read it for free on Archive if you make an account. This is the first edition and doesn’t have the Afterword section.

They bought an abandoned grocery store at a foreclosure auction and converted it into a house. Got it rezoned I think. They made their own wood burning stove out of a 55 gallon drum, a stove pipe, gravel, and some plywood to block the window. They raised rabbits and chickens in their basement and fed them greens from their garden. Canned food, ate fish and turtles they caught, bought certain foods in bulk at feed stores (for human consumption rated oats, for example), sold their own moonshine on the side, didn’t own a car, that kind of thing.

In the Afterword, she explains that now at almost 50 years old, she sees things a little differently and that her dad was kind of an alcoholic and got bad after she moved out, so his lifestyle was perhaps more out of necessity (not wanting or being able to hold down a job). Nonetheless, it’s well written and I got a lot out of it.

From the FAQs section of the blog Extreme Early Retirement:
Q: I find it hard to believe that you/anyone can live on $5-7k/year without living in hardship. [Most common question off the blog]
A: That’s alright, I find it hard to believe how you/anyone can spend $30,000/year [without flushing money down the drain]. Fair enough? A simple break-down of the most important expenses for the year 2016 where we now live in a fully owned single-family house just outside Chicago would be $3900 for real estate taxes; ~$200/month for utilities (water, gas, electricity, internet); $150/month for food (two people and including the dog, we cook his food too); $2000/year for insurance (home, car, health, umbrella). This comes to about $10000/year or $5000/year/person for my wife and myself. All the loose stuff is noise. We don’t have any expensive hobbies. We rarely if ever pay retail prices. If you want to get more precise than that (think car depreciation, imputed rent, house maintenance events) then it gets complicated, real fast! See this entire thread for a detailed discussion of what happens when accounting gets overly complicated. The take-away is that while it’s maybe $6357 or $4521 and not $5030, the point is that my spending far away from $3000, $12,000, $21,000 or $33,000 and that I’ve intentionally accounted for plenty of slack in the cash flow calculations. (see net worth considerations below).

Keep in mind I’ve spent between $5-7k/year for more than two decades while living in several different situations: being single and married, living in three different countries, in dorms, apartments and house rentals, in an RV and as a home owner. There are many different solutions at this spending level. For more examples, look through the forum journals.
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Q: What’s your net worth?
A: Currently (mid 2016) 121 times what I spend annually. If you learned your multiplication tables, you can compute the dollar amount fairly precisely with the information you have already. If you can’t, you don’t deserve to know! I try to update the NW number at the beginning of the year on the About me page. Because I retired with realistic projections (rather than optimistic ones) and because I live a value-producing lifestyle rather than a consumption based one, this number keeps rising. Being this high it mostly fluctuates with my portfolio. This amount will theoretically last the rest of my life with an extremely safety margin. If you don’t understand why investing the equivalent of even 40+ years of expenses will last much longer than 40 years, you need to read up on some basic retirement math or ask a qualified CFP or similar. Also, 121 years (that’s the unit) means I could theoretically increase my spending by 3-4x and likely not run out of money.

Q: How do you deal with all your sacrifices?
A: How do you deal with yours? A sacrifice does not mean giving up something. A sacrifice means exchanging something for something better. I have given up shopping, credit cards, expensive cars, large houses, season tickets, and vacations in exchange for the joy of not having to work, the ability to spend all my time as I want, and the lack of stress from never having to struggle to make ends meet. If you know the answer to how you can sacrifice 60 hours of your life a week for the next 40 years, you know the answer to how I can sacrifice not eating out or buying stuff without thinking about the cost.

Q: How much did you pay for that? [Most common question IRL]
A: Probably nothing, unless it looks expensive in which case, probably more than you think. I buy luxury items from the “upper class” used (and so do they) and swap and recycle items with the “middle class” for free. You’ll rarely see me in the mall.

Q: [Related] how can you live comfortably on so little money?
A: First, I spend my money more than twice as efficiently as the average person. Actually, the true factor is closer to four times as efficiently but that sounds like bragging. This means I get more utility out of each dollar. Second, don’t confuse spending money with living comfortably or having fun. Comfort is mainly about living without constant stress and fun is mainly about what you do rather than what you spend. If you can’t do anything without spending, naturally you wouldn’t have fun and you would probably also be stressed due to this inability. However, it is possible to overcome this inability. Third, when I buy things, I consider the long run. How much I pay for something now does not matter as much as how much it costs in the long run. I consider most of my purchases the way a business would
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