This book is awesome, it's literally just sparknotes versions of hegel that covers all his major works, but you can pretend it's not that since it's written by Marcuse. The introduction, final chapter and conclusion is also a thrilling story of how reason came about and fell to positivism, which then bloomed into fascism.


The setting was really fascinating, but I thought the ending was anticlimactic.

All you really need to read.

Alright follow up to the State and Revolution, has clear writing. I think Bordiga makes the same points in better writing style, and in more general terms, but it's good history.

It's a lot to get through, but it's very important to read if you are going to be discussing marxism a lot. I do find due to the length it's hard to get it all down pat, so I'll need supplementary material to have it all down-pat, and this material will theoretically supersede this book. It's very boring, but one of the most important books to read.

Wonderful history book of one of the most interesting time periods in history.

Essential reading for anyone who wants an actually radical understanding of the world. Academics will never touch this work, nor will any faux-radicals.

A continuation of the fundamentals of revolutionary communism, this continues the the thesis of that work and also delves a bit into what communist society looks like and entails. As well as a polemic against radical democracy.

Amazing rundown of what revisionism is and isn't with historical examples, especially useful for analyzing modern Gramscianism.

You only really need to read: What is Orthodox Marxism?, Class Consciousness, and Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat. The rest is outdated, wrong or superfluous. But these three essays are amazing at highlighting key theoretical points of confusion in Marxism, as well as the best definitions of what it is, and link up nicely with later Critical Theory, like Adorno.

Section 1 and 3 are very important and vital to read. He actually sketches out what Socialism is and isn't at the end, and in detail what materialist dialectics are in the first section. Most Marxist disagree with what he says in this book, and it shows.

After reading a lot of Marx/Engels, this was an amazing summary of what I had read, that puts everything in a nice context.

I don't know much about the topic, but I think this is a decent introduction to Anthropology, and it ties into important statements about the state.

One of the best texts to read on Marxism there is. Compares and contrasts their approach to nascent movements, and why they were trapped in the appearances of the system, rather than true analysis, and as well why this was not possible.

It's probably a really good book, but I don't know enough about linear algebra to confront it.

Incredible prose, I would love to write something like this.

The first cthulu mythos tale, great atmosphere and scope, the ending sort of sets the stakes in a head canon way.

The Poverty of Philosophy is where Marx breaks decisively with utopian socialism, and clarifies the difference between moral critique and scientific critique. Socialists have a recurring ideological pattern that attempts to deduce socialism directly from bourgeois political economy without critically transforming its categories.



I went in expecting it to be dry like his book on the working class in England, but this was a fascinating account of a time period I knew little about. Muntzer had so much aura. And the statements about general praxis he makes are invaluable in clarity.

One of his best works, more people need to read his actually political writings, because this answers a lot of questions one might have from reading his theoretical works in a direct way. He lays out how class conflict took place, and why things played out the way they did. He also makes a lot of still relevant criticisms of the socialist party.

I went in not expecting much, but this is honestly his most vital early theoretical writing. His concept of political vs civil emancipation is utterly invaluable for analyzing social movements.

I really like arctic fiction because I enjoy cold weather, and it's a unique setting with unique challenges. This entire novel is always slipping in and out of dreams. It's a story of obsession and missed opportunities at the end of the world, I think. The writing quality is very high and there is very powerful imagery.

I think the main reason to read this is because of how unique it is, especially for the time. There are definitely a lot of proto-feminist themes in the writing, and questions about identity. The pacing is also very unique and refreshing. Entire weeks can go by in a few sentences, there is a total mastery of this aspect, on a level almost no other writer has. What is important is imagery and themes, not raw plot details, and a book that prioritizes the former is excellent.

Maybe the best book I have ever read, it checks every box of what I love and does them all perfectly. It's almost like a series of essays on the nature of man, but in the form of riveting dialogue & monologues. Every elements is utilized masterfully. Truly great writing can establish a universe without lore, and deep characters, without spilling out everything. There is a constant sense of subjectivity in the writing, where a careful reader can insinuate the true nature of what is being perceived has more nuance to it than the individual can grasp. We encode our engagement with the world through a human lens, and this is at the forefront of the writing here. There is also amazing satire of academia as well, that does say profound things about it that hit really hard for me too.

Very good literary science fiction that shows a fascinating world where the impossible is mundane, and utopia clashes with degeneracy.