7 ms·

How to Roman Republic 101

145 points by ecliptik 3y ago

mertbio 3y ago
I love almost everything on this blog but it is super hard for me to read long texts on a screen. Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book.
- packetslave 3y ago
  "Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content would do a bunch of additional work because I don't like how they did it" is peak 2023 Internet.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    From GP: >> Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book. Seems like someone having problems reading long texts on a screen, which I get, and would be willing to pay for a physical book of the same content.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    > Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content He has a Patreon with 1,300 paid subscribers, bringing in nearly $6,000/month. > would do a bunch of additional work Like hef19898, I suspect the OP would be very happy to pay for a book.
    - thebooktocome 3y ago
      Not behind the paywall = free content. That’s the fundamental rule of running a Patreon.
      - CydeWeys 3y ago
        As a subscriber to Bret's Patreon for over a year now, I'm doing it as a donation to support his work, not as a quid pro quo to get access to more stuff.
  - paxys 3y ago
    Where exactly did they imply that the book has to be free?
  - _jal 3y ago
    "I would rather scold people than read for comprehension" is, well, sadly typical HN any year.
    - psd1 3y ago
      A more charitable interpretation for that cohort of comments would be: - I have a physical disability or a deficiency in my personal technological capital that reduces the accessibility of this content - TFA is good but could be improved even further by [more accessible presentation|change in format] and here are some specific ideas that I submit for your consideration Humans seem to take ambiguous content in the most negative way - and online comments, lacking social cues, are often ambiguous. It's a real benefit to discussion to read with a charitable eye. Do you really believe GGP to intend to scold TFA?
- sporadicallyjoe 3y ago
  You could use a free text to voice application e.g. https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c474090c4cd9695c4f086.txt&t=Shared%20Text%20File%202023-07-28T18%3A15%3A41.549Z https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c47409...
- OfSanguineFire 3y ago
  If you consider an e-book reader an experience closer to a book than a phone/computer screen, there are already browser extensions that can export any webpage’s Reader view as an EPUB or MOBI file.
  - andai 3y ago
    Did Kindle's Experimental Browser ever stop being experimental? Sounds like a Reader Mode could do the exact same thing (plus save the book!)
    - paxys 3y ago
      They removed the Experimental tag. It is a full browser now, and has a built-in reader mode.
      - mjcohen 3y ago
        Tried it, and you are right about experimental being gone. I tried signing into google and got a message about browser doesn't support Javascript. Gave up.
        macintosh-hd 3y ago
        I got there just by searching directly and it works. I wish the reader mode had an option to make it work like a book though, web scrolling is a nightmare on this thing.
        paxys 3y ago
        You can turn JS on or off from settings, but IMO having limited support is a feature. The average site would wreck havoc on a Kindle's processor and battery life if it could run all scripts normally.
    - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
      I dunno. My advice to new owners of a ebook device has always been to put it in airplane mode the second it comes out of the box. Get all the ebooks you want to read from LibGen or Anna’s Archive and sideload them over USB.
- rs_rs_rs_rs_rs 3y ago
  It's the choice of colors that make it hard for me. Reader Mode in Firefox makes it much better and easier on the eyes.
  - dfox 3y ago
    Quite recently on ACOUP appeared an button to switch the color scheme (the circle with flame emoji in the lower left corner). Somewhat ironically for me (who mostly reads it on iPhone) the button itself is somewhat distracting while I'm perfectly fine with the original dark color scheme.
- SonicScrub 3y ago
  Not a book, but the acoup blogs are available in audio form: https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce I am not sure if that helps your situation, but I personally prefer to "read" this blog in this format. Life is busy and this lets me learn while doing mindless tasks like cooking/cleaning.
  - LanternLight83 3y ago
    Thanks!
- boveus 3y ago
  I have always struggled with just how difficult it is to retain long form text over HTML. Even if you block the ads, the hyperlinks and strange font choices can make it difficult. The solution I figured out was to use a Kobo e-reader with Pocket. The integration with Firefox is actually quite seamless. You can basically just take a webpage, save it to pocket, and then sync it to your e-reader and read the article there. I have found this to be the best way to consume acoup's content.
- themadturk 3y ago
  These work really well when sent to Kindle with...umm, Send To Kindle. I usually read them on the web, but they're great as ebooks.
- hnbear 3y ago
  He’s working on a Roman history book. He’s shared excerpts with Pareon subscribers. I’ll definitely buy it. As for the rest, maybe a neat pamphlet. He’s great at long form, in depth content. Some of the series like making iron or bread are fantastic.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  The Einkbro web browser (Android) has a print-as-ePub feature. You can print multiple documents to the same ePub file, effectively creating a book with a chapter for each document. The ePub can be read using Einkbro itself or in your choice of ebook reader software (e.g., Koboreader, FBReader, Pocketbook, Neoreader, etc.) And you can transfer the file to another device if you prefer through any standard Android file transfer method. (My preferred route is scp or rsync under Termux.) <https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro>
asimpletune 3y ago
For those who are interested, my friends and I have a book club that intersects with a lot of these kinds of topics. It's called Public Works because it’s dedicated to reading books in the public domain. We're in the middle of reading Thucydides right now, and it’s part of a larger arc on classical antiquity. All are welcome. Meeting information is on the website (https://r33d.org https://r33d.org) which is updated at the end of every week. Hope to see more HN'ers there!
- jwhitlark 3y ago
  If you are interested in physical copies, I highly recommend "The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War" , and others in the Landmark series. I got a lot more out of it with all the maps and explanations. Very well done.
  - dmoy 3y ago
    It isn't public domain though, I don't think.
- tome 3y ago
  If you're interested in lectures I can recommend The Peloponnesian War by Kenneth Harl published by The Great Courses (also available on Audible). It's one of the best lecture series I've listened to in any subject. https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/peloponnesian-war https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/peloponnesian-war
- henjodottech 3y ago
  It seems the Thucydides book is a new translation - not in public domain?
  - Archelaos 3y ago
    The translator Steven Lattimore is still alive. GP probably won't live to see the translation become public domain. As an alternative: read the J. M. Dent translation and then, if you want to study it from first principles, learn Ancient Greek for the real thing.[1] [1] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLi...
erehweb 3y ago
If you are interested in the Roman Republic and board games, you should check out Republic of Rome, which has the interesting feature that without some cooperation among the players, the Republic will fall to barbarians or the mob and everyone will lose.
toyg 3y ago
It is fairly spectacular how the system of "clientes" (from which clientele etc etc), which the Romans effectively invented, is still the (unspoken) norm in so many modern countries, more than 2300 years later.
- ffhhttt 3y ago
  Did they really invent it, though? It seems like most premodern societies functioned more or less like that it’s just that we have a lot more documentation from ancient Rome than other places.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nubukjatw 3y ago
[flagged]

145 points by ecliptik 3y ago

I love almost everything on this blog but it is super hard for me to read long texts on a screen. Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book.

packetslave 3y ago
"Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content would do a bunch of additional work because I don't like how they did it" is peak 2023 Internet.
- hef19898 3y ago
  From GP: >> Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book. Seems like someone having problems reading long texts on a screen, which I get, and would be willing to pay for a physical book of the same content.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content He has a Patreon with 1,300 paid subscribers, bringing in nearly $6,000/month. > would do a bunch of additional work Like hef19898, I suspect the OP would be very happy to pay for a book.
  - thebooktocome 3y ago
    Not behind the paywall = free content. That’s the fundamental rule of running a Patreon.
    - CydeWeys 3y ago
      As a subscriber to Bret's Patreon for over a year now, I'm doing it as a donation to support his work, not as a quid pro quo to get access to more stuff.
- paxys 3y ago
  Where exactly did they imply that the book has to be free?
- _jal 3y ago
  "I would rather scold people than read for comprehension" is, well, sadly typical HN any year.
  - psd1 3y ago
    A more charitable interpretation for that cohort of comments would be: - I have a physical disability or a deficiency in my personal technological capital that reduces the accessibility of this content - TFA is good but could be improved even further by [more accessible presentation|change in format] and here are some specific ideas that I submit for your consideration Humans seem to take ambiguous content in the most negative way - and online comments, lacking social cues, are often ambiguous. It's a real benefit to discussion to read with a charitable eye. Do you really believe GGP to intend to scold TFA?
sporadicallyjoe 3y ago
You could use a free text to voice application e.g. https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c474090c4cd9695c4f086.txt&t=Shared%20Text%20File%202023-07-28T18%3A15%3A41.549Z https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c47409...
OfSanguineFire 3y ago
If you consider an e-book reader an experience closer to a book than a phone/computer screen, there are already browser extensions that can export any webpage’s Reader view as an EPUB or MOBI file.
- andai 3y ago
  Did Kindle's Experimental Browser ever stop being experimental? Sounds like a Reader Mode could do the exact same thing (plus save the book!)
  - paxys 3y ago
    They removed the Experimental tag. It is a full browser now, and has a built-in reader mode.
    - mjcohen 3y ago
      Tried it, and you are right about experimental being gone. I tried signing into google and got a message about browser doesn't support Javascript. Gave up.
      - macintosh-hd 3y ago
        I got there just by searching directly and it works. I wish the reader mode had an option to make it work like a book though, web scrolling is a nightmare on this thing.
      - paxys 3y ago
        You can turn JS on or off from settings, but IMO having limited support is a feature. The average site would wreck havoc on a Kindle's processor and battery life if it could run all scripts normally.
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    I dunno. My advice to new owners of a ebook device has always been to put it in airplane mode the second it comes out of the box. Get all the ebooks you want to read from LibGen or Anna’s Archive and sideload them over USB.
rs_rs_rs_rs_rs 3y ago
It's the choice of colors that make it hard for me. Reader Mode in Firefox makes it much better and easier on the eyes.
- dfox 3y ago
  Quite recently on ACOUP appeared an button to switch the color scheme (the circle with flame emoji in the lower left corner). Somewhat ironically for me (who mostly reads it on iPhone) the button itself is somewhat distracting while I'm perfectly fine with the original dark color scheme.
SonicScrub 3y ago
Not a book, but the acoup blogs are available in audio form: https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce I am not sure if that helps your situation, but I personally prefer to "read" this blog in this format. Life is busy and this lets me learn while doing mindless tasks like cooking/cleaning.
- LanternLight83 3y ago
  Thanks!
boveus 3y ago
I have always struggled with just how difficult it is to retain long form text over HTML. Even if you block the ads, the hyperlinks and strange font choices can make it difficult. The solution I figured out was to use a Kobo e-reader with Pocket. The integration with Firefox is actually quite seamless. You can basically just take a webpage, save it to pocket, and then sync it to your e-reader and read the article there. I have found this to be the best way to consume acoup's content.
themadturk 3y ago
These work really well when sent to Kindle with...umm, Send To Kindle. I usually read them on the web, but they're great as ebooks.
hnbear 3y ago
He’s working on a Roman history book. He’s shared excerpts with Pareon subscribers. I’ll definitely buy it. As for the rest, maybe a neat pamphlet. He’s great at long form, in depth content. Some of the series like making iron or bread are fantastic.
dredmorbius 3y ago
The Einkbro web browser (Android) has a print-as-ePub feature. You can print multiple documents to the same ePub file, effectively creating a book with a chapter for each document. The ePub can be read using Einkbro itself or in your choice of ebook reader software (e.g., Koboreader, FBReader, Pocketbook, Neoreader, etc.) And you can transfer the file to another device if you prefer through any standard Android file transfer method. (My preferred route is scp or rsync under Termux.) <https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro>

asimpletune 3y ago

For those who are interested, my friends and I have a book club that intersects with a lot of these kinds of topics. It's called Public Works because it’s dedicated to reading books in the public domain. We're in the middle of reading Thucydides right now, and it’s part of a larger arc on classical antiquity. All are welcome. Meeting information is on the website (https://r33d.org https://r33d.org) which is updated at the end of every week. Hope to see more HN'ers there!

jwhitlark 3y ago
If you are interested in physical copies, I highly recommend "The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War" , and others in the Landmark series. I got a lot more out of it with all the maps and explanations. Very well done.
- dmoy 3y ago
  It isn't public domain though, I don't think.
tome 3y ago
If you're interested in lectures I can recommend The Peloponnesian War by Kenneth Harl published by The Great Courses (also available on Audible). It's one of the best lecture series I've listened to in any subject. https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/peloponnesian-war https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/peloponnesian-war
henjodottech 3y ago
It seems the Thucydides book is a new translation - not in public domain?
- Archelaos 3y ago
  The translator Steven Lattimore is still alive. GP probably won't live to see the translation become public domain. As an alternative: read the J. M. Dent translation and then, if you want to study it from first principles, learn Ancient Greek for the real thing.[1] [1] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLi...

erehweb 3y ago

If you are interested in the Roman Republic and board games, you should check out Republic of Rome, which has the interesting feature that without some cooperation among the players, the Republic will fall to barbarians or the mob and everyone will lose.

toyg 3y ago

It is fairly spectacular how the system of "clientes" (from which clientele etc etc), which the Romans effectively invented, is still the (unspoken) norm in so many modern countries, more than 2300 years later.

ffhhttt 3y ago
Did they really invent it, though? It seems like most premodern societies functioned more or less like that it’s just that we have a lot more documentation from ancient Rome than other places.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nubukjatw 3y ago

[flagged]