James
While very short at 69 pages. I found Audre Lorde's Cancer Journals provided a deep and insightful look at what it means to battle and overcome (at least for a while) cancer. Written through the lens of a Black Lesbian mother in the late 1970s. Lorde shares her thoughts, in part via her journal entries and in part via essay.
It's curious. I first read this story as a teenager. Upon re-reading it, I realized that I'd forgotten much of the story, but the political ideas he explores had made a huge impression.
Heinlein gets a bad wrap for exploring socio-political ideas in his stories. (cough-cough 'Starship Troopers') . Personally, as long as it isn't actual propaganda, I think sci-fi is a fantastic medium to explore such ideas. Look at how many amazing and important sci-fi stories do this. Think 1984, Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World. In some ways, this is what sci-fi is about.
In this story, Heinlein explores another type of political ideal. Another one that today. as a mature liberal minded adult, I find impractical and unrealistic; because humans are so very human. But I did get a sense of coming full circle, which was very interesting.
Apparently, he wrote this story either during or shortly after visiting Australia. The influence on the story is noticeable with his take on some Aussie lingo and post-colonial/post-convict attitudes shining through.
I was also blown away by his depiction of AI. While some of the technological ideas of the 1960's have been and gone - his AI character is still very relevant and spot on in terms of being a bit of a "black box" and similar to a modern "LLM".
Heinlein's depiction of life on the moon also aged well (not the cultural bits) - It turns out, the moon is an even harder mistress than he envisioned, as evidenced by the current challenges just getting remote drones to land safely and operate in its harsh conditions. Any attempt to establish a permanent base or colony will still have to overcome these same challenges - and he thought of all this before humans even got there!
I say, this novella is well worth the read, despite the very dated 1960's attitudes and cultural extrapolations.
I came across an interview with Harold Bloom, made at the time he published "How to Read and Why" - I liked what he had to say and thought his book might prove to be the catalyst I needed to make a more serious study of literature. The book promises to help the student commence this journey. I half expected to abandon it as I'm won't to do with 'serious books' especially when on 'dry subjects' - however, this proved to be false on both counts. I think the greatest lesson is that good literature teaches you how to read good literature and the why is to gain a better understanding of ourselves. It gives us an opportunity to view life through a different lens and just maybe pop some world view bubbles. Hopefully, this does prove to be as helpful as it seems.
Disturbing on many levels.
An exploration of how humanity might adjust to no longer having domesticated animals. It highlights the complex rituals, hypocrisies and lies we invent to convince ourselves that we are doing what is right. The natural order. The criminal and immoral. Augustina’s characters are very flawed, mostly male and patriarchal. I’m curious to read some of her other work to see if this is her style or a conscious choice. I think the story deserves at least 3.5 stars because it makes me think and causes a strong emotional response.
Fascinating insights into the origins and evolution of the CDC. I remember reading some of their txt files back in the days of BBS. The modern history of ethical hacking/hactivism and the impacts of hacking on the geopolitical world are very revealing. From the geek hall of fame, to congress. The good guys, the bad guys and the plain silliness of it all.
Given its reputation - they named a personality trait after the guy - I expected this essay to be more cold, calculated and manipulative. In reality, while it is cold in places, I think it is more of a schemer's guide than strongman's guide. Worth the read/listen. It was interesting, the translation seemed excellent (would I know if it wasn't?).
It's an interesting concept - more of a performance piece or radio play than a traditional book/short story. It is good to see authors playing with the format.
The main theme of the story is also novel and works well with the audible/podcast format. I thought the dialogue was a bit too hammy in places - that's pretty subjective. I also thought the ending was a bit rushed. It wasn't quite the ‘gotcha' that it seemed to be building up to.
Overall, worth the 6 hour listen but not something on the scale of “War of the Worlds” or “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.
This is a fan created easter egg for Stephen King's Dark Tower series. On the surface, it seems like a very short and innocent kids story, which is why I gave it only 3 stars - but I'm told those who've read book three the series will see it quite differently. A clever analogue of the King in Yellow, perhaps?
I never got around to finishing the series as it was still being written when I read the first book. Hopefully, I'll get around to it again soon and can update this with some more context.
A collection of late Victorian period strange stories. On the surface these are rather tame by today's standards. A modern reader will have read many better read and more original seeming stories.
However, The lead story which in turn is a collection of related short stories hints that there is a greater ‘world' in which the stories live. It suggests that this world is controlled by supernatural powers and access is via a mysterious book called ‘The King in Yellow'.
It is easy to see how some might think that this story was the inspiration behind Lovecraft and a host of subsequent ‘weird fiction' and horror writers. I don't know if this is true or not, but it is believable.
Should you read this story? If you like Victorian Ghost Stories or ‘Weird Fiction', sure. If you hoping this is something of the calibre of a Lovecraft story, then no. That all said, it's a quick read so dive in if it piques your interest.
I'm off to find some yellow paper to wrap some of my books in.
I've followed Dr Becky's YouTube channel for some time, so I was delighted to discover she had written a book on Black Holes. I grabbed a copy of the audio-book. I often do this with non-fiction, especially when the author does their own narration.
It turns out that black holes are not the horrors of the universe as we have been lead to believe. What they actually are, I'll leave up to you to discover. No spoilers!
I found this to be a wonderful journey down the rabbit hole of black holes and our current understanding of them, described in a way the average Jo can understand. I found it both enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable.
What a charming, upsetting and perception challenging book. An excellent read. Provides some deep insights into how this country (Australia) treated Indigenous Australians from the perspective of an Indigenous family. The book was published in the mid 80's, however is still relevant today. - Perhaps even more so.
The author makes an excellent case for critical thinking and the power of a proper argument. Unfortunately, he chooses to colour this with his contentious right wing beliefs, which he implies are the natural conclusion of logical thinking. He justifies this will cherry picked evidence. Ironically, he rages against ‘sophists' for using the same techniques. I think he would have been more successful in his goal had he avoided using these subjects as examples.
An excellent essay on the failure of Neoliberalism in Australia. My question is: Is it dead though? Events that occured since the essay was published seem to indicate that the Neoliberals still think they are in charged. Hopefully the next election proves them wrong. In my imagining, the collapse of this ideology can only lead to good things.
The essay is completed by a series of responses to a previous essay (Quarterly Essay 69 - Moment of Truth) by Mark McKenna - which I have yet to read/listen to. This explores the history and current discussions about Recognition and Reconcilliation for First Nations of Australia and includes a call to embrace the Ullaru Statement of May 2017 and fold this into our Constitution.
I found both the primary essay and the responces to McKenna's essay interesting and enlightening contain much food for thought. How do we want the future of Australia to look?
A monolithic text on libertarian-ism written as a dystopian novel set in the 1950s. It's written from an idealist perspective where the author sets up her characters to be able to live by these ideals in a very black and white way. Personally, I think life is far more grey-scale than this and she fails to explain how such a society cares for those who cannot care for themselves. On the positive side she does raise some interesting points and does succeed in describing how corruption and social welfare idealism can be counter productive. I think the book would have been significantly more meaningful if it was less long winded.
A popular and intriguing account about the solution to longitude and the development of the maritime watch.
Dava Sobel makes interesting reading of the story of Harrison and his clock. The book outlines the technical challenges ships had to overcome in order to safely sail the oceans, the different solutions proposed and how the clock won.
A good study on habits for helping focus. It gets a tad repetitive in places and much of the suggestions are well known - however, it's strong point is in collating these things and evaluating what works - at least for the author. I feel like I did get a lot from it and look forward to applying the principles to my life.
