Gar Petterson
A short book that is a collection of short essays.
Interesting perspective on life in modern China, but only moderate compelling writing.
probably +1/2 star if interested in universities in China.
Enjoyed the writing, but the ending (and logic behind it) was ridiculous.
However, I was motivated to read other books by same author.
Close to the ground English historical fiction as Thomas Cromwell tries to survive and thrive under Henry VIII. Very evocative. Should appeal to Games of Thrones fans.
The Deluge is a gripping, emotionally engaging novel that focusses on climate change politics in the USA. Its set in the recent past and mostly the near future (2020s and 2030s).
—
“...climate change is overwhelming the foundations of American life — not only physical infrastructure, like dams and reservoirs, but also the legal underpinnings that have made those systems” New York Times, Jan. 27, 2023
“As the Colorado River Shrinks, Washington Prepares to Spread the Pain” By Christopher Flavelle
This quote from the New York Times is about how addressing climate change is going to become more difficult as climate change disrupts US society and infrastructure. Not only are the physical risks bad from climate change increasing, many of the social risks produced by addressing it area also increasing. And as those risks materialize they are likely going to make addressing climate change more difficult. This social political reality, much more than the details of the climate cycle or nature based solutions is what this book is about.
“The Deluge” is a literary thriller. It is long, but it plows forward. At least for me, I found it a page turner, that read more like a Stephen King's “The Stand” than the multi-voiced and sometimes dull “Ministry of the Future.”
The Deluge it realistic and grounded. It deeply engages with US politics. As a non-US resident or citizen I would have preferred a more global focus, but from a story perspective I think it worked.
It is a gripping novel, and essential reading for those interested in imagining a climate transition and an engaging worrying read for those who love big disaster/horror/science fiction novels.
Compared to other good, in different ways, big, recent climate novels.
The Deluge is:
More focussed, political, and character driven than
“Ministry for the Future” or “Termination Shock.”
Less scientific and engineering focussed than “Ministry for the Future”
Less panoramic than “Ministry for the Future”
More grounded in the details of people's lives than either of them.
More US focussed than either of them.
Good short gripping history of the science of COVID, but author with long background writing about animal-human disease spread.
Very well written interesting book.
Gives scary insight into the current Euro crisis, and makes one skeptical about the potential for social learning.
I really liked Station Eleven, but unfortunately this novel was a disappointment.
Not terrible, but soft, dull, and annoyingly ecologically illiterate.
Some of the same themes are addressed much better in recent books that are also more “literary” science fiction:
William Gibson's ‘The peripheral'
Sequoia Nagamatsu's “How High We Go in the Dark”
John Kessel's “The Moon and the Other”
or even (for the simulation hypothesis)
Ken Mcleod's engaging but a incoherent “The Restoration Game”
Good but not really anything new unless you compare it to Medieval history from the 1970s.
An important historical artifact. Important to see what a radical green future used to look like.
A more biophysical counterpart to Children of Ash & Elm that more quickly covers recent scholarship on Vikings.
Good points: well written, short and global. I learned bit about SE Asia.
Bad points: shallow. I would have appreciated more view of what connections meant for people & life. Presented as true, quite a few minor things that are contested.
How much someone enjoys may depend on how much world history they have read. Book is good for a quick introduction.
Erik Larson is a good writer and weaves together a vivid set of diaries and letters.
Listening to Churchill's family and friends easily discuss their privilege of their lives (nannies, valets, cooks, large salaries from press barons) made me feel more socialist. It was not the authors intention at all, but the book makes it very clear how absent the lives of all the non-British of British empire were from their discussions and decisions - which made me reflect that maybe with a slightly different peace in 1917 - the brutal empires of Europe could have continued for far longer.
This embarrassingly bad book was the worst book I read in 2019. If you are interested in these issues read one of Vaclav Smil's books (http://vaclavsmil.com/category/books/).
One wouldn't know it from reading the book but there is a large academic literature on dematerialisation (or making more from less) that the author ignores. His sloppy scholarship and conflation of the world and the US means you will be likely less informed after reading this book than before reading it.
I had to read this, but if you have a choice don't waste your time and read anything else.
