Hernando
A book about the lives of the first emperors of Rome, plus Julius Caesar. Written by Suetonious, a historian who, at the time, had access to Emperor Hadrian's library.
It has been framed as a historical book and some other times just like a gossip account about the emperors.
Suetonius describes their most famous achievements, some disgraceful actions, and even how they look physically. Though the very first characters get more time, I guess mainly because he was not Hadrian's personal secretary anymore before finishing the book, or because there was not much interest in the later ones, or maybe it's just that they did not do much in Suetonius's eyes. For instance, Julius Caesar and Augustus will get more ink pages than Vespasian, Titus and Domitian combined.
A good accompanying material for this book is listening to the first 30–40 episodes of the podcast Emperors of Rome by La Trobe University, roughly up until episode XL or so, where they talk about Emperor Domitian. In this podcast, Rhiannon Evans talks in detail about other significant events during this period of Roman history, including commentaries on not only Suetonious work but also Livi, Tacitus, etc.
A book about the lives of the first emperors of Rome, plus Julius Caesar. Written by Suetonious, a historian who, at the time, had access to Emperor Hadrian's library.
It has been framed as a historical book and some other times just like a gossip account about the emperors.
Suetonius describes their most famous achievements, some disgraceful actions, and even how they look physically. Though the very first characters get more time, I guess mainly because he was not Hadrian's personal secretary anymore before finishing the book, or because there was not much interest in the later ones, or maybe it's just that they did not do much in Suetonius's eyes. For instance, Julius Caesar and Augustus will get more ink pages than Vespasian, Titus and Domitian combined.
A good accompanying material for this book is listening to the first 30–40 episodes of the podcast Emperors of Rome by La Trobe University, roughly up until episode XL or so, where they talk about Emperor Domitian. In this podcast, Rhiannon Evans talks in detail about other significant events during this period of Roman history, including commentaries on not only Suetonious work but also Livi, Tacitus, etc.
I believe this book is misunderstood in some way, as people expect it to be a love story of some sort or took it as a chore due to it being assigned as an English class task.
It's slow, a tiny bit complex, and not as relatable as a story of today as it was written for another epoch.
But even more, it reflects the tragedy (or beauty) of the flow of time and the nostalgic longing for better times in the past.
I believe this book is misunderstood in some way, as people expect it to be a love story of some sort or took it as a chore due to it being assigned as an English class task.
It's slow, a tiny bit complex, and not as relatable as a story of today as it was written for another epoch.
But even more, it reflects the tragedy (or beauty) of the flow of time and the nostalgic longing for better times in the past.
It is hard to be more explicit and graphic than Cormac McCarthy written words. But this graphic novel adaptation does justice to the book.
Marcenet honors the original with each singular panel. Incredible work.
It is hard to be more explicit and graphic than Cormac McCarthy written words. But this graphic novel adaptation does justice to the book.
Marcenet honors the original with each singular panel. Incredible work.
Can not say enough to this great-short story. One of my favorites ever.
I have read this story countless of time and it continues being fascinating.
A barely functional robot (Multivac) is being asked the fundamental question of how can we decrease the amount of entropy of the universe in order to "save" it.
This question span eons into the future (is asked every couple of decades) while versions of the robot are more and more intelligent. We would guess that as the robot gathers vast amount of data with the passing of the centuries, it will be able to give a proper answer to the question.
A flawless story with a superb ending.
Can not say enough to this great-short story. One of my favorites ever.
I have read this story countless of time and it continues being fascinating.
A barely functional robot (Multivac) is being asked the fundamental question of how can we decrease the amount of entropy of the universe in order to "save" it.
This question span eons into the future (is asked every couple of decades) while versions of the robot are more and more intelligent. We would guess that as the robot gathers vast amount of data with the passing of the centuries, it will be able to give a proper answer to the question.
A flawless story with a superb ending.
Cixin Liu did something really impressive with this trilogy. Keeping the high quality throughout the 3 books is a great achievement, considering that a lot of series just go deep down after a second book .
The last 100 pages of this book were simply one of the most outstanding sections in all of three books. Such a dread and nostalgic sensation with all the memories of the old Earth.
Though the main character of the book is very naive and behave very odd for most of the situations , it did not compromise the whole experience of the story.
Cixin Liu did something really impressive with this trilogy. Keeping the high quality throughout the 3 books is a great achievement, considering that a lot of series just go deep down after a second book .
The last 100 pages of this book were simply one of the most outstanding sections in all of three books. Such a dread and nostalgic sensation with all the memories of the old Earth.
Though the main character of the book is very naive and behave very odd for most of the situations , it did not compromise the whole experience of the story.
Comencé a leer este libro simplemente porque estaba basado en los inicios de la vida pública de Julio Cesar y desde hace mucho había querido leer a Posteguillo.
Al inicio mientras leía me tomó desprevenido el uso de onomatopeyas, no me lo esperaba, pero no influyó en nada mi apreciación por el libro en general.
Es un libro elegante, en el cual creo que la forma de contar la historia que realiza Posteguillo es lo mejor. Quizás se deba a mi parcialidad de mi interés por la Roma antigua, pero en esas 700 algo páginas el libro nunca se hace aburrido, aun siendo del tamaño que es.
No hay mucho en los libros de historia sobre Julio Cesar cuando era abogado, por lo que el hecho de que el libro vaya contando los eventos desde esa perspectiva es algo que en lo personal me gustó.
Aquí también se encuentran interacciones interesantes entre Silas (Sulla), Mario, Dolabela, Cinna, la familia de Julio Cesar y hasta un joven Cicerón.
El único pero (que muy mínimo) que le encuentro es que hay un suceso específico (relacionado con Dolabela), que se describe como algo sobrenatural, algo que no esperaba ya que todo lo acontecido había sido sin ningún tinte fantasioso.
En términos generales, excelente libro.
Note: There is finally an english-translated version of this book called 'I Am Rome'.
It is quite surprising that at this point there has not been english translation of any of his books, considering that he is a best selling author.
Here is hoping for more to come.
Comencé a leer este libro simplemente porque estaba basado en los inicios de la vida pública de Julio Cesar y desde hace mucho había querido leer a Posteguillo.
Al inicio mientras leía me tomó desprevenido el uso de onomatopeyas, no me lo esperaba, pero no influyó en nada mi apreciación por el libro en general.
Es un libro elegante, en el cual creo que la forma de contar la historia que realiza Posteguillo es lo mejor. Quizás se deba a mi parcialidad de mi interés por la Roma antigua, pero en esas 700 algo páginas el libro nunca se hace aburrido, aun siendo del tamaño que es.
No hay mucho en los libros de historia sobre Julio Cesar cuando era abogado, por lo que el hecho de que el libro vaya contando los eventos desde esa perspectiva es algo que en lo personal me gustó.
Aquí también se encuentran interacciones interesantes entre Silas (Sulla), Mario, Dolabela, Cinna, la familia de Julio Cesar y hasta un joven Cicerón.
El único pero (que muy mínimo) que le encuentro es que hay un suceso específico (relacionado con Dolabela), que se describe como algo sobrenatural, algo que no esperaba ya que todo lo acontecido había sido sin ningún tinte fantasioso.
En términos generales, excelente libro.
Note: There is finally an english-translated version of this book called 'I Am Rome'.
It is quite surprising that at this point there has not been english translation of any of his books, considering that he is a best selling author.
Here is hoping for more to come.
It is hard to be more explicit and graphic than Cormac McCarthy written words. But this graphic novel adaptation does justice to the book.
Marcenet honors the original with each singular panel. Incredible work.
It is hard to be more explicit and graphic than Cormac McCarthy written words. But this graphic novel adaptation does justice to the book.
Marcenet honors the original with each singular panel. Incredible work.
Straight to favorites.
As much as it looks like a longer A Canticle For Leibowitz, it is not. They are quite different in basically everything.
There is no way to tell what this book is about without spoiling it. Understanding it slowly is one of its joys. So it is better to avoid reading most reviews because they possibly contain some spoilers.
This is one of those books I wanted to reread immediately after finishing it—almost a thousand pages of pure metaphysical speculation.
A bit of patience is needed to get through it, as by the 200-page mark is when everything just starts unwrapping. I mean this in the sense of understanding what the book is about and the meaning of the made-up words.
It will get some more complexity, but in the form of concepts. There will be ideas from Plato and Socrates on philosophy, Pythagoras and Einstein from mathematics and physics, and religion from St. Augustine and others, just to name a few. If you are familiar with that, it will be cool to make the connections, and if not, you can look up after finishing to match which current of thought belongs to the Earth counterpart.
By the last third of the book there will be more than that, just pages of dry academic discussion, materialism, metaphysics, interpretation of quantum mechanics, mathematics, and philosophy all thrown in the form of discussing-over-a-meal.
If you like reading and watching all those "old" debates and discussions about these themes, you will certainly enjoy this; if not, this might be another mountain to climb to finish the book, but by this point you might be enjoying the ride already.
PS: Iolet (The Music of Anathem) is an album that collects sequences and chants from the ones described in the book, which apparently come from mathematical formulae.
Straight to favorites.
As much as it looks like a longer A Canticle For Leibowitz, it is not. They are quite different in basically everything.
There is no way to tell what this book is about without spoiling it. Understanding it slowly is one of its joys. So it is better to avoid reading most reviews because they possibly contain some spoilers.
This is one of those books I wanted to reread immediately after finishing it—almost a thousand pages of pure metaphysical speculation.
A bit of patience is needed to get through it, as by the 200-page mark is when everything just starts unwrapping. I mean this in the sense of understanding what the book is about and the meaning of the made-up words.
It will get some more complexity, but in the form of concepts. There will be ideas from Plato and Socrates on philosophy, Pythagoras and Einstein from mathematics and physics, and religion from St. Augustine and others, just to name a few. If you are familiar with that, it will be cool to make the connections, and if not, you can look up after finishing to match which current of thought belongs to the Earth counterpart.
By the last third of the book there will be more than that, just pages of dry academic discussion, materialism, metaphysics, interpretation of quantum mechanics, mathematics, and philosophy all thrown in the form of discussing-over-a-meal.
If you like reading and watching all those "old" debates and discussions about these themes, you will certainly enjoy this; if not, this might be another mountain to climb to finish the book, but by this point you might be enjoying the ride already.
PS: Iolet (The Music of Anathem) is an album that collects sequences and chants from the ones described in the book, which apparently come from mathematical formulae.
A slog of a book, very so, but is so unique in itself.
The following are probably one of the best lines I've ever read in a SF book:
“We are the centuries.
We are the chin-choppers and the golly-woppers, and soon we shall discuss the amputation of your head.
We are your singing garbage men, Sir and Madam, and we march in cadence behind you, chanting rhymes that some think odd.
Hut two threep foa!
Left!
Left! He-had-a-good-wife-but-he
Left!
Left!
Left!
Right!
Left!
Wir, as they say in the old country, marschieren weiter wenn alles in Scherben fällt.
We have your eoliths and your mesoliths and your neoliths. We have your Babylons and your Pompeiis, your Caesars and your chromium-plated (vital-ingredient-impregnated) artifacts.
We have your bloody hatchets and your Hiroshimas. We march in spite of Hell, we do– Atrophy, Entropy, and Proteus vulgaris, telling bawdy jokes about a farm girl name of Eveand a traveling salesman called Lucifer.
We bury your dead and their reputations.We bury you. We are the centuries.
Be born then, gasp wind, screech at the surgeon's slap, seek manhood, taste a little of godhood, feel pain, give birth, struggle a little while, succumb:
(Dying, leave quietly by the rear exit, please.)
Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in a ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam. Children, too, of Eve, forever building Edens– and kicking them apart in berserk fury because somehow it isn't the same. (AGH! AGH! AGH!–an idiot screams his mindless anguish amid the rubble. But quickly! let it be inundated by the choir, chanting Alleluias at ninety decibels.)
Hear then, the last Canticle of the Brethren of the Order of Leibowitz, as sung by the century that swallowed its name:
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Kyrie eleison.
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Christe eleison.
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Kyrie eleison, eleison imas!”
Side note, the way Miller found death and looking at this book and see how he wrote the discussion about euthanasia is indeed staggering. Depression devours.
A slog of a book, very so, but is so unique in itself.
The following are probably one of the best lines I've ever read in a SF book:
“We are the centuries.
We are the chin-choppers and the golly-woppers, and soon we shall discuss the amputation of your head.
We are your singing garbage men, Sir and Madam, and we march in cadence behind you, chanting rhymes that some think odd.
Hut two threep foa!
Left!
Left! He-had-a-good-wife-but-he
Left!
Left!
Left!
Right!
Left!
Wir, as they say in the old country, marschieren weiter wenn alles in Scherben fällt.
We have your eoliths and your mesoliths and your neoliths. We have your Babylons and your Pompeiis, your Caesars and your chromium-plated (vital-ingredient-impregnated) artifacts.
We have your bloody hatchets and your Hiroshimas. We march in spite of Hell, we do– Atrophy, Entropy, and Proteus vulgaris, telling bawdy jokes about a farm girl name of Eveand a traveling salesman called Lucifer.
We bury your dead and their reputations.We bury you. We are the centuries.
Be born then, gasp wind, screech at the surgeon's slap, seek manhood, taste a little of godhood, feel pain, give birth, struggle a little while, succumb:
(Dying, leave quietly by the rear exit, please.)
Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in a ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam. Children, too, of Eve, forever building Edens– and kicking them apart in berserk fury because somehow it isn't the same. (AGH! AGH! AGH!–an idiot screams his mindless anguish amid the rubble. But quickly! let it be inundated by the choir, chanting Alleluias at ninety decibels.)
Hear then, the last Canticle of the Brethren of the Order of Leibowitz, as sung by the century that swallowed its name:
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Kyrie eleison.
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Christe eleison.
V: Lucifer is fallen.
R: Kyrie eleison, eleison imas!”
Side note, the way Miller found death and looking at this book and see how he wrote the discussion about euthanasia is indeed staggering. Depression devours.
Cixin Liu did something really impressive with this trilogy. Keeping the high quality throughout the 3 books is a great achievement, considering that a lot of series just go deep down after a second book .
The last 100 pages of this book were simply one of the most outstanding sections in all of three books. Such a dread and nostalgic sensation with all the memories of the old Earth.
Though the main character of the book is very naive and behave very odd for most of the situations , it did not compromise the whole experience of the story.
Cixin Liu did something really impressive with this trilogy. Keeping the high quality throughout the 3 books is a great achievement, considering that a lot of series just go deep down after a second book .
The last 100 pages of this book were simply one of the most outstanding sections in all of three books. Such a dread and nostalgic sensation with all the memories of the old Earth.
Though the main character of the book is very naive and behave very odd for most of the situations , it did not compromise the whole experience of the story.
