Just a thought--if you're going to recommend a book (which is great!), at least give us an idea of what it is about. Don't need a full paragraph summary, but a few words (even just a genre) can help tremendously. I don't care that you think "Olivia Thinkum" is the greatest book ever if I don't even know if it's a thriller, a mystery, a romance, a bildungsroman, etc., never mind a one sentence summary. Bonus - tell us why you love it.
The Best of All Possible Worlds: Mathematics and Destiny
Optimists believe this is the best of all possible worlds. And pessimists fear that might really be the case. But what is the best of all possible worlds? How do we define it? Is it the world that operates the most efficiently? Or the one in which most people are comfortable and content?
Chaotic Harmony: A Dialog About Physics, Complexity and Life
This fascinating book written by Ali Sanayei and Otto E. Rössler is not a classic scientific publication, but a vivid dialogue on science, philosophy and the interdisciplinary intersections of science and technology with biographic elements.
Nostalgia tastes like toffee. Like butterscotch. Like caramel. And that’s the danger of it. It’s confection. It’s empty calories. All sugar and no substance. The longing for something that isn’t real.
Today in Labor History December 19, 1900: French parliament gave to amnesty everyone who participated in the scandalous army treason trial known as the Dreyfus affair. The scandal began in 1894 when the state convicted Captain Alfred Dreyfus of treason. He was a 35-year-old French artillery officer of Jewish descent, falsely convicted for espionage and imprisoned in Devil's Island in French Guiana. Émile Zola's open letter “J'Accuse” helped build a movement of support for Dreyfus, putting pressure on the government to reopen the case. In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France, retried and convicted again, but was pardoned and released. They eventually reinstated him as a major and he served during the World War I. Roman Polanski made a film about the affair called “J’Accuse,” after the Zola letter. However, much of Europe and the U.S. banned screenings of the film due to Polanski’s U.S. rape conviction.
I’m reading Star Wars Ahsoka (trying to finish my books TBR this month) and I must say I really like her. It’s an interesting character and a nice addition to SW stellar crew. But I think it’s so upsetting all this discourse of “not being a Jedi” just because she doesn’t belong to the Jedi Temple Studio 54. So, to be a Jedi you must be a member of a country club and that’s it? #starwars#ahsoka#books#reading@bookstodon
That’s so uncannon and go so against the very core of Star Wars. We all have learn that Luke is a Jedi. “Return of the Jedi” means something to anyone? Luke even restored the Jedi Order in EU (what they call Legends now). I know it’s an identity issue for her, but it really is… boring. #starwars#ahsoka#books#reading@bookstodon
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon
Favorite 2023 Releases:
HOUSE OF ODYSSEUS by Claire North
THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES by Malka Older
SILVER NITRATE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie
Review: Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher
Come for the plot drama, stay for the intriguing developments in fantasy world theology says @chloroform_tea at the @NerdsofaFeather blog today
Chemically Imbalanced: Everyday Suffering, Medication, and Our Troubled Quest for Self-Mastery
Chemically Imbalanced is a field report on how ordinary people dealing with common problems explain their suffering, how they're increasingly turning to the thin and mechanistic language of the "body/brain," and what these encounters might tell us.
As a reader, do you prefer when people give you random books as gifts, or do you prefer getting a gift card to a bookstore (so you can pick the book)? Just curious.
@Likewise@bookstodon I usually prefer "random books" -> it is a chance to discover things I would not have discovered on my own. A good example was, when I was gifted with "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. I was completely unaware of it, but loved it once I dived into it.
One limitation to this: it requires care by the one making the gift, they have to know you good enough to know what is not an option. So if you are not sure enough, the voucher is better.
"This interdisciplinary study analyses the connections between literary Modernism and right-wing ideology. Moreover, it is the first academic study to explore the reception of these Modernist authors by today's far right, seeking to understand in what ways they use strategic readings of Modernist texts to legitimise right-wing ideology."
I saw some of his art online and thought it looked like “Invisible Hands” from Liquid Television, which I LOVED. Same artist! This didn’t have quite the same level of twisted, creepiness as that animated series, but I was so happy to find his work in comic form. There’s more too.
Really enjoyable, and only the second book in this series. This one follows two characters from the first book, and like the first, devotes good time to their arcs. Unlike the first, the plot moves quicker: it jumps back and forth in time to explore one character’s history.
I think it works as a standalone book, but even better if you read the series. Taking my time to read the next one to prolong it.