Return of the Book Thread

[Samwise]

Some years back I read "Sapiens", which I forget if I posted about here, but anyway if you enjoyed that you might also enjoy "Hunt, Gather, Parent," which of the many parenting books I've read is the only one that I could see being interesting to non-parents.

Similar to "Sapiens", a central thesis running through it is that the way we're living (in industrialized societies) isn't anything like the way we evolved to live over the hundred thousand years before the invention of agriculture, and there are a bunch of associated costs that we don't necessarily think about much.  A big takeaway I had from it was "maybe a lot of people in this country are self-centered assholes because we've spent a few generations using parenting methods that tend to raise people to be self-centered assholes?"

[Samwise]

Having a subway commute once again gives me a nice little chunk of reading time each day, so I've finished the first "3 Body Problem" book and have the next two waiting on my shelf.  I liked the series, but I liked the book more.  Nothing really radically different in terms of the overall story but the book just has that much more time to flesh out its characters and concepts.  Would recommend.

(edit) just finished book 2, the last hundred pages are a roller coaster and if they do a good job with the TV version there'll be some good Ned Stark level freakouts happening on Tiktok, lol

(edit again) finished book 3 and texted my brother (who gave me the books for Christmas) to say "the last book has real 'the author was going through a bad divorce' energy".  It strikes me as being difficult to adapt, and it's almost an entirely separate story from the first 2 books, but also, the TV show included some material from book 3 in their first season, so I assume they're intending to try to do something with it.

[Samwise]

Currently reading: Under the Amoral Bridge (dead tree edition).

Is this the place where I point out typos?  I've found two so far.  

[HaemishM]

Two? That seems low.

I'd fire the editor, but suicide is a sin.

[Samwise]

Finished (and enjoyed!) the first Bridge book, and will likely come back to the series after I've made more of a dent in the rest of my reading list.  (I will also offer a discount rate as proofreader on future editions, no joke.)

Another recent read was "Weapon: Mouth (Adventures in the Free Speech Zone)" by Stoney Burke, whom I know from listening to many of his comedic rants at the Berkeley campus over the years when I was a student (he was one of many local weirdos who did that type of thing at a regular time each day); some may also know him as the truck driver from the freeway scene in Matrix: Reloaded.  I actually wasn't prepared for what a good writer he is, and would recommend the book to some folks here.  The stories he tells about getting arrested at Republican conventions and that kind of thing gave me HST vibes.

Shifting from actual books to literary junk food, I learned about the Gou Tanabe manga adaptations of Lovecraft recently, found his "At the Mountains of Madness" at the library, and plowed through it in a couple sittings, backward pages be damned.  Really fucking good and makes me sad that we'll probably never get the del Toro movie.

[BobtheSomething]

I remember Stoney showing up in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.  He had to stand in from of Dwinelle Hall because all the good spots on Sproull Plaza were already taken by crazies like Preacher Eddie, the Yoshua Guy, and Happy Happy Happy.

[Samwise]

I remember Stoney showing up in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.  He had to stand in from of Dwinelle Hall because all the good spots on Sproull Plaza were already taken by crazies like Preacher Eddie, the Yoshua Guy, and Happy Happy Happy.

Yup, we might have even been part of the same crowd some days (I went to Cal from 99-03).   There were a few semesters where I had a big afternoon gap in my schedule with nothing better to do three times a week than hang out on campus and listen to all the public speakers, so I was a connoisseur of the genre.  Stoney always stood out from the crowd on Sproul because he was intentionally trying to get the laughs. 

[BobtheSomething]

I also graduated in 03. 

I’ve been back since, and Berkeley seems different.  No Fat Slice.  No evident nightlife.  It looked more like UCI than a real University.

[Teleku]

Finished (and enjoyed!) the first Bridge book, and will likely come back to the series after I've made more of a dent in the rest of my reading list.  (I will also offer a discount rate as proofreader on future editions, no joke.)

Another recent read was "Weapon: Mouth (Adventures in the Free Speech Zone)" by Stoney Burke, whom I know from listening to many of his comedic rants at the Berkeley campus over the years when I was a student (he was one of many local weirdos who did that type of thing at a regular time each day); some may also know him as the truck driver from the freeway scene in Matrix: Reloaded.  I actually wasn't prepared for what a good writer he is, and would recommend the book to some folks here.  The stories he tells about getting arrested at Republican conventions and that kind of thing gave me HST vibes.

Shifting from actual books to literary junk food, I learned about the Gou Tanabe manga adaptations of Lovecraft recently, found his "At the Mountains of Madness" at the library, and plowed through it in a couple sittings, backward pages be damned.  Really fucking good and makes me sad that we'll probably never get the del Toro movie.

Saw this post and checked out Mountains of Madness.  You're right, that was an excellent adapation, and the artist did a great job with it.  Very accurate to the book as well, which is always a nice change of pace.  Was always curious to see a visualization of what they were seeing in that book, and this is probably the only way.  Because lets face it, any movie version they do is going to shift the story heavily since the book is very much a slow burn with no action except the bit at the very end, which doesn't work for hollywood movies.

[Samwise]

Started on the "Murderbot Diaries" series; I got the first one as a birthday present and it just rotated into my reading queue.  My recommendation is: check it out!  Nice easy read (I'd almost call it YA-ish), has a very classic sci-fi feel.  Wiki has plot synopses and all that.

There are six more books in the series and once I finish the first one I think I'm gonna put library holds on the rest and binge em all in a couple weeks.

[Fraeg]

Started on the "Murderbot Diaries" series; I got the first one as a birthday present and it just rotated into my reading queue.  My recommendation is: check it out!  Nice easy read (I'd almost call it YA-ish), has a very classic sci-fi feel.  Wiki has plot synopses and all that.

There are six more books in the series and once I finish the first one I think I'm gonna put library holds on the rest and binge em all in a couple weeks.

I haven't read the most recent one, but I have enjoyed all the prior books.  I guess they are making it into a TV show and casting a male as the lead.  It is what it is, but I always pictured the main character as looking female with a female voice... maybe cause I read the Cassandra Kreshnov (joel shepherd) books first?

I have been reading the Wandering Inn which is an online book, but you can get the kindle or audio book from Bezos.  It is kinda like Legends and Lates in that it is pretty uplifting, some bad things happen, but after reading so much dark/bleak fantasy and sci-fi it is pleasant to read something where overall good shit happens.

https://wanderinginn.com/

[Khaldun]

I've only read the first three but I definitely thought of Murderbot as female. I'm not sure I could point to anything on the page to justify that.

[Samwise]

I gave up looking for gender clues a third of the way into the first book; it's clearly very deliberately undefined.  Even after the crew has seen Murderbot's face they don't slip into any masculine or feminine pronouns, which means either they're all really diligent about not assuming gender (it is the future, after all) or its human features are so perfectly androgynous that it doesn't read as either.

[Chimpy]

I went to the library last week and ended up picking up Neal Stephenson's new(est) book, Temination Shock.

His previous book to this (Fall or Dodge in Hell) was so horrible that I barely made it halfway through so I wasn't expecting much, but this one was actually more like his older books. Does have a "Stephenson ending," but at least it wasn't the abomination the previous book was.

[Samwise]

By "Stephenson ending" you mean no ending at all, right?   

I remember when I read the Baroque Cycle I was impressed by the fact that it actually felt like it had an ending (a very longwinded one, mind you), as compared to Cryptonomicon and Snowcrash where I remember them just kind of trailing off.  I can't remember now where Anathem and Reamde fell on that scale.

Just started on the fourth Murderbot book.  They're extremely in demand at the library right now so I'm being forced to pace myself, but it's kind of nice to have each trip to the library (to pick up the next volume as soon as it shows up on my hold shelf) feel like Christmas morning.

[HaemishM]

I've forgotten the ending to Anathem. The Reamde was a solid ending, but the ending was basically a set piece of "libertarian country gun nuts vs. terrorists" and was bad.

[BobtheSomething]

I've only read the first three but I definitely thought of Murderbot as female. I'm not sure I could point to anything on the page to justify that.

I’ve read the first four, and yes I also thought Murderbot was female in appearance.

There’s a lot of coyness about their appearance that made me think so, as well as perhaps more of the author’s perspective coming through than intended.

[BobtheSomething]

I gave up looking for gender clues a third of the way into the first book; it's clearly very deliberately undefined.  Even after the crew has seen Murderbot's face they don't slip into any masculine or feminine pronouns, which means either they're all really diligent about not assuming gender (it is the future, after all) or its human features are so perfectly androgynous that it doesn't read as either.

For better or worse, this is a reason Murderbot comes across as female, based on conventions of the genre and societal expectations.  Similarly, it’s what one assumes when they find a Sci Fi author with two first initials and a last name, or a forum poster with a gender-neutral username and an anime avatar..

[Samwise]

perhaps more of the author’s perspective coming through than intended.

That's my theory.

I just finished the fourth book and speaking of "Stephenson endings" that was not one.  Everything wrapped in a very neat bow, felt well-paced, resolves all the things you want to see resolved but also leaves openings for more stories.

[WayAbvPar]

I've forgotten the ending to Anathem. The Reamde was a solid ending, but the ending was basically a set piece of "libertarian country gun nuts vs. terrorists" and was bad.

If it was 25 pages shorter it probably would have been fine. It was SO. LONG.


Anyone pick up the new Stephenson yet? Bought it but haven't read it.