Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I can see why so many people like this book. 80s nostalgia, a likeable protagonist, big faceless corporations are the bad guys, good world building. I also thought I was the only person who ever saw Ladyhawke, a personal favorite, until this book so #solidarity.
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu - This is a great little short story collection, with the connector between them all being something of the Asian variety. Set in Japan, a Japanese spaceship, an Asian folktale, Asian mobsters, etc etc. The titular story had me with tears in my eyes, eating my lunch at work. I want a paper menagerie to play with!
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach - Interesting setting, ok plot, underwhelmed by character development which made it hard to get invested in the characters.
The Pyschopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson - If I had been more on the ball this one would have gotten full review, but I had to get it back to the library before I got around to writing the review. Whoops! I LOVED this book, and I can't wait to find more books by this author. It scratches that Mary Roach itch for me :)
The Poet and the Vampyre: The Curse of Byron and the Birth of Literature's Greatest Monsters by Andrew McConnell Stott - This book was too much "oh my gosh, these people are ridiculous and make all of these problems for themselves while hurting everyone around them. Gosh, are they awful" and less "so, you want to hear about "Frankenstein"? Though I did pick up some tips on how to be an efficient grave robber, so that's helpful. If you are looking for a book with scandal and intrigue, this may be the book for you!
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Why squid are terrifying and great - a kind of book review.
I recently read the book "Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid" by Wendy Williams. And I will tell you, the name delivers.
Here were a couple of my favorite take aways:
- Squid/Octopi could be clutch in developing treatments for neurological disorders. I saw so many words in this book that I usually only see at work (dopamine, ubiquitin). I think a lot of neuroscientists are going to be keeping a close eye on these tentacled guys.
- I knew that these things were smart, but they are probably smarter than we are, comparatively. Aquarists who care for them have struggled to develop puzzles and games that keep them interested and engaged for more than a few minutes. They've even started the "Octopus Enrichment Notebook" to share ideas with each other! (Not having bones really helps you wiggle into those tiny puzzle boxes to get the prize inside.)
- The blanket octopus might be the most savage sounding animal ever: "The blanket octopus has developed a special immunity to the Portugese man-of-war's poisonous tentacles and can rip them off with it's own arms,, then wave them in the water to warn off predators". I will rip off your poisonous arms that don't bother me and wave them at other people.
-The cephalopod brain is wrapped around it's throat.
-Cephalopods live in all of our ocean's except the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea
-Humboldt squids are known to be cannibals
What I thought was really interesting about this book was that very very often a paragraph would end with something like "I mean, that's what the scientists think they are doing. It's kind of a best guess. We aren't sure. Some of them live in the deep deep parts of the ocean and don't like to be watched doing things, even when they are in captivity sooooooo....we need to keep researching!" it's exciting/scary that there is so much out there that we don't know about them. Especially since they are so smart. If they ever can figure out to live outside of water we should probably be scared.
Here were a couple of my favorite take aways:
- Squid/Octopi could be clutch in developing treatments for neurological disorders. I saw so many words in this book that I usually only see at work (dopamine, ubiquitin). I think a lot of neuroscientists are going to be keeping a close eye on these tentacled guys.
- I knew that these things were smart, but they are probably smarter than we are, comparatively. Aquarists who care for them have struggled to develop puzzles and games that keep them interested and engaged for more than a few minutes. They've even started the "Octopus Enrichment Notebook" to share ideas with each other! (Not having bones really helps you wiggle into those tiny puzzle boxes to get the prize inside.)
- The blanket octopus might be the most savage sounding animal ever: "The blanket octopus has developed a special immunity to the Portugese man-of-war's poisonous tentacles and can rip them off with it's own arms,, then wave them in the water to warn off predators". I will rip off your poisonous arms that don't bother me and wave them at other people.
-The cephalopod brain is wrapped around it's throat.
-Cephalopods live in all of our ocean's except the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea
-Humboldt squids are known to be cannibals
What I thought was really interesting about this book was that very very often a paragraph would end with something like "I mean, that's what the scientists think they are doing. It's kind of a best guess. We aren't sure. Some of them live in the deep deep parts of the ocean and don't like to be watched doing things, even when they are in captivity sooooooo....we need to keep researching!" it's exciting/scary that there is so much out there that we don't know about them. Especially since they are so smart. If they ever can figure out to live outside of water we should probably be scared.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Book review: Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery
If you've been along this blog very long at all you will realize that I love some nonfiction, and what I have for you today is a nonfiction book that I hope will be of interest to everyone because it's a book about how the design of the places that we live dictate how we live our lives and how happy we can be.
There were so many interesting points in this book that I don't know if I can do them in a reasonable paragraph type of set up so you're getttttttting bullet points!
That's just a couple of quick highlights from this book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
There were so many interesting points in this book that I don't know if I can do them in a reasonable paragraph type of set up so you're getttttttting bullet points!
- You know how you could have a big old house, a shorter commute and a stress free commute if you lived in a smaller city but a lot of people would rather live in a shoebox of an apartment with an awful commute and in general a more expensive hectic environment? That's called "hectic thriving". You know "if you can make it there you can make it anywhere" type of thing
- There was a whole super interesting/depressing section about how a long commute negatively effects almost all aspects of your life - your relationship with everyone (spouse, children, neighbors), how often you see your friends, your neighborhood, even how you participate in things like politics. (Shorter commutes, you want it.) 94% of people in Atlanta commute by car. Average commute? 44 miles a day. The stats on commutes for the SF Bay area and Atlanta were *gagging noises here*.
- This probably isn't super surprising but the advent of the mass produced automobile DRASTICALLY changed the layout of our cities. In a very short period of years we went from a "people hanging out on their stoops, kids playing in the street, everyone just kind of hangs out in the neighborhood" to a lot of people getting hit by cars and people being relegated into very small, sometimes pretty useless public spaces.Cars are king in most places and it kinda blows. Amsterdam, you are my complicated queen, as usual. Here is a sobering statistic about traffic deaths: "Imagine a completely full Boeing 747 crashing every three days, killing all onboard. That's how many people die on US highways every year".
- Did you know that there is a perfect depth of front yard that "is shallow enough for conversations but deep enough to allow for retreat?" It's 10.6 feet deep.
That's just a couple of quick highlights from this book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
Friday, February 7, 2020
Book review: "Cinemaps: An Atlas of 35 Greatest Movies" by Andrew DeGraff and Essays by A.D. Jameson
So the reason that I picked up this book originally is because I thought it might be a good birthday gift for a friend. Before I bought it I picked it up from the library so I could flip through it to see what I thought. The book's real showcase is supposed to be the maps, but I thought they were kind of meh at best and confusing and dumb at worst. The saving grace of this book were the great essays that accompanied each of the maps. (It's kind of funny, I thought maybe I was just being a snob about the maps - I have strong feelings about good maps, it's a weird thing I have, okay? - but a lot of the goodreads reviews I read after the fact shared similar sentiments.) The chapter headings on each of the the movies are also beautifully illustrated. I had a soft spot for the Raiders of the Lost Ark one specifically.
-Did you know that Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was delayed filming because Kubrick's shooting schedule for Godfather went long and he took up so many sets on this film lot? Those are two pretty famous movies shot back to back in one spot.
- There is this big link between James Bond and Indiana Jones that I never really put together before but now that I know about it it seems pretty obvious. But I love me some Indiana Jones (if Radiers or Last Crusade is on TV I will stop everything I am doing to watch it until the end) but James Bond always just seems like a whiny prick. Indiana doesn't need gadgets, HE USES BOOKS AND HIS FISTS.(Another thing that I never put together with Raiders and Last Crusade is that Indy and Marian are both fulfilling the dreams of their father's - Marian's was the grail and Henry Sr. the Ark). Good grief now I have go to watch those movies.
-John McTiernan diercted Predator and Die Hard, and they are each other's opposites. John McClane is the Predator taking out a lot of people in one confined place in Die hard.
-In Edward Scissorhands there's a lot of talk about ambrosia salad - "Ambrosia salad is a metaphor for the subdivision. Supposedly divine, it's in fact a sickeningly sweet concoction filled with colored marshmallows that resemble the suburb's houses, squat and identical except for their garish pastel paint jobs."
-Did you know that Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was delayed filming because Kubrick's shooting schedule for Godfather went long and he took up so many sets on this film lot? Those are two pretty famous movies shot back to back in one spot.
- There is this big link between James Bond and Indiana Jones that I never really put together before but now that I know about it it seems pretty obvious. But I love me some Indiana Jones (if Radiers or Last Crusade is on TV I will stop everything I am doing to watch it until the end) but James Bond always just seems like a whiny prick. Indiana doesn't need gadgets, HE USES BOOKS AND HIS FISTS.(Another thing that I never put together with Raiders and Last Crusade is that Indy and Marian are both fulfilling the dreams of their father's - Marian's was the grail and Henry Sr. the Ark). Good grief now I have go to watch those movies.
-John McTiernan diercted Predator and Die Hard, and they are each other's opposites. John McClane is the Predator taking out a lot of people in one confined place in Die hard.
-In Edward Scissorhands there's a lot of talk about ambrosia salad - "Ambrosia salad is a metaphor for the subdivision. Supposedly divine, it's in fact a sickeningly sweet concoction filled with colored marshmallows that resemble the suburb's houses, squat and identical except for their garish pastel paint jobs."
Monday, January 20, 2020
Rapid Fire book reviews #13
The Visitors by Catherine Burns. This was a short, fast moving little book that I had heard some buzz on, so I picked it up from the library. The big twists you could kind of see a mile away. It was less than 300 pages I read it in one sitting of maybe an hour and a half.
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin. I have a weird love/hate on the modern novels that riff on classic novels and/or are fairy tale retelling. I've come to accept a lot of times that these will just be YA love stories (and if you love that, yay good for you!) I indulge in that genre occasionally but usually I want something more fleshed out and substantial. This WAS more fleshed out and substantial. I like the realistic grittiness and complications. And all the discussions about the duality of man's nautre, because of course, Dr J and Mr. H!
Reading people: how seeing the world through the lens of personality changes everything by Anne Bogel. I always think I like personality books but then it's a little bit too much self reflection. Like how for ennegrams I'm a 2, and that means I can be possessive of my friends and it ruined my whole month when I saw that, because I thought one of my few good traits was that I'm a super supportive and loving friend and now every time I do something nice for a friend I'm like "am I doing this because this is how I express my love for them or because I'm trying to take ownership of them in some way?" and it makes me have a little mini meltdown. So, this book might be good if you aren't an emotional, possessive of friends, mess like I am.
The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Dan Kurzman
I knew some things about the Warsaw Uprising but not as much as I should. And now I feel like I know a lot of things and they will all haunt me forever. There's so many tales of courage and bravery and self sacrafice in this book, I can't even do it justice. There are also a lot of descriptions of people being burned alive and dying in sewers. It was another one of those reads that was tough but necessary.
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen. This was such a succinct, easy to read book on a tough topic. It talks about that lack of empathy doesn't make you evil (a lot of folks on the autism spectrum struggle with empathy) but a lot of people who don't have empathy are capable of doing pretty terrible things (hello Nazis) OR people who have a lot of empathy are still capable of doing bad things when they feel like it's for the right reason.Really interesting read!
Mem by Bethany C Morrow
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was shocked that this is this author's debut. I feel like it's one of those books that the less you know about it going in the better, because the concept is just so interesting and weird and great that it spoils it a little if you try to do a lot of detective work on it before reading. So, read the synopsis on goodreads and if it sounds intriguing to you you will probably like this book! Pick it up!
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin. I have a weird love/hate on the modern novels that riff on classic novels and/or are fairy tale retelling. I've come to accept a lot of times that these will just be YA love stories (and if you love that, yay good for you!) I indulge in that genre occasionally but usually I want something more fleshed out and substantial. This WAS more fleshed out and substantial. I like the realistic grittiness and complications. And all the discussions about the duality of man's nautre, because of course, Dr J and Mr. H!
Reading people: how seeing the world through the lens of personality changes everything by Anne Bogel. I always think I like personality books but then it's a little bit too much self reflection. Like how for ennegrams I'm a 2, and that means I can be possessive of my friends and it ruined my whole month when I saw that, because I thought one of my few good traits was that I'm a super supportive and loving friend and now every time I do something nice for a friend I'm like "am I doing this because this is how I express my love for them or because I'm trying to take ownership of them in some way?" and it makes me have a little mini meltdown. So, this book might be good if you aren't an emotional, possessive of friends, mess like I am.
The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Dan Kurzman
I knew some things about the Warsaw Uprising but not as much as I should. And now I feel like I know a lot of things and they will all haunt me forever. There's so many tales of courage and bravery and self sacrafice in this book, I can't even do it justice. There are also a lot of descriptions of people being burned alive and dying in sewers. It was another one of those reads that was tough but necessary.
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen. This was such a succinct, easy to read book on a tough topic. It talks about that lack of empathy doesn't make you evil (a lot of folks on the autism spectrum struggle with empathy) but a lot of people who don't have empathy are capable of doing pretty terrible things (hello Nazis) OR people who have a lot of empathy are still capable of doing bad things when they feel like it's for the right reason.Really interesting read!
Mem by Bethany C Morrow
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was shocked that this is this author's debut. I feel like it's one of those books that the less you know about it going in the better, because the concept is just so interesting and weird and great that it spoils it a little if you try to do a lot of detective work on it before reading. So, read the synopsis on goodreads and if it sounds intriguing to you you will probably like this book! Pick it up!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
2019 Favorites!
World War I's impact on horror in the arts can not be overstated. This was such a great book for someone who loves history, movies and how they intersect.
This was the first book I read of the year. It was mesmerizing. I still think about it all the time.
How many things do I love more than a Beowulf retelling? NOT MANY. Loved it so.
Steinbeck and Bob on whacky adventures in a post-WWII Eastern Europe. A surprisingly light read, and funny!
Did I think I was going to be too snobby for this YA retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales? Possibly. Did I read it anyway and really like it? Sure did!
Friday, December 27, 2019
Diary of a Part Time Vegetarian - A not book related post
Hi everyone! I have a nonbookish post for you today.
I was looking at the calendar this past week (putting the Christmas holiday in the middle of the week was confusing me to NO END) and I realized that I hit a milestone - 6 months of being a part time vegetarian.
If you're like, Wesley that sounds like a pretty non-committal, weird made up term I would say, dear reader you are correct.
A little before July started I was having some moments of introspection and decided I wanted to make a commitment to eating less meat.I couldn't even tell you if there was a specific thing that triggered it. It seems like it is better for the environment. It seems like it might be better for me. I already don't eat seafood. While there are some meat items that I do enjoy (McDonald's Chicken Nuggets, a burger with lots of cheese and avocado on a pretzel roll when I am sad and bloated - hello old friends) most of my favorite foods don't actually involve meat. So I made a commitment to myself. 1 meal a day is meatless. Since I don't generally eat breakfast this means either lunch or dinner. And since the husband eats like a lumberjack it would be hard to do dinners regularly so lunch it is.
I've done pretty well, I have to say. There are still times that I screw up - weekends are hard. Or surprise plans can throw a wrench into things occasionally. But I've been able to keep pretty close.
As much as I'd love to tell you that I have single handedly saved the world from destruction, I've lost a million pounds, my skin is glowing and I am the most zen human being of all time because I eat a lot of broccoli and brussel sprouts and chickpeas now - I can't do that.
But I do feel better. I like that I made a commitment and I have done really well with it. Not perfect (#human) but it just feels nice to do something for me, that makes me happy and not really give much a damn what other people say. . I have tried so many new foods. I have spent so much time in the kitchen. I am still not a great cook, but I have gained so much confidence in my cooking. Make some honey glazed roasted carrots? Sure, why the hell not? Make some curry in the crockpot that looks like puke but tastes great? Let's do it before Josh get's home so he doesn't bitch about the smell but for sure!
I've also had a lot of people in my life be super supportive of it, and that's really nice. And a couple who begrudgingly go along with it and are only minimally self righteous and shitty about it - which is expected.
It feels like personal growth.
I guess what I'm trying to say is....send me all of your vegetarian recipes that I can make on a big batch on sunday and eat for at least 3 days for lunches. Help a sister out.
I was looking at the calendar this past week (putting the Christmas holiday in the middle of the week was confusing me to NO END) and I realized that I hit a milestone - 6 months of being a part time vegetarian.
If you're like, Wesley that sounds like a pretty non-committal, weird made up term I would say, dear reader you are correct.
A little before July started I was having some moments of introspection and decided I wanted to make a commitment to eating less meat.I couldn't even tell you if there was a specific thing that triggered it. It seems like it is better for the environment. It seems like it might be better for me. I already don't eat seafood. While there are some meat items that I do enjoy (McDonald's Chicken Nuggets, a burger with lots of cheese and avocado on a pretzel roll when I am sad and bloated - hello old friends) most of my favorite foods don't actually involve meat. So I made a commitment to myself. 1 meal a day is meatless. Since I don't generally eat breakfast this means either lunch or dinner. And since the husband eats like a lumberjack it would be hard to do dinners regularly so lunch it is.
I've done pretty well, I have to say. There are still times that I screw up - weekends are hard. Or surprise plans can throw a wrench into things occasionally. But I've been able to keep pretty close.
As much as I'd love to tell you that I have single handedly saved the world from destruction, I've lost a million pounds, my skin is glowing and I am the most zen human being of all time because I eat a lot of broccoli and brussel sprouts and chickpeas now - I can't do that.
But I do feel better. I like that I made a commitment and I have done really well with it. Not perfect (#human) but it just feels nice to do something for me, that makes me happy and not really give much a damn what other people say. . I have tried so many new foods. I have spent so much time in the kitchen. I am still not a great cook, but I have gained so much confidence in my cooking. Make some honey glazed roasted carrots? Sure, why the hell not? Make some curry in the crockpot that looks like puke but tastes great? Let's do it before Josh get's home so he doesn't bitch about the smell but for sure!
I've also had a lot of people in my life be super supportive of it, and that's really nice. And a couple who begrudgingly go along with it and are only minimally self righteous and shitty about it - which is expected.
It feels like personal growth.
I guess what I'm trying to say is....send me all of your vegetarian recipes that I can make on a big batch on sunday and eat for at least 3 days for lunches. Help a sister out.
I still won't eat Kale. It's stiff ridges are weird.
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