|
Not the Messiah posted:Finished Perdido Street Station! I'm...not sure how I feel about it? I love the weirdness and detail of the world, but I feel like that was pulling me along more than the plot and characters were. I really felt myself struggling to jazz myself up to keep going at points and a lot of the characters just seemed super flat and directionless I think - the prose being periodically impenetrable really didn't help. That said it still kept me going to the end, so it's not *too* offputting. Kept wavering between a 2 or a 3 star rating on goodreads but settled on a 2, where I think it shall remain. pretty much my thoughts on The City and the City.
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 00:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 11:48 |
|
|
Drone Jett posted:https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/01/book-review-origin-of-consciousness-in-the-breakdown-of-the-bicameral-mind/ Thanks for this, was a very interesting read. Section V. of it addressed the first complaint that came to mind (lol) I mentioned above. This bit got me though: quote:I am not an expert in functional neuroanatomy, but my impression is that recent research has not been kind to any theories too reliant on hemispheric lateralization. While there are a few well-studied examples (language is almost always on the left) and a few vague tendencies (the right brain sort of seems to be more holistic, sometimes), basically all tasks require some input from both sides, there’s little sign that anybody is neurologically more “right-brained” or “left-brained” than anyone else, and most neuroscientific theories don’t care that much about the right-brain left-brain distinction. Also, Michael Gazzaniga’s groundbreaking work on split-brain patients which got everyone excited about hemispheres and is one of the cornerstones of Jaynes’ theory doesn’t replicate. Also, Jaynes says his theory implies that schizophrenic hallucinations come from the language centers of the right hemisphere, and I think the latest fMRI evidence is that they don’t. I have some knowledge of neuroanatomy and the corpus callosum, which is formed of neurons passing between the hemispheres, is present in every animal I have ever dissected, even if the hemispheres themselves are smaller and smoother than ours. So this reviewer's suggestion that this book might be discussing an emerging Theory of Mind rather than consciousness itself makes me a lot happier. Hell my dog is conscious, and understands that what it sees in mirrors is not real but a reflection and so if I do something that excites her she looks at me rather than my reflection as a result.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 04:50
|
|
|
Your dog isn't conscious based on Jaynes' definition of the term, at least not by any means that we can determine.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 06:19
|
|
|
A human heart posted:Your dog isn't conscious based on Jaynes' definition of the term, at least not by any means that we can determine. well she is alive and he is dead so she has that over him 
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 07:07
|
|
|
ulvir posted:this sounds like some real pseudoscience poo poo The actual consensus from the specialists, from what I've seen, is that it's a very clever book that's very interesting to read and gives much food for thought, even if there's no way the actual thesis is true. So it's worth reading a lot more than 'HEY ALIENS TOTALLY BUILT THE PYRAMIDS GUYS'. Megazver fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Nov 3, 2020 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 16:18
|
|
|
joedevola posted:The number of people and complexity of their society spread beyond what bicameral hierarchies were capable of. That combined with increased contact and trade with people who spoke different languages and had different gods. What I never understood from reading it was why the collapse of pre-Columbian-times South American civilizations is somehow explained by a sudden lack of bicameral minds. Saying that it happened because of it doesn't constitute proof, nor does the apparent lack of evidence to the contrary in the form of other explanations serve as proof. Something capable of spreading like a virus and changing brain structure which is then completely inheritable and has spread to the entire world within such a very short time just doesn't seem even remotely feasible.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2020 16:45
|
|
|
Jaynes isn't suggesting that there is something that 'capable of spreading like a virus and changing brain structure', he's suggesting that what we understand as conciousness is a learned cultural behaviour. He does suggest a small role for natural selection in conciousness becoming perpetuated after the end of the bicameral period but the book isn't really about biological evolution at all.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2020 06:40
|
|
|
Yeah proof was the wrong word to use there. More that he suggested it as a cause.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2020 16:55
|
|
|
I haven't posted in this thread for a while, but I've been reading a lot to deal with stress and here are some of my recent faves: The Lost Writings, Franz Kafka. This is a new collection of some previously-untranslated Kafka fragments. it's beautiful, surreal, and well worth an afternoon slowly reading through it. The Companion, Katie Alender. This is a gothic YA novel about an orphan who becomes a live-in companion to a catatonic heiress. It might be one of the best-done modern gothics I've read. The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel. This was the perfect ending to the Wolf Hall trilogy. It also got me interested in Tudor history, and I'm working my way through Diarmaid MacCulloch's biography of Thomas Cromwell. The Tailor of Panama, John Le Carre. You can always tell John le Carre is super excited to write about exotic locales, and this is no different. It's funny and bold and wrenching and I think it's Le Carre at his best.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2020 20:22
|
|
|
Since July 30th, I finished just north of 200 lesfic romance books. Some of the ones that stand out are: The Perfect Match series by Fiona Riley, which tells the stories of women who all, in one way or another, end up together as a result of exclusive dating agency. The Pink Bean series by Harper Bliss, which tells the story of many different couples and how their lives interweave, all set in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. The Pink Bean also intersects with the French Kissing series by the same author. Provincetown Tales series by Radclyffe, which is a small-town slife-of-life series with some medical procedural and law enforcement drama, set in P-Town, Massachusetts and will soon stretch over 8 books telling the story of the couple from the first book along with some of their friends and family. Night Voice by C.F. Frizzell, which managed to both remind me of the days when I used to work radio at night while also being a really sweet romance story, also set in P-Town, Massachusetts.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2020 20:49
|
|
|
I just finished Gideon the Ninth and I loved it. Already excited to read the sequel.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2020 01:32
|
|
|
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell Mitchell is easily one of my favorite modern authors and this book was enjoyable because of it; however, had it been written by anyone else I probably wouldnt have enjoyed it. Its the most straightforward of his novels and contains next to no elements from his previous novels. He shoehorns in references to previous novels, which are somehow both very out of place and the most interesting part of the story (i.e. the de Zoet stuff). After reading Black Swan Green and this, I do wish he woukd revert back to the more expirimental stuff like Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns. The novel pretty basically details a small rock band's rise to fame in the 60s and has some great character development. It does give me the optimistic feeling that even Mitchell's mediocre novels are enjoyable and Im looking forward to whats next. I love how he ties all of his novels together and its fun spotting the easter eggs or understanding certain plot points better because youve read his other novels.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2020 09:18
|
|
|
[quote="Captain Hotbutt" post="509500234"] Get in the Van - Henry Rollins Pretty terrible. In a way, I'm glad to hear this. I tried to hunt it down at a reasonable price a few years back and couldnt find it, but if it's not great, I probably won't try again.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2020 14:43
|
|
|
The Summit by Harry Farthing This is definitely a good debut novel by the author. The plot is about a climber on Everest who fortuitously discovers an old ice axe with a swastika emblem on it near the summit. The discovery sets in motion a domino effect of intelligence agencies, neo-nazis, and wealthy aristocrats relentlessly pursuing & double-crossing each other in a desperate attempt to claim the discovery for political purposes. It is consciously written in the context of the rapid rise of far-right nationalism spreading worldwide in recent decades — the commentary was intriguing and insightful.  Recommended.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2020 23:36
|
|
|
Black Helicopters by Caitlin Kiernan. This was an excellent novella of shifting narrative focus, quantum subject, horror and fantasy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2020 04:13
|
|
|
Disco Pope posted:[quote="Captain Hotbutt" post="509500234"] I got a used copy from a music store's closing down sale. I read it once. It's not great.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2020 06:29
|
|
|
Disco Pope posted:Get in the Van - Henry Rollins I bought and read it when it came out back in the day. - I thought it was perfectly fine for what it was, and captured what BF/Rollins was going through at the time. I wouldn’t scour the ends of the earth for it, though. I’m kinda tempted to sell my copy since it seems to be pretty pricey used.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2020 14:43
|
|
|
Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a sorry about a man and his son surviving the apocalypse. This man can write beauty into anything holy hell
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2020 12:19
|
|
|
After hearing it mentioned a lot in DnD, I bought Nixonland and finished it last night. Excellent book that puts a lot of context to a lot of the hyperpartisanship we're seeing today; it all began with Nixon and his "Silent Majority" dogwhistling.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2020 18:30
|
|
|
F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:After hearing it mentioned a lot in DnD, I bought Nixonland and finished it last night. Excellent book that puts a lot of context to a lot of the hyperpartisanship we're seeing today; it all began with Nixon and his "Silent Majority" dogwhistling. Fwiw, you might be interested in reading up more around some Gilded age stuff where hyper-partisanism definitely existed, it just looked different. I agree Nixon is a moment where the trajectory changed but I'd be careful saying that was the origin.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2020 20:19
|
|
|
Lockback posted:Fwiw, you might be interested in reading up more around some Gilded age stuff where hyper-partisanism definitely existed, it just looked different. I agree Nixon is a moment where the trajectory changed but I'd be careful saying that was the origin. No, that's true. Hyperpartisanship has always been with us in various forms. I do think that the Nixon years were the beginning of Southern Strategy dogwhistling and drumming up resentment against so called "cultural elites" becoming more mainstream in politics. Reading Nixonland, it was eerie how much a lot of the rhetoric felt familiar: Agnew blaming the press for doing its job and reporting on bad news from Vietnam, "dirty hippies are out to get you, the 'law-abiding' Middle Americans", racial backlash against busing, etc. Nixon took John Birch-style racial resentment mainstream.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2020 20:58
|
|
|
"Hyperpartisanship" is a very interesting word to describe the Southern Strategy and its legacy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2020 22:04
|
|
|
Just finished the first Drizzit novel, Homeland and it was a pretty neat little book in my estimation. I’m definitely up for more of this drow and his panther companion.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2020 05:37
|
|
|
Disco Pope posted:[quote="Captain Hotbutt" post="509500234"] I read it back in 2005ish. If you are a fan of Rollins, Black Flag, or the particular punk ethos they represent, you will probably find it interesting. If you are into the history of punk or just music in general it does fill a certain niche that may satisfy some curiosity. I think everyone else could skip it. Keep in mind that it is basically the journal of a 20-something and that 20-something is Rollins, with all the good and bad that comes with. I just finished The Lies of Locke Lomora. I started it a few months ago, got about halfway through and put it down. I was just not getting into it. Decided to finish it this week and the second half got my attention better. I found the climax to be a bit rushed and a little too convenient. Also, the reveal of the antagonist did not excite me or make me care. I think the world building was good and I felt it had depth beyond existing to service the plot or main characters. Overall it was okay and decently entertaining, but I have no desire to read the other books in the series.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2020 06:49
|
|
|
Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin. It was engrossing. I particularly loved "The Nna Mmoy Language" and "The Island of the Immortals". Now I am working on The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2020 08:15
|
|
|
I started Malazan, finished Gardens of the Moon a couple days ago. It's definitely dense and requires concentrated reading, but I really liked it. Super glad theres 10+ to go. Now I'm a third into into The Stand, the original and shorter 823pp (compared to 1152) version, my first time reading it. nerve fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Nov 19, 2020 |
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2020 22:18
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a sorry about a man and his son surviving the apocalypse. This man can write beauty into anything holy hell I listened to the audiobook last year, it was awesome! Make sure you read Blood Meridian if you haven’t.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2020 02:46
|
|
|
AOCs Pink Pearl posted:I listened to the audiobook last year, it was awesome! yeah I read it a year or two ago and its one of my favourite books. Just incredible.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2020 08:40
|
|
|
Loveshaft posted:The Summit by Harry Farthing quoting this so i remember to pick up a copy for my dad this xmas, it looks like it'll be right up his alley! thanks!
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2020 05:10
|
|
|
I just finished the novelization of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis by S.D. Perry and I absolutely loved it. It’s a light read, entertaining, and a bit corny (kind of unavoidable given the source material lol). This is the first novel I’ve actually finished in a VERY long time. I haven’t been able to focus enough to really follow a narrative, but this kept my attention.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2020 05:11
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:yeah I read it a year or two ago and its one of my favourite books. Just incredible. I honestly probably won't listen to or read the road again for a while but I could see myself reading blood meridian again in about a year or two.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2020 12:14
|
|
|
Clearing a backlog of stuff for last few months. The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette. Pretty good, interesting when focused on weird stories from the craze. Excessive info on company founder's personal life and relationships. Interesting how Beanie Baby killer had to fight a lot in jail because of low street cred. The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War by Benn Steil and When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler by David M. Glantz. Grouping these together, informative but dry. Pick them up if you need to learn about the subjects for school but not for an engaging read. Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime by Ben Blum. I really liked this one, in 2006 a group including several active duty Army Ranger robbed a bank in Tacoma and were caught almost immediately as their super-plan skipped covering a license plate. The getaway driver was the cousin of the author and the book explores his life and why he would have thrown away his lifelong dream for a stupid plan. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac. Excellent read on the history of Uber by a New York Times reporter. Felt a bit like Bad Blood mixed with Silicon Valley. Definite recommend. If It Bleeds by Stephen King. Four new novellas from King. "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" is ok when it focuses on the characters, less so when King spends way too much time marveling at how wonderful iPhones are. He did the same thing in the detective trilogy, yes smartphones are impressive but not new anymore. Has odd moment when a teenager with limited means gifts a wealthy man an iPhone that he is able to use to connect to the internet and make calls. Is the kid paying for his data plan? Felt like those awful Modern Family episodes where characters rush to buy iPads, but at least they were getting paid for product placement. "The Life of Chuck" is the strongest of the four. Interesting premise about world ending, goes on a little long but still good. "If it Bleeds" not great, it's another entry in the detective stories with Holly Gibney. Not sure if this character is King trolling readers, she's ok in small doses but not interesting enough to sustain a story. Excessive detail about every part of her life (she loves Apple products!) when I'm here for the monsters. The plot is centered around a bombing where Holly thinks a reporter at the scene was involved. What could have been an interesting non-supernatural crime story turns out to be a villain that is a mix of two of King's laziest late career inventions: the psychic vampires from Dr. Sleep who feed on terror, and the Outsider monster who can shapeshift. Seems like a super powerful creature but Holly easily tricks it and pushes it down an elevator shaft. Not a recommend. "Rat" pretty darn good, a guy with writer's block goes to a New England cabin and weird stuff happens. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North. Pretty good, most interesting when explaining how to make charcoal with no tools or how to safely test what is poisonous. Humor is a little hit or miss. Columbine by Dave Cullen. Well written and researched history of the Columbine shootings. Not a light read.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2020 20:08
|
|
|
The Stone Man by Luke Smitherd A giant stone statue the shape of a human spontaneously shows up in the middle of a plaza in England. Everyone is fascinated by it, then it starts walking. It keeps walking in one direction and nothing can stop it. When people try to touch, they fall over babbling in tongues and go into a coma. The statue smashes through stores, apartment buildings, trees, and concrete walls. Nothing can stop it from destroying whatever it unfortunately in it's path. The military drops bombs on it, but the statue emerges from the explosion and keeps on walking in one direction. One guy gets kinda psychically linked to it and can sense it's target. The target is a paranoid dude going nuts, and once the stone man reaches him it kills him and disappears. Everything calms down until a few months later when three more stone men show and it starts all over again. This is one of those hit and miss Kindle books I got for free from Amazon. I loved the concept and made me think through all kinds of scenarios. What if the stone man walks into a volcano? What if it's target is on a ship in the ocean? It's a fun concept, but the book could really use an editor to cut down the length. The author uses way too many sentences to express simple ideas.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2020 00:57
|
|
|
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami. Not his best work (still a toss up between Wind Up Bird Chronicles and 1Q84) but still a oddly moving tale about a recently divorced artist who literally unearths the metaphorical demons of a famous artist while living in the artist's abandoned home. I liked the smooth texture of his prose, like always, but this is a supernatural story told by someone who just seems to be drifting through it. Kind of an odd style choice Dune by Frank Herbert First time reading and probably the last of the series that I'll tackle, but it's good, i guess. Perdido Street Station by China Meiville Not sold on this a trilogy/series but a solid, strange Adventure in a new world with some freaky interdimensional shenanigans. Style took a little getting used to but it never overstayed it's welcome Dr. Yinz Ljubljana fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Nov 26, 2020 |
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2020 11:34
|
|
|
The Exphoria Code by Antony Johnston. Code is a mystery thriller about an ex-goth hacker working for the British government who discovers something weird in some ASCII posts on a near abandoned Usenet site. Events ensue as we learn more about our hacker's past, her family, and her love of listening to Radio 3 to get to sleep at night. The shadow of Stieg Larsson's work clearly hangs over this novel, but Code's Brigitte Sharp has nothing really in common with Lisbeth Salander other than computer skills and a shared music collection. It's a satisfying story that clearly is just the beginning of a new series, and I look forward to the next one.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2020 21:14
|
|
|
For some reason, lately I've been very interested in Mexican drug cartels. I suppose you can't really find a more intense and dramatic lifestyle than being high up in a drug cartel, which makes for some very interesting stories. El Narco, Gangster Warlords - both non-fiction books by Ioan Grillo filled with stories from the south lands and the people who control these operations that have outgrown the terminology we use for gangs, and become what can only be described as criminal corporations. Gangster Warlords is a sprawling book, going from Brazil to the Honduras and Guatemala and up into Mexico, with interviews with various people involved with, and affected by, different parts of the drug trade. I have also started reading Don Winslow's Border Trilogy, starting with 'The Power Of The Dog. TPotD is hard to put down, as it starts off charging full-force into the brutality of this world and never really stops. It too is a sprawling book, though since it's a fictional work it's of course a bit more orderly and intertwined than the non-fiction stuff above. It's got a few main characters that we meet at various points as we push forward in it's bloody timeline, all of them fairly well-written and grounded in reality; surprisingly enough, some of the stuff that seems the most unrealistic and out-there is actually based on events that really happened. quantumfoam posted:Recently finished reading a non-fiction book about a internet criminal kingpin that reads like a bizzare scifi/milscifi book series given the various schemes and plans the internet kingpin had going on. But it was all real apparently, and why I'm cross-posting this recap-review to a few book barn threads. Yea his story is absolutely insane, apparently Michael Mann has the rights to the book. It's one of those stories that when put on paper or on the screen, it's so extraordinary that it's a struggle to believe it all. One of my favorite little tidbits is the Mogadishu fishing operation with that Xanax'd-out mercenary causing problems.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2020 00:52
|
|
|
El Narco is a fantastic book. I actually read that on goon recommendation years ago. Glad to see he has more stuff. Thanks for sharing.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2020 10:50
|
|
|
Finished Tuf Voyaging - enjoyed it overall, with my only comment being that it's very obvious it's a series of short stories written at different times (I don't want to read about the main character's background at least once in each story please), but that's not much of a complaint really - just a bunch of fun wee stories. Wish there were more socially-oblivious crazy cat man/God tales!
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2020 02:10
|
|
|
Finished Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst, an extremely well written book about dealing with grief. The book focuses on a man that tries to teach his dog how to speak words because she's the only witness to his wife's death. It's impossible to teach a dog to speak so most of the book is about how the man comes to terms with his wife unexpectedly dying.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2020 06:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 11:48 |
|
|
I just finished Jericho by Ann McMan, which is a slice of life lesfic romance with a burn so glacially slow, but at the same time as inevitable as as a roll of thunder after a flash of lightning. Also, the audiobook is over 21 hours long - and the narrator is not a slow reader. Plus, it contains several references to Dune.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2020 13:09
|
|