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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   2940 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 6, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm going through Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, another one that has been on my shelf for far too long.

I'm in the process of reading Peter Watts' Sunflower Cycle series. I've finished The Island, Giants and Hitchhiker (what there currently is of Hitchhiker, anyway) and am currently reading The Freeze-Frame Revolution.

It's fantastic. Eriophora is such a tantalising setting, despite the inherent horror of the premise. I also think these stories are better written than his other work, perhaps due to the fact that it's less dense - there are some portions of the text that have sent cascades of chills running down my spine because of how incredibly evocative it is.

Just finished Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals, an astounding collection of prophetic essays from the early 90s that now ranks as one of the best books I’ve ever read. I anticipate I will re-read it frequently.

is there any chance you went through his basic economics? im in two chapters, doesn't feel like the best use of time

Galileo's Middle Finger by Alice Dreger. Parts of it read like a good mystery story, and I appreciate that it doesn't retread the usual culture war arguments. It's been a great read!

Rereading Heritics and Orthodoxy by Chesterton and having recently gotten my eldest into 40k have been reading the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett with him.

I am currently reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.

Still Thunder Below, still excellent. The actual plot events are incredible, and I am continuously surprised by how much everyone hews to the stereotypes of mid-century Americana. I also didn’t realize the author won a Medal of Honor for one of the actions.

Over October, I did a night-by-night read of A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. The prose was delicious. I really want to get someone to read it completely blind, because the premise (horror fiction battle royale) is just so lovably bizarre. I would die for Snuff.

The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change. It's a good book for engineering leads. It matches with a lot of stuff I've learned myself, plus has some thoughts I've evidently been avoiding all these years, because that's what former engineers usually do.

I also picked up The Passenger and found it much more difficult to get into compared to earlier McCarthy's novels. I think I'll try again later.

So what is the Passenger even about? I've been trying to get a feel for what I'd be getting into without actually spoilering myself, but the blurbs I've read so far were unhelpful. Maybe what I especially would like to know is how it compares to other McCarthy novels, but without giving away any of the Passenger's details.

I have no idea myself what's going on there!

The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change. It's a good book for engineering leads. It matches with a lot of stuff I've learned myself, plus has some thoughts I've evidently been avoiding all these years, because that's what former engineers usually do.

That sounds useful. Added to my audible list!

Ha, I'm also reading The Manager's Path and a McCarthy book, The Road.

Very bleak - the Road, that is.

I loved The Road, but I'm never reading it again.

I think I've been shirking my duties as a McCarthy fanboy and The Road is just about due a re-read on my part. Haven't read it since long before becoming a dad. Maybe the book will read differently now.

Come to think of it, it feels like I remember most of The Road, even though I only read it once. Surely I'm mistaken here and I forgot much, but it doesn't feel incomplete in my memory. I read it entirely on train rides, where I had absolutely nothing to do and time to kill and no distractions whatsoever except for sometimes the landscape passing by the window. When recently I read, it's usually just while waiting for something, in between tasks, in doctor's offices or on parking lots. I'm also much older now, but I occurs to me that the setting in which I read seems to have a significant impact on how well I memorize. Or maybe the Road just was more memorable.

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