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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   6177 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 12, 2023

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.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm picking up Gibson's Count Zero, the second in the Sprawl Trilogy. I haven't heard much about this one, but Neuromancer was great.

Finished American Psycho, which is both funnier and considerably more violent than it's film adaptation. Ultimately they did a really good job with the film, I think watching it actually enhances your appreciation of some of the more memorable scenes (the business cards etc.).

It has three rather interesting chapters were Bateman reviews musical artists, namely Huey Lewis and the News, Whitney Houston, and Phil Collins.

Which has led me to listening to Huey Lewis while doing some cooking recently. Peak boomer rock vibes.

Also continuing with Plutarch, currently on Pompey. Quality as with the rest of his writing.

And slowly working my way through Les Miserables, which hardly needs introduction. As with many titanic classic novels, I've found it to be considerably different than what I might have expected. Hugo takes his time with lengthy digressions, if you can call a full retelling of Waterloo that. He is also very much a bleeding heart kind of progressive thinker, anti-capital punishment themes and appeals to the plight of the poverty-stricken are very much at the forefront. I have my disagreements with his thinking, but what better way to extrapolate on such ideas than in a beautifully written novel?

Going to church in medieval England by Nicholas Orme. It's a pretty dry history book, but it's concise and authoritative. It also sheds light on something that is a huge part of my country's history, even if these days all that really remains are the buildings.

Currently reading The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason. "Set during the British Army's Gordon Relief Expedition in Sudan, well after the formation of Mahdiyya, it tells the story of a young man accused of cowardice."

Dramatic themes and interesting characters but the writing is rather dead. This book was made into multiple movies, and it does seem like a story that would come across better on film.

Finished Tales from the Ketty Jay, now I’m onto Unlocking the Emotional Brain. It’s written for therapists but mine actually recommended I read it, and it has been great so far. It specifically discusses memory reconsolidstion, basically permanent removing traumatic emotional memories to get rid of anxiety depression etc.

It’s pretty impressive, optimistic, and well grounded in neuroscience. I’m enjoying it so far.

How did you like Ketty Jay? Don't know much about it but sounds like it could be fun. Woke?

Picked up Golden Oecumene at recommendation of someone here and got much more than I expected. Exploration of society and the individual in post-scarcity environment, immortality, AI, and other sci-fi themes. Beautifully and eloquently written, unlike so much otherwise good science fiction, and also centers around Ayn-Randesque narrative about a promethean figure going through great hardship to fulfill his potential and advance mankind, which turned out to be something I wasn't aware I had a soft spot for.

Glad to hear you liked it! I recommended it a few weeks back, also on the rec of someone from here.

It’s pretty on the nose with its themes but I like that unabashed world building. Curious to hear your take after you’ve finished the series.

Certainly! It's the kind of book that is fun to analyze.

Stuff I've been reading this week

  • When Money Dies, by Adam Ferguson. A book on the economics and politics of Weimar Germany. It had been sitting in my "to read" pile for a while and seemed topical.

  • Titanicus, by Dan Abnett. A pulp sci-fi story about giant robot pilots in the WH40k universe that I've been re-reading with my 9 year-old because Giant Robots.

  • A fairly meaty academic paper on RF Encryption written by a colleague that I agreed to review before I realized just what I was volunteering for.

RF, radio frequency? I’d be interested in hearing more about the field. Kind of relevant to my industry.

I'm not sure how much I can actually talk about, but a younger guy I've been kind of mentoring is doing a whole project on the on the design considerations/trade-offs of trying to implement secure wireless comms in contested environments and he asked me to go through and critique his work.

There's an ocean of Federal money for exactly this.

Unfortunately, doing it under the constraints of Federal development is close to impossible.

I am well aware.

Understood. There’s at least one guy who left my company for a related startup this year. It’s a growing field.

For better or for worse I seem to have picked up a reputation within the company (wholly undeserved IMO) as the "telemetry and datalink guy".

Finished Red Rising, onto Ghettoside. It’s good so far, but the writing quality is clearly inferior to David Simons books.

Waiting for Golden Son to arrive from eBay.

Yeah the first trilogy is excellent. Couldn't put it down. I haven't been able to bring myself to finish Iron Gold, though. I'm maybe 1/4 of the way in and I'm tired of characters acting like morons.

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