-A project by [Noon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/noonsilk/). Book reviews and
-other thoughts on a growing collection of books. Check back regularly for
-updates!
-
diff --git a/atom.xml b/atom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3ab671c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/atom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+
+
+ Between Books
+
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/atom.xml
+
+ Noon van der Silk
+ noonsilk+-noonsilk@gmail.com
+
+ 2024-06-02T00:00:00Z
+
+ Venice: City of Pictures
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2024/venice%3A-city-of-pictures-2023.html
+ 2024-06-02T00:00:00Z
+ 2024-06-02T00:00:00Z
+ I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!]]>
+
+
+ The Cabin in the Mountains: A Norwegian Odyssey
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2024/the-cabin-in-the-mountains-2019.html
+ 2024-04-07T00:00:00Z
+ 2024-04-07T00:00:00Z
+ Simple, funny, enjoyable, and atmospheric. Really just a nice story
+of someone embedding themselves in a foreign culture. I really enjoyed
+it :)]]>
+
+
+ The Woman in Me
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.html
+ 2023-11-05T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-11-05T00:00:00Z
+ This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
+"high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
+how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
+them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
+just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
+likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
+
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
+personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
+
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
+for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
+and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
+have had.
]]>
+
+
+ Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.html
+ 2023-09-17T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-09-17T00:00:00Z
+ I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.]]>
+
+
+ My Work
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/my-work-2020.html
+ 2023-08-27T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-08-27T00:00:00Z
+ Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!]]>
+
+
+ The Joyful Environmentalist: How to Practise without Preaching
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.html
+ 2023-08-23T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-08-23T00:00:00Z
+ I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)]]>
+
+
+ The Snakehead
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/the-snakehead-2009.html
+ 2023-07-24T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-07-24T00:00:00Z
+ I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.]]>
+
+
+ Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.html
+ 2023-07-09T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-07-09T00:00:00Z
+ This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
+service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
+actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
+probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
+for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
+I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
+of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
+but a worthwhile read nevertheless.]]>
+
+
+ The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.html
+ 2023-06-20T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-06-20T00:00:00Z
+ Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)]]>
+
+
+ Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet
+
+ https://betweenbooks.com.au/updates/2023/regenesis-2022.html
+ 2023-05-21T00:00:00Z
+ 2023-05-21T00:00:00Z
+ Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)]]>
+
+
+
diff --git a/book-animation.svg b/book-animation.svg
deleted file mode 100644
index 7c436b8a..00000000
--- a/book-animation.svg
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contact.md b/contact.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 469f6b80..00000000
--- a/contact.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
----
-title: Contact
----
-
-# Contact
-
-...
diff --git a/cspell.json b/cspell.json
deleted file mode 100644
index eaee68c9..00000000
--- a/cspell.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-{
- "version": "0.1",
- "language": "en-GB",
- "words": [
- "webp",
- "goodreads"
- ]
-}
-
diff --git a/css/Base.css b/css/Base.css
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..238baf7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/css/Base.css
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+body{margin :0px 0px 0px 0px;padding :0px 0px 0px 0px;background-color :#ffffff}::selection{background :#7b68ee;color :#ffffff}::-moz-selection{background :#7b68ee;color :#ffffff}li#logo a:hover{background :#ffffff}h1,h2{font-family :"Calistoga",serif;font-weight :normal}h3{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif;font-style :italic;font-weight :normal;margin-top :30px}h4{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif}body{font-size :18px}p,li,blockquote,a,small{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif;text-align :justify}p,li{line-height :1.8em}h1 small{font-size :0.69999em;color :#808080}div.book-title{margin-bottom :3px}div.book-title a{font-family :"Calistoga",serif;font-size :1.19999em}div.date{color :#696969;font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif}div.book-authors{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif}a{color :#000000}a:visited{color :#000000}a:hover{background :#ffd381}#header{margin-top :100px}#header ul#menu{margin :0px 0px 0px 0px;padding :0px 0px 0px 0px;margin-left :20px;display :flex;align-items :center;list-style-type :none;justify-content :flex-start}#header li{padding :0px 0px 0px 0px}#header li:first-child{margin-right :50px}#header li a{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif;display :block;margin :12px 12px 12px 12px}div#content{background-color :#fdf5e6;margin-bottom :10px;padding :30px 30px 30px 30px;display :flex;flex-direction :column}#book-review{display :flex;flex-direction :row}ul.book-links{margin :0px 0px 0px 0px}ul.book-links li{display :inline;margin :0px 0px 0px 0px}div.book-info{font-family :"Noto Serif JP",serif;display :flex;padding :20px 20px 20px 20px;flex-direction :column;background-color :#ffffff;min-width :200px;max-width :300px;border-bottom :3px solid #000000}div.book-info img{max-height :100%;max-width :100%;margin-bottom :10px;object-fit :cover}div.large-review{margin-left :20px;margin-right :20px;max-width :1000px}div.large-review span.ch{font-family :"PT Mono",monospace;font-style :normal;font-size :0.9em;background-color :#eaeaea}div.summary,div.review{margin-left :10px;padding-left :10px}div.summary blockquote,div.review blockquote{padding-left :10px;border-left :1px solid #c0c0c0;font-style :italic}div.book-info{display :flex;flex-direction :column}div.fact{margin-top :5px;margin-bottom :5px;display :flex;flex-direction :row}div.fact span.property{color :#808080;padding-right :5px}div.book{display :flex;flex-grow :1;flex-basis :42%;padding :2% 2% 2% 2%;border-bottom :3px solid #000000}section.books{display :flex;flex-wrap :wrap}div.book-content{display :flex;padding-left :20px;flex-direction :column}.book-image{display :flex;align-items :center;flex-direction :column}.book-image small{margin-top :10px}.book-image img{width :200px}div.book:nth-child(odd){border-right :3px solid #000000}span.tags,div.tagCloud{font-size :0.84999em;line-height :1.69999em}a.tag{font-family :"PT Mono",monospace;text-decoration :none;padding :2px 2px 2px 2px}a.art{border-bottom :2px solid #8b008b}a.activism{border-bottom :2px solid #7fffd4}a.adventurous{border-bottom :2px solid #f4a460}a.architecture{border-bottom :2px solid #9acd32}a.books{border-bottom :2px solid #e6e6fa}a.buddhism{border-bottom :2px solid #8a2be2}a.climate{border-bottom :2px solid #f0fff0}a.compassion{border-bottom :2px solid #87ceeb}a.democracy{border-bottom :2px solid #d8bfd8}a.economics{border-bottom :2px solid #f0e68c}a.empathy{border-bottom :2px solid #6a5acd}a.ethics{border-bottom :2px solid #f5deb3}a.fantasy{border-bottom :2px solid #d8bfd8}a.feminism{border-bottom :2px solid #fa8072}a.fiction{border-bottom :2px solid #bc8f8f}a.fun{border-bottom :2px solid #ffa500}a.history{border-bottom :2px solid #cd853f}a.immigration{border-bottom :2px solid #d2b48c}a.informative{border-bottom :2px solid #87cefa}a.language{border-bottom :2px solid #8b4513}a.long-read{border-bottom :2px solid #dda0dd}a.music{border-bottom :2px solid #ff69b4}a.non-fiction{border-bottom :2px solid #b0c4de}a.parenting{border-bottom :2px solid #a0522d}a.personal{border-bottom :2px solid #ffc0cb}a.philanthropy{border-bottom :2px solid #add8e6}a.philosophical{border-bottom :2px solid #ffd700}a.poetry{border-bottom :2px solid #da70d6}a.politics{border-bottom :2px solid #ffa07a}a.quirky{border-bottom :2px solid #ee82ee}a.racism{border-bottom :2px solid #d2691e}a.short-read{border-bottom :2px solid #778899}a.technology{border-bottom :2px solid #ff7f50}a.traumatic{border-bottom :2px solid #0000cd}a.travel{border-bottom :2px solid #32cd32}a.urban-planning{border-bottom :2px solid #20b2aa}div.tagCloud{font-size :1.1em;margin-left :20px;margin-right :20px}div.tagCloud a{margin :5px 5px 5px 5px;line-height :2em}div.decoration{color :#c0c0c0;display :flex;align-items :center;justify-content :center}div.decoration::before{background :#c0c0c0;height :0.5px;display :inline-block;position :relative;width :30%;margin-left :20px;margin-right :20px;bottom :-0.2rem;content :''}div.decoration::after{background :#c0c0c0;height :0.5px;display :inline-block;position :relative;width :30%;margin-left :20px;margin-right :20px;bottom :-0.2rem;content :''}footer{margin-top :20px;margin-bottom :20px}@media all and (max-width:1200px){div.book-content{margin-right :20px}div.book:nth-child(even){border-left :3px solid #000000}div.book{flex-basis :90%}div.book-info{max-width :100%;flex-direction :row}div.fact{margin-left :20px}#book-review{flex-direction :column}div.large-review{margin-left :0px}}@media all and (max-width:800px){div#content{margin :5px 5px 5px 5px;padding :0px 0px 0px 0px}div.book{flex-direction :column;padding-top :20px;padding-bottom :20px}ul#menu{flex-direction :column}div.book-image{width :100%;align-items :center}.book-image img{width :100%;max-height :200px;object-fit :cover}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/css/Base.hs b/css/Base.hs
deleted file mode 100644
index 209990aa..00000000
--- a/css/Base.hs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,386 +0,0 @@
-{-# language OverloadedStrings #-}
-
--- http://fvisser.nl/clay/
-import Clay
-import Control.Monad ( forM_ )
-import Prelude hiding ( span
- , div
- , rem
- )
-import qualified Data.Text as Text
-import qualified Clay.Media as Media
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-allMargin n = margin n n n n
-allPadding n = padding n n n n
-allBorderRadius n = borderRadius n n n n
-
-margin0 = margin (px 0) (px 0) (px 0) (px 0)
-padding0 = padding (px 0) (px 0) (px 0) (px 0)
-
-coreTextFont = fontFamily ["Noto Serif JP"] [serif]
-monoFont = fontFamily ["PT Mono"] [monospace]
-titleFont = fontFamily ["Calistoga"] [serif]
-menuFont = coreTextFont
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-main :: IO ()
-main = putCss css'
-
-css' :: Css
-css'
- = basics
- >> logo
- >> headings
- >> fonts
- >> links
- >> mainHeader
- >> mainContent
- >> reviewPage
- >> bookList
- >> tags
- >> footerDecoration
-
-basics :: Css
-basics = do
- body ? do
- margin0
- padding0
- backgroundColor white
-
- let selectionStyle =
- do
- background mediumslateblue
- color white
-
- selection & selectionStyle
- "::-moz-selection" & selectionStyle
-
-footerDecoration :: Css
-footerDecoration = do
- let decoration =
- do
- background silver
- height (px 0.5)
- display inlineBlock
- position relative
- width (pct 30)
- marginLeft (px 20)
- marginRight (px 20)
- "bottom" -: "-0.2rem"
- "content" -: "''"
-
- div # ".decoration" ? do
- color silver
- display flex
- alignItems center
- justifyContent center
-
- before & decoration
- after & decoration
-
- footer ? do
- marginTop (px 20)
- marginBottom (px 20)
-
-logo :: Css
-logo = do
- li # "#logo" ? do
- a ? hover & background white
-
-tags :: Css
-tags = do
- (span #".tags" <> div #".tagCloud" ) ? do
- fontSize (em 0.85)
- lineHeight (em 1.7)
-
- a #".tag" ? do
- monoFont
- textDecoration none
- allPadding (px 2)
-
- let mkTag t c = a # t ? borderBottom (px 2) solid c
-
- mkTag ".art" darkmagenta
- mkTag ".activism" aquamarine
- mkTag ".adventurous" sandybrown
- mkTag ".architecture" yellowgreen
- mkTag ".books" lavender
- mkTag ".buddhism" blueviolet
- mkTag ".climate" honeydew
- mkTag ".compassion" skyblue
- mkTag ".democracy" thistle
- mkTag ".economics" khaki
- mkTag ".empathy" slateblue
- mkTag ".ethics" wheat
- mkTag ".fantasy" thistle
- mkTag ".feminism" salmon
- mkTag ".fiction" rosybrown
- mkTag ".fun" orange
- mkTag ".history" peru
- mkTag ".immigration" Clay.tan
- mkTag ".informative" lightskyblue
- mkTag ".language" saddlebrown
- mkTag ".long-read" plum
- mkTag ".music" hotpink
- mkTag ".non-fiction" lightsteelblue
- mkTag ".parenting" sienna
- mkTag ".personal" pink
- mkTag ".philanthropy" lightblue
- mkTag ".philosophical" gold
- mkTag ".poetry" orchid
- mkTag ".politics" lightsalmon
- mkTag ".quirky" violet
- mkTag ".racism" chocolate
- mkTag ".short-read" lightslategray
- mkTag ".technology" coral
- mkTag ".traumatic" mediumblue
- mkTag ".travel" limegreen
- mkTag ".urban-planning" lightseagreen
-
- div #".tagCloud" ? do
- fontSize (em 1.1)
- marginLeft (px 20)
- marginRight (px 20)
- a ? do
- allMargin (px 5)
- lineHeight (em 2)
-
-mainContent :: Css
-mainContent = do
- div # "#content" ? do
- backgroundColor oldlace
- marginBottom (px 10)
- allPadding (px 30)
- display flex
- flexDirection column
-
-bookList :: Css
-bookList = do
-
- div # ".book" ? do
- display flex
- flexGrow 1
- flexBasis (pct 42)
- allPadding (pct 2)
- borderBottom (px 3) solid black
-
- section # ".books" ? do
- display flex
- flexWrap (FlexWrap "wrap")
-
- div # ".book-content" ? do
- display flex
- paddingLeft (px 20)
- flexDirection column
-
-
- ".book-image" ? do
- display flex
- alignItems center
- flexDirection column
- small ? do
- marginTop (px 10)
- img ? do
- width (px 200)
-
- -- Generate the cool shelves.
- -- forM_ [ Text.pack . show $ (2*w + 1) | w <- [0..200]] $ \n -> do
- div # ".book" # nthChild "odd" ? do
- borderRight (px 3) solid black
-
- query Clay.all [Media.maxWidth 1200] $ do
- -- body ?
- -- fontSize (px 28)
-
- div # ".book-content" ? do
- marginRight (px 20)
-
- -- Other side of the shelf
- -- forM_ [ Text.pack . show $ (2*w) | w <- [0..200]] $ \n -> do
- div # ".book" # nthChild "even" ? do
- borderLeft (px 3) solid black
- --
- div # ".book" ? do
- flexBasis (pct 90)
-
- div # ".book-info" ? do
- maxWidth (pct 100)
- flexDirection row
-
- div # ".fact" ? do
- marginLeft (px 20)
-
- "#book-review" ? do
- flexDirection column
-
- div # ".large-review" ? do
- marginLeft (px 0)
-
- -- Smallest
- query Clay.all [Media.maxWidth 800] $ do
- div # "#content" ? do
- allMargin (px 5)
- allPadding (px 0)
-
- div # ".book" ? do
- flexDirection column
- paddingTop (px 20)
- paddingBottom (px 20)
-
- ul # "#menu" ? do
- flexDirection column
-
- div # ".book-image" ? do
- width (pct 100)
- alignItems center
-
- ".book-image" ? img ? do
- width (pct 100)
- maxHeight (px 200)
- "object-fit" -: "cover"
-
-bookList' :: Css
-bookList' = do
- div # ".books" ? do
- div # ".draft" ? do
- background lightcyan
-
-links :: Css
-links = do
- a ? do
- color black
- visited & do
- color black
- hover & do
- background ("#ffd381" :: Color)
-
-fonts :: Css
-fonts = do
- body ? do
- fontSize (px 18)
-
- let fontSelectors = p <> li <> blockquote <> a <> small
-
- fontSelectors ? do
- coreTextFont
- textAlign justify
-
- p <> li ? do
- lineHeight (em 1.8)
-
- h1 ? small ? do
- fontSize (em 0.7)
- color (grey)
-
- div # ".book-title" ? do
- marginBottom (px 3)
- a ? do
- titleFont
- fontSize (em 1.2)
-
- div # ".date" ? do
- color dimgrey
- menuFont
-
- div # ".book-authors" ? do
- menuFont
-
-mainHeader :: Css
-mainHeader = do
- "#header" ? do
- marginTop (px 100)
- ul # "#menu" ? do
- margin0
- padding0
- marginLeft (px 20)
- display flex
- alignItems center
- listStyleType none
- justifyContent flexStart
-
- li ? do
- firstChild & do
- marginRight (px 50)
- padding0
- a ? do
- menuFont
- display block
- allMargin (px 12)
-
-headings :: Css
-headings = do
- h1 <> h2 ? do
- titleFont
- fontWeight normal
-
- h3 ? do
- menuFont
- fontStyle italic
- fontWeight normal
- marginTop (px 30)
-
- h4 ? do
- menuFont
-
-reviewPage :: Css
-reviewPage = do
- "#book-review" ? do
- display flex
- flexDirection row
-
- ul # ".book-links" ? do
- margin0
- li ? do
- display inline
- margin0
-
- div # ".book-info" ? do
- menuFont
- display flex
- allPadding (px 20)
- flexDirection column
- backgroundColor white
- minWidth (px 200)
- maxWidth (px 300)
- borderBottom (px 3) solid black
- img ? do
- maxHeight (pct 100)
- maxWidth (pct 100)
- marginBottom (px 10)
- "object-fit" -: "cover"
-
- div # ".large-review" ? do
- marginLeft (px 20)
- marginRight (px 20)
- maxWidth (px 1000)
- span # ".ch" ? do
- monoFont
- fontStyle normal
- fontSize (em 0.9)
- backgroundColor ("#eaeaea" :: Color)
-
- div # ".summary" <> div # ".review" ? do
- marginLeft (px 10)
- paddingLeft (px 10)
-
- blockquote ? do
- paddingLeft (px 10)
- borderLeft (px 1) solid silver
- fontStyle italic
-
- div # ".book-info" ? do
- display flex
- flexDirection column
-
- div # ".fact" ? do
- marginTop (px 5)
- marginBottom (px 5)
- display flex
- flexDirection row
-
- span # ".property" ? do
- color gray
- paddingRight (px 5)
diff --git a/deploy b/deploy
deleted file mode 100755
index c96e8834..00000000
--- a/deploy
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-set -ex
-
-# Steps:
-
-# - Stash (any) changes so we can switch branches later
-
-git stash
-
-
-# - Generate metadata
-
-mkdir -p metadata
-./scripts/make-image-metadata
-./scripts/git-metadata
-
-
-# - Build the site
-
-stack run -- clean
-stack run -- build
-
-
-# - Switch branches
-
-git checkout gh-pages
-
-
-# - Copy the "_site" to the root, but don't delete things we want. (i.e. the
-# things that are peristed due to branch switches; those things in the
-# gitignore file.)
-
-rsync -a --filter='P _site/' \
- --filter='P _cache/' \
- --filter='P .git/' \
- --filter='P .gitignore' \
- --filter='P .stack-work' \
- --filter='P .env' \
- --filter='P .nojekyll' \
- --filter='P metadata' \
- --filter='P spellcheck' \
- --delete-excluded \
- _site/ .
-
-
-# - Add commit and push
-
-git add -A
-git commit -m "Update." || true
-git push --force-with-lease origin gh-pages
-
-
-# - Bring everything back
-
-git checkout main
-git stash pop
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index 17f360db..00000000
--- a/flake.lock
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-{
- "nodes": {
- "nixpkgs": {
- "locked": {
- "lastModified": 1677341534,
- "narHash": "sha256-zqaJuOTnKzg5AubC4rzzJ/IS5kU5n4U7vxosv1Fv8Ug=",
- "owner": "nixos",
- "repo": "nixpkgs",
- "rev": "7076110064c09f0b3942f609f2134c1358ef2e50",
- "type": "github"
- },
- "original": {
- "owner": "nixos",
- "ref": "nixos-22.11",
- "repo": "nixpkgs",
- "type": "github"
- }
- },
- "root": {
- "inputs": {
- "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs",
- "stacklock2nix": "stacklock2nix"
- }
- },
- "stacklock2nix": {
- "locked": {
- "lastModified": 1676847867,
- "narHash": "sha256-AZaNUH0ltgcvS8lhc5vBML7YxkCsDD0y+NpB+2Zd678=",
- "owner": "cdepillabout",
- "repo": "stacklock2nix",
- "rev": "2181b463e0ee05f886613d489e18299327a7cee6",
- "type": "github"
- },
- "original": {
- "owner": "cdepillabout",
- "ref": "main",
- "repo": "stacklock2nix",
- "type": "github"
- }
- }
- },
- "root": "root",
- "version": 7
-}
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index a72a75cd..00000000
--- a/flake.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-{
- inputs = {
- nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-22.11";
- stacklock2nix.url = "github:cdepillabout/stacklock2nix/main";
- };
-
- outputs = inputs:
- with inputs; let
- supportedSystems = [
- "aarch64-darwin"
- "aarch64-linux"
- "x86_64-darwin"
- "x86_64-linux"
- ];
- forAllSystems = f: nixpkgs.lib.genAttrs supportedSystems (system: f system);
- nixpkgsFor = forAllSystems (system:
- import nixpkgs {
- inherit system;
- overlays = [stacklock2nix.overlay self.overlay];
- });
- in {
- overlay = import nix/overlay.nix;
-
- packages = forAllSystems (system: {
- site = nixpkgsFor.${system}.site-app;
- });
-
- defaultPackage = forAllSystems (system: self.packages.${system}.site);
-
- devShell = forAllSystems (system: nixpkgsFor.${system}.site-dev-shell);
- };
-}
diff --git a/go b/go
deleted file mode 100755
index 0bf0ec20..00000000
--- a/go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env sh
-
-set -e
-
-export SHOW_DRAFTS=True
-
-# ./scripts/git-metadata
-
-stack run --nix -- clean && stack run --nix -- watch
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..540a2d57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,4061 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Updates - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
+"high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
+how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
+them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
+just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
+likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
+
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
+personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
+
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
+for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
+and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
+have had.
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.
This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
+service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
+actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
+probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
+for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
+I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
+of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
+but a worthwhile read nevertheless.
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this
+other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that
+Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the
+same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in
+comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book
+aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind,
+absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing
+reading!
+ by
+
+ Daniel J. Siegel,
+
+ Tina Payne Bryson
+
+
+
+
I liked this book. It discusses what seem to be some quite reasonable
+approaches for dealing with children. It's a bit too early for me to put
+in to practice, but a lot of the discussions seem quite good, and it'll
+probably be something I refer back to in a few years :)
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set
+an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for
+anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her
+earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few
+books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't
+quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end
+of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were
+compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally
+any other series.
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
+feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
+book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
+connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
+really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
+it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
+at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
+book is for you!
Really quite interesting and good. I think I'd seen Fern Brady
+before, and she's clearly and interesting person, but this an
+enlightening book for me, in particular in building some empathy for how
+people with autism experience life and their emotions, and in particular
+women. Great reading!
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Picked this up after listening to the author talk about it during the a book festival in Edinburgh. I loved it. I'm excited also to try and read the Spanish version in Spanish; but that will probably be a bit of a challenge. In any case, a nice read about parenting, how to relate to people, and what our relationships could be like. It also almost made me cry on the first page, which I thought was impressive.
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
+ by
+
+ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson,
+
+ Katharine Keeble Wilkinson,
+
+ Sherri Mitchell,
+
+ Catherine Pierce,
+
+ Kate Marvel,
+
+ Adrienne Maree Brown,
+
+ Jacqueline Patterson,
+
+ Janine M. Benyus,
+
+ Camille T. Dungy,
+
+ Mary Anne Hitt,
+
+ Abigail Dillen,
+
+ Leah C Stokes,
+
+ Joy Harjo,
+
+ Maggie Thomas,
+
+ Marge Piercy,
+
+ Varshini Prakash
+
+
+
+
I really enjoyed this one. It's a nice collection of short essays and writings on people motivated to work on the climate (and associated) crises; and it's inspiring to see so many people interacting so thoughtfully. Definitely recommend.
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
+ by
+
+ Christopher W. Alexander,
+
+ Howard Davis,
+
+ Julio Martinez,
+
+ Don Corner
+
+
+
+
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
+
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!
A cute little book; it's a very "artsy" book, describing a particular project of an artist who, in my interpretation, was using listening as a way to connect with the broader world. Quirky, short, but I enjoyed it.
I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the last book by this author; but I certainly can't say I "enjoyed" this one. It covers the (horrible) story of one families drive to make money, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry. I think it's "good" to read it; but for me I think it just shows the dangers of incentives. In many ways I agree with one of the reviewers who said they felt guilty for enjoying it. Hopefully we can move beyond stories like this and into other kinds of analyses and understanding.
A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
Extremely relevant and interesting reading. It's a discussion of the very present problem of polarisation; i.e. how we can easily paint ourselves into corners from which we can't escape, or deem certain people irredeemable, and just generally avoid difficult conversations. I like Bohm a lot because of his connection to quantum physics, and Buddhism; so I'm very partial to this kind of topic. But this is a really great book, full of nice bits of insight; and it's short! I read it slowly, just to try and absorb as much as I could. Highly recommended!
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
+
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
+ by
+
+ Björn Natthiko Lindeblad,
+
+ Caroline Bankeler,
+
+ Navid Modiiri,
+
+ Agnes Bromme
+
+
+
+
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
+
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
+
One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
+
In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was certainly interesting to learn about her life, and what lead her to start her "Me Too" movement. That said, I can't say I could really relate at all to her experiences and choices. This makes it at least interesting and out of my comfort zone, but it also makes it hard to judge whether or not I enjoyed it, and what I got out of it. At least it let me build some empathy and understanding for how she's lived her life.
+
Recommended reading for the history and backstory, and understanding what goes on the mind of someone with a totally different life experience from my own.
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
Really an exceptional bit of writing. Nancy has a perfect writing style, engaging, soft, thoughtful and provocative. It's a really collection of stories of her journey into cold places; and how she and others engage with them. I loved reading this, it filled me with warmth.
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!
Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
+ by
+
+ Sōsuke Natsukawa,
+
+ Louise Heal Kawai
+
+
+
+
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
Recommended to me by a friend, I got hooked on this book immediately and read it in two days; I couldn't put it down. It's very well written; easy to read, fast paced and compelling. If you've read "Educated", it's a lot like that, only with a wildly different context. I loved it. Really well conveys the stress and impact of living with a lie from your family, and how that impacts your personal life. Also very positively show the power of therapy, and generally of friendship and support. Just amazing!
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
+ by
+
+ Philippe van Parijs,
+
+ Yannick Vanderborght
+
+
+
+
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
+book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
+gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
+feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
+of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
+people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
+racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
+the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
+this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
+generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
+book.
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
+personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
+interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
+conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
+product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
+particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
+and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
+such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
+thoughts in this space!
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
It took a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did, I think it
+paid off. Dan has a nice friendly writing style, and the stories he
+tells are interesting and charming. There are also references to a few
+other books I am reading (The Importance of Being Iceland, and The Living Mountain), so that helped me connect a bit more.
+Overall I think it's a nice entry in this genre, but lacks some of the
+philosophical punch of Barry Lopez in Horizon, say. Still worth reading,
+though, and certainly fun.
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
+decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
+is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
+and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
+short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
+unexplained. Just a great book!
Just an amazing book. Basically, it's about how to apply Buddhist-style
+thoughts to your life and actions more generally, with a particular view
+to trying to "reduce suffering" of those around you. Pema Chödrön is
+really just a great writer, and has a really accessible interpretation
+of "The Way of the Boddhisattvas". I personally got a lot of inspiration
+and encouragement from this book; and while I might not agree with
+absolutely everything, there's plenty in here to like and explore.
This is a very legitimate and intense book, with a strong American
+focus. It argues that the police are actively harmful, and points out
+all sorts of issues with "improvement" programs, and more generally the
+structure that supports the policing apparatus. I went in to this book
+probably being open-minded; I would've argued, before reading it, that
+police are generally good and useful, but of course that comes from my
+perspective as a white man. I see now the other perspective, and while
+I'm not fully convinced by all the examples in this book; I do think
+that in general, the message of using communities and local-supporting
+systems over the state-managed "violence workers", is certainly
+attractive. While this book does have *some* practical ideas for how
+communities can self-organise in this way, I would've liked to see more.
+But I suppose this idea is just developing, and this was my first
+entrypoint into this kind of thinking. Overall, I do recommend this
+book; I think it's very passionately written and contains a lot of good
+arguments. But it's also quite confronting, so be prepared!
For me there's really no better book on what it means to be conscious
+and how to think about consciousness. As always, I like books that
+connect back to Buddhism in some what, and I found that this one really
+does; even though I don't think the author makes that connection
+explicitly. In any case, if you're interested in quite a different
+perspective on how to think of personhood and what makes you you, I
+really recommend this book!
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
+..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
+Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
+Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
+particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
+of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
+accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
+early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
+this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
+any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
+which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
+It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
+certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
+keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling read.
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
I enjoyed this book. The development of the main character was interesting to read, and it certainly challenged me a bit because I would've preferred a story that had less problematic things happen to the character; or made her story of self-actualisation a bit more self-determined than luck; but it probably is more realistic as it is. Overall I think it nicely shows the difficulty faced by people in this position, and that was interesting to me to learn through this novel. Definitely recommend it!
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and positive. A great book!
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts, but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I read this *after* The Midnight Library (which I really really enjoyed), so perhaps that meant I had very high expectations. I think this book is probably good because of how personal it is, and how honest and open the author is about his life and his feelings. I think while I don't agree with everything in it (for example my view would be a bit more Buddhist than what the author says they are comfortable with), I do think it adds some useful thoughts to keep in mind when you're feeling depressed and hopeless.
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put it down and read it in just two days!
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
This books wasn't what I thought it would be. I admit I thought it was going to be about some kind of adventure in Antarctica; but in fact it's a novel about a stroke. I found it very very stressful for read, but I think that's the intention. To some degree I think it managed to convey the difficulties with having a stroke, and the impact on people around you. But mostly I was stressed because of how I felt the characters would be feeling, and because I think I could get a raw feeling of how it would be if *I* had a stroke, and that caused me a lot of anxiety. Probably an interesting book for some, but not one that I would read again in a hurry.
This is a very hard book to read; and it contains some very traumatic stories. Nevertheless, I feel better having read it. I learned a lot about what domestic abuse looks like, and what people suffering from it have to deal with, and how to support them. Highly recommended.
I was really surprised and amazed by this book. I saw Ariel Levy talk at the amazing festival in Melbourne. I didn't know anything about her, but the image I did form didn't match what was revealed in this book. Very thoughtful and captivating, and a relatable account of one persons life and dreams. Definitely recommended reading for an insight into a life that is quite different from my own.
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!
A thought-provoking analysis of the culture around consent and ability-to-know-ones feelings. Discusses the differences in how (heterosexual) sex and desire is talked about and researched. In particular the discussion centers around impersonal "objective" measurements of arousal and the conclusions from that; and what people can and should know about their desires; and how to manage expressing that to other people. Not conclusive; but a good contribution to a complex topic!
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
Exciting read! This is the first book I read on The Troubles, and while it doesn't cover the much of the background or the start, it does cover one the period of time by following a few quite interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed learning about the process some academics covered in the story used in order to try and record the history and details of the troubles, and the associated difficulty of doing that. Very interesting!
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
+feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
+book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
+connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
+really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
+it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
+at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
+book is for you!
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
+
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
+
One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
+
In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
This is a very legitimate and intense book, with a strong American
+focus. It argues that the police are actively harmful, and points out
+all sorts of issues with "improvement" programs, and more generally the
+structure that supports the policing apparatus. I went in to this book
+probably being open-minded; I would've argued, before reading it, that
+police are generally good and useful, but of course that comes from my
+perspective as a white man. I see now the other perspective, and while
+I'm not fully convinced by all the examples in this book; I do think
+that in general, the message of using communities and local-supporting
+systems over the state-managed "violence workers", is certainly
+attractive. While this book does have *some* practical ideas for how
+communities can self-organise in this way, I would've liked to see more.
+But I suppose this idea is just developing, and this was my first
+entrypoint into this kind of thinking. Overall, I do recommend this
+book; I think it's very passionately written and contains a lot of good
+arguments. But it's also quite confronting, so be prepared!
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
It took a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did, I think it
+paid off. Dan has a nice friendly writing style, and the stories he
+tells are interesting and charming. There are also references to a few
+other books I am reading (The Importance of Being Iceland, and The Living Mountain), so that helped me connect a bit more.
+Overall I think it's a nice entry in this genre, but lacks some of the
+philosophical punch of Barry Lopez in Horizon, say. Still worth reading,
+though, and certainly fun.
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put it down and read it in just two days!
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
+ by
+
+ Christopher W. Alexander,
+
+ Howard Davis,
+
+ Julio Martinez,
+
+ Don Corner
+
+
+
+
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
+
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
+
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
+ by
+
+ Björn Natthiko Lindeblad,
+
+ Caroline Bankeler,
+
+ Navid Modiiri,
+
+ Agnes Bromme
+
+
+
+
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
Just an amazing book. Basically, it's about how to apply Buddhist-style
+thoughts to your life and actions more generally, with a particular view
+to trying to "reduce suffering" of those around you. Pema Chödrön is
+really just a great writer, and has a really accessible interpretation
+of "The Way of the Boddhisattvas". I personally got a lot of inspiration
+and encouragement from this book; and while I might not agree with
+absolutely everything, there's plenty in here to like and explore.
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
+..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
+Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
+Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
+particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
+of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
+accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
+early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
+this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
+any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
+which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
+It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
+certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
+keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
+ by
+
+ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson,
+
+ Katharine Keeble Wilkinson,
+
+ Sherri Mitchell,
+
+ Catherine Pierce,
+
+ Kate Marvel,
+
+ Adrienne Maree Brown,
+
+ Jacqueline Patterson,
+
+ Janine M. Benyus,
+
+ Camille T. Dungy,
+
+ Mary Anne Hitt,
+
+ Abigail Dillen,
+
+ Leah C Stokes,
+
+ Joy Harjo,
+
+ Maggie Thomas,
+
+ Marge Piercy,
+
+ Varshini Prakash
+
+
+
+
I really enjoyed this one. It's a nice collection of short essays and writings on people motivated to work on the climate (and associated) crises; and it's inspiring to see so many people interacting so thoughtfully. Definitely recommend.
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
Really an exceptional bit of writing. Nancy has a perfect writing style, engaging, soft, thoughtful and provocative. It's a really collection of stories of her journey into cold places; and how she and others engage with them. I loved reading this, it filled me with warmth.
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
+ by
+
+ Philippe van Parijs,
+
+ Yannick Vanderborght
+
+
+
+
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
+personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
+interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
+conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
+product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
+particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
+and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
+such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
+thoughts in this space!
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set
+an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for
+anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her
+earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few
+books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't
+quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end
+of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were
+compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally
+any other series.
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
+feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
+book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
+connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
+really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
+it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
+at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
+book is for you!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
+
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
+book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
+gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
+feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
+of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
+people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
+racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
+the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
+this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
+generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
+book.
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
I enjoyed this book. The development of the main character was interesting to read, and it certainly challenged me a bit because I would've preferred a story that had less problematic things happen to the character; or made her story of self-actualisation a bit more self-determined than luck; but it probably is more realistic as it is. Overall I think it nicely shows the difficulty faced by people in this position, and that was interesting to me to learn through this novel. Definitely recommend it!
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!
An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this
+other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that
+Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the
+same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in
+comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book
+aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind,
+absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing
+reading!
Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set
+an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for
+anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her
+earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few
+books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't
+quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end
+of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were
+compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally
+any other series.
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)
A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!
I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.
This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!
+ by
+
+ Sōsuke Natsukawa,
+
+ Louise Heal Kawai
+
+
+
+
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
+decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
+is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
+and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
+short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
+unexplained. Just a great book!
I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling read.
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
+
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
+ by
+
+ Sōsuke Natsukawa,
+
+ Louise Heal Kawai
+
+
+
+
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
+decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
+is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
+and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
+short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
+unexplained. Just a great book!
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling read.
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and positive. A great book!
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
+..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
+Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
+Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
+particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
+of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
+accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
+early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
+this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
+any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
+which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
+It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
+certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
+keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts, but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put it down and read it in just two days!
Exciting read! This is the first book I read on The Troubles, and while it doesn't cover the much of the background or the start, it does cover one the period of time by following a few quite interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed learning about the process some academics covered in the story used in order to try and record the history and details of the troubles, and the associated difficulty of doing that. Very interesting!
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was certainly interesting to learn about her life, and what lead her to start her "Me Too" movement. That said, I can't say I could really relate at all to her experiences and choices. This makes it at least interesting and out of my comfort zone, but it also makes it hard to judge whether or not I enjoyed it, and what I got out of it. At least it let me build some empathy and understanding for how she's lived her life.
+
Recommended reading for the history and backstory, and understanding what goes on the mind of someone with a totally different life experience from my own.
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
This is a very hard book to read; and it contains some very traumatic stories. Nevertheless, I feel better having read it. I learned a lot about what domestic abuse looks like, and what people suffering from it have to deal with, and how to support them. Highly recommended.
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!
A thought-provoking analysis of the culture around consent and ability-to-know-ones feelings. Discusses the differences in how (heterosexual) sex and desire is talked about and researched. In particular the discussion centers around impersonal "objective" measurements of arousal and the conclusions from that; and what people can and should know about their desires; and how to manage expressing that to other people. Not conclusive; but a good contribution to a complex topic!
Exciting read! This is the first book I read on The Troubles, and while it doesn't cover the much of the background or the start, it does cover one the period of time by following a few quite interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed learning about the process some academics covered in the story used in order to try and record the history and details of the troubles, and the associated difficulty of doing that. Very interesting!
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
+..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
+Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
+Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
+particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
+of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
+accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
+early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
+this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
+any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
+which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
+It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
+certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
+keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
+"high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
+how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
+them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
+just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
+likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
+
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
+personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
+
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
+for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
+and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
+have had.
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
+ by
+
+ Daniel J. Siegel,
+
+ Tina Payne Bryson
+
+
+
+
I liked this book. It discusses what seem to be some quite reasonable
+approaches for dealing with children. It's a bit too early for me to put
+in to practice, but a lot of the discussions seem quite good, and it'll
+probably be something I refer back to in a few years :)
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
Really quite interesting and good. I think I'd seen Fern Brady
+before, and she's clearly and interesting person, but this an
+enlightening book for me, in particular in building some empathy for how
+people with autism experience life and their emotions, and in particular
+women. Great reading!
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
A cute little book; it's a very "artsy" book, describing a particular project of an artist who, in my interpretation, was using listening as a way to connect with the broader world. Quirky, short, but I enjoyed it.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the last book by this author; but I certainly can't say I "enjoyed" this one. It covers the (horrible) story of one families drive to make money, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry. I think it's "good" to read it; but for me I think it just shows the dangers of incentives. In many ways I agree with one of the reviewers who said they felt guilty for enjoying it. Hopefully we can move beyond stories like this and into other kinds of analyses and understanding.
Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
+ by
+
+ Björn Natthiko Lindeblad,
+
+ Caroline Bankeler,
+
+ Navid Modiiri,
+
+ Agnes Bromme
+
+
+
+
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
+
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
Recommended to me by a friend, I got hooked on this book immediately and read it in two days; I couldn't put it down. It's very well written; easy to read, fast paced and compelling. If you've read "Educated", it's a lot like that, only with a wildly different context. I loved it. Really well conveys the stress and impact of living with a lie from your family, and how that impacts your personal life. Also very positively show the power of therapy, and generally of friendship and support. Just amazing!
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
+ by
+
+ Philippe van Parijs,
+
+ Yannick Vanderborght
+
+
+
+
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
+book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
+gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
+feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
+of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
+people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
+racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
+the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
+this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
+generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
+book.
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
+personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
+interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
+conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
+product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
+particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
+and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
+such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
+thoughts in this space!
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
+ by
+
+ Daniel J. Siegel,
+
+ Tina Payne Bryson
+
+
+
+
I liked this book. It discusses what seem to be some quite reasonable
+approaches for dealing with children. It's a bit too early for me to put
+in to practice, but a lot of the discussions seem quite good, and it'll
+probably be something I refer back to in a few years :)
This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
+"high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
+how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
+them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
+just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
+likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
+
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
+personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
+
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
+for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
+and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
+have had.
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
+service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
+actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
+probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
+for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
+I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
+of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
+but a worthwhile read nevertheless.
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
Really quite interesting and good. I think I'd seen Fern Brady
+before, and she's clearly and interesting person, but this an
+enlightening book for me, in particular in building some empathy for how
+people with autism experience life and their emotions, and in particular
+women. Great reading!
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Picked this up after listening to the author talk about it during the a book festival in Edinburgh. I loved it. I'm excited also to try and read the Spanish version in Spanish; but that will probably be a bit of a challenge. In any case, a nice read about parenting, how to relate to people, and what our relationships could be like. It also almost made me cry on the first page, which I thought was impressive.
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was certainly interesting to learn about her life, and what lead her to start her "Me Too" movement. That said, I can't say I could really relate at all to her experiences and choices. This makes it at least interesting and out of my comfort zone, but it also makes it hard to judge whether or not I enjoyed it, and what I got out of it. At least it let me build some empathy and understanding for how she's lived her life.
+
Recommended reading for the history and backstory, and understanding what goes on the mind of someone with a totally different life experience from my own.
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
Recommended to me by a friend, I got hooked on this book immediately and read it in two days; I couldn't put it down. It's very well written; easy to read, fast paced and compelling. If you've read "Educated", it's a lot like that, only with a wildly different context. I loved it. Really well conveys the stress and impact of living with a lie from your family, and how that impacts your personal life. Also very positively show the power of therapy, and generally of friendship and support. Just amazing!
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and positive. A great book!
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I read this *after* The Midnight Library (which I really really enjoyed), so perhaps that meant I had very high expectations. I think this book is probably good because of how personal it is, and how honest and open the author is about his life and his feelings. I think while I don't agree with everything in it (for example my view would be a bit more Buddhist than what the author says they are comfortable with), I do think it adds some useful thoughts to keep in mind when you're feeling depressed and hopeless.
I was really surprised and amazed by this book. I saw Ariel Levy talk at the amazing festival in Melbourne. I didn't know anything about her, but the image I did form didn't match what was revealed in this book. Very thoughtful and captivating, and a relatable account of one persons life and dreams. Definitely recommended reading for an insight into a life that is quite different from my own.
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
+feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
+book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
+connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
+really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
+it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
+at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
+book is for you!
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
Picked this up after listening to the author talk about it during the a book festival in Edinburgh. I loved it. I'm excited also to try and read the Spanish version in Spanish; but that will probably be a bit of a challenge. In any case, a nice read about parenting, how to relate to people, and what our relationships could be like. It also almost made me cry on the first page, which I thought was impressive.
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
+ by
+
+ Christopher W. Alexander,
+
+ Howard Davis,
+
+ Julio Martinez,
+
+ Don Corner
+
+
+
+
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
+
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
Extremely relevant and interesting reading. It's a discussion of the very present problem of polarisation; i.e. how we can easily paint ourselves into corners from which we can't escape, or deem certain people irredeemable, and just generally avoid difficult conversations. I like Bohm a lot because of his connection to quantum physics, and Buddhism; so I'm very partial to this kind of topic. But this is a really great book, full of nice bits of insight; and it's short! I read it slowly, just to try and absorb as much as I could. Highly recommended!
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
+ by
+
+ Björn Natthiko Lindeblad,
+
+ Caroline Bankeler,
+
+ Navid Modiiri,
+
+ Agnes Bromme
+
+
+
+
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
+ by
+
+ Sōsuke Natsukawa,
+
+ Louise Heal Kawai
+
+
+
+
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
+ by
+
+ Philippe van Parijs,
+
+ Yannick Vanderborght
+
+
+
+
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
Just an amazing book. Basically, it's about how to apply Buddhist-style
+thoughts to your life and actions more generally, with a particular view
+to trying to "reduce suffering" of those around you. Pema Chödrön is
+really just a great writer, and has a really accessible interpretation
+of "The Way of the Boddhisattvas". I personally got a lot of inspiration
+and encouragement from this book; and while I might not agree with
+absolutely everything, there's plenty in here to like and explore.
For me there's really no better book on what it means to be conscious
+and how to think about consciousness. As always, I like books that
+connect back to Buddhism in some what, and I found that this one really
+does; even though I don't think the author makes that connection
+explicitly. In any case, if you're interested in quite a different
+perspective on how to think of personhood and what makes you you, I
+really recommend this book!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts, but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
+
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
Really an exceptional bit of writing. Nancy has a perfect writing style, engaging, soft, thoughtful and provocative. It's a really collection of stories of her journey into cold places; and how she and others engage with them. I loved reading this, it filled me with warmth.
Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
+ by
+
+ Gracie Mae Bradley,
+
+ Luke de Noronha
+
+
+
+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
+service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
+actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
+probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
+for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
+I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
+of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
+but a worthwhile read nevertheless.
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!
A cute little book; it's a very "artsy" book, describing a particular project of an artist who, in my interpretation, was using listening as a way to connect with the broader world. Quirky, short, but I enjoyed it.
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
+personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
+interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
+conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
+product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
+particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
+and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
+such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
+thoughts in this space!
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts, but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
This books wasn't what I thought it would be. I admit I thought it was going to be about some kind of adventure in Antarctica; but in fact it's a novel about a stroke. I found it very very stressful for read, but I think that's the intention. To some degree I think it managed to convey the difficulties with having a stroke, and the impact on people around you. But mostly I was stressed because of how I felt the characters would be feeling, and because I think I could get a raw feeling of how it would be if *I* had a stroke, and that caused me a lot of anxiety. Probably an interesting book for some, but not one that I would read again in a hurry.
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
+
One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
+
In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
+book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
+gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
+feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
+of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
+people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
+racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
+the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
+this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
+generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
+book.
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
+ by
+
+ Sōsuke Natsukawa,
+
+ Louise Heal Kawai
+
+
+
+
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
+decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
+is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
+and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
+short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
+unexplained. Just a great book!
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and positive. A great book!
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
A thought-provoking analysis of the culture around consent and ability-to-know-ones feelings. Discusses the differences in how (heterosexual) sex and desire is talked about and researched. In particular the discussion centers around impersonal "objective" measurements of arousal and the conclusions from that; and what people can and should know about their desires; and how to manage expressing that to other people. Not conclusive; but a good contribution to a complex topic!
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this
+other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that
+Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the
+same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in
+comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book
+aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind,
+absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing
+reading!
+ by
+
+ Olga Ravn,
+
+ Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
+
+
+
+
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the last book by this author; but I certainly can't say I "enjoyed" this one. It covers the (horrible) story of one families drive to make money, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry. I think it's "good" to read it; but for me I think it just shows the dangers of incentives. In many ways I agree with one of the reviewers who said they felt guilty for enjoying it. Hopefully we can move beyond stories like this and into other kinds of analyses and understanding.
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put it down and read it in just two days!
This books wasn't what I thought it would be. I admit I thought it was going to be about some kind of adventure in Antarctica; but in fact it's a novel about a stroke. I found it very very stressful for read, but I think that's the intention. To some degree I think it managed to convey the difficulties with having a stroke, and the impact on people around you. But mostly I was stressed because of how I felt the characters would be feeling, and because I think I could get a raw feeling of how it would be if *I* had a stroke, and that caused me a lot of anxiety. Probably an interesting book for some, but not one that I would read again in a hurry.
This is a very hard book to read; and it contains some very traumatic stories. Nevertheless, I feel better having read it. I learned a lot about what domestic abuse looks like, and what people suffering from it have to deal with, and how to support them. Highly recommended.
I was really surprised and amazed by this book. I saw Ariel Levy talk at the amazing festival in Melbourne. I didn't know anything about her, but the image I did form didn't match what was revealed in this book. Very thoughtful and captivating, and a relatable account of one persons life and dreams. Definitely recommended reading for an insight into a life that is quite different from my own.
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
It took a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did, I think it
+paid off. Dan has a nice friendly writing style, and the stories he
+tells are interesting and charming. There are also references to a few
+other books I am reading (The Importance of Being Iceland, and The Living Mountain), so that helped me connect a bit more.
+Overall I think it's a nice entry in this genre, but lacks some of the
+philosophical punch of Barry Lopez in Horizon, say. Still worth reading,
+though, and certainly fun.
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
+ by
+
+ Christopher W. Alexander,
+
+ Howard Davis,
+
+ Julio Martinez,
+
+ Don Corner
+
+
+
+
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
+
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
+
One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
+
In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!
Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World
+
+
+
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
+
+
+
+
Rough Summary
+
A big collection of research and arguments around a bunch of concepts in ethics and
+altruism. Nicely presented and probably pretty-well researched; but I think
+not perfect.
+
I found it pretty good; but it is a long read. The things I got out of it the
+most are:
+
+
Difference between empathy and compassion, and how compassion helps prevent
+empathetic burnout,
+
Arguments about why we’re not inherently selfish,
+
Neat ideas for how to help children learn altruism.
+
+
I think it’s probably a good book to come and to when having doubts and for
+reminding yourself of useful arguments about how people are essentially good.
+
Specific Notes
+
I. What Is Altruism?
+
+
Page 34 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
+
+
“The rich man has little compassion for the poor man,
+since he can’t imagine himself poor”.
+
+
Page 51 - Alexandre Jollien:
+
+
“In pity, sadness comes first. I am sad that the other is
+suffering, but I don’t really love them. In compassion, love comes first.”
+
+
Page 69
+
+
Uri Hasson thinks that this “brain coupling” is essential to
+communication.
+
+
I think I liked this part because it reminded me of ideas in I Am A Strange
+Loop in the
+sense of a meeting of minds being kind of like having a “copy” of that
+person in your person; which naturally makes it easier to communicate!
+
Page 78 - Discussion around the idea of whether or not it’s altruistic if you
+benefit from the action. The claim is that it’s okay, as long as it’s not the
+intent to benefit. This is a common theme: the intent matters.
+
Page 84 - Nice quote re: Politics
+
+
Philosopher Andre comte-Sponville expresses it this way: “I think that the
+whole art of politics is to make selfish individuals more intelligent,
+which I call ‘solidarity’ and which Jacques Attali calls ‘self-interested
+altruism.’ It is a question of making people understand that it is in
+their own self-interest to take into account the interests of others.”
+
+
+
II. The Emergence of Altruism
+
+
Page 147 - On cultivating compassion
+
+
… We can find an inspiration in these words attribute to an old Cherokee
+giving advice to his grandson: “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to
+the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil — he is
+hatred, anger, greed, envy, arrogance, grudge, resentment, miserliness,
+cowardliness. The other is good — he is happiness, joy, serenity,
+love, kindness, compassion, hope, humility, generosity, truthfulness, and
+confidence. They are also fighting inside you and inside every other
+person, too.” The child thought about it for a minute and then asked his
+grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The
+one you feed.”
+
+
Page 198 - Regarding theory of mind in birds.
+
Page 219
+
+
Research shows unanimously that the most constructive and effective
+attitude consists of calmly explaining to the child why it would be better
+for him to change his behaviour. It’s the approach that Hoffman calls
+induction. The child is urged to adopt the perspective of the other
+and especially to realise the harm he may have caused to the other. The
+child is also shown how to spot the harm that has been committed.
+
+
Page 220 - Regret vs Guilt: Regret can be constructive in terms of
+awareness, guilt is not.a
+
+
III. Cultivating Altruism
+
+
Page 254 - Epigenetic changes via meditation.
+
+
IV. Contrary Forces
+
+
Page 275 - Comments on Ego and the centeredness of I; i.e. how much
+time and attention we give to it, and how it relates to Buddhist ideas of
+interconnectedness.
+
Page 313 - On freedom and being free to “do whatever you want”:
+
+
In practice, expressing oneself free of any constraints seems more destined
+to hinder the good of society than to accomplish it. I met a young
+American woman who told me, “To be really myself, to be free, I have to be
+faithful to what I feel, and spontaneously express whatever I like and
+whatever suits me”. True freedom, however, does not consist in doing
+whatever comes to mind, but in being master on oneself.
+
+
This was a nice comment I thought, as I certainly typically feel that to be
+free is do to whatever you want; but here he argues for taking even greater
+control of yourself by using meditation to become aware of how feelings and
+the environment influence us. Interesting.
+
Page 320 - Discussion of self-compassion over self-esteem. Quote from
+Kristin Neff:
+
+
One reason that self-compassion may be more beneficial than self-esteem is
+that it tends to be available precisely when self-esteem fails. Personal
+flaws and shortcomings can be approached in a kind and balanced manner
+that recognizes that imperfection is part of the human condition, even
+when self-evaluations are negative. This means that self-compassion can
+lessen feelings of self-loathing without requiring that one adopt an
+unrealistically positive view of oneself — a major reason why
+self-esteem enhancement programs often fail.
+
+
Page 363 - Comments on violence on TV.
+
Page 413 - Discussion on whether or not we’re naturally warlike or always
+fighting each other.
+
+
V. Building a More Altruistic Society
+
+
Page 534 and friends - Discussion of moral neutrality in education; i.e. maybe we
+shouldn’t teach a specific religion, but certainly it’s a good idea to teach
+kindness, tolerance and an ability to understand your emotions. Some
+discussion of interesting programs in schools that had interesting results.
+Good to refer back to when thinking about teaching classes.
+
Page 539 - Regarding Cognitive Based Compassion Therapy in children.
+
+This program lasts eight weeks and comprises:
+
+
developing attention and stability of mind;
+
observing the inner nature of thoughts, feelings and emotions;
+
exploring self-compassion — recognizing our desire for happiness,
+the mental states that lead to personal fulfilment, and willingness to
+free oneself from emotional states that detract from happiness;
+
developing impartiality towards other beings, be they friends, enemies,
+or strangers, and at the same time questioning the value — fixed,
+or superficial and changing — of this categorization, and
+identifying a shared desire in everyone to be happy and to avoid
+suffering;
+
developing gratitude toward others, with no one able to survive without
+the support of countless and other people;
+
developing benevolence and empathy;
+
developing compassion for those who are suffering, and a desire that
+they be freed from that suffering;
+
implementing altruism into everyday life.
+
+
Children are very receptive to this sort of education. When one of the
+instructors compared anger to a spark in a forest, which at the start can
+easily be extinguished but which rapidly becomes a huge, destructive,
+out-of-control inferno, a little five-year-old girl said: “There are a lot
+of forest fires in my life.”
+
+
Page 543 - On the usefulness of mentoring processes for children.
+
Page 613 - President of Uruguay living a simple life.
+
Page 659 - Discussion of sustainable growth of the economy.
+
Page 688 and friends - Very simple discussion of what democracy could look
+like. Similar idea to a lot of places now which is around local ownership
+built up in layers.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2020/altruism-matthieu-ricard-2015.md b/updates/2020/altruism-matthieu-ricard-2015.md
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----
-id: altruism-matthieu-ricard-2015
-title: "Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World"
-simpleTitle: "Altruism"
-authors:
- - Matthieu Ricard
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22208239-altruism
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/7342/9780857897015
-publisher: Little, Brown and Company
-yearPublished: 2015
-isbn: 0316208248
-isbn13: 9780316208239
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/altruism.webp
-pages: 864
-tags:
- - buddhism
- - ethics
- - compassion
- - empathy
- - economics
- - long-read
-date: 2020-09-01
-summary:
-
An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how
- these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist
- point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice
- and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional
- burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.
----
-
-#### Rough Summary
-
-A big collection of research and arguments around a bunch of concepts in ethics and
-altruism. Nicely presented and probably pretty-well researched; but I think
-not perfect.
-
-I found it pretty good; but it is a long read. The things I got out of it the
-most are:
-
-- Difference between empathy and compassion, and how compassion helps prevent
-empathetic burnout,
-- Arguments about why we're not inherently selfish,
-- Neat ideas for how to help children learn altruism.
-
-I think it's probably a good book to come and to when having doubts and for
-reminding yourself of useful arguments about how people are essentially good.
-
-
-#### Specific Notes
-
-I. What Is Altruism?
-
-- Page 34 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
-
- > "The rich man has little compassion for the poor man,
- > since he can't imagine himself poor".
-
-- Page 51 - Alexandre Jollien:
-
- > "In pity, sadness comes first. I am sad that the other is
- > suffering, but I don't really love them. In compassion, love comes first."
-
-- Page 69
-
- > Uri Hasson thinks that this "brain coupling" is essential to
- > communication.
-
- I think I liked this part because it reminded me of ideas in [I Am A Strange
- Loop](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123471.I_Am_a_Strange_Loop) in the
- sense of a meeting of minds being kind of like having a "copy" of that
- person in your person; which naturally makes it easier to communicate!
-
-- Page 78 - Discussion around the idea of whether or not it's altruistic if you
-benefit from the action. The claim is that it's okay, as long as it's not the
-_intent_ to benefit. This is a common theme: the intent matters.
-
-- Page 84 - Nice quote re: Politics
-
- > Philosopher Andre comte-Sponville expresses it this way: "I think that the
- > whole art of politics is to make selfish individuals more intelligent,
- > which I call 'solidarity' and which Jacques Attali calls 'self-interested
- > altruism.' It is a question of making people understand that it is in
- > their own self-interest to take into account the interests of others."
-
-
-II. The Emergence of Altruism
-
-- Page 147 - On cultivating compassion
-
- > ... We can find an inspiration in these words attribute to an old Cherokee
- > giving advice to his grandson: "A fight is going on inside me," he said to
- > the boy. "It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil — he is
- > hatred, anger, greed, envy, arrogance, grudge, resentment, miserliness,
- > cowardliness. The other is good — he is happiness, joy, serenity,
- > love, kindness, compassion, hope, humility, generosity, truthfulness, and
- > confidence. They are also fighting inside you and inside every other
- > person, too." The child thought about it for a minute and then asked his
- > grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The
- > one you feed."
-
-- Page 198 - Regarding theory of mind in birds.
-
-- Page 219
-
- > Research shows unanimously that the most constructive and effective
- > attitude consists of calmly explaining to the child why it would be better
- > for him to change his behaviour. It's the approach that Hoffman calls
- > **induction**. The child is urged to adopt the perspective of the other
- > and especially to realise the harm he may have caused to the other. The
- > child is also shown how to spot the harm that has been committed.
-
-- Page 220 - Regret vs Guilt: Regret can be constructive in terms of
-awareness, guilt is not.a
-
-
-III. Cultivating Altruism
-
-- Page 254 - Epigenetic changes via meditation.
-
-
-IV. Contrary Forces
-
-- Page 275 - Comments on Ego and the centeredness of **I**; i.e. how much
-time and attention we give to it, and how it relates to Buddhist ideas of
-interconnectedness.
-
-- Page 313 - On freedom and being free to "do whatever you want":
-
- > In practice, expressing oneself free of any constraints seems more destined
- > to hinder the good of society than to accomplish it. I met a young
- > American woman who told me, "To be really myself, to be free, I have to be
- > faithful to what I feel, and spontaneously express whatever I like and
- > whatever suits me". True freedom, however, does not consist in doing
- > whatever comes to mind, but in being master on oneself.
-
- This was a nice comment I thought, as I certainly typically feel that to be
- free is do to whatever you want; but here he argues for taking even greater
- control of yourself by using meditation to become aware of how feelings and
- the environment influence us. Interesting.
-
-- Page 320 - Discussion of self-compassion over self-esteem. Quote from
-Kristin Neff:
-
- > One reason that self-compassion may be more beneficial than self-esteem is
- > that it tends to be available precisely when self-esteem fails. Personal
- > flaws and shortcomings can be approached in a kind and balanced manner
- > that recognizes that imperfection is part of the human condition, even
- > when self-evaluations are negative. This means that self-compassion can
- > lessen feelings of self-loathing without requiring that one adopt an
- > unrealistically positive view of oneself — a major reason why
- > self-esteem enhancement programs often fail.
-
-
-- Page 363 - Comments on violence on TV.
-
-- Page 413 - Discussion on whether or not we're naturally warlike or always
-fighting each other.
-
-V. Building a More Altruistic Society
-
-- Page 534 and friends - Discussion of moral neutrality in education; i.e. maybe we
-shouldn't teach a specific religion, but certainly it's a good idea to teach
-kindness, tolerance and an ability to understand your emotions. Some
-discussion of interesting programs in schools that had interesting results.
-Good to refer back to when thinking about teaching classes.
-
-- Page 539 - Regarding Cognitive Based Compassion Therapy in children.
-
- > This program lasts eight weeks and comprises:
- > 1. developing attention and stability of mind;
- > 2. observing the inner nature of thoughts, feelings and emotions;
- > 3. exploring self-compassion — recognizing our desire for happiness,
- > the mental states that lead to personal fulfilment, and willingness to
- > free oneself from emotional states that detract from happiness;
- > 4. developing impartiality towards other beings, be they friends, enemies,
- > or strangers, and at the same time questioning the value — fixed,
- > or superficial and changing — of this categorization, and
- > identifying a shared desire in everyone to be happy and to avoid
- > suffering;
- > 5. developing gratitude toward others, with no one able to survive without
- > the support of countless and other people;
- > 6. developing benevolence and empathy;
- > 7. developing compassion for those who are suffering, and a desire that
- > they be freed from that suffering;
- > 8. implementing altruism into everyday life.
- >
- > Children are very receptive to this sort of education. When one of the
- > instructors compared anger to a spark in a forest, which at the start can
- > easily be extinguished but which rapidly becomes a huge, destructive,
- > out-of-control inferno, a little five-year-old girl said: "There are a lot
- > of forest fires in my life."
-
-- Page 543 - On the usefulness of mentoring processes for children.
-
-- Page 613 - President of Uruguay living a simple life.
-
-- Page 659 - Discussion of sustainable growth of the economy.
-
-- Page 688 and friends - Very simple discussion of what democracy could look
-like. Similar idea to a lot of places now which is around local ownership
-built up in layers.
-
diff --git a/updates/2020/capital-and-ideology-thomas-piketty-2020.html b/updates/2020/capital-and-ideology-thomas-piketty-2020.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Capital and Ideology - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.
+
+
+
+
Rough Summary
+
At over 1000 pages, this is very far from a light read. Probably the funniest
+comment in the entire book is in the introduction (page 47!):
+
+
“Hurried readers might be tempted to turn directly to the final chapter and
+conclusion. Although I cannot stop them, I warn that they may find it
+difficult to follow without at least glancing at Parts One through Four
+…”
+
+
Having now completed the book, I probably agree that maybe all the details are
+useful, but I don’t agree that they are necessary. If you happen to have this
+book at hand, then certainly I think there’s value in skipping to the end and
+reading those few chapters.
+
That said, I certainly got a lot out of reading the entire thing! While it’s
+obviously hard to compress this entire book into a few thoughts, here’s what I
+got:
+
+
There’s been a strong history of respecting property rights to the exclusion
+of all else. In part this is because of fear about what will happen if we stop
+doing that,
+
There was a period of progressive taxes for a while and life was good. Now,
+they are mostly gone and life is certainly more unequal,
+
If you have a flat tax, almost certainly it’s probably regressive in
+practice,
+
We should have more progressive taxes,
+
There should be a yearly progressive tax on wealth,
+
If we implement these taxes we can:
+
+
Fund a large social state,
+
Fund a universal income,
+
Fund a large capital endowment for every person when they turn, say, 25.
+
+
In order to support these we should also have changes to our democracies,
+
All of these needs to be open and up for public debate,
+
“Capitalism” as it stands isn’t the best we have and the only way it
+could’ve turned out.
+
+
Amusingly, after reading for so long, I was a little surprised at the lack of
+detail on the latter part re: democratic structure and also the practicalities
+of implementing these new social measures. I think his intention is to leave
+that up for specific debate and elaboration.
+
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what Piketty, and
+the field as a whole, comes up with next!
+
Specific Notes
+
Introduction
+
+
Page 2 - Definition of an inequality regime:
+
+
A set of discourses and institutional arrangements intended to justify and
+structure the economic, social, and political inequalities of a given
+society.
+
+
Page 25 - Graph showing how inequality has changed over the period
+1980-2018. Result: The top 1 percent of income earners have captured more
+than double what the bottom 50 percent captured. I.e. the rich got
+significantly richer. This imbalance is repeated consistently throughout the
+book.
+
Page 27 - Observation that if we improve curtail the top, things get
+significantly better for the bottom.
+
Page 35 - Impressive graph showing that, in the US, the relationship between
+university access and parental income is a straight line: The more your
+parents earn, the more likely you’ll go to higher education. I did not guess
+this would be so precise.
+
+
Part One. Inequality Regimes in History
+Ternary Societies: Trifunctional Inequality
+
+
Page 60
+
+
Political leadership always requires some level of moral and intellectual
+leadership, which depends in turn on a credible theory of the public good
+or general interest.
+
+
I found this comment particularly interesting/inspiring, because it suggests
+among other ideas that it’s not necessary to get into politics in order to
+influence politics; i.e. you can just do as Piketty does and present
+well-researched and coherent arguments and then push for their adoption.
+
+
The Invention of Ownership Societies
+
+
Page 90 and 91
+
+
… one can estimate that the Church held 30 percent or more of all
+property in Spain in 1750.
+
…
+
For the sake of comparison, it may be useful to note that nonprofit
+organizations today own a much smaller share of all property: 1 percent in
+France, 3 percent in Japan, …
… This approach was often summed up by the famous adage “nulle terre
+sans seigneur,” no land without a lord.
+
+
Page 118 - Thomas Paine, in Agrarian
+Justice, proposed a 10 percent
+tax on inheritances to fund a universal income, in 1795.
+
Page 120 - A recurring observation in the book: history shouldn’t be read
+deterministically; many different outcomes are possible.
+
Page 123 - The claim that we shifted away from idolising religion to
+idolising property.
+
+
Ownership Societies: The Case of France
+
+
Page 133 - Ownership inequality in France
+
+
… almost no one in Paris owned an individual apartment before World War 1.
+In other words, one normally owned the entire building (or several
+buildings), or else owned nothing and paid rent to a landlord.
+
+
+
Ownership Societies: European Trajectories
+
+
Page 183 - Pandora’s property box
+
+
In the Irish land debate we hear the same argument …: namely, that any
+attempt to question the legitimacy of existing property rights threatened
+to open Pandora’s box; no one could say where the ensuing crisis would end
+of whether society would emerge unscathed.
+
+
This is another recurring theme: fear of rethinking property ownership has
+lead to some objectively terrible outcomes.
+
Page 185 - Observation that the social democrats in Sweden were in power
+essentially from 1932 to 2006, and thus able to developed a strong social
+state.
+
+
Part Two: Slave and Colonial Societies
+Slave Societies: Extreme Inequality
+
+
Page 208 (and friends) - Discussion of how the British government reimbursed
+slave owners when slavery was abolished, due in part to thinking around
+Pandora’s property box.
+
+
If the British government had decided in 2018 to spend a similar
+proportion of national income, it would have to disburse 120 billion
+euros, or an average of 30 million euros for each of 4,000 slave owners.
+
+
Page 221 - The mind-boggling insanity of asking the slaves themselves to pay
+for their liberation by refunding their owners to due loss of property
+because, after all, weren’t they the ones to gain?
+
+
Alexandre Moreau de Jonnès … proposed in 1842 that slaves should
+reimburse the entire amount … by performing “special work projects”
+… without pay for as long as necessary.
+
+
Page 226 - Discussion of the relationship between France and Haiti and how
+France, to this day, doesn’t agree it owes any financial debt (after enforcing
+incredibly harsh extractions justified by the loss of income from abolition
+of slavery.)
+
Page 248 - Observation that in Brazil in 1891 they decided to ban the
+illiterate from voting, which in the 1950s excluded more than 50 percent of the
+population.
+
+
Colonial Societies: Diversity and Domination
+
+
Page 272 - Observation that colonized populations paid taxes to finance the
+lives of the colonizers.
+
+
Ternary Societies and Colonialism: The Case of India
+
+
Page 315
+
+
One finds in all civilizations the idea that strict assignment of social
+positions and political functions can serve as a check on hubris and ego;
+this is often used as a defence of hereditary hierarchies, especially in
+monarchic and dynastic systems.
+
+
Page 342 - Comment that measurement of the caste systems by the British
+enforced more social disharmony by making these differences salient.
+
Page 349 - Discussion of affirmative action in India w.r.t. the caste system
+and reservation of spots in government and education; implemented by the
+federal government.
+
+
Ternary Societies and Colonialism: Eurasian Trajectories
+
+
Page 369 - Characterising state development in terms of taxes collected; 1-2
+percent of national income, to 6-8 percent in 1500 to 1800, in 1910 to 1980
+8-10 percent to 30-50 percent.
+
Page 376 - Comment that China gave Hong Kong to Britain as a form of
+financial tribute coming about because Britain saw China as ignoring some
+property rights and started a war.
+
+
Part Three. The Great Transformation of the Twentieth Century
+Social-Democratic Societies: Incomplete Equality
+
+
Page 492 - Graph showing global divergence of top and bottom incomes over
+1980-2015. The bottom 50 percent is going down or stable, the top 10 percent
+is going up. At the start of the period they were close; now they are quite
+separated.
+
Page 494 - First proposal of his grand plan: rethink ownership. There is
+some discussion also on page 502 about what it means to own something; i.e. you can
+control it, but here he discusses other options of co-ownership, social
+ownership and temporary ownership; i.e. ownership that is redistributive.
+
Page 511 - Discussion of how share ownership of companies should fit in.
+Does one person one vote make sense, or the more standard one dollar one vote?
+
Page 513 - Linking the failure of useful thinking about social states with
+the failure of communism globally.
+
Page 513 - Claim that we haven’t yet had a successful “second” educational
+revolution in terms of free and equal access to tertiary education, when
+compared to primary and secondary education. Piketty believes education lies
+at the heart of improving inequality regimes.
+
Page 524 and friends - Another graph showing the extreme divergence of the incomes of
+the top 1 percent compared to the bottom 50 percent.
+
Page 533 - Top tax rates going down and and executive salaries going up.
+
Page 539 - Secretive donations to universities causing inequality.
+
Page 553 - Note that in the 1980s when trade agreements allowed for more
+globalisation, people were unprepared. It’s interesting to see these kinds of
+comments, because he’s clearly trying to demonstrate the value of works like
+this book; i.e. build up a specific agenda backed by research so that it can
+be followed when the time is right.
+
Page 559 - Elaboration of progressive tax schemes; on income, on
+inheritance, on wealth.
+
Page 561 - Push for an annual wealth tax.
+
Page 569 - Calculation demonstrating that certain property taxes that are
+flat end up being regressive insofar as they don’t consider if people owe money
+on the property.
+
+
Communist and Postcommunist Societies
+
+
Page 591 - Bringing it back again to Pandora’s property box and showing how
+that came up in enforcement of laws in Soviet communism; i.e. locking up
+small-time traders.
+
Page 595 and friends - Comments on private ownership and how it relates to
+individual preferences; i.e. it’s not a “preference” to attend a better
+university? It’s certainly an acceptable preference to wear difference
+clothes.
+
Page 611 - A little bit of discussion of land ownership in China,
+specifically when moving between the country and the city (the government
+doesn’t allow arbitrary ownership).
+
Page 642 - Comment about the EU and the expectation that simply having a
+market will lead to equality (it doesn’t).
+
+
Hypercapitalism: Between Modernity and Archaism
+
+
Page 662 - Suggestion that we stop tracking GDP and track national income
+instead (which he discussed in Capitalism in the 21st Century book).
+
Page 665 - Discussion of private companies profiting from public investment
+(i.e. PhDs, etc) in a similar vein to
+Mazzucato.
+
Page 666 and friends - Discussion of carbon taxes and progressive carbon tax options.
+
Page 674 and friends - Criticisms of the EUs financial makeup; i.e. it can
+set prices of things, but can’t measure anything (i.e. there’s no EU-level
+tax), and the need for a large register (you may recall this being some of
+the main advice of his prior book; i.e. just have a small tax so we can
+track things.)
+
Page 687 - Hyperconcentration of wealth graphs (top 10 percent compared to
+the lower groups). In the US now and Europe in 1913 the top 10 percent
+totally dominates. In Europe in 2018 the top 10 percent is still above, but
+it’s not as dramatic.
+
Page 704 and friends - Discussion of the EUs inability to make financial
+decisions due unanimous vote requirement and hence veto power.
+
+
Part Four: Rethinking the Dimensions of Political Conflict
+Borders and Property: The Construction of Equality
+
+
Page 722 - The beginning of a great insight of “social voting cleavages”
+across different social axes such as education, income and wealth.
+Highlighting the shift in voting patterns of the highly educated from “the
+right” in the 1955 to the left starting around the 1980s.
+
Page 744 - More of this:
+
+
We come now to what is surely the most striking evolution in the long run;
+namely, the transformation of the party of workers into the party of the
+educated.
+
+
Page 753 - Observation that the less advantaged groups (i.e. less educated
+or earning less income, etc) are feeling left behind the The Left. For me,
+in Australia, this feels like it’s changing but probably definitely true at
+some point; it certainly has felt like there is a big push for the left for
+a while to focus on richer people and their economic benefits. Or at least,
+I’ve noticed the less advantaged people not voting for the left-ish parties.
+
Page 759 - Observation of the fact that better schooling is provided to
+students from a more privileged background, thereby strengthening inequality.
+
Page 794 - Table demonstrating the (very surprising to me) total
+non-correlation between the answers to the questions:
+
+
“There are too many immigrants in France?”, and
+
“To establish social justice, one must take from rich and give to the
+poor”.
+
+
and how the answers break down across criteria such as having a degree,
+having a large income, and home ownership.
+
Page 801 - Tax competition in the EU and it’s relationship to inequality.
+
+
Brahmin Left: New Euro-American Cleavages
+
+
Page 821 and friends - Talking about race and voting, and the shocking fact that, in
+the US:
+
+
As for whites, since 1968 a majority of white voters have voted
+Republican: if only whites had voted, not a single Democratic president
+would have been elected in the last 50 years.
+
+
Page 834 - Just a reminder that in the US the top federal income tax rate
+changed to 28 percent in 1986, down from an average of 81 percent. (!!)
+
Page 859 - Social cleavage in the Brexit vote: Richer people (in income,
+wealth, or education) voted REMAIN.
+
+
Elements for a Participatory Socialism for the Twenty-First Century
+
+
Page 895 - Looking at EU governance and how it isn’t democratic.
+
Page 898 and friends - Discussion of the T-Dem proposal - a different structure sitting next to the EU that allows for representative government and taxation.
+
Page 913 - Proposal to establish an European Parliamentary Union (EPU) to
+govern the EU.
+
Page 927 - Argument that local action is good and necessary, but needs to be
+supported be federal/trans-national governance and policy (and, probably very
+importantly, funds).
+
Page 968 - Again a comment that wealth inequalities because of different
+choices is okay, but must not be assumed to be the total explanation of
+equality.
+
Page 971 and friends - Reminder that the ideas he’s about to present are not
+the endpoint in thinking; but to serve as an opening point for discussion.
+
Page 973 - Argument for co-management in firms (equal ownership between
+shareholders, and employees (irrespective of if they are a shareholder or
+not). He’s mentioned previously that this has been done to some success in
+Germany and some other Nordic countries.
+
Page 982 and friends - Big proposal of progressive tax rates which fund the
+social transformation of universal income, universal wealth endowment (a very
+large one, in my opinion!) and other aspects of the social state. Provided in
+terms of multiples of average incomes and wealth. Top tax rate is 90 percent
+for people with wealth or incoming 10,000 greater than the average.
+
He also discussed the fact that more money to younger people could have
+interesting impacts on the makeup of who controls power/money presently.
+
Page 986 - Observation about property taxes not being progressive. In this
+section I also started to realise that anything that isn’t progressive is
+probably regressive. For example, having educational content be the same for
+each student; this impacts those with learning difficulties negatively. So my
+thinking is that the answer is that everything needs to be progressive (or
+otherwise tailored to individual experience).
+
Page 991 - Call to establish a transparent financial register
+internationally.
+
Page 1003 - Call to end elitist education investment (i.e. more money/better
+education for rich students) for a more egalitarian approach.
+
Page 1011 - Interesting comment that perhaps people that leave school early
+could still get access to some of the money that is spent on people that
+don’t leave early, but via other means. This is neat thinking.
+
Page 1016 - Comment about Universities in the US growing apart due to access
+to more money. This reminds me of what happens in sport, at least in Football
+in Australia, where clubs have “salary caps” that limit how much they can
+spend on players. It prevents some clubs from just becoming rich and therefore
+always winning.
+
Page 1022 - Call to a global movement towards this social state by forming
+“codevelopment” treaties with nearby countries. Relatedly he discusses how
+markets allow for movements of goods and services, but not people. So, why
+not allow people as well? I.e. full abandonment of borders, but still allow
+for local development and control. Very cool.
An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the
- lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure
- affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting
- ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to
- finance a substantial social state.
----
-
-#### Rough Summary
-
-At over 1000 pages, this is very far from a light read. Probably the funniest
-comment in the entire book is in the introduction (page 47!):
-
-> "Hurried readers might be tempted to turn directly to the final chapter and
-> conclusion. Although I cannot stop them, I warn that they may find it
-> difficult to follow without at least glancing at Parts One through Four
-> ..."
-
-Having now completed the book, I probably agree that maybe all the details are
-useful, but I don't agree that they are necessary. If you happen to have this
-book at hand, then certainly I think there's value in skipping to the end and
-reading those few chapters.
-
-That said, I certainly got a lot out of reading the entire thing! While it's
-obviously hard to compress this entire book into a few thoughts, here's what I
-got:
-
-- There's been a strong history of respecting property rights to the exclusion
-of all else. In part this is because of fear about what will happen if we stop
-doing that,
-- There was a period of progressive taxes for a while and life was good. Now,
- they are mostly gone and life is certainly more unequal,
-- If you have a flat tax, almost certainly it's probably regressive in
-practice,
-- We should have more progressive taxes,
-- There should be a _yearly_ progressive tax on _wealth_,
-- If we implement these taxes we can:
- - Fund a large social state,
- - Fund a universal income,
- - Fund a large capital endowment for every person when they turn, say, 25.
-- In order to support these we should also have changes to our democracies,
-- All of these needs to be open and up for public debate,
-- "Capitalism" as it stands isn't the best we have and the only way it
-could've turned out.
-
-Amusingly, after reading for so long, I was a little surprised at the lack of
-detail on the latter part re: democratic structure and also the practicalities
-of implementing these new social measures. I think his intention is to leave
-that up for specific debate and elaboration.
-
-Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to see what Piketty, and
-the field as a whole, comes up with next!
-
-
-#### Specific Notes
-
-Introduction
-
-- Page 2 - Definition of an inequality regime:
-
- > A set of discourses and institutional arrangements intended to justify and
- > structure the economic, social, and political inequalities of a given
- > society.
-
-- Page 25 - Graph showing how inequality has changed over the period
- 1980-2018. Result: The top 1 percent of income earners have captured more
- than double what the bottom 50 percent captured. I.e. the rich got
- significantly richer. This imbalance is repeated consistently throughout the
- book.
-
-- Page 27 - Observation that if we improve curtail the top, things get
-significantly better for the bottom.
-
-- Page 35 - Impressive graph showing that, in the US, the relationship between
-university access and parental income is _a straight line_: The more your
-parents earn, the more likely you'll go to higher education. I did not guess
-this would be so precise.
-
-Part One. Inequality Regimes in History
-Ternary Societies: Trifunctional Inequality
-
-- Page 60
-
- > Political leadership always requires some level of moral and intellectual
- > leadership, which depends in turn on a credible theory of the public good
- > or general interest.
-
- I found this comment particularly interesting/inspiring, because it suggests
- among other ideas that it's not necessary to get _into_ politics in order to
- influence politics; i.e. you can just do as Piketty does and present
- well-researched and coherent arguments and then push for their adoption.
-
-The Invention of Ownership Societies
-
-- Page 90 and 91
-
- > ... one can estimate that the Church held 30 percent or more of all
- > property in Spain in 1750.
- >
- > ...
- >
- > For the sake of comparison, it may be useful to note that nonprofit
- > organizations today own a much smaller share of all property: 1 percent in
- > France, 3 percent in Japan, ...
-
- Wow!
-
-- Page 104 - The origins of "[Terra
-nullius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_nullius)":
-
- > ... This approach was often summed up by the famous adage "nulle terre
- > sans seigneur," no land without a lord.
-
-- Page 118 - Thomas Paine, in [Agrarian
-Justice](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9712649), proposed a 10 percent
-tax on inheritances to fund a universal income, in 1795.
-
-- Page 120 - A recurring observation in the book: history shouldn't be read
-deterministically; many different outcomes are possible.
-
-- Page 123 - The claim that we shifted away from idolising religion to
-idolising property.
-
-
-Ownership Societies: The Case of France
-
-- Page 133 - Ownership inequality in France
-
- > ... almost no one in Paris owned an individual apartment before World War 1.
- > In other words, one normally owned the entire building (or several
- > buildings), or else owned nothing and paid rent to a landlord.
-
-
-Ownership Societies: European Trajectories
-
-- Page 183 - Pandora's property box
-
- > In the Irish land debate we hear the same argument ...: namely, that any
- > attempt to question the legitimacy of existing property rights threatened
- > to open Pandora's box; no one could say where the ensuing crisis would end
- > of whether society would emerge unscathed.
-
- This is another recurring theme: fear of rethinking property ownership has
- lead to some objectively terrible outcomes.
-
-- Page 185 - Observation that the social democrats in Sweden were in power
-essentially from 1932 to 2006, and thus able to developed a strong social
-state.
-
-Part Two: Slave and Colonial Societies
-Slave Societies: Extreme Inequality
-
-- Page 208 (and friends) - Discussion of how the British government reimbursed
-_slave owners_ when slavery was abolished, due in part to thinking around
-Pandora's property box.
-
- > If the British government had decided in 2018 to spend a similar
- > proportion of national income, it would have to disburse 120 billion
- > euros, or an average of 30 million euros for each of 4,000 slave owners.
-
-- Page 221 - The mind-boggling insanity of asking the slaves themselves to pay
-for their liberation by refunding their owners to due loss of property
-because, after all, weren't they the ones to gain?
-
- > Alexandre Moreau de Jonnès ... proposed in 1842 that slaves should
- > reimburse the entire amount ... by performing "special work projects"
- > ... without pay for as long as necessary.
-
-- Page 226 - Discussion of the relationship between France and Haiti and how
-France, to this day, doesn't agree it owes any financial debt (after enforcing
-incredibly harsh extractions justified by the loss of income from abolition
-of slavery.)
-
-- Page 248 - Observation that in Brazil in 1891 they decided to ban the
-illiterate from voting, which in the 1950s excluded more than 50 percent of the
-population.
-
-Colonial Societies: Diversity and Domination
-
-- Page 272 - Observation that colonized populations paid taxes to finance the
-lives of the colonizers.
-
-Ternary Societies and Colonialism: The Case of India
-
-- Page 315
-
- > One finds in all civilizations the idea that strict assignment of social
- > positions and political functions can serve as a check on hubris and ego;
- > this is often used as a defence of hereditary hierarchies, especially in
- > monarchic and dynastic systems.
-
-- Page 342 - Comment that measurement of the caste systems by the British
-enforced more social disharmony by making these differences salient.
-
-- Page 349 - Discussion of affirmative action in India w.r.t. the caste system
-and reservation of spots in government and education; implemented by the
-federal government.
-
-
-Ternary Societies and Colonialism: Eurasian Trajectories
-
-- Page 369 - Characterising state development in terms of taxes collected; 1-2
-percent of national income, to 6-8 percent in 1500 to 1800, in 1910 to 1980
-8-10 percent to 30-50 percent.
-
-- Page 376 - Comment that China gave Hong Kong to Britain as a form of
-financial tribute coming about because Britain saw China as ignoring some
-property rights and started a war.
-
-
-Part Three. The Great Transformation of the Twentieth Century
-Social-Democratic Societies: Incomplete Equality
-
-- Page 492 - Graph showing global divergence of top and bottom incomes over
-1980-2015. The bottom 50 percent is going down or stable, the top 10 percent
-is going up. At the start of the period they were close; now they are quite
-separated.
-
-- Page 494 - First proposal of his grand plan: rethink ownership. There is
-some discussion also on page 502 about what it means to own something; i.e. you can
-control it, but here he discusses other options of co-ownership, social
-ownership and temporary ownership; i.e. ownership that is redistributive.
-
-- Page 511 - Discussion of how share ownership of companies should fit in.
-Does one person one vote make sense, or the more standard one dollar one vote?
-
-- Page 513 - Linking the failure of useful thinking about social states with
-the failure of communism globally.
-
-- Page 513 - Claim that we haven't yet had a successful "second" educational
-revolution in terms of free and equal access to tertiary education, when
-compared to primary and secondary education. Piketty believes education lies
-at the heart of improving inequality regimes.
-
-- Page 524 and friends - Another graph showing the extreme divergence of the incomes of
-the top 1 percent compared to the bottom 50 percent.
-
-- Page 533 - Top tax rates going down and and executive salaries going up.
-
-- Page 539 - Secretive donations to universities causing inequality.
-
-- Page 553 - Note that in the 1980s when trade agreements allowed for more
-globalisation, people were unprepared. It's interesting to see these kinds of
-comments, because he's clearly trying to demonstrate the value of works like
-this book; i.e. build up a specific agenda backed by research so that it can
-be followed when the time is right.
-
-- Page 559 - Elaboration of progressive tax schemes; on income, on
-inheritance, on wealth.
-
-- Page 561 - Push for an _annual_ wealth tax.
-
-- Page 569 - Calculation demonstrating that certain property taxes that are
-flat end up being regressive insofar as they don't consider if people owe money
-on the property.
-
-Communist and Postcommunist Societies
-
-- Page 591 - Bringing it back again to Pandora's property box and showing how
-that came up in enforcement of laws in Soviet communism; i.e. locking up
-small-time traders.
-
-- Page 595 and friends - Comments on private ownership and how it relates to
-individual preferences; i.e. it's not a "preference" to attend a better
-university? It's certainly an acceptable preference to wear difference
-clothes.
-
-- Page 611 - A little bit of discussion of land ownership in China,
- specifically when moving between the country and the city (the government
- doesn't allow arbitrary ownership).
-
-- Page 642 - Comment about the EU and the expectation that simply having a
-market will lead to equality (it doesn't).
-
-Hypercapitalism: Between Modernity and Archaism
-
-- Page 662 - Suggestion that we stop tracking GDP and track national income
-instead (which he discussed in Capitalism in the 21st Century book).
-
-- Page 665 - Discussion of private companies profiting from public investment
-(i.e. PhDs, etc) in a similar vein to
-[Mazzucato](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29502362).
-
-- Page 666 and friends - Discussion of carbon taxes and progressive carbon tax options.
-
-- Page 674 and friends - Criticisms of the EUs financial makeup; i.e. it can
-set prices of things, but can't measure anything (i.e. there's no EU-level
-tax), and the need for a large register (you may recall this being some of
-the main advice of his prior book; i.e. just have a small tax so we can
-track things.)
-
-- Page 687 - Hyperconcentration of wealth graphs (top 10 percent compared to
-the lower groups). In the US now and Europe in 1913 the top 10 percent
-totally dominates. In Europe in 2018 the top 10 percent is still above, but
-it's not as dramatic.
-
-- Page 704 and friends - Discussion of the EUs inability to make financial
-decisions due unanimous vote requirement and hence veto power.
-
-Part Four: Rethinking the Dimensions of Political Conflict
-Borders and Property: The Construction of Equality
-
-- Page 722 - The beginning of a great insight of "social voting cleavages"
-across different social axes such as education, income and wealth.
-Highlighting the shift in voting patterns of the highly educated from "the
-right" in the 1955 to the left starting around the 1980s.
-
-- Page 744 - More of this:
-
- > We come now to what is surely the most striking evolution in the long run;
- > namely, the transformation of the party of workers into the party of the
- > educated.
-
-- Page 753 - Observation that the less advantaged groups (i.e. less educated
- or earning less income, etc) are feeling left behind the The Left. For me,
- in Australia, this feels like it's changing but probably definitely true at
- some point; it certainly has felt like there is a big push for the left for
- a while to focus on richer people and their economic benefits. Or at least,
- I've noticed the less advantaged people not voting for the left-ish parties.
-
-- Page 759 - Observation of the fact that better schooling is provided to
-students from a more privileged background, thereby strengthening inequality.
-
-- Page 794 - Table demonstrating the (very surprising to me) total
-non-correlation between the answers to the questions:
-
- - "There are too many immigrants in France?", and
- - "To establish social justice, one must take from rich and give to the
- poor".
-
- and how the answers break down across criteria such as having a degree,
- having a large income, and home ownership.
-
-- Page 801 - Tax competition in the EU and it's relationship to inequality.
-
-
-Brahmin Left: New Euro-American Cleavages
-
-- Page 821 and friends - Talking about race and voting, and the shocking fact that, in
- the US:
-
- > As for whites, since 1968 a majority of white voters have voted
- > Republican: if only whites had voted, not a single Democratic president
- > would have been elected in the last 50 years.
-
-- Page 834 - Just a reminder that in the US the top federal income tax rate
-changed to 28 percent in 1986, down from an average of 81 percent. (!!)
-
-- Page 859 - Social cleavage in the Brexit vote: Richer people (in income,
-wealth, or education) voted REMAIN.
-
-
-Elements for a Participatory Socialism for the Twenty-First Century
-
-- Page 895 - Looking at EU governance and how it isn't democratic.
-
-- Page 898 and friends - Discussion of the [T-Dem](http://tdem.eu/) proposal - a different structure sitting next to the EU that allows for representative government and taxation.
-
-- Page 913 - Proposal to establish an European Parliamentary Union (EPU) to
-govern the EU.
-
-- Page 927 - Argument that local action is good and necessary, but needs to be
-supported be federal/trans-national governance and policy (and, probably very
-importantly, funds).
-
-- Page 968 - Again a comment that wealth inequalities because of different
-choices is okay, but must not be assumed to be the total explanation of
-equality.
-
-- Page 971 and friends - Reminder that the ideas he's about to present are not
-the endpoint in thinking; but to serve as an opening point for discussion.
-
-- Page 973 - Argument for co-management in firms (equal ownership between
-shareholders, and employees (irrespective of if they are a shareholder or
-not). He's mentioned previously that this has been done to some success in
-Germany and some other Nordic countries.
-
-- Page 982 and friends - Big proposal of progressive tax rates which fund the
-social transformation of universal income, universal wealth endowment (a very
-large one, in my opinion!) and other aspects of the social state. Provided in
-terms of multiples of average incomes and wealth. Top tax rate is 90 percent
-for people with wealth or incoming 10,000 greater than the average.
-
- He also discussed the fact that more money to younger people could have
- interesting impacts on the makeup of who controls power/money presently.
-
-- Page 986 - Observation about property taxes not being progressive. In this
-section I also started to realise that _anything_ that isn't progressive is
-probably regressive. For example, having educational content be the same for
-each student; this impacts those with learning difficulties negatively. So my
-thinking is that the answer is that _everything_ needs to be progressive (or
-otherwise tailored to individual experience).
-
-- Page 991 - Call to establish a transparent financial register
-internationally.
-
-- Page 1003 - Call to end elitist education investment (i.e. more money/better
-education for rich students) for a more egalitarian approach.
-
-- Page 1011 - Interesting comment that perhaps people that leave school early
-could still get access to some of the money that is spent on people that
-_don't_ leave early, but via other means. This is neat thinking.
-
-- Page 1016 - Comment about Universities in the US growing apart due to access
-to more money. This reminds me of what happens in sport, at least in Football
-in Australia, where clubs have "salary caps" that limit how much they can
-spend on players. It prevents some clubs from just becoming rich and therefore
-always winning.
-
-- Page 1022 - Call to a global movement towards this social state by forming
-"codevelopment" treaties with nearby countries. Relatedly he discusses how
-markets allow for movements of _goods and services_, but not people. So, why
-not allow people as well? I.e. full abandonment of borders, but still allow
-for local development and control. Very cool.
diff --git a/updates/2020/small-is-beautiful-ernst-f-schumacher-1989.md b/updates/2020/small-is-beautiful-ernst-f-schumacher-1989.md
deleted file mode 100644
index d35924e6..00000000
--- a/updates/2020/small-is-beautiful-ernst-f-schumacher-1989.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,78 +0,0 @@
----
-id: small-is-beautiful-ernst-f-schumacher-1989
-title: "Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered"
-simpleTitle: "Small Is Beautiful"
-authors:
- - Ernst F. Schumacher
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1117634.Small_Is_Beautiful
-publisher: Harper Perennial
-yearPublished: 1989
-isbn: 0060916303
-isbn13: 9780060916305
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/small-is-beautiful-ernst-f-schumacher-1989.webp
-pages: 352
-date: 2020-09-18
-draft: draft
-tags:
- - economics
- - buddhism
-summary:
-
Apparently a classic of economic thought around "Buddhist" economics and
- thinking around renewable resources. Surprisingly sexist in some parts and
- not particularly "Buddhist" in my view.
----
-
-#### Rough Summary
-
-- ...
-- Hello?
-
-
-#### Specific Notes
-
-Part I. The Modern World
-The Problem of Production
-
-Peace and Permanence
-
-The Role of Economics
-
-Buddhist Economics
-
-A Question of Size
-
-
-
-Part II. Resources
-The Greatest Resource - Education
-
-The Proper Use of Land
-
-Resources for Industry
-
-Nuclear Energy - Salvation or Damnnation?
-
-Technology with a Human Face
-
-
-
-Part III. The Third World
-Development
-
-Social and Economic Problems Calling for the Development of
-Intermediate Technology
-
-Two Million Villages
-
-The Problem of Unemployment in India
-
-A Machine to Foretell the Future
-
-Towards a Theory of Large-Scale Organisation
-
-Socialism
-
-Ownership
-
-New Pattern of Ownership
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/a-dutiful-boy-2020.html b/updates/2021/a-dutiful-boy-2020.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ A Dutiful Boy - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Recommended to me by a friend, I got hooked on this book immediately and read it in two days; I couldn't put it down. It's very well written; easy to read, fast paced and compelling. If you've read "Educated", it's a lot like that, only with a wildly different context. I loved it. Really well conveys the stress and impact of living with a lie from your family, and how that impacts your personal life. Also very positively show the power of therapy, and generally of friendship and support. Just amazing!
Recommended to me by a friend, I got hooked on this book immediately and read it in two days; I couldn't put it down. It's very well written; easy to read, fast paced and compelling. If you've read "Educated", it's a lot like that, only with a wildly different context. I loved it. Really well conveys the stress and impact of living with a lie from your family, and how that impacts your personal life. Also very positively show the power of therapy, and generally of friendship and support. Just amazing!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/a-world-without-police-2021.html b/updates/2021/a-world-without-police-2021.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete
+
+
+
This is a very legitimate and intense book, with a strong American
+focus. It argues that the police are actively harmful, and points out
+all sorts of issues with "improvement" programs, and more generally the
+structure that supports the policing apparatus. I went in to this book
+probably being open-minded; I would've argued, before reading it, that
+police are generally good and useful, but of course that comes from my
+perspective as a white man. I see now the other perspective, and while
+I'm not fully convinced by all the examples in this book; I do think
+that in general, the message of using communities and local-supporting
+systems over the state-managed "violence workers", is certainly
+attractive. While this book does have *some* practical ideas for how
+communities can self-organise in this way, I would've liked to see more.
+But I suppose this idea is just developing, and this was my first
+entrypoint into this kind of thinking. Overall, I do recommend this
+book; I think it's very passionately written and contains a lot of good
+arguments. But it's also quite confronting, so be prepared!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/a-world-without-police-2021.md b/updates/2021/a-world-without-police-2021.md
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+++ /dev/null
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----
-id: a-world-without-police-2021
-title: "A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete"
-simpleTitle: "A World Without Police"
-authors:
- - Geo Maher
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Verso"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58186785-a-world-without-police
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/a-world-without-police-how-strong-communities-make-cops-obsolete/9781839760051
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/a-world-without-police-2021.webp
-pages: 288
-tags:
- - activism
-date: 2021-10-03
-summary: |
-
This is a very legitimate and intense book, with a strong American
- focus. It argues that the police are actively harmful, and points out
- all sorts of issues with "improvement" programs, and more generally the
- structure that supports the policing apparatus. I went in to this book
- probably being open-minded; I would've argued, before reading it, that
- police are generally good and useful, but of course that comes from my
- perspective as a white man. I see now the other perspective, and while
- I'm not fully convinced by all the examples in this book; I do think
- that in general, the message of using communities and local-supporting
- systems over the state-managed "violence workers", is certainly
- attractive. While this book does have *some* practical ideas for how
- communities can self-organise in this way, I would've liked to see more.
- But I suppose this idea is just developing, and this was my first
- entrypoint into this kind of thinking. Overall, I do recommend this
- book; I think it's very passionately written and contains a lot of good
- arguments. But it's also quite confronting, so be prepared!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/alive-1975.html b/updates/2021/alive-1975.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put it down and read it in just two days!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/alive-1975.md b/updates/2021/alive-1975.md
deleted file mode 100644
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--- a/updates/2021/alive-1975.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
----
-id: alive-1975
-title: "Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors"
-simpleTitle: "Alive"
-authors:
- - Piers Paul Read
-yearPublished: 1975
-publisher: "Avon"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/401514.Alive
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/alive-the-true-story-of-the-andes-survivors/9780099574521
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/alive-1975.webp
-pages: 318
-tags:
- - adventurous
- - history
- - traumatic
-date: 2021-06-13
-summary:
-
An amazing story and great reading. I picked up this particular
- second-hand copy in Hay-on-Wye, a self-proclaimed "Book Town", and in it
- we found a photo of someone, probably the loved-one of a previous
- reader! The book itself is highly readable; in fact I could barely put
- it down and read it in just two days!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.html b/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.html
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.html
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy
+
+
+
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.md b/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.md
deleted file mode 100644
index de929c6d..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/basic-income-2017.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-id: basic-income-2017
-title: "Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy"
-simpleTitle: "Basic Income"
-authors:
- - Philippe van Parijs
- - Yannick Vanderborght
-yearPublished: 2017
-publisher: "Harvard University Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34682154-basic-income
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/basic-income-a-radical-proposal-for-a-free-society-and-a-sane-economy/9780674237469
-pages: 388
-tags:
- - philosophical
- - non-fiction
- - economics
-date: 2021-11-28
-issueCreatedAt: 2021-10-20T12:15:08Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/basic-income-2017.webp
-summary: |
-
This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.
Becoming Bodhisattvas: A Guidebook for Compassionate Action
+
+
+
Just an amazing book. Basically, it's about how to apply Buddhist-style
+thoughts to your life and actions more generally, with a particular view
+to trying to "reduce suffering" of those around you. Pema Chödrön is
+really just a great writer, and has a really accessible interpretation
+of "The Way of the Boddhisattvas". I personally got a lot of inspiration
+and encouragement from this book; and while I might not agree with
+absolutely everything, there's plenty in here to like and explore.
Just an amazing book. Basically, it's about how to apply Buddhist-style
- thoughts to your life and actions more generally, with a particular view
- to trying to "reduce suffering" of those around you. Pema Chödrön is
- really just a great writer, and has a really accessible interpretation
- of "The Way of the Boddhisattvas". I personally got a lot of inspiration
- and encouragement from this book; and while I might not agree with
- absolutely everything, there's plenty in here to like and explore.
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start. I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more books by her! Highly recommended.
I loved this. I've never read Beowulf before, and am very very happy
- this is translation was the first. Highly readable, with very fun and
- enjoyable language, and some nice comments from the author at the start.
- I'll definitely be reading this again, and am now keen to read more
- books by her! Highly recommended.
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple, interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
Not knowing anything about the Greek mythology around Circe is not a
- pre-requisite for this book. I really quite enjoyed it; it's a simple,
- interesting story and a nice excursion around this particular set of
- Greek characters. I'll definitely read more by Madelline Miller.
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons. One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but, ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate nature!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-2020.md b/updates/2021/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ca09fd6..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-2020.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-id: diary-of-a-young-naturalist-2020
-title: "Diary of a Young Naturalist"
-simpleTitle: "Diary of a Young Naturalist"
-authors:
- - Dara McAnulty
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "Little Toller Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48853063-diary-of-a-young-naturalist
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-winner-of-the-wainwright-prize-for-nature-writing-2020/9781529109603
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/diary-of-a-young-naturalist-2020.webp
-pages: 224
-tags:
- - informative
- - adventurous
- - personal
- - short-read
- - philosophical
- - climate
-date: 2021-08-29
-summary:
-
I really loved this book. I think it's interesting for a few reasons.
- One is that I haven't read many books where an autistic person is
- describing their feelings and experiences. It's really interesting to
- learn. Another part that really impacted me was his discussion of how
- young people are being forced to be more active and outspoken, but,
- ultimately, are excluded from important decision making, and that adults
- praise them, but inevitably continue doing whatever they were doing
- before. That comment hit me quite strongly, and I'm not sure what to do
- about it yet. Overall, an exceptional read, and will help you appreciate
- nature!
Feminist Antifascism. Counterpublics of the Common
+
+
+
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically, but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one I've heard before.
I found this book very interesting. One concept it introduced to me was
- the idea of "solidarity" instead of "support", in social causes. She
- makes the argument that it's better to stand in "solidarity" with one
- other, and for "me" to "support" you. Her argument, in part, is because
- relationships don't work strictly one-directionally. This spoke to me a
- lot. The bulk of the book is concerned with looking at how
- "counter-publics" - places where the public can be involved politically,
- but not necessarily supported by the government - work, examples of
- them, and how we can and should embrace them. I really like it; but it
- might be a bit "theory"-dense for some. Recommended reading, though, if
- you're interested in how people are being politically-active and how
- feminism should sit at the center of anti-fascism; also particularly
- interesting to get a Polish perspective on this idea; as it's not one
- I've heard before.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/feminist-city-2020.html b/updates/2021/feminist-city-2020.html
new file mode 100644
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure. Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to solve!
An interesting discussion around how cities are not constructed for the
- enjoyment of everyone, and are gendered in various ways. Also raises
- some interesting arguments around how hard it is to balance privileging
- different groups when deciding on improvements to urban infrastructure.
- Overall, I was left a bit unsatisfied and was hoping for a bit more
- exploration of some possible answers; but certainly would still
- recommend it to get motivated and understand the space of problems to
- solve!
For me there's really no better book on what it means to be conscious
+and how to think about consciousness. As always, I like books that
+connect back to Buddhism in some what, and I found that this one really
+does; even though I don't think the author makes that connection
+explicitly. In any case, if you're interested in quite a different
+perspective on how to think of personhood and what makes you you, I
+really recommend this book!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/i-am-a-strange-loop-2007.md b/updates/2021/i-am-a-strange-loop-2007.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b53d8888..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/i-am-a-strange-loop-2007.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
----
-id: i-am-a-strange-loop-2007
-title: "I Am a Strange Loop"
-simpleTitle: "I Am a Strange Loop"
-authors:
- - Douglas R. Hofstadter
-yearPublished: 2007
-publisher: "Basic Books (AZ)"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123471.I_Am_a_Strange_Loop
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/i-am-a-strange-loop/9780465030798
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/i-am-a-strange-loop-2007.webp
-pages: 412
-tags:
- - philosophical
-date: 2021-09-26
-summary: |
-
For me there's really no better book on what it means to be conscious
- and how to think about consciousness. As always, I like books that
- connect back to Buddhism in some what, and I found that this one really
- does; even though I don't think the author makes that connection
- explicitly. In any case, if you're interested in quite a different
- perspective on how to think of personhood and what makes you you, I
- really recommend this book!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.html b/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.html
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.html
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.md b/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 96c503ca..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-id: keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021
-title: "Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph"
-simpleTitle: "Keats - A Brief Life In Nine Poems"
-authors:
- - Lucasta Miller
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Jonathan Cape"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53328395-keats
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/keats-a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-and-one-epitaph/9781787331617
-pages: 252
-tags:
- - informative
- - personal
- - non-fiction
- - poetry
-date: 2021-12-12
-issueCreatedAt: 2021-10-31T12:58:02Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/keats---a-brief-life-in-nine-poems-2021.webp
-summary: |
-
I picked this up, being inspired by reading the Dan Simmons trilogy Hyperion. I've never read any "classic" poetry before, and I thought that this might be a nice entrypoint, because it promised to have some poems, but also some backstory about Keats and the context in which he wrote each poem. I loved this book. It's interesting for me personally, because for the longest time I haven't really "understood" poetry. But here, while I can't say I get everything, or even most things, I did start to get a feeling for why people enjoy it. And I also got a feeling of why people like Keats' poetry in particular. It's not a particularly short book, but I did find it quite accessible, and I think it's quite a nice way to engage with poetry. I'll probably try and find more books like this.
This books wasn't what I thought it would be. I admit I thought it was going to be about some kind of adventure in Antarctica; but in fact it's a novel about a stroke. I found it very very stressful for read, but I think that's the intention. To some degree I think it managed to convey the difficulties with having a stroke, and the impact on people around you. But mostly I was stressed because of how I felt the characters would be feeling, and because I think I could get a raw feeling of how it would be if *I* had a stroke, and that caused me a lot of anxiety. Probably an interesting book for some, but not one that I would read again in a hurry.
This books wasn't what I thought it would be. I admit I thought it was
- going to be about some kind of adventure in Antarctica; but in fact it's
- a novel about a stroke. I found it very very stressful for read, but I
- think that's the intention. To some degree I think it managed to convey
- the difficulties with having a stroke, and the impact on people around
- you. But mostly I was stressed because of how I felt the characters
- would be feeling, and because I think I could get a raw feeling of how
- it would be if *I* had a stroke, and that caused me a lot of anxiety.
- Probably an interesting book for some, but not one that I would read
- again in a hurry.
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
This book was enjoyable, easy, reading. I got fully immersed in the
- feeling of the violin culture; in the history and the way the author is
- follows the story through different towns and countries. This idea of
- just taking a journey dictated entirely by a spontaneous interest is
- very appealing. Really enjoyed it!
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/lost-pianos-of-siberia-2020.md b/updates/2021/lost-pianos-of-siberia-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 35ad32c8..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/lost-pianos-of-siberia-2020.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
----
-id: lost-pianos-of-siberia-2020
-title: "The Lost Pianos of Siberia"
-simpleTitle: "Lost Pianos of Siberia"
-authors:
- - Sophy Roberts
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "Grove Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50616973-the-lost-pianos-of-siberia
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-lost-pianos-of-siberia-a-sunday-times-paperback-of-2021/9781784162849
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/lost-pianos-of-siberia-2020.webp
-pages: 448
-tags:
- - adventurous
- - travel
- - music
-date: 2021-04-18
-summary:
-
An amazing read about a journey through various towns in Siberia where
- the author is in principle searching for a piano, but in reality just
- enjoying the discover of history and connection through pianos. One of
- the best books I've read. Will definitely read again!
I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling read.
I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was
- curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book
- like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture
- relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling
- read.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/my-name-is-red-2002.html b/updates/2021/my-name-is-red-2002.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ My Name Is Red - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts, but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
diff --git a/updates/2021/my-name-is-red-2002.md b/updates/2021/my-name-is-red-2002.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 9debbc73..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/my-name-is-red-2002.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
----
-id: my-name-is-red-2002
-title: "My Name Is Red"
-simpleTitle: "My Name Is Red"
-authors:
- - Orhan Pamuk
- - Erdağ M. Göknar
-yearPublished: 2002
-publisher: "Vintage"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2517.My_Name_Is_Red
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/my-name-is-red/9780571268832
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/my-name-is-red-2002.webp
-pages: 417
-tags:
- - history
- - philosophical
- - quirky
-date: 2021-06-27
-summary:
-
This was a bit of a long read that took me a while to get into, but I
- did get their eventually. I certainly found it had some nice thoughts,
- but I found parts of the book to be oddly unnecessary. As a
- murder-mystery I can't say I enjoyed it (maybe because I didn't guess
- who the killer would be...) because I found all the voices to be a bit
- same-y; but maybe that was poor reading on my part. I think I'd probably
- recommend this book, and do agree with the essence of the assessments on
- the front. Worth reading just for the quirky telling.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.html b/updates/2021/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison
+
+
+
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
+imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
+that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
+the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
+readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
+sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
+poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
+like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
+from reading it.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
diff --git a/updates/2021/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.md b/updates/2021/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.md
deleted file mode 100644
index d5b3cd96..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-id: no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018
-title: "No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison"
-simpleTitle: "No Friend but the Mountains"
-authors:
- - Behrouz Boochani
- - Omid Tofighian
-yearPublished: 2018
-publisher: "Picador Australia"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39284186-no-friend-but-the-mountains
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/no-friend-but-the-mountains-the-true-story-of-an-illegally-imprisoned-refugee/9781529028485
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/no-friend-but-the-mountains-2018.webp
-pages: 416
-tags:
- - personal
- - traumatic
- - non-fiction
- - activism
- - racism
- - poetry
-date: 2021-11-21
-summary: |
-
Another amazing book, this one was written by a refugee who was
- imprisoned at the time. It is about his experience in the prison; something
- that had been totally covered up by the Australian government. At the time
- the book was published he was still in prison! It's exceptionally
- readable, interesting and engaging, but it does have some quite traumatic
- sections. It's has a beautifully written style interspersed with sections of
- poetry. You will certainly leave with very strong feelings for what people
- like this have been put through by our governments. I really gained a lot
- from reading it.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021.html b/updates/2021/no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021.html
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+
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+ No One Is Talking About This - Between Books
+
+
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+
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+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
+
+
+
+
+
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
+thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
+intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
+Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
+something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
+very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
+and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
+I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
+But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
+who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
+look like!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
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+
diff --git a/updates/2021/no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021.md b/updates/2021/no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
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+++ /dev/null
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----
-id: no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021
-title: "No One Is Talking About This"
-simpleTitle: "No One Is Talking About This"
-authors:
- - Patricia Lockwood
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Riverhead Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53733106-no-one-is-talking-about-this
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/no-one-is-talking-about-this-shortlisted-for-the-booker-prize-2021-and-the-women-s-prize-for-fiction-2021/9781526629760
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/no-one-is-talking-about-this-2021.webp
-pages: 210
-tags:
- - personal
- - short-read
- - traumatic
- - quirky
-date: 2021-10-31
-summary: |
-
This was interesting reading, but probably overall not quite my kind of
- thing. I found the style quite stressful; but I do think that was the
- intention. The idea, I suppose, is to convey the chaoticness of reading
- Twitter every second; and constant changing of attention. But this is
- something that I personally find a bit stressful, and this was conveyed
- very accurately through the writing. I do think it had some nice jokes,
- and variously interesting bits of social commentary; and, as one review
- I listened to, clearly this author is very familiar with social media.
- But it's not one I'll likely read again. Might be of interest to those
- who want another perspective on what engagement with social media can
- look like!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/old-path-white-clouds-1991.html b/updates/2021/old-path-white-clouds-1991.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
+
+
+
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
+..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
+Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
+Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
+particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
+of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
+accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
+early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
+this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
+any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
+which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
+It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
+certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
+keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/old-path-white-clouds-1991.md b/updates/2021/old-path-white-clouds-1991.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 6f4d57d9..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/old-path-white-clouds-1991.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-id: old-path-white-clouds-1991
-title: "Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha"
-simpleTitle: "Old Path White Clouds"
-authors:
- - Thich Nhat Hanh
-yearPublished: 1991
-publisher: "Parallax Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241899.Old_Path_White_Clouds
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/old-path-white-clouds-the-life-story-of-the-buddha/9780712654173
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/old-path-white-clouds-1991.webp
-pages: 600
-tags:
- - history
- - buddhism
- - long-read
-date: 2021-09-19
-summary: |
-
Written by Thich Nhat Hanh, of "How To Walk, How To Love, How To Eat,
- ..." fame, this is quite a large book but nevertheless, very engaging.
- Consisting of several stories related to the life of the "historical"
- Buddha. I think this book is a particularly good entrypoint to this
- particular variant of Buddhist writing: namely stories that have a bit
- of magical character, but also attempt to be somewhat historical
- accuracy. One thing I found particularly interesting was to learn that
- early Buddhism, in this telling, was quite sexist. I really appreciated
- this detail being included; it helped me see that Buddhism, much like
- any approach, isn't perfect and needs a process of self-correction;
- which in my interpretation it does have. Overall, I loved this book.
- It's simple, easy, reading, has some nice messages and stories. But it's
- certainly not full of practical advice for mindfulness, but if you're
- keen on that you can you can check out the authors many other offerings!
----
diff --git a/updates/2021/outpost-2019.html b/updates/2021/outpost-2019.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..136caf08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2021/outpost-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
It took a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did, I think it
+paid off. Dan has a nice friendly writing style, and the stories he
+tells are interesting and charming. There are also references to a few
+other books I am reading (The Importance of Being Iceland, and The Living Mountain), so that helped me connect a bit more.
+Overall I think it's a nice entry in this genre, but lacks some of the
+philosophical punch of Barry Lopez in Horizon, say. Still worth reading,
+though, and certainly fun.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/outpost-2019.md b/updates/2021/outpost-2019.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 0b2f9b33..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/outpost-2019.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-id: outpost-2019
-title: "Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth"
-simpleTitle: "Outpost"
-authors:
- - Dan Richards
-yearPublished: 2019
-publisher: "Canongate Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43552762-outpost
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/outpost-a-journey-to-the-wild-ends-of-the-earth/9781786891570
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/outpost-2019.webp
-pages: 336
-tags:
- - adventurous
- - travel
-date: 2021-10-24
-summary: |
-
It took a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did, I think it
- paid off. Dan has a nice friendly writing style, and the stories he
- tells are interesting and charming. There are also references to a few
- other books I am reading (The Importance of Being Iceland, and The Living Mountain), so that helped me connect a bit more.
- Overall I think it's a nice entry in this genre, but lacks some of the
- philosophical punch of Barry Lopez in Horizon, say. Still worth reading,
- though, and certainly fun.
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic Scapes - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists to listen to! Great reading.
I love James Acasters comedy; his show Repertoire is one of
- the funniest I've ever seen; I also read his earlier book - Classic
- Scapes
- - which I really enjoyed, so I was already primed to like this one. It's
- quite different from Classic Scrapes; it's much more personal and
- vulnerable, which I really enjoyed; and it has a huge list of interesting
- music, which is great if you're like me and struggle to think of new artists
- to listen to! Great reading.
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
+decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
+is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
+and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
+short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
+unexplained. Just a great book!
I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally
- decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret
- is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting
- and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's
- short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was
- unexplained. Just a great book!
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I read this *after* The Midnight Library (which I really really enjoyed), so perhaps that meant I had very high expectations. I think this book is probably good because of how personal it is, and how honest and open the author is about his life and his feelings. I think while I don't agree with everything in it (for example my view would be a bit more Buddhist than what the author says they are comfortable with), I do think it adds some useful thoughts to keep in mind when you're feeling depressed and hopeless.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I read this *after* The Midnight
- Library (which I really really enjoyed), so perhaps that meant I had
- very high expectations. I think this book is probably good because of
- how personal it is, and how honest and open the author is about his life
- and his feelings. I think while I don't agree with everything in it (for
- example my view would be a bit more Buddhist than what the author says
- they are comfortable with), I do think it adds some useful thoughts to
- keep in mind when you're feeling depressed and hopeless.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.html b/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41d33624
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
+
+
+
Exciting read! This is the first book I read on The Troubles, and while it doesn't cover the much of the background or the start, it does cover one the period of time by following a few quite interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed learning about the process some academics covered in the story used in order to try and record the history and details of the troubles, and the associated difficulty of doing that. Very interesting!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.md b/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b211429..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/say-nothing-2019.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-id: say-nothing-2019
-title: "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland"
-simpleTitle: "Say Nothing"
-authors:
- - Patrick Radden Keefe
-yearPublished: 2019
-publisher: "Doubleday"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40163119-say-nothing
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/say-nothing-a-true-story-of-murder-and-memory-in-northern-ireland/9780008159269
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/say-nothing-2019.webp
-pages: 519
-tags:
- - history
- - informative
-date: 2021-04-11
-summary:
-
Exciting read! This is the first book I read on The Troubles, and while
- it doesn't cover the much of the background or the start, it does cover
- one the period of time by following a few quite interesting characters.
- I particularly enjoyed learning about the process some academics covered
- in the story used in order to try and record the history and details of
- the troubles, and the associated difficulty of doing that. Very
- interesting!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.html b/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..21b02167
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence
+
+
+
This is a very hard book to read; and it contains some very traumatic stories. Nevertheless, I feel better having read it. I learned a lot about what domestic abuse looks like, and what people suffering from it have to deal with, and how to support them. Highly recommended.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.md b/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d013d3b..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-id: see-what-you-made-me-do-2019
-title: "See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence"
-simpleTitle: "See What You Made Me Do"
-authors:
- - Jess Hill
-yearPublished: 2019
-publisher: "Black Inc."
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43800661-see-what-you-made-me-do
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/see-what-you-made-me-do-power-control-and-domestic-abuse/9781787383685
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/see-what-you-made-me-do-2019.webp
-pages: 402
-tags:
- - informative
- - traumatic
-date: 2021-05-23
-summary:
-
This is a very hard book to read; and it contains some very traumatic
- stories. Nevertheless, I feel better having read it. I learned a lot
- about what domestic abuse looks like, and what people suffering from it
- have to deal with, and how to support them. Highly recommended.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/semicolon-2019.html b/updates/2021/semicolon-2019.html
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/updates/2021/semicolon-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
+
+
+
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the time. But the important things I learned from this book was how malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
I absolutely loved this book. I love semicolons and I use them all the
- time. But the important things I learned from this book was how
- malleable grammar used to be; and that people used to think of grammar
- as a form of self-expression, instead of a strict set of rules, as we
- consider it now. It's also written in a very fun and engaging way with
- plenty of jokes. The best book you're ever likely to read on grammar!
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)
I enjoyed this book. The development of the main character was interesting to read, and it certainly challenged me a bit because I would've preferred a story that had less problematic things happen to the character; or made her story of self-actualisation a bit more self-determined than luck; but it probably is more realistic as it is. Overall I think it nicely shows the difficulty faced by people in this position, and that was interesting to me to learn through this novel. Definitely recommend it!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-2020.md b/updates/2021/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f6795692..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-2020.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-2020
-title: "The Girl with the Louding Voice"
-simpleTitle: "The Girl With The Louding Voice"
-authors:
- - Abi Daré
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "Dutton Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50214741-the-girl-with-the-louding-voice
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-a-story-of-courage-that-will-win-over-your-heart-stylist/9781529359275
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice-2020.webp
-pages: 371
-tags:
- - feminism
-date: 2021-07-11
-summary:
-
I enjoyed this book. The development of the main character was
- interesting to read, and it certainly challenged me a bit because I
- would've preferred a story that had less problematic things happen to
- the character; or made her story of self-actualisation a bit more
- self-determined than luck; but it probably is more realistic as it is.
- Overall I think it nicely shows the difficulty faced by people in this
- position, and that was interesting to me to learn through this novel.
- Definitely recommend it!
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/the-mere-wife-2018.md b/updates/2021/the-mere-wife-2018.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 31594c07..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/the-mere-wife-2018.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-mere-wife-2018
-title: "The Mere Wife"
-simpleTitle: "The Mere Wife"
-authors:
- - Maria Dahvana Headley
-yearPublished: 2018
-publisher: "MCD"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36332136-the-mere-wife
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-mere-wife/9781911617631
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-mere-wife-2018.webp
-pages: 308
-tags:
- - feminism
- - fiction
- - history
-date: 2021-07-24
-summary:
-
I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a
- "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think
- I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for
- understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is
- necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only
- one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist
- retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and positive. A great book!
I really enjoyed this book, a lot. I can't say the ending was a
- surprise, but there were little bits of joy and insight to be had in the
- middle, and overall reading the book left me feeling uplifted and
- positive. A great book!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.html b/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.html
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.html
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Princeton University Press, 2015
+
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
+
+
+
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
+personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
+interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
+conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
+product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
+particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
+and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
+such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
+thoughts in this space!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.md b/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 0727b56c..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015
-title: "The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins"
-simpleTitle: "The Mushroom at the End of the World"
-authors:
- - Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
-yearPublished: 2015
-publisher: "Princeton University Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25510906-the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-on-the-possibility-of-life-in-capitalist-ruins/9780691220550
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-mushroom-at-the-end-of-the-world-2015.webp
-pages: 331
-tags:
- - quirky
- - non-fiction
- - economics
-date: 2021-11-07
-summary: |
-
Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic,
- personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very
- interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting
- conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a
- product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into
- particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism
- and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in
- such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging
- thoughts in this space!
I was really surprised and amazed by this book. I saw Ariel Levy talk at the amazing festival in Melbourne. I didn't know anything about her, but the image I did form didn't match what was revealed in this book. Very thoughtful and captivating, and a relatable account of one persons life and dreams. Definitely recommended reading for an insight into a life that is quite different from my own.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2021/the-rules-do-not-apply-2017.md b/updates/2021/the-rules-do-not-apply-2017.md
deleted file mode 100644
index c8f5209c..00000000
--- a/updates/2021/the-rules-do-not-apply-2017.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-rules-do-not-apply-2017
-title: "The Rules Do Not Apply"
-simpleTitle: "The Rules Do Not Apply"
-authors:
- - Ariel Levy
-yearPublished: 2017
-publisher: "Random House"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32572166-the-rules-do-not-apply
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-rules-do-not-apply/9780349005324
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-rules-do-not-apply-2017.webp
-pages: 207
-tags:
- - personal
- - traumatic
-date: 2021-05-16
-summary:
-
I was really surprised and amazed by this book. I saw Ariel Levy talk at
- the amazing festival in Melbourne. I didn't know anything about her, but
- the image I did form didn't match what was revealed in this book. Very
- thoughtful and captivating, and a relatable account of one persons life and
- dreams. Definitely recommended reading for an insight into a life that
- is quite different from my own.
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
Honestly not too sure what to make of this book. Certainly it gives me a perspective into other lives that I would not normally get; the topic being the (quite differing) sex lives of three women. But the differing stories were all, for me, quite extreme, which made it a bit hard to relate. Nevertheless, it felt very raw and real and compelling. Not my usual thing, but I'm glad I read it.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021.html b/updates/2021/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent - Between Books
+
+
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+
+
+
Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent
+
+
+
A thought-provoking analysis of the culture around consent and ability-to-know-ones feelings. Discusses the differences in how (heterosexual) sex and desire is talked about and researched. In particular the discussion centers around impersonal "objective" measurements of arousal and the conclusions from that; and what people can and should know about their desires; and how to manage expressing that to other people. Not conclusive; but a good contribution to a complex topic!
+
+
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diff --git a/updates/2021/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021.md b/updates/2021/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
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+++ /dev/null
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----
-id: tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021
-title: "Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent"
-simpleTitle: "Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again"
-authors:
- - Katherine Angel
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Verso"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52514416-tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-women-and-desire-in-the-age-of-consent/9781788739160
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again-2021.webp
-pages: 160
-tags:
- - informative
- - short-read
-date: 2021-05-02
-summary:
-
A thought-provoking analysis of the culture around consent and
- ability-to-know-ones feelings. Discusses the differences in how
- (heterosexual) sex and desire is talked about and researched. In
- particular the discussion centers around impersonal "objective"
- measurements of arousal and the conclusions from that; and what people
- can and should know about their desires; and how to manage expressing
- that to other people. Not conclusive; but a good contribution to a
- complex topic!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2021/white-tears-brown-scars-2020.html b/updates/2021/white-tears-brown-scars-2020.html
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+
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+
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+ White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color - Between Books
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+
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+
+
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
+
+
+
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
+book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
+gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
+feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
+of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
+people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
+racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
+the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
+this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
+generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
+book.
Definitely the best book on "white feminism" that I've ever read. This
- book has a particular focus on Australia, but is astonishingly good at
- gathering together different reactions to racism, in particular in the
- feminist community, and showing the impact that this has had on people
- of colour. What remains particularly memorable for me is how white
- people (of which I'm one) get particularly upset at being *called*
- racist, and how this can oftentimes trump actual experienced racism on
- the part of people of colour. Many terrible examples are recounted. Read
- this book now if you are at all interested in feminism and racism more
- generally; but be prepared, it is not easy reading. It's an amazing
- book.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/.keep b/updates/2022/.keep
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+
+ Against Borders: The Case for Abolition - Between Books
+
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+
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/all-we-can-save-2020.html b/updates/2022/all-we-can-save-2020.html
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+
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+
+ All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis - Between Books
+
+
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+
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+
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Ayana Elizabeth Johnson,
+
+ Katharine Keeble Wilkinson,
+
+ Sherri Mitchell,
+
+ Catherine Pierce,
+
+ Kate Marvel,
+
+ Adrienne Maree Brown,
+
+ Jacqueline Patterson,
+
+ Janine M. Benyus,
+
+ Camille T. Dungy,
+
+ Mary Anne Hitt,
+
+ Abigail Dillen,
+
+ Leah C Stokes,
+
+ Joy Harjo,
+
+ Maggie Thomas,
+
+ Marge Piercy,
+
+ Varshini Prakash
+
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
+
+
+
I really enjoyed this one. It's a nice collection of short essays and writings on people motivated to work on the climate (and associated) crises; and it's inspiring to see so many people interacting so thoughtfully. Definitely recommend.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2022/all-we-can-save-2020.md b/updates/2022/all-we-can-save-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
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+++ /dev/null
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----
-id: all-we-can-save-2020
-title: "All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis"
-simpleTitle: "All We Can Save"
-authors:
- - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
- - Katharine Keeble Wilkinson
- - Sherri Mitchell
- - Catherine Pierce
- - Kate Marvel
- - Adrienne Maree Brown
- - Jacqueline Patterson
- - Janine M. Benyus
- - Camille T. Dungy
- - Mary Anne Hitt
- - Abigail Dillen
- - Leah C Stokes
- - Joy Harjo
- - Maggie Thomas
- - Marge Piercy
- - Varshini Prakash
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "One World"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53231994-all-we-can-save
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/1605075745_all-we-can-save-truth-courage-and-solutions-for-the-climate-crisis/9780593237083
-pages: 448
-tags:
- - climate
-date: 2022-09-25
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-09-18T11:19:45Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/all-we-can-save-2020.webp
-summary: |
-
I really enjoyed this one. It's a nice collection of short essays and writings on people motivated to work on the climate (and associated) crises; and it's inspiring to see so many people interacting so thoughtfully. Definitely recommend.
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/children-of-blood-and-bone-2018.html b/updates/2022/children-of-blood-and-bone-2018.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Children of Blood and Bone - Between Books
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!
This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
+
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
As a hopefully-one-day bookshop owner, I picked this up hoping for insights into the day-to-day operations of a bookshop. I didn't quite get that; I instead I was presented with the diary of what you might consider a classical grumpy, yet funny, mate who just happened to sell books. It's definitely an entertaining read, but probably not one I'd widely recommend. As a bit of trivia, the author lists the daily sales for each diary entry. I was curious enough to take note of these on a spreadsheet, if you too are curious of the raw revenue that could be expected from just book sales.
-
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and while it doesn't contain much practical book-selling information or advice, it is an interesting slice of life!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/empire-of-pain-2021.html b/updates/2022/empire-of-pain-2021.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Between Books
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
+
+
+
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the last book by this author; but I certainly can't say I "enjoyed" this one. It covers the (horrible) story of one families drive to make money, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry. I think it's "good" to read it; but for me I think it just shows the dangers of incentives. In many ways I agree with one of the reviewers who said they felt guilty for enjoying it. Hopefully we can move beyond stories like this and into other kinds of analyses and understanding.
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
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+
diff --git a/updates/2022/empire-of-pain-2021.md b/updates/2022/empire-of-pain-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
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----
-id: empire-of-pain-2021
-title: "Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty"
-simpleTitle: "Empire of Pain"
-authors:
- - Patrick Radden Keefe
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Doubleday"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43868109-empire-of-pain
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/empire-of-pain-the-secret-history-of-the-sackler-dynasty-9781529063103/9781529063103
-pages: 535
-tags:
- - traumatic
- - non-fiction
-date: 2022-07-10
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-07-10T20:38:13Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/empire-of-pain-2021.webp
-summary: |
-
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the last book by this author; but I certainly can't say I "enjoyed" this one. It covers the (horrible) story of one families drive to make money, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry. I think it's "good" to read it; but for me I think it just shows the dangers of incentives. In many ways I agree with one of the reviewers who said they felt guilty for enjoying it. Hopefully we can move beyond stories like this and into other kinds of analyses and understanding.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/ending-fossil-fuels-2021.html b/updates/2022/ending-fossil-fuels-2021.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero is Not Enough - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
+
+
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
+
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
I absolutely loved this book! It's an awesome collection of poetry and writings around capitalism, history, feminism, and other topics. In particular I really enjoyed the thoughts around how fictional histories can be a form of history; i.e. all we have is stories in any case, and lots of stories have been lost over the years; but what remains? Can things be learned, even if there is no "true" historical preservation?
-
Overall just a brilliant book, and I'm grateful to have been able to read it :)
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
I love Nancy Campbell's writing style; so this one was already going to be enjoyable for me. But I did find it fun and informative. This book is also special because it's the first one than I've been reading to my partner and our little one, who is on her way :) ❤️
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/for-the-good-times-2019.html b/updates/2022/for-the-good-times-2019.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ For the Good Times - Between Books
+
+
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+
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
This book wasn't what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. It's seems to be me to be roughly a biography of this persons life in the social sector, but is also an exploration of a whole bunch of "alternative" programs that focus the particular communities, marginalised groups, and aim to find solutions from within those groups, rather than "fixing" them from the outside, with metrics and impact reports, etc. I think it's a great source of inspiration on that front, and has some relevance for a project I'm part of in the climate space. Definitely worth a glance!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/gone-2017.html b/updates/2022/gone-2017.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung - Between Books
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Min Kym
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Crown Publishing Group (NY), 2017
+
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
+
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diff --git a/updates/2022/gone-2017.md b/updates/2022/gone-2017.md
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+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-id: gone-2017
-title: "Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung"
-simpleTitle: "Gone"
-authors:
- - Min Kym
-yearPublished: 2017
-publisher: "Crown Publishing Group (NY)"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31394687-gone
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/gone-a-girl-a-violin-a-life-unstrung/9780241977415
-pages: 227
-tags:
- - personal
- - quirky
- - non-fiction
- - music
-date: 2022-04-24
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-04-16T12:30:14Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/gone-2017.webp
-summary: |
-
An unquestionably exceptional book. I've never seen writing like this before. It's so emotive and engaging and fast-paced; really, it felt like she was playing the violin with my emotions, and I loved it! Highly recommended; you'll never look at someone with a violin the same way again.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/i-may-be-wrong-2022.html b/updates/2022/i-may-be-wrong-2022.html
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+
+
+
+
+
+ I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk - Between Books
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
+
+
+
I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk
+
+
+
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
+
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diff --git a/updates/2022/i-may-be-wrong-2022.md b/updates/2022/i-may-be-wrong-2022.md
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----
-id: i-may-be-wrong-2022
-title: "I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life as a Forest Monk"
-simpleTitle: "I May Be Wrong"
-authors:
- - Björn Natthiko Lindeblad
- - Caroline Bankeler
- - Navid Modiiri
- - Agnes Bromme
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Bloomsbury Publishing"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60222414-i-may-be-wrong
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/i-may-be-wrong-the-sunday-times-bestseller/9781526644824
-pages: 257
-tags:
- - philosophical
- - non-fiction
- - buddhism
-date: 2022-04-17
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-04-10T15:00:23Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/i-may-be-wrong-2022.webp
-summary: |
-
An interesting perspective on Buddhism and life. I'm not completely sure I agree with everything in it, but nevertheless I did find it thoughtful and emotional in some points, and overall I enjoyed reading it :)
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
This book will always have a special place in my heart now, given that it happened to be the book I was reading at the time our daughter arrived, and as a result I finished it by reading it to her in her first few days of being out and about :) That said, on it's own merit it is pretty good. I learned some interesting facts about glaciers; enjoyed learning about her life, and overall got inspired about this kind of career. Pretty good!
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+ Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age - Between Books
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Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
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A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
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-id: index,-a-history-of-the-2022
-title: "Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age"
-simpleTitle: "Index, A History of the"
-authors:
- - Dennis Duncan
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "W. W. Norton Company"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58085251-index-a-history-of-the
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/index-a-history-of-the/9780241374238
-pages: 352
-tags:
- - history
- - informative
- - fun
- - books
-date: 2022-01-09
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-01-01T10:52:10Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/index,-a-history-of-the-2022.webp
-summary: |
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A very fun and informative book. I really enjoyed learning about the different kinds of indexes, and have since been more motivated to read the indexes of other books (and, to be honest, been quite disappointed, knowing now what I could expect to find). Highly recommend this as a fun/quirky read about books and history.
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+ Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire - Between Books
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Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
Loved this. Akala is a extremely knowledgable about history and politics, so this is an important and interesting read. Not being someone who has that much perspective on the UK, I also really valued learning more about how colonialism and racism have had an impact.
Extremely relevant and interesting reading. It's a discussion of the very present problem of polarisation; i.e. how we can easily paint ourselves into corners from which we can't escape, or deem certain people irredeemable, and just generally avoid difficult conversations. I like Bohm a lot because of his connection to quantum physics, and Buddhism; so I'm very partial to this kind of topic. But this is a really great book, full of nice bits of insight; and it's short! I read it slowly, just to try and absorb as much as I could. Highly recommended!
Extremely relevant and interesting reading. It's a discussion of the very present problem of polarisation; i.e. how we can easily paint ourselves into corners from which we can't escape, or deem certain people irredeemable, and just generally avoid difficult conversations. I like Bohm a lot because of his connection to quantum physics, and Buddhism; so I'm very partial to this kind of topic. But this is a really great book, full of nice bits of insight; and it's short! I read it slowly, just to try and absorb as much as I could. Highly recommended!
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+ On Time and Water - Between Books
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Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
Just exceptional. I've not read another book that does so well at explaining different timescales and ways to communicate the impact of the climate crisis. Done in a very engaging poetic style; this book really motivated me to learn much more details and start to make a change. Overall a very enjoyable, rewarding, and inspiring reading experience!
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
I loved this. Don't be put off by the number of pages; almost all of them only contain a few lines per page. It's a collection of stories told be the residents of a small town in Sweden. It's a real slice of life and culture; mostly quite relatable. For me I found it very interesting to "listen" to these stories that I would find hard to listen to in real life. It made me reflect a bit on why I would find listening to these conversations in real life a bit hard. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this; it's a real gem.
A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)
A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.
A cute little book; it's a very "artsy" book, describing a particular project of an artist who, in my interpretation, was using listening as a way to connect with the broader world. Quirky, short, but I enjoyed it.
A cute little book; it's a very "artsy" book, describing a particular project of an artist who, in my interpretation, was using listening as a way to connect with the broader world. Quirky, short, but I enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!
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diff --git a/updates/2022/scattered-all-over-the-earth-2022.md b/updates/2022/scattered-all-over-the-earth-2022.md
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-id: scattered-all-over-the-earth-2022
-title: "Scattered All Over the Earth"
-simpleTitle: "Scattered All Over the Earth"
-authors:
- - Yōko Tawada
- - Margaret Mitsutani
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "New Directions"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58470813-scattered-all-over-the-earth
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/scattered-all-over-the-earth/9781783789030
-pages: 256
-tags:
- - quirky
- - fiction
-date: 2022-08-01
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-07-17T20:16:23Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/scattered-all-over-the-earth-2022.webp
-summary: |
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I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
This was picked out for me by my partner, and I absolutely loved it! It's very funny and personal and interesting. I really enjoyed the way she writes, and while it didn't have a great deal of content about Antarctica itself, it was a very interesting and engaging personal story. It is just nice to read about how she experiences life. Well worth the read!
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+ Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us - Between Books
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Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us
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A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
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-id: speaking-and-being-2022
-title: "Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us"
-simpleTitle: "Speaking and Being"
-authors:
- - Kübra Gümüşay
- - Gesche Ipsen
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Profile Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58895957-speaking-and-being
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/speaking-and-being-how-language-binds-and-frees-us/9781788168496
-pages: 240
-tags:
- - personal
- - philosophical
- - language
-date: 2022-06-19
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-05-30T15:32:05Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/speaking-and-being-2022.webp
-summary: |
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A pretty good book. I love the idea that language informs our thoughts and feelings, and this book explored that topic well. Probably the most interesting thing I found in this book was the thought of the author that they can take ownership of a language by adding words to it, as a way to feel at home. Worth a read, if you enjoy the intersection of language, identity, and politics!
Picked this up after listening to the author talk about it during the a book festival in Edinburgh. I loved it. I'm excited also to try and read the Spanish version in Spanish; but that will probably be a bit of a challenge. In any case, a nice read about parenting, how to relate to people, and what our relationships could be like. It also almost made me cry on the first page, which I thought was impressive.
Picked this up after listening to the author talk about it during the a book festival in Edinburgh. I loved it. I'm excited also to try and read the Spanish version in Spanish; but that will probably be a bit of a challenge. In any case, a nice read about parenting, how to relate to people, and what our relationships could be like. It also almost made me cry on the first page, which I thought was impressive.
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+ Terraformed: Young Black Lives In The Inner City - Between Books
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This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
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One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
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In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
This is a very interesting book. In part it's a discussion about gentrification, and what that looks like in a certain community; but it's also a discussion of racism, and the experiences of the black families.
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One thing that hit me particularly hard was the observation that must participation in the local neighbourhood revolves around consumption. What I found challenging was to imagine how else it could be. And in particular, made me thoughtful of how, if I were to open a physical bookshop (as is my dream), I could make space for participation that doesn't require consumption.
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In any case, I appreciated reading this for some interesting perspectives on how to think about urban planning and gentrification.
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+ The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet - Between Books
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The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet
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Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
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-id: the-art-of-patience-2021
-title: "The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet"
-simpleTitle: "The Art of Patience"
-authors:
- - Sylvain Tesson
- - Frank Wynne
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Penguin Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55994367-the-art-of-patience
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-art-of-patience-seeking-the-snow-leopard-in-tibet/9781786079992
-pages: 224
-tags:
- - personal
- - philosophical
- - non-fiction
- - poetry
-date: 2022-05-08
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-04-16T12:31:30Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-art-of-patience-2021.webp
-summary: |
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Yet another book in a genre close to my heart: books featuring snow leopards in a poetic way. Naturally, I enjoyed this one. It has the feeling of a light and soft journey, filled with nice poetic titbits. One particular part of the book will, probably, blow your mind, just like it did mine. Recommended if you're into these poetic travel books.
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)
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diff --git a/updates/2022/the-final-girl-support-group-2021.html b/updates/2022/the-final-girl-support-group-2021.html
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+ The Final Girl Support Group - Between Books
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I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
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-id: the-final-girl-support-group-2021
-title: "The Final Girl Support Group"
-simpleTitle: "The Final Girl Support Group"
-authors:
- - Grady Hendrix
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Berkley Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55829194-the-final-girl-support-group
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-final-girl-support-group/9781789096064
-pages: 352
-tags:
- - fun
- - quirky
- - non-fiction
-date: 2022-03-27
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-03-27T16:29:39Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-final-girl-support-group-2021.webp
-summary: |
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I loved this book; it was a just a very enjoyable, engaging, captivating, comedic book having a lot of fun with the "slasher" genre. It'll definitely be a movie some day soon. It was just a real pleasure to read; I had a great time!
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
This was a fun read. It's targeted at actors, but is in fact a fascinating insight into a totally different cultural experience, at least for me. I really enjoyed the bits of wisdom; the most memorable being the idea that, if you are watching an actor and think "wow, this is great acting", then that's bad; the actor should be invisible. In any case, I really valued this book for the insight into what an actor thinks about, and the various ways the prepare their bodies and minds for the work.
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+ The Last Children of Tokyo - Between Books
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I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.
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-id: the-last-children-of-tokyo-2018
-title: "The Last Children of Tokyo"
-simpleTitle: "The Last Children of Tokyo"
-authors:
- - Yōko Tawada
- - Margaret Mitsutani
-yearPublished: 2018
-publisher: "Portobello Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37800111-the-last-children-of-tokyo
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-last-children-of-tokyo/9781846276705
-pages: 138
-tags:
- - fiction
- - climate
-date: 2022-07-17
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-07-17T19:39:49Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-last-children-of-tokyo-2018.webp
-summary: |
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I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.
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+ The Library of Ice: Readings from a Cold Climate - Between Books
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Really an exceptional bit of writing. Nancy has a perfect writing style, engaging, soft, thoughtful and provocative. It's a really collection of stories of her journey into cold places; and how she and others engage with them. I loved reading this, it filled me with warmth.
Really an exceptional bit of writing. Nancy has a perfect writing style, engaging, soft, thoughtful and provocative. It's a really collection of stories of her journey into cold places; and how she and others engage with them. I loved reading this, it filled me with warmth.
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+ The Production of Houses - Between Books
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+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Christopher W. Alexander,
+
+ Howard Davis,
+
+ Julio Martinez,
+
+ Don Corner
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Oxford University Press, USA, 1985
+
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
+
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2022/the-production-of-houses-1985.md b/updates/2022/the-production-of-houses-1985.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 16f3b697..00000000
--- a/updates/2022/the-production-of-houses-1985.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-production-of-houses-1985
-title: "The Production of Houses"
-simpleTitle: "The Production of Houses"
-authors:
- - Christopher W. Alexander
- - Howard Davis
- - Julio Martinez
- - Don Corner
-yearPublished: 1985
-publisher: "Oxford University Press, USA"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106725.The_Production_of_Houses
-bookshopLink: https://bookshop.org/books/the-production-of-houses/9780195032239
-pages: 381
-tags:
- - urban-planning
- - philosophical
- - architecture
-date: 2022-09-04
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-09-05T09:34:36Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-production-of-houses-1985.webp
-summary: |
-
(A special holiday-edition of the book photo from sunny Italy). This is one in a long list of book written by Alexander and collaborators about building and architecture. This book is essentially a case study in his building process adopted by a community in Mexico. Ultimately I think it's fair to say the project failed; in part due to the government. The thing I liked about this book is it showed "real-world" issues with the adoption of his process; insofar as not everyone engaged in the patterns and building process as he expected.
-
One interesting thing it has is a discussion of how to achieve his particular kind of building in a decentralised way; and it's quite practical and interesting. I think it's fun to see this kind of discussion, which is topical now, in a work that is quite old. That said, this book is probably not for you unless you happen to be particularly obsessed with Christopher Alexander and community-focused building.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.html b/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a2def26f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.html
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Adrienne Buller
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Manchester University Press, 2022
+
The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism
+
+
+
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.md b/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.md
deleted file mode 100644
index dbb3124f..00000000
--- a/updates/2022/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-value-of-a-whale-2022
-title: "The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism"
-simpleTitle: "The Value of a Whale"
-authors:
- - Adrienne Buller
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Manchester University Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61140120-the-value-of-a-whale
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-value-of-a-whale-on-the-illusions-of-green-capitalism/9781526162632
-pages: 352
-tags:
- - economics
- - climate
- - politics
-date: 2022-08-28
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-08-28T09:37:02Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-value-of-a-whale-2022.webp
-summary: |
-
A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/there-is-no-planet-b-2019.html b/updates/2022/there-is-no-planet-b-2019.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cac55f85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2022/there-is-no-planet-b-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ There Is No Planet B - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Mike Berners-Lee
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Cambridge University Press, 2019
+
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
This is a stressful book. Overall I'm glad I read it; but I wasn't left feeling as motivated or excited as other books in this space. I'm not totally convinced in everything the author says, and I think occasionally it lacks a bit of tact, but I do think it's full of very valuable and useful information, and I think his attitudes and feelings are totally understandable. It does contain nice advice for what to do personally; but it's probably not the best book to read if you're feeling a bit anxious.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2022/unbound-2021.html b/updates/2022/unbound-2021.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3d9e7453
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2022/unbound-2021.html
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Author
+
+ Tarana Burke
+
+
+
+
+ Published by
+ Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book, 2021
+
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement
+
+
+
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was certainly interesting to learn about her life, and what lead her to start her "Me Too" movement. That said, I can't say I could really relate at all to her experiences and choices. This makes it at least interesting and out of my comfort zone, but it also makes it hard to judge whether or not I enjoyed it, and what I got out of it. At least it let me build some empathy and understanding for how she's lived her life.
+
Recommended reading for the history and backstory, and understanding what goes on the mind of someone with a totally different life experience from my own.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2022/unbound-2021.md b/updates/2022/unbound-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 54cad9e2..00000000
--- a/updates/2022/unbound-2021.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
----
-id: unbound-2021
-title: "Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement"
-simpleTitle: "Unbound"
-authors:
- - Tarana Burke
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57351643-unbound
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/unbound-my-story-of-liberation-and-the-birth-of-the-me-too-movement/9781472292315
-pages: 272
-tags:
- - informative
- - personal
-date: 2022-03-13
-issueCreatedAt: 2022-03-13T10:52:49Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/unbound-2021.webp
-summary: |
-
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think it was certainly interesting to learn about her life, and what lead her to start her "Me Too" movement. That said, I can't say I could really relate at all to her experiences and choices. This makes it at least interesting and out of my comfort zone, but it also makes it hard to judge whether or not I enjoyed it, and what I got out of it. At least it let me build some empathy and understanding for how she's lived her life.
-
Recommended reading for the history and backstory, and understanding what goes on the mind of someone with a totally different life experience from my own.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/.keep b/updates/2023/.keep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29b..00000000
diff --git "a/updates/2023/banzeiro-\303\262k\303\262t\303\263-2023.html" "b/updates/2023/banzeiro-\303\262k\303\262t\303\263-2023.html"
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ff3da809
--- /dev/null
+++ "b/updates/2023/banzeiro-\303\262k\303\262t\303\263-2023.html"
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Banzeiro Òkòtó: The Amazon as the Center of the World - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Banzeiro Òkòtó: The Amazon as the Center of the World
+
+
+
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
+emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
+writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
+that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
+story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
+Brazil.
+
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
+but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
+those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful,
- emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing
- writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not
- that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing
- story-telling and information about various illegal practices in
- Brazil.
-
It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it,
- but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of
- those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.html b/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ef1fe2b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.html
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.md b/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a5f97b2..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
----
-id: everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021
-title: "Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead"
-simpleTitle: "Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead"
-authors:
- - Emily R. Austin
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Atria Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711706-everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/1615761406_everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead/9781838953751
-pages: 256
-tags:
- - fun
- - fiction
-date: 2023-01-29
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-01-29T20:41:16Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/everyone-in-this-room-will-someday-be-dead-2021.webp
-summary: |
-
Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
+feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
+book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
+connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
+really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
+it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
+at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
+book is for you!
Really a brilliant collection of insights and strong thoughts around
- feminism and it's connections to all aspects of society and life. The
- book is short but somehow packed with some much knowledge and beautiful
- connections to other works and writers/thinkers. Lola is a genius,
- really, of explaining practical ways to engage with feminism, and what
- it means for how we can engage it to bring about change. If you're ever
- at a loss for words when someone asks you "What is feminism?" then this
- book is for you!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.html b/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7cf5694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.html
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.md b/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b0d35d23..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
----
-id: how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021
-title: "How to Blow Up a Pipeline"
-simpleTitle: "How To Blow Up A Pipeline"
-authors:
- - Andreas Malm
-yearPublished: 2021
-publisher: "Verso Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51686708-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-learning-to-fight-in-a-world-on-fire/9781839760259
-pages: 208
-tags:
- - philosophical
- - climate
- - politics
-date: 2023-01-15
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-01-14T17:23:42Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-2021.webp
-summary: |
-
I quite liked this. It's a nice discussion of climate activism and the general connection between activism and resistance. It leaves a lot of food for thought about what is necessary in order to make people change their behaviours. A great, short, thoughtful, and inspiring read.
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
+and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
+books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
+the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
+encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
+this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
+the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
+think. Highly recommended!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/my-work-2020.md b/updates/2023/my-work-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 72b5fa64..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/my-work-2020.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-id: my-work-2020
-title: "My Work"
-simpleTitle: "My Work"
-authors:
- - Olga Ravn
- - Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "New Directions"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88564034-my-work
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/my-work-olga-ravn/7456175?ean=9781915267177
-pages: 416
-tags:
- - personal
- - traumatic
- - philosophical
- - quirky
- - poetry
- - parenting
-date: 2023-08-27
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-08-27T14:03:58Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/my-work-2020.webp
-summary: |
-
Really an exceptional piece of writing. A friend bought this for me,
- and at the time I didn't realise I had already read another of her
- books. This one is of a totally different character; basically telling
- the story of a woman's engagement with pregnancy, and the way society
- encourages it be handled. Being myself now a partner and a witness to
- this, I found it a very interesting perspective and helped me relate to
- the birth parent more. It's a stressful read, but an amazing one I
- think. Highly recommended!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.html b/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f3351632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.html
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
+
+
+
I liked this book. It discusses what seem to be some quite reasonable
+approaches for dealing with children. It's a bit too early for me to put
+in to practice, but a lot of the discussions seem quite good, and it'll
+probably be something I refer back to in a few years :)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.md b/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 369f4752..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/no-drama-discipline-2014.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
----
-id: no-drama-discipline-2014
-title: "No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind"
-simpleTitle: "No-Drama Discipline"
-authors:
- - Daniel J. Siegel
- - Tina Payne Bryson
-yearPublished: 2014
-publisher: "Bantam"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40873423-no-drama-discipline
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/no-drama-discipline-the-bestselling-parenting-guide-to-nurturing-your-child-s-developing-mind-md-siegel-daniel-j/3936606?ean=9781922247568
-pages: 290
-tags:
- - non-fiction
- - parenting
-date: 2023-04-30
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-04-30T10:37:58Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/no-drama-discipline-2014.webp
-summary: |
-
I liked this book. It discusses what seem to be some quite reasonable
- approaches for dealing with children. It's a bit too early for me to put
- in to practice, but a lot of the discussions seem quite good, and it'll
- probably be something I refer back to in a few years :)
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.html b/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1e5098d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.html
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller
+
+
+
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.md b/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 49e531d2..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/once-upon-a-tome-2022.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-id: once-upon-a-tome-2022
-title: "Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller"
-simpleTitle: "Once Upon A Tome"
-authors:
- - Oliver Darkshire
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Bantam Press"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59785573-once-upon-a-tome
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/once-upon-a-tome-the-misadventures-of-a-rare-bookseller-9781787636040/9781787636040
-pages: 244
-tags:
- - fun
- - personal
- - non-fiction
- - books
-date: 2023-01-08
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-01-08T11:20:17Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/once-upon-a-tome-2022.webp
-summary: |
-
Just simply an extremely enjoyable and engaging read about life in a bookshop :) I loved it; I've been reading a few of these "real-life bookshop" stories, to get a sense of what it might be like to work in one, and I think this story is particularly interesting because of the history associated with this particular bookshop, and of course the author is just a great story teller. Highly recommended if you want to get a sense of the magic that it could be, to work in a rare bookshop!
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
I've got mixed feelings about this book. Mostly, it was good; it was informative and I learned a lot. The graphic novel form is also just a nice way to convey a complicated topic with lots of personal feeling and information. On the other hand, I can't say I found the author totally likeable; but perhaps that just means she presented her story truly; after all, we all make mistakes and say things we regret. In any case, I'm glad I read this, and if you're at all curious about a personal perspective on Iran, I at least found it interesting and worthwhile.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/regenesis-2022.html b/updates/2023/regenesis-2022.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4484868c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/regenesis-2022.html
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet
+
+
+
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
+food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
+just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
+great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
+climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how
- food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have
- just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a
- great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the
- climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.html b/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24c62178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.html
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
+service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
+actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
+probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
+for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
+I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
+of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
+but a worthwhile read nevertheless.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.md b/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f0f3c4ab..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
----
-id: rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023
-title: "Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir"
-simpleTitle: "Rental Person Who Does Nothing"
-authors:
- - Shoji Morimoto
- - Angus Turvill
-yearPublished: 2023
-publisher: "Picador"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128183600-rental-person-who-does-nothing
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/rental-person-who-does-nothing-shoji-morimoto/7294908?ean=9781035012800
-pages: 156
-tags:
- - personal
- - quirky
-date: 2023-07-09
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-07-09T16:45:19Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/rental-person-who-does-nothing-2023.webp
-summary: |
-
This was a strange one. I didn't know anything about this person or
- service, and I was expecting the book to be mostly funny. But it was
- actually far more serious and thoughtful than I had anticipated. I
- probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone; but it's at least refreshing
- for it's alternative take on what it means to live and relate to people.
- I also found it, I think, to be an interesting insight into some parts
- of modern Japanese culture. Quirky, for sure, a little depressing, even,
- but a worthwhile read nevertheless.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.html b/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f91e1765
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.html
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest
+
+
+
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
+variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
+to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
+how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
+you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
+participate.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.md b/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 2634923d..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/sherpa-2022.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
----
-id: sherpa-2022
-title: "Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest"
-simpleTitle: "Sherpa"
-authors:
- - Ankit Babu Adhikari
- - Pradeep Bashyal
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Cassell"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61781364-sherpa?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=RVtScLYaJC&rank=1
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/sherpa-stories-of-life-and-death-from-the-guardians-of-everest-ankit-babu-adhikari/5056878?ean=9781788403344
-pages: 336
-tags:
- - history
- - informative
- - economics
-date: 2023-09-17
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-09-17T07:53:54Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/sherpa-2022.webp
-summary: |
-
I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a
- variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems
- to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see
- how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if
- you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's
- participate.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/small-things-like-these-2021.html b/updates/2023/small-things-like-these-2021.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fb6817f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/small-things-like-these-2021.html
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Small Things Like These - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!
Really quite interesting and good. I think I'd seen Fern Brady
+before, and she's clearly and interesting person, but this an
+enlightening book for me, in particular in building some empathy for how
+people with autism experience life and their emotions, and in particular
+women. Great reading!
Really quite interesting and good. I think I'd seen Fern Brady
- before, and she's clearly and interesting person, but this an
- enlightening book for me, in particular in building some empathy for how
- people with autism experience life and their emotions, and in particular
- women. Great reading!
An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this
+other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that
+Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the
+same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in
+comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book
+aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind,
+absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing
+reading!
An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this
- other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that
- Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the
- same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in
- comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book
- aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind,
- absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing
- reading!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.html b/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..81839bf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.html
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Joyful Environmentalist: How to Practise without Preaching - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The Joyful Environmentalist: How to Practise without Preaching
+
+
+
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
+has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
+The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
+the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
+after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
+you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
+I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.md b/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 2e6ac375..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-joyful-environmentalist-2020
-title: "The Joyful Environmentalist: How to Practise without Preaching"
-simpleTitle: "The Joyful Environmentalist"
-authors:
- - Isabel Losada
-yearPublished: 2020
-publisher: "Watkins Publishing"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54644273-the-joyful-environmentalist
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-joyful-environmentalist-how-to-practise-without-preaching-isabel-losada/4196087?ean=9781786784704
-pages: 342
-tags:
- - informative
- - fun
- - personal
- - activism
- - climate
-date: 2023-08-23
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-08-23T19:35:07Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-joyful-environmentalist-2020.webp
-summary: |
-
I quite enjoyed this book; but it's probably not for everyone. Losada
- has an engaging and friendly style; extremely readable and enjoyable.
- The way she engages with the topic is pretty generous I think; perhaps
- the main criticism is that it's occasionally a bit too optimistic; but
- after all, that's basically what it promises on the cover! Overall, if
- you're looking for a bit of optimism and happiness, then take a glance!
- I'll definitely be trying to read more of her books :)
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.html b/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba3fe24b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.html
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
+way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
+conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
+Highly recommended :)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.md b/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.md
deleted file mode 100644
index cd3a1476..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/the-roads-to-sata-1985.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-roads-to-sata-1985
-title: "The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan"
-simpleTitle: "The Roads to Sata"
-authors:
- - Alan Booth
-yearPublished: 1985
-publisher: "Kodansha Globe"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171242.The_Roads_to_Sata
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-roads-to-sata-a-2000-mile-walk-through-japan-alan-booth/3561259?ean=9780141992839
-pages: 302
-tags:
- - adventurous
- - travel
- - personal
- - non-fiction
-date: 2023-06-20
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-06-20T09:35:31Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-roads-to-sata-1985.webp
-summary: |
-
Extremely readable and enjoyable. Booth managed to write in such a
- way that the atmosphere of the journey and the places was very well
- conveyed. Made me want to be there! Just some really nice story-telling.
- Highly recommended :)
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
+was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
+doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
+way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
+story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
+forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
+least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
+effective immigration policy.
I picked this up because I've quite enjoyed his other books. This one
- was also pretty good; certainly compelling and readable. That said, it
- doesn't particularly challenge ideas about borders or immigration in any
- way that I would find agreeable. There's no doubt Keefe is a great
- story-teller, and I did enjoy reading this one, but you could be
- forgiven for passing it up for something else. That said, it did at
- least highlight to me some of the challenges building an
- effective immigration policy.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.html b/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68b8a97c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.html
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Woman in Me - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
+"high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
+how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
+them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
+just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
+likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
+
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
+personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
+
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
+for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
+and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
+have had.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.md b/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f249824c..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/the-woman-in-me-2023.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-woman-in-me-2023
-title: "The Woman in Me"
-simpleTitle: "The Woman In Me"
-authors:
- - Britney Spears
-yearPublished: 2023
-publisher: "Gallery Books"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63133205-the-woman-in-me
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-woman-in-me-britney-spears-9781398522527%20/7356511?ean=9781398522527
-pages: 288
-tags:
- - personal
- - music
-date: 2023-11-05
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-11-05T10:31:05Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-woman-in-me-2023.webp
-summary: |
-
This was interesting and sad, truthfully. I've read a few of these
- "high-profile female celebrity" life books, and the common theme is just
- how much of a "normal" life they want, and how people around them betray
- them. I also think it's such a shame for people who's professional dream
- just happens to be one which makes them famous (not something that is
- likely to happen to me!), and then they suffer the consequences.
-
Of course there is also the story of the conservatorship, which
- personally I can't begin to understand how it's legal.
-
Overall, a very interesting and worthwhile read, and just a reminder,
- for me, of the importance of building self-empowerment in all children,
- and just the appreciation for a caring and supportive upbringing that I
- have had.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.html b/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..224a8a02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.html
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The World We Make - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set
+an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for
+anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her
+earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few
+books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't
+quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end
+of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were
+compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally
+any other series.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.md b/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8889a105..00000000
--- a/updates/2023/the-world-we-make-2022.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
----
-id: the-world-we-make-2022
-title: "The World We Make"
-simpleTitle: "The World We Make"
-authors:
- - N.K. Jemisin
-yearPublished: 2022
-publisher: "Orbit"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60399181-the-world-we-make
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-world-we-make-n-k-jemisin/4957984?ean=9780356512693
-pages: 357
-tags:
- - fiction
- - fantasy
-date: 2023-04-16
-issueCreatedAt: 2023-04-16T09:37:11Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/the-world-we-make-2022.webp
-summary: |
-
Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set
- an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for
- anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her
- earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few
- books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't
- quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end
- of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were
- compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally
- any other series.
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2023/tokyo-vice-2009.html b/updates/2023/tokyo-vice-2009.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f03043fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2023/tokyo-vice-2009.html
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
+
+
+
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
+quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
+show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
+impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
+down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
+those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
+Japan. I loved it!
I picked this up after watching and enjoying the show. The book is
- quite different; and it's interesting actually to compare it with the
- show; the team that converted the book into the show have done an
- impressive job, I think! I like both. I really couldn't put the book
- down. It has compellingly written and just interesting. A great read for
- those interested in the workings of organised crime (and journalism!) in
- Japan. I loved it!
----
-
diff --git a/updates/2024/the-cabin-in-the-mountains-2019.html b/updates/2024/the-cabin-in-the-mountains-2019.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4ee67723
--- /dev/null
+++ b/updates/2024/the-cabin-in-the-mountains-2019.html
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Cabin in the Mountains: A Norwegian Odyssey - Between Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
+beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
+made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
+planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
+try and read more like this in the future!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/updates/2024/venice:-city-of-pictures-2023.md b/updates/2024/venice:-city-of-pictures-2023.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 026bbf09..00000000
--- a/updates/2024/venice:-city-of-pictures-2023.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
----
-id: venice:-city-of-pictures-2023
-title: "Venice: City of Pictures"
-simpleTitle: "Venice: City of Pictures"
-authors:
- - Martin Gayford
-yearPublished: 2023
-publisher: "Thames & Hudson"
-goodreadsLink: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123001252-venice?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=xoW0ZFfJqo&rank=1
-bookshopLink: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/venice-martin-gayford/7079625?ean=9780500022665
-pages: 464
-tags:
- - history
- - urban-planning
- - architecture
- - art
-date: 2024-06-02
-issueCreatedAt: 2024-06-02T07:46:43Z
-imageUrl: /images/book-images/venice:-city-of-pictures-2023.webp
-summary: |
-
I loved this. I haven't read much art history, but this was a
- beautiful way to learn to appreciate art in the context in which it was
- made. Also contained some nice detours into architecture and urban
- planning that influenced the art/development of Venice. Will definitely
- try and read more like this in the future!
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