Bookish version of pdotb@todon.eu
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After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
Probably even lower on dramatic tension than the first book, but that's just fine -- that's not what's needed here. Instead we have a gentle journey between various human settlements as the background to Dex and Mosscrops' developing relationship and their respective struggles with making sense of life.
Satellite Love follows Anna, a student at a school in small-town Japan, as she develops a relationship with an LEO satellite, culminating in her summoning it to earth as her friend, Leo. The book alternates between chapters told from the points of view of Anna and Leo, along with a few other characters (principally Anna's grandfather and Soki, a fellow student). I really liked the book, but it's not without its flaws and cautions. The writing seems a little uneven -- the first few chapters in particular seemed a little clunky, but it definitely picks up a lot after that. The main caution is that Anna's life is really tough -- shunned and bullied by her peers, she withdraws into an imaginary world, and the book doesn't shy away from showing where that leads. I thought it was a sad but beautiful book.
"Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time" is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban …
As is usually the case with anthologies, a couple fall flat, but the high points here more than make up for it, including one with forty puppies -- does it get any better? :)
Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit …
An interesting read. Although it's billed as a 'history of gender', it'd perhaps be more accurate to say that each chapter starts with a historical scenario, but then segues into a wider discussion of gender.
For over thirty years, Opening the Hand of Thought has offered an introduction to Zen …
Remarkably clear explanation not only of the method of zazen, but of how it fits into life as a whole. Frank about how zazen fits with goals, and particularly the problems of zazen as a secularized 'health' practice. The latter part of the book is particularly moving, presenting Uchiyama's last talk before retiring, reflecting on his life and the lessons he wanted to pass on.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." …
This is a tough one. It's a beautiful book, and obviously full of nuggets of wisdom, but I'd be hard pushed to describe it as accessible.
In the West, Zen Buddhism has a reputation for paradoxes that defy logic. In particular, …
My previous attempts at reading Warner have rather run aground on, as I see it, his attempt to lighten Buddhist teachings, but that lean uncomfortably much on "...did I ever tell you I played bass in a punk band." Despite the opening autobiographical chapters, this book largely manages to steer clear of that, but then I'm left wondering what's left. Warner quotes pretty heavily from Dogen, plus more modern teachers such as Nishijima and Kobun, and then offers his own interpretations and personal commentary. Frustratingly, the quotes are only sometimes sourced, leaving the reader unclear where to go read more. Warner's commentary itself contains some gems, especially when he's being particularly humble, but it's not clear there's enough there to justify the reading.
The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows …
First the positive: I have a bit of a soft spot for retellings of the Arthurian legend, and this seems a particularly good one. Not only does it do a really good job of tying in Welsh/Irish life and legends, but much of the prose is beautiful and dense. The less satisfying aspects of the book, however, include the pacing and the incomprehensible motivations of some of the characters. Worst of all, though, is that the main character comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue and, while that kind of makes sense in the context of the story, it does feel a bit... I don't know, 'YA', which is very much at odds with the other aspects of the book. I guess I'd say that I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad it's over :(
No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body …
I realize I might be a bit of an outlier with this one, but I felt this was a decidedly mixed experience. I loved "All Systems Red", and thought Murderbot was probably the most relatable character I'd come across in fiction, but the subsequent novellas were rather less satisfying and I'm afraid this one is no exception. There's still a little of the charm of the first book, but it does rather feel submerged in exposition and parenthetical asides.
A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future …
Hard to say very much about this novella, without spoiling it, but I found it a thrilling page-turner, full of twists, but much more emotionally involving than I'd normally associate with noir.
It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; …
My first Becky Chambers book, and I think I finally understand the enthusiasm. Wonderful developing relationship between Dex and Mosscap, lots of nature, and woven throughout the story, and increasing towards the end, the struggle to find meaning in life.
Public understanding of, and outcry over, the dire state of the climate and environment is …
Buller's book takes the idea of assigning a monetary value to a whale ($2m, apparently) as a jumping-off point to consider how the promise of green capitalism -- that if we just eliminate externalities and assign monetary values to the natural world, everything will be fine -- goes horribly wrong. She carefully demolishes the promise of carbon taxes and carbon offsets, though much of the book goes on to discuss how the greening of asset manager capitalism, especially that espoused by the CEO of Blackrock, doesn't and can never work. The latter part of the book pivots from discussing carbon as the principal problem, to covering the loss of biodiversity and the supposed attempts to prevent this through, you guessed it, markets in conservation credits. Among the many, many great takeaways from the book are the insight that attempting to deal with the environment through markets inevitably means compressing all …
Buller's book takes the idea of assigning a monetary value to a whale ($2m, apparently) as a jumping-off point to consider how the promise of green capitalism -- that if we just eliminate externalities and assign monetary values to the natural world, everything will be fine -- goes horribly wrong. She carefully demolishes the promise of carbon taxes and carbon offsets, though much of the book goes on to discuss how the greening of asset manager capitalism, especially that espoused by the CEO of Blackrock, doesn't and can never work. The latter part of the book pivots from discussing carbon as the principal problem, to covering the loss of biodiversity and the supposed attempts to prevent this through, you guessed it, markets in conservation credits. Among the many, many great takeaways from the book are the insight that attempting to deal with the environment through markets inevitably means compressing all the complexity of the natural world down to a single value (see the value of the whale above), and that so much of green capitalism is an attempt to maintain all the structures of exploitation and power, while claiming to have done something to save the world.
I was inspired to read the book by hearing an interview with Adrienne Buller on Grace Blakeley's 'The World To Win' podcast. Worth a listen to get a taste of what the book is about but, really, you should probably just read it. It's so good.
tribunemag.co.uk/2022/08/89-is-green-capitalism-possible-w-adrienne-buller
Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this defiantly joyful …
I can't remember the last time I read a novel that I felt so much. I love the characters, particularly the three central women, I love the story, wild though it is, I love the descriptions, and I love the ending. I felt invested in the characters' lives, particularly Katrina's, in a way I rarely do.
I'm not sure I can unequivocally recommend it, though. Ryka Aoki doesn't shy away from showing how hard Katrina's life is. The first few chapters are particularly tough going, but even when things pick up for her, it's still not all beer and skittles. Not sure I could provide a definitive list of CWs, but transphobia and sexual assault would have to be in there.
In The Petroleum Papers, investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki tells the story of how the American …
Content warning canpol, climate crisis
A tough read, if I'm honest. Covers the, by now well-known, story of how the oil companies knew about the effects of burning fossil fuels for decades, going back at least to a speech by, of all people, Edward Teller in 1957. This book takes a slightly different spin as it focuses on the Albertan oil sands, and the activities of Imperial Oil (a subsidiary of Exxon) and Suncor (among others) in developing them, despite knowing that they were even more destructive than regular oil supplies.
Powerful financial forces have supported the neoliberal project since the 1980s to advance their interests; …
Content warning ukpol, brexit
So the subtitle is a bit misleading as it's not really talking about 'the City', at least as I'd understand it, and the basic idea, that Brexit was driven by the libertarian right, might not be wholly new, but I still thought this was well-worth reading.
There's a very useful overview of the history of the UK financial industry that's filled in a lot of gaps in my understanding, followed by a classification of different sectors, explaining why they refer to 'alt-finance'. I think the key point here is that much of the financial sector makes its money within the framework of the EU's rules-based neoliberal order, and quite like it that way. There are, however, more speculative forms of finance whose protagonists would much rather everything was deregulated, providing more of a night-watchman libertarian state, that's simply enforcing contracts and nothing more. These are the people who contributed so much to the leave campaigns and, since the vote, have pushed for the hardest possible Brexit.
As if that wasn't grim enough, the latter part of the book ties this in with their more general authoritarian libertarianism, climate change denial, and the rest.
All very thought-provoking, and now there's lots more I want to read, but not necessarily a cheery book.