#1726

Enjoyed “Entering the Blobosphere: A Musing on Blobs” by Laura Hyunjhee Kim

A fun, short read about the mixed up ness of …blobs.

1 Like
#1727

A friend just turned me on to A Secret History, by Donna Tartt. I simply cannot put it down; I was up until one o’clock last night reading it, and snuck off today at lunch when I should have been working to squeeze in a few more pages.

5 Likes
#1728

Cannot recommend enough.

3 Likes
#1729

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve heard really good things about it.

1 Like
#1730

Just to update on my previous post, the Roedelius book picks up a lot more energy around page 160 or so once he gets into the early days of the experimental music scene in Berlin, and the time he spent living in the forest with Moebius and Eno.

If anyone is finding the book a bit of a slog I’d suggest jumping in on page 156…

2 Likes
#1731

nausea
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Why am I doing this to myself right now?

4 Likes
#1732
1 Like
#1733

Their “Software Tools” was a revelation, coming to computers from the IBM side of things. Essentially a guide to building out a lot of the Unix shell using a FORTRAN preprocessor, RATFOR.

#1734

He’s a great writer. There’s a point where the protagonist does something he very much shouldn’t and it actually was shocking to me, the reader, when it happened – Mieville had gotten me to buy in so hard that I read it almost as if I were part of that society.

#1735

Can I ask for book recommendations here? I’m interested in books on the topics of workplace leadership that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. A lot of the books I’m finding while I scour the library are written through the lens of compelling economic and business reasons to seek workplace equity, and less so on the fact that it is simply the right thing to do.

2 Likes
#1736

IMO, The Crying of Lot 49 is the most accessible of his works, and it’s the one I recommend to those unfamiliar.

2 Likes
#1737

I’ve had this one on my desk for a while. I’ve finally got some time to read and have just re-started reading this one. I like it a lot.

2 Likes
#1738

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Just a few stories in, but totally compelling so far.

4 Likes
#1739

Continuing to go through Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere novels…

The second book of the second Mistborn trilogy, this one was a bit uncomfortable to read due to recent events. One of the plot points is that there are a lot of working class people protesting in the streets – partially to protest unfair conditions that were supposed to have been ended with a revolt in the first novel 300 years ago, and partially because the antagonist is intentionally agitating them.

Some of the characters are constables. While not as hostile toward citizens as modern American cops, and expressing solidarity with the valid parts of their cause – they’re still primarily concerned with protecting property and order and are ready to use violence against “rioters and looters.”

One of the things I enjoy about this whole meta-series is – with few exceptions – even the most supposedly straightforward “villains” and “heroes” really aren’t; the most poignant moments are when the protagonists own up to their own wrongs. But here, the most thoughtful of the constables has only the slightest of fleeting concerns about police brutality or their tendency to protect property more than people, and nobody else really calls them out on it either.

Given that the book was published about a year after the Ferguson protests after the killing of Michael Brown, I find that a bit frustrating. Though to be fair, I haven’t yet read the third book in the trilogy so maybe things are addressed a little better. Still, I wonder how the book might have been different if it were written now.

1 Like
#1740

Currently reading An Individual Note by Daphne Oram and it goes SO HARD

7 Likes
#1741

I have this waiting in the queue… what do you like most about it so far if you don’t mind my asking?

#1742

Lots of things, having a first hand picture into the workings of her mind is a treat, she’s tremendously lively. In the first couple chapters she summarizes a lot of the foundational acoustic / psychoacoustic properties very clearly, in a way that clarified a lot of things I had fuzzy understandings of. This is my first attempt at reading something theoretical to guide music making going forward, and seeing a mature example of a structured approach is really inspiring.

5 Likes
#1743

Thanks! I’m excited to hear it leans into shop talk.

1 Like
#1744

Heads up that the new subscription to Sound American is up today. I’m a big fan.

Upcoming:

SA24: The Sun Ra Issue featuring writing by Taylor Ho Bynum, John Corbett, Naima Lowe, Thomas Stanley, Luke Stewart, Ken Vandermark, Reg Bloor, Jessie Cox, Peter Margasak, Moor Mother, Chris Pitsiokos, Freya Powell, Audra Wolowiec, and Nate Wooley!

SA25: The Folk Issue guest edited by Sarah Hennies and Anna Roberts-Gevalt and featuring exclusive writings by and interviews with Peggy Seeger, Meredith Monk, Henry Flynt, Laurie Spiegel, Kurt Newman, Martin Arnold, Amirtha Kidambi, Ana Alonso-Minutti, John McCowen, Sean Meehan, and more!

SA26: The OCCAM Issue will be a deep dive into Éliane Radigue’s unprecedented long-form, long-term and aurally/orally transmitted composition through the ears and minds of those performing it.

8 Likes
#1745

I am reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. I like cyberpunk and I have read Neuromancer before. Despite PR being set in the early 00’s in a world which might as well be a mirror of ours at the time, Gibson makes it feel just as modern as his sci-fi books.

2 Likes