Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Week Thirty: 50 Things That Made The Modern Economy


Big bowl of ... meh.

Loads of interesting 'facts' but not often that well substantiated unless you want to check the references in the back of the book.

I understand it was from a podcast, or radio series or something I can't be bothered chasing down.

As a book it was too lightweight and twee, and each 'thing' felt like it was an hour of 'Connections' boiled to a 5 minute summary (minus most of the facts).

Occasionally very interesting things though, just not all of them have much more than dubious nods to the global modern economy...

I bought this one year ago (July 22nd 2017) to read on the plane home from Sydney, and quickly realised it was too light (even for a flight).

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Week Twenty Nine: Artemis


There are quite a few things wrong with this book.

1. The first third is world setting with very little idea of what plot is coming
2. The second third is pure policitcal/criminal thriller all of a sudden and unexpectedly murderey
3. The last third is all science in furtherance of solving  the first two thirds

And lastly the main character is an answer to the question, 'what if the guy in the Martian, was a girl?'

Didn't like it and it occasionally has some dodgy ideas about life, society, underage sex (weirdly), and human behaviour.

Not deeply uncomfortable, but a lot of this bugged me.




Friday, July 13, 2018

Week Twenty Eight: Dietland





Really not sure about this book (just yet). I mean it is VERY GOOD. It is also not quite sitting right with me, but probably for the wrong reasons (as a writer not a reader). It is VERY engaging and I could not put it down, whether I agree with it's purpose/point or not.

Very feminist and empowered, it's hard to take in some places but should still be taken for the reasons that this is good and important.

I felt like the explaining who Jennifer Is/Was diluted it's power and derailed it's meaning. Yet now I feel like I'm betraying the author by mansplaining the bits I didn't like. Which is a fair reaction considering that this book is just the latest in series of feminist works that have impacted me directly this last year or so.

Read it, make up your own mind.

Still not sure about my own mind on it, maybe it needs to sit with me like The Handmaids Tale did (I had a similar writers reaction after reading the book last year and then ended up settling on 'loved it').


Saturday, July 7, 2018

Week Twenty Seven: Borrowed Time



Very curious how this would be considering how much I LOVED The Power and how many decades I have been a Who fan.

Did not disappoint. Fans of Alderman may not get the plot/characters and the general feel of a Who story, and fans of Who may not appreciate the biting satirical elements and the general disdain of human behaviour when given free rein.

Twice now she's written works about how the Lucifer Effect (see Philip Zimbardo/Stanford Experiment) takes hold in people, and I don't know if it's because she believes it or is fascinated by it.

Either way its a cracking read for me, a fan of both.