Blindsight, Watts. Yes. This was just fine, despite misspellings (“miniscule” multiple times, “ordinance” when “ordnance” was called for), and the inescapable feeling that the book was, every few pages, asking “Did I just blow (what you think is) your mind? Well, did I?” And maybe if I hadn’t read so much Hofstadter, and Bruce Sterling’s […]
Having coined the term “Buddha attack” some time ago, I now hereby claim coinage of “Reflexpect“: to reflexively expect.
The terrific Richard Wiseman has made a terrific video demonstrating some terrific forced perspective.
The disclaimer at the start of the film I Walked With A Zombie (a zombie film with a similar plot to Jane Eyre) states: “The characters in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead or possessed, is purely coincidental.” Oooooh! Scary stuff, kids! Let’s see if the film lives up to […]
The Years of Rice and Salt, Robinson. Yes. This was a book club recommendation, based on the presence of similar themes to a movie I saw a little while ago. In addition to those resonances, parts of it also evoked Hofstadter, specifically I Am a Strange Loop. Writing was quite good, though somewhat variable (a […]
The City & the City, Miéville. Yes. This was my first ebook (from the library), which may have affected my experience somewhat, though not that I was able to detect. To get the editing complaints out of the way, there was a bad “whomever” that probably would have been on the first page of the […]
I finally saw The Hobbit (part one, my goodness!), and aside from enjoying it I also spent some time racking my brains over where I knew those actors from. My conclusions: That main hobbit: the dude from Sherlock, but not the main dude. Also Arthur Dent one time. Old version: in goddamn everything. Pointy-hat man: […]
The Hydrogen Sonata, Banks. Yes. Banks’s Culture novels have reached the same “reliable and plentiful” status that Pratchett’s Discworld novels have for me. I am looking forward to getting to some of the installments that have been specifically recommended on merit, rather than having been a good introduction or the latest release.
A previous post on a continuing education course on cadaver anatomy at Bastyr University came off as too snarky, perhaps because it was too snarky (except to my core audience– hi, mom & dad!). Here’s a more thoughtful rewrite. “1. No mention that you will be unlikely to find any physical structures in the body […]
Son, Lois Lowry As the book jacket says, “The thrilling conclusion to The Giver,” it’s the fourth in the series and wraps up the plot lines from the previous books. Sort of. You know what happened to all the major characters, another village is introduced, and ROCK CLIMBING and TRAINING FOR ROCK CLIMBING are described […]