David Sarkies’s books on Goodreads (2,144 books) (original) (raw)

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| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | ------ | | | checkbox | position | cover The Rose Window | title The Rose Window | author Cook, Monte | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages unknown | avg rating 2.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jun 1998 | David's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Lovecraft in the Realms 28 June 2025 So, this is a short story in a collection of short stories based in the Forgotten Realms. At first I thought it w Lovecraft in the Realms 28 June 2025 So, this is a short story in a collection of short stories based in the Forgotten Realms. At first I thought it was just a collection of fantasy themed detective pieces, but I then came across this one which is supposed to be horror. In fact I got the feeling that this one was modelled on Lovecraftian Horror. The problem that I have with a horror novel in a fantasy world is that I generally equate horror with our world, namely because horror, or at least Lovecraftian horror, involves the supernatural breaking through into the normal. This really doesn’t work with a fantasy world. So, the story is about an Abbey that is being decommissioned (another issue I will address) and a former pupil comes and takes a window, no doubt stained glass, to place in his church. However, after doing so some rather mysterious things start happening, which includes his pupil disappearing. When he goes to get some answers, it turns out that the people who sold him the window suddenly don’t want anything to do with him, so he is left on his own. The story then ends in a way that I would expect a Lovecraft short story to end. The other issue I had with this story is the use of the word church. So, the narrator happens to be a priest of Oghma, and I suspect the use of the words for Christian places of worship and learning is meant to create the feeling of a good deity (though a quick search suggests that this is common usage in the game world). The issue I have with church, despite the claims that a church is a collection of people, is its origins. It comes from the old English word Cirice, which means a building set aside for Christian worship, and has only recently been used to refer to a gathering of Christian worshippers (or the collection of Christians as a whole). Sure, that may sound like me being a bit of a fundy, and I guess you may be right in assuming that, but I also am a stickler for correct usage, which is why I decided to dig into the origins of the world (and it turns out that Christians actually use it incorrectly as well – the world translated to Church from the bible is actually Ecclesia, which means gathering of people). Anyway, I guess I give it points for attempting to write a Lovecraftian story in the Forgotten Realms setting, but then I have to say that while it doesn’t necessarily fail, I guess it didn’t so much come across as a horror story, but rather dark fantasy. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 3 | date started Jun 27, 2025 not set not set | date read Jun 27, 2025 not set not set | date added Jun 29, 2025 | owned | format | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Quillifer (Quillifer, #1) | title Quillifer(Quillifer, #1) | author Williams, Walter Jon * | isbn 1481489976 | isbn13 9781481489973 | asin 1481489976 | num pages 544pp | avg rating 3.84 | num ratings 841 | date pub Oct 03, 2017 | date pub edition Oct 03, 2017 | David's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Jun 27, 2025 | date read not set | date added Jun 27, 2025 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Apollonius of Perga: Treatise on Conic Sections | title Apollonius of Perga: Treatise on Conic Sections | author Perga, Apollonius of | isbn 1446021262 | isbn13 9781446021262 | asin 1446021262 | num pages 424pp | avg rating 3.86 | num ratings 22 | date pub -200 | date pub edition Jun 07, 2015 | David's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review More Ancient Greek Maths 28 June 2025 I remember a section in my maths book from year 12 called Conic Sections, and that was the chapter that was afte More Ancient Greek Maths 28 June 2025 I remember a section in my maths book from year 12 called Conic Sections, and that was the chapter that was after calculus, so it my mind at the time, anything that comes after calculus must be hard. Of course, years later, I discovered why conic sections came after calculus and that was because calculus is the maths behind measuring curves and integral calculus involves obtaining the area of a curved shape. So yeah, I now understand why conic sections came after calculus. Mind you, while this work involves dealing with cones (or conics, which I suspect means pertaining to cones, or conic shapes) it has nothing to do with calculus. The reason behind this is because calculus didn’t exist (and wouldn’t exist until Isaac Newton, though the Arabs were probably playing around with something). What this work does, and is similar to a lot of the other works that was in the volume on Ancient Greek maths is that is uses ratios to measure sections of cones, and how to work out these measurements. So, the guy who wrote this book actually wrote it in response to another book on cones, and when he sent it to somebody to review it, they thought that he was simply being a smartarse, namely because the person whom he was criticising happened to be an expert in his field. I would say it would sort of like Stephen Hawking (the late) publishing a paper, and me coming along and correcting it (though, to be honest, in the age of the internet we have a lot of people doing just that). Though, a part of publishing a paper is actually sending it to a group of people to review your paper and is part and parcel of getting a paper published because, well, that is what a peer-reviewed article is all about. Also, as some academics have suggested, people citing your paper is the academic equivalent of likes (well not really, more like sharing your content) but as my Dad pointed out one of the easiest ways to get lots and lots of citations is to write rubbish. Mind you, writing crap with the intention of getting citations probably won’t do all that much for your academic career, but then again we also live in an age where people post stuff on line with in intention of creating controversy and becoming incredibly famous because of that. It’s sort of like Libs of Tik Tok – she is basically posting rage bait because she knows that it boosts her profile. Mind you, the last time I posted rage bait was loudly declaring to the film society that 2001 A Space Odyssey was the most boring piece of crap I have ever watched in my life. I was excommunicated, though twenty-five years later I still hold to that opinion. So, I’ve spoken about rage-bait, Libs of Tik Tok, and 2001 A Space Odyssey and little about this book. Well, that’s probably because there isn’t all that much to say about this book. It’s basically 200 pages of proofs regarding cones. Then again, I wish I could sit down and write 200 pages of proofs (or other things because as much as I like maths, writing proofs is sort of a little beyond me – and the proofs that are worth anything are really really hard). Then again, it’s basically like the nobility from the early modern era, who had so much time on their hands that they ended up studying stuff. Well, not all of them, but some of them did. This was no doubt the same thing in the Ancient World, though we should remember that the Eastern Mediterranean was actually much more philosophically and scientifically astute – the Romans to the west were just a bunch of boys playing soldiers. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 5 | # times read 1 | date started Jun 18, 2025 | date read Jun 27, 2025 | date added Jun 18, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Doctor Who: The Sensorites | title Doctor Who: The Sensorites | author Robinson, Nigel | isbn 0426202953 | isbn13 9780426202950 | asin 0426202953 | num pages 143pp | avg rating 3.34 | num ratings 314 | date pub Jul 16, 1987 | date pub edition Jan 01, 1987 | David's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review A New Look at Colonialism26 March 2025 It turns out the Ord in the newer series are actually based on these guys, and apparently they also live near e A New Look at Colonialism26 March 2025 It turns out the Ord in the newer series are actually based on these guys, and apparently they also live near each other suggesting that they both evolved from the same source. Mind you, it is a shame that they didn’t bring them back, but then again a lot of these races probably aren’t spacefaring (the suggestion is that the Sensorites aren’t) so unless The Doctor is going back to their planet it is unlikely we will see them again, especially since the Tardis has a habit of not going where you want it to go. So, they land up on a spaceship and the occupants are asleep. When they wake them up the learn that the Sensorites have immobilised the ship, and before the Doctor can leave, they steal the lock to the Tardis (this is one of the things you see a lot – the Doctor’s Tardis disappears, or is incapacitated, forcing him to stay for the adventure – in a way it’s like the Dungeon Master trying to prevent the players from walking past the cave). Anyway, it turns out that the planet is really, really wealthy, and the Sensorites do not want the humans returning and mining the crap out of it. Like, we know what humans are like, and the suggestion here is that even back in the 60s there was this understanding that the global north would colonise and exploit the global south. Okay, this was after decolonisation, but the suggestion here is that despite that, poorer countries were being exploited by the north for their resources, making them even poorer. This is also one of those cool episodes where what appears to be the enemy turns out to actually be the good guys, though the humans in the story are good as well. Sure, they might return saying they found nothing, but it is clear that the Sensorites are smart enough to know that the wealthy planet won’t stay hidden for long. Another cool thing is that there is also political intrigue. Honestly, this is something that I never really picked up from Doctor Who when I was younger, but then as a kid I probably didn’t have the education, or the understanding, to really pick up political intrigue. I really only watched it for the aliens and the occasional spaceship, and since this was a really low budget one, I generally avoided it anyway. However, having read it now, I have to say that the story is pretty good, with lots of twists and turns, and also the race to uncover a disease that is killing off the Sensorites. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 1 | date started May 20, 2025 | date read May 25, 2025 | date added May 20, 2025 | owned | format Mass Market Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Pebble in the Sky (Galactic Empire, #3) | title Pebble in the Sky(Galactic Empire, #3) | author Asimov, Isaac | isbn 0722112440 | isbn13 9780722112441 | asin 0722112440 | num pages 186pp | avg rating 3.90 | num ratings 26,576 | date pub 1950 | date pub edition Dec 1972 | David's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Make Earth Great Again21 May 2025 Firstly I do sort of wonder the order in which these books are supposed to be read because there is the order they w Make Earth Great Again21 May 2025 Firstly I do sort of wonder the order in which these books are supposed to be read because there is the order they were written, and the order that people claim they should be read. Finally, there is my order, where this book is second because it still deals with Earth, though I have since discovered that Currents of Space should be second because it deals with the rise of Trantor, and in this book the Galactic Empire has already been establish (and controls most of the known Galaxy). However, the book is still set on Earth. In fact a bulk of the action occurs on Earth, except for the introduction of Bel Arvarden, an archaeologist who travels to Earth because he wants to investigate the origin of humanity, since there are two theories – one of them being that since humanity is the perfect form of life, and the pinnacle of evolution, they would have evolved in multiple places, while another theory claims that they evolved from one place and spread out across the galaxy. Mind you, this is 50,000 years in the future, which is actually much, much longer than recorded history, which is about 5500 years, and even then the earliest accounts are pretty sketchy, and mainly myth (actually this is ten times as long as recorded history, and we also need to remember that evidence of civilisation dates back to 12000 years ago). So, a tailor is accidentally transferred to the future when an experiment goes wrong, and, well, that far into the future not only has language changed dramatically, but you are literally in another world. In fact, while he is still on Earth, the Earth has been swamped by radiation, and there are only a small number of places where humans can live. In fact, due to the limited amount of space, and the fact that there is no love lost between the empire and the people of Earth, the population is limited to a specific number, and people who live beyond a productive life (unless, surprise, surprise, you happen to be special) are basically put to death. Oh, before I continue, I should comment on the reactions of the scientists to the accident – they basically realise that they may have stuffed up, but pack their experiment away, agree not to speak of it any further, and proceed to go home. The fact that Asimov was a scientist and had a PhD, which suggests that he knew exactly what went on in labs, and what scientists did if they stuffed up, but knew they could get away with it (and I suspect that he was in that situation a few times as well, though I suspect he never accidentally sent somebody into the future). Okay, this is sort of an adventure, much of what I expect from sci-fi, where there is a plot to destroy the Empire. As I mentioned, there is no love lost between the Empire and Earth, and while there is a garrison on the plant, and the occupants of the garrison have various opinions of the natives, from being scornful to having outright disgust. Actually, this is an interesting idea where the outside imperialist turns the land that was once the cradle of humanity into just another colony. In fact it feels, in part, like reverse colonialism (though I doubt Asimov was making any over political comment here). Another thing is this debate regarding the origins of humanity. Like, we know the truth, in part, or we would assume that we know the truth and accept that Earth is the origin, but maybe what he is trying to do is bring out our planetary patriotism, much like in the book, where the rulers of Earth aren’t the good guys, they are the bad guys. Yet we seem to what to assume that the theory that humans all evolved and came from Earth as being the correct one. Mind you, we sort of learn the answer in the later books, but now it is unanswered. Sure, we do have the time traveller, and he does become rather power, which I sort of find odd because that isn’t something that I would expect from Asimov’s work – they tend to be quite hard science-fiction as opposed to science-fantasy. Yeah, the book wasn’t bad, and the thing is that you can actually read is separately from his other works. I guess that is why I’m not hugely phased that I read the incorrect one. Oh, and the title actually refers to the idea that Earth is now a backwater, when at one time it was a great (you could say that a part of the book is a MEGA movement – Make Earth Great Again), but now it is radioactive (we aren’t told how it happened, but the assumption, especially at the time of writing, was that it was a nuclear war) and that the population is incredibly limited. Oh, and there is also a suggestion that they don’t want people travelling into the radioactive areas, but we learn why later on. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started May 09, 2025 | date read May 20, 2025 | date added May 09, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The World According to Garp | title The World According to Garp | author Irving, John * | isbn 0525237704 | isbn13 9780525237709 | asin 0525237704 | num pages 437pp | avg rating 4.11 | num ratings 235,589 | date pub Apr 24, 1978 | date pub edition Apr 24, 1978 | David's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review A Writer Writing About a Writer Writing9 May 2025 I honestly don’t know, my mind was going too and fro when it came to this book. In some parts I thou A Writer Writing About a Writer Writing9 May 2025 I honestly don’t know, my mind was going too and fro when it came to this book. In some parts I thought it was good (but not great) and in other parts I thought it was terrible. Well, in another sense you could say that I found it was painful and in other parts I found it to be incredibly boring. Mind you, who am I to criticise Irving though, he made a bucket load of money from this book (which no doubt included the film rights) and me, well, I’m just some middle aged doofus living in a house in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. Still, this is a review of the book, and I guess I’m still entitled to my opinion, something which Irving never had to face back in his day (namely randos on the internet criticising his book). Actually, I suspect that a lot of this book is basically about him, well, to the extent that he wasn’t assassinated by a crazed feminist that happened to be the sister of the first girl he ever slept with. Still, I could pick up a lot of hints from this book that I suspect came from Irving’s life, and he even admits that Garp’s father was based on what he knew of his father (which was basically absolutely nothing because his mother wouldn’t tell him anything about him). So, the story is about the boy, born out of wedlock (not that it matters these days, thank God, because the whole idea of punishing somebody for something that is entirely out of their control is absolutely ridiculous). Mind you, it didn’t seem to be much of an issue in the book either, though this was highlighted a few times, however he was never referred to as a bastard son of Jenny Fields. Basically he decides he wants to become a writer because the girl he has a crush on in High School, who happens to be the coaches’ daughter, wants to marry a writer. He does flag at the early parts of the book that she will be his wife, so yeah, it is sort of like one of those comedy books that drops hints as to what is going to happen all throughout. One reviewer made a comment that the characters actually, in part, seem omniscient (which is probably part of the writer writing about a writing writing). It is painful when that happens because it can be a bit of a rough read knowing that things are going to end up quite badly, So, how would I describe it – well it certainly isn’t a drama, and it feels pretty bleak and dark at times so it would be hard to call it a comedy, yet there is a lot of absurdity in it as well, so I would probably put it into the category of black comedy. In a way it is sort of like Trainspotting, where at the beginning you are warmed up with a lot of absurdity before the film hits you with a massive gut punch (and Trainspotting, at least the film – I haven’t read the book yet – is an awesome, and quite sobering, film). There are a lot of interesting aspects to it, especially since one of the main characters does happen to be a trans-woman. The interesting thing about this book is that it doesn’t seem to take issue with it – Roberta is, well, just like everybody else. He treats her as, well, just like everybody else in the book, namely as another of the many quirky characters you encounter. There is none of this “hey this character is trans, see, I’m using a trans character in my novel” sort of rubbish that you would encounter these days. Nor does Garp treat her any different. Then again, back in those days, you never really had a big deal about it, but that is probably because the anti-woke crowd were nowhere near as loud as they are now. Well, okay, some reviewers have raised the concept of shock value, which would have been the case in a very conservative 1970s (though things were beginning to change – homosexuality was being legalised among other things). In a way you could say that ‘A Sexual Suspect’, Jenny Fields’ book, which became a best seller on shock value alone. In fact back in the day I had this idea that if you wrote something controversial for the time then you could make a lot of bank on that. However, that isn’t true now, since we have move on from shock and outrage and are now in the fros of a cancel culture war, we both sides are furiously trying to cancel the other out, with both sides claiming that othe other is offensive. As I mentioned, this book really isn’t one of the greatest books that I’ve read. It just felt way too much like the author was writing about himself. Sure, there is a lot in regards to the feminist world that was beginning to take shape. Garp’s mother becomes a feminist icon based on the book that she wrote, and there is the struggle that Garp faced where he wanted to be a writer but found himself caught under the shadow of the titan that his mother became. I’m still in two minds about it, but I guess I’ll see what the others have to say at bookclub. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started Apr 15, 2025 | date read May 09, 2025 | date added Apr 15, 2025 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Gods That Fail: Modern Idolatry & Christian Mission | title Gods That Fail: Modern Idolatry & Christian Mission | author Ramachandra, Vinoth | isbn 0830818960 | isbn13 9780830818969 | asin 0830818960 | num pages 226pp | avg rating 4.23 | num ratings 52 | date pub Jan 01, 1996 | date pub edition Jan 01, 1997 | David's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review A Christian Noam Chomsky 18 April 2025 Well, it is always refreshing we I find a Christian book that takes a swipe at the modern economic system, and A Christian Noam Chomsky 18 April 2025 Well, it is always refreshing we I find a Christian book that takes a swipe at the modern economic system, and in doing so outlines that fact that the global south simply exists to prop up the consumer orientated global north. Mind you, the author of this book is a nuclear physicist turned evangelist so there are deep dives into how the church responds to certain scientific aspects verses the Bible. The thing is that this book was written in the 90s, which you could say was the beginning of the post-truth reality, namely with relativism, and whatever you believed was correct. Mind you, in the thirty odd years since this seems to have switched with a lot of the relativists coming back to a world bounded by truth, particularly with Climate Change, and the church slipping into post truth, particularly with the big lie of 2020. I do remember growing up in this time period, and there was a lot of discussion over the trend toward relativism, and that the church was fighting against it, claiming that morality wasn’t something that you made up yourself, but rather something that was based on Biblical truth. Mind you, since the author was writing from the viewpoint of a South Asian, he did rightly apply this to how religion would shape one’s scientific view of the world (the Christian west tended to move towards the idea of the Big bang and the heat death of the universe, while the East tended to have move towards the steady state theory – namely that the universe always existed and moved in cycles). He also explored the concept of how the Bible related to science, and this was a big thing as well, since the secular world argued that science disproved the Bible while the fundamentalists argued that the Bible disproved science. His position is the same position that a lot of the churches that I attended would take, and namely that the Bible is not a scientific text book, and even the early readers of Genesis understood that it was to be taken poetically, not literally. However, as you can tell, the title of the book indicates that it is about idols, and that is another thing that would always appear, and still appears. Mind you, these days we have fundamentalist Christian nationalists attending conferences with idols of their leaders, and claiming that they are God’s anointed. Even one of our former Prime Ministers channelled Moses to claim that his removal from office equated to the nation rejecting God (and no doubt he was put up to that by the church leaders). I have actually discovered his blog and a quick read of it indicates that he really, really doesn’t like Donald Trump, but that is beside the point. The point is about how we, especially in the west, have been caught up in idols of economic growth, and an individualist rhetoric, though the thing is that this just isn’t the west, but it is the church as well. Sure, the church does talk about greed, but the thing is that a lot of these sermons are just covers to ask for more money. Sure, we should reject greed, but the question is where do we send our money – well, we shouldn’t be giving it all to the church. Yeah, this is a pretty awesome book, and he certainly doesn’t pull any punches. Seriously, we really need more Christian leaders who are willing to confront the idols of our age as opposed to just skirting around the edges for fear of upsetting their donors. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 1 | date started Mar 28, 2025 | date read Apr 15, 2025 | date added Mar 28, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them | title How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them | author Stanley, Jason F. | isbn 0525511830 | isbn13 9780525511830 | asin 0525511830 | num pages 240pp | avg rating 4.22 | num ratings 12,226 | date pub Sep 04, 2018 | date pub edition Sep 04, 2018 | David's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Mar 25, 2025 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The Shortest History of Music | title The Shortest History of Music | author Ford, Andrew | isbn 1743823630 | isbn13 9781743823637 | asin B0CV4VM1CR | num pages 225pp | avg rating 4.08 | num ratings 60 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jul 30, 2024 | David's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Making Sounds Through the Ages26 March 2025 Well, this was rather different to the last book that I read about music, but then again it was a 500 page Making Sounds Through the Ages26 March 2025 Well, this was rather different to the last book that I read about music, but then again it was a 500 page brick that basically dealt with the underground scene in New York City in the 70s. This book is much, much shorter, and the scope is much, much larger. In fact one of the things that they mention is that there is an awful lot more to music than what we see in the Western World. There is a reason why ‘World Tours’ really only consist of Europe, North America, Japan, and sometimes Australia – it’s because everywhere else pretty much has their own versions and tastes, and isn’t interested in the corporate rubbish that seems to be regularly churned out. So, while rock music and such may be significant with regards to our culture (though Hip Hop is much more popular), it is pretty irrelevant in the whole world of music. In fact, the whole musical notations that we use also happen to only be Western European – apparently other cultures have their own forms of musical notation, making writing music as vast as our spoken and written languages (and on that note, apparently music isn’t a language - at least according to the author). The problem with this book though is that it is pretty technical, and despite his discussions about how music changes across cultures, he really ended up spending most of his time writing about western styles of music, and in particular the classical composers (with the exception of the modernist section, which was more about music as a modernist art-form that actually modern music such rock, EDM and, shudder, hip -hop). Well, there is this idea of music following art forms, especially with the idea of modernism and post-modernism suddenly creating these concepts of post-genres (post-punk, post-grunge etc), though to be honest while in the art world, this concept is the idea of moving beyond the modernist style, in the world of commercial music, it really just refers to bands who have basically taken a style and commercialised it (aka Nickle “I’ve sold more albums than you so shutup” back). Yeah, I’m probably going to say that the book really didn’t grab me. Like, it was okay, and it was interesting looking back at how music formed (and how pretty much all of our modern music actually originated in West Africa – or at least was heavily influenced by it) but in the end, well, for somebody who only every listens to it and doesn’t really go to much into the theory, it did sort of go over my head. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 1 | date started Mar 15, 2025 | date read Mar 26, 2025 | date added Mar 15, 2025 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover A Walk In The Snow | title A Walk In The Snow | author Gross, David | isbn | isbn13 | asin B000JCVROW | num pages unknown | avg rating 2.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition unknown | David's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Just Corporate Slop16 March 2025 I’m wondering if this collection of short stories that I’m reading are basically murder mysteries (or similar) based Just Corporate Slop16 March 2025 I’m wondering if this collection of short stories that I’m reading are basically murder mysteries (or similar) based in the Forgotten Realms. I have read another one recently (namely in the last 5 years, after randomly grabbing some at a second-hand bookshop) and for some reason I never really found that it works. Well, come to think of it, it does, but when I have read fantasy novels in the past I’ve been more drawn to the high-fantasy swords & sorcery type. Then again, that was me basically living in a box, and I do appreciate it when authors try something different. So , this story is set in the Moonshaes, which are a group of islands off the coast of the main continent in the Forgotten Realms that is based on Celtic mythology. Actually, it is set in a small village where the protagonist is an innkeeper and also the village’s constable. He learns of the death of a wizard that had come over to the island to help out and of course he has to work out who is responsible. Actually, it’s also one of those stories where the main culprit wasn’t in the area at the time, even though the victim had indicated who was responsible. There does end up being an answer to this issue, however I won’t say what the solution is because, well, that would give too much away, not that I would be rushing out to recommend this story to anybody because it happens to be the type of slop that the corporate world keeps on churning out. Well, you could probably figure it out, if you happen to really know the rules, though I have to admit that it has been ages since I played it, or even remember the intricate details. Look, it wasn’t too bad, but as I mentioned, I’m hardly going to run out and recommend it, and I’m certainly not going to recommend it to my book club. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 1 | date started Mar 14, 2025 | date read Mar 16, 2025 | date added Mar 14, 2025 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover We Can Remember It for You Wholesale | title We Can Remember It for You Wholesale | author Dick, Philip K. | isbn 1435510143 | isbn13 9781435510142 | asin 1435510143 | num pages 29pp | avg rating 3.95 | num ratings 9,351 | date pub Apr 1966 | date pub edition Jun 14, 2007 | David's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Great Plot for a Movie15 March 2025 For quite a while all I could tell you about this story was that it starred Arnold Swartzenegger and that it rocke Great Plot for a Movie15 March 2025 For quite a while all I could tell you about this story was that it starred Arnold Swartzenegger and that it rocked. It turned out that the book is somewhat different, or I should say short story. Like, it doesn’t pull a huge bug out of his nose (though he does actually have a bug in his head). Also, he doesn’t go to Mars, discover an alien artifact, and destroy a corporation that exploits people by selling oxygen by turning Mars into a breathable planet. Then again it is a short story, so you are somewhat limited in what you can have happen. Oh, and there is that other movie, that doesn’t even credit Dick for for the original idea. I’m probably still going to watch it again (in the background) for completeness sake. Anyway, as I mentioned it is a short story about some guy who works in a menial office job and wants to go to Mars, but can’t afford it. So, he goes to a company called Recall and buys a memory implant, but it turns out that he already has a memory implant, and it triggers these memories that he has forgotten. So, what ends up happening is that he has to be killed because he wasn’t supposed to remember what he was doing on Mars (he also discovers that he smuggled some stuff back). So, after escaping the cops, he discovers the implant, and he convinces them to keep him alive. Mind you, as is the case with a lot of these books, and a lot of the short stories, there happens to be a twist at the end. Also, as you can guess, they are also short sharp and shiny, though I’m not sure whether there is anything in this story that makes you think. Of course, the film leaves you wandering whether what you watch was real or just in Quail’s imagination, and there have been many debates and discussions over the years as to which was which (I always fell onto the side of it being real, but I can see the other side of the argument – but it was always meant to be ambiguous). Actually, if you search the internet you can still find these discussions ongoing. Still, that has nothing to do with the original story, which is pretty cool as well, but not as good as the movie (the original one that is). ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 6 | # times read 1 | date started Mar 14, 2025 | date read Mar 14, 2025 | date added Mar 14, 2025 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk | title Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk | author McNeil, Legs | isbn 0349108803 | isbn13 9780349108803 | asin 0349108803 | num pages 528pp | avg rating 4.19 | num ratings 35,866 | date pub 1996 | date pub edition Jan 01, 1997 | David's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review What is Punk 13 March 2025 So, a friend of mine and I were in a second-hand bookshelf and he convinced me to get this, I believed for him, and then a What is Punk 13 March 2025 So, a friend of mine and I were in a second-hand bookshelf and he convinced me to get this, I believed for him, and then a couple of weeks later he gave it to me saying that it was mine (which was probably correct since I actually paid for it). It’s like a 500 page book, and his request that I purchase it I found odd because I never really considered him to be into punk (he’s more into alt rock, though honestly I can’t say for sure what music he likes, except that he once own the self-titled CD by Garbage). Well, this book is pretty much what the title claims – it is an uncensored oral history of punk, namely that the entire book is simply quotes from numerous people that were involved in the New York Punk scene. I have read criticisms that it really only deals with the area around CBGBs in Lower Manhattan, though honestly that is probably because most of the action came from here. Sure, they do travel to the West Coast and have adventures there, but the reality is that it really deals with the community that existed in New York. I suspect that you don’t hear about the Dead Kennedy's or Black Flag is because they weren’t a part of the group. Much of the book really deals with the lead up to the formation of The Ramones and of the aborted Sex Pistols tour of the US. These days, if you type in ‘The Stooges’ and ‘Velvet Underground’ into Wikipedia that would come up as proto-punk, but in my mind proto-punk is much like post-grunge – it is a label that has been applied to a group of bands that didn’t have that title when they were in their prime. Sure, in my mind Nickleback will never be grunge, but on the other hand Silverchair and Stone Temple Pilots will be (despite Wikipedia claiming otherwise, though I’m not going to go in and change it the way I changed Bryan Adams – there is no way that he is heavy metal). Mind you, the interesting thing is that I always thought that I Wanna Be Your Dog was a 90s song (that’s the song that plays at the opening of Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels), and never realised until recently that it was one of the earliest punks songs, and was performed by the Velvet Underground. In fact, I never realised that Iggy Pop was so involved in the scene – I just thought he was some dude that they played his songs occasionally on the radio. I guess the whole idea behind the book is to try to understand what punk actually was. Sure, the word has been around for a while, and William Boroughs has some interesting comments about it (which turned out had nothing to do with what others were claiming he said it was) but the thing is that what they considered to be punk, and what it actually became were two completely different things. As they say – what America defined the UK refined. Well, with punk that seemed to be completely the opposite since to the New York crowd, it was very much an underground movement. Sort of like the Alt-Rock of the 70s. However, it turned out that the Sex Pistols gave it its current form, namely a violet, rebellious subculture (and I generally think of Vivian from the Young Ones as the quintessential punk rocker, despite the fact that he’s actually into metal – yeah, back then the metal heads and the punks did not mix, at least not until Suicidal Tendencies merged the genres). Another thing was that I was wondering whether they were going to deal with the death of Nancy Spungen, and it seemed like I had read most of the book and they still hadn’t discussed it. In a way you could say it was one of the defining moments of the era, though you could also say that her death, and then Sid’s, changed punk forever. They do, and they don’t skip over it either, but it is explored at the end. The sad thing is that it looks like we aren’t ever going to find out what happened because when Sid died, they simply closed the case because, well, it was just a couple of junkies. The final thing I wish to say is that we also hear about groupies, which I find interesting, particularly Sable Starr. Like, she actually has a Wikipedia article to her name, which is something I never expected for a groupie. Like, they are just people that hang around the band wanting to join in on all the fun. Yet, I guess the thing with her is that it was very specific for this era, and she does play a major role in the book, even if she was considered a pain in the neck. Yeah, the party lifestyle, and yeah, there are lots and lots of references to drugs, and sex, and homosexuality, in this book. No doubt it was pretty shocking when it was released, even in the 90s. Mind you, the images that I got from the description was like what you would expect from a junky’s house – dirty, grotty, and certainly not fun. I do wonder how the artists are all about to perform off their nuts on depressants. I remember some guy that used to do heroin, and when he dit it he was dead to the world – you couldn’t wake him or communicate with him, yet these guys were able to play. Awesome book I have to say (and cool first name for one of the authors – though he was actually a founder of Punk magazine). It’s really well done, especially since we are actually exploring the dark and seedy recesses of the underground music industry in 1970s New York (and of course everybody knew each other – it turns out bands don’t exist in isolation). Mind you, I have my own term for this style, or era, of music, and that is Boomer Punk, namely because this is what the boomers were all in to at the time (or at least in places not Adelaide because I tell you what, none of the radio stations in Adelaide ever played anything that wasn’t bound for the top 40). ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started Feb 16, 2025 | date read Mar 13, 2025 | date added Feb 16, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover God's Outlaw | title God's Outlaw | author Edwards, Brian H. | isbn 0875529534 | isbn13 9780875529530 | asin 0875529534 | num pages 0pp | avg rating 4.17 | num ratings 84 | date pub 1981 | date pub edition Jun 01, 1976 | David's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Fight for an English Translation17 February 2025 Well, this book is about William Tyndale and his quest to translate the bible into English, though he Fight for an English Translation17 February 2025 Well, this book is about William Tyndale and his quest to translate the bible into English, though he really only got to doing the New Testament and sections of the Old Testament before he was executed for heresy by burning at the stake. Mind you, this book was written by a Christian, so sadly it felt somewhat quite biased, especially when the author went to great lengths to try to paint Tyndale as a man without sin. Yeah, I’ve encountered that a few times in my life, where they tend to elevate heroes of the faith (and even some Old Testament characters) to a position that is almost divine. Like, it makes me wonder what somebody like Tyndale would be thinking if he were to see how he had been elevated (and some of the institutions that his name would be attached to, such as the school I went to, that would hand out detention to people who said that they were atheist – it is sad that some institutions tarnish the name who went to the stake for freedom of religion only for them to take it away again). So, like a lot of the reformers at the time, he was an academic, first at Oxford, and then at Cambridge (because apparently Cambridge was the better university, at least at this time). This was during the reign of King Henry VIII, and of course the writer goes to great length to paint King Henry as an absolute devil (which I sort of suspect he was – though a lot of these authors love to paint governments as demonic). In fact the story at the beginning of the book was almost comical regarding Henry’s invasion of France (which would have been comical if not for the fact that he won). Anyway, Tyndale’s goal was to translate the bible into English so that Joe Ploughman (in other words the average person) would be able to read it. Mind you, when you refer to the average person as Joe Ploughman it raises the question of whether he could read (and of course this is very male centric, as a lot of Christian texts tend to be). Mind you, one pastor responded to the question ‘what if they can’t read’ with ‘well we’ll teach them to read’. Sure, that is all well and good, but it then comes down to being able to understand what is being said, and sure, we might be able to read the Bible, but there are huge disputes over what parts of it mean, and people will argue until they are blue in the faith over these definitions. Like, when I was at one church, they would always have us follow along with the Bible so we could see that what they were saying came from scripture. Therein lies the problem, it is their interpretation of scripture, and the problem is that people aren’t being taught to read and understand it for themselves. Like, we are told to respect the government because God put the government in place, but that only applies when it is their people in place. If their people aren’t in place then it is an illegitimate government. Yet another thing that this made me think about is how much there was a suppression of the freedom of speech and thought back then. Of course, this is being played up significantly (which I am not denying happened – the whole ordeal where reformers were being burnt at the stake for spreading a message that was contrary to the views of the establishment at the time), as were the persecutions during the Roman Empire, but the subsequent persecutions that the Christians were involved in are played down, if not hidden, and if you raise them you are attacked with claims of being woke. Look, there are probably a lot of good books on William Tyndale out there, and like, I can’t say that this isn’t one of them. It is just that you do have to take into account the Christian bias that exists. Oh, it also happens to be a film (and I’m not sure if it was based on this book, but it does have the same name). The funny thing was that when I looked at the cover I was reading, the drawing looked a lot like Sean William Scott (aka Stiffler), but mind you that would have been meaningless back in the mid-seventies, when this book was published. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 1 | date started Feb 04, 2025 | date read Feb 16, 2025 | date added Feb 04, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Sonny's Blues | title Sonny's Blues | author Baldwin, James | isbn 3125765005 | isbn13 9783125765009 | asin 3125765005 | num pages 88pp | avg rating 4.32 | num ratings 9,230 | date pub Jan 01, 1957 | date pub edition Nov 01, 1994 | David's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Life in Harlem 5 February 2025 This short story seems to explore the nature of how music can change you. Actually, it is also about an unnamed narrato Life in Harlem 5 February 2025 This short story seems to explore the nature of how music can change you. Actually, it is also about an unnamed narrator who works as an algebra teacher in Harlem who realises that he has neglected his brother, despite promising his mother otherwise. In fact, this is triggered when he finds out that his brother has been arrested for drugs and has to undergo treatment (which in the US pretty much involves prison). So, both the Narrator and the brother, Sonny, were in the military, though we aren’t told what war they were involved it. Obviously this has been made deliberately vague. Okay, it was written in the late 50s, so the whole idea of the conscript being sent to Vietnam and getting hooked on heroin really wasn’t a thing (and I’m not entirely sure when this aspect of the war came out). However, it is also about how Sonny seems to be directionless. The narrator appears to have made something of his life, though when he is teaching his class he cannot help but feel that all of them are on drugs. While it isn’t stated, I suspect it could be because he wants to help these kids, or it could even be because he wants to do something for them that he failed to do for his brother. Like, yeah, it was an interesting book, though ironically the discussion went more along the way of American literature, and how we never seem to find out about a lot of these stories and authors that happen to be well known in the US. Then again, it is pretty much the same in Australia where a lot of our authors aren’t really known all that much beyond our shores. Of course, we have the big names, such as Mark Twain, but the reality is that a lot of the big authors in the US, or at least the literary authors, aren’t really known over here because, well, I suspect that we don’t study them as much. I suspect that is also why some of the books are held up there as literary masterpieces don’t really impact me the same because I live in a different culture that has a different history, and the deep cultural events that the Americans experienced, to me, is just something that happened over there. It’s also why a reference to ‘Elizabeth’ really only means something to people who live, and grew up, in Adelaide. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 1 | date started Feb 03, 2025 | date read Feb 03, 2025 | date added Feb 02, 2025 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Doctor Who: The Aztecs | title Doctor Who: The Aztecs | author Lucarotti, John | isbn 0426195884 | isbn13 9780426195887 | asin 0426195884 | num pages 121pp | avg rating 3.61 | num ratings 428 | date pub Jan 01, 1984 | date pub edition Oct 1984 | David's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review When the God Tries to Intervene2 February 2025 The interesting thing about this one is that it seems to be a subtle dig a religion. Well, they even me When the God Tries to Intervene2 February 2025 The interesting thing about this one is that it seems to be a subtle dig a religion. Well, they even mention how Christ appeared to the Jews and they proceeded to kill him, which sort of suggests that if somebody appears who, well, in all intents and purposes, appears to be the god that they worship, but they start saying things that the religious leaders don’t like, then the religious leaders will pretty much turn around and arrange to kill this person (or god). So, the idea came about because John Lucarotti had written Marco Polo, and while that was being made he decided that he wanted to do one on the Aztecs. He actually happened to have a thing for the Aztecs. We need to remember that these early Doctor Whos, when they were dealing with an historic period, wanted to simply explore the period without having any aliens beyond the Doctor. Anyway, the Tardis appears in an Aztec tomb and while exploring Barbara finds a broch that she likes and puts it on. They then open the door and step out and all of the Aztecs who see this think that it is the person in the tomb coming back as a God. Mind you, Barbara is pretty horrified at the sacrifices that the perform so tries to put and end to it, which results in the religious leaders deciding that they must get rid of them (sound familiar?). The interesting thing is that the sacrifices were actually conditioned to believe that they were doing something important. Basically the reason that somebody was sacrificed was to deliver a message to the gods. Of course, they need a sacrifice that the Gods would accept – not any person could be sent up to the gods as a messenger because they might not listen to them. In fact, one of the characters doesn’t have a name other than ‘The Perfect Sacrifice’. It was interesting, and of course it reminds me a lot of what happened to Jesus in the Bible. In fact the part that I’m currently reading has Jesus teaching the Jews, but the Jews are rejecting his teaching because, well, it runs counter to what they are teaching. I could talk a lot more about this, and I could even relate that with how the church runs today (and in fact a lot of people actually suggest that if Jesus were to appear to the modern church they would probably want to kill him again). Yeah, I liked it, and it certainly does make you think about how organised religion really does run counter to many of the original teachings. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 1 | # times read 1 | date started Jan 29, 2025 | date read Feb 02, 2025 | date added Jan 29, 2025 | owned | format Mass Market Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Dispute Between a Man and His Ba | title Dispute Between a Man and His Ba | author Anon | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0DV8CYML6 | num pages unknown | avg rating 3.94 | num ratings 50 | date pub unknown | date pub edition unknown | David's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Struggle with a Desire for Death 30 January 2025 The interesting thing about this work is that it seems that the idea of death being the end and death Struggle with a Desire for Death 30 January 2025 The interesting thing about this work is that it seems that the idea of death being the end and death being a gateway to a better life is something that has been with us for as long as humans have been pondering this. With youth suicide rates still being a significant problem, I can sort of feel that it was an issue back in Ancient Egypt as well, and something that needed to be addressed. So, the man looks forward to death, believing that it will provide a gateway to another, better, world. In fact all of the man’s life is dedicated to preparing for death. This is another idea that seems to be with us today with many people dedicating their lives to religious pursuits and eschewing the pleasures of life. However, the soul sees death as a great emptiness and desires instead to make the most of life because all of the pleasures of life will be gone upon death. Once again, this reflects a more hedonistic view of the world, where Carpe Diem rules. I do get the impression from the man’s argument that life is a struggle, and that he desires more and more to welcome the warm embrace of death. However, the soul responds (and the actual Egyptian word here is ba) in that he actually enjoys life, and fears death. I guess this is the struggle that many of us face, with the difficulties of life, yet also being reminded of the good things that make life bareable. I suspect that the man is either lower class, or has done something that has resulted in him being outcast from his peers. As such, he no doubt is in the depths of depression. This is why the soul is trying to pick him up, and remind him that life isn’t all that bad. Honestly, I can appreciate this, especially when you are in the depths of depression. Honestly, I do actually find it interesting to find these ancient works and learn about how the same issues that we face today in our modern systems are very much the same in the agrarian past. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 1 | date started Jan 26, 2025 | date read Jan 30, 2025 | date added Jan 26, 2025 | owned | format Unknown Binding | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The Speckled Band | title The Speckled Band | author Doyle, Arthur Conan | isbn 1860920039 | isbn13 9781860920035 | asin 1860920039 | num pages 45pp | avg rating 4.02 | num ratings 14,205 | date pub 1892 | date pub edition Jan 01, 1998 | David's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review How Language Changes24 December 2024 Well, it ended up that my bookclub, who will do short stories in the off weeks, sort of, decided to do a Sherlock How Language Changes24 December 2024 Well, it ended up that my bookclub, who will do short stories in the off weeks, sort of, decided to do a Sherlock Holmes one. Of course, despite having read all of them a while back, decided to return to them, at least for this one (though I probably should return to the others sometime in the future, particularly since there is a traditional English pub in Melbourne called the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ – though ironically when I checked London, there is only one pub there called The Sherlock Holmes, and it is nowhere near Baker Street, however it is pretty close to Great Scotland Yard, so I guess there is that). Anyway, this short story involves a woman coming to Holmes because her sister has died and she fears for her life. Mind you, that first part of the story shows you how much language has changed over the years because it opens with a discussion of Mrs Hudson being knocked up – though it doesn’t mean that she has become pregnant (because Watson also apologises to Holmes for knocking him up as well). Mind you, it is a little different to a lot of the Sherlock Holmes short stories that I have read because it usually has the person appear, tell the story, and then Holmes gives us the answer. In this one Holmes actually goes out to do a bit of investigation before the big reveal. Actually, the big reveal is somewhat different to what I expected, though I did have some suspicions. Mind you, the Holmes style of mysteries can be a little tricky to work out, though from what others in my book club have suggested that everything was available to the reader to work out the solution. Another interesting thing that came about was the idea of domestic violence, something that didn’t seem to be such an issue back then in the age of the rule of thumb (that it was legal to beat your wife as long as the stick wasn’t thicker than your thumb). In this instance, Holmes does step in to protect the step-daughter from who is clearly a very violent individual. Then again, it was somewhat amusing when he burst into Holmes’ house to threaten him with me knowing that Holmes would have easily laid him flat, though of course we probably aren’t told that Holmes is a prize fighter until a later book. I guess that is one of the problems when one reads a series that was publish something like 100 years ago. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 1 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started Dec 17, 2024 | date read Dec 17, 2024 | date added Dec 26, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The Naked and the Dead | title The Naked and the Dead | author Mailer, Norman | isbn 0030590434 | isbn13 9780030590436 | asin 0030590434 | num pages 721pp | avg rating 3.94 | num ratings 26,126 | date pub 1948 | date pub edition Mar 01, 1981 | David's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Like the War, a Battle to Read 27 January 2025 Well, this is one bloody thick book and it is very easy to get bogged down in it, which is what happene Like the War, a Battle to Read 27 January 2025 Well, this is one bloody thick book and it is very easy to get bogged down in it, which is what happened to me. But, since I am a sucker for punishment I’m going to put it on my to-read again list and not go and put it in one of those street libraries for somebody else to give it a go. When I’ll actually get around to revisiting it, I’m not sure, but there’s something compelling about Norman Mailer’s ability to flesh out his characters through their backstories that makes me want to give it another shot. Actually, I think the whole thing about getting bogged down in the book is analogous to the nature of the war that was being fought. Well, you could pretty much do the same thing with World War One on the Western Front, but here we are dealing with the island hopping campaign in the Pacific, in particularly a fictional island off the coast of the Philippines which needed to be taken before the full-on invasion began. So, the book begins with the landing on the island and ends when the island is captured and the soldiers are back in the boats, no doubt going somewhere else. This was actually written from Mailer’s experience in the war, and the book was popular because it was one of the first World War II books ever written. Mind you, I didn’t know anything about it until Mailer died, which was interesting because he was never mentioned in any of the history or literature classes that I took – or if he did, I must have missed it. I remember going over some of my old English notes and discovering references to a bunch of books that I am now familiar with, but at the time had no idea as to what they were about. Anyway, yeah, it’s a pretty thick book and quite a demanding read, and it took me quite a while to get through, though a part of that would be because I don’t have as much time to read as I once did. It’s one of the flaws of working from home because I usually only read when I am out and about (though I also tend to take my laptop with me and write while I’m out as well). As for the book, well, yeah, I guess it was okay, and I might come back to it again sometime in the future, but as I mentioned, I pretty much got bogged down and it ended up becoming a real slog to read. Oh, and you could tell that he was experimenting with styles that he was picking up from University, like including a chorus based on the Ancient Greek tragedies. Personally though, I don’t think that worked all that well particularly since the Chorus in such works were collective voices, such as the citizenry of a city, that would speak as a whole either to the characters, or to the audience. All in all, The Naked and the Dead is a challenging but significant work, and while it didn’t entirely captivate me, there’s enough depth and ambition in it to make me consider giving it another try—when I’m ready for the commitment. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 7 | # times read 1 | date started Dec 18, 2024 | date read Jan 25, 2025 | date added Dec 18, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The Other Side of 1984: Questions for the Churches (Risk Book Series) | title The Other Side of 1984: Questions for the Churches | author Newbigin, Lesslie | isbn 2825407844 | isbn13 9782825407844 | asin 2825407844 | num pages unknown | avg rating 4.33 | num ratings 21 | date pub 1983 | date pub edition Jan 01, 1984 | David's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Responsing to the World17 December 2024 This is another one of those outdated Christian books that was written by a bishop to church leaders. Actually Responsing to the World17 December 2024 This is another one of those outdated Christian books that was written by a bishop to church leaders. Actually it is more of an essay than a book, and I suspect that it isn’t one of those books that is directed at the laity. Mind you, I have read similar books in the past (such as by CS Lewis) so it really didn’t go over my head all that much. However, as I mentioned, it is very outdated, namely because it was written in the lead-up to 1984, and as you can probably tell from the title, he was drawing upon Orwell’s seminal work. So, he explored the history of Christianity and explored where it was at the time of writing, which involved many people leaving the church and looking for salvation elsewhere. In fact, as a missionary in India, his focus was on a lot of Westerners travelling to India to seek purpose in the Eastern religions. However, as I have suggested, a lot of these writers really don’t seem to understand the history of the church, and why people were leaving. In light of this let us consider the history of the church. So, from the Roman Empire, where the church was in a minority and persecuted around the 4th Century AD states started adopting Christianity as the main religion, and this of course culminated with Constantine declaring that Rome was a Christian nation. The thing is that this was actually a bad thing for the church because it lead into 1000 years of stagnation. Mind you, during this time we had writers such as Augustine and Aquinas who set the direction of Christianity for centuries. However, in the 14th Century we had the Renaissance (in the West – this evolution of the church doesn’t apply to the Orthodox Church) where the classics returned to Western Europe, and with that independent thought. This lead to the Reformation with resulted in the splintering of the Western Church. While I would suggest that we had writers such as Luther and Calvin at the time, the splintering of the church meant that they didn’t have as much of an impact as previous writers had. This splintering continued with a revolt against state religions, and the Enlightenment where having no religion, and the scientific method, came to the fore. However, I am reading, and writing, this some 40 years after 1984, which means that things have changed dramatically. The thing that these writers don’t seem to be asking is ‘why are people moving away from Christianity’. Sure, when this book was being written, we had Reagan as president of the US and Thatcher as PM of England, which resulted in an aggressive free market. The thing is that the church was courting the conservative politicians. Okay, we did have Carter, and the fact that Carter lost to Reagan meant that the modern church went in a completely different direction. In fact, it seemed as if the church reject the kindness and compassion of Carter to embrace the authoritarianism of Reagan. Okay, I could go down the path of how the Church has embraced free market economics and consumerism, but the reality is that I have heard numerous sermons from conservative churches that decry the evils of consumerism, but it really does seem to fall on deaf ears. Yet the people who are rejecting excessive consumerism seem to be wandering away from the church because the conservative minority seem to have the loudest voices. We are now in a world with a second Trump presidency, and a section of the church celebrating how he is God’s chosen to lead America into a new realm of prosperity, and a lot of people are being put off by the fact that they are literally worshipping a guy who they see as having a rather questionable character, and is appointing billionaires to his cabinet. This is the thing that the church seems to be blind to, namely that Christianity doesn’t actually offer them anything. This was the case back in 1984, and that is very much the case now. Of course, as I mentioned, the issue is that a minority seems to have a much louder voice, but the thing is that, in my opinion, the church needs to look to itself inwardly, as opposed to assuming that all is well and good, and questioning why people are leaving what they consider to be a perfectly good religion (or simply accuse people of walking away from the church was rejecting Christ for a life of sin – I would like to know how many people out that don’t have an issue with Jesus, but have a massive issue with the church). ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started Dec 12, 2024 | date read Dec 17, 2024 | date added Dec 12, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover City | title City | author Simak, Clifford D. | isbn 041706540X | isbn13 9780417065403 | asin 041706540X | num pages 256pp | avg rating 4.08 | num ratings 18,656 | date pub 1952 | date pub edition Feb 11, 1982 | David's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review When the Humans Go Away16 December 2024 I really actually like these speculative sci-fi books of the fifties, and it would be good to know if there ar When the Humans Go Away16 December 2024 I really actually like these speculative sci-fi books of the fifties, and it would be good to know if there are still some being written today. Mind you, with the amount of stuff that is being churned out now it is impossibly hard to actually find any good authors. In a way it sort of reminds me of the criticism Lucian had of literature at the height of the Roman Empire. Namely that there was so much rubbish being produced that it was hard to sift the wheat from the chaff. This is sort of a future history of Earth, but has been written as a collection of short stories that are being passed down by the dogs. Basically humanity has disappeared and the dogs have now formed a civilisation. They can talk, but not only that but there are still robots roaming around that had been built, and left, by the humans. As such, the dogs have learnt how to control the robots, and they use them to record their own history. You could also say that this is a story about the dispersion of humanity. At the beginning humans move out of cities due to the treat of nuclear war. By dispersing across the country, it makes it harder for an enemy to strike at any useful targets. Mind you, a few things have happened, namely that farming technology has become hydroponic, so much less space is required, and as such the price of land has dropped. Also, humans have personal flying vehicles, meaning that it is much easier for them to travel great distances. However, on top of this you have a line of humans known as Websters. The Websters are well known for fighting against the trends that humans are following. Since the cities have become deserted the councils want to destroy the houses, however the Websters’ have an attachment to their homes, and also want them to remain to provide housing for the poor. In a way at the time this was written much of the inner-city was being deserted with families moving to the suburbs where land was cheaper, and they could build bigger houses. Simak is simply expounding that further so that even the suburbs are being deserted. Mind you, things didn’t end up like this since in the 2000s young people started moving back into the city centre with the inner-city becoming gentrified. No doubt this initially occurred because the cheaper homes were in the inner-city since nobody wanted to live there. It is a fascinating book, and it explores a trend that seems to have turned around something like fifty years after Simak wrote this. However, it is also interesting to see how the dogs not only evolved, but how they attempt to understand these legends that have been past down to them. Mind you, the ending is rather quite interesting, but I’ll leave it at that since I really don’t want to spoil anything. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 5 | # times read 1 | date started Nov 29, 2024 | date read Dec 13, 2024 | date added Nov 29, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |

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