I love science fiction, but I’ve been branching out more into fantasy, mystery, and even some romance. It’s always fun to explore unfamiliar genres!
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If you never thought a book could make you quake with fear, prepare yourself for Red Dragon.
For you are …
If you never thought a book could make you quake with fear, prepare yourself for …
I really could not put this book down! The writing was gripping, and there was even a small, unexpected twist at the end. I’m very much looking forward to reading the other books in this series, and eventually watching the movies.
In a quiet house on a quiet street Frank and Julia are having an affair. …
This was a short, dark, but fun read. The origin of the cenobites, I believe!
An introduction to "disaster capitalism" argues that the global free market has exploited crises, violence, and shock in the past …
An introduction to "disaster capitalism" argues that the global free market has exploited crises, violence, …
But in a good way, if one can be upset in a good way about being made aware of the misery that the US & the IMF have inflicted across the globe.
Thanks to this book, I’ll now celebrate the day Milton Friedman died as a holiday (Nov 16).
An introduction to "disaster capitalism" argues that the global free market has exploited crises, violence, …
On September 10, as long as flights were cheap and plentiful, none of that seemed to matter. But on September 12, putting $6-an-hour contract workers in charge of airport security seemed reckless. Then, in October, envelopes with white powder were sent to lawmakers and journalists, spreading panic about the possibility of a major anthrax outbreak. Once again, nineties privatization looked very different in this new light: Why did a private lab have the exclusive right to produce the anthrax vaccine? Had the federal government signed away its responsibility to protect the public from a major public health emergency? It didn’t help that Bioport, the privatized lab in question, had failed a series of inspections and that the FDA wasn’t even authorizing it to distribute its vaccines at the time. Furthermore, if it was true, as media reports kept claiming, that anthrax, smallpox and other deadly agents could be spread through the mail, the food supply or the water systems, was it really such a good idea to be pushing ahead with Bush’s plans to privatize the postal service? And what about all those laid-off food and water inspectors—could somebody bring them back?
Chapter 5 is full of quotes like this that describe events that seem to rhyme with what’s happening in the current regime. Dark stuff indeed 🫠🙃
Daniel Strokis
boosted
In previous books, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder dissected the events and values that enabled the …
All in all, regular policemen murdered more Jews than the Einsatzgruppen. Many of them had no special preparation for this task. They found themselves in an unknown land, they had their orders, and they did not want to look weak. In the rare cases when they refused these orders to murder Jews, policemen were not punished.
— On tyranny by Timothy Snyder
That last sentence is absolutely insane.
The sea contains many mysteries, and among the most enduring of them are giant squids …
This was a very fun and informative read. I’ve been fascinated by cephalopods, and in particular squid, for as long as I can remember. I had no idea how far back in history squid carcasses were being noted when they washed ashore (1545!).
The sea contains many mysteries, and among the most enduring of them are giant squids of the genus Architeuthis. About …
@stevenray I just heard about him for the first time from The Dig podcast! I’m excited to read this.
From his arrival in Britain in the 1950s and involvement in the New Left, to founding the field of cultural …
An introduction to "disaster capitalism" argues that the global free market has exploited crises, violence, …
Vladimir Mau, an adviser to Boris Yeltsin in this period, explained that “the most favorable condition for reform” is a “weary public, exhausted by the previous political struggle … . That is why the government was confident, on the eve of price liberalization, that a drastic social clash was impossible, that the government would not be overthrown by a popular revolt.” The vast majority of Russians—70 percent—were opposed to lifting price controls, he explained, but “we could see that the people, then and now, were concentrating on the yields of their private [garden] plots and in general on their individual economic circumstances.”
Oh damn, that sounds frighteningly familiar stares in American
@kingrat IBCK is one of my favorite podcasts right now, so good 👌
There are always miracles. There is always hope. If you deny miracles and hope, you’re playing God […]. If I can’t shoot par, I won’t pick up a golf club. Wrong. You stick by what you believe, and go on doing what you can in your own clumsy, imperfect way, trying to hack out heaven by next Tuesday, even though practical people […] are sure it can’t be done. And damned if you don’t make some progress now and then.
— Naked to the Stars by Gordon R. Dickson (Page 152 - 153)
I think we all need to keep trying to hack out Heaven by next Tuesday.
This book feels like the good old tropes of sci-fi: optimism about humanity, a belief that we can overcome our barbarous nature, and the idea that as humans expand through the galaxy, our empathy grows with us.
It’s not a perfect story, but the ending wraps up the whole thing nicely (if somewhat hamfistedly). The love story with the protagonist, I think, needed to be fleshed out more to be believable. But the Contacts Service idea is intriguing and unique, and I liked that the futuristic elements of it weren’t made the focus of the writing.
Overall, I think this story is worth a read, especially today.
