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library_cardholder

library_cardholder@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Philosophy, Photography, Adventure, Travel, Ancient History, Cycling, Sailing, Astronomy, Climate Change.

Might possibly get around to putting up a header image someday. Until then, use your imagination.

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2024 Reading Goal

50% complete! library_cardholder has read 6 of 12 books.

commented on Das Kapital by Karl Marx (A Gateway edition)

Das Kapital (1867–1894), Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of …

Sloooooow going. It is a book of philosophy, and requires close focus to follow the abstractions of abstractions of ideas about economics. So far, slightly more fun than Genesis, but less fun than Pride and Prejudice.

finished reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson (The Baroque Cycle, #2)

Neal Stephenson: The Confusion (Paperback, 2005, Arrow Books) 5 stars

It is the late 1600s, on the high seas. A group of Barbary galley slaves …

I had a little trouble getting into this one at first. I had become pretty attached to the characters when I read Quicksilver, and was a bit too worried about them at the outset. But The Confusion picks up where Quicksilver leaves off, and conveys Eliza, Daniel, and Jack through a fantastic story that sprawls all over the globe. I'm about 20 years too late to be the first reviewer to gush over this work, but every bit of praise is warranted. A really, really, REALLY good yarn.

finished reading 1177 B.C. : The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline (Turning Points in Ancient History ; 6)

Eric H. Cline: 1177 B.C. : The Year Civilization Collapsed (Paperback, 2021, Princeton University Press) 4 stars

From acclaimed archaeologist and bestselling author Eric Cline, a breathtaking account of how the collapse …

To me, ancient history is no different than science fiction. And while this is not a fictional narrative by any stretch, it does transport me into a time so distant in the past that I am immersed in imagining what life may have been like for the people who lived then.

Eric Cline has written a thoroughly readable, engaging explainer for what the Late Bronze Age was, as well as presenting numerous competing theories that scholars have for why it all went to pieces. As this period of human history happened SO long ago, new evidence is constantly coming to light and challenging scholars' assumptions and theories. It's a bit like travelling through an ancient ruin yourself, complete with shifting ground and structures that might collapse, but Cline is such a great tour guide; knowledgeable, humorous, and composed, that you feel perfectly safe while you dip your toe into the …

commented on The Confusion by Neal Stephenson (The Baroque Cycle, #2)

Neal Stephenson: The Confusion (Paperback, 2005, Arrow Books) 5 stars

It is the late 1600s, on the high seas. A group of Barbary galley slaves …

I like to read Stephenson in big helpings. I really like to block off a 2-hour window to read him without interruption. The extensive, detailed POV descriptions and inter-weaving storylines benefit from sustained attention, and it's just been hard to find the time. But I'm getting there. Enjoying it very much.

commented on The Confusion by Neal Stephenson (The Baroque Cycle, #2)

Neal Stephenson: The Confusion (Paperback, 2005, Arrow Books) 5 stars

It is the late 1600s, on the high seas. A group of Barbary galley slaves …

Stephenson's writing puts me into a trance. Extended passages of vividly detailed action and exposition, mental tours of Paris, Versailles, Algiers, Ireland, London. Historical figures as supporting characters, historical events made to feel like contemporary news. A riot of storylines that criss-cross and double back on each other. A 4-page description of a battle, from the point of view of one participant, unspooling like an extended steadycam shot. Realizing that I've been holding my breath.

It's a lot. In the best way.