Part 5, will it be the final one?
I wonder.
I’m afraid I’m starting to enjoy LARPing as a 1980s nerd.
The lack of the dumbening warmth of flashing images (or at least a severe reduction of them) clears your mind.
I had already dropped TV some 10 years ago, but then jumped into the dumbening warmth of the computer. (in part that’s what weaned me off the tv)
And now without the computer (let’s be honest, without moving pictures the computer is boring as all hell)
But yeah, under penalty of sounding like a soft cunt, it’s actually been good mentally.
710 words
I mean, I’ve gone through more books in the last month than in any other period in my life. (the uncle Scrooge comics when I was a kid don’t count. At age 30, I still respect the ducks and their stories and am somewhat saddened to see kids dunk in stuff that is way less wholesome and simply NGAF about the ducks)
I’ve done 13 books (“done”…now that I think about it, I’m using that word because I’m not reading them but at the same time saying I’m listening to books doesn’t sound right)
And this is not counting my weekly rotation of podcasts where I have at least one podcast for each day of the week.
And other miscellaneous stuff I’ve listened to.
“Bro, bro…I’ve been reading your inane rants and you only listed 8 books. Alas, you’re lying!”
Ah…yes, today’s useless update.
There are spoilers of the books, as usual.
Earth Abides – Some say this book started the post-apocalyptic genre, I dunno and I couldn’t care less.
It’s a big mix of great and complete shit.
I mean, 21 years without securing the water supply?
21 years without jury rigging a small electrical generator?
21 years without scouting for other communities?
21 years without farming?
21 days? Sure! 21 months? Possibly. 21 years…Ish couldn’t just throw the blame onto others. Ish might have had two neurons to rub together and make a spark but he was as lazy as any.
And that is, for me, the “complete shit” part of it.
Not even I, the embodiment of “the guy who lost the last bit of hope in humanity that he didn’t even know he had”, believe a group could be that inert.
But overall, a nice book to read.
6.5/10
21 years dude, 21 fucking years…
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Solaris – Tried watching the film version two or three times. Never finished. (Soviet films man, I have no idea how I managed to watch STALKER twice)
Well, now I tried doing the book.
Success.
As it seems to be common in Russian/Eastern European stuff, it’s long winded, verbose and at times extremely boring. Just like me.
To the point that sometimes I find myself tuning out.
6.5/10
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The Andromeda strain – There’s a film, which I’ve watched. And thankfully I watched it long enough ago to forget the ending.
Talk about Deus ex machina.
“Oh shit, oh shit, this thing kills in seconds.”
“We’re all gonna die!1!”
“Ah, there’s a certain condition that makes it not kill you in seconds.”
“Oh, now it eats polymers.”
“We’re still all gonna die!!!1!”
“Oh wait, LOL, j/k it’s harmless now.”
I understand it’s going with the idea of evolution and that a good parasite doesn’t kill its host (at least not in seconds) and that such a organism would either disappear or adapt.
But the rate of adaptation of the alien organism (and the evolution “path” it took) just made for a very shitty Deus ex machina.
5/10 – It’s not bad unless you really dislike the ending.
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Cat’s cradle – “See the cat? See the cradle?”
If this book is representative of Vonnegut’s writing style, I think I like it.
It’s so absurd that it makes you laugh from that alone.
6.5/10 – I really like the absurdness of it.
——————
Slaughterhouse five – Interesting book. An interesting mix of (almost) historical writing mixed with science fiction.
Not even close to being as amusingly absurd as Cat’s Cradle, but wasn’t bad at all.
6/10
(Incidentally the book count was at 10 when I started writing this rant, but since none of these rants are actually being posted as soon as written, the number grew to 13 books a week after I first started writing the rant, by now it’ll probably keep growing but this rant is long enough)