Scan barcode
logarithms's reviews
167 reviews
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
5.0
the story feels so nostalgic and familiar i can't not love it. an anti-colonization stance in one of the earliest scifi works just feels like a pillar of the whole genre
very big fan of books where the main character has no identity described directly. he's The Narrator and that's all we need to know
kinda funny (cool? epic?) that he wrote that humans developed flying machines thanks to martian tech, but this only speeds up progress 6 years since the wright brothers did that in 1903
sadly no takes on the reconciliation of extraterrestrial life and the belief in god (that def wouldve been interesting to read about from a victorian perspective)
once quarantine is over ill be grabbing a copy of this book from my local op and also hunting for the musical on vinyl (1978 wotw is one of my fave musicals to this day...)
very big fan of books where the main character has no identity described directly. he's The Narrator and that's all we need to know
kinda funny (cool? epic?) that he wrote that humans developed flying machines thanks to martian tech, but this only speeds up progress 6 years since the wright brothers did that in 1903
sadly no takes on the reconciliation of extraterrestrial life and the belief in god (that def wouldve been interesting to read about from a victorian perspective)
once quarantine is over ill be grabbing a copy of this book from my local op and also hunting for the musical on vinyl (1978 wotw is one of my fave musicals to this day...)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
3.0
a funky little classic that brought up now ubiquitous themes in scifi. a short interesting read. i don't have really anything to say about this book lol i read most of it on the bus to garden world
tabs:
"'Then there is the future,' said the Very Young Man. 'Just think! One might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulate at interest, and hurry on ahead!'
'To discover a society,' said I, 'erected on a strictly communistic basis.'"
(also accumulate at an interest? hilarious. just buy bitcoin in 2010.) (it's kinda cool to glean the interest in communism rising from industrialization in little tidbits like this)
"Can you imagine what I felt as this conviction came home to me? But you cannot. The Time Machine was gone! At once, like a lash across the face, came the possibility of losing my own age, of being left helpless in this strange new world. The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation. I could feel it grip me at the throat and stop my breathing."
"I do not know how long I sat peering down that well. It was not for some time that I could succeed in persuading myself that the thing I had seen was human."
tabs:
"'Then there is the future,' said the Very Young Man. 'Just think! One might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulate at interest, and hurry on ahead!'
'To discover a society,' said I, 'erected on a strictly communistic basis.'"
(also accumulate at an interest? hilarious. just buy bitcoin in 2010.) (it's kinda cool to glean the interest in communism rising from industrialization in little tidbits like this)
"Can you imagine what I felt as this conviction came home to me? But you cannot. The Time Machine was gone! At once, like a lash across the face, came the possibility of losing my own age, of being left helpless in this strange new world. The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation. I could feel it grip me at the throat and stop my breathing."
"I do not know how long I sat peering down that well. It was not for some time that I could succeed in persuading myself that the thing I had seen was human."
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
2.0
no idea tbh
I liked some of the writing but there wasn't enough buildup :-/
interesting as a casual binge when it's 2am and u can't sleep anyway
I liked some of the writing but there wasn't enough buildup :-/
interesting as a casual binge when it's 2am and u can't sleep anyway
Warcross by Marie Lu
2.0
2.75
ok so this book was better than ready player one but still not....very good....
probably ive just outgrown this kinda story and tbh once you've taken an info security/tech ethics class...you've heard it all...
kinda annoyed that it wasn't self contained ;_; i went in thinking this was a standalone not a series
i would be more proud of myself for guessing the plot twist early on but i think it was just kinda typical and easy to predict
how i felt reading the bit where she sees tokyo in neurolink for the first time and shes like 'wow! theres ads everywhere! on screens on people floating in the sky flashing in every corner of my eyes! how cool!': link
like why the fuck would u want to see MORE ADS??? not only do ads invade pretty much every aspect of our life now theyre gonna be in our brain aswell?? in your imagination fueled escapist fantasy??? yeouch
ok so this book was better than ready player one but still not....very good....
probably ive just outgrown this kinda story and tbh once you've taken an info security/tech ethics class...you've heard it all...
kinda annoyed that it wasn't self contained ;_; i went in thinking this was a standalone not a series
i would be more proud of myself for guessing the plot twist early on but i think it was just kinda typical and easy to predict
how i felt reading the bit where she sees tokyo in neurolink for the first time and shes like 'wow! theres ads everywhere! on screens on people floating in the sky flashing in every corner of my eyes! how cool!': link
like why the fuck would u want to see MORE ADS??? not only do ads invade pretty much every aspect of our life now theyre gonna be in our brain aswell?? in your imagination fueled escapist fantasy??? yeouch
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
4.0
bruh. 4 stars cause it was super useful and actionable. but, the writing was a bit annoying (extremely formulaic. introduction - 3 args - conclusion, TEEL structure everywhere, it kinda hurt me a little. it also didn't feel 'academic enough' for my tastes - would've liked a few more concrete references to studies and to have the facts/figures quoted) (also, can this guy calm down about thoreau...we got it thanks...) (also the awkward switching between last name and first name for people he mentioned) (the real clumsy segment about jennifer grygiel, where the name jennifer is repeated, oh lets say 700 TIMES? i feel like this was a weird way to avoid using the singular they pronoun to avoid confusion but it just made the segment super disjointed to read??)
i read this in one sitting and i feel like he learned from the tech companies he was studying to also make an addictive product (like...short segments to keep your attention, catchy segment titles, decorative elements like fonts, dividers and text boxes, casual register, quotes and references (intermittent rewards much? keep reading cause there are references you will get and others you wont, but when u get one u get a rush of feeling smart and well read), lists (everyone loves lists this is fact), priming/an appeal to competitive nature (the quote on the front of my copy was essentially "i read this book in one sitting and i bet youll do the same" AND I DID), etc.). This feels like metacommentary on the double-edged sword of everything - like, tech companies use strategies for making an addictive product to make u spend your time on mindnumbing scrolling of feeds, while authors can use these techniques to trick/encourage you into getting hooked on an arguably* more worthwhile pursuit like reading.
*"arguably" because i found this line funny: "Leisure lesson #1: Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption." cause where does this put reading? Let's go for...demanding consumption xD
anyway this book was fun i will be going on a digital detox now goodbye (well. actually goodreads is one of my permitted services, as in, all i can use it for is leaving a review then evacuating the premises)
i read this in one sitting and i feel like he learned from the tech companies he was studying to also make an addictive product (like...short segments to keep your attention, catchy segment titles, decorative elements like fonts, dividers and text boxes, casual register, quotes and references (intermittent rewards much? keep reading cause there are references you will get and others you wont, but when u get one u get a rush of feeling smart and well read), lists (everyone loves lists this is fact), priming/an appeal to competitive nature (the quote on the front of my copy was essentially "i read this book in one sitting and i bet youll do the same" AND I DID), etc.). This feels like metacommentary on the double-edged sword of everything - like, tech companies use strategies for making an addictive product to make u spend your time on mindnumbing scrolling of feeds, while authors can use these techniques to trick/encourage you into getting hooked on an arguably* more worthwhile pursuit like reading.
*"arguably" because i found this line funny: "Leisure lesson #1: Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption." cause where does this put reading? Let's go for...demanding consumption xD
anyway this book was fun i will be going on a digital detox now goodbye (well. actually goodreads is one of my permitted services, as in, all i can use it for is leaving a review then evacuating the premises)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
3.0
3.5
no thoughts head empty rn
will write a review sometime later
i liked the ending w isidore where everything was happening at once
"Maybe it had been the last spider on Earth, as Roy Baty said. And the spider is gone; Mercer is gone; he saw the dust and the ruin of the apartment as it lay spreading out everywhere - he heard the kipple coming, the final disorder of all forms, the absence which would win out."
no thoughts head empty rn
will write a review sometime later
i liked the ending w isidore where everything was happening at once
"Maybe it had been the last spider on Earth, as Roy Baty said. And the spider is gone; Mercer is gone; he saw the dust and the ruin of the apartment as it lay spreading out everywhere - he heard the kipple coming, the final disorder of all forms, the absence which would win out."
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
4.0
3.5 methinks
I loved the characters in this (Aster, Giselle, and Theo are all incredibly interesting to read) and their relationships, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief for how this slavery-based society could function on a spaceship. A lot of it just felt like an extremely inefficient use of resources...I do appreciate the spaceship as the metaphor for an insulated/inescapable world, as well as the cyclical nature of unchallenged systemic racism (the past = the future = the present) but I feel I need a more realistic premise to fully get into a sci-fi book.
I also wish the pacing/story progression was better, certain parts dragged and others felt really rushed and glossed over.
It would've been nice to know more about why they left Earth in the first place as well. I think it could've been incorporated into the religion pretty well (a big event that changed the course of history)?
Tabs:
"This is where she was meant to be. Not a Q deck fieldworker, but a Y-decker tending to the sun."
"She'd gone looking for something that didn't exist and found it."
"People were so often mean that when they weren't, there was a tendency to bestow sainthood upon them. Aster did not reward common decency with her affection."
"We've all spent our whole lives believing this ship is it. If you knew it wasn't, wouldn't you give up everything too? I would cut out my own heart and throw it into the beyond for the split second it would beat somewhere other than this cursed fucking cage."
I loved the characters in this (Aster, Giselle, and Theo are all incredibly interesting to read) and their relationships, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief for how this slavery-based society could function on a spaceship. A lot of it just felt like an extremely inefficient use of resources...I do appreciate the spaceship as the metaphor for an insulated/inescapable world, as well as the cyclical nature of unchallenged systemic racism (the past = the future = the present) but I feel I need a more realistic premise to fully get into a sci-fi book.
I also wish the pacing/story progression was better, certain parts dragged and others felt really rushed and glossed over.
It would've been nice to know more about why they left Earth in the first place as well. I think it could've been incorporated into the religion pretty well (a big event that changed the course of history)?
Tabs:
"This is where she was meant to be. Not a Q deck fieldworker, but a Y-decker tending to the sun."
"She'd gone looking for something that didn't exist and found it."
"People were so often mean that when they weren't, there was a tendency to bestow sainthood upon them. Aster did not reward common decency with her affection."
"We've all spent our whole lives believing this ship is it. If you knew it wasn't, wouldn't you give up everything too? I would cut out my own heart and throw it into the beyond for the split second it would beat somewhere other than this cursed fucking cage."
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3.0
"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."
oh :-(
oh :-(