Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills [0] is the heavily researched, hard sci-fi that retains its close intimacy on the impact on regular people that I think science fiction should be going towards. It's realistic, heavy-hitting, and doesn't bullshit on the politics involved.
Reading it right now, but I already think it's the test thing: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
I was (and still am) obsessed with productivity. But I more and more my tasks had felt like something I needed to get done, to afterwards finally be able to relax and profit from them. But this time never came and I just got busier.
The book does a great job at explaining how much of our daily grind is based on a refusal to accept our finitude. And once we accept our finitude, we can get a lot more done in a happier way.
This book was definitely one of my highlights. The number of times I exclaimed “I’m really not the only one that feels that?!” Was too many to measure. It really forces you to confront time in a way that I haven’t stopped thinking about since.
I'm having the same experience. And what I love, is that he proposes solutions that work, without sugarcoating things.
One of the biggest learnings from this book so far, is that a certain level of anxiety is inevitable. Especially when you're doing work that is meaningful to you.
Being able to accept that anxiety and still continue is what makes all the difference.
I also recommend his mailing list, "The Imperfectionist". He only sends out an essay maybe once a month but they aren't posted anywhere so you have to subscribe.
didnt know about that, though one downside is that it doesnt encourage discussion of the book recommendations. Though idk how much of that actually happens anyway
In the same vein of "interesting sci-fi thought experiments", I keep coming back to Hurley's The Stars are Legion as an amazing (and disturbing) exploration of what a society that used biology the way we use electronics could look like.
I subscribe to Asimov's bi-monthly (6/year) sci-fi short story magazine and there's always one or two stories that really stand out every issue. It's always a treat when a new one turns up in the mailbox. https://www.asimovs.com/
Collections of short sci-fi stories can be thoroughly refreshing. It gives the author the space to explore outlandish concepts (societal, philosophical, technological, etc.) that wouldn't work too well stretched out to a full novel. From recent anthologies to paperbacks collecting a bunch of stories around a theme from the seventies: there are gems in every one of them (misses too of course).
I find it a good way to explore authors I haven't read anything by as well.
Might be worthwhile to read this after Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel. While not a formal trilogy, there are a lot of connections and quite honestly they are each totally amazing.
Last Night in Montreal, by the same author, is also great, and totally different from the above three.
"Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson was pretty good. Lessons from the book helped me make progress towards my bigger goals every day. You don't need to read the entire book to get value.
Enjoy this piece and some of the themes in it, weird DTC brands, authenticity, manufacturing culture. It seems to make sense of the current moment we live in.
I re-read The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson; it represents what I love about Sci-Fi: Interesting ideas on the edge of plausibility; a speculative society based on their consequences; a clever story and setting. Leaves me with a "Could be build that?" feeling.
It's inspiring one my current side-projects; a molecular and protein modeler/simulation.
I read Quicksilver and started on The Confusion this year but still haven’t felt like it’s grabbed me. When did it start getting more exciting for you?
I realize this isn't really the intent of the question, but I read "The Count of Monte Cristo" this year for the first time and it's now my favorite book. It's a classic that I just had never bothered with and the story sucked me in. The redemption, revenge, scheming, secrecy. It was phenomenal.
Such a delight. And every time I reread it I wonder why the serial story (it was published in 18 parts over a year and a half) hasn't made a comeback given how desperate sites are for eyeballs.
There's definitely stuff like that out there, generally the genre is called "web serials". Worm is a superhero type story that ran over a period of years and is probably the most widely known example. Another personal favorite is Scott Alexander's Unsong, which has a delightfully weird mix of religion and rationalism and science fiction/ fantasy.
I think most of these kinds of things tend to lack mass appeal, but they're out there, and when you find one that tickles your fancy it can be pretty addictive!
Absolutely one of my favorite books. The unabridged, modern (early 2000s, I think) retranslation by Robin Buss is the best English version, IMO. It's long, but worth every page.
I love it so much. I am sad that the Halas and Batchelor animated version I watched as a kid seems to be unobtainable :-(
I _strongly_ suggest searching out the modern Robin Buss translation (Penguin books sell it in the Uk) rather than the public domain version as the text is far clearer and several large redactions are replaced.
It has been a long time since I read it, but it is truly a mindbending story. The intricate details and relationships are extraordinary, and I am amazed Dumas was able to come up with all of it. I remember the pacing being also quite good.
I reread it every other year. It's so much fun. It's a shame how much the movie adaptations have toned down Dantes. It seems like the perfect book for a TV show due to its serial nature
The end of the world is just the beginning by Peter Zeihan. It is an amazing walkthrough of the modern global economy and how it is changing based on changing demographics and politics. Highly recommended.
I was not initially impressed with Zeihan. He's a bit of a know-it-all and is very fatalist with his predictions.
That said, I've really come around on him lately. His predictions are broadly accurate, and it's very refreshing to see a version of the world that rises above political noisemaking.
Mme. Bovary. First it just was an exercise to show to my wife how _descriptions_ are _action_. I was trying to improved her everyday writing, you know, memos from work, informal/formal letters. I'm reading French just a little as English. So we are doing this... _exercises_ based upon an Spanish translate. And there it was. Just like I used to be remember it: fabrics that suddenly becomes a living creature embracing Emma B. nee Rouault, feelings that forms heavy lakes falling upon her, light that is light and sound and it taste like aluminum. Sorry to inform: is not a novel about couples, not even about a couple, not even about Emma. It's all about how you can tell a thing, whatever thing, not thinking about it as static dead thing but a living, fiery, not a few times menacing, whatever.
I read Madame Bovary a long time ago because in the old days when we visited East Berlin from the west they forced you to exchange some money into the worthless Ostmark. The only thing worth buying were books and even those were printed on terrible paper. I ended up with Madame Bovary and absolutely loved it, depressing as it is.
See, I love Bulgakov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, but I really didn't get Karamazov (it's a personal failing, not attributing it to the work).
There are some beautiful aspects of the book that will always stay with me. The Grand Inquisitor monologue is captivating, Alyosha is a deeply interesting character, Mitya's stories of gallivanting on a troika through Russia, and everything that is Grushenka...
But as a whole, I can't say I understood it. I didn't understand how these characters came together, or how the ending tied these (albeit interesting!) stories together.
Karamazov was the first Dostoevsky book I read. When it came to The Idiot, I was shocked by how different the writing style felt. It flowed more, the dialogue drove a lot of the narrative, and it generally was just a lot less dense.
I'm hardly an English Major let alone a scholar of Russian Lit so I'm sure the thoughts here are pedestrian.
Thanks! I should seek out more analysis... Master & Margarita is my favourite book, but I don't think it'd crack Top 10 if it weren't for the end notes.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 218 ms ] threadhttps://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/rabbit-test/
I was (and still am) obsessed with productivity. But I more and more my tasks had felt like something I needed to get done, to afterwards finally be able to relax and profit from them. But this time never came and I just got busier.
The book does a great job at explaining how much of our daily grind is based on a refusal to accept our finitude. And once we accept our finitude, we can get a lot more done in a happier way.
One of the biggest learnings from this book so far, is that a certain level of anxiety is inevitable. Especially when you're doing work that is meaningful to you.
Being able to accept that anxiety and still continue is what makes all the difference.
I think hackernews could aggregate some of these types of repetitive questions and topics better?
If anyone can recommended some other "beginner" books for learning genetics I would really appreciate it.
Time love memory: influence of genes on time keeping, mating, neurobiology.
* Matthew Klein & Michael Pettis - Trade Wars Are Class Wars
* Bruno Latour - We Have Never Been Modern
* Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (had never read it before, probably book of the year for me)
and of course, Matt Levine's Money Stuff, which is good every year!
I find it a good way to explore authors I haven't read anything by as well.
Last Night in Montreal, by the same author, is also great, and totally different from the above three.
Really looking forward to reading The Glass Hotel as well! Emily St. John Mandel may be my new favorite author.
"Good Inside" on becoming a better parent was also great and taught me a lot.
"Every Tool's a Hammer" on becoming a better maker.
"Crafting Interpreters" on learning about and building compilers.
All were really great reads.
Enjoy this piece and some of the themes in it, weird DTC brands, authenticity, manufacturing culture. It seems to make sense of the current moment we live in.
- Stylized Facts in the Social Sciences by Daniel Hirschman
- 1177 B.C. by Eric Cline
[0] https://bcmullins.github.io/interesting-articles-2022/
It's inspiring one my current side-projects; a molecular and protein modeler/simulation.
I'm super happy to see someone else appreciates it :-)
I think most of these kinds of things tend to lack mass appeal, but they're out there, and when you find one that tickles your fancy it can be pretty addictive!
I _strongly_ suggest searching out the modern Robin Buss translation (Penguin books sell it in the Uk) rather than the public domain version as the text is far clearer and several large redactions are replaced.
I don’t think it would have been on my list without others recommendations
It helps that Napoleon lived one of the most extraordinary lives in human history.
Key takeaway, in the saucy words of the great man himself: "Fortune is a woman. The more she does for me, the more I will require of her."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/22/owls-of-the-ea...
That said, I've really come around on him lately. His predictions are broadly accurate, and it's very refreshing to see a version of the world that rises above political noisemaking.
There are some beautiful aspects of the book that will always stay with me. The Grand Inquisitor monologue is captivating, Alyosha is a deeply interesting character, Mitya's stories of gallivanting on a troika through Russia, and everything that is Grushenka...
But as a whole, I can't say I understood it. I didn't understand how these characters came together, or how the ending tied these (albeit interesting!) stories together.
Karamazov was the first Dostoevsky book I read. When it came to The Idiot, I was shocked by how different the writing style felt. It flowed more, the dialogue drove a lot of the narrative, and it generally was just a lot less dense.
I'm hardly an English Major let alone a scholar of Russian Lit so I'm sure the thoughts here are pedestrian.