Mike > Recent Status Updates

I honestly don't see much of a point of marketing this to a general audience. I mean, I'm sure these letters are hugely valuable to historians, but as a regular person... what's the point? They don't talk about their philosophies that much, and most of the events they talk about are boring to me.

It's interesting that I've seen this described as such a hopeful book. Mandelstam has such a pessimistic attitude about people trying to cause change for the better. Not that it's hard to agree with her.

I'm running out of observations (updating every 20 pages will do that to you), but this is an interesting look at the powers and limitations of art and poetry to fight totalitarianism.

I'm struck by how much Mandelstam genuinely admires her husband, while at the same time basically arguing that everything he did was out of some kind of necessity, either external or internal. It's interesting to think about.

This is an interesting book, but it would've been a lot more interesting (and easier to follow) if Sereny hadn't explained every detail of the process of establishing the historical truths of relatively minor disputes.

It really is great to see Malcolm realizing that it is possible for white people and black people to live in harmony together, without at all abandoning any of his passion and rage against racism and the white people who benefit from it. I had my reservations about his opinions before, but he hasn't said a thing I've disagreed with since his pilgrimage.

I think it's a sign of the enormous, dramatic changes that have happened to culture and philosophy over the last two hundred years that I can find L'Ouverture's beliefs the most contradictory shit I've ever read, and he (and lots of Hatians, apparently), found it totally fine.

This is sadly disillusioning. To see that L'Ouverture at one point owned slaves, that he basically submitted entirely to the authority of the French Republic once they banned slavery, that he put down rebellions among poor Black people, that he appointed himself Governor for Life... it's all very disappointing.

It's strange to me how quick L'Ouverture is to forgive France for literally enslaving him, once they free the slaves. I don't hate L'Ouverture's writings overall - certainly, it's hard not to like him as a historical figure, at least to an extent. But I do hate the enlightenment attitude of republics above all else. I think reading Rousseau, a black sheep among enlightenment thinkers, made me forget that.

I wish I had read more memoirs of the Soviet Union, to compare this too. Still, I feel like there's a lot to be said about this book as a very potent exploration of what it feels like to be robbed of the right to individuality.

I really do wish that this were better-organized, and with a stronger chronology. Because other than that problem, this is one of the most interesting memoirs I've ever read.

This could be better-organized, but other than that, this is quite good. Mandelstam does a very good job of communicating the fear and frustration involved in living under constant surveillance.

Mimsy by Kim Newman: 3/5 This was alright, but just not particularly memorable. The Seven Stars stories are all just running together at this point.

The Man Who Shot The Man Who Shot The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence by Jay Russell: 1/5 Cheesy voice for the protagonist; cheesy lazy story.

It's impossible to say whether I'd like this if I didn't already love Applegrant. But I definitely am enjoying this book now.

There's a lot of interesting stuff here, but it needed to have more organization. Like, even something as small as naming the chapters and the parts to the book would've done wonders in terms of lending this book some kind of structure. As it is, all of the elements are honestly just hard to keep track of.

I guess I just wish this book were a bit simpler? There are a lot of complicated details about who was where and saw what as a result of being there - it's kind of hard to keep track of, and it feels superfluous. I feel a little cheated, since this was packaged as an examination of Stangl's character, not of his life or of the camps he worked at.

Considering how Rousseau was working with what, from a modern perspective, strikes me as totally inaccurate information, it's remarkable that the principle of his argument is still totally correct and still resonates today. Good job, Rousseau. You would've liked Jared Diamond.

I have no idea where this is going, but I'm kind of interested. Worst-case scenario, I think it'll be just a longer version of On the Banality of Evil, which wouldn't really be bad at all.

It's a shame that Rousseau had no way of knowing that humans are fundamentally social animals. For something written in the 18th century, this is shockingly progressive, and it's very insightful overall.

I normally find deeply religious people kinda creepy, but it's actually really inspiring to see how passionated Malcolm is about Islam and learning more about it.

I get the impression that the preface isn't really the interesting part of this discourse. Not that it was bad or anything, it just wasn't really what I was expecting. I think I'm going to like this discourse overall, though.

Oh goodness, the nostalgia is intense. My only real observation so far is that this is the most 90s thing I've ever read.

I wonder what Malcolm's life and career as an activist would've been like if he had preached a similar ideology, but without the influence of the Nation of Islam. And I know, Malcolm thinking the way he does is intrinsically linked to Elijah Muhammad, but I just wonder sometimes. Almost everything I dislike about Malcolm is attributable to the Nation's influence.

It's a little weird to say that one memoir of genocide is more depressing than another, but... Jesus Christ, this book is so depressing that it's difficult to read.

Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I don't agree with Levi's assertion that people don't band together against oppression, that the way to survive is to be as ruthless as possible. That's only true when people are actively being driven against each other, as the Nazis drove the prisoners against each other. I think that thesis Levi has is a big part of what makes this book so depressing.

I'm not sure if I'm going to read any more Holocaust memoirs after this one. Not only is it extremely unpleasant, but I also don't feel like I gain anything, from an intellectual perspective, from reading this. That's nothing against this book, I've just read enough memoirs of genocide that the gains aren't worth the unpleasantness anymore.

Not only is reading Holocaust memoirs unpleasant, but they all seem to be unpleasant in the same way. This isn't a great translation, so this isn't exactly the best experience I've ever had with a Holocaust memoir. But other than that, I don't really have much to say about this.

Malcolm X is truly an excellent speaker and writer. I think every American, especially every white American, should read this book. I don't agree with 100% of what Malcolm says, but almost all of my objections are more with Elijah Muhammad's form of Islam than with Malcolm's own ideas.

I guess I can't have the same distaste for the Nation of Islam that I did going into this book, when I see how it educated Black people about their heritage and focused them toward bettering their lives. But it's still sad to me that someone as smart and passionate as Malcolm spent most of his time as an activist following a religious fanatic.

I should've predicted that this section would be hard for me to read, because of my personal feelings about the Nation of Islam. This is still a very interesting book, though, and Malcolm is still a fascinating person.