Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

This is fun. So far much easier to follow than the first book. A bit more conventional. But I've got a good way to go...

Written in *1955* - "Our great Western civilisation, which has created the marvels we now enjoy, has only succeeded in creating them at the cost of corresponding ills. The order and harmony of the Western world... demand the elimination of a prodigious mass of noxious by-products which now contaminate the globe. The first thing we see as we travel around the world is our own filth, thrown into the face of mankind."

Keep forgetting I haven't finished this, despite it being entertaining on every page.

Reading about the mid-17th century collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and misfortunes of the Cossacks in what is now southern Ukraine and the Crimea felt rather more topical than it should have done...

I though 1851 was going to be all Mill, but after a bit of Carlyle (which explained why, despite enjoying the style of Sartor Resartus when I read it 20-odd years ago I didn't really understand it - I hadn't read any Kant), this section's dominated by Mary Ann Evans.

"Who she?", I kept asking. "Why haven't I heard of this person, this translator of Feuerbach and Strauss?" Then finally - OH! She's George Eliot!

Very readable so far. Good sense of place, perspective.

I think the author quite approves of John Stuart Mill...

Readable and fun so far, though still building. Needed something easy-going, and this fits the bill.

Fluctuating between fascinating and totally over my head, entirely dependent on whether or not I've heard to the people / events he's talking about. Currently at Vienna, so a lot more familiar, and good fun.

Still not convinced by Tennyson...

"This book about my family is not about my family at all, but something quite different: the way memory works, and what memory wants from me."

Solid Russian-Jewish Proustian whimsy so far. Excellent translation too. Flows beautifully.

Well, this is totally different to what I was expecting, and really rather good so far. Another good random 99p charity shop buy...

Can't tell where this is going, which is nice.

Picked up over Christmas for a quid or something in a Kindle sale. I've not read any of Le Guin's sci fi before, but rather enjoying this so far. A little heavy-handed with the politics at times, but very elegantly written (more so than the Earthsea books, I'd say). Also, politically feels somewhat in keeping with the spirit of the current age, so rather impressive it was written almost 50 years ago.

Mostly introduction up until now. Now onto More focused chapters, starting with China and the fall of the Ming dynasty.

Even though I knew some of the stuff in the medical data bias section, it's still shocking. Down with the patriarchy!

Some more compelling than others, but all solid. A remarkable amount of death, though, considering he was relatively young when writing these...

I hadn't finished this... Some of the stats feel a bit dated now (this came out a 2-3 years ago and they're mostly from 3-4 years before that), but I have a feeling nothing much will have changed. Definitely eye-opening.

1801 has surprisingly little of political philosophy, with Burke, Paine, and Franklin only getting cameos. Instead it revolves primarily around William Hazlitt, of whom I knew next to nothing, and Joseph Priestley, ditto - while building up to the slow arrival of Kant into English via ongoing battles over the status of nonconformists in English society. In all, a very different perspective on the late 18th century.

I've never read any Nabokov before - put off by distaste at the concept of Lolita, I think. But I've since come across far too many writers I respect calling him astonishing to let my old ignorance get in the way.

Arranged chronologically, this collection promises to get better as it progresses. It's already pretty damned solid.

I continue to find the concept of God's penis amusing. Sorry... Now on to the torso, though. Will this be as funny?

This is starting to feel more like cod-psychology than real psychology. Also a rather (to me) distasteful emphasis on how to trick people into liking you / doing what you want... My suspicions about this kind of book are seeming increasingly justified - but I'd hoped this one was different.

Random purchase during the Waterstones 50% off hardbacks sale. So far reads like it wishes it were an anime Alice in Wonderland - but is full of some rather too obvious messages and a slightly unhealthy obsession with Nietzsche. Still, lightweight fun for the first day of the year.

Picked up with deep scepticism for books that sound like this, but a) it was only a couple of quid in a Kindle sale, b) I'm getting more interested in psychology, and c) I'm trying to shake myself out of a series of negative thought spirals, and thought I may as well try this kind of quasi self-help book targeting business audiences.

To my amazement, it's actually not bad so far.