What did you just read?
- Thread starter Fippy Darkpaw
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
Was cleaning up my shelf today and a copy of this short story was delivered. Only 5 pages so a quick read and the text is freely available online. Very cool 1950 story about a single house still standing after a nuclear war and the automations going on about their business inside while everyone else has died. Reading the take on home automation coming from 1950 is always interesting and Bradbury is almost bullseye on target with Alexa like reminders to the family.
The name of title is taken from a 1918 poem of the same name by Sarah Teasdale, that is also read within the short story by the home automation.
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone
Photos of the edition below:
Was cleaning up my shelf today and a copy of this short story was delivered. Only 5 pages so a quick read and the text is freely available online. Very cool 1950 story about a single house still standing after a nuclear war and the automations going on about their business inside while everyone else has died. Reading the take on home automation coming from 1950 is always interesting and Bradbury is almost bullseye on target with Alexa like reminders to the family.
The name of title is taken from a 1918 poem of the same name by Sarah Teasdale, that is also read within the short story by the home automation.
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone
Photos of the edition below:
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Up through Book 8 now of Pendergast so through Diogenes trilogy and the follow up. Book 2 of Diogenes was kind of a let down. They were all good but I felt like he didn’t quite live up to the full expectation and brilliance. Wheel of Death was okay with all the mystical stuff coming back in to play, but also had a dumb B plot with the feminist trying to crash the boat bc of male white privilege.
Also the start of Book 9 is a real gut punch. Maybe after 9 audiobooks I’ll take a break. Rene Auberjonois doesn’t do as good with Pendergast as Scott Brick.
Finished reading Stone of Farewell, Book 2 of Memory, Sorrow, Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. Still liked it, drug a little bit and seems like it could move faster. Not loving what has happened to the Miriamele character. She was cool when traveling with Simon and Binabik but now she’s turned in to a whiny brat with Cadrach.
To Green Angel Tower is 1100 pages and that was fine when I was reading Malazan. This just doesn’t feel like 1100 pages worth of world building and set up or depth. I’ll need a palate cleanser after this. Maybe swap over to Dungeon Crawler Carl y’all have been raving about.
Also the start of Book 9 is a real gut punch. Maybe after 9 audiobooks I’ll take a break. Rene Auberjonois doesn’t do as good with Pendergast as Scott Brick.
Finished reading Stone of Farewell, Book 2 of Memory, Sorrow, Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. Still liked it, drug a little bit and seems like it could move faster. Not loving what has happened to the Miriamele character. She was cool when traveling with Simon and Binabik but now she’s turned in to a whiny brat with Cadrach.
To Green Angel Tower is 1100 pages and that was fine when I was reading Malazan. This just doesn’t feel like 1100 pages worth of world building and set up or depth. I’ll need a palate cleanser after this. Maybe swap over to Dungeon Crawler Carl y’all have been raving about.
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Kharzette
Watcher of Overs
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Through the Moongate part 1, was free on kindle. This is all about the early years of origin, and before that Richard G's teenage years. It was full of people I had met but I learned a lot of fun stuff I didn't know about the early days. The author is Italian so the english is a bit spotty, but the stories are all fun.
I never knew he and Steve Jackson were SCA friends. I didn't realize Autoduel was a collab.
Then after that RG's own book Explore Create. This one is a bit meandering and alot like his games. You can wander off wherever you want to go.
I knew most of the Ultima stuff, but the trips to the sea floor and space were mostly new to me.
I never knew he and Steve Jackson were SCA friends. I didn't realize Autoduel was a collab.
Then after that RG's own book Explore Create. This one is a bit meandering and alot like his games. You can wander off wherever you want to go.
I knew most of the Ultima stuff, but the trips to the sea floor and space were mostly new to me.
Captain Suave
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
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My new favorite explanation of the foundations of modern physics for laypeople. If you've got a rusty high school understanding of algebra, geometry, and calculus and an appetite for brain expansion you'll find it very enlightening. What I appreciate from Carroll is that he gives credit to the readers for being capable of understanding anything while simultaneously acknowledging that some of this is hideously mind-bending and anticipating where readers without deep backgrounds will get hung up. He does not give condescending toy examples and IMO successfully communicates in a style that gives insight into the language and equations of working physicists. I had several "Oh shit, NOW I finally get it!" moments around what the speed of light actually means and why it's everywhere and the fundamental relationships between space, time, movement, and energy.
This is part of a series that expands into quantum theory in the next book, which I haven't read yet but I'm looking forward to.
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I just read 'Slow Horses' the novella that was the basis for the Apple + show of the same name. The book was a big nothingburger. How the writers turned that novella into such an outstanding show is nothing short of a miracle. I have all the short stories from the show but I didn't even bother.
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