Dan > Recent Status Updates

Absolutely excellent opening chapter, blending detailed science with a compelling and complex character in an intriguing circumstance.

Short section that details the Etruscans cyclical measure of times, their fairly accurate prediction of their societies end date, and Romes adoption of this Etruscan ritual paired with their even more accurate prediction of their expiration. Went down a Etruria rabbit-hole after as I did not know of this ancient civilization.

“During each of these previous Third Turnings, Americans felt like they were drifting towards a waterfall. And, as it turned out, they were.”
As it briefly summarizes the mood and struggles of previous Third and Fourth Turnings, the 1760’s into the American Revolution, the 1850’s into the Civil War, the 1920’s into the Great Depression and WWII, “Sound familiar?” becomes the mantra for the section.

Contemplating writing a short horror story about the Goodreads UI

“‘Things change all the time. Something could make the whole question irrelevant.’
‘Could’, she agreed. ‘That's what peace is, right? Postponing the conflict until the thing you were fighting over doesn't matter!’”
The first story is an excellently paced tale of the development of history changing technology and its weight on the creator, and has great world building to prime the rest of the book.

“‘Things change all the time. Something could make the whole question irrelevant.’
‘Could,’ she agreed. “That’s what peace is, right? Postponing the conflict until the thing you were fighting over doesn’t matter.’”
The first story is an excellently paced tale of the development of history changing technology and its weight on the creator, and has great world building to prime the rest of the book.

Trying to get back to reading! I’m goin to be reading a fiction and non-fiction book simultaneously to try and balance information with escapism.

“Then came the Global Financial Crisis, the rise of populism, and the pandemic. These were three hits that a healthy democracy could have withstood but that caused ours to buckle and give way, revealing pillars and beams that had been decaying for decades.”

The book starts off very bleak, but reflects the mood of the nation. It grounds the theory in this reality before predicting the more optimistic aftermath.