Jason Pryde > Recent Status Updates

Showing 1-30 of 105
Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is 50% done with When We Were Orphans
Pace of plot is like riding the milk run on a Greyhound bus. Bursts of minor stops with long stretches of time in between.
Aug 21, 2025 08:17AM Add a comment
When We Were Orphans

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 267 of 449 of The City and Its Uncertain Walls
For this book one needs to abandon common sense and reason and just accept each aberration in plot with the hope that it will eventually fit some theme. My larger gripe is that some chapters are too wordy. It’s like listening to your grandparents describing their challenges removing ear wax.
He eventually pulls it back to the plot and moves forward, fortunately, otherwise I think he’d lose a lot of readers.
Mar 21, 2025 09:18PM Add a comment
The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 95 of 160 of The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
While I’m only a bit more than halfway into this book, I’m savoring it a chapter at a time. LT’s writing is a comfortable mix of accessible science and humility about the current breadth and depth of human understanding of biology.
At times he unleashes biological terms on the reader and he seems to have an obsession with five and even six syllable words. E.g. “our reticuloendothelial system”.
Nov 24, 2024 05:36AM Add a comment
The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is 48% done with The Last Man
An enigma wrapped in a melodrama.
Jun 14, 2024 06:33AM Add a comment
The Last Man

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 336 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
The chapter “Across Osage Hill” begins with a 2+ page intro to Time/Space vs Info/Matter, the former far exceeding the latter.
“While I may pass my life in continuity and completeness, I comprehend it only in discontinuous fragments…
I’m speaking about shards and grids and crossings, about that great reticulum our past.”
Dec 03, 2023 02:19PM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 316 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
Cont… And regardingan unfortunate encounter with an Elmdale local

“[a] friend,…whose mind is as eccentrically contoured as you can find among those of us walking at liberty, and he said, ‘You violated a fundamental rule of the road: you refused hospitality. As you well know, Plains Indians took umbrage at ungraciousness. Your insensitivity put the kibosh on you in Elmdale - forever.’ “
Nov 30, 2023 07:09PM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 316 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
WLHM has an over abundance of words and he must use them up before he dies. Fortunately, he has the lingual gift to meet that challenge.
He spends a few describing his opinion of Elmdale, KS.
“…a man dies in certain places before he dies in otheres, dying in pieces and places. Maybe I’ve already, so to speak, gone west in Elmdale, Kansas. Maybe I’m the wraith here, a temporary ghost.”
Nov 30, 2023 07:07PM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 249 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
Maybe the best chap so far is “En Las Casitas”, an interview with a Mexican lifelong “Trackman”. The core of the story is a hand drawn map that Felix creates during the course of the interview which quickly transitions to a work of art. WLM’s summary “of all the papers countians have handed me, this map of a man’s territory is the finest because is is the most wrought” says it all.
Nov 15, 2023 10:40AM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 249 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
WLM is an eclectic writer. Some chapters are insightful, entertaining, informative. Others should be left out altogether. (IMHO) The chapter “In Ecstasy” is one of the latter. It is informative to know about an all women cattle ranch started from scratch by a young daughter of a rancher. I didn’t need the gritty explicit description of a calves transition to “Steerdom”.
Nov 15, 2023 10:35AM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 92 of 624 of PrairyErth (A Deep Map)
WLHM seems to be obsessed with the prairie fire issue. It comes up time and again. Enjoyed the chapter about the Cottonwood Courthouse.
This is first level research.
Oct 10, 2023 08:54PM Add a comment
PrairyErth (A Deep Map)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 29 of 511 of Consciousness Explained
Some bold claims in the outset.
Begins with the obligatory Descartes quote “Cogito ergo sum”. Seems like all books relating to the consciousness, the mind, or the brain start here. Continues on to a defense of even trying to understand consciousness. Still 439 pages to go though.
Sep 01, 2022 12:11AM Add a comment
Consciousness Explained

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is finished with The Great Divorce
“Sail Shining in White” by Mark Halprin
Final story fittingly in the chapter "Call of the Sea"
I suppose the final story should be a glorious salute to the superhuman trials and sublime rewards of offshore seamanship. It may have been a bit over served in this case.
I hope humility isn’t a requirement for a peaceful afterlife.
Jul 09, 2022 09:49PM Add a comment
The Great Divorce

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 378 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
“Now wakes the Sea” by J. G. Ballard is another Twilight Zone-like episode. It conflates mental illness with fantasy.
Pretty standard story line. Nice metaphor-rich description of the sea.
Jul 08, 2022 09:36PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 364 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
“John Marr” by Herman Melville was fitted to the chapter “Call of the Sea” but not that interesting. The whole story was summed up in the poem at the end which ended with the lines:
“To see you at the halyards main,
To hear your chorus once again!”
Jul 08, 2022 09:07PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 335 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
“The Young man With the Carnations” by Isak Dinesen In the chapter “The Call of the Sea”.

Complicated. More demanding of the reader. Requires several trips to Google Translate.

Stories within stories.

Disturbing.
Jul 05, 2022 12:38AM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 328 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
“Titanic Victim Speaks Through Waterbed” by Robert Olen Butler
A very different kind of short story. The sea plays a secondary role, more of a context for the spiritual journey of the protagonist.
Most sea stories are man vs. nature. This one is man vs. himself.
I suppose all Titanic stories are anecdotal of the human face of disaster.
Jun 29, 2022 09:20PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 305 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
Just finished “Youth” by Joseph Conrad. This story outshines all the others before it. Maybe it’s because he writes from personal experience more than imagination.
Jun 28, 2022 08:57PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 200 of 401 of Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
“One for the Islands”, Patricia Highland, best story so far. Probes the psyche of the lone traveler or the wannabe lone traveler.
Jun 20, 2022 09:26PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is starting Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)
Completed first section, “Dangers of the Deep” which contained six short stories. Some from authors I would not have expected such as Edger Allen Poe (The maelstrom, we’ll researched but a bit wordy) and Ray Bradbury (The Fog Horn, classic mystery intrigue set on a lonely island but not a single martian.)
Jun 19, 2022 09:18PM Add a comment
Stories of the Sea (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 63 of 293 of Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)
So far, a classic murder mystery with somewhat over wrought character and place definitions. More like a travel brochure for Quebec than a fictional story.
May 16, 2022 02:52PM Add a comment
Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 33 of 336 of Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts
Slugging through this because its fascinating but rich in details and terms.
Experiment of showing subject stream of #s and letters, has sub memorize letters. When less than 200ms apart, 2nd let is missed. Brain imaging shows it is received and recorded but never fwd’d to conscious part of brain. (Can hypnotism recover it?)
Nov 27, 2021 08:22PM Add a comment
Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 173 of 204 of Solaris
There are a couple of different themes buried in a plot of scientific intrigue and romance. Author digs around in the dark corners of academic research and man’s search for meaning in the cosmos.
Nov 07, 2021 08:38PM Add a comment
Solaris

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 83 of 204 of Solaris
Canonical Sci Fi. Futuristic research station on mysterious planet? Check. Scientists experiencing mind altering hallucinations? Check. Beautiful alien women disrupting space station life? Check.
I’m being a little cynical here but the theme regarding one’s superficial vs actual mind is actually quite deep.
And the discussion of the alien ocean actually being a sentient being is fascinating.
Nov 03, 2021 08:51PM Add a comment
Solaris

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 93 of 144 of All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
Refreshingly simple and fast read. Mostly dialog and self reflection on the part of the murderbot. It’s the killer robot turned good scenario kind of like the movie iRobot.
Nice break from some of the other heavier stuff I’ve been reading.
Oct 16, 2021 10:13PM Add a comment
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 39 of 144 of All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
Already, i am hoping that I can race thru this book and get.to something more demanding. Cynical robots get old fast.
Oct 15, 2021 09:33PM Add a comment
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Jason Pryde
Jason Pryde is on page 333 of 387 of The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
“Shevek had learned something about his own will these last four years. In it’s frustration he had learned it’s strength. No social or ethical imperative equaled it. Not even hunger could repress it. The less he had, the more absolute became his need to be.”
This echo’s Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” (see Wikipedia article)
“…Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism.”
Oct 11, 2021 08:43PM Add a comment
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

« previous 1 3 4
Follow Jason's updates via RSS