Gautam > Recent Status Updates

Dense and profoundly insightful

This story could end on the next page and it would have lived up to the hype. I can't believe it's taken me so long to read Le Guin.

"When men of wealth urge the use and show of force, quick death, swift revenge, then it is to protect a little spot of private space against the resentful millions from whom they have filched it, the resentful millions in whose militant hearts the dream and hope of security still lives."

this book is dope.

This book has moved me to my core.

According to the wonderful intro by Arnold Rampersad, Wright said after his previous novel that the next one "would be so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears."

I'm starting to feel that gravitas already.

Taking a break because this book somehow feels boring at the moment. I couldn't think of a more interesting subject than "civilization as a stop on the journey of human evolution" but it's not doing it for me right now.

This is a speedy tour through lots of things, some of which deserve more elaboration, but it's a splendid guide book for further study.

This book is everything I hoped it would be.

I've been looking for this kind of thing in hundreds of different places on and off for years. It's so nice to get it all in one place.

I recently reached the punchline of this book and it finally makes sense.

So far I've enjoyed the criticism of libertarian thought and the detailed takedown of income as the sole measure of economic development.

After 130 pages I've figured out how to speed through the flowery language that keeps repeating itself. He really likes to make a point several times so you know he's made the point.

Wow, what a ride. I put this on my list years ago when I thought I'd really enjoy someone punching up at bureaucracy. Now that I'm finally losing track of time, trudging through the snow and looking up at the Castle with K. I'm feeling the weight of his neuroses.

I'm seeing the humor in it too, but I'm hoping to transcend the dichotomy of desire and aversion and reach the literary bliss I've been told awaits me.

The criticism I read that he seems to repeat himself incessantly is true. But once you get in the groove it feels less annoying though still incredibly dense. I haven't reached any real evidence yet but the premise seems fair.

I'm curious how he treats regulation in general, and how he suggests curing the ills of the unchecked free market.

K's feeling of otherness from his initial interactions with the townspeople is very relatable. Questioning the rules that others try to govern him with in order to seek out his simple goals will be a fun theme to see play out.

I'm giving up on this book for now because it is extremely dense. If it were a cheesecake, I would still have given up on it around 56%.

Accessible without shying away from the depths of meaning that are difficult to convey with language. I imagine that I will reread this periodically throughout life and always gain some new understanding.

Ian McDonald once again crafts an original and immersive sci fi universe that I wish I could spend more time in.

Pretty exciting so far!

This feels at least as revelatory as Guns, Germs, and Steel initially did, but I think the lessons will extend much further into humanity's future by the time it's over.

...and I've been on that page since April. Probably because I've read 5 other books in the meantime.