#JustFinished Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant
This has been an absolutely fascinating book to read and is perhaps the most important book I'll read all year. Merchant is spot on with his commentary about the parallels between the first Industrial Revolution and now. We have not learned a thing about protecting our populations and economies from mass unemployment during technological upheaval.
@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I’m looking for a new job at the moment. I’m wondering if it’s harmful to have a resume with lots of experience nowadays. Traditionally, experience was valuable, but perhaps nowadays, it just makes you seem expensive. They could pay younger, dumber people less.
@curmudgeonaf@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I fit my resume on 1 page. Anything past the last 10 years I omit. I use 9pt type for body text and 14pt for headlines.
I don't mention when I graduated college just the degree I got.
Here in California, any role descriptions that don't mention a pay range are reflected back to the recruiter mentioning
I usually don't hear back from those which means the employer is trying to get away on the cheap.
If there's just a brief description of a couple requirements I reflect that back saying "If you have more information on this role, please forward the full requirement. Otherwise, don't bother sending me such listing. They're not worth my time to pursue. This is why I don't work with Robert Half. That's all they would send, sometimes multiple times a day. I had the office manager to take me out of their system.
Anyone sending me a role description gets a "Thanks for reaching out. Here are my skills." reply even if I'm not a fit. Good luck.
#JustFinished Where Peace Is Lost by Valerie Valdes.
Very different from her series starting with Chilling Effect, Where Peace Is Lost is much more serious. It reads as a quest to save a world, a journey or personal forgiveness, romance, and anti-capitalist philosophy. That's a lot to cram into 12 hours. It's all well done though, not seeming patchwork at all. Thus I zoomed through the story in two days.
Valdes delivers a solid book, perhaps leading us to "the further adventure of..."
Rebeccsa Mozo, the narrator, had a handful of mispronouciations that should have been caught by someone. Not enough to be ruinous, but distracting nonetheless. ☹️ Pronouncing buffet as the noun form, for instance, when it was used as the verb form.
@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I loved Where Peace Is Lost by Valerie Valdes. I've read her previous #books and they're enjoyable but for me not as gripping as Peace Lost. I very much hope for sequels!
#JustFinished Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice.
Rice weaves a gorgeous follow-up to Moon of the Crusted Snow. About 12 years have passed since the power went out, and the Anishinaabe in what was the northern Ontario province are in need of a new home as local resources are dwindling. Moon of the Turning Leaves follows a group south and east as they search for a better place, preferably in their ancestral lands.
Along the way, they learn more of their world, both past and present. I felt that the characters learning they were big fish in a little pond was a nice touch, as many times lead characters are practically infallible.
Rice's prose is lyric, and his characters are rounded out. As soon as I saw he'd written another book in this world, I knew I had to read it. Billy Merasty, the narrator, adds to the immersion of the story.
Meowlcolm Reynolds, my old man, my stalker, my grouchy boy, died suddenly today. He was 15 years old and loved no one so much as me for the past 7 years, the time we had him. My heart hurts so much. I can't believe he's gone. I'll miss his steady presence.
#JustFinished The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow.
This was a great book! Graeber and Wengrow integrate new archeological discoveries with anthropology and turn common belief on its side. In the same way that we used to think that evolution was a progressive march to new and improved species, we also thought that human development was on an upward arc to better things, with capitalism and
This is a lovely, slow book. Reynolds takes us through the time of a life lived on repeat, through the unraveling of the mystery, and to the hope of happy endings. Quite masterfully done.
Well, I found a gorgeous house here with enough room AND sun rooms for the cats (and us)! We're closing in 10ish days. I'm very excited about the house and having all this crap behind me. I'm also kind of surprised that this whole thing has basically been FTL as far as moving goes.
My house in Texas went on the market March 15 and is sold already. I'm closing on the new house April 15.
Pretty long, kinda slow, but compelling. A crew of miners are called on to chase an alien spacecraft to the edge of the solar system in order to find out what they can about it before returning home. This is the story of how they survive when things inevitably go wrong. Reynolds gives us a realistic and yet optimistic view of humanity and our foibles.
It was an interesting book, and a decent sequel. I never felt the main human romance was really believable or rooted in anything other than plot though. The interactions between the main female character and her alien companion were much deeper.
The politics were rather heavy handed, but the societal impacts were, sadly, quite well done. Humans would be a shit show of xenophobia and power...
grabs after first contact. And yes, there were those doing well by the aliens and showing the brighter side of humanity. Just not enough. Though, once again, probably accurate. It was kind of disheartening. I hope she can turn it around in the third book.
#JustFinished Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
I feel like he spent too much time working at being cutesy and not enough at internal consistency. It was an amusing book, however. Taken as a light historical fiction about the run-up to modern life, it's good enough.
One example of the issues with the book follows:
He sets up the straw man of biological essentialism, then knocks it down with social consctructs.
His argument seems to draw parallels between animal behavior and human societies to support the notion that patriarchy might be genetically imperative. However, such comparisons oversimplify complex sociocultural dynamics. While observations of animal behavior can provide insights, applying them directly to human societies ignores the intricate interplay of culture, history, and individual agency in shaping social structures. It's essential to approach discussions of sexism and racism with a nuanced understanding of their multifaceted origins and manifestations in human societies.
@seanbala@bookstodon@religion
He definitely used an odd definition of religion. However, having just left Texas and living there during part of a rise of ChristoFascism, I have a hard time seeing any positive in religion right now.
First contact! Conspiracies, government agents, conspiracy theories, warring alien factions - this book has them all in spades. And yet, the story almost seems languid for much of it. This was not a drawback for me. I liked the slow burn for much of the novel, with the reveals coming slowly.
The main focus was on how completely disparate life forms and societies would interact. Where would we understand each other, and where would we be horrified. Quite nicely done.
The narrator was mostly quite good, but overdid it a few times.
#JustFinished A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong
The library told me it was SciFi. It was only that insofar as it involves time travel. It was a period mystery with a modern detective. I don't usually read mysteries, as I'm not particularly a fan. As such, I found this only meh.
#JustFinished Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
A ghost story/mystery set in the 1920's in NYC. As the third in the series, it wraps up some storylines while bringing others to the forefront. It ranges across the city and involves a cavalcade of characters living their lives with psychic abilities. They save the city from the ghost invasion, but there is sadness and loss along the way.
The book was clearly written in the run up to the 2016 presidential election. Interestingly though, Bray was able to stay true to the time period while accurately reflecting what was going on in 2016 as well.
Notably, Bray did an excellent job representing mental illness with grace and understanding. Her depictions were sympathetic and accurate. I've really enjoyed her writing since I discovered her.
This is a diificult book for me to review, as I had mixed feelings throughout the book. It was written as an update to 1984 told from the main female character's point of view.
Initially, I thought it was a great reimagining of the story. Newman makes Julia more intelligent than she was cast in 1984, which does make the character more interesting. As the book went on, Julia is so cynical
...she can see through almost every plot. It becomes a bit Mary Sue-ish. OTOH, Winston is so naive in 1984 that she almost has to be a Mary Sue. My concerns about this were alleviated toward the end of the book.
In any case, Julia's story is compelling and cohesive and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Newman did a wonderful job of showing the societal impacts that would be particular to women in the original, without being as heavy-handed as the original.
2/ @bookstodon#scifi#books#bookstodon
What if proving sentience to the other inhabitants of the universe was just like Eurovision?
This is the first goofy scifi I've read that actually comes close to living up to Adams' Hitchhikers without overdoing it the whole way through. Parts are wryly cutting, lambasting those who deserve it, like officious governmental cogs too full of...
@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I was just telling one of the Teens about this book earlier this evening! It was such a fun read. I’d love to see a movie adaptation.