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Recent reading
The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones (Alpennia #2)
I really enjoyed this second book as well! Although I wasn't interested in the alchemy as much as I was in Margerit's ceremonies. I like that there's so much of Margerit and Barbara as well as the new main characters, and it's such a thoroughly Bechdel-test-passing book, full of women supporting each other and also relating to each other in many other ways. The names are well thought through and I kind of wish there was more of the constructed language that obviously lies behind it. Much recommended and looking forward to the third one.
Half Earth by Edward O. Wilson (audiobook)
I felt like I should read this in order to have more of an opinion on Wilson and others' proposal that half the Earth should be set aside in order for biodiversity to survive. But I don't think I was the target audience, because much of this book attempts to convince the reader that preserving biodiversity is an urgent and important thing to do. Yes yes, I already think so. *skims forward* I wanted more of the actual science behind how much we need to preserve, and strategies for how to do so. We get very little of the former, and when we get to the latter there are some good examples and then Wilson basically goes "but don't worry, capitalism and technology will fix the problem of human overconsumption!" *boggles* Yeah, that's gone well so far. Also there's a chapter on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering that wasn't tied in well to the main theme of the book at all. Why was it there?
The main interesting thing I got out of the book was the question of why (almost) no insect species live in the ocean, which I never thought about before. Why don't they? There are tons of other invertebrates there. It seems like nobody really knows the answer. Huh.
I really enjoyed this second book as well! Although I wasn't interested in the alchemy as much as I was in Margerit's ceremonies. I like that there's so much of Margerit and Barbara as well as the new main characters, and it's such a thoroughly Bechdel-test-passing book, full of women supporting each other and also relating to each other in many other ways. The names are well thought through and I kind of wish there was more of the constructed language that obviously lies behind it. Much recommended and looking forward to the third one.
Half Earth by Edward O. Wilson (audiobook)
I felt like I should read this in order to have more of an opinion on Wilson and others' proposal that half the Earth should be set aside in order for biodiversity to survive. But I don't think I was the target audience, because much of this book attempts to convince the reader that preserving biodiversity is an urgent and important thing to do. Yes yes, I already think so. *skims forward* I wanted more of the actual science behind how much we need to preserve, and strategies for how to do so. We get very little of the former, and when we get to the latter there are some good examples and then Wilson basically goes "but don't worry, capitalism and technology will fix the problem of human overconsumption!" *boggles* Yeah, that's gone well so far. Also there's a chapter on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering that wasn't tied in well to the main theme of the book at all. Why was it there?
The main interesting thing I got out of the book was the question of why (almost) no insect species live in the ocean, which I never thought about before. Why don't they? There are tons of other invertebrates there. It seems like nobody really knows the answer. Huh.