Recent reading
Apr. 25th, 2015 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaMyten om maskinen: essäer om makt, modernitet och miljö by Alf Hornborg [The Myth of the Machine: Essays on Power, Modernity, and the Environment]
A non-fiction palate-cleanser before the next Inda book. This was quite interesting, although there was considerable overlap between the essays. Could've been rewritten and cut in half. Anyway, one of his points is that modern society has a machine fetish in the Marxist sense (as in money, which we perceive to be a thing but which is really a relationship between people). His thesis is that we perceive machines as saving us work, but what they really do is save work for some people but displace it onto other people instead (the ones who work to manufacture it, to get the raw materials, and to get the fuel). We don't see that aspect of machines, but think of them as just things, without the unequal social relations they require. Of course this is an empirical question but one which is very difficult to investigate, given the complexity of the system. He does the calculations for the 19th century British cotton manufacture and trade, which was indeed very unequal. Not being a primitivist, this makes me want to identify the technology which actually does save work and doesn't require an unequal society. If you're interested, the author has also written works in English. Weirdly, I've met him IRL. He has a farm not far from my mom's family farm, and he is...intense and quite charming? He charmed and bonded with my whole family in different ways, each according to our different interests.
The Fox by Sherwood Smith
Second volume. Also good! \o/ It's been a while since I read something with this much page-turning narrative drive. I stayed up way too late finishing that bit with the palace coup. I hadn't realized I'd missed reading epic fantasy, but apparently I had? I'm picky about them, though. And I really wish there was epic fantasy which had reasonable politics (let's bring down feudalism and institute an egalitarian society!) Anyway. The series continues to have great female characters. (Hadand, so awesome! Also, lesbian pirates!) If you want pining, this book is for you--there is lots of pining going on. I did not really buy Hadand falling in love with Evred--they've grown up with him basically like her little brother. I totally called Evred falling for Inda, though, and was rooting for that to happen. I'm looking forward to them meeting again. Also, Inda/Signi needed far more set-up! It came out of the blue, and I just did not buy it. Tau/Jeje is really well done, though--I'm assuming they'll get together at some point. Although the pining does always take the back seat to politics, war, etc. Arguably the main thwarted relationship in the book is not personal but is between Inda and his home country: everyone is like "Inda! Come hooome!" but the message keeps not reaching him, and he pines nobly in exile. Until the very end, but of course the book ended right before that, augh. Now I have to wait for part three, which is on its way. Also, why is there so little fic for this on AO3? And the little that exists is mostly modern AU, meh. Oh, and I forgot: I like the attitude towards magic--there's one teenager who's all "why would I want to become a mage? You have to study forever and it's boring". Kind of like becoming an engineer in our world. *g*
A non-fiction palate-cleanser before the next Inda book. This was quite interesting, although there was considerable overlap between the essays. Could've been rewritten and cut in half. Anyway, one of his points is that modern society has a machine fetish in the Marxist sense (as in money, which we perceive to be a thing but which is really a relationship between people). His thesis is that we perceive machines as saving us work, but what they really do is save work for some people but displace it onto other people instead (the ones who work to manufacture it, to get the raw materials, and to get the fuel). We don't see that aspect of machines, but think of them as just things, without the unequal social relations they require. Of course this is an empirical question but one which is very difficult to investigate, given the complexity of the system. He does the calculations for the 19th century British cotton manufacture and trade, which was indeed very unequal. Not being a primitivist, this makes me want to identify the technology which actually does save work and doesn't require an unequal society. If you're interested, the author has also written works in English. Weirdly, I've met him IRL. He has a farm not far from my mom's family farm, and he is...intense and quite charming? He charmed and bonded with my whole family in different ways, each according to our different interests.
The Fox by Sherwood Smith
Second volume. Also good! \o/ It's been a while since I read something with this much page-turning narrative drive. I stayed up way too late finishing that bit with the palace coup. I hadn't realized I'd missed reading epic fantasy, but apparently I had? I'm picky about them, though. And I really wish there was epic fantasy which had reasonable politics (let's bring down feudalism and institute an egalitarian society!) Anyway. The series continues to have great female characters. (Hadand, so awesome! Also, lesbian pirates!) If you want pining, this book is for you--there is lots of pining going on. I did not really buy Hadand falling in love with Evred--they've grown up with him basically like her little brother. I totally called Evred falling for Inda, though, and was rooting for that to happen. I'm looking forward to them meeting again. Also, Inda/Signi needed far more set-up! It came out of the blue, and I just did not buy it. Tau/Jeje is really well done, though--I'm assuming they'll get together at some point. Although the pining does always take the back seat to politics, war, etc. Arguably the main thwarted relationship in the book is not personal but is between Inda and his home country: everyone is like "Inda! Come hooome!" but the message keeps not reaching him, and he pines nobly in exile. Until the very end, but of course the book ended right before that, augh. Now I have to wait for part three, which is on its way. Also, why is there so little fic for this on AO3? And the little that exists is mostly modern AU, meh. Oh, and I forgot: I like the attitude towards magic--there's one teenager who's all "why would I want to become a mage? You have to study forever and it's boring". Kind of like becoming an engineer in our world. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-26 12:04 am (UTC)The squishiest most romantic part of me (the one that fanfic has been feeding up to match a rhino in size & a mouse in power) imagines you meeting cute with Hornborg in a local ale-house, and arguing fiercely while eyeing each other without any pining whatsoever.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-26 07:27 pm (UTC)Ha ha, I'd be happy to meet up and discuss with him in an alehouse. No romance, though--please to bend your magic matchmaking powers to getting me together with my crush instead. : P
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-26 08:53 pm (UTC)Pocket protectors are an engineering thing, so of course here's the origin story. Most engineers carry black, blue, and red ink pens, a drawing pencil, and (back when) a mini-sliderule or (these days) a laser penlight. (Spies and bankers could store these tools in an inside jacket pocket, but engineers almost always wear short-sleeve shirts and leave the jacket at their station. Why yes, MyGuy was an engineer, and I worked at a civil engineering firm as well.)
My spell casting has always been more powerful in contemplation than in deployment, so a) no worries and b) no help.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-26 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-26 07:28 pm (UTC)