Recent reading
Oct. 27th, 2023 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaAnarkistisk bokföring by Anders Sandström (2016)
Also available in English as Anarchist Accounting. This was lying around at the union hall, and I could not resist the title, so I borrowed it. It's an example of how a society where the economy is organized in a decentralized democratic way could do its bookkeeping, written by an economist who saw the light about the evils of neoliberal capitalism. If you just want an introduction to this economic model, it's probably better to just read one of the books about participatory economics. This book is dry, not going to lie, and probably better if you already know double entry bookkeeping, which I do because I am a treasurer. Admittedly this is not rocket science and the principles can easily be picked up, but it really is easier to read if the four types of accounts and whether they increase/decrease in debit/credit are hardwired in your mind. Anyway, I found it worth reading!
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller (2020)
Recced bychestnut_pod. I listened to the audiobook by the author, which was very well read. This is a combined memoir of the author's life and also about a 19th century taxonomist called David Starr Jordan. There were two things about it which didn't quite land right for me, but otherwise I thought it was very good. The first thing is the claim in the beginning, as applied to knowledge and human life in general, about the constant increase of entropy and how everything will soon be lost. I mean, yes, it's true that every one of us will eventually grow old and die, if we are lucky. But the earth is not a closed system, in which entropy must always increase! We are constantly getting lots of energy from the sun, and yes, things die and deteriorate all the time, but things are also born and created all the time! But this didn't prevent me from being engaged in the book. I'm going to cut for spoilers here, because I think the book has more impact that way. Whoa, I didn't expect some of the dark places it went, what with the eugenics and the probable murder. And then the climax of the book: fish don't exist, which is the second thing that didn't quite land right for me. I mean, what she's really saying is that fish are a polyphyletic taxonomic group, which is just not that shocking to me! It doesn't mean that we can't talk about them as a group, nor does it mean that Jordan’s work on classifying fish species is somehow meaningless. I still on occasion talk about cryptogams, which is a wildly polyphyletic group, because it can be a useful shorthand. But anyway! The ending of the book was still lovely.
Also, let me share this fun fact that I discovered during the writing of this post: During World War II, the British Government recruited Geoffrey Tandy, a marine biologist expert in cryptogams, to Bletchley Park, allegedly when someone confused these with cryptograms. [ETA: The last part is apparently a myth (thanks,sovay!) but he did work there.]
Also available in English as Anarchist Accounting. This was lying around at the union hall, and I could not resist the title, so I borrowed it. It's an example of how a society where the economy is organized in a decentralized democratic way could do its bookkeeping, written by an economist who saw the light about the evils of neoliberal capitalism. If you just want an introduction to this economic model, it's probably better to just read one of the books about participatory economics. This book is dry, not going to lie, and probably better if you already know double entry bookkeeping, which I do because I am a treasurer. Admittedly this is not rocket science and the principles can easily be picked up, but it really is easier to read if the four types of accounts and whether they increase/decrease in debit/credit are hardwired in your mind. Anyway, I found it worth reading!
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller (2020)
Recced by
chestnut_pod. I listened to the audiobook by the author, which was very well read. This is a combined memoir of the author's life and also about a 19th century taxonomist called David Starr Jordan. There were two things about it which didn't quite land right for me, but otherwise I thought it was very good. The first thing is the claim in the beginning, as applied to knowledge and human life in general, about the constant increase of entropy and how everything will soon be lost. I mean, yes, it's true that every one of us will eventually grow old and die, if we are lucky. But the earth is not a closed system, in which entropy must always increase! We are constantly getting lots of energy from the sun, and yes, things die and deteriorate all the time, but things are also born and created all the time! But this didn't prevent me from being engaged in the book. I'm going to cut for spoilers here, because I think the book has more impact that way. Whoa, I didn't expect some of the dark places it went, what with the eugenics and the probable murder. And then the climax of the book: fish don't exist, which is the second thing that didn't quite land right for me. I mean, what she's really saying is that fish are a polyphyletic taxonomic group, which is just not that shocking to me! It doesn't mean that we can't talk about them as a group, nor does it mean that Jordan’s work on classifying fish species is somehow meaningless. I still on occasion talk about cryptogams, which is a wildly polyphyletic group, because it can be a useful shorthand. But anyway! The ending of the book was still lovely.Also, let me share this fun fact that I discovered during the writing of this post: During World War II, the British Government recruited Geoffrey Tandy, a marine biologist expert in cryptogams, to Bletchley Park, allegedly when someone confused these with cryptograms. [ETA: The last part is apparently a myth (thanks,
sovay!) but he did work there.]
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-27 11:13 pm (UTC)It seems not to be true that it was an error, but he still seems to have been very useful to Bletchley and I approve on general principle.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 07:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 03:40 pm (UTC)Honestly, I could believe that Tandy started it himself, if everyone was comparing their civilian specialties and it was mathematician, mathematician, really good at puzzles, broke codes in the last war, dude with seaweed.
You are officially the
Date: 2023-10-27 11:18 pm (UTC)geekiest person I know. Of course you know double-entry bookkeeping in addition to your many other areas of expertise.
I also loved Lulu Miller's book. Given my ignorance of biology, classification, and ontology, I was blown away to learn that "fish" don't exist.
Re: You are officially the
Date: 2023-10-28 07:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-28 12:01 pm (UTC)The framing of '[general word for a type of animal] is not a monophyletic group' as '[group] doesn't exist' annoys me too! Categories exist for a purpose and that purpose isn't always understanding/reflecting evolutionary descent. (The entropy thing is annoying too—if you're going to use scientific facts to make a profound poetic point that's all very well but you do really need to get them right...) Anyway, I like the sound of that book apart from those two things—I've read some very good 'about the author and also their favourite historical scientist/naturalist' nature writing like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-30 08:23 pm (UTC)Yes, that is a nice genre! The Kellan MacInnes book sort of had that format, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-31 05:21 pm (UTC)I'm glad you (mainly) enjoyed the Miller; I read it as an ebook rather than listening, and am now interested in seeking out the audiobook if I ever reread.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-11-01 12:53 pm (UTC)