This year was a year of very long books, often on walks, or drives. In a first, the best piece of literature I “read” was the narrative game Disco Elysium. In extreme contrast, I loved the long, ancient tomes Herodotus’ Histories, and Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron; both great reminders of the universality of humans barely […]

My favorite book this year is either Voyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh, or Teckla by Steven Brust. The former is about an interaction with a computer consciousness as it’s falling apart, the latter is about a socialist uprising in a fantasy world, in the context of negotiating differences in romantic relationships. Both are wonderful. […]

The year’s best books: Live from New York and Hugh Cook’s Wizard War ________ Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson – Jan 1, 2018 Starfish – Peter Watts – Jan 3, 2018 The Glass Castle – Jeanette Walls – Jan 24, 2018 Surface Detail – Iain M. Banks – Feb 17, 2018 Steal the […]

(a summary of a drunken conversation from last night) For the voyage across the stars, deep freezing is bad for most biological organisms. Ice crystals, when they form at the microscopic level, can pierce and break cell walls. Animals that endure deep cold and space successfully[0] do so by removing all the moisture from their […]

The absolute coolest book I read this year was Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky ________ Roadside Picnic – Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Jan 12, 2017 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke – Jan 27, 2017 The New Bottoming Book – Dossie Easton & Janet W Hardy – Feb 14, 2017 […]

The best part about books this year was discovering Octavia Butler. But the most important book I read was definitely Hillbilly Elegy. ________ Aurora – Kim Stanley Robinson – Jan 2, 2016 Dawn – Octavia E. Butler – Jan 26, 2016 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever – James Tiptree, Jr. – Mar 20, 2016 Matter […]

Books listed with date of completion. This was a year with a massive change in reading style. I only read 10 books in 2014, not including texts skimmed for the sake of picking up something for my PhD. All my spare time was saddled with PhD obligations, and spare time outside that I really did […]

All my income is in the States, and all my student debt is in Canada, so I’ll be regularly be transferring pretty hefty sums of money to Canada for probably the next decade. The support for this is pretty terrible. While money transfer within countries seems very easy, as soon as you cross a border, […]

Tejo is a sport played in Colombia. It’s like curling, except you throw the weights like 60 feet instead of sliding them on the ground. The target is like a sandbox, except it’s filled with clay, and tilted on its side. Inside it, are explosives; little pink triangular envelopes filled with paper. These make very […]

Yes I am not real https://t.co/HK33uFG6SG — mikeseymour (@mikeseymour) March 18, 2015 Putting on academic tweed jacket, sandals and socks… In 1936, German cultural critic Walter Benjamin wrote an essay entitled The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (entire text translated here). This post is an updated, and more specific view on […]