Arlie Reads Some More in 2024 (Thread 3)

I'm Arlie, a retired software engineer, eight months into my fourth year of the 75 books challenge. I'm Canadian, but live in California, USA, where I moved in pursuit of career opportunity in 1997. My household consists of two retired adults and one aging dog. We also feed an ever changing menagerie of stray and feral cats.

I read about 60:40 fiction and non-fiction; the former mostly SF/Fantasy, and the latter mostly science and history, with sprinklings of biography, economics, politics, and whatever else catches my fancy.

This is my third thread, started on North American Labour Day (Sep 1) as has become my custom.

Goals and Structure

1. Participate in the War Room Challenge (January thread at https://www.librarything.com/topic/356820)
2. Dip into the Nonfiction Challenge from time to time: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356227
3. Make progress with unread books I already own, as well as reading new discoveries and books from my virtual TBR list.
4. Get most books from libraries, rather than purchasing them. If I must purchase books, try to buy them second hand.
5. Actually read something in French this year, or in German. Even a reread of a graphic novel would be better than nothing. 2 French graphic novels read in the first third of 2024.
6. Very slowly reread all the fiction I own, in shelving order, de-accessioning anything I find that I really don't want to reread.

My rules

The whole book must have been read, part of the reading must have happened in 2024, and I can't count the same read for multiple years - it's either 2024 or 2025, not both, unless I read it twice.

When rereading a book that has a large excerpt from some other book at the end, as a teaser for something else by the same author or publisher, I don't have to reread the teaser to count as having reread the book, even if the page count includes the teaser.

My Rating System

5. Excellent. Read this now!
4.5. Very Good. If fiction, well worth rereading; if non-fiction, I learned a lot.
4. Very good, but not quite 4.5. If fiction, likely reread; if non-fiction, I learned a lot.
3. Decent read, but not special in any way.
2.5 Why did I bother finishing this?
2. Did not finish.
1. Ran screaming, and you should too.

Links

My 2021 thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328797
My 2022 thread, part 1: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337717
My 2022 thread, part 2: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341510
My 2023 thread, part 1: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346763
My 2023 thread, part 2: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350549
My 2023 thread, part 3: https://www.librarything.com/topic/353373
My 2024 thread, part 1: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356637
My 2024 thread, part 2: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360427

Jan-Sep 2024 Statistics 1

Total books: 102

Fiction: 48
Non-fiction: 54

First Time: 925
Reread (best guess in some cases): 20

Total pages read: 37,417
Average Pages/Book: 254.5

Books read in English: 100
Books read in French: 2

Library Books: 82 (14 inter-library loan)
Owned books: 20 (0 recent purchases)

Jan-Sep 2024 Statistics 2

Fiction Genres:

portal fantasy: 2
present-day fantasy: 1
other fantasy: 22

total fantasy: 25

alternate history: 6
graphic novel: 2
historical fiction: 2
post-apocalyptic: 1
science fiction: 12

Non-fiction genres:

agriculture: 1
astronomy: 1
biology: 8
climate change: 1
human evolution: 4
medicine: 2

total science: 17

biography: 2
history: 28

total history: 30

bridge game: 1
politics: 5
practical self help: 1

Jan-Sep 2024 Statistics 3

Copyright Decade:

1950-1959: 2
1960-1969: 2
1970-1979: 6
1980-1989: 7
1990-1999: 8
2000-2009: 19
2010-2019: 23
2020-2024: 34

lost by spreadsheet bug: 1 (either out of this date range, or the spreadsheet doesn't see this book's year as a number due to some typo)

Jan-Sep 2024 Author Statistics

In all cases, any author who wrote more than one of the books I read this year is counted once per book.

Author Gender

Male: 85
Female: 38

Author Nationality (at birth):

Austria: 1
Austria-Hungary: 1
Canada: 2
China: 1
France: 3
Georgia: 1
Israel: 1
Netherlands: 1
Ukraine: 1
United Kingdom: 22
United States: 83
USSR: 1

Note that in a couple of places, nations/empires that have been broken up appears in this list as well as one or more of their individual pieces.

Author Birth Decade

1920-1929: 6
1930-1939: 14
1940-1949: 24
1950-1959: 18
1960-1969: 17
1970-1979: 13
1980-1989: 1
unknown: 26

Author Profession

academic historian: 12
academic scientist: 8
other academic: 8

total academics: 28

amateur historian: 2
non-academic historian: 3
popular historian: 4
non-academic scientist: 2
scientist: 1

total in often academic fields without academic career: 12

blogger: 1
comic book artist: 2
comic book writer: 1
journalist: 4
novelist: 58
podcaster: 1
science writer: 1
writer: 9

total of various kinds of professional writer: 77

activist: 1
medical doctor: 2
politician: 1

unknown: 2

These categories are a mess, and several should be combined. I hope to be more disciplined about my categories next year.

Books Completed Sep 2024

103. Planet of the bugs : evolution and the rise of insects by Scott Richard Shaw
104. I swear : politics is messier than my minivan by Katherine Porter
105. The Ottoman Empire by Lord Kinross
106. Codex born by Jim C. Hines
107. 1636: The Barbie Consortium by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett (reread)
108. Oath of Swords by David Weber (reread)
109. 1632 by Eric Flint (reread)
110. A symphony of echoes by Jodi Taylor
111. Reading the Constitution : why I chose pragmatism, not textualism by Stephen G. Breyer
112. "Are you calling me a racist?" : why we need to stop talking about race and start making real antiracist change by Sarita Srivastava
113. Bookshops & bonedust by Travis Baldree

Books Completed Oct 2024

114. Patterns of democracy : government forms and performance in thirty-six countries by Arend Lijphart
115. Germany in the World: A Global History, 1500-2000 by David Blackbourn
116. I'm afraid you've got dragons by Peter S. Beagle
117. Eat, poop, die : how animals make our world by Joe Roman
118. Legends & lattes : a novel of high fantasy and low stakes by Travis Baldree
119. The imposition of unnecessary obstacles by Malka Older
120. Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie
121. Regular: The Ultimate Guide to Taming Unruly Bowels and Achieving Inner Peace by Tamara Duker Freuman
122. Among the mad by Jacqueline Winspear
123. Assistant to the villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
124. Moon of the turning leaves : a novel by Waubgeshig Rice

Books Completed Nov 2024

125. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson
126. Rosemary and rue by Seanan McGuire
127. A conflict of visions : ideological origins of political struggles by Thomas Sowell
128. It's OK to be angry about capitalism by Bernard Sanders with John Nichols
129. Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis by J. D. Vance
130. Semper Fi by W. E. B. Griffin

Books Completed Dec 2024

131. Primary inversion by Catherine Asaro
132. Adapting to climate change : markets and the management of an uncertain future by Matthew E. Kahn
133. Patton, Montgomery, Rommel : masters of war by Terry Brighton
134. Koala : a natural history and an uncertain future by Danielle Clode
135. Rebel by David Weber and Richard Fox
136. Osman's dream : the story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923 by Caroline Finkel

Books Pearl Ruled in 2024

1. Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. American midnight : the Great War, a violent peace, and democracy's forgotten crisis by Adam Hochschild
3. Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions by Phil Zuckerman
4. Anarchy, state, and utopia by Robert Nozick
5. A second chance by Jodi Taylor

Spare

Happy Labour Day to all. The thread's ready for comments, even though it'll probably be a few more hours before I finish tabulating the books I read from May through August.

In a perfect world I'd have finished tabulating them last night, but I instead spent yesterday playing bridge. There was a regional tournament a short drive from my house, and Saturday was the only day I could get free to play in it. If I hadn't had roofers working on my house all the past week, I'd have been playing bridge for more of the week.

Happy new thread Arlie!

Love playing bridge -- definitely a worthy reason for delaying the book counting. ; ) Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Arlie!

>16 quondame: >17 Berly: >18 atozgrl: Thank you all.

I always forget how long it takes to tabulate 4 months of books read. I'm still working on it, after a whole day and part of another. I really must get into the habit of transferring data to my spreadsheet as I go, or at least monthly. (I'm currently still working on books read in July, with August still to start.)

Happy new thread, dear Arlie.

>20 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul

>19 ArlieS: Still working on tabulating books read in August. I really underestimated the time this takes, compared to the time per day I'm willing and able to give it.

Happy new one, Arlie!

I have finally finished my tabulation and posted it. I really must improve my process for creating these tables, and do it in smaller batches.

>22 drneutron: Thank you Jim

>23 ArlieS: Smaller batches make better whisky, too.

Happy new thread, Arlie.

>24 richardderus: Thank you Richard.

103. Planet of the bugs : evolution and the rise of insects by Scott Richard Shaw

This book describes the origin and diversification of insects. There are clear descriptions of context - what else was happening on the planet at the time. Thus for example we have arthropods among the earliest life to move onto land in the Silurian. There are footnotes and suggested readings. Overall, this is a book about scientific knowledge for people who like science, and aren't afraid that it'll be too dry without "human interest". (No, the book is not dry - it absolutely does not read like a text book.)

The author maintains an attitude that insects, rather than vertebrates of any kind, are the true dominant animals on planet earth. He takes gentle exception to names for ages based on the prominent vertebrate of the time. And at the very end, he suggests that if we ever get a chance to look at life on other planets, we're more likely to find insect-like than human-like or even vertebrate-like creatures.

Overall, it was a pleasant read. I learned a lot, and would have learned more if my aging memory were better. My only regret is that the book is already 10 years old, so there's 10 years of research it doesn't reference.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, biology, series: n/a, 2014
- Author (Scott Richard Shaw): male, American, born in 1955, academic (entomology), author not previously read
- English, public library, 240 pages, 4 stars
- read Aug 29- Sep 6, 2024, book not previously read

>26 ArlieS: The kind of read that makes me long for a contract clause that requires new editions every ten years or so.

Happy new one!

>15 ArlieS: I have to admit that I have not played bridge before.

>28 figsfromthistle: If you like the kind of game that involves a lot of thought, where you can keep improving for the rest of your life, you might love bridge. If you prefer games of luck, or simply don't like games, stay far away.

104. I swear : politics is messier than my minivan by Katherine Porter

This is a book written by a politician to explain herself to the reading public, like my #97 for the year. It appears to have become customary for up-and-coming American politicians to write such a book before taking on a new challenge.

This author represented Orange County CA in the US congress for some years, before failing in a bid to be elected to the US senate (she failed to advance from the primary to the election itself, which would have been Nov 2024). (She's still in the House of Representatives until that election.) The book says nothing of the Senate bid, but came out at the right time to have been written with that bid in mind.

Like all such books, the author is putting her best foot forward, omitting anything that she doesn't think will help her chances of (re)election. It needs to be read with an appropriate quantity of salt.

That said, I enjoyed the book. Like any such book, it gives me an idea of what the author considers important, and (by her omissions) what she doesn't. She's proud to be middle class, rather than rich, and to come from a farming background. But - she takes for granted a level of income my parents - and at least 50% of Americans - never achieved. (That said, she cares at least somewhat about those poorer than herself, at least when they are being abused by rapacious corporations, and tries to help.)

On my reading, this author cares about truth, and about rule of law, more than other priorities. She doesn't appreciate lying and evasion, whether by politicians or especially by leaders of corporations and government bureaucracies. She's also perhaps a bit too open in her contempt for legislators and others who don't do their homework, don't know the law, don't know the research, and perhaps try to laugh off their ignorance in public hearings.

On the other hand, like any elected politician, she knows how to play the game. She does the right things to get elected and reelected, advised by her staff. Yet she's proudest of a few times she goes against their advice, slips up and says what she actually feels, and finds that people - or perhaps merely the media - like it. I'd probably find her kind of phony, in person or otherwise. Her assumptions of how people like me (must) behave are very much not mine. Of course I'd be a disaster in politics, lacking the needed "soft skills" - or the stomach for exercising them if I had them. But at least when she's controlling the dialog, I don't find her any worse than any other American politician.

When I picked up her book, I figured she was safely irrelevant to me - I am not, and have never been a resident of Orange County. But in fact she would have been in my most recent local primary. I didn't notice. (I'm not a US citizen, so I pay less attention than if I were able to vote here.)

So I read the book in almost the same spirit as reading a novel including a political main character, like L.E. Modesitt's series called The Grand Illusion, except for not expecting major heroics. Read that way, it was enjoyable, with a likable main character who makes a few trenchant observations about American life and politics.

The book's worth reading if you like the genre, and have some space in your TBR, but probably doesn't rate any kind of priority.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, US politics, series: n/a, 2023
- Author (Katherine Porter): female, American, born in 1974, politician and academic (law), author not previously read
- English, public library, 284 pages, 3 stars
- read Aug 27- Sep 7, 2024, book not previously read

I borrowed this book because I noticed it in the new non-fiction books section of the library, and had enjoyed the two books in this genre I'd read in the past couple of years.

>30 ArlieS: Orange county CA is rather relevant to me, since I live in LA county just to the north and know many people who live there at various income levels. I perhaps don't pay it quite as much attention as I should, but alas, that's also true for my more local scene which has tended blue for a long time now.

105. The Ottoman Empire by Lord Kinross

This is a door-stopper history of the Ottoman Empire from its founding to its gradual dissolution and replacement by the Republic of Turkey. The Ottoman Empire lasted from the 14th century into the early 20th century. This is a lot of material to cover, even in 671 pages. The author concentrates on the succession of sultans along with their wars, battles, and treaties - pretty typical for history writing until relatively recently. It does branch out some, once it gets to the period of decline, and attempts to arrest that decline by modernization, which meant in part adopting Western knowledge and methods. But it's still basically a wars and kings history.

Given that, it seems to be a pretty decent one. I lack much in the way of prior knowledge of most of these periods, so can't point to omissions, errors or disagreements with other historians. In fact, I've already forgotten large chunks of the work, for lack of existing memory hooks to attach them to. (Fortunately, I read a book about some episodes in the Reign of Solomon the Lawgiver/Magnificent recently enough to have mental hooks for that period, and I also had mental hooks for both World war I and the Crimean War.)

My goal in reading this book was to gain a general historical awareness of the Ottoman Empire. I think in retrospect I'd have been better served by a much shorter outline of the complete history, followed by several books focussing on particular reigns or notable historical events - read close enough together that the outline hadn't faded from my memory.

I hope to follow up by reading some of those hypothetical shorter books, with emphasis on the part of Ottoman history that isn't wars, battles, treaties and kings.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, history, series: n/a, 1977
- Author (John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross): male, Scottish, born in 1904, non-academic historian, author not previously read
- English, inter-library loan, 671 pages, 4 stars
- read Aug 13- Sep 7, 2024, book not previously read

106. Codex born by Jim C. Hines

I have enjoyed several science fiction and fantasy novels by Jim C. Hines, but this fantasy novel didn't do it for me. It took me more than a month to get through it, without the excuse of hold(s) causing other book(s) to jump my queue. The final straw arrived in its epilogue - setting up the next novel by apparently dooming a sympathetic under age character from this one.

I'm looking for escapism, not doom and gloom. I want that fantasy cosy enough that terrible things don't happen to sympathetic characters. It's OK to have something bad - in the past, or the prologue - set up a challenge for the character(s) to solve. It's OK to have the characters fighting against even over-the-top terrible outcomes - but with problems of this sort, they need to win.

This novel attempts to portray moral ambiguities, and the problems that result from win-at-all-costs solutions. It also attempts to give voice to a character who isn't entirely human, portraying not just her experience but what's going on in her mind. These are potentially interesting, but mix badly with end-of-the-world scale risks. It doesn't help at all that the non-human is something resembling a purpose-built sex object for human male self-gratification, but with added magic. She's an interesting, sympathetic and honorable character within her limitations, but that's not what I want to explore.

I'm sorry to see the Magic Ex Libris series going down this path. The idea of a magic that drew from books seemed really cool when I first heard of it. Of course it's realistic that objects from books might be terrible as well as wonderful. But oh dear, we're spending too much time with the terrible.

Not recommended, unless you like a realistic body count, people losing the things that gave their life meaning, and similar.

Statistics:
- fiction, fantasy, series (not first), 2013
- Author (Jim C. Hines): male, American, born 1974, novelist, author of my #86 for this year, English, public library, 308 pages, 2.5 stars
- read Aug 4 - Sep 8, 2024; book not previously read

I just got a message from LibraryThing's new recommendation system that I have more than 1,000 new recommendations.

I've added more books than usual in the past week or three, but this is ridiculous. My instant emotional reaction was dread - I don't want to pick over these, rejecting the most egregious, and find the half dozen or so that actually attract me, with less information about each recommendation than I get from the old system. This new system seems, by design, to be guaranteed worse than the old system.

>34 ArlieS: I may look at the top line of the recs, but if nothing there catches my attention, it's done and forgotten 'til next time.

I've spent the past 4 days away from home, with only my ancient kindle to provide reading matter. (This is the one circumstance where I read e-books - paper books are much heavier.) I have 3 rereads to add to my list - one of which had never gotten into my LibraryThing catalog, since I only have it as an e-book.

As a result of this trip, I am badmouthing Budget/Avis/Zipcar to anyone who will listen to me. They somehow managed to have several hundred cars less than they expected, and in particular not have cars many customers had reserved, including me. This led to a 2 hour wait, in a line reminiscent of Disney, except possibly worse, and with no fun at the end of it. Scuttlebutt suggested that while this was not a daily occurrence at that airport, it wasn't especially rare. I won't be renting from them again.

107. 1636: The Barbie Consortium by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett

This is a somewhat disjointed story, suitable for completionists and those who simply can't get enough of the Ring of Fire series. It's been recommended to me by one or both of the LibraryThing systems for some time; I've been ignoring that recommendation because the library didn't have a paper copy. What I'd forgotten was that I already had a copy on my Kindle - and judging by internal evidence, I'd already read it. Last Thursday, traveling without any paper books, I picked up my Kindle looking for comfort reading. This was one of my choices.

If I recall correctly, this book was created by gluing together shorter episodes. The resulting story is coherent, and explains or expands some of the material in other books, but the glue job is sometimes a bit too visible. Other books in the series are better, but this will certainly do for someone stuck in a flying cylinder, or a hotel room with nothing much else to do.

Statistics:
- fiction, alternate history, series (not first), 2014
- Author 1 (Gorg Huff): male, American, age unknown, novelist, co-author of my #52 for this year
- Author 2 (Paula Goodlett): female, American(?), age unknown, novelist (ex-military), co-author of my #52 for this year
- English, own kindle, 361 pages (?), 3 stars
- read between Sep 12 and 15, 2024, previously read

108. Oath of Swords by David Weber

This is a fantasy novel, featuring a pragmatic young warrior with little use for gods, and the god that wishes to recruit him as His Champion. Or maybe it's an adventure story, featuring that same pragmatic young warrior finding adventure after fleeing the consequences of interrupting a high ranking rapist and rescuing his victim. Or maybe it's a tour of a fantasy world, with multiple strains of people, most of which don't interbreed. Or maybe it's a story about the conflict between good and evil.

However you look at it, I enjoy it every time I reread it. Last Thursday, traveling without any paper books, I picked up my Kindle looking for comfort reading, and found I had a copy there as well as one on paper. So I reread it yet again.

Statistics:
- fiction, fantasy, series (first), 1995
- Author (David Weber): male, American, born in 1952, novelist , author of my #49 and #63 for 2024
- English, own kindle, 512 pages (?), 5 stars
- read between Sep 12 and 15, 2024, previously read

109. 1632 by Eric Flint

This is a good time travel/alternate history novel, the start of a long and sprawling series. I reread it from time to time, along with much of the rest of the series. Last Thursday, traveling without any paper books, I picked up my Kindle looking for comfort reading, and found I had a copy there as well as one on paper.

The story concerns a modern Appalachian town, miraculously transported into Thuringia (part of Germany) during the Thirty Years War - along with part of its surrounding area.

I'm a sucker for this kind of story, particularly when there are elements of Connecticut Yankee - importation of later knowledge or technology into the past. This is a fairly good example of that genre.

Statistics:
- fiction, alternate history, series (first), 2000
- Author 1 (Eric Flint): male, American, born 1947, novelist, author of my #1, #4, #6, #10, #14 and #52 for this year
- English, own kindle, 608 pages (?), 4 stars (5 for the book, but reread a bit too soon)
- read between Sep 12 and 15, 2024, previously read

110. A symphony of echoes by Jodi Taylor

This is the second volume in The Chronicles of St Mary's, a humorous science fiction series featuring time traveling historians. I didn't like this one as much as the first volume of the series, perhaps because the humour relied too much on the viewpoint character making a fool of herself. At one point I even considered pearl-ruling it. Still, it's worth reading as light fiction, and since I have the next two volumes on loan from local libraries, I'll be starting the next one.

Statistics:
- fiction, science fiction (time travel), series (not first), 2015
- Author (Jodi Taylor): female, British, age unknown, novelist, author of my #62 for this year
- English, public library, 327 pages, 3 stars
- read Aug 27-Sep 18, 2024, book not previously read

>40 ArlieS: It's a series that got me hard with A Second Chance, next in the series. I hope it earns its place in your affections, as well.

>40 ArlieS: I read the first book in the series & enjoyed it, but didn't see it as something to read more of...

>41 richardderus: >42 ChrisG1: I'll probably start A Second Chance today or tomorrow, depending on how much reading I make time for today.

Today's Library Haul:

- Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree - fiction
- The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older - fiction, sequel to one I liked a lot
- Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire - fiction
- Eat, Poop, Die: How animals Make Our World by Joe Roman - feeding my love of books about biology, ecology, and science in general
- Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson - finally getting started on September war room.
- Are You calling me Racist?: Why we need to stop talking about race and start making real antiracist change by Sarita Srivastava - found in the library's "interesting books" display

>44 ArlieS: What a haul! Enjoy them.

111. Reading the Constitution : why I chose pragmatism, not textualism by Stephen G. Breyer

This is a book by a retired US supreme court judge, explaining his methodology, particularly in contrast to currently popular methodological principles like textualism and originalism. It's a bit of an apologia, with the common goal of showing one's own approach to a controversial topic in the best possible light as well as explaining it to curious non-specialists.

I am, presumably, on this author's "side" of the US political abyss - he's a Democrat. And while he never says it, it seems to me that the approach he dislikes is more popular among Republicans. Certainly it seems to fairly often be used to make decisions preferred by more extreme Republicans. But law is so alien to me that I didn't get the emotional effect of someone preaching to me and my choir.

Overall, I learned a bit more about law and legal thinking, particularly in the US context, but not as much as I'd hoped. And I still feel as if the legal system was originated by Martians, with inscrutable reasoning you'd need to be raised on Mars to understand.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, political science, series: n/a, 2024
- Author (Stephen Gerald Breyer): male, American, born in 1938, judge, law professor, and lawyer, author not previously read
- English, public library, 335 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Sep 8-21, 2024, book not previously read

This book was recommended to me by LibraryThing's new recommendation system.

>46 ArlieS: This book's one of the few requests I've made to S&S they said "no" to, and now I'm even more disappointed than I was at first. It sounds like a book aimed squarely at me. *sigh*

Well, can't win 'em all. Good weekend, Arlie!

>47 richardderus: What's S&S? Your local library system?

>48 ArlieS: The publishing company Simon & Schuster.

>49 richardderus: Aha. I should have realized that with the number of review copies you review, you were getting them from more than just LibraryThing's early reviewers.

>46 ArlieS: I also like the look of that one, Arlie.

>50 ArlieS: Goodness, yes...publishers, NetGalley, Edelweiss+ all collaborate to keep my Kindle replete. I'd never make it without the stunning banquet of delights that I can get free!

>52 richardderus: I confess myself to be a bit envious.

>53 ArlieS: Joining the aggregators is free, you know; and, since many books are offered for immediate download, you can be choosy while getting a body of reviews posted here, as well as there. After a while they'll notice you. Being consistent in posting helps more than being positive, or precise, or whatever other perfectionist self-sabotage you choose to use.

112. "Are you calling me a racist?" : why we need to stop talking about race and start making real antiracist change by Sarita Srivastava

This is a book about anti-racist efforts in progressive organizations, particularly feminist organizations. It's written by an activist turned sociologist. I thought it was pretty decent, overall, though there are things I'd have preferred to see explained more clearly. On the other hand, the book says a lot of things that agreed with my pre-existing beliefs and expectations, so it's possible I've over-rated it.

The sub-title summarizes the author's position fairly clearly. Attempts to address racism in progressive organizations tend not to produce real change. They produce lots of emotional expression, but little beyond that. Sometimes the net result is to make things worse for non-white members of these groups, at least in the short term.

The rest is details - quite lengthy details, backed by sociological research and personal experience. In particular, the methods used are discussed, with their weaknesses, and the private reactions of people involved (as expressed to sociologist interviewers). These are often the same methods used in commercial and government organizations, even though the author shows they have roots in feminist organizational history. Thus the book is worth a read even if progressive organizations are not your thing.

I found myself nodding a lot, remembering anti-racist efforts at various employers, and one graduate school. My impression during those experiences was that they were somewhere between useless and counterproductive, but also that expressing such an opinion would be hazardous to my continued success in the organization(s) involved. So I "went along to get along," rather than speaking up. The only reason that any part of the messages I received from these "took" at all was lots of private discussion with a very close friend who's a lot farther embedded in progressive and anti-racist circles than I am. And none provided me with any idea of what I could actually do in support of anti-racism, except extirpate a few phrases and metaphors from my habitual speech patterns. (Don't use the word "slave"; use "gallows humour" in place of "black humour", etc.) The friend doesn't have any better ideas either. (I don't count things that any decent person would do - or avoid doing - and likewise anyone who was actually non-racist.)

I do have some complaints. There was much discussion of "diversity" as a goal, and none about what that meant in practice. Do we need identical numerical representation in each activity, matching population demographics, even if this requires pushing racialized people into activities they don't want to do? That seems absurd. Do we just want equal numerical representation in high status/high money/high power/elite activities? Do we in fact care more about some racialized demographics than others? I've seen "diversity" used to mean the damnedest things, particularly in some of the organizations where I experienced seemingly useless anti-racist efforts. It's not a magic sauce that can be sprinkled on top of an inequitable mess, and magically make everything good and ethical. The term could have used some clearer definition, and perhaps some critique.

I was also surprised by one elephant in the room. Apparently the idea of "let's all talk together about anti-racism in our organization" has roots in feminist consciousness raising groups. But there's a huge difference between the two uses: consciousness raising groups included only women. They didn't include e.g. everyone in a university's math or physics program, with the females tasked with explaining their experiences of sexism to a presumed-to-be-well-meaning male majority. Whereas when some progressive group realizes (or is forcibly told) that they are mostly white, and/or entirely white-led, they typically have all-race anti-racism workshops. The few non-white people, presumably mostly junior in the organization, get required to tell their story to the white majority, for their edification. And then when the white people react emotionally, everyone combines to comfort them. The author details this dynamic, which isn't one I'd experienced - too few black and hispanic people in the dysfunctional organizations in my past, or maybe some amount of cluefulness in their HR departments. But she never mentions that feminist consciousness raising groups never worked that way, because men simply weren't present.

Strong recommend, with caveats.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, social science (anti-racism), series: n/a, 2024
- Author (Sarita Srivastava): female, Canadian of east-Indian origin, age unknown, academic (sociology), author not previously read
- English, public library, 336 pages, 4 stars
- read Sep 21-29, 2024, book not previously read

I found this book on the "interesting books" shelf at a local library that has a good track record with their suggestions, and borrowed it in spite of not having had great experiences with other anti-racist works.

>54 richardderus: Hi Richard,

I somehow missed this comment entirely until just now; perhaps we both posted at approximately the same time, with my post being too long for me to automatically see what came before it.

That's a really good idea.

Aggregators? I may need to ask you for URLs, presuming they are on line.

113. Bookshops & bonedust by Travis Baldree

This novel tells the story of a young, aggressive orc mercenary who gets herself wounded, and what she does with her enforced down time while she recovers. It's positively yummy. I'm particularly impressed with the expanded D&D universe, with many extra player character species, and a few extra domestic animals. The town has people of many species. I enjoyed the painting scene where the shorter proprietor painted the lower part of a door - doing an excellent job - with the taller but less skilled orc character trying hard not to make a mess of the upper part. Then there was the dog-like pet which shed feathers rather than fur, and seemed to have a life span similar to some of the characters.

A friend I described it to (with spoilers; she likes them) labelled it a bildungsroman. The very first chapter establishes the main character as somewhat of a callow youth - well meaning, but likely to cause older people's eyes to roll. She changes in the course of the story - but since it covers only weeks, not years, doesn't become really mature in the process. She does, however, grow up at least a bit.

This is well worth reading, and possibly should have an additional half star. I immediately placed a hold on Legends and Lattes - published first, but taking place later in time.

Statistics:
- fiction, fantasy, series (not first except chronologically), 2023
- Author (Travis Baldree): male, American, born in 1977, novelist, audiobook narrator, and video game designer, author not previously read
- English, public library, 336 pages, 4 stars
- read Sep 28-30, 2024, book not previously read

It's the beginning of October; time for me to add my September books to my spreadsheet, though I won't publish totals till the end of the year. It may also be time for me to consult Nancy Pearl; I have several books in flight which I'm ignoring in favor of starting new ones. That's never a good sign.

In other news, my ongoing project to catalog books from my shelves has turned up some unread gems, as well as some (read or unread) that went straight to a little free library. I need to restrain my library borrowing long enough to find time to read a few of those gems.

On the other hand, I'm so far behind on the War Room challenge that it's insane. I'm at pages 123 of 480 in my August book (WWII), with two un-started books for September (American Civil War), and I haven't even looked to remind myself what we're reading about in October, let alone selecting and acquiring books.

Now to see whether I can finish one more book in the next 45 minutes. (I have a scheduled activity after that.)

>56 ArlieS: https:www.netgalley.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ will start you out there;

https://www.edelweissplus.com/for-reviewers will start you out there.

They're the biggest players in the DRC aggregation field, with every major and a LOT of minor publishers posting offerings. I'm happy to answer questions if you need more help than their self-intros offer.

>59 richardderus: Thank you Richard.

>60 ArlieS: De Rien, ma amie.

114. Patterns of democracy : government forms and performance in thirty-six countries by Arend Lijphart

This was an interesting book. I haven't found much like it, and I'm actively looking. Maybe I just don't know the current term of art to feed to searches; maybe various recommendation systems know I haven't read such things before and therefore cannot possibly be interested in them; or maybe there just isn't much available, particularly in English. So I read this book published in 1999, updating a previous book from the same author published in 1984.

I'd hoped from the title that this would be a "thick" survey of the varying forms that political systems take, even among nations broadly considered democratic. I'd hoped for lots of descriptions and examples, complete with plenty of compare-and-contrast.

What I got instead was a statistically oriented book, with lots and lots of reference to statistical significance of various results. Given that the sample size is 36, and many of the numerical measures seem to lack precision, the repeated references to statistical significance just made me think of the ongoing replication crisis in the social sciences. But note that the replication crisis was only widely noticed and publicized in the 2010s, more than a decade after this book was published. A social scientist in the late 1990s would have had to be especially sharp, and probably unusually mathematically savvy, to notice the problems with this approach, which was common and perhaps cutting edge at the time.

I think it's a decent example of what it actually is, and might also be a useful corrective for American, British, and Canadian readers who are convinced that their own political systems work best, or even that they are the only possible forms of democracy. That said, the author is clearly trying to make the point that more consensus oriented democracies are no worse on various measures than winner-take-all political systems, and may be better. The attempt to convince readers paradoxically makes me want to read books criticizing this one, even though I could be expected to want to believe the author's claims.

I'm afraid I've been damning the book with faint praise above. Actually, the problem is that because I like it, I want to make it better. And being a software engineer by training, my way of doing that is to point out all the opportunities for improvement (flaws) that I see. Because I'm not at my best this morning, I've let that tendency get away with me above.

In fact, I intend to check out other books by the same author, and really wish I still had access to a recommendation system that understood a request for "more like this". Also, and perennially, I wish I had access to a system that would answer questions like "what references this", so I could much more easily look for responses and critiques.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, social science (political science), series: n/a, 1999
- Author (Arend Lijphart): male, Dutch-American, born in 1936, academic (political science), author not previously read
- English, public library, 351 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Sep 17-Oct 1, 2024, book not previously read

Pearl Rule 4. Anarchy, state, and utopia by Robert Nozick

I've started a project to learn more about government systems and the theory supporting them. My book #114 was borrowed for this project. So was Anarchy, state, and utopia. But where Patterns of democracy : government forms and performance in thirty-six countries was a good book, if not quite what I was looking for, Anarchy, state, and utopia is going back to the library unread. In two successive attempts to read it, I made it to the end of page 9 - of 367 numbered pages. (Yes, there were 16 pages of front matter, not counted in that 367, which I did read.) I then had no impulse to pick the book up again.

This is intended to be a book about political philosophy, with emphasis on philosophy. It appears to be basically out of touch with any kind of reality.

It bases a chunk of its argument on a thought experiment involving the "state of nature", i.e. human life before the development of The State. The author comments blithely that it doesn't matter for his argument if no such state of nature ever occurred. That's probably fortunate, since no one who's read any anthropology or primatology should have any doubts that humans have never lived that way. And for icing on the cake, he utterly fails to define The State up front, even though it appears to be key to his whole argument.

Add to this writing that's hard to read, to the point where I'd expect average writing in my second language to be no more difficult for me, even as out of practice as I am. The author probably thinks he's writing in high academic dialect, perhaps a specific sub-dialect popular among philosophers. But I've read other philosophers - this guy just doesn't write very well.

Unfortunately, this book and this author gets cited fairly frequently in places relevant to my ongoing project. Normally that would mean I'd soldier through the book. But in this case I'll make an exception, and find a secondary source, perhaps an article from some kind of encyclopedia of philosophy.

Pearl Rule 5. A second chance by Jodi Taylor

This book just isn't grabbing me. I'm not sure why.

I loved the first volume. The second was OK. But this one got stuck at page 68 for no obvious reason. (I just find I don't care what happens next.) So I might as well return it when I go to the library today or tomorrow to pick up my latest hold.

Obviously your mileage may well vary.

>63 ArlieS: It could affect your future choices of material to study to know the following:

Nozick pronounced some misgivings about libertarianism – specifically his own work Anarchy, State and Utopia – in his later publications. Some later editions of The Examined Life advertise this fact explicitly in the blurb, saying Nozick "refutes his earlier claims of libertarianism" in one of the book's essays, "The Zigzag of Politics". In the introduction of The Examined Life, Nozick says his earlier works on political philosophy "now {seem} seriously inadequate", and later repeats this claim in the first chapter of The Nature of Rationality.

Offered for consideration only...I hated reading his prose in college.

>64 ArlieS: Not appealing, then. That's a bit saddening to me but it certainly happens to others at about that point. The Big Twist isn't for everyone.

ETA touchsrtones

>65 richardderus: Interesting.

I can't really blame anyone for finding libertarian persuasive, particularly when young. It's one of many ideologies that would work fine, if only people weren't human.

It tends to take a fair amount of life experience to realize that human societies have predictable failure modes, including individuals rarely living up to their expressed ideals. They won't live up to whatever ideals some new-to-you theory promulgates either.

I personally found libertarianism attractive in my 20s and even 30s. Then I noticed that their theory of human nature simply did not work in practice. Worse, libertarianism seemed to correlate with particular bad behaviours, not all of them among those behaviors the theory claims to actually be good.

>66 ArlieS: I grew up inside a right-wing bubble, very sure that government was bad and gawd was good. They were obviously wrong so much that I assumed they were wrong about that, too, so libertarianism was an early jettison for me. It's a very adolescent, solipsistic ideology and lost my respect for never being an adult theory of running the world.

>64 ArlieS: A Second Chance really is the balance point of the series - I enjoyed all of the St Mary's books, but they take on some serious dark tones, especially after A Trail Through Time. Well, there always was some, but I found it a noticeable change. I liked the Troy portions of A Second Chance, better than most of A Trail Through Time. Reading them as they came out was a very different experience than the re-read where I felt overdosed reading them one after another.

115. Germany in the World: A Global History, 1500-2000 by David Blackbourn

This history book does pretty much exactly what it says it will, except perhaps that it could better have been called Germans in the World, particularly for the earlier periods, before (the first) German unification.

I learned a lot, and rather appreciated a history of the period being focussed on something other than what's usual for histories written in English. (I imagine something like this might be easier to find in German.)

Strong recommend, if you like big books of history, and want to branch out from the usual British, American, and generic European history.

The sections on the Nazi period and the post-World War II period both rate special mention. I lived through part of the latter, though not in Germany, and still learned an immense amount from reading this book. And the section about the Nazi period taught me a lot, even though I thought I was already reasonably familiar with that history.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, history, series: n/a, 2023
- Author (David Blackbourn): male, British, born in 1949, academic (history), author not previously read
- English, public library, 774 pages, 4 stars
- read Sep 6-Oct 4, 2024, book not previously read

>67 richardderus: I know far too many queer people who escaped a gawd-fearing upbringing, and carried scars for the rest of their lives.

116. I'm afraid you've got dragons by Peter S. Beagle

This was a pleasant fantasy novel, but only once I got through the first part of the book. It starts out looking like it's going to be the kind of humorous novel that gets its humor by showing its main characters acting like idiots. Such novels don't appeal to me, and usually become DNFs. I let this one sit for a month or so after reading the first 30-odd pages, then finally picked it up again to double check whether it really was as unappealing as it had seemed. It turned out to have gotten past the part I disliked, and I happily gobbled up the rest of the story.

It's a bit of a trope-subverter. Dragons are, mostly, a pest species like rats or cockroaches. The main character works as a dragon exterminator. Unfortunately, he likes dragons, so hates his job. It's otherwise somewhat of a fairy tale universe, minus the fairy tale logic seen in works by some other authors. There are lots of tiny kingdoms, and a princess besieged by unwanted suitors. In another fit of trope subversion, folks born into royalty are all illiterate - unlike just about everyone else. Most of this becomes apparent in the beginning of the book, so I feel free to "spoil" the story to that extent.

For the rest, you'll have to read the book. The resulting story is consistent with the setting, but not what you might expect. It's humorous, but not focussed on laughs at all costs. I enjoyed it.

Statistics:
- fiction, fantasy, non-series, 2024
- Author (Peter Soyer Beagle): male, American, born in 1939, novelist and screenwriter, author probably not previously read
- English, public library, 277 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Aug 8-Oct 6, 2024, book not previously read

117. Eat, poop, die : how animals make our world by Joe Roman

This is a book about the ways in which animals move nutrients, changing ecosystems in the process. This is something I've heard mentioned before but never focused on, or really thought about. The impacts are huge - trace elements get reused again and again for building biomass, rather than simply washing downhill, out to sea, and then down to the sea floor. I'm glad I read this book, and so focussed for a time on interactions I vaguely knew about, but had never thought about.

The book has the usual flaws of modern science writing, even though the author is a scientist himself. There are lots of "human interest" anecdotes about the scientists involved and their interaction with weather, non-scientists, etc.. That makes the interesting part of the book quite short, with only 277 pages and much of that spent on human interest. Still, lots of interesting material was crammed into those few pages, at least from the POV of someone looking at the topic for the first time. (If I'd already read more in this specific area, I might have been very frustrated, because like as not the book would only have room to repeat fairly common knowledge.)

Rated 4, averaging a new-to-me way of thinking of things, a too short book, too much human interest, and a certain lack of systematic overview.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, biology, series: n/a, 2023
- Author (Joe Roman): male, American, age unknown, academic (conservation biologist), author not previously read
- English, public library, 277 pages, 4 stars
- read Oct 1-8, 2024, book not previously read

>72 ArlieS: A bit of an off-putting title, Arlie. I would have gotten the impression that is was surface skimming and dumbing down an engrossing topic.

>73 PaulCranswick: Yeah. This is not the way I was taught to write, at least not for college educated people or bibliophiles. OTOH, I've had to relearn writing style repeatedly over the years, to enhance my ability to communicate. Maybe the persistent use throughout the book of "poop" instead of both "defecate" and "feces" is simply the leading edge of yet another style change we're both a bit too old to appreciate.

118. Legends & lattes : a novel of high fantasy and low stakes by Travis Baldree

This is a worthy sequel to Bookshops & Bonedust, which I read at the end of September. It's not really a sequel - this volume was published first, although the other took place years earlier, making B&B technically a prequel.

I enjoyed it for all the same reasons I enjoyed B&B. I'd appreciate it if the author were to get busy and write a few more similar novels.

Strong recommend, if you like the idea of looking at life in a D&D-esque fantasy world when the characters aren't adventuring, and in fact aren't even adventurers. Let's hear it for gnomish technology!

Statistics:
- fiction, fantasy, first of a series, 2022
- Author (Travis Baldree): male, American, born in 1977, novelist, audiobook narrator, and video game designer, author of my #113 for this year
- English, public library, 294 pages, 4 stars
- read Oct 9-12, 2024, book not previously read

>58 ArlieS: It has taken me until Oct 15 to get all my September reads duly tabulated. That's *slow* !

>76 ArlieS: ...but time is a mutable construct used by social elites to extract value from their thralls anyway, so Mark it as an act of rebellion.

Or something.

119. The imposition of unnecessary obstacles by Malka Older

This is a science fiction novel, set mostly on platforms circling Giant, aka Jupiter. Humans who escaped from earth's ecological collapse have settled there, and dream of an eventual return.

Being human beings, there is conflict, injustice, and similar, in spite of a setting that seems more Utopian to me than the world we live in today. The Investigator from volume one of the series starts the book with another disappearance to investigate - a student at the university where her lover teaches - and invites the lover's help with the case. (The relationship in the first volume is now definite, but still a bit precarious.)

Naturally, the case isn't as simple as it looks. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.

Like the first volume, we have descriptions of society and technology that are interesting and not overdone. This is good. We have less about the academic's work - how much more could be said? We have more in the way of interpersonal tension, which is probably realistic, humans being what they are, but isn't especially welcome to me. And we have about the same amount of violence - some, but not much.

I rated this book at only 3.5 stars because it was just a hair too much like the first volume, and just a bit heavier on interpersonal dramaz. But I still enjoyed it a lot.

Statistics:
- fiction, science fiction, series (not first), 2024
- Author (Malka Older): female; American, age unknown, author, academic and humanitarian aid worker; author of my #93 for this year
- English, public library, 208 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Oct 5-18, 2024; book not previously read

120. Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie

This is an optimistic book about environmental threats, that does not dismiss those threats or insist all is well, and appears to be backed by reasonably solid data. The basic message is that things are improving, though not as fast as anyone would prefer, and will continue to improve - faster if we work at it. Moreover, various commonly cited scary stories turn out to be exaggerated or inaccurate.

The point of the optimism is that it's not too late, and there's no need to give in to despair, even if you are young enough to expect to spend a long time living with the results of human environmental mismanagement. There are things that can be done - though they may not be the things "common knowledge" suggests. Moreover, good data and the understanding derived from it allows people to pick effective options, not waste time on minimally effective (symbolic?) actions.

The author credits Hans Rosling with bringing her out of despair and thus getting her thinking and looking at the actual data. Her book is very much in his spirit.

The book is organized into chapters dealing with individually well known environmental issues: air pollution, climate change, deforestation, feeding human beings, biodiversity loss, ocean plastics, and overfishing. Each has enough depth to be useful, and appears to be based on decent evidence. One could use this as a reference book, when dealing the latest fad in environmentalist hysteria. (e.g. "If only we get rid of non-reusable plastic shopping bags, all will be well with the world"). One could also use parts of it as a guide to personal actions that would have a reasonable impact, multiplied by a large fraction of the population, as compared to those that are mostly just "feel good", or are even counter-productive.

I disagree with parts of her optimism. I've come to the conclusion, after years in the workforce, that human beings can collectively be trusted (sic) to pursue short term incentives at the cost of long term well being, and pursue personal benefit at the expense of the common good. Not all people, all the time, but enough to enshitify any large scale endeavour.

Thus where she sees nuclear power as a non-carbon-dioxide generating energy source with an excellent record for causing few injuries and deaths, compared to other energy sources, I see a time bomb of nuclear waste disposal. I also find it easy to imagine an entrepreneur steeped in Silicon Valley methods "disrupting" nuclear power in the usual way that Silicon Valley disrupts industries - dispensing with burdensome requirements intended to enhance reliability and/or advance the common good. Why not reduce safety factors until nuclear power is only slightly safer - in the short term - than competing energy sources? That sort of thing is too commonly considered "good business".

I'm likewise concerned about her championing of fake meat products. She presumes these have similar nutritional value as actual meat. But I've never noticed any of the producers of these products making any such claim. To the extent I encounter their advertising (very little), it's all about "mouth feel" and similar. Yes, I get it that eating less meat is one of the most impactful things one can do. And I even get it that some people want the meat experience badly enough that they simply won't eat other meat substitutes. But I don't know what's in "Beyond Beef" and similar fake meats, except that they often contain canola oil, which tends to be a reliable emetic for some people, including my vegetarian housemate. (Apparently this is common among asthmatics in particular.) And I can't imagine why the food industry would care about nutrient matching - or if they did, why they'd care about nutrients not commonly included in labelling.

I also find her definition of "sustainability" peculiar. On p. 17 she quotes the classic definition of sustainability (from a UN report in 1987) as 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. But the practical definition she uses seems to include improving living standards in most of the world as part of 'meeting the needs of the present'. That's not a bad thing to do, and it certainly makes sustainability more palatable than a plan to reduce living standards in the developed world to what used to be called third world levels - or simply to keep the currently disadvantaged areas from improving their living standards, lest that increase their environmental impact. But it feels like she's using the word "sustainability" with her own idiosyncratic meaning.

Those minor points, aside, she made me think. She sometimes confirmed my intuitions ("why are people pushing *that* remedy so hard; the impact is probably at the level of a rounding error?") and sometimes introduced data that contradicted my existing ideas.

People who are overwhelmed with doom and gloom about the environment should read this book, as should anyone who seeks to avoid being dragged down into their depression.

But they might also want to get second opinions and fact check *everything*. There's a lot of disagreement here with common consensus opinions. So even though it appears soundly researched and well supported by references, it's worth checking for cherry-picking, and even for the rarer phenomenon of references that either don't exist or don't support the points claimed.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, environmental science, series: n/a, 2024
- Author (Hannah Ritchie): female, Scottish, born in 1993, academic (data science), author not previously read
- English, public library, 341 pages, 4 stars
- read Oct 7-19, 2024, book not previously read

This book was recommended to me by LibraryThing's new recommendation system.

>79 ArlieS: Some good, some questionable, and on balance delivering a message I largely agree with. Our societal progress on cleaning up our collective act is better than I, for one, would've believed a decade ago. I think, though, I'll pass on reading it. I'm already in the choir.

>79 ArlieS: "She made me think" is a good recommendation. Arguing against the gloom & doom catastrophism of most environmental activism is also wise, in my view. Effective problem solving requires an understanding of the problem that's based in reality, rather than fear-mongering.

One item I have to challenge is the idea that eating less meat is a positive for the environment. This is based on false assumptions, failing to take into account all inputs & outputs of the different elements of agriculture. Grazing ruminants have existed for millions of years, let alone all of human history, in abundant numbers. How did they suddenly become a threat? They are a normal part of a functional ecosystem. Vast fields of monocropping, on the other hand, are not. Yet cattle are the problem? It's absurd.

>81 ChrisG1: As I understand it, livestock become a problem when humans clear land on which to raise them, and clear farther land to raise crops to feed them. Land that's used for farming isn't a great place for wild animals and plants. If it was previously forested, it stores less carbon. Etc. etc. And the waste products from these activities contribute to pollution, particularly given the sheer amount of livestock needed to feed the world's human population a high meat diet. (The world's population has more than doubled in my lifetime .)

If you treat the animals well - let them graze etc. - you use even more land. That's mostly fine if the land's natural state is prairie - not so great if you cleared a forest to make ranch land. (Though even on prairie land, the livestock crowd out the wild animals which would otherwise have lived there.) Ritchie insists that intense, modern farming, with all its cruelty and chemicals, is the *least* damaging way of producing enough food for everyone.

According to Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass: "Livestock make up 62% of the world’s mammal biomass; humans account for 34%; and wild mammals are just 4%" and "poultry biomass is more than twice that of wild birds". That's a lot of livestock. Note: Ritchie is (a?) lead researcher at Our World in Data.

I don't know how e.g. the number of cattle in North America compare with the number of bison in North America before Columbus. Yes, there were a lot of bison. But there *are* a lot of cattle today. Ditto comparing e.g. wild birds, pre-Columbus, with domestic birds today (chickens, mostly). And that's just North America, where I have a better (though vague) feel for the climate and history.

>80 richardderus: Rats. I owe you a BB or 3 ;-)

>82 ArlieS: How livestock is raised & managed is the vital factor - confinement operations are more "cost efficient" (because environmental costs are not considered), but they're hardly necessary. Sustainable livestock is a rapidly growing segment. https://www.eatwild.com/environment.html

>84 ChrisG1: I'll take a look at that. Thank you.

A mean, vicious fellow library patron has put a hold on one of "my" books, and I only discovered it with three days to go before it's due (and now unrenewable). Of course it's one I'd already started, but was nowhere near finishing. (565 pages total; I've finished 73.) It's one of the books I borrowed for the war room's American Civil War month, which has been and gone.

I suspect I won't be finishing The Demon of Unrest before returning it, or re-borrowing it once its next reader is done with it. (It's an OK book, but a bit sensational - I really didn't need to know the details of e.g. a Southern politician with little inclination to keep his pants zipped, even if the resulting inter-family feud impacted the political situation.)

121. Regular: The Ultimate Guide to Taming Unruly Bowels and Achieving Inner Peace by Tamara Duker Freuman

This is a book for lay people about a variety of medical problems that can lead to difficulties with defecation. The author is a nutritionist, not a doctor, but includes medical information, both descriptions of the problem(s) and likely medical tests and treatments. These are often prefaced with phrases like "your doctor may".

She places most emphasis on dietary changes - how to get better nutrition and fewer symptoms, in spite of each of the issues she discusses. Note that she's pretty clear on what diet can and cannot do - she's not peddling miracle cures here. It's just that her personal expertise is in nutrition, and there's often a lot that can be done to improve one's comfort - and reduce one's symptoms, or in some cases send them into remission - by changing what and how one eats.

I personally have a diagnosis of IBS-C. It's well managed most of the time, but flares up when I'm under stress, both physical (any random illness) and mental. That's how I came to be reading this book - maybe there'd be new pointers to managing my flare ups, or insights into which things i do actually matter. (IIRC, good information for lay people was in short supply at the time when I got my diagnosis.)

I actually learned more new things from the other chapters, but that's OK by me. These are areas I've never investigated, after all. And the book is an excellent all-in-one-place reference for bowel problems and their management. After reading this, you'll know what doctors are likely to do, given your symptoms, and most importantly, why. You'll also have a pretty good idea of what not to do, in certain situations. And the book's style is such that you'll think in terms of doctors, not just self-management, and not alternative medical practitioners, particularly if your symptoms point to one of the nastier possibilities. (I have a nephew with Crohn's disease. That can kill you. Much of that chapter was about handling the condition after the doctors have done their thing.)

Rated 4, in spite of the cutesy subtitle and equally cutesy cover illustration (a roll of toilet paper), because it covers the field and does it well. Now I won't have to read anything else on this topic for at least a decade, unless there are medical breakthroughs.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, medicine, series: n/a, 2023
- Author (Tamara Duker Freuman): female, American, age unknown, nutritionist, author not previously read
- English, public library, 325 pages, 4 stars
- read Oct 6-20, 2024, book not previously read

This book was selected for me from the new books shelves at the public library by a friend, who knows I have a diagnosis of IBS-C. She's generally got a good eye for books that might interest me, so I added it to my haul for the day.

Hi Arlie! A very belated happy new thread.

From your last thread, I’m amused and pleased that you created a new tag for your catalog, smut. I keep a spreadsheet of my smut, of course, but tag my smut, along with other non-smut current fiction that's not crime fiction 'contemporary fiction'. At first I was ashamed to even add it to my catalog, but hey! Past that now.

>30 ArlieS: and >31 quondame: I always referred to Orange County as living behind the Orange Curtain.

>64 ArlieS: I just find I don't care what happens next. When I realize I don’t care what happens next, even if the writing’s good, I abandon it.

I managed to get by without any BBs, a miracle. Your reviews are erudite, informative, and insightful.

>88 karenmarie: Thank you for the compliment. I enjoy writing them.

122. Among the mad by Jacqueline Winspear

After a 2 year break, I'm back to working my way through Jacqueline Winspear's series of Maisie Dobbs mysteries.

This subgenre of mystery is perhaps best called whydunnit, in contrast to the more classic whodunnit. From the very beginning we see things from the viewpoints of both the perpetrator and the investigator. The full complexities of backstory and obstacles are only gradually revealed. There may be interesting twists on the trip from point A to point B.

This particular series has a lot to say about the investigator's life and psyche, not just about her investigations. In the current book, the theme of madness is seen in her life as well as in her investigations, along with the broader theme of psychological damage from the experiences of the Great War (WW I; the book is set well before WW II).

This particular book really hit the spot. I spent lots of extra time reading, and ignored other books I'd already started. I'm not sure if this was some coincidence with my moods at the time, or whether it was just that good; probably at least partly the former.

Statistics:
- Fiction, historical fiction/mystery, series (not first), 2009
- Author (Jacqueline Winspear): female; British, born 1955, novelist, author of my #92 for 2022
- English, public library, 318 pages, 4 stars
- read Oct 23-26, 2024; book not previously read

123. Assistant to the villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

My apologies to anyone who dislikes spoilers, but in discussing this book, I need to refer to elements of the plot arc. I'll avoid specific plot details, but some may still feel I'm saying too much. Moreover, I can't simply hide discussion of the plot arc behind spoiler tags, without pretty much hiding the whole review. They seem to me to be critical to the points I intend to make.

This novel seems to be attempting to be a fantasy novel with romance elements. Unfortunately, it fails, resulting in something much more like a romance novel with fantasy elements. It doesn't quite follow the romance arc - instead of the happily-ever-after or happy-for-now at the end, there's one final twist, which sets up the need for a sequel.

A fantasy novel can examine serious human issues. A romance novel pretty much cannot. This novel starts with a premise that practically promised to take that path - a young woman badly in need of work takes a job with the local bad guy, commonly known as The Villain. There's lots of room to display moral ambiguity. Alternatively, her employer could be a Robin Hood figure, and we could explore issues of social injustice - either seriously, or in a rollicking wish fulfillment where the elite and powerful are defeated, humiliated, and robbed by the non-elite and supposedly powerless.

But no: the focus is on a bog-standard romance plot arc, where the destined lovers resist and conceal their mutual attraction, in this case due to traumas in their individual past. They finally figure things out - and communicate with each other - in the penultimate chapter(s). There's an adventure plot superimposed, but it's erratic and serves mostly to set up scenes for the romantic plot arc.

I gave the book 3 stars because, as a romance novel, it's OK. If I'd started the book knowing what I was reading, and feeling like reading a romance, I'd have rated it "OK, but not outstanding". As a fantasy novel, it's 2.5 ("why did I finish this?"), and I'm left with a feeling of disappointment.

There's also the element of imitation, or cashing in on a recently popular trope. This is not in the same class with Starter Villain, but the title suggests it's trying to cash in on the same trope.

Statistics:
- Fiction, fantasy romance, first of a series, 2023
- Author (Hannah Nicole Maehrer): female; American, age unknown, author (fantasy romance), author not previously read
- English, public library, 340 pages, 3 stars
- read Oct 17-26, 2024; book not previously read

This was a book bullet from drneutron. Sadly, I didn't like it nearly as much as he did.

>91 ArlieS: Re: spoilers, someone will always feel you've spoiled something. Don't worry about it because, for the most part, people here don't do the shouty internet stan thing. After all, if you're on a book REVIEW site, you can not credibly claim you did not realize others might be spoilering the subjects.

Sad for the poor return on your ever-more-precious gift of eyeblinks, anyway.

>91 ArlieS: What you might enjoy more is John Scalzi's Starter Villain, in which a down-on-his-luck young man finds out his uncle died & left him his "business," which turns out to be a classic "Bond-villain" enterprise - quite a bit of fun.

Sorry to didn't work for you! For me, it was a nice break for something light. But I get that it might not work for everyone.

124. Moon of the turning leaves : a novel by Waubgeshig Rice

This post-apocalyptic novel is set a bit more than half a generation after the collapse. The survivors from an Anishinaabe reservation in northern Ontario have set up a small community near the res, reverting to native ways where feasible. Resources are getting scarce - the little band needs to move. They decide to send a party to scout the area they lived before they were forced onto the reservation, a month's walk father south. Most of the novel follows the experience of this scouting party.

They learn a bit more about the initial disaster - in their remote community, they'd only known local effects. And of course they learn rather more about the current situation in the areas they visit.

That current situation features a mix of small communities, several of them Anishinaabe. There's also a nasty group of white supremacists eager to take over everything everywhere. The Anishinaabe groups are welcoming, including the ones already living at the tribe's pre-reservation site. The move is successful, as we learn from an epilogue.

In essence, this novel belongs to the trope where a catastrophic human die-off results in a better situation for the survivors. See, for example Dies the Fire. It may not be better by economic measures, but it's better in other ways. In this case, the crash produces a resurgence of Native American ways, almost a reversal of the original coming of Europeans, though enough white folk are left to provide dramatic conflict. (All adversaries in the novel are white.)

Lots of readers enjoy imaging living a better, more authentic life, once grocery stores and bullshit jobs are gone, and political units are far more localized. It's too bad about all the corpses, but they are rarely the focus of the story - even during the actual catastrophe, let alone years later - this book is unusual in talking about specific deceased individuals.

This particular novel seems to postulate an unusually high body count, compared to other recent post-apocalyptic stories. I suspect it's more realistic. But the focus is definitely on the future. As with the first volume, children are key, though of course none participate in the scouting expedition.

Statistics:
- fiction, post-apocalyptic, series (not first), 2024
- Author (Waubgeshig Rice): male, Canadian (Anishinaabe), age unknown (graduated from university in 2002), author and journalist, author of my #11 for 2024
- English, public library, 305 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Oct 28-31, 2024, book not previously read

I'm more than a week behind on reading LibraryThing, never mind posting. It's been quite a week.

On the good side, my green card has finally been renewed, and I have it in my hot little hands. This grants me US residence for another ten years. It "only" took 2 years beyond the expiry of the previous one. I've also had some major home improvements done, and taken a long weekend vacation. And a bit more junk has either gone out the door, or been boxed up to take to an appropriate disposal location, such as Good Will.

On the bad side, I still need to locate and rearrange all the objects that got moved because of the home improvements. I also need to get started on the naturalization process, since I can't imagine being able to cope with another green card renewal at age 87, and maybe not at 77 either. I'm somewhat depressed, doubtless related to world events. And my hip hates me.

I'm cutting back somewhat on my news consumption. I still want to be plugged in enough to have a good chance of heading to the border before any hypothetical storm troopers arrive at my house, whether official or freelance. (Note: I rate the odds of this fairly low, or I'd be calling movers already. And most likely if kristallnacht does happen here, I won't be among the targets for the initial rounds. But if it happens at all, I'll interpret it as time for me to evacuate.)

Oddly, my reading has also dropped significantly. At my current rate, I won't make 2 * 75 in 2024. (75 is already in the bag. In fact, I've finished 125 books so far this year, not counting the one I haven't yet posted. But it's almost mid-November, and my total for the month so far is one.)

>96 ArlieS: Stress is a bugger on the stats. It drives mine up because I can not do any-damn-thing except read and write. A lot. OTOH my memory of the reads is...spotty. (It generally is nowadays, though.)

Should They show up, just go. Go as soon as you can get transport. Leave stuff, you can get more if you need to. But stay safe.

>97 richardderus: Indeed. My hope is that if the US goes totally to ratshit, I'll be able to get out complete with most of my possessions, by moving relatively early. But in the worst case, I load the car with family, pets, IDs and needed meds, and drive straight to the border.

I still haven't given up hope for this country. This may be foolish, and I'm pretty sure my calculus would be different if I were younger, brown, or trans. But I'm nonetheless still putting money into my house in California, with getting the h*ll out as an undesired plan B.

125. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson

This is a really good history of the American Civil War. I borrowed it for the September edition of the War Room challenge, but started late and finished later.

I've previously read lots of material about that war. It's not a specialty of mine, but it's hard to avoid while living in North America, let alone in the US. So I came into this knowing the basic picture, and even aware of some of the commonly disputed details. Nonetheless I learned a lot, and enjoyed the process.

As it happened, I read it during the run up to a similar, if so far somewhat milder, period in US history. We once again have two political groups that both appear to believe that if the other were to take control of the country, their hopes and aspirations are doomed, along with the nation's future. (Though to be fair, one side is more certain of this than the other, both before the civil war and today.) In both cases, the most feared side won, and some quantity of people figure that the American experiment is dead, along with whatever freedom it promoted.

This is much the same way some quantity of southerners felt before the civil war, faced by a president from a new party, that opposed expansion of slave holding into new territory, and hoped for the institution to eventually whither away. This was a major issue of freedom to those people - the freedom of white southerners required that they be able to hold non-white southerners in bondage. Moreover, they mostly maintained that this was a good thing, making their civilization better than that of the non-slave states. It was even, they assured anyone who'd listen, good for the slaves themselves.

To most modern people, their attitudes are explicable only as extreme hypocrisy. What kind of "free" country keeps people in bondage? How can anyone claim with a straight face that preventing them from owning slaves is equivalent to making them a slave themselves? And if slavery is good for black slaves, why wouldn't it be equally good for white slaves? However, this was the way people thought in those days - even many people outside the slave owning states saw people as property, and had no real problem with it.

But on the other hand, there were Abolitionists - lunatic fringe and worse to southerners, but gaining increasingly more political power.

This book manages to tell that story in a way that contextualizes opinions by time and place - the southern consensus before Lincoln's election was not the same as that after the election, or the consensus after secession and a period of war. The northern consensus was different again, and also changed over time and events. There were class differences as well, between poor and rich whites, and these too changed over time. and of course while there may have been a sort of consensus - certain things were agreed to be reasonable, while others were radical or even lunatic - but that didn't mean people actually agreed.

I learned a lot about those differences, and frankly that interested me more than the narrative history of battle, war, riot, and an election or three. Those were all there, decently covered as far as I can tell - and contextualized as affecting and being affected by public opinion. We see for example the changing northern attitudes to "contrabands" - slaves who freed themselves by fleeing across northern lines. We also see the changing Union attitudes to slavery, first in the seceded states, then throughout the Union. (Hint: precious few were fighting to free the slaves, particularly in the beginning.)

Statistics:
- non-fiction, history, series: n/a, 1988
- Author (James M. McPherson): male, American, born in 1936, academic historian, author not previously read
- English, public library, 904 pages, 4.5 stars
- read Oct 1-Nov 13, 2024, book not previously read

>98 ArlieS: I hope it never comes to that.

126. Rosemary and rue by Seanan McGuire

This is an urban fantasy novel. I didn't record how I came to read it, but it was probably a LibraryThing recommendation I followed up as part of my effort to find new fiction authors to follow.

Unfortunately, to my tastes this book was an also ran. Moreover, the book contained a lengthy excerpt from another volume in the series, and I disliked that excerpt enough that I considered not reading it.

On the good side, this is a competently produced urban fantasy novel, that has a few extra details in its world design beyond those common to most such novels. Moreover, the supernaturals in the book are Faerie and part-faeries, rather than the all too popular vampires and werewolves.

On the bad side, the magic system is not described well enough for the reader to determine in advance what is and isn't possible. There's always a magical deus ex machina available to save the day. It may be portrayed as an unusual or innovative use of magic, but for the reader it's yet another solution pulled out of a hat. The viewpoint character makes much of her relatively poor magical abilities - then does things no one else could. I rate her both overpowered and a whiner. But of course she's had a hard life, poor thing, and is emotionally damaged - giving reasons for a lot of whining, along with poor decisions useful tot he plot.

And all this seems to be even worse in the sequel - which also has the problem of being set earlier in the same main character's history, and introducing sympathetic characters who we know are due to be killed off in the chronologically later first volume.

Someone else might well enjoy this book. It's not really a bad book; it merely pushed a few of my buttons, which I've tried to describe above, without having enough redeeming features. (Without the buttons, I'd have rated it 3.) Others may appreciate the spunky female heroine, in spite of her emotional difficulties. They may like the somewhat different take on Faerie and Faerie changelings. And unlike me, they may appreciate the eventual solution to the mystery.

Statistics:
- fiction, urban fantasy, first of a series, 2009
- Author (Seanan McGuire): female, American, born in 1978, author and filker, author not previously read
- English, public library, 329 pages, 2.5 stars
- read Nov 4-18, 2024, book not previously read

>99 ArlieS: I agree with you, Arlie, Battle Cry for Freedom is really good. I read it for the War Room as well and I read the book over a full weekend.
Tremendous and very thought-provoking.

127. A conflict of visions : ideological origins of political struggles by Thomas Sowell

This was an interesting book. Its main thesis is that it's interesting and useful to look at political theorists in terms of whether they see humans and human society as more-or-less perfectible, or as more-or-less permanently limited and flawed. Related to this is whether individual human understanding is necessarily limited - can anyone even potentially understand all the factors of any significant decision or policy? The author suggests that many not obviously related political positions then to co-vary because of this hidden dimension. Moreover, this dimension tends to be an unthought, "obvious" part of an individual's understanding of the world - leading to significant miscommunication when individuals happen to fall on opposite sides of the dichotomy.

In particular, if human nature is perfectible, and human understanding can potentially encompass all important factors of any significant decision or policy, there's always room for improvement. It makes sense to try new policies, based on the best available understanding, even to the point of completely overturning just about everything. It makes sense to follow the recommendations of experts. Usually, this goes along with believing our current understanding is better than it's ever been, and also continually improving. So if a change seems to make sense, we should make it.

On the other hand, if humans are basically very limited, then no individual, however expert, can understand more than a few of the factors affecting any particular decision. Unintended consequences are very much a thing. Caution is prudent. Small incremental changes are far better than major changes, even if what we have now seems obviously broken; a wholesale replacement may well leave us all worse off. And top down planning throws away most of what information is available; far better to distribute decision making. Thus, for example, the theory of the "invisible hand" in economics.

These obviously tend to map nicely into small r radical and small c conservative politics. It doesn't map as well into left and right wing political positions - I see a lot more of those exceptions than Sowell mentions. But there's certainly a correlation, if not as strong a one as Sowell seems to see.

This is an interesting idea. I've encountered it before, online, from people who often credit it to Sowell, and this book in particular. And Sowell expresses it very well. Hence my 4.5 star rating.

But on the other hand: Sowell writes as if he's a dispassionate scholar, but his personal preference shines through his writing. The book uses "man" to mean "humanity" and "human being", with "he" as the only pronoun for a human of unknown gender. That was normal enough in 1987, when the book was written, though the use of "man" was beginning to change even a decade earlier. But the book was revised in 2007, without changing this usage. That makes it a loud announcement of Sowell's own political and cultural affiliation, not to mention his apparent unwillingness to change in even trivial matters. (OTOH, a search-and-replace would have left lots of textual awkwardness; fixing this properly might have involved a lot of work. Much depends on the extensiveness of the other revisions.)

As it happens, I've gone, in my lifetime, from "let's fix all this shit" to "fixing all this shit is impossible, and even if we managed it, we'd break other things approximately equally bad". This is at least in part a response to seeing where movements I supported actually went. It's also a result of increasing knowledge of the variety in human nature and preferences. (As an example, I used to believe that most women and girls were like me - wouldn't voluntarily do most female-categorized things, and were stronger in male-assigned talents, except to the extent that many were somewhat forcibly socialized into going against their/human nature. Eventually I figured out that I was in fact a statistical anomaly. Thus totally overturning gender roles makes less sense to me, though I'm still inclined to object - violently if necessary - to forcibly enforcing them.)

Like many authors, the "good of society" also makes too much sense to the author. Having 10% be hopeless slaves, destined to die young, may be "good for society", but there's no reason I can see for the slaves to care one fig for the society that abuses them. If "society" doesn't give enough to its lowest status "members", those people are probably better off rebelling, or at least giving that society as little as possible, and certainly morally justified in doing so. How much is "enough"? Well, that rather depends on their available alternatives.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, politics (political theory), series: n/a, 2007 (revised version of book published in 1987)
- Author (Thomas Sowell): male, American (black), born in 1930, academic, economist, social philosopher and political commentator, author of my #101 for this year
- English, inter-library loan, 329 pages, 4.5 stars
- read Nov 17-25, 2024, book not previously read

Aargh!

My housemate fell yesterday, and broke her hip. They are doing a hip replacement today. I may find myself reading a lot - sitting at her bedside while she's too doped up to converse - or very little. But I'll probably be even more absent from LibraryThing than usual.

p.s. Thank you to everyone who's posted positive stories of their own hip replacements in their own LT threads. I'm probably just a bit less freaked out now because of having read them.

>104 ArlieS: Oh dear. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to your roommate and a minimally upset coming month for you.

>105 quondame: Thank you. She was looking much better this afternoon, several hours post surgery, compared to what she looked like going into surgery this morning. It was obviously beastly painful, even with all the drugs they'd given her; now it's less so, though of course she's still doped up. And this evening she managed to stand with a walker, and two helpers, and shuffle a couple of steps.

>104 ArlieS: That is awful, Arlie. I do hope that she will be ok.

As a Canadian in California I suppose you will get the Thanksgiving holiday anyhow and I hope that, despite your friends travails, you still have a good holiday.

Thank you for you friendship and company and insight in the group always. xx

128. It's OK to be angry about capitalism by Bernard Sanders with John Nichols

This is yet another book by an American politician, about some combination of their political experience and their political beliefs. This isn't the first such book I've read this year.

This one seems unusual in that there's more about what the politician believes, and so comparatively less about the experience of politics, though plenty of room is found for tooting one's own horn. It's also different in that there's a named co-author/ghost writer.

When I picked up this book, I was a bit of a fan of the politician in question. If nothing else, he's the first and only national level US politician I've encountered who would seem mainstream in Canada. While I believe Sanders describes himself as a socialist, it seems as if he'd be right at home among Social Democrats, such a Canada's NDP party.

Unfortunately, reading the book reduced my liking for Sanders. On page 4 the book basically equates "the 1 percent" with the "oligarchs" who "own the system". Sorry Sanders, being in the top 1% by household or personal income, or wealth, just makes you upper middle class. The population of the US was 334.9 million (in 2023). There are thus, by definition, 3,349,000 Americans in "the 1 percent". Three million and change. How many of those do you think are powerful enough that the US President returns their calls, or even knows their name? How many do you think are able to donate enough to "buy" a politician, let alone control a whole party?

As it happens, depending on the precise definition of "the 1 percent", I've either spent some time in that group, or was merely in "the 2 percent". I don't have mansion(s) - I have a small old house. I don't have a private island, a yacht, or a private jet. Yes, my house is in a relatively expensive part of the country - everything costs more here, and wages and salaries are comparatively high. But I'm not running the country, and still wouldn't be running the country if I doubled either my peak income or my wealth.

I'm also sick and tied of the "existential threat" that climate change poses to our planet (p. 109). The planet will do just fine if it returns to the same old high carbon, high carbon dioxide conditions experienced during parts of the dinosaur era. Humans, or human civilization might not survive the transition. But life would survive, even complex life. If, on the other hand, we managed to raise carbon dioxide so far beyond that ancient level to start a Venus-style runaway greenhouse effect - without killing ourselves long before we got that far - the *planet* would still exist. It might have little or no life on it, but it wouldn't cease to exist.

My takeaway is that Sanders and his journalist cowriter are excessively fond of nonsense that pushes emotional buttons. Unless of course they are clueless enough, or stupid enough, that they didn't notice either contradictory message.

Sanders is, of course, a politician, and there's an old joke that suggests that all politicians lie more often than they tell the truth. Also, of course, the claim of "existential threat to the planet" is popular among too many folks on the US left wing. But on the one hand, he's accused me of being much the same as anti-heroes of mine like Elon Musk. And on the other, he's insulted my intelligence with stupid sloganeering. Most of the other books in this general category seem to assume a higher level of cluefulness in their readers. They still express pride in deeds I don't approve of, and offer "solutions" I don't believe will work. They cherry pick their statements to support the impression they wish to give. But they tend to respect the intelligence of readers they presume to be mostly at least college educated.

That said, I still like some of Sanders' politics, particularly when compared with most other recent presidents and presidential candidates. I too would prefer less wealth and power to the few, and more to the many. And he'd have been a way better president than Trump. (But OTOH, that's a very low standard.)

Statistics:
- non-fiction, US politics, series: n/a, 2012
- Author (Bernard Sanders): male, American, born in 1941, politician, author not previously read
- Author (John Harrison Nichols): male, American, born in 1959, journalist and author, author not previously read
- English, public library, 293 pages, 3 stars
- read Nov 15-25, 2024, book not previously read

>104 ArlieS: Arlie, I'm so sorry to hear about your housemate, and I hope she is recovering well. I also hope that you are doing well in the midst of this event. I'm sure there's a lot on you as well, helping to take care of her.

We'll understand if you are away from LT a lot. Just take care of yourself and do the things you need to do. We'll be happy to see you whenever you are able to visit here.

>108 ArlieS: Your comments about climate change lingo reminds me of a classic George Carlin bit about "saving the planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c

I think of the "1 percent" line as a rhetorical convenience - it's easier to say than "the one thousandth of one percent" and it's assumed the listener knows who is being referred to.

Arlie, I'm hopeful the hip replacement is taking the accustomed arduous-but-ordinary course, and you're still managing some exciting reads. I came here today to alert you to one I'm eager to get my grabby little mitts on myownself: The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days by Michael Kempe, published by Pushkin Press. From The Guardian's review:

Above all, the Leibniz who emerges here wants to expand our sense of what is possible: the alternative to vacuous Panglossian optimism is not curmudgeonliness or despair but a view of the world as “always already the best because it carries within itself the possibility of its optimisation”. What is required is not acceptance, whether cheerful or resigned, but “an ongoing labour on the possible”.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/01/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds-by...
It reminds me of you.

>109 atozgrl: She's ready to move from hospital to rehab. Once that's in train, I'm going to reward myself by doing some normal life things ;-) Yesterday my brain practically melted, making and fielding calls from nursing homes, financial people, and random bits of my own life. (Of course I had pre-scheduled medical stuff of my own to deal with yesterday as well. Because that's just the way these things go.)

>110 ChrisG1: I'm never entirely sure whether everyone understands these rhetorical things the same way. And I've seen so much rubbish politics that appears to be related to taking such short cuts literally - though most of that's turned up as quasi-environmentalist measures, unrelated to the "1 percent" short cut.

But I'm also unusually literal-minded; I even tend to bristle at the idea of "reducing carbon" rather than "reducing carbon dioxide". (Some of the people using that short cut should look up what % of their body weight is made up of carbon atoms.)

>111 richardderus: So far so good. Slow recovery, but no complications - touch wood that this continues. And M was very fit and active before the fall. (She'd say otherwise, since she was no longer walking several miles a day, or lifting more than 50 lbs at a time, unlike a decade ago or even just before the covid lockdowns.)

That book sounds fascinating; I've added it to the ever-growing TBR.

129. Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis by J. D. Vance

It's unclear whether or not this is another example of a book by an American politician, intended to drum up name recognition and political support. The question hinges on whether or not he was already seriously considering running for the office at the time he wrote it. He was already involved in politics but not as a candidate, and is known to have considered running for the US senate early in 2018 - this book having being copyright 2016.

In any case, it's not a classic example of that genre, though there's certainly some overlap. I put a hold on it because the author was running for US vice president at the time, and got my hands on it only after he had won.

Mostly this is a book about the author's childhood and young adulthood, painting him as having risen from childhood adversity to solid membership in the American professional class, as not merely a lawyer, but one who got his law degree from Yale. It then discusses the problems of the subculture he came from, with his own family as a paradigmatic example.

This is where I feel a need to describe my own background, since it rather resembles that of JD Vance. I, too, had fairly close relatives who had gone to jail. My mother, like Vance's mother, tried to solve her problems by climbing into a bottle, then tried a wider variety of psychoactive chemicals. And I, too, went to an Ivy League university, and wound up out-earning essentially all of my family. so these things don't shock me.

On the other hand, we didn't have the same level of violence or the honor culture Vance describes. My mother stayed with the same husband from when I was about two to when I was already in college; that adoption stuck, unlike Vance's. I also didn't require - or use - a hitch in the army to either pay for my education or teach me the habits needed to succeed at it.

But the bottom line is that I'm not especially shocked by Vance's descriptions of his early life. Been there, got the tee-shirt - and the therapist to go with it. I'm also not all that shocked or impressed by his experiences learning to act like a proper member of the American upper middle class, which Vance seems to honestly conflate with being a normal American. I did learn, in childhood, how to eat at a fancy dinner, unlike Vance who needed quiet coaching from a girlfriend while already at law school. But I had to learn how to dress, and many other tricks of performing professional class status - just not the ones Vance mentions. Moreover, I had to deal with this as a woman, at a time when there wasn't much of a model for women who belonged to that class in their own right, rather than as wife or daughter of someone who had a professional role.

What was most interesting to me was trying to get an idea of Vance's personal psychology, rather than his political opinions 8 years ago, before he hooked up with Trump.

The first thing I notice is that Vance spent a fair chunk of his childhood desperate for a stable father figure other than his grandfather. Has he (temporarily) found one in Trump? will he act out his experience of his mother's various boyfriends and husbands yet again, except in relation to Trump? Inquiring minds really want to know.

Likewise, is he keen on Trump because of the honor-and-violence culture he claims to have outgrown, while still speaking with significant pride of people threatening and committing violence? Vance is proud that he's not only avoided copying familial marital violence, but also outgrown the alternative of freezing up and running away from marital conflict to avoid lashing out physically, for lack of any better pattern. But has he outgrown it, when the target/victim/perpetrator is someone less close to him than wife or children, and the offense more serious than merely annoying behaviour in traffic? This inquiring mind would really like to know.

At any rate, I find him somewhat less contemptible than Trump, but quite probably just as dangerous. I can't see him really caring about people in abstract. And his first instincts under stress probably come straight from his violent upbringing.

As for the book - well worth reading, given current US politics, and engagingly written, but not especially great.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, US politics, series: n/a, 2016
- Author (J. D. Vance): male, American, born in 1984, politician, lawyer, author and Marine veteran, author not previously read
- English, public library, 264 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Nov 24-28, 2024, book not previously read

Yesterday was a zoo. Not one page read ;( But M is safely in rehab, and I visited her there and dropped off some clothes for her.

And for the first time since this happened, I made time to play bridge. I also found time to buy groceries for me; the larder was getting kind of bare. Now if I could only find time to cook, not just do the heat-and-eat thing. At least I acquired some sandwich fixings; that'll help.

The upshot of that was a stack of dishes, stuff brought from the nursing home not unpacked, and a bunch of aches and pains. Also sleeping late this morning.

Today I get to visit the library and try to find something M would like to read. She's read her way through everything she had checked out when the fall happened. Our tastes overlap, but not by much, so I figure 50% of the books I borrow for her will be duds. Hopefully she can get online and check the library catalogue, making specific requests; that will make future trips of this kind easier.

I do have one more book finished but unrecorded; it got finished, as predicted, sitting beside M's bed while she slept. (She told me afterwards I should have woken her up. But I still think she needed that sleep. And she woke on her own just as I finished the book.)

>113 ArlieS: Your assessment is significantly kinder than mine. I don't come from that background, but still found myself angry about his attitude towards the world he clearly had reason to desire escape from. Well, he has done something positive for me: I've begun praying to the god I don't believe in hoping that they'll all catch some hideous agonizing and 100% fatal plague linked to their shared vileness of soul.

Haven't prayed ever in my life, and here I am now.

>115 richardderus: Eek!

130. Semper Fi by W. E. B. Griffin

This is a military novel written in 1986, following part of the career of a smart and somewhat ambitious American marine. I found it enjoyable, except that the book didn't come to what felt like a proper ending.

The main character is a young marine, starting the book hoping to make corporal soon. He has various talents, not all of them standard military ones. The book follows him first in China, then back in the US, then into the very start of US involvement in WW II.

It's got some problems for people with modern tastes. Male homosexuals are routinely disparaged. The main character has problems with women; his behaviour around them isn't great, and his internal dialog about them is crude and vulgar. OTOH, his woman problems contribute to the plot, and will probably continue to do so later in the series. And both the anti-homosexual language and the vulgar tomcatting seem to me to be realistic in a military setting in the 1930s and 1940s. Probably the main character's inability to handle a real relationship with a woman was also not that uncommon. (He's much happier with one night stands, whether with amateur or professional ladies.)

Overall, it was a nice light snack, if you don't mind those problems.

Because I had it as an e-book, it tended to get read only when I had big chunks of downtime when it wasn't convenient to carry heavy physical books. I read the first part in a hotel room, and the second part sitting by the hospital bed of a then-sleeping friend. That's why reading it spread over a 3 month period.

I'd read another volume of the series if I were bored and it was available, but probably won't seek one out.

Statistics:
- fiction, military fiction, first of a series, 1986
- Author (W. E. B. Griffin): male, American, born in 1929, writer, author not previously read
- English, own kindle, length in pages unknown (e-book), 3 stars
- read Sep 14-Nov 28 2024, book not previously read

131. Primary inversion by Catherine Asaro

This was an interesting science fiction novel. It followed a surprising plot arc, rather than one of the tried-and-true staples of the science fiction genre. It used plenty of standard tropes, such as that of a small team from an elite branch of a star faring empire's military. But that turned out to be just the initial setting.

Wikipedia's article on the author thinks that this book is hard science fiction. I don't see it. Not with psionics as a major technology. It may be that some details of e.g. the space drive came from real theoretical work, as wikipedia claims, but they are described so shallowly that it might as well be the abracadabra drive, powered by the usual unobtainium.

Major sociological issues are touched on, but not consciously addressed by any of the characters. Instead, they stick resolutely at the personal level, ignoring the fairly visible issues with system(s) they've supported all their lives. I can't decide whether or not that's a flaw - do we really need another book about elite members of a dystopic society trying to fix it in spite of massive opposition? But it's weird that there's no guilt at all, either for having supported this system, or for having cut-and-run rather than trying to fight it.

The book ends on a somewhat hopeful note, but also one that's absolutely crying out for a sequel or three. I found that a bit too blatant for my tastes, particularly as I think that most of the other books in the series are set earlier in chronological time.

Overall, a decent read, but not a great one.

Statistics:
- fiction, science fiction, first of a series, 1995
- Author (Catherine Asaro): female, American, born in 1955, science fiction and fantasy author, author previously read only as a contributor to an anthology
- English, public library, 317 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Nov 15-Dec 5 2024, book not previously read

I'm clearly on track to miss 2 * 75 for 2024. But my housemate is doing a lot better. She's still in a "skilled nursing facility" specializing in rehab, but we're preparing for her to come home some time fairly soon.

Today I and two younger, stronger friends went on safari to our local Ikea, where we evaluated beds and chairs with arms. The chairs I liked were out of stock, supposed to reappear in 7 days - or I could pay for delivery and get them in 6 days. They are light and easy to manage, so I'll go fetch a couple next Friday when they are back in stock.

We got back to my house with only a few impulse purchases that somehow slipped into the cart along with 4 packages of bed frame, 1 of slats, 1 of mattress, and 1 of sheets. Then the young men (in one case, young only relative to me) did the heavy lifting, while I picked up smaller objects and cleaned. They got the old futon out of the housemate's room, moved some other things too big for me to manage, got all the boxes into my living room, and carried off a box I can't lift which I'd filled with items to go to Goodwill. (The housemate would have been able to lift it, pre-accident.)

By that time, we were all wiped out, and running up against one of my helpers' prior plans, so we decided to reconvene early Sunday afternoon for them to put the bed together, while I clean and get small objects out of the way. (We've already had one avalanche of clothing previously stacked on a dresser.)

Our living room currently resembles an overcrowded warehouse. The dog has lost her favorite sleeping spot (the housemate's bed), and doesn't have the replacement to try out. There are several plants I simply won't be able to water until after the bed packages are out of the way. But I feel quite accomplished.

Meanwhile, packages continue to arrive with things the housemate either needs now, or will need once she's back home. Today's arrivals were a different type of grabber; something called a "car cane", to facilitate getting into an automobile; and a transfer bench to help her get in and out of the bathtub/shower. Yesterday it was 3 pairs of elastic waist slacks, matching one I'd bought earlier which had met with her approval. The transfer bench is now blocking access to the packages of bed parts; I hope I can manage to set it up without needing to get my young friends to help. We also have a walker and a 3-in-one commode also blocking parts of the living room. (The commode will probably be used as a support frame on the regular toilet - she's moving well enough with the walker she shouldn't have trouble making it to the bathroom even when she wakes during the night - rather than as an actual commode.)

I don't like Amazon, as a general rule. But in this crisis, I took Amazon up on their one month free trial of Prime, and seem to come back from the nursing home every evening with a list of one or more additional things to order. Most of them are easiest - and fastest - to get from Amazon. So they are getting more business from me this month than they normally get in 2 or 3 years. (The latest order was a tarp to wrap the old futon and its frame, which is now in the garage. Otherwise it will become unusably filthy in fairly short order. And the housemate insisted we shouldn't just get rid of it.)

132. Adapting to climate change : markets and the management of an uncertain future by Matthew E. Kahn

This is a fairly optimistic book about adaptation to climate change. It's very much a free market economist's book - lots about incentives and price changes and ability to adapt that differs by life stage and wealth.

It occasionally mentions how various things will be particularly hard on poorer people, with suggestions for policies which might somewhat ameliorate this. But the author is not a Social Democrat, so he tends to things like encouraging renting rather than home ownership - that way the tenant loses less when they move somewhere better. And the landlord should be a big, diversified corporation, not e.g. a local person who rents out two flats of a triplex, and lives in the third - if sufficiently diversified, losses in now-under-water-ville will be balanced by gains on property in once-back-of-beyond-now-a-popular-place-to-live. (I don't think the author has ever heard of any of the problems commonly associated with huge corporations, or more likely chose to ignore them.)

Overall, it's a detailed book, and its suggestions of how to make adaptation work are likely to be acceptable to at least well educated free market conservatives, if not the kind that merely hate all government involvement except what's personally and obviously beneficial to them.

I was disappointed by the firm attachment to free market everything, and the concomitant optimistic certainty that the author's ideas would work, presumably because the free market can and will solve everything.

But frankly it was a lot better than the doom and gloom I sometimes see from the other political tribe - some of them seem to think that climate change is certain to destroy the planet's biosphere, not to mention the human species. I've had enough preaching (generally to the choir) that we absolutely must stop climate change in its tracks, with adaptation treated as impossible. It's not impossible. Overall conditions may be worse, and some current nations may become the next thing to uninhabitable. But humans have survived many disasters, some climate related, and some can reasonably be expected to survive this too. That doesn't help much if you and your family don't make it - but life goes on. Children raised in the new conditions will regard them as normal. They mostly won't pine for what they never had.

I regard this book as little more than a start on addressing the giant mess we've made and are continuing to make. But at least it's a start.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, climate change, series: n/a, 2021
- Author (Matthew E. Kahn): male, American, born in 1966, academic (economics), author not previously read
- English, inter-library loan, 298 pages, 4 stars
- read Nov 19-Dec 7, 2024, book not previously read

>120 ArlieS: I enjoyed your review (as always) and I must also say thank you for sharing your insights on Vance and sharing your own experiences into the bargain.

On the Climate change issue I am a little bit conflicted. I am certainly not a denier as one look at the receding ice caps is as confirmatory as possible but some of the solutions posited are likely to cause as many problems as they solve. We are a little bit in danger of throwing the baby out together with the bathwater if we destroy our ecology in an attempt to rescue our environment. We have to find ways to safeguard both.

Have a lovely weekend.

Solstice cheer, Arlie!

>121 PaulCranswick: Thank you.

>122 richardderus: Thank you too.

I'll be back to reading other people's threads soon, I hope, and responding. Hopefully I'll also record the handful of books I've finished.

My housemate is now at home, and managing to do a surprising amount for herself. She needs my help regularly, but not constantly. And life is no longer a constant state of chaos with imminent deadlines... some springing out of left field without warning.

I'm working on getting caught up with things I mostly abandoned during the intense period. Today I actually *cooked* rather than just doing a heat-n-eat or grabbing a sandwich. Nothing too creative or complex, but I started with raw ingredients. This is only the second time I've done that since M broke her hip.

133. Patton, Montgomery, Rommel : masters of war by Terry Brighton

This is a history of part of World War II, focussed on the careers and rivalry of three prominent generals. I read it because of the War Room challenge, but long after the challenge had moved on to other wars.

It's a very good book. I'm not feeling eloquent enough right now to do it justice, but I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the general topic.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, history, series: n/a, 2008
- Author (Terry Brighton): male, British, born in 1949, non-academic historian, author not previously read
- English, public library, 426 pages, 4 stars
- read Nov 16-Dec 7, 2024, book not previously read

>124 ArlieS: I agree, I thought that book was well done when I read it.

I'm glad things are settling down and that your housemate is back home and doing well. Since we're leaving town early tomorrow and I will probably be off of LT until the new year, I thought I would go ahead and send you seasons greetings and good wishes for however you celebrate the holiday. I hope you have a great and relaxing time!

>125 atozgrl: Thank you, and same wishes back to you. Have a great trip.

134. Koala : a natural history and an uncertain future by Danielle Clode

This is a book about koalas, their biology, ancestry, modern distribution, and more. I enjoyed it and learned a lot.

Part of my enjoyment came from the author's casual comments about her life in Australia - lots of differences from similar comments by authors living in the United States of the United Kingdom. I didn't realize how little I knew about what normality looks like to an Australian of in some ways similar social status.

It's not a great book, but it's a decent one. Read it if you want to learn more about koalas, and prefer more science rather than e.g. more art and culture. Or if you simply like random books about aspects of biology.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, biology, series: n/a, 2023
- Author (Danielle Clode): female, Australian, born in 1968, academic (creative writing); Phd in zoology; writer, author not previously read
- English, public library, 322 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Dec 8-21, 2024, book not previously read

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

>128 SandDune: Thank you, and same backatcha.

Thinking of you at this time, Arlie.

135. Rebel by David Weber and Richard Fox

This novel worked well as something distracting to read when my housemate was newly home from the nursing home, and we were working out how to cope with the least stress and aggravation - I badly needed something to distract me and rest my mind whenever I got a break. And if you are fond of military fiction in space, or stories where the plucky rebels stand up to the evil establishment, you'll probably enjoy it.

That said, it was not a great example of the genre. The rebels were far too virtuous and the establishment was far too evil. The body count was higher than it needed to be, probably to impress on the reader the seriousness of it all - and 90% of it was caused by the intransigence or unreasonableness of the evil establishment or its flunkies. The only nuance I noticed was that some people working for the establishment were actually good people, doing as little harm as possible given their orders, and came over to the rebels at their earliest opportunity.

The book also suffered from the modern predilection for lots of viewpoint characters, and lots of simultaneous action in different locations, to the point of confusing this reader. At least *one* side of this 4-cornered story were pretty much all ethnically Asian, with names to match, so I could recognize the affiliation of their characters when I encountered them. I note, however, that this book was no worse than average for similar themed novels published since 2015 (maybe earlier); this stylistic quirk has been bugging me for quite a while, across many books in my once favorite genres; this is one of many reasons for my project of rereading all the fiction I own.

Read it if you want a fix of military fiction, and don't mind the unrealistic total absence of moral ambiguity. Most people aren't 100% evil or 100% saintly. Their actions are usually mixed, and they have internal conflicts before e.g. deciding to join a rebellion that might well get them killed.

Statistics:
- fiction, science fiction, series (not first), 2024
- Author (David Weber): male, American, born 1952, novelist, author of my #49, #63 and #108 for 2024
- Author (Richard Fox), American, age unknown, novelist (and previously military officer), author previously read
- English, public library, 483 pages, 3.5 stars
- read Dec 18-22 2024, book not previously read

I'm kinda lonely over here....

https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24622/75-Books-Challenge-for-2025

Hi Arlie.

I was sad to read about your housemate's broken hip and hip replacement surgery, so glad that she was home on the 22nd. I hope her recovery continues well and without any glitches. Brava to you for handling all the things that needed handling, too.

>133 karenmarie: So far so good.

I've started calling her "the Energizer Bunny" in response to all the energy she's displaying. That energy, plus general fitness, is probably why she got out of the nursing home in the least reasonable amount of time - we were told 2-4 weeks, averaging 3 - and she got out in 2.

It also results in her starting tasks she can't complete, earlier in the day than I'd prefer to complete them. Thus I find myself unloading the clothes washer (she can load and run it, but not transfer the clothes to the dryer herself yet) while my own interests are still limited to caffeinated beverages or perhaps a shower. (We used to rarely get up at precisely the same time, so she didn't realize quite how stiff I am every morning. Now we're getting up at the same time because she needs my help putting her to bed and getting her up again. We're both hoping she won't need to wear a kind of brace at night much longer, since she can neither put it on nor take it off herself.)

Overall though, I'm glad she's home, and she's feeling much better to be in her own space, with her own stuff, and without having to deal with nursing home quirks.

She's taking multiple walks a day, unless it's too wet. I go along, partly as a security blanket, but mostly to get the walker up and down the front stairs. I think the doctor will be very pleased when she sees him again in early January. And these walks are doing me good too.

136. Osman's dream : the story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923 by Caroline Finkel

This is a dry-as-dust history of the Ottoman Empire. It covers what the title says it will, and seems to do so thoroughly and accurately. It has footnotes and an extensive bibliography. It would be a great start to research on the relevant places and times, if one were e.g. planning to write a novel set there. But as light reading, or even as my normal level of moderately heavy recreational reading, it was a drag.

Moreover, this was my third overlapping book on aspects of Ottoman history, so I was at least somewhat familiar with the names and places. It would have been even slower going as my first book about the Ottomans.

What can I say? Some historians are among the best writers I've encountered, and can make just about any topic interesting to me. Others are not. Caroline Finkel isn't a bad writer - I've seen far worse - but she doesn't have the knack of making just about anything interesting, or making reading enjoyable simply because of the quality of the prose.

Read this book if you really want to learn a lot about the Ottoman Empire, but expect it to be heavy going.

Statistics:
- non-fiction, history, series: n/a, 2005
- Author (Caroline Finkel): female, British, age unknown, non-academic historian, author not previously read
- English, public library, 660 pages, 3 stars
- read Oct 27-Dec 24, 2024, book not previously read

Things continue to calm down at home.

Yesterday I resumed tabulating books read, and reached book 128, at about the point when my housemate was injured. I may actually have my tabulations ready in time to start my 2025 thread on New Years eve, particularly as I'm unlikely to finish (m)any more books this year. (I have 5 in flight, but the one closest to finished has 235 pages left to read. The one with most to go has 746 pages left; it's a 986 page chunkster, which I started in mid-November, before M's fall.)

>136 ArlieS: I think that total ought to make you very proud, whether or not it goes up...considering the stress and frustration of the year in general, and the personal tsurres, half that number would be excellent.

Merry 2025.