Tag: ideas

‘The Mercy of Gods’

I’m going to try to talk about this without giving anything away since you too might want to read it. It’s worth it. Science fiction.

It definitely took me reading this tome twice before I could be sure that the title says what it says for a reason. And remember that if you’re a fast reader … like I am … it will probably need twice through before you get both the title and the reason for the incredibly detailed viewpoints. It did me.

Those were the two main things I took away from the second time through. I found the incredible nit-picky detail quite irritating the first time. Usually when I pick up a book for the first time, I consume it for its story. It’s a make or break reading and if it doesn’t come up to my expectations I’ll be leaving it in the laundry.

Lol, “leaving it in the laundry” is a euphemism for getting rid of it. Back in my youth when I lived on the road for three years, books were regularly left in a camp-ground’s laundry for swapping. You’d leave your excess luggage in the form of books and magazines there in exchange for things you hadn’t read yet. No mobile phones in those days. The really good books that I found in that way and that I couldn’t abandon like that, I would post home. Still have a couple that I collected that way.

Here at the retirement village, there’s quite an extensive library of books left by people not wanting to store them in their apartment shelves, I assume. I’ve left a few of my acquisitions there too. I’d say that’s the primary method of acquisition. Detective fiction is the most popular genre here.

The second time reading a book, since I already know the plot and outcome, I can concentrate on the detail. And in The Mercy of Gods there is a lot of talk and thinking by various characters. Some that irritated me first time round became a necessary flow-of-consciousness to enable me to negotiate–along with the character thinking the verbiage–the extremely difficult situations presenting themselves.

Situations that I might have glossed over first time round. [Yeah, I know. Glossing a novel is wasteful on a number of counts. What can I say? Chasing an outcome is my addiction.] The primary situation is a bunch of humans in a very alien situation. I take my hat off to the authors’ world-building and ability to explain what is happening in the extreme environments they’ve invented.

Another really great process … not topic, not event, not character … what’s left? Process? So, another really intricate and interesting process is the way the humans are made to pit themselves against what they think is the target which turns completely on its head. You just will not see that result coming. Even me telling you like this won’t help you, because if you are a normal human being you’ll be reading along waiting for something to happen. It’s dense, opaque and a great read! Go read a book review somewhere if you need spoilers.

My very first five-star read this year!

Lego, Set #60439

On the weekend last I had my grandkids, aged 7 and 4, over for a few hours. While we played hide and seek, the box was inadvertantly discovered in Oma’s not-so-secret Christmas present hiding place.

And of course we opened it and set to with great gusto. And I’m happy we did, because though the set is recommended for age 6+ the 7 year old found it difficult.

He soon narrowed his focus to the wheelchair guy in Bag 1 and his buggy, while the four year old helped the 76+ yr old Oma by finding shapes amongst the contents of Bag Three.

Which was a lucky guess for it held a girl minifig, helmet, airpack, a bed/couch, microwave, mug, coffee machine and a bank of windows. In other words, a collection of playable elements.

The rest of the set was completed after the kids had gone home. and I was tickled pink to find another iteration of the frog element …

I laughed discovering how the slippery slidy minifigs are made to stay on their beds … “Oooh, is that what those bricks are for?”

The hinge joint pieces I first stumbled over in a mystery pack from http://www.brickresales.com and had no idea what to do with. Just in case you’re thinking … Well, duh! What else could they be? That’s right. Once you know, it’s obvious.

The number of different elements in this set was probably nothing out of the ordinary … count them if you like.

The ‘round’ hatch opening-and-closing mechanism is a joy to operate, as is the sliding up-and-down hatch. I think both these will get their real work-outs when the kids come again.

Now I’m wondering where and how to set up a moon base in my apartment. I’ll need to do some re-arranging.

Mmm.

And PS, what is the ring meant to represent?

Lodestar’s Anuboids = ‘Centaurs’?

I literally just posted Lodestar 57 and tripped over this … There’s now a word for Anuboids, also known as ‘nubies’ in Lodestar, a novel I began roundabout 15 years ago. They might even be ‘reverse-centaurs’.

I’m gob-smacked, though I shouldn’t be. I’ve been overtaken by both science and the public domain. Now by Cory Doctorow, which is a kind of thrill.

“A centaur is someone whose work is supercharged by automation: you are a human head atop the tireless body of a machine that lets you get more done than you could ever do on your own.” from https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/02/despotism-on-demand/



Books …

Some people keep their piles at their bedside. I don’t sleep when I read in bed. This pile —

is beside me, on my couch. Plenty of paperwork under them as well, as you can probably see. My tax return for 2022-2023, for instance. Late already, it’s very forgettable.

Three of the books relate to Interpreting Dreams, the online course I’ve been studying. I’m halfway through but seem to be marking time, like I’m stuck on learning about shadows, and getting side-tracked on a bunch of other interesting stuff.

Ursula K LeGuin’s Tao Te Ching is a wonderful interpretation that I wouldn’t like to do without now. I have three bookmarks in it but most often I “make my daily march with the heavy baggage wagon”. From 26, Power of the Heavy.

Second from the bottom is my health journal wherein I keep track of what my Low Dose Naltrexone regime is doing to me. Good things, so far. Much less inflammation.

Then Sapiens: A brief history of mankind by Yuval Noah Harrari. Have to admit I’m past what’s most interesting to me which is humankind’s early history. I’m struggling through Roman times and the age of the empires.

Next up, is The Three Body Problem by Cixin Lui, famous Chinese SF author. Translated by Ken Liu. Unfortunately I started watching the TV series of the same name before the book arrived via snail mail. While the TV series is an easy and engrossing watch, the book is every bit as cryptic as has been said. Reading it, I keep trying to match events in the TV series.

Last in the pile, there’s Revenger by Alistair Reynolds. It’s just as rich and baroque as the first and second times I read it. It’s meaty with a thick silky gravy, excellent food for my SF hunger. And in addition I’m on the watch-out for the pirate captain’s magnificent orrery that influenced me to purchase the much paler Lego version. My next purchase will probably be the third installment of this trilogy.