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Wednesday World of Tomorrow
Mar. 2nd, 2016 10:39 amArchived from Livejournal
What I Haven't Been Reading
I took a break from all reading for one week – with a time-limited exception for work-related emails, which I can't avoid this month without feeling guilty and confusing my co-workers. The results were pretty predictable: I got a lot of banking and other chores done, and wound up writing a lot of stray thoughts on scrap paper to stave off boredom at work. It did not make me suddenly creative, or anything like that. Still, it was difficult enough to create the illusion that it was good for my brain, so I'll probably do it again in the future – preferably at a time when I can avoid email entirely for a week – maybe May, definitely mid-July.
The most important result of this experiment for Wednesday Reading Meme purposes is that there isn't much to report this Wednesday.
What I've Finished Reading
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov – for a local book group. It's not bad! The first two parts are very different from each other, but also very Asimovian – I'm not sure how to describe Isaac Asimov's writing style, but it's very distinctively mellow and unassuming, a little old-fashioned, almost too pleasantly familiar, even when dealing with the sexual problems of gelatinous non-humanoid aliens – perfect for reading on a plane. The third part has a lot to like, but it doesn't really live up to the promise of the first two. The problem the book begins with – a new source of effectively limitless energy will resolve all of Earth's crises and usher in a golden age of space exploration. . . until it inexorably warps the laws of physics and blows up the Sun! But how do you get people to give up unlimited energy? is so straightforwardly compelling, and so entertainingly and effectively drawn, that it's hard to imagine a solution that would be satisfying. So I can't blame Asimov too much for a non-spectacular ending.
What I'm Reading and What I'm Going to Read
You know, I thought I was going to, but I still haven't finished Under the Volcano? There's almost no book left; I'll probably finish it this afternoon. I think I'll miss it in one way and be relieved in another. I have had a hangover since I began.
The Victim and The Americans are still hovering in the near future. There might be other things.
What I Haven't Been Reading
I took a break from all reading for one week – with a time-limited exception for work-related emails, which I can't avoid this month without feeling guilty and confusing my co-workers. The results were pretty predictable: I got a lot of banking and other chores done, and wound up writing a lot of stray thoughts on scrap paper to stave off boredom at work. It did not make me suddenly creative, or anything like that. Still, it was difficult enough to create the illusion that it was good for my brain, so I'll probably do it again in the future – preferably at a time when I can avoid email entirely for a week – maybe May, definitely mid-July.
The most important result of this experiment for Wednesday Reading Meme purposes is that there isn't much to report this Wednesday.
What I've Finished Reading
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov – for a local book group. It's not bad! The first two parts are very different from each other, but also very Asimovian – I'm not sure how to describe Isaac Asimov's writing style, but it's very distinctively mellow and unassuming, a little old-fashioned, almost too pleasantly familiar, even when dealing with the sexual problems of gelatinous non-humanoid aliens – perfect for reading on a plane. The third part has a lot to like, but it doesn't really live up to the promise of the first two. The problem the book begins with – a new source of effectively limitless energy will resolve all of Earth's crises and usher in a golden age of space exploration. . . until it inexorably warps the laws of physics and blows up the Sun! But how do you get people to give up unlimited energy? is so straightforwardly compelling, and so entertainingly and effectively drawn, that it's hard to imagine a solution that would be satisfying. So I can't blame Asimov too much for a non-spectacular ending.
What I'm Reading and What I'm Going to Read
You know, I thought I was going to, but I still haven't finished Under the Volcano? There's almost no book left; I'll probably finish it this afternoon. I think I'll miss it in one way and be relieved in another. I have had a hangover since I began.
The Victim and The Americans are still hovering in the near future. There might be other things.
