Pulphead
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
I don't remember if I posted about it, but months ago I tried reading
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
by David Eagleman
which you'd think would be right up my alley...a Calvino-esque parade of various possible afterlives. I did not like it, however. I could barely get through it, which is pretty bad for such a short book. I skipped around. I found many of the "thought experiments" pseudo-profound and predictably unpredictable...if that makes sense. I was unmoved by the attempts at deepness and heaviness and ultimately annoyed. Maybe it's one of those things where it's too close to something I would want to do, so I am extra demanding and mentally re-writing it into "my" book. And it does have a few good moments, too, sure.
Anyways, I just saw an article in the New Yorker about the author, who is a neuroscientist and Guggenheim recipient. Seems like an interesting guy, and I'm going to try to learn more about his work. The book did in fact feel to me like how a scientific mind would try to write playfully. I wish I could put into words what writers like Calvino or Borges are able to do (even in translation) that "Sum" can't pull off, but I just don't have the time to sort that out right now.
In the NYer article Brian Eno makes an appearance--he liked this book and struck up an email conversation with Eagleman. Sigh!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
by Leszek Kolakowski
-I like the size of this book. The content was ho-hum, merely summaries of different major philosophers' ideas, ending with some questions to think about. Pretty unremarkable, even boring. Only notable thing for me was that Kierkegaard came out looking pretty great in his chapter (as far as that goes). Husserl made into almost a joke. Not recommended unless you need short explanations of different philosophers--even then, I'm sure there's more readable books out there.
by Leszek Kolakowski
-I like the size of this book. The content was ho-hum, merely summaries of different major philosophers' ideas, ending with some questions to think about. Pretty unremarkable, even boring. Only notable thing for me was that Kierkegaard came out looking pretty great in his chapter (as far as that goes). Husserl made into almost a joke. Not recommended unless you need short explanations of different philosophers--even then, I'm sure there's more readable books out there.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Emergence
by Steven Johnson
-quick read, a lot of old info in this...2001.
I liked how this part went back to the good old "cyberspace" vision of William Gibson without mentioning Gibson at all:
"Imagine the universe of HTML documents as a kind of city spread out across a vast landscape...so confusing...that the mapmakers (the Yahoos and Googles of the world) would generate almost as much interest..."
People say, "Where's my jetpack? Where's my flying car?" I'm always thinking, "Where's my cyberspace??"
I liked how this part went back to the good old "cyberspace" vision of William Gibson without mentioning Gibson at all:
"Imagine the universe of HTML documents as a kind of city spread out across a vast landscape...so confusing...that the mapmakers (the Yahoos and Googles of the world) would generate almost as much interest..."
People say, "Where's my jetpack? Where's my flying car?" I'm always thinking, "Where's my cyberspace??"
I liked his other book "Invention of Air." There's a podcast somewhere where he talks to Brian Eno that I remember enjoying. But I think I first learned of his books from Cosma Shalizi (link).
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