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Aug. 18th, 2011 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
50books_pocYeah, so, apparently I haven't xposted write ups since 2009...
Instead of catching up on the very large backlog, have some recent write ups instead!
* means I particularly recommend something.
Chiang, Ted - The Lifecycle of Software Objects
According to the cover copy, this is Ted Chiang's response to the question of artificial intelligence and how it might arise. The lifeforms in question are called digients, and they were created to be like Furbies or Tamagotchi. They exist primarily in online spaces much like World of Warcraft or Sims Online. The digients are smarter than most animals, as they can talk, use tools, and have concepts of independence and etc., but to achieve intelligence, they need to be raised and taught. Two employees, Ana and Derek, end up being more emotionally invested than predicted as they train the digients, and when the company abandons the digient market, they end up adopting some.
(more)
* Smith, Paul Chaat - Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong
No real conclusion, because I'm still thinking through a lot of this. I focused much more on Smith's view of history on this read, largely because that's what's been on my mind lately, but there are many many threads throughout the multiple essays, and maybe next time I will be looking more at AIM, or at notions of ethnicity and art and categorizing artists, or at rewriting stereotypes while also trying not to succumb to them.
(more)
Chen, Pauline - Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality
For the obvious reasons, this isn't necessarily the most uplifting of books, but I thought Chen dealt with the topic well. It's very much a surgeon's memoir, which means though she touches on end-of-life care and hospices and such, much of the POV is that of a surgeon's as opposed to the person either receiving the care or the nurses and such of a hospital, who see more of the people outside of operating rooms. Chen muses a bit on the surgeon philosophy contrasted with other branches of medicine, and though her prose is lovely and interesting, she didn't end up covering a lot of territory I hadn't already known. That said, this is a graceful, contemplative book.(more)
Dow, Unity, and Max Essex - Saturday Is for Funerals
Overall, not necessarily deep or memorable, but it felt like a good introduction to the subject of AIDS in Botswana, written by people who wanted more in the portrayal than just doom and gloom and despair.
(more)
* Lin, Grace - Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
This is an incredibly charming book that includes tales and stories from everyone Minli encounters along the way. I am partial to this, as I love getting additional stories, and I love the way Lin remixes and retells Chinese folktales. I had a lot of fun hunting through for the bits and pieces of story that I remember, or trying to guess at where Lin had gotten the original inspiration from. She does include a bibliography at the end, though I really want a DVD commentary type thing that goes into exactly what changes she made. I was very familiar with all the stories she used, although I don't know if other people will be?
(more)
Instead of catching up on the very large backlog, have some recent write ups instead!
* means I particularly recommend something.
Chiang, Ted - The Lifecycle of Software Objects
According to the cover copy, this is Ted Chiang's response to the question of artificial intelligence and how it might arise. The lifeforms in question are called digients, and they were created to be like Furbies or Tamagotchi. They exist primarily in online spaces much like World of Warcraft or Sims Online. The digients are smarter than most animals, as they can talk, use tools, and have concepts of independence and etc., but to achieve intelligence, they need to be raised and taught. Two employees, Ana and Derek, end up being more emotionally invested than predicted as they train the digients, and when the company abandons the digient market, they end up adopting some.
(more)
* Smith, Paul Chaat - Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong
No real conclusion, because I'm still thinking through a lot of this. I focused much more on Smith's view of history on this read, largely because that's what's been on my mind lately, but there are many many threads throughout the multiple essays, and maybe next time I will be looking more at AIM, or at notions of ethnicity and art and categorizing artists, or at rewriting stereotypes while also trying not to succumb to them.
(more)
Chen, Pauline - Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality
For the obvious reasons, this isn't necessarily the most uplifting of books, but I thought Chen dealt with the topic well. It's very much a surgeon's memoir, which means though she touches on end-of-life care and hospices and such, much of the POV is that of a surgeon's as opposed to the person either receiving the care or the nurses and such of a hospital, who see more of the people outside of operating rooms. Chen muses a bit on the surgeon philosophy contrasted with other branches of medicine, and though her prose is lovely and interesting, she didn't end up covering a lot of territory I hadn't already known. That said, this is a graceful, contemplative book.(more)
Dow, Unity, and Max Essex - Saturday Is for Funerals
Overall, not necessarily deep or memorable, but it felt like a good introduction to the subject of AIDS in Botswana, written by people who wanted more in the portrayal than just doom and gloom and despair.
(more)
* Lin, Grace - Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
This is an incredibly charming book that includes tales and stories from everyone Minli encounters along the way. I am partial to this, as I love getting additional stories, and I love the way Lin remixes and retells Chinese folktales. I had a lot of fun hunting through for the bits and pieces of story that I remember, or trying to guess at where Lin had gotten the original inspiration from. She does include a bibliography at the end, though I really want a DVD commentary type thing that goes into exactly what changes she made. I was very familiar with all the stories she used, although I don't know if other people will be?
(more)
