The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft.

A creepy read perfect to send off this hideous year. MWAHAHAHA

The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era by Vernor Vinge (1993)

I haven't read any fiction by Vinge yet but felt compelled to read his well known essay after some of my previous reads which refer to Vinge or discuss the topic. Also, it is a short read.

I first read about Singularities in Wonders of the Universe (Cox) and then The Illustrated A Brief History of Time (Hawking), referring to the Bing Bang and Black Holes. In those points/places mathematical calculations reach divisions by zero, or infinite, meaning the rules of (known) physics do not apply. Recently I also read a novel called Diaspora by Greg Egan in which characters travel through Singularities (totallyrecommendit. ).

The topic of Vinge's essay is different from the above. It discusses our future after we develop super human intelligence. This is a well-known essay, as it is in this paper (as far as I know) that Vinge coined the term (Technological) Singularity to mean that point in which we, humans will cease to be the most intelligent things on earth. Previously I had read a thesis on Singularities and literature and recently a much recommended Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark which opened my mind to so many possibilities. Also the last novel I read was Accelerando by Charles Stross, difficult read but worth it. Among other things it explores the effects of a Technological Singularity on economics and humanity way of living.

For the blood is the life by F. Marion Crawford

A vampire short story! I liked Crawford's writing style and that it was set in hot Italy.

New Scientist. Essential Guide N °4. Our Human Story. How one species walked upright and conquered the world.

Super Interesting Read. I loved it. My favourite chapter is Chapter 4: What makes us human. And my favourite article in that chapter has to be The Cave Art Code. Which discusses early signs of writing left with paintings. It looks into Gnevieve von Petzinger's (a canadian paleoanthropologist) study of cave art around the world. She identified a series of symbols repeated across several sites around the world. The similarities so evident she thinks they might be more than scratches. See photo 10. By the way von Petzinger published a book titled The first signs: Unlocking the mysteries of the world's oldest symbols. I'm tempted to get it now.

Accelerando by Charles Stross

This book made my brain explode. It's a novel comprised of short stories following 3 generations of a family. First 3 stories follow Manfred Macx, next 3 stories his daughter Amber, last 3 stories follow Shirhan, the grandson, son of Amber.

I found this to be a very dense, layered novel. Not that the writing is complicated but that is charged with numerous concepts, plus the story is complex. There is Artificial Intelligence, Singularity, Transhumans, Posthumans (they are called the evil offspring, not sure how they evolved). Also through time, humans are able to upload their consciousness on simulated realities, or keep copies so they could be resurrected in new bodies. Because consciousness are now software, very much transportable and not dependable on meat bodies, people are able to do incredible things with themselves. For example forking, that's, creating multiple copies of themselves, which could become independent individuals or could synchronise back again into the original.

If the above wasn't enough, humans, are able to travel vast distances and meet other species and the technologies they leave around. I found, one of them, the Matrioshka brains super intrensting. Russian doll Dyson spheres the size of solar systems.

Two aspects of the story I couldn't follow much were the economic and legal aspects. The book criticises capitalism and dwells into legal terminology that lost me. One thing I understood and liked though was the idea of changing the Intellectual Property/Copyright paradigm towards AI, to Civil Rights perspective. The idea is further developed to include aliens.

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Sri Rahula

👍👍👍👍👍

An excellent introduction to Buddhism. Loads of information and insights into the Buddha's teachings. It is written in an easy to read style but the subject matter is layered, multidimensional and includes a network of concepts.

Dukkha, the 5 aggregates , Mind, Consciousness, Karma, Thirst, Free Will, Mindfulness, Nirvana....

"According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul or Atman within or without."

Buddhist meditation" Insight into the nature of things, leading to the complete liberation of mind, to the realisation of the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana."

As in Buddhism there is no" I" or "Self" when we meditate we should forget about "my feelings", "my anger", etc. We should see those things as objective observers.

Life 3.0 Being human in the age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

A super interesting read. Learned a lot.

I particularly enjoyed the 4 chapters in which Tegmark discusses possible scenarios of AI being developed in the near, far and very far future. I also appreciate his working definitions of Intelligence and Consciousness, background and how they play an important role in the development of future AI technology.

Intelligence: the ability to accomplish complex goals

AGI: Artificial General Intelligence, able to accomplish any goals, at least like humans.

Intelligence Explosion: birth of a Singularity

Consciousness: subjective experience.

What makes matter conscious? What physical properties distinguish conscious and unconscious systems?

Table of Contents

Prelude: The Tale of the Omega Team

1. Welcome to the Most Important Conversation of our time

2. Matter turns Intelligent

3. The Near Future: Breakthroughs, Bugs, Laws, Weapons and Jobs

4. Intelligence Explosion?

5. Aftermath: the Next 10,000 years

6. Our Cosmic Endowment: the Next Billion Years and Beyond

7. Goals

8. Consciousness

Epilogue: The Tale of the FLI Team

China by Laura Purcell

Gothic, dark, creepy. Reminded me of Du Maurier. Beautiful writing. A joy to read.

#gothicfiction #neovictorian

The Illustrated A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

An enlightening read, difficult at points but worth it. Beautiful illustrated edition.

I have previously read about some of the topics in this book, most recently New Scientist. Essential Guide Issue #1 The Nature of Reality and last year Wonders of the Universe by Professor Brian Cox.

As the title suggests, there is a bit of history, Aristotle, Copernicus, etc, then it goes into Einstein and General Theory of Relativity to explain the phenomena that we can observe. It gets more complicated with Quantum Mechanics to explain phenomena at a super microscopic level. Chapter on Black Holes was my favourite. Second favourite Wormholes. Maybe because it reminds me of science fiction. I struggled understanding the logic in WHY scientists think the Universe is expanding (not about Hubble's observations but what makes the universe expand) and why it is the way it is. I got lost when Hawking used imaginary numbers.... Nevertheless I hope I'll be able to understand as I keep reading more on the topic.

New Scientist. Essential Guide N°3. Human Health. The Science of Living Better and Longer.

Not my favourite issue but it's good. Topics that I found interesting: Coronavirus, stress and anxiety, cancer, stem cells and cryogenics.

Confessions by Kanae Minato

A gripping vengeance thriller. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I finished this book in record time. I couldn't put it down. It was like free falling from an airplane. It was thrilling, gripping, devastating, heartbreaking and cruel. I liked the author's style, straight to the point and raw. Totally recommend.

Under the Pyramids by H.P. Lovecraft

Houdini + Pyramids. An excellent, dark combination.

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

Last book in the Imperial Radch trilogy.

I guess it was a Good ending. A sort of happy ending, not my cup of tea though. I'd have preferred it to be a bit darker or maybe much darker.

Anyways I love this world, not plausible, I guess, but thought provoking. A world where humanity coexists with Artificial Intelligence and Sentient Machines. A world where Contradictions arise... Humans are the Masters and Machines the Slaves, Is this fair when machines can be sentient?.... at the same time, Humans are almost totally dependent on AI to survive, they are constantly watched (there is no Privacy!) And monitored to the extent that even their feelings can be predicted by machines.

The Lord of the Radch was an interesting character. Thousands of bodies across the empire but only one consciousness. It reminded me of Mr Bovey, a Multiple from the Void trilogy by Peter F Hamilton. Similar concepts only in the Void Mr Bovey's had a few bodies and they lived together. All the bodies represented the same person whereas the Lord of the Radch could have different personalities.

Things I thought were missing:

. We never know who built the AI cores, and under which principles, or values.

. Some AI are presented as if they had emotions and feelings. However most humans seemed unaware of this, including auhorities, including the Lord of the Radch, who I thought should have been the one to specify the quality of AI in his empire, or at least be better informed.

. If the above have not been programed on purpose on AI, but developed or evolved on its own, then I guess the author missed an opportunity to explore this more in depth.

. No more character development, the protagonist and other main characters do not evolve much. The strory just follows up from book 2 in a kind of straight line, no surprises, no twists, at least that I could see.

More questions come to my mind, like:

What is life? And Consciousness? Can Artificial Intelligence be alive? Or have rights?

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Second book in the Imperial Radch trilogy. 

This is a good sequel but not as good as the first novel. Check my previous post. Again we follow Breq, the protagonist of the first story, now on a mission to keep a section of Radch space safe from its own ruler. 

The writing is excellent, addictive. The plot focuses very much on a specific situation outside (and on) a planet. The character of Breq is further developed as she becomes a fleet captain exercising her power on a colonised planet. Unlike the first book, most of the story in this novel takes place in space, either travelling or on a Space station. However it didn't feel like a space opera to me. I think it was because the story did not involve (or very little) any descriptions of spaceship technology, but was more concerned with interactions inside the spacecraft and space station. 

As with the first book, I liked the idea of Intelligent Spacecrafts as well as AIs embodied in (dead) human bodies. The writer created a powerful narrative with these concepts exploring the political, economic and social impact on a human civilisation on a galactic scale. Themes such as gender, identity, slavery, hierarchy, colonisation and others. However there were some gaps I kept wanting to be filled. For example the story never explains AI from the scientific and technological points of view. The main character, a spaceship AI, 3 thousand year old, has lived a long life, but we never know if it has been upgraded, or improved. Actually technology doesn't seem to have changed so much in that time. New spaceships do not differ much from the old ones. How is that possible? I kept asking myself, more questions, How a civilisation so advanced that can Insert/Upload a Human or Artificial Consciousness on a Human Brain, be so decadent in other aspects? Why do Humans not enhance their intelligence? What about Uploading human consciousness on machines? Hehe, cough, cough, perhaps I'm asking the author to write a different book...

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

First book in the Imperial Radch Trilogy.

This is a story of Revenge taking place thousands of years in the future. This novel is well written. It has excellent world building and includes themes of Artificial Intelligence, Gender and language, politics, imperialism and slavery.

It is Character driven as opposed to Plot driven. I found the Plot to be simple and straightforward (a revenge) but it worked perfect with character development and world building.

I don't think this is hard science fiction, but it was thought provoking due to the topics and the way it is written. Conceptz and Technological advances are not explained or discussed but shown, for example Artificial Intelligence, embodying multiple devices, including spaceships and human bodies, and managing them all at the same time. The narrative exposes this brilliantly, sometimes intercalating conversations by the same AI using different bodies who are talking to different people at the same time.

The question of Who/What is Human? is relevant. The radch cannot see beyond AI as tools for conquest and war, and as tools to ease their daily lives. Not the AI inserted in human bodies not the ones living in machines. The author raises questions though with the protagonist construction and growth as well as with the changing views around her.

In terms of social and political commentary, there is plenty. A totalitarian system which depends on constant growth to survive. Social Hierarchies, status, military abuse, the use of a genderless version of English and many other aspects which make the Radch an interesting place to explore.

I read this book for the #spaceoperaseptember but I don't think it is a #spaceopera. 98% of events take place in planets or space stations and I never felt I "was in space" while reading it 😭

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.

Beautiful writing, a disturbing story. A dystopian world seen from the eyes of young novelist.

What struck me the most, was not the continuous disappearance of things but how the majority accepted their faith. Things disappeared and memories went away with them. A few unlucky people were chased by the Memory Police because they didn't forget. Actually there was more fear of the Memory Police than of losing things. This novel made me reflect about loss and the value we place in everyday objects, and other important things.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

An excellent science fiction space opera. Set in the far future, more than 6 million years from now. We follow a human civilisation comprised of Shatterling Lines. Each line a group of clones of the same individual, dedicated to explore and record memories of the galaxy.  Shatterlings travel on their own and meet with the others in their Line every two hundred thousand years or so. Then they share their memories with the rest. They are known as a meta-civilisation as they witness the emergence and disappearance of human civilisations across millenia. This phenomena is called Turn over. No human civilisation (except for a handful) is able to survive more than a few thousand years. The Lines however have survived for 6 million years. The reason perhaps is that they have developed technology to dilate time.

The story starts with a couple of Shatterlings, Purslane and Campion,  on their way to a Line reunion. They are a few years late but that is not a problem. In their last circuit they have met with the Vigilance. An ancient human civilisation,  custodians of a galactic library,  containing data ranging for million of years. Campion is able to meet with a Vigilance and get access to some of their data banks. With that information they set course to their meeting. Still a few light years before arrival they get a distress message from one of their leaders. They had been attacked and annihilated. Years after and ignoring the leader's warning Purslane and Campion arrive at the reunion place finding only devastation. They set on a mission, to find survivors and get revenge. 

Concepts and things I loved:

The vigilance are an interesting concept. They achieved immortality by making their bodies grow perpetually. Now they are the size of spaceship or bigger, their brain takes long to think due to the distances between neurons. 

Hesperus, a robot,  belonging to the Machine People civilisation.  Despite being a Machine he is more human than many other human characters. He stands for friendship and loyalty. 

The Spirit of the Air, a former human being who downloaded his brain, and  now is able to exist without machines. He is admired and feared  by the people in the planet where he lives. Like the Vigilance he has lived for millions of years and has meet with numerous extinct civilisations.

The Priors. Like in other scifi novels I've read, the myths, or ideas about ancient civilisations who existed billions of years before our time. They left the galaxy,  or are extinct,  but their advanced technology is still used by humans.

Not using FTL travel but still be interesting. Fast Spaceships are able to travel just under the speed of light. However still travelling across the galaxy can take hundreds if not thousands of years. Reynolds uses other devices to let his characters survive the pass of time and make the story compelling. There is time dilation due to the fast speeds + stasis technology which allows humans to slow down their perception of time, so they can  travel for hundreds or thousands of years but experience them as a few hours or days.

The immensity of the  novel's scope, in time and space. How the narrative allows for thousands of years to pass and keep the story engaging.

Things I didn't love:

The fantasy like setting in which Abigail, the original human to the Gentian Shatterlings, plays during her childhood. I liked the idea of the game being a mind reading simulation but not the world created by the simulation and the number of pages dedicated to its story. I couldn't understand the connection to the rest of the story.

The Machine People. Their origins and general background was too obscure, being central to the main plot I expected more information about them. Also, for some reason, I couldn't imagine them other way than a 50s robot toy. And here comes another point, I found the concepts and depiction of Artificial Intelligence too simple for  future so far away. Apart from the Machine People (who were just super intelligent and super strong and fast, etc.) The only other AI we see are the spaceship computers something that lacked development and exposure in the novel.

Nova by Samuel R Delany

 Nova is a science fiction novel written in 1968. It is a space opera with comments on race, sexuality, languages and superstition.

The story is about a group of people setting up on a mission to get Illyrion from the center of a star going Nova. It's the 30th century and humanity has colonised a vast amount of the galaxy. The galactic economy depends on access and use of Illyrion, which is a super heavy, but stable element.  Small quantities of Illyrion can fuel starships and entire cities for decades. There are conflicts between different regions in the galaxy which aim to get independence from earth and allies. Possession of Illyrion would definitely tilt the balance on anyone's favour.

Lorq Von Ray has recruited a group of men and women to go on an impossible mission. But the reward will be worth every sacrifice.  Not only will he help the Pleiades federation and outer colonies get economic independence from the Draco empire but most importantly he will finally get revenge from the man he hates the most: Prince Red heir of the Red family, owners of Red - Shift Limited, producers of components for space drives.

Though the plot of the story is rich and interesting, I found this to be a character-driven novel. Delany's description of both main protagonists Lord Von Ray and Mouse (a cyborg stud for Von Ray) is brilliant. The whole Illyrion mission can be thought of personal quests for both. Both men are so different in terms of origins, race, interests but they end up together, one trying to help the other. Also at some point I sensed subtle sexual undertones in their interactions but no more. There were also some insinuations between Mouse and Katin, another interesting character.

Some things I enjoyed in Nova:

. Characters being of different races and origins. Race wasn't an issue at all in the story but I liked Delany's short but informative descriptions of the characters and how the world be built looked like an ideal we may pursue in the present. 

. Characters being polyglot. 

. The transition between different dialects of English. The main character is able to easily switch between standard English and the Pleiades dialect. 

. Some lightweight science. Delany's explains how rare Illyrion is in nature and how it is created in Novas's extreme temperatures. We also get an explanation of how someone could flight through the centre of a Nova!

. Delany's beautiful prose. There is a passage I loved when a character, Idas, explains what Illyrion means to him. Short after, Katin, gives lecture on history and chemistry of the heavy element,  Idas shakes the reader with a personal account on how Illyrion has impacted his life and his family's.  

The Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

This story takes place in the far future (I think), a group of nuns travel through space to spread the word of God a among human colonies. 

The story follows a group of Catholic nuns on board of the Our Lady of Impossible Constelations. They are on their way to a small colony to perform a wedding and a baptism. Their ship is alive. Organic material breed for the purpose of space travel. Though not sentient the ship has organic needs. At some point the nuns debate whether to allow it to mate as it seems to be in heat. As the ship was consecrated, would it be a sin to allow it mate?

Some things have not changed much. I mean in terms of religious beliefs and customs. The ship is a convent in space, with a silent mother superior. We get to know some of the nuns, and their religious order. Of course being in space some of them are technicians and scientists. I enjoyed the description of live a board the ship, and the ship itself but I found something was lacking. There was hardly any internal conflicts depicted in the story. Those kinds of coflicts where science questions the existence of God. I sort of expected a bit of that being nuns in a bioship. There is one character though who questions her commitment to the order and her life as a nun. Not necessarily because she doubts her faith but because she is not sure she is cut out for the job anymore. 

Sometime after the wedding and baptism, they receive a distress call from the same colony reporting an outbreak of a deadly disease. The nuns decide to go back and help. And here is when it gets exciting. The nuns switch to "hero" mode and at the same time dark secrets are revealed. There is some action which contrasts with the slow paced, convent-like atmosphere of the first part. 

This was a fun read but I would have liked the author to provide more background (how the church and Vatican ended up sending nuns to space?) and explore the themes of religion v science much more. 

An okay read.

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson.

I chose this novel more or less randomly from my Library App. I have read The Haunting of Hill House and The Lotery by Jackson but I have never heard of The Bird's Nest. I checked it out out of curiosity.

 This is a gripping, dark, psychological tale of a woman with multiple personality disorder. I loved Jackson's narrative and the multiple (unreliable) pov, including some of the woman's personalities, the doctor's and the woman's aunt. Totally immersive, the novel submerges the reader into the protagonist's head, her descent into madness, internal battles, contradicting stories, and her 4 personalities, each more broken than the other. 

I don't know how accurate Jackson's depiction of mental illness is in this novel, but to me the protagonist struggle seemed real. Perhaps the doctor's approach wasn't as believable but it was the 1950s and he was a peculiar character too. The protagonist's aunt was the character who made me doubt most of the time. Loved her ambiguity.

The Vampire by John William Polidori.

Quick read. 16 pages in this beautiful #canterburyclassics anthology. A dark, atmospheric gothic tale. A thirsty monster, a female target and a hero (?) who sinks into madness. Beautiful.

Diaspora by Greg Egan.

Many centuries in the future a cosmic cataclysm threatens earth. A colision between two neutron stars will destroy every organic live in the galaxy. Humanity has divided into 3. The fleshers, some of whom have improved their bodies with genetic and technological enhancements. The rest have digitised their minds and are living either in robots or in polises in supercomputers. After the gamma-ray flash the posthumans set on a journey to understand the logic of the collision and why they couldn't predict it in time. 

This was a complex read. Starting from chapter one depicting the birth of a digital human (a posthuman), to the explanation of cosmic phenomena, to the peculiarities of digital life, cloning, immortality, multidimensional space and the scope of the story which takes place across thousands of years. 

A Concept driven novel, as opposed to character or plot driven. Thought provoking, mind blowing ideas.

New Scientist. Essential Guide N°2. Artificial Intelligence. The Past, Present and Future of Machines that think. Edited by Richard Webb.

Concepts such as machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, statistical analysis and pattern recognition. Advances in science, medicine, transport and others. My favourite chapter, AI and society, ethical, moral, social, legal, etc, impact on society, now and in the future. Excellent read.

De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by Oscar Wilde.

De Profundis is a letter to Alfred Douglas, Wilde's lover, and The Others are letters to friends and authorities, before during and after imprisonment. There is also a Poem titled The Ballad of Reading Gaol.  

These writings provide insights into Wilde's psychological and emotional state during his catastrophic descend into bankruptcy, divorce, loss of social status and public humiliation when he was sent to prison. After almost 2 years of imprisonment Wilde decides to write to his lover, not a love letter but an account of their relationship, I guess, to set the record straight. In De Profundis Wilde lists, in impressive detail, episodes of reckless and abusive behaviour by Douglas, rows and reconciliations. The writer explains how he tried to end their relationship in several occasions but always failed. The letter also explains how Douglas and family are to blame for his imprisonment. However Wilde also blamed himself for not following his instincts. Towards the end the tone of the letter is more of resignation and acceptance perhaps revealing Wilde's spiritual growth. He acknowledges excesses in his past life and shows a resolution to live a better life in the future. 

In addition to the above, I have to confess that reading these letters was a pleasure as Wilde's writing is so Beautiful! . This edition comes with an introduction by Colm Tóibín which I recommend reading before the letter as it provides the reader with historical context.

Starting Point. 1979 ~ 1996 by Hayao Miyazaki.

A collection of essays, interviews, talks, sketches and a short manga story about the history of Inflight Meals. 

I learned a great deal from this book, about Miyazaki himself and the art of making anime. Through these pages you'll discover: 

. Miyazaki's motivations for making anime for children, 

. His views on ideas and values portrayed in anime characters, 

. His love for his country, 

. His views on wars, progress and Japanese traditions, 

. Why most of his protagonists are girls! 

. A glimpse into his personal life (only a glimpse), 

. His creative process, not that he had a formal method, quite the opposite. 

. A few stories about colleagues and staff. My favourite story is about A Woman Finish Inspector, someone in charge of checking for mistakes, dirt and scratches in anime cels (transparent sheets were images are drawn). That woman had a passion for her work, so much that she lived in her office, sacrificed her free time and sleep to finish her work. 

. Why he didn't like Osamu Tezuka's work! 

. A few months ago I watched a documentary titled 10 years with Hayao Miyazaki. A great complement to this book I think. Find it on NHK World on Demand. 👍

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

A 40 page short story included in the Classic Tales of Horror, a Canterbury Classics anthology. 

Two men sail the Danube during a storm. They stop in a small island to rest and wait for the storm to go but then strange things happen. Loud noises and creepy willows. I'm pretty bad remembering short stories but I think this one will be stuck in my mind for a long while.

Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers

 

I first learned about this novel when I read How we became Posthuman... by Katherine Hayles. There Hayles analyses the novel using concepts such as presence and absence, materiality and signification, embodiment and others.

The synopsis reads "After many years of living abroad, a young writer returns to the United States to take up a position at his former college. There he encounters Philip Lentz, an outspoken neurologist intent on using computers to model the human brain.

Lentz involves the writer in an outlandish and irresistible project - to train a computing system by reading a canonical list of Great Books. Through repeated tutorials, the machine grows gradually more worldly, until it demands to know its own age, sex, race and reason for existing." 

This is not a science fiction story but a study (examination, exploration?) of the main character's life. Through the novel the Writer questions the decisions he made particularly in relation with his career choice and love life, and how those decisions shaped his present situation. The second protagonist, Philip Lentz, is a peculiar character. A scientist, to me, with limited emotional intelligence, who is the mastermind behind the Learning Computer. At some point during the narration the Writer and us learn about his life and he becomes more human to the point that we can empathize with him. There is also a group of scientists whose interventions in the story are limited but meaningful. Each of them is there for a reason trying to show the Writer life lessons.

The Writer's task is to teach the computer how to read novels and how to be a literary critic. The Writer goes through a series of literary references, most of them unknown to me, trying to teach the computer the meanings behind words. At the same time he reflects about his life and tells us his story, especially since he met his ex girlfriend. At some point it is inevitable to draw comparisons between his relationship with the girlfriend, a human being, and his relationship with the computer system. 

A slow but interesting read.

The Book. A Cover to Cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time, by Keith Houston.

A beautiful book about books. A bit of history, including papyrus, parchment and paper, writing, movable type and rotary printing machines, illustrations, woodcut print, lithography and photography, rolls, codex and modern books. Interesting material, organised in a coherent, easy to read way. It was a fun and enlightening read.

I recommend this book to any book lover.

New Scientist. Essential Guide N°1. (4🌟)

New Scientist. Essential Guide N°1. The Nature of Reality. How Mathematics, Physics and Consciousness combine to define our world.

Articles by Brian Green, Stephen Hawkin, Roger Penrose, Jan Westerhoff, Donald Hoffman and Nick Bostrom.

Einstein's general theory of relativity explains the reality we perceive, (stars, light etc) and some we cannot perceive but know are there (black holes, black energy etc). Quantum physics deals with sub atomic particles and describes a different reality than the one we know. Quantum fields, particles, waves behave in ways which are not explained by Einstein's theory. How can this be? How can the quantum reality be different from "ours"? Also, does reality really exist, or is it manufactured by our brains? What is consciousness and free will? And how could they exist if we are all made of atoms and quantum particles?

Enlightening read. I wish I had a wider background in sciences to understand more, but I think I got the main ideas. Not sure I could explain them to anyone though but they are there, in my brain.

The Female Man by Joanna Russ (3.5🌟)

This book was a challenge to read, but I'm glad I finished it.

3 women from 3 different parallel universes are brought together by some unknown force. They are the same woman but not really. Having been raised in 3 different societies their personalities, actions, worldviews and expectations are not the same. This story is not really a "story", as there isn't a proper plot, at least I couldn't see any. To me this is a display window with these women in he middle and the task is left to the reader, to draw comparisons between them, and reflect about the real world in the 1960s and now in 2020. What aspects of these women represent our societies, or our modern selves?

That said, the narrative is confusing to say the least. Constant changes of POV, and I couldn't tell whose perspective I was reading. Not sure why the author chose to write the novel this way.

I read the introduction included in my edition which was written by Gwyneth Jones. It clarified a few things I didn't understand in my reading. At the end I think the book was definitely worth the effort.

The Minority Report by Philip K Dick (4🌟)

A short story by the Master if Science Fiction. Included in an anthology Brave New Worlds edited by John Joseph Adams.

A world were crimes can be e predicted and punished before they are committed. Excellent read. My favourite so far in this anthology.

The Citi Exhibition. Manga. Edited by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere (5🌟)

This book is a catalogue of the Exhibition at the British museum in 2019. It includes essays about manga, a bit of history, style, anime, etc. + extracts of manga and illustrations + interviews with creators and people in the industry.

A must read for any manga fan.

My favourite bits: Moto Hagio's The Willow Tree short story, and extract from Saint Young Men by Hikaru Nakamura, an essay about Genga' (dash) Project (which looks into the reproduction of manga manuscripts for exhibition and preservation), some history, including Hokusai and Kyõsai, and an overview of the contemporary market including alternative and obscure manga works (some of them have been published by Drawn and Quarterly).

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (4🌟)

A Japanese mystery novel, first published in 1946.

This was a classic locked room murder mystery. The novel introduces detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who I believe, became the protagonist of more than 70 books! by Yokomizo. This was a fun, entertaining read. It reminded me of Poe and Christie. First we got the details of the murder, and events before and after. Then we got the great Ko-San arriving to unravel the mystery. Not a character novel but great mystery solving.

And also,... Yokomizo did something I truly enjoyed. He shared with the reader some of his favourite mystery novels and authors. This came as part of the plot and was fun thing to discover. Some mentioned were Maurice Leblanc Lupin series, Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes, The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Garston Leroux, The Canary Murder Case and The Kennel Murder Case by SS Van Fine, The Plague Court Murders by Dickson Carr, and more. Yokomizo also mentioned some Japanese classics like Edogawa Rampo (the only one I knew and have read), Ruiko Kuroiwa, Fuboku Kozakai, Saburo Koga, Udaru Oshita, Takataro Kigi and more...

Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek (3.8🌟)

Therapy is a gripping, psychological thriller. A page turner, full of unpredictable twists!

A woman contacts a retired psychiatrist in his country house. She wants his help and convinces him to treat her there and then. During the course of the therapy sessions the woman starts revealing events and clues which could be related to the disappearance of the psychiatrist daughter. The man gets desperate trying to find out more but the woman is obviously not well and completely unreliable.

In Therapy I found grief, confusion, regret and madness. Gothic-like settings, cold, rain and darkness. A protagonist searching for the truth and a mysterious woman who knows it, or so she claims. Fitzek plays with the reader making us doubt everything and everyone. A fun and engaging read.

Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton (4.7🌟)

Judas Unchained is the second book in the Commonwealth Saga. See my post on the first book Pandora's Star.

So much happens in this book (actually in both books) it will take me days to digest. However it was a great conclusion to the story and a great read. Not much to comment but to recommend this saga to any Science Fiction fan. It was worth the 4 weeks it took me to read the two books.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (4🌟)

A psychological rollercoaster or a ghost story, or both? A young governess notices two people wandering around the house where she works. However when she asks, she is told that the people she is describing are dead. To find out the truth she investigates the history of the house and the owner. She asks questions. The children she looks after say they don't see anyone, but she thinks they are lying. No one else in the house can see them. Are the visitations "real ghosts" or is the governess going mad?

No matter how much she wants to help, with every turn of the screw, the crisis worsens.

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton (4.8🌟)

This a is well written, gripping story. Three hundred years in the future, humanity has colonised over 400 hundred planets. This was possible due to the invention of wormhole technologies which allow people to travel through space without spaceships. Wormholes also allow faster, almost instant communication between planet's light years away. Humanity is enjoying immortality with rejuvenation treatments which reverse the ageing process, and re-life procedures ( resucitation!) in which digital copies of people consciousness and memories are uploaded into new bodies made with DNA information.

Anyway this is only a snippet of this universe created by Hamilton. The action kicks with the discovery of what seem to be Dyson Spheres enclosing two solar systems. A decision is made to travel more than one thousand light years to investigate them. Political, economic and scientific struggle arise from this decision, but the focus of the story is set on answering a couple of questions. What kind of civilisation could have the technology to build a dyson sphere? And why would they do that?

A Cyborg Manifesto. Science, technology and socialist feminism in the late twentieth century by Donna Haraway

Cyborg Manifesto is an essay on feminism, part of Simians, cyborgs and women. A book of essays on feminist theory.

I can't say I enjoyed this read. Its dense academic writing isn't easy to read. Add to that my ignorance of historical and theoretical context. Add to that, that after reading the introduction to the book (which I kind of enjoyed) I went on reading the first 3 essays (the plan was to read Cyborg Manifesto only) which discuss work on natural sciences in the late 19 century and early 20 century. Haraway explains how some reputed scientific work of the time was biased against women. Scientists applied socially constructed ideas on violence and dominance in their studies acknowledging them as natural. Can't say more because, not my thing...
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Skip to the Cyborg Manifesto,... I realised this essay doesn't discuss much (not as much as I had wished) the concept of cyborg. What it does (in my limited understanding) is to use, the concept of "cyborg", first to acknowledg the humanity of cyborgs (they are humans!), and second to emphasise the non-natural  aspects of their construction to use them as theoretical tools to improve modern world feminism. Ideas like "women should stay at home" or "women should be mothers" would not apply if we thought of ourselves as cyborgs. Why? Because cyborgs are not natural but constructed. Cyborgs can reconstruct themselves the way they want given the tools available in our time. (I wish I could develop this idea more but I can't ) Anyway I guess theorists such as Haraway used the concept of cyborg to dispute structures such as men dominance over women which are, I think, not natural.

I downloaded a pdf version of the book from my university library.
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Fun bit, Haraway, mentions science fiction authors such as Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ and Samuel R. Delany. .

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (4🌟)

Solaris is a science fiction novel. It is considered a classic of its genre. Originally published in Polish in 1961. It was translated to English by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox.

The story follows Kelvin, a psychologist who arrives at a space station orbiting Solaris. He finds the crew suffering from hallucinations or so he thinks. After one day or so Kelvin is visited by a a woman who resembles his wife. Only his wife has been dead for over a decade.

Throughout the story we see Kelvin's state of mind deteriorate while at the same time he does some research to understand what's going on on the planet. However I do not consider this novel a character study but an exploration of ideas.

This novel not only explores the emotional and psychological effects planet Solaris has on humans but also the strange ocean-like organism which seems to be the only inhabitant of the planet. There is also a fair amount of historical scientific accounts of in situ exploration and theories about the nature of the Solarian ocean. Is it sentient? Is it alive?

My edition is a paperback published by Faber and Faber in 2016. 214 pages.

The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi (4🌟)

Stories about a man who walks. Very little dialogue. This book is more about sensations than action. Beautiful city views and natural landscapes. The man goes out with his wife, dog or by himself to enjoy those little things in life most of us tend to ignore.

Not sure which story I liked the most. I liked all of them but I certainly liked some scenes more than others. For example where the walking man relaxes on a tree or when he helps an old lady or many in which he just wanders the streets with no clear purpose but to enjoy the walk.

East Asian Film Noir. Transnational Encounters and Intercultural Dialogue. Edited by Chi-Yun Shin and Mark Gallagher. (3.8🌟)

12 essays exploring East Asian Film Noir or at least with film noir elements.

My Favourite essays :

Chapter 1. Out of the past: film noir, whiteness and the end of the monochrome era in Japan by Daisuke Miyao. Discusses Jasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Twilight and Conflagration by Kon Ichikawa.

Chapter 2. Ghost in the Shell: the noir instinct by Dan North. Discusses noir elements in the anime films.

Chapter 11. Tony Leung's Noir Thrillers and Transnational Stardom by Mark Gallagher. On The famous chines actor's hability to portray noir characters. (You may know Tony Leung from the Infernal Affairs trilogy and In the Mood for Love)

Chapter 12. Double identity: the stardom of Xun Zhou and the Figure of the Femme Fatale by Chi-Yun Shin. On The actress's portrayal as femme fatale characters. (I've seen this actress before in The Banquet (2006) Now I'm more interested in seeing more of her filmography, particularly Suzhou River and Painted Skin.) #filmnoir #eastasianfilm #chiyunshin #markgallagher #readstagram #nonfictionbook #marzoasiatico

Chinese Science Fiction Short Stories (3.6🌟)

I read two science fiction short stories, publishes online on  Clarkesworld magazine, which I really enjoyed. I learned about them in a blog about chinese science fiction. Here the links:


Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight by XIA JIA, translated by KEN LIU

And

Wu Ding's Journey to the West by TANG FEI, translated by ANDY DUDAK

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (3.8🌟)

Siddhartha is the story of a man, son of a Brahmin (priest), who searches for enlightenment all his life. The novel relates important events in his life since he leaves his family to join the samana (people who abandon material possessions and their socialobligations in life). Siddhartha has an encounter with Gotama, the buddha, leaves the samana, to live a "normal" life, life he abandons after a few years as he feels dissatisfied with what he has become. In the final chapters of the book Siddhartha finds peace in the company of an old ferryman.

The above story may not sound exciting but I don't think this was the point of the book. To me the point was to reveal a man's inner thoughts as he observes the world that surrounds him, as he teaches what he knows and learns from others. Most importantly to show how a man (or woman? I guess) can choose spirituality over materiality and be happy. The novel provides some insights into Hinduism, Buddhism and their cosmology. I found the glossary, at the end of the book, pretty useful.  I think this an excellent read for anyone, who like me, wants to learn about Buddhism and the way Buddhists see the world.

My edition is a Penguin Modern Classics. It has 121 pages including an introduction by Paulo Coelho  and a glossary of indian terms.

The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro by Edogawa Rampo (4🌟)

The early cases of Akechi Kogoro is a collection of 4 short stories. Actually it's 3 short stories and one long story. The stories were originally written in Japanese in 1925 and 1926, and were translated by William Varteresian.

The stories follow a detective called Akechi Kogoro solving crimes in a style which reminds me of Sherlock Holmes.

Kogorõ is some sort of private detective who works with the police. Two stories in this book relate murder cases. There is also kidnapping and stalking. The detective gets involved in the cases by chance or is called by the victims or relatives. There is always a veil of mystery around Kogorõ. He sometimes disappears for days to follow suspects or run enquiries.  He investigates crime scenes with great attention to detail and puts together facts and evidence using logic. I loved the way each of the cases is solved, particularly the one in the last and longest story.

Rampo does not reveal much about Kogoro apart from his detective work. We don't know much about his life except that he lives on his own in a rented room and that he likes to read. Despite this I found the  detective a likable and interesting character.

1. The Case of the murder on D. Hill. - a woman is killed inside a bookshop
2. The Black Hand Gang - a kidnapped girl
3. The Ghost - a dead man wants revenge
4. The Dwarf - a young rich woman disappears and her parents ask Kogorõ to find her.

My edition was published by Kurodahan press in 2014. It comes with an introduction and endnotes. 201 pages.

Robo Sapiens Japanicus. Robots, gender, family and the Japanese nation by Jennifer Robertson (4.8🌟)

I discovered this book back in 2019 at the AI exhibition at the Barbican centre. I first grabbed the book because of its title. I love everything Japanese and I am always interested in reading about technology, particularly about robots, cyborgs and transhumanism. But then I read the synopsis in the back cover and I almost jumped when I saw that it was an ethnography and a sociocultural study. This is my preferred, if  not favourite, approach to reading about technology.

Anyway, the book did not disappoint. It was a great read. Before reading the book I had always been curious about how the japanese seemed to manage a perfect balance between tradition and culture on one side and modernity on the other.  Two opposites in my mind. I wondered about how the Japanese society could be so open to so much technology everywhere, in real life and in fiction  (books,  anime,  games). Now, after reading Robo Sapiens Japanicus I have a much better idea. 

Robertson explains how the government has been promoting Innovation 25, a plan to modernise Japan adopting even more technology at home including domestic robots. She tracks down the foundations of this plan to events and policies in the 1940s, including the use of Manga characters to disseminate the government's discourse about how Japanese family should be.   Robertson thoroughly analyses the historical and cultural elements, and motivations of the government to promote such a discourse in the present. One of the motivations that got stuck in my head is that the use of robots in households will encourage Japanese women to have babies. Obviously the government is worried about the ageing population and believe women will opt to have a family if they are freed from the burden of domestic work (which can be carried out  by robots). This "solution" seems simplistic to say the least. As Robertson explains, there are sociocultural and historical reasons why women nowadays are refusing to have babies and even marry.

There is much more in this book, embodiment and gender, robot rights, cyborgs, etc. 

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in technologies from a sociocultural perspective.

The book was published by University of California press in 2018. 192 pages of content plus extensive notes, bibliography and notes. 

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (4🌟)

Jamaica Inn is a gothic novel set in early 19th century in the south of England. It contains elements of thriller despite its slow paced narrative.

Mary Yellan moves with her aunt and her husband at Jamaica Inn, a dreadful place where horrible things happen. No one dares to stop by or even talk about it. Evil lives there. The young womam arrives at the inn, ignorant and naive. Du Maurier sets the mood of the story right away. Dark, gloomy, unwelcoming. At the inn she is received by a horrible bad mannered man, her uncle and a fearful woman. Her aunt has changed a lot. She has aged and is not the shadow of her former lively self. Slowly the author uncovers bits and pieces about the characters's personalities and their secrets. Mary regrets her decision to go live with her aunt. Now she wants to leave and take the old lady with her. However this might prove impossible after she witnesses some frightening events.

Opinion: not as good as Rebecca or My Cousin Rachel but I liked it a lot. Although the story is gripping I found it hard to read more than 2 or 3 chapters a day. Most of the story revolves around the relationship between the protagonist and her horrid uncle as she comes to know about what he does for a living. However there are few scenes between them, including a couple which are crucial. I think I liked this as it kept the mystery of the uncle alive throughout the novel. Loved the atmosphere and the setting. The moors the marsh and the isolation of the Inn. There was another creepy character who caught my attention and who was at heart of the mystery of the novel. During Maurier kept me wandering about their role and motivations until the end.

My edition is another hardback published by Virago in its Virago Modern Classics collection. It has 302 pages and includes an introduction  y Sarah Dunant which I enjoyed reading.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke (4🌟)

This is science fiction at its best. The novel relies on the strength of Ideas, all of which could be possible. Ideas about aliens and our evolution. About space travel and exploration. And about Artificial Intelligence, consciousness and sentience.

The story stars with ape men and a huge monolith. Aliens teaching apes how to use tools. Fast forward hundreds of thousands of years and we have humanity exploring the solar system and finding a monolith hidden in the moon. Who built it and why did they leave it there? More happens and then there is evidence of another monolith in one of saturn moons. Now, a small crew is sent to explore in a state of the art spaceship guided by an artificial intelligence called HAL.

My beautiful edition is from the Folio Society with 209 pages.

The Brain. The Story of You by David Eagleman (3.6🌟)

The Brain. The Story of You is a non technical journey through the various aspects of the brain and how those aspects shape us and our way of living. 

Very interesting read. It explains how the brain works, how we become what we are, how it perceives reality, how we control our body and actions and how we make decisions.

I particularly liked chapter 5 Do I need you? There is a section explaining how the human brain is wired to be social. How humans come together into groups to survive. It also explains how humans are also selective and look for similarities between them. This discussion led the author to explain, to a certain extent, how humans can become genocidal.

I also enjoyed the last chapter, chapter 6, which deals with fixing and or replacing senses as well as creating new ones, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Immortality. .

Hokusai by Shotaro Ishinomori (4🌟)

Hokusai is a biographical manga about the life of the famous Japanese artist.

The story is told in a non chronological order. Chapters jump from the artists young age to his last year's,  back to his beginnings, and so forth. I found this a bit confusing at the beginning but got used to it pretty quickly.  The extraordinary quality of the art helped me to immerse into each chapter's setting and follow the story. However I still don't understand the reasons why Ishinomori chose to tell the story this way.

Hokusai was man devoted to his art. Worked tirelessly to create a style of his own. Interested not much in the money but in the art per se. About growing as an artist. However there was also another side to his personality, in love with every woman he saw, he found happiness at moments but also lived a solitary life in others. Not that he cared much because he always had his art with him. Great biography with a good balance of personal and professional views on the artist as well as historical context to enrich the story. Oh I loved short inserts of humour which made the experience more enjoyable.

I would like to praise the quality of the art, particularly the way Hokusai was depicted at different ages. From early adulthood to his last moments I could tell the illustrations were of the same man without having to read the text. Also at various points during the story Ishinomori inserted replicas of Hokusai's art, including 2 or 3 images of "36 Views of Mount Fuji" which I loved.

My edition is a beautiful hardback published by Panini Manga, in spanish. It has 589 pages.