The Island by Ragnar Jónasson

Sequel to The Darkness. Super quick, Great read!!!!

The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson

This novel grabbed my attention because of its protagonist. A 64yo female detective about to retire who decides to investigate the death of Russian asylum seeker. The girl's death had been dismissed as suicide but the detective is not sure about that. 

First time I read about an old female detective. The novel has everything, her (old fashioned) detective work, past trauma and the psychological effects of her imminent retirement. She cannot imagine life without her job. A super interesting protagonist, a gripping murder mystery and a quick read.

The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis by David J. Chalmers in Science Fiction and Philosophy from Time Travel to Superintelligence Ed Susan Schneider

This a 47 page paper originally published in Journal of Conscious Studies 2010. It looks into the possibility of a Singularity and its impact on humanity which may “force us to think hard about values and morality and about consciousness and personal identity.” 

A singularity involves an intelligence explosion and possibly a (technology) speed explosion. However in order to determine if there will be an intelligence explosion we “need to understand what intelligence is and whether machines might have it.” The paper discusses how we are far from understanding how a brain works, how it can be intelligent, and be conscious. We are slowly progressing in understanding the mechanics of the brain but we don’t know what makes it conscious. 

The author makes a distinction between AI (human-level AI), AI+ (artificial intelligence more intelligent than us) and AI++ (super unimaginable artificial intelligence) and discusses ways to achieve them. For example by brain emulation, brain enhancement, or direct programming or machine learning. In terms of the possible consequences of a Singularity we need to explore our role in it. Chalmers predicts 4 possible outcomes: Extinction: which is obviously undesirable Isolation: which is unattractive akin to cultural and technological isolation Inferiority: could diminish the significance of our lives. Integration: we become superintelligent too.

Chalmers supports integration (of course) and proposes ways to achieve it through Uploading. Uploading means making a digital copy of the brain in processes which could or not destroy the original brain. Questions which arise are: Will an uploaded version of me be conscious? And Will it be me? Excellent Thought Provoking Read.

Machine by Elizabeth Bear

This the second White Space Novel. The first is Ancestral Night which I read a few months ago. I think Machine is slightly better than Ancestral Night. 

This novel explores the effects a malevolent software meme has on Artificial Intelligence and on the Synarche, a galactic society comprised of hundreds of alien races and including Artificial Sentience. The quick spread of the virus takes by surprise the staff of a galactic hospital which is run by AI and by organic beings with artificial implants which can also be infected. The ramifications of a virus infestation of a galactic scale are very well explored and are food for thought. I also found it interesting how the Synarche considers organic and Artificial life equal (except that AI have to pay for the price of their creation by working) in rights and in wrongs. AI can also be reported for crimes. Also, as the story involves the rescue of an ancient human generation ship we are able compare old humans' mindset with the synarche's advanced way of thinking. At the same time we question the synarche's use of "rightminding" in their citizens to correct sociopathies and any way of thinking which threatens their society. We realise that rightminding can be used as a way for social control and brainwashing but the synarche's citizens see it too?

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

I found about this novel (and The Cement Garden, which I already read) in a YouTube video about disturbing books. Go check Plagued by Visions "Most disturbing books Series" Playlist. This book is OK but I think the Cement Garden is better. Both are very well written with a nice compelling prose. But I prefer the subject matter and the overall story in the Cement Garden. 

The story follows a couple on holidays Mary and Colin. We don't know where but we follow them in their utterly boring holiday activities and conversations. That is until the couple meet Robert, a local. Robert starts an interesting conversation about his childhood. I thought OK now things are getting interesting. But then we go back to Mary and Colin dull selves. 🥱 However near the end things get more interesting again and *freaking disturbing* with Robert and his wife flipping around an otherwise meh story. I think this novel is worth reading just for its twisted, mad ending. And it is only 100 pages.

Science Fiction and Philosophy. Edited by Susan Schneider. Part III Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and Superintelligent.

I read the first half of this Part which comprises: 

1.Robot Dreams. A well-known short story by Isaac Asimov with Susan Calvin as protagonist. It explores the dangers sentience in robots may bring to humanity. 

2. A Brain Speaks by Andy Clark - a short story (?). It reads like a monologue by a Brain explaining how its Person, John, is unable to understand how his brain works and how alien it would seem if John could actually see or understand it. 

3. Cyborgs Unplugged by Andy Clark. The chapter starts by suggesting that rather than building artificial earth-like environments for space exploration we should look into the alteration of humans to cope with the demands of space. Clark starts this way to make a point of how our future lays in space and how to better adapt to it. The essay then discusses cybernetics (the study of self-regulating systems by control and communication), homeostatic systems (mechanisms which correct deviations in a system by dragging them back to original settings), and the cyborg (cyber organism) which contains "exogenous components extending the self-regulating control function of the organism in order to adapt it to new environments". Some examples of cybernetic implants are given, in animals and humans. The author reflects on how these technologies could be deeply and fluidly integrated with the organisms and the profound transformation in our lives, projects and live-styles. The case of cognitive systems is discussed in which integration is not as important as the “fluidity of information” between organism and machine. To exemplify this Clark presents the case of airline pilots piloting airplanes with computers which are able to make decisions. This situation could be thought of as humans becoming part of a temporal cyborg system in which the information flows from the computer to the pilot. Clark makes a case for a kind of cyborg which does not need implants or any alien technological device inside the body. Using tools from cybernetics he describes cyborgs using (electronic) tools outside the body, so integrated in their everyday life that they are "invisible in-use" making it difficult tell where the "person stops" and where the "smart world begins". In fact our brains need not extra effort to work this way because they are already doing it, for example by receiving inputs from body subsystems which operate unconsciously while holding a pen to write. In fact a lot of our activities are "invisible in-use" to the brain. This could be thought of as symbiotic relationships which “expand and alter the shape of the psychological process that make us who we are". Because of this Clark thinks that humans are "natural-born cyborgs". 

4. Superintelligence and Singularity by Ray Kurzweil. Actually this is the first chapter of Kurzweil’s famous book The Singularity is Near: When Humans transcend biology. Here Kurzweil explains how according to him, the evolution of technology grows in an exponential fashion rather than linear. This means that the more our technology progresses the faster it evolves. See for example how in the 19th and first part of the 20th century science and technology generation lasted more than one human lifetime whereas now several generations of science and technology could happen within one human generation. A point of interest within the exponential curve is the knee of the curve, where imperceptive growth turns to explosive growth. The knee of the curve will certainly reached when we achieve a technological singularity. Kurzweil emphasises crucial role the exponential nature of technological development has for forecasting or speculating on the (short or far) future. The chapter follows by dividing earth’s (and human) progress in 6 epochs: 

1. Physics and Chemistry: atoms to form molecules and so on. 

2. Biology and DNA: DNA appears and with it life. 

3. Brains: creation of information processing mechanisms. 

4. Technology: from simple mechanisms to super computers. 

5. The Merger of Human Technology with Human Intelligence: kicked by the Singularity. It will “enable our human-machine civilisation to transcend the human brain’s limitations of a mere hundred trillion extremely slow connections.” 6. The Universe Wakes Up: human (biological and technological) intelligence will spread to the rest of the universe.

The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray

The first line in the synopsis says “In the Madness of Crowds" Douglas Murray investigates the great derangement of ‘woke’ culture and rise of identity politics. And yes that is what the book attempts to do. First by providing brief historical overviews, then by providing contemporary, current examples of “madness” and finally by drawing out conclusions. 

The book is divided in 4 chapters or Themes. Each Theme is at the same time a category (segment, kind…) of people, a political statement (an ideology, ) and according to Murray a source of division and fights. The chapters are: 

1. Gay 

2. Women 

3. Race 

4. Trans 

All these themes touch on historical discriminations and battles fought and won. Rights conceded, respected and awareness established. Murray says there is so much work to do and the situation is not yet perfect but it is better than before. However, according to him, instead of finding peace these groups turn to use the tactics of oppression previously used by their oppressors. I could summarise the main message this book tries to convey in: 

The “Woke” movement is a dogmatic movement. A religion supporting a metaphysical understanding of our societies. Concepts such as Social Justice, Identity Politics and Intersectionality are not based on facts and have brought division rather than solved problems. 

Sexuality is an unstable thing to base "identity" on. 

The LGBT Community is divided. It is not a cohesive group. There are historical rivalries inside. The LGTB label is not a good foundation for a Liberal society. 

1. In Gay, Murray highlights how western societies have changed their understanding of certain phenomena. For example, now, when a straight person turns out to be gay, people say they have found their truth. However, when a gay person turns straight the interpretation is that there is something wrong with that person. This way of thinking is new and completely opposite to the one existing only a few decades ago. Murray also highlights the way Gay activists have worked for years to prove (convince?) that gay is a “hardware” issue (they are born this way) and not a software issue (a result of cultural influence). The last bit in chapter 1 discusses Marxism and other (postmodernist?) theories (e.g. Foucault’s Power) which are used as foundations to develop interpretations of reality by some social scientists. Murray mentions Judith Buttler, Peggy McIntosh and particularly Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe whose work, widely cited, is one of the main foundations of today’s identity politics. They call for a reinterpretation of “class struggle” by identifying a new class(es) of “exploited” people such as: women, racial and sexual minorities, anti-nuclear and anti-institutional movements. Murray draws a consistent argument criticising the those theories as lacking solid foundations, which do not answer any questions nor make any predictions and which cannot be falsified. In an effort to prove how the social sciences (I didn’t like the generalisation) are lacking rigour he exposes a couple of cases of academics led by Peter Boghossian who submitted (bogus) articles to peer-reviewed social sciences journals, articles which where accepted, published and then removed when the editors realised they had been victims of a “joke”. One of the articles was titled “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct”… draw your own conclusions. 

2. In Women, Murray starts by showing how, perceptions of sexual behaviour towards women have changed in recent years. He presents some examples from Hollywood personalities doing things in public which were found funny less than 10 years ago, but which if done now, would be subject of criticism. Other cases are presented in which feminist women fighting against male privilege, and other social barriers actually owning a series of privileges which they themselves do not acknowledge. In his discussion of feminism Murray states that the latest feminist waves lack the focus and clarity of the first 2 waves. Women then fought for tangible rights and triumphed. Murray particularly criticises the sector within the feminist movement which take on intersectionality and presents some examples which showcase their contradictions. 

3. The Race chapter made me think a lot. Murray talks about Martin Luther King and his ideals focusing on colour blindness: “people should not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of the character”. The author contrasts King’s ideals with today’s race campaigns. There are a lot of examples of incidents given in this chapter some of them in universities, places where everyone should be free to speak their ideas. Hard stories but also sad showing bullies, racists, violent, intransigent people unwilling to debate. What all these stories had in common, from my POV, is how colossal the rage of black people is. I felt more rage in this chapter than in the others. And I am not sure if this is a consequence of social justice activism only but I think that the non-black side of society can do much more to help than what it is doing at the moment. 

4. Trans was the most difficult chapter to read for me. Not because it was too technical, because it wasn’t, but because of the examples shown truly justified Murray’s choice of “the Madness of Crowds” as a title for his book. The pronoun issue was the least problematic issue he discussed. However, the issue of trans surgery on children hit me hard. Among all letters in LGBT, T is the “least certain and destabilising of all”. There has been little if any study of transgenderism. Murray criticises trans activists who instead on focusing on paving the road by clarifying this issue: by focusing on intersex people, a matter know for decades if not centuries and which is a physical, tangible fact, a hardware issue, instead of focusing on intersex, trans activists practically ignore them and focus on the software issue, on people who “say” they are in the wrong body, something that is hard to prove, and difficult to study. Certainly there could be more than one answer to this phenomenon, but activists insist on only one solution, drugs and surgery which are irreversible. On top of that there is the metaphysical layer of constructs which is intended to support why identity can contradict physical reality. For example man who can become a woman by only saying “I’m a woman”.

While Murray does a good job portraying the Madness of social justice, identity politics and intersectional activism, I think this was, perhaps, no more than one side of the picture. If this is a war (a cultural war) and we are presented in detail the contradictions of one of the sides, where is the other side and what (good or bad) are they doing? 

This is a good book and a recommend everyone to read it. However I'd like to read more about other perspectives ... 

Hokusai by Rhiannon Paget

An excellent overview of Hokusai's art in a beautiful book. The writing is good, not too detailed. I think this could be a good introductory book to anyone who doesn't know anything about the artist. The book contains a nice selection of prints including the Great Wave. Though this isn't a biography we are given a few glimpses of the artist's life, like how he changed his artistic name many times and that he painted almost until the end of his life,when he was 90!

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

I did it! I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and I liked it, sort of. 

This is not a text book or written in an academic style. However it requires concentration because the "topic" is a complex one. I cannot say that I am able to explain what genes, chromosomes and DNA are to anyone but I now have a basic idea of how they came to existence, evolved and work in our bodies. I guess this will be useful in further readings on the topic. 

I enjoyed reading the first half of the book. It got difficult when Dawkins inserted probabilities into his explanations on how genes interact. I got lost tbh. But then I read the chapter on Memes which I thoroughly enjoyed. A Meme is a "unit of cultural transmission " and Dawkins explains how it works using Genes as an analogy. It was Brilliant!

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

Dark, fast paced, psychological, crime thriller. I said dark, but I mean darker than dark. This is a trilogy in one book which deals with extreme cases of abuse and mental illness. The plot got me so hooked I couldn't put it down. I don't know how to explain its appeal other than its obscure atmosphere, dark characters and several twists which compelled me to read more and more. On the negative side, I found holes in the plot and the characters' backgrounds. I also felt some sections of the books were randomly inserted, kind of disconnected from the rest of the narrative. I appreciated the 2 main characters, a police detective and a psychologist, both strong females but appart from them the rest of good guys felt flat. 

The treatment of abuse, mental illness and crime seemed realistic enough to be credible but on reflection I think it might have portrayed a narrow view of reality suggesting a causal relationship between them: abuse ends up in mental illness and crime.... I'm not a psychologist though. 

Anyway, the trilogy isn't perfect but I liked it enough to recommend it (provided you like dark thrillers). This is the kind of read I could enjoy because I was able to ignore its issues.

H.P. Lovecraft The Mysterious Man behind the Darkness by Charlotte Montague

A very informative and entertaining biography. It covers Lovecraft personal life, his writings and his friends. Just under 200 pages, including photographs, illustrations and excerpts from Lovecraft's correspondence. It also includes summaries of his most reputed work. I only read the summaries of the stories I had already read and skipped the others because they contained spoilers. 

 After reading this biography I think that Lovecraft was a natural writer, it was in his blood, and also, he wasn't good at doing other things. His life revolved around his stories and his writer friends. Now I feel compelled to read his letters. 

At the end of the book, in chapter 15, Montague mentions work by modern authors who have contributed to the Cthulhu Mythos, including Jorge Luis Borges (who wrote "There are More Things" with a Lovecraftian syle) and Neil Gaiman (who wrote "I Cthulhu", in which Cthulhu dictates his biography to a human). I read both short stories and enjoyed them as well. 😃 There is also a section on films from which I have added: Re-animator by Gordon (1985), In the Mouth of Madness (1994) by Carpenter and The Call of Cthulhu (2005) by Leman and Branney in my to watch list.

Pickman's Model by H.P. Lovecraft

😱😱😱😰 One of the most well known short stories by Lovecraft. This is story number 48 for me. I'm reading the stories in order (H.P. Lovecraft Complete Fiction). Although I have enjoyed most of them, I remember only a few of them, maybe 10? (The Outsider, The Music of Eric Zann, Under the Pyramids, The Call of Cthulhu...) I'm happy Pickman's Model made a good impression on me and I think the story will stay with me for a while... or should I say the Model? 😱

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

This is a super-duper famous, best seller crime thriller novel which, like many well-known novels, has been adapted to film. Not my favourite crime novel but an unputdownable, enjoyable book. (My favourite crime books at the moment are: Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino, Alex by Pierre Lemaitre and the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson.) 

The story follows a man, Nick Dunne, whose wife, Amy Elliot Dunne, disappears on their 5th wedding anniversary. Their house was found with obvious signs of struggle. The police gets involved and through their investigation they uncover clues which incriminate Nick. At the same time Nick is doing his own investigation by “playing” the treasure hunt his wife has left for him. Treasure hunt is a tradition for them but Nick thinks this one is different, kind of odd. The novel is structured as alternating chapters with Amy’s and Nick’s point of views, which worked well to keep me hooked to the story. The two or three twists through the first two thirds of the novel were fun but I found the ending anti-climactic and unsatisfying.

La Grande Bretèche by Honorè de Balzac

Short tale with an old creepy house which hasn't been touched in many years as per instructions of its last owner. We get a lost Spaniard, a dying woman and a crucifix. How are they connected to the house?

Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon

A First Contact story with one of the best protagonists I have read in recent years.💙 💜 💖 💗 

Ofelia was not allowed to have a proper education, she is old and thought useless. Despised by her family she is a burden. However she can teach anyone a thing or two about empathy and human culture. A lot of food for though here. At some point I thought who is more alien the "Aliens" or the other humans how treat Ofelia like she is useless. Themes: feminism, value of elderly people, education v life experience, slavery.

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

Beautiful prose, one that glues the reader to the book.🌟🌟🌟🌟 A kind of distorted coming of age story which follows a 15 year old boy. After they are orphaned, Jack, his sisters and younger brother decide to stay on their own, isolated from the world. The novel explores the protagonist’s feelings regarding his late parents, his relationship with his siblings and his sexual desires toward his older sister. There are some disturbing passages but I don’t think this is a horror story. It unveils the dark corners of a child’s mind who is trying to discover who he is amid the aftermath of the greatest loss in his life. Thought some of the actions by the kids may be seen as morally shocking I wonder how much of that shock is socially constructed (as opposed to innate). We, the readers, are bound by an intricate moral system which frames our assessment. Left to their own devices the kids are able to escape those boundaries and build their own, perhaps simpler, moral system....

The Eden Paradox Series by Barry Kirwan

This is a 4 book series. The Eden Paradox was great fun. 🚀🚀🚀🗼  I enjoyed it thoroughly despite some space mines I found on the way. Book One starts on earth in the near future. A mission has been sent to planet Eden to assess its condition as a future home world for humanity. After WWIII humans have only a few years to escape the devastated planet. Short story long… Eden isn’t uninhabited and humans are in danger of being annihilated. Book 1 then reveals a much bigger universe than only Earth and Eden. There are hundreds of species in the galaxy organized under a socio-political system called the grid which classifies species according to their level of intelligence, the highest being level 19.. and humans being level 3. As humans struggle to escape from the Q’Roth they have to face more dangers from the grid and beyond. It took me a bit more than 3 weeks to complete the 1474 pages but this was no problem as the books are super entertaining and gripping. However I should mention one of the problems I found in the narrative, and that was the depiction of interpersonal relationships. I thought they were lousy and clumsy. At a macro level, alliances and frictions within the grid seemed fine and were convincing. However, the micro level, love and family relationships felt awkward, some dialogues made me cringe. As I was enjoying the overall story I chose to ignore them.

Quiet. The Power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by Susan Cain

E x c e l l e n t ! Guess what, I’m an introvert and my husband too. This book made me understand how some of my introvert traits work and how some of those traits aren’t bad at all. It has some theory on psychology and real life examples to complement. 

Cain says that our (western) society has been designed to favour extroverted personalities. That is why in many cases introverted people either feel they cannot fit in or have to pretend to be extroverted to blend in. This causes great mental and physical strain on them. Cain explains how long-term studies focusing on the brain’s Amygdala were able to identify babies and children who were high-reactive to external stimuli. Most of those children grew up to become introverts. 

Cain draws a line between Introversion and concepts such as shyness (fear of failure or rejection), social anxiety (chronic disabling form of shyness). Introversion is not a handicap it only means that people prefer to be on their own, have time to think or make decisions. Something I found very interesting is how Brainstorming, very popular in management for example and thought to be an efficient way to induce creative ideas, “doesn’t actually work.” Several studies show how performance “gets worse as group size increases” even if the groups are comprised mostly by extroverts. Another point against brainstorming (or any other group or collaboratively activities) is that the extroverts’s ideas are given more importance as they are the ones who speak the most but not necessarily the ones with the better ideas. Introverts could be more creative and come up with better ideas if they were allowed to work alone. 

There is more: introvert children, extrovert-introvert relationships (couples and parents-children) and introverts at work. Read the book!

Night without stars by Peter F Hamilton

🚀🚀🚀🚀 Second and final book in the Chronicle of the Fallers duology. I couldn't put it down! Super interesting, engaging story. A writing style which allows supersonic speed reading. Interesting concepts and characters some of which are immortal thanks to advancements in genetics, mind transfer, cloning and biononics (biological and electronic implants and augmentations). I found the ending satisfactory but I wouldn't have minded a darker end to the story. Not a perfect book but a great one.

The Man who found out by Algernon Blackwood.

Nice horror story. Hmmm Not real horror but fun to read. A man goes mad after deciphering the ancient tablets of God which answer the most important questions humanity had asked.

The Abyss beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton

🚀🚀🚀🚀 Book 1 in the Chronicle of the Fallers duology, which is part of the Commonwealth Saga. Loved 99% of it! Wasn't too keen on the pre-industrial setting in the Bienvenido planet, but Hamilton's gripping narrative meant I couldn't put the book down. Hamilton's storytelling never disappoints. After the Commonwealth saga and the Void trilogy we get even more interesting stuff, the universe, the science, the technology and the characters. So far Nigel Sheldon is one of my favourite scifi characters. He's lived for over 1 thousand years, in many bodies, sometimes digitised, always doing interesting things. I loved his first appearance in Pandora's Star and in this novel we see a different facet of his.

Chaos. The Truth behind the Manson Murders by Tom O’Neill

An excellent true crime book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kept me hooked since page one. I learned about this book by chance when I clicked on a suggested video on YouTube. It was a Konkrete channel interview with Tom O’Neill. It was so interesting I ordered the book right away. While I waited for the book to be delivered I found more interviews, one on Spotify in Joe Rogan’s podcast. 

The book. The book isn’t a recollection of the gory, appalling actions of the Manson family though it includes a quick overview of the events (their activities before the murders, the murders, police investigation and the trial) in chapter one. The rest of the book dissects the investigation, the trial and much more. It raises serious questions about the scrupulousness, truthfulness and morality of the people and organisations involved. Here some interesting data I would like to highlight: 

People who knew Manson and family before the murders and who probably [influenced/manipulated] them: 

David Smith - opened the Haight-Ashbury free medical clinic HAFMC to provide health care to hippies. His research involved injecting rats (or mice) with amphetamines and LSD and keeping them in confinement. The animals would turn violent and kill each other. Questions are raised about Smith running similar tests on the Manson family and other hippies. 

Roger Smith – Manson’s parole officer. He was a Berkley school of criminology, doctoral student: researching the links between drug use and violent behaviour. At Haight clinic he carried out a study on amphetamines and their role in the violent behaviour of Haight-Ashbury hippies. The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health 9 (NIMH) a CIA funding front. He used participant-observation.  

Louis Jolyon West – part of the CIA's MK Ultra, doing Mind Control experiments with hypnosis, LSD and other drugs. His aim was to make people commit actions against their moral values then forget what they had done. Involved in JFK assassination case, ran an assessment on Jack Ruby which left Ruby insane. He was given an office at the Haight clinic and set up a hippy pad. Instructed students to join hippie communities and use drugs. O’Neill couldn’t prove he had met Manson but just his presence at the clinic at the same time Manson was attending consultation there is suspicious. 

Acquaintances: 

Terry Melcher - owned a record company. Friends with Denis Wilson (The Beach Boys). Told Manson about the possibility for record contract but then backed off. O'Neill found that he lied at the trial, saying that he hadn't seen Manson after the murders (to confirm Bugliosi's story that one of the motives for the killings was to scare Melcher.) From interviews O’Neill confirmed that Melcher had been at Manson's ranch 3 times after the murders. O’Neill relates other inaccuracies (or lies) by witnesses at the trial.

The Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi – well respected and famous for having convicted Manson and the family and most importantly for having written Helter Skelter, and account of the Manson case which is one of the best selling true crime books in history. O’Neill uncovers several lies and manipulations he had done to fabricate his narrative for the trial. Most of it is related in Bugliosi’s book. To confirm Bugliosi as a corrupt, liar and a dangerous person, the author further reveals some incidents in Bugliosi’s past. The Police: O’Neill proves incompetence (or manipulation) by several police officers which indicated maybe a cover up. 

Links to Government Organisations 

COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) ran by the FBI and CHAOS, an illegal surveillance programme run by the CIA – both programmes had the aim to fight, silence or destroy leftist movements in the USA. For example, the hippie movement which promoted Peace or anti-war ideas. Both programmes where created in 1967 the same year Manson was released from prison from a previous crime. Both programmes had agents working in the same areas where Manson operated. With the evidence he uncovered O’Neill drew several connections to the Manson case. 

The MK Ultra a secrete programme by the CIA which ran since the 50s aimed to run experiments to mind control people. O’Neill links the MK Ultra with the Manson case via Louis Jolyon West.

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

A super interesting, gripping, thought provoking science fiction novel. ❤💙💜💖  Deals with Artificial Intelligence, transhumanism, identity and ancient alien artifacts. I loved Haimey, the protagonist because 1. She was a very interesting character, enthusiastic and a strong woman, 2. She was a transhuman with inserts in her brain which allowed her (and her ship's AI) to control her mood and emotions so she could be more efficient. Her memory had been tampered with after traumatic events in her past, something we learn halfway through the story. In one passage a pirate questions her identity as a human and if she was really Haimey (or if Haimey was trapped inside her behind her mind controlling devices). The pirate asked if she would be better off without her brain implants allowing her real self to arise without artificial control.

The Master Key by Masako Togawa

A fun, mystery novel. 🧐🧐🧐🧐 Short, quick to read and gripping. It felt like reading a jigsaw puzzle. It starts with a crime and a body being buried somewhere in an apartment complex. Then we are given the pieces of the puzzle in each chapter. We go back at different points in time to see what the women in the building were up to. Each of them had secrets of their own but are they connected to the murder?

Machines like me by Ian McEwan

A really enjoyable read. Reminded me of Galatea 2.2 but instead of an AI in a Computer here we get an AI in an Android called Adam. Like in Galatea we see more about the AI's human owner, Charlie, than we see of the AI. We meet Charlie's girlfriend who's got a dark secret. And how Charlie, his girlfriend and Adam form an unusual family, with Adam trying to learn how to be human. All this happens in an alternative 1980s Britain where Alan Turing is still alive and were mobile phones already exist.

The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction edited by Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts and Sherryl Vint

Ch27. Posthumanism and Cyborg Theory by Veronica Hollinger – this essay discusses ideas of intellectuals such as Katherine Hayles and Donna Haraway (and a bit of Foucault) regarding the concept and the role of the posthuman in today’s, technocultural societies. It asks the question what are we? According to Hayles some discourses tend to define humanity as information patterns giving the human body a secondary role, as carrier of the mind. According to Haraway the concept of “cyborg” helps us to blur the differences between the human (nature) and the machine (culture). Thanks to that we can beat those rules which have been historically enforced to us because they were “natural” rules. For example, the role of women in society as mothers. The essay mentions a few Science Fiction works such as He, She and It by M. Piercy, Schismatrix by B. Sterling and Air by Geoff Ryman. 

Ch32. Virtuality by Thomas Foster. This was a difficult read because of the language and the reference to previous philosophical work. Foster discusses the term Virtuality not only in relation with technologies but with our everyday life. For example the Virtuality in writing and reading. Foster quotes Hansen (2004) "far from being a synonym of the digital, the virtual must be understood as the capacity, so fundamental to human existence, to be in excess of one's actual state". Foster draws connections between Virtuality and the concept of Cyberspace (a narrower term specific to the use of technology coined by William Gibson) citing well known SF works such as Gibson's Neuromancer, Gwyneth Jone's North Wind and Damien Broderick's The Judas Mandala (where Broderick uses the term virtual reality for the first time). The text turns very complicated as Foster introduces the work of Katherine Hayle. He quotes her definition of Virtuality "the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns." Hayles sees the opposition between materiality and information as a duality or dichotomy in which Information is privileged over materiality. The text ends with a reference to Richard Morgan's Alter Carbon (a novel/trilogy I've wanted to read for some time now). 

Ch22. Feminisms by Jane Donawerth - provides a brief overview of feminist theory and the history of feminism: first, second and third (or postfeminist or postmodern...) waves. Since the 1600s and 1700s women have written about their rights to education and to preach (e.g. Women's speaking justified by Margaret Fell, 1666). SF (?) Fiction mentioned: The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World by Margaret Cavendish (1666). During the 19th century and early 20th century women fought for property rights, sexuality and enfranchisement. Mentioned SF references are feminist technological utopias (e.g. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, 1915), critiqued housewife oppression as they saw women confined in comfortable concentration camps (e.g. The Heat Death of the Universe by Pamela Zoline, 1967), The Women Men don't see by James Tiptree Jr, 1973). The 1970s saw a development of Women's studies and a resurrection of feminist utopias (e.g. The female man by Joanna Russ, 1975; The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri Tepper, 1988) and slave narratives (e.g. Kindred by Octavia Butler, 1979; Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland, 1975). In the third wave, postmodernist thinkers questioned earlier feminist theories with for example proposing an interlocking matrix of identity for women (Collins, 1989) and intersectionality (Collins, 1999) which examines the intersection of science, gender, race and ethnicity. Donna Haraway (1985) proposed that "we live in a postmodern society where are all cyborgs and we should begin dreaming a monstrous world that is postgender ... The cyborg, the sf part-human/part-machine fantasy that is rapidly becoming our reality, represents 'transgressed boundaries' and unsettles the concept of heterosexuality as natural" (1991). (Works mentioned: Drinking sapphire wine by Tanith Lee, 1977; Dreaming Metal by Melissa Scott, 1995; The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherry, 1982 and others). 

Ch51. Feminist SF by Gwyneth Jones - this short essay recounts the literary devices Feminist SF writers have used in the past: e.g. imaginary domains where women are capable of governance, where women are morally superior, where women are intelligent; utopias and dystopia; role reversal; stories with destructive value systems (subjection of women, violence); catastrophe that wipes the male population; multiverse stories; stories where women and men are equal, and more. Works I am interested in checking are Gateway by Frederick Pohl (which they say a feminist work), and James Tiptree's work. There is an entire paragraph dedicated to Tiptree and how the revelation as "him" being a woman resulted in a decline of her reputation, and a decline of Mainstream SF interest in feminism. 

Ch53. Hard SF by David N. Samuelson - this essay tries to define Hard Science Fiction, what it involves and doesn't, not necessarily in literary terms but in terms of the Science reflected in the stories. Hard SF requires a plausible and reasonable connection with Science and technology. This means that the Science and technology depicted need not to be real but believable, connected in some way to reality. This may involve rigorous scientific knowledge by the writer. The essay explains that the term Hard SF was first used in the late 1950s when SF began to emphasise social and psychological issues. Another important thing I learned, or maybe confirmed, was the lack of Female Hard SF writers. The world of Hard SF seems to be centralised in English speaking countries and is predominantly written by men. Samuelson explains that "males seem statistically more fascinated with looking under the hood and taking mechanisms apart" also that social conditioning emphasise in males the "hardness" of making and enforcing laws. Women on the contrary show little interest or satisfaction in writing... overly mechanical and unconcerned with human values." One exception is C.J. Cherryh's space operas (now on my list!) 

Ch55. Space Opera by Andy Sawyer - tries to define Space Opera by providing a short historical account. Starting from being a pejorative term to describing a kind of story with particular settings, technologies and goals. Space Operas are committed to action and adventure and focus on the heroic. In the 1950s some space opera got inspiration from westerns, with the aliens taking place of the Indians. Trends: galactic empire stories, influences of the new wave movement, influences of the visual aspects of film and TV and modern space operas reflecting American politics, warfare and history. For example using Terraforming stories as an analogy of stories about American settlers in hostile environments in the west. (Scifi Novels mentioned: the Culture series by Iain Banks which for Sawyer is more character based fiction than Space Opera, Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh who "matured the form" as she incorporated detailed historical background in her stories. Other authors mentioned Peter F Hamilton, Alistair Reynolds, Scott Westerfeld, John C Weight and M.John Harrison.)

City of Illusions by Ursula K Le Guin

This is the 3rd and last novel in this SF Masterworks edition. It is my favourite of the 3 by far. It hooked me from page one. In City of Illusions Le Guin uses the same literary device she used in the other two novels (Rocannon's World and Planet of Exile). The protagonist has to endure a long and hard journey across the planet. A journey of self discovery where he grows as a person and discovers the people of earth, a place he doesn't belong to. Great story and loved the ending.

The Call of Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft

This is a classic of horror short story. It follows a man who is investigating a secret cult. The Cthulhu cult whose followers are waiting for the Coming back of an ancient god. Having read some strange notes left by his late uncle the man then goes around the world looking for the places and people mentioned. The things he learns are scarier than hell. Loved the writing buy got shocked by those nasty remarks Lovecraft is well known for. However I guess those remarks contributed to the already dark and hideous atmosphere set throughout the story. 

So far I've read 47 stories in the B&N Volume and out of those The Call of Cthulhu is one of my favourites, with the Transition of Juan Romero, The Outsider, Herbert West - Reanimator and maybe Under the Pyramids.

Science Fiction and Philosophy - Part II - edited by Susan Schneider

Part II What am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons

6. Where Am I? by Daniel C Dennett – this is an excellent short story with Dennett himself as protagonist. Dennett accepts a job which requires him to get a surgical procedure to remove his brain from his body, put it in a vat and install radio connections between brain and body. Once he is following his assignment his brain-body connection fails. Sometime after that he is “revived” in a new body and is told that there is a computer copy of his brain which is synchronized. Throughout the story Dennett reflects on where he is. Is he were his brain is or where his body is? Where is he when he changes body? Or when he learns that there is a copy of his brain? Excellent, thought provoking.

7. Personal Identity by Eric Olson – this was a dense, difficult to read article of pure philosophy (of which I could only grasp it’s surface) . Olson is an expert in Philosophy of Mind and in this chapter he tries to answer several questions: What is to be a person? At what point in one’s develop from a fertilized egg there comes to be a person? What evidence bears on the question of whether the person here now is the one who was here yesterday? What it takes for us to persist through time? I learn a couple of concepts: first-person memory and psychological continuity, which try to explain the factors which make one person be the same person in a different time… cannot say much more, the text is complicated and got tangled in my brain.

8. Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons by Derek Parfit - The chapter starts describing real split-brain cases. That is, when people have their two  brain hemispheres disconnected. Such people can have two separate and different experiences with either hemisphere at the same time. Does this mean that there's two streams of consciousness? Are there two people there? Parfit then discusses two theories about what persons are: the Ego Theory - the Ego or Subject of Experiences which unifies someone's consciousness at all time. The soul or spirit which exists apart from our physical existence.  The Bundle Theory - persons do not exist. Instead we are a bundle of Experiences tied up by causal relations. Hard to understand but maybe connecting this definition to Buddhism may help. Parfit says Buddha was the first Bundle theorist....

There is another case described about someone teletransporting to another planet.  The process starts with the person being scanned, body and brain, and the cells being destroyed at the same time. The information is sent to the other planet where a replicator makes an organic copy. Has that person travelled?  Is the person in the other planet the same person or a replica? What if the original body isn't destroyed in the process? The discussion continues with Parfit proving that the Bundle Theory is real. I got lost in most if this discussion but I guess I got the message.

9. Who am I? What Am I? by Ray Kurzweil – a much more accessible read than the previous two. Here Kurzweil builds a case to support his view on who and what Am I. He says that we are "patterns that persist in time" patterns that evolve in time an can "influence the course of the evolution" of their own pattern. Kurzweil uses the case of cryonics where people are preserved in freezing conditions so in the future they can be rebuilt with new material thus making a copy (or not?). Kurzweil also explains that under normal circumstances our bodies replace the particles that comprise us on a monthly,  weekly and even daily basis. So if we are completely different from what I was a month ago how come Am I the same person? Finally Kurzweil discusses the concept of Consciousness as something subjective, immaterial coming from by our objective brains. He believes that ultimately humans will come to accept that non-biological entities can be conscious as Consciousness isn't organic but subjective.

10. Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report by Michael Huemer – uses the Minority Report movie (not the short story by Philip K. Dick) as an example to discuss free will and determinism. If our futures are predetermined then we don’t have free will. Therefore we cannot be held responsible for anything we do. Huemer says that Free Will requires: alternate possibilities and self-control. If we lack one of them we don’t have free will. He contrasts various views on determinism and how those deny free will. He finally presents a deduction which proves free will (got a bit lost here) and concludes that the abolishment of the Precrime system in Minority Report was right but for the wrong reasons.

11. Excerpt from “The Book of Life: A Thought Experiment” by Alvin I. Goldman – a one page story following Goldman in a library where he finds a book about his own life.

Nine Lives - Ursula K Le Guin

Nine Lives is a novelette published in 1968. The story takes place in a remote planet (Libra) where Martin and Pugh are the only inhabitants. Having asked several times for more support in their mining jobs, they receive the help in the form of 10 clones. The 10 clones are an interesting construct. There are 5 female and 5 male all clones of one original John Chow. All of them are called John Chow but have different middle names. They are so similar, in appearance, voice and behaviour that Martin and Pugh cannot tell the difference. Although they all have different specialisations they act as a unity, coordinated and efficient. They depend on each other not only to carry out their tasks but to define themselves. Here Le Guin draws a comparison, I think, between individualistic (Martin and Pugh) and group based societies. The two original miners struggle to understand the clones collective behaviour and thinking.

 

(Spoiler Alert)

At some point 9 of the clones are killed in a accident and the only survivor struggles to stay alive. He feels incomplete and fights his individuality. As he dies the deaths of his fellow clones he wishes to join them. Fortunately Martin and Pugh manage to save him and learn how the very collectivistic nature of the clones had led them to their death.

 

Topics to think about individuality, collectivity, cloning, consciousness, identity.

The Shadow of a Man by François Schuiten and Benoit Peeters. ❤💙💜💖

This is the 4th volume of the Obscure Cities series released by IDW. As with the other 3 volumes I have read (Samaris, The Theory of the Grain of Sand and The Leaning Girl) this story takes place in a dark, mysterious, steampunk-esque city. It follows a newly married man who suffers from nightmares. The missus is fed-up with him and gives him an ultimatum, go to the doctors or she'll leave him. The man goes to the doctor and gets his medicine. Nightmares are gone but the side effect threatens his sanity, now he's got a coloured shadow! Excellent read and art!!

The Righteous Mind. Why Good People are divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. 💙💜💖💗

I got this book to help me understand about the culture battles I see around on public and social media. Perhaps, because I haven’t been a regular user for years, I am able to catch only fragmented narratives which I struggle to put together. I have a list of other books to read but I decided to start with this one, because, first, I found it in my local bookshop and second, I thought that instead of reading about ideologies and positions I should first understand humans nature. The Righteous Mind tries to explain why we struggle to get along, understand and respect a diversity of political positions, from a biological point of view to psychological and sociological perspectives. 

The book is divided in three parts following the 3 Principles of Moral Psychology: 1) Intuitions come first, Reasoning second 2) There is More to Morality than Harm and Fairness 3) Morality Binds and Blinds. 

In part 1 Haidt explains how we form our judgements. Having carried out numerous psychological experiments to test reactions to harmless but offensive situations he concludes that the parts of the brain which manage our Intuitions (triggered by disgust, disrespect, etc.) are the first ones to react, deciding whether we like something or not. The Reasoning aspect of our Moral Judgement comes after, not to scrutinize or correct but to confirm. Haidt compares Intuitions and Reasoning with a Small Rider on an Elephant. When the elephant (Intuitions) leans toward one side of an argument the Rider leans with it, and it is hard, if not impossible to change the elephants way. Having said that, Haidt also states that cultures influence our morals. He defines 3 Clusters of Moral Themes: Ethics of autonomy predominant in educated, individualistic, western societies, Ethics of Community and Divinity predominant in the rest of the world and which give people a wider spectrum of morals foundations. Finally, Haidt defines a Social Intuitionist model which states that in order to influence other people we have to aim to their elephant, that is their intuitions not their reasoning.

In part 2 Haidt presents his Moral Foundations Theory which defines 5 moral foundations which are innate to humans. This is a pluralistic approach to morality, that is, it is not based on 1 single rule but many. The initial 5 Moral Foundations are: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion and Sanctity/Degradation. Later, after several studies, he added a sixth foundation: Liberty/Oppression. In a separate chapter Haidt discusses the first 5 foundations in the context of US politics and based on his test based studies. He arrives at 2 conclusions. First is that both extremes of the political spectrum rely on different combinations of the foundations. For Haidt Left Wing or Progressive rely primarily on the Care/Harm, the Fairness/Cheating and Liberty/Oppression foundations, whereas the Conservatives rely on all 5. From this he concludes that Progressive are at a disadvantage compared to Conservatives as the latter are able to appeal to a wider range of moralities.

Part 3 includes discussions about why humans are so groupish. Haidt discusses Darwin, individual and group level selection and opposes Dawkins view that we are selfish beings. Haidt says human culture has evolved alongside our genes. He presents some studies which show how behaviour could be adapted with breeding control in foxes for individual changes and with chickens for group changes. He then discusses the role of religion in our cultures and how they have been an important factor to keep communities alive. He doesn’t discuss or support religious dogma but their capacity to bring people together under shared moral foundations. The final chapter was my least favourite perhaps because it was too much embedded into the US political landscape. One thing I appreciate though is the authors sincerity in briefly relating his personal journey and how his own studies have affected his personal political position. Anyway, this was a great read to me. It opened my eyes to dimensions of morality I have never considered and most importantly it has given me much food for thought.

Negatives: Endnotes instead of Footnotes.

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. 👍👍👍👍🧐

Bruno and Guy meet on a train. Bruno interrogates Guy about his live but Guy isn't interested. Bruno insists and Guy tells him about his divorce. Bruno in turn tells Guy about the money his father doesn't want to give him. Everything is fine until Bruno proposes a murder swap. A brilliant psychological thriller with two excellent characters.

The Horla by Guy de Maupassant. 😱😱😱😱

I could finally read The Horla. Been meaning to read Maupassant for years and then I got this Canterbury Classics edition three years ago. I had to wait until page 324 because I'm reading the stories in order. 😬 I enjoyed the atmosphere but what I enjoyed the most was the journey into the protagonist's mind, into his decline into madness. Loved Maupassant's prose so I'll probably be reading more of his work.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick.

An interesting and weird read. The synopsis reads: “In the overcrowded world and cramped space colonies of the late 21st century, tedium can be endured through the use of the drug Can-D, which enables the user to inhabit a shared illusory world. When industrialist Palmer Eldritch returns from an interstellar trip, he brings with him a new drug, Chew-Z, which is far more potent than Can-D, but threatens to plunge the world into a permanent state of drugged illusion controlled by the mysterious Eldritch.” Palmer Eldritch is the centre of attention of the story but in fact he is not the protagonist. He is a mystery because of his motivations and his nature. The book follows the life and tribulations of Barney Mayerson, a pre-fash consultant or a precog (someone who can see the future) and his boss Leo Bulero. Bulero owns a company which distributes virtual landscapes and in the background distributes Can-D. When Eldritch arrives with Chew-Z they try to eliminate the competition. 

 The book is divided in 2 parts. The first part introduces Mayerson, Bulero and Roni Fugate (Mayerson’s assistant), the legal product they sell and the Can-D problematic around the space colonies. This part reads like a normal novel. The second part starts when one of the characters consumes Chew-Z. Then life turns into a mixture of delusions and reality. From then on the reader doesn’t know what is happening under the influence of the drug and what not. What takes place under a simulation and what is real. It is under these circumstances that Eldritch comes to the surface. We don’t know if he is human, an alien or a god. Towards the end, the topics of religion and gods gain prominence with some characters questioning their existence in a world where there is no hope without a drug.

I first learned about this novel when I read How We Became Posthuman… by Katherine Hayles. Hayles writes about Dick’s novel (p178) in connection with the concept of the Schizoid Android (an unfeeling female) a kind of prototype for a posthuman and compares Roni Fugate to Rachel the android in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The schizoid android appears in several of Dick's books as a woman with black hair. Apparently Dick based his schizoid creations on his emotionally cold, detached mother.

Sapiens. A Brief History of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari. 🌟🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Mindblowing. Very well written. Dense with information and theories but light to read. Sapiens is history but is not filled only with information like dates, place and names. I loved Sapiens for the way it uses a theoretical framework based on the idea that Sapiens rule the world because they believe in things that don't exist (such as money, states, religions and human rights) to explain How and Why humans have developed (and evolved) the way we are. It doesn't read like an academic book though. Instead it tells stories. It uses tools from biology, anthropology, economics, and others areas of knowledge to draw a ginormous picture of what we were, what we are now and guess (more than a guess, Informed Estimations of Possibilities?) what is coming next for us. Totally recommend it!!

Planet of Exile by Ursula K Le Guin. ❤ 🤍 💙

Hundreds of years ago an expedition from the League of all Worlds arrived on a planet inhabited by humans resembling nomad hunter gatherers. The expedition left and took with it all of their technology. However a few people were left who had to accommodate to the new planet. Years and generations go by, and the locals haven't evolved their tools or technology much. The descendants of the expeditioners have lost touch with their home, barely keeping track of their origins by books and stories. They keep apart from the locals and think of themselves as exiles, still following the Law of the League which forces them to live like the locals. The story follows a local tribe and the expedition which are forced to work together to defend themselves from an attack of a barbarian northern tribe. I liked this novel more than Rocannon's World. The story is much more engaging and Le Guin builds a richer world, rasing issues such as racism, fear of the unknown, superstitions, technology (or the lack of), isolation and others.

Mildred Pierce by James M Cain

This novel was a surprise to me. As it came in the same volume with The Postman always rings twice and Double Indemnity I thought this was going to be another noir, crime novel, but it wasn't. I googled it and got "hardboiled novel" but to me it felt like a drama with a dark twist. There were no detectives or crimes but a couple of excellent female characters not always doing the right thing. Mildred Pierce is the name of the protagonist, a middle class housewife who, after a divorce, has to work to support her family. Set in the 1930 in California, USA, Mrs Pierce is a rarity. A successful, independent working, single woman. She is a fully fleshed out character showing resilience, commitment and ambition. But she is not a saint. Her struggles with her daughter Veda give the story a dark tone, which I enjoyed. Veda is detestable, capricious, manipulative with a personality disorder it seemed. Loved her. She is to blame for a couple of plot twists in the second half of the novel. While I liked Double Indemnity more, I think this novel is worth reading for its depiction of credible, complex women and the exploration of daughter-mother relationship.

Stories of your Life and others by Ted Chiang.

Eight speculative, sci-fi stories. An excellent compilation of short stories, I liked most of them. ❤💙💜💖 

1. Tower of Babylon -let's climb the tower and meet god. It was okay.

2. Understand - man develops Superintelligence after an accident. Did he ceased to be human? Excellent. 

3. Division by Zero - a mathematician goes mad when she discovers flaws in mathematics. Liked it.

4. Story of your Life - sweet and engaging. What would you do if you could remember your future? Aliens and linguistics. Wonderful.

5. Seventy-two Letters - boring.

6. The Evolution of Human Science - normal humans are not the ones creating knowledge anymore. It was Okay. 

7. Hell is the Absence of god - a world where angels visit earth to cure or kill people. Liked it. 

8. Liking what you see: A documentary - excellent, thought provoking. A world where people can switch off their abilities to see beauty.

Science Fiction and Philosophy. From Time Travel to Superintelligence. Edited by Susan Schneider. Introduction and Part 1. 🧠🧠🧠🧠

Essays on philosophical concepts using elements from Science fiction literature and films. I read the Introduction and Part 1 which includes 1 short story, 2 essays and 2 extracts from classic Philosophy works. 

Introduction: excellent. Clarifies some of the concepts to be explored throughout the book and provides some examples from literature and films. 

1. Reinstalling Eden: Happiness on a hard drive by Eric Schwitzgebel and R. Scott Bakker. Loved it. It's about a researcher who creates a virtual woman and then a partner for her. As they develop a relationship the researcher starts using more computing resources to provided a better world for them. But when should he stop? 

2. Are you in a Computer Simulation? by Nick Bostrom. Four pages of dense text with Bostrom trying to convince the reader why we might be living in a simulation. And yes, we might 🤔 I liked one point Bostrom makes: If we are in a simulation, Afterlife might be possible. We can be recreated in another simulation or maybe we can be brought to the real world. 

3. Plato's Cave. Excerpt from the Republic. Not my cup of tea. 

4. Some Cartesian thought experiments. Descartes: do our minds exist outside space-time? 🤔 

5. The Matrix as Metaphysics by David J. Chalmers. My favourite chapter in Part 1. Discussing ideas about humans living in a simulation or a matrix. The author explains the Matrix Hypothesis (are we in a Matrix?), Envatment (brain in a vat) and the Skeptical Hypothesis (which explains how some beliefs, if true, would falsify every other beliefs we have). The aim of the essay is to explain why, for Chalmers, Matrix Hypothesis and Envatment are not skeptical Hypothesis but Metaphysical Hypothesis (concerned with the fundamental nature of reality).

Rocannon's World by Ursula K Le Guin. ❤💙💜

Not a masterwork but this is a good short novel following a man on a journey to save a planet. It has science fiction and fantasy elements. This is the first Hainish novel and the protagonist is an ethnographer who travels to new worlds to investigate new species. In Rocannon's planet there are 3 or 4 different species with zero to little technological developments. The settings reminded me of pre medieval eras, with castles, people carrying swords and riding gigantic (dragon-like) birds. Not my cup of tea tbh. However I loved the kind of emotional ending.

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.

I have conflicting thoughts. It is very well written and in a way gripping. I couldn't stop reading it. It's dark. It's character driven and follows the protagonist, Oba Yoso, into an emotional roller coaster of depression, suicide, alcoholic, drug addiction and more. The character is well developed, an unlikeable being, selfish, useless who has lost the will to live, but who keeps living on the expenses of others. So, what's not to like? Well, I read the novel as a cold, distant observer. Couldn't engage or empathise with the protagonist nor hate him. I wasn't dragged into the protagonist's dark hole. Something was missing. .... hmm oh, got it, Yoso was No Longer Human. It makes sense now!!! 

The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson. 😰😰😰😨

A short story about men who rob bodies to sell to medicine students. It wasn't as bloody as I thought but it was much darker than I expected. Very well written, chilling and gripping. . The main protagonist is a alcoholic wasted man, disillusioned of life. By chance he meets an old acquaintance who triggers memories when both of them were medicine students. And then we are told the story of the body snatcher. Muaahahaha . There is an old movie adaptation which looks really good.

Double Indemnity by James M Cain. ❤ 🤍 💙 🧡 🖤

Second novel in this beautiful book. Just over 100 pages. . An insurance agent falls for a married woman who manipulates him into killing her husband. I loved the story and the mess the main character gets into. I liked the femme fatale and the mysterious aura around her and the ending was brilliant! I think I liked this novel more than the Postman always rings twice.

Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.

Beautiful Spanish edition by Normal Editorial. Includes the 5 stories released so far. 

1 . Un lugar entre las sombras (Somewhere within the shadows) - John Blacksad has to investigate the murder of his ex-girlfriend. 

2. Artic-Nation - Blacksad investigates the disappearance of a little girl in an atmosphere saturated with racism and rage. 

3. Alma Roja (Red Soul) - Blacksad has to save a friend's life, a friend with a dark past. 

4. El Infierno, El Silencio (Silent Hell) - Blacksad is hired to find a musician. Crime and drugs in New Orleans. 

5. Amarillo - A couple of writers steal Blacksad's car (not his but he has to return it to the owner). The detective has to chase the robbers across cities.

I liked the stories. Each about 50 pages so probably each a graphic novel? Noir graphic novels. Blacksad has to deal with crime and broken-troubled people. Blacksad himself isn't the typical noir detective though. He is a good person. A good cat 😁. As far as the stories reveal we find no dirt in his past. All stories end up satisfactorily, cases sorted not necessarily happy endings.

And the art is superb!