The First Signs. Unlocking the mysteries of the world's oldest symbols by Genevieve von Petzinger

In Dec 2024, I read the New Scientist Essential Guide N4 where they highlighted von Petzinger's work. I made a note to read her book as I found this thing about signs so fascinating. The book is good. Some bits were a bit boring, to be honest, but overall, I liked it. The author tells her story about how she goes to all ice age caves in Europe, to inventory not cave art, but cave signs. She identified 32 signs that are repeated consistently across place and time. She explains a bit of evolutionary history, a bit of language, linguistics, and writing, as well as the difference between spoken language - ephemeral - and written language - permanent. She makes a case of how human beings might have been more than capable of abstract thinking and therefore writing, way before current beliefs. Finally she proposes a few ideas of what some of the signs could mean. Von Petzinger does not provide a Rosetta stone for cave signs but presents a very interesting view of prehistoric life. Hopefully, after more research is done, we'll have a better idea of what these signs mean. A couple of nice quotes: "There is no permanence to spoken language. It is very much anchored in the moment, in the exchange, after which it becomes only a memory, one that we may or may not remember accurately, and even the memory itself will soon fade into oblivion." "The first instance of making an intentional graphic mark was one of the most profoundly important moments in our species’ history – right up there with the invention of tools, the control of fire, and the development of spoken language. Whatever this mark may have been, even if it was just a single line, doesn’t matter. What matter is that, for the first time, someone purposefully made a mark on a physical surface with the intent to communicate meaning. That message had the power to survive beyond that specific place and moment, and language had officially taken on a life of its own – another life beyond that of its maker."

Don't let go by Didier Cassegrain and Fred Duval based on a novel by Michel Bussi

A so-so read. Nice art and gripping throughout until the ending, which I found a bit rushed and anticlimactic. I'd say I was pretty hooked during the first 2/3s of the book, and maybe my expectations for an amazing ending were too big. Anyways, I still want to read more from this team of authors. Previously, I'd read Black Water Lilies (Nenúfares Negros in spanish)and loved it.

Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

I really struggled to read this book at the beginning. It's kind of dense and grim. It is the opposite of a quick, gripping read. I was interested in the subject story and insisted. Left it for a few days and then came back to it, reading 10 to 15 pages per night. Slowly, I got engaged with the story and the characters until the end, when I binged the last 30 pages or so. This book is about politics, power and control between human factions. A space station and a planet, so far from earth, it is easier to think they are their own system, with no attachments to 'home'. A military fleet from earth, rebels, and merchants. Live in the space station is depicted brilliantly. Claustrophobic, breathing recycled air, people living lives which are totally alien to what we have now.

Expired. Covid. The Untold Story by Clare Craig

Superb read. My third book on Covid. This one focuses on myths and false beliefs, which led governments, authorities, 'experts', and the general public to make harmful mistakes. To transform the somewhat mild threat of an airborne virus into a catastrophic threat to modern civilisation and humanity. A threat coming from made up rules, with no scientific grounding, designed to make people fear an almost non-existent threat and comply. This book lists 12 FALSE BELIEFS and explains why they are wrong. I liked how Craig delves deep into science (biology, Virology, statistics) and highlights the ethical and moral issues of some decisions as well as showcasing the harms caused to all of us, especially children. 1. Covid only spreads through close contact. 2. Everyone is susceptible. 3. Covid would likely kill me. 4. Death certificates are never wrong. 5. A new variant spells doom. 6. If you test positive you have covid. 7. People with covid spread it while asymptomatic. 8. Lockdown saved lives. 9. Lock Lockdowns are not harmful. 10. Masks reduce transmission. 11. Children are resilient. 12. Zero covid is achievable. Key thing to know: covid is an airborne virus. It spreads through droplets in sneezing and coughing but mostly through aerosols from talking and breathing. The virus in aerosols can be in the air for long periods of time and cannot be stopped by face masks, social distancing, or lockdowns. Asymptomatic spread is a myth and an excuse to cover for the assumption that covid spreads only through close contact. When so many people got covid without having close contact with infected people, the assumption was that it should have been through contact with asymptomatic people.

The Collected Toppi. Volume Nine: The Old World

Obviously, love the stories, love the art. "... tales of mystery and folklore set in Tuscany, Portugal, and elsewhere during the age of exploration."

Light by M. John Harrison

Confusing at points, near zero exposition (no info dumping), and some nice prose. Light is character driven, I think. I didn't manage to see an actual plot but maybe an exploration of concepts like how little we understand our universe. It's thriller, space opera, and cyberpunk packed together like lasagna. A read that I enjoyed at points and suffered at others, and which I kept reading because I wanted to understand what I was reading. The ending did not answer all of my questions, but it felt somewhat satisfying.

Reality + Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David J. Chalmers

We create simulations in this reality, computer simulations made up of 0s and 1s. Now imagine some entity at a higher level, which simulates us using atoms, quarks, and whatever. Atoms, quarks as well as 0s and 1s are building blocks that create different kinds of realities. They are different, but they are realities non the less. So, even if we live in a simulation, this is still our reality, not an illusion. In a few decades/centuries, technology could be so advanced to make perfect digital copies of our brains. And if the brain copies are so perfect, they could potentially be conscious. We could build simulations inhabited by conscious Sims (simulated people). Since they are conscious, they posses moral status. It follows then that the creation of simulations would need ethical considerations, to not violate Sims's rights. There is so much on this book, a good chunk of which goes beyond me, I can not summarise, so I included a synopsis below.