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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2082 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on the Iliad, Dialectic of Enlightenment and McLuhan's Classical Trivium. Trying Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism.

Read Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, a memoir about Lewis's time working at an investment bank during the 1980s. Interesting at the start but became a slog. That was my third Michael Lewis book, and I think I'm finished reading his material. The premises always sound more interesting than the content.

Currently reading When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter, a memoir about Carter's time working in New York City magazines during the 80s, 90s and 00s. The book's a lot of fun, a 180 from Liar's Poker.

A little over halfway through Cryptonomicon. Very, very enjoyable so far.

Oh man, this guy gets to read the second half of Cryptonomicon for the first time.

I'm always in torture arguing with myself about whether it's too soon to read it (yet) again. I think it's been every 3-4 years.

Right?! I kinda feel like in retrospect, Cryptonomicon and the Baroque cycle were peak Stephenson, and were it not for the whole LitRPG phenomenon, I'd probably be doing more re-reads of my favorite works of his. Hell, if it weren't for Fall, I'd probably still be gobbling up whatever he chose to write!

While we're at it I'll bother you for some litrpg recs. Been toying with writing one and want more inspo.

The Diamond Age is definitely my favorite but yes Cryptonomicon and Baroque Cycle are superb. Also if you like that era of Stevenson you might check out Interface which he co-wrote. Anathem felt a bit conceited but was worth one read.

Personally I find the trope of the hyperintelligent, hyper-competent black woman that everyone underestimates because she's black (and a woman) grating, so the next couple things I read of his (like Reamde) put me off. Sadly it felt like his mind going a bit. Sure, of course a random adopted Eritrean (average IQ 68) is going to be a brilliant hacker and international operative. Got a problem with that, chud? It's exactly the reverse of the verisimilitude which normally makes his works so wonderful.

Haven't tried Fall or DODO yet and I'm a bit reluctant. Seveneves could be great but I haven't gotten around to it.

Wow, The Diamond Age is my single favorite work of his as well! Given your dislike for those aspects of Reamde, I'd definitely tell you to stay away from Fall--it takes that reverse verisimilitude and cranks it up to 11, so much so that my favorite review of it described it as fractally bad. I would add that Fall is a dreadfully predictable wall-banger of a novel that's about as subtle as a brick to the head. Worse, it wears Neal Stephenson's style as a skin suit. Seveneves isn't that bad, IMO, if you can stand an expy of Neal DeGrasse Tyson being a character and played straight as a hyperintelligent protagonist, though there are other parts you might not enjoy as well.

I find myself re-reading The Worm Ourobouros immediately after finishing it. I suppose it wasn't long enough. Or I suppose it's just thematically fitting to go in cycles here.

I also stuck my nose into Ninti's Gate, which turned out to be...a drag, so far. Being a well-read and well-spoken youtuber does not on its own make one a good writer, it seems. Feels somewhat like mid-20th-century sci-fi fanfiction.

Also got a good way into Les Trois Mousquetaires, properly in French, in audiobook format. A lot goes right over my head, and listening to it in the car means I can't just look things up as I go, but I get the gist of it. Not ideal, but works to knock some of the rust off of my French.

I actually like Nintis Gate, though I agree it's not ground breaking, and somewhat retro. Good rather than great is where im currently slotting it. Generally speaking I haven't had great luck in books I got from YouTubers/vloggers, so you're onto something with your larger point.

Thanks for the input. I'll try to stick with it a little longer then.

Les Trois Mousquetaires

Don't forget to check out the sequels as well. Twenty Years After is reasonably fun, but Ten Years Later may put you to sleep.

Still on The Fortune of War. The American upstarts are fighting His Majesty's Navy. How dare they?

Reading some Anne Tyler (who is famous for setting her books in Baltimore), a collection of Argentinian horror stories (las cosas que perdimos en el Fuego) and Il deserto dei Tartari (The Tartar Steppe). The last of these I am reading in English alongside the Italian.

Reverend Insanity. Again. How I missed it.

I held off on a re-read for as long as I could, in the hopes that fading memory would enhance the experience. That didn't last, but it's still great even knowing what to expect.

Again? I'm at about 1/3 of it and at this point I'm convinced that if I ever finish it it'll exceed my Recommended Lifetime Xianxia Intake.

It feels like even the aha! of seeing the foreshadowing wouldn't be there because every time something that was foreshadowed hits home, the novel reminds us 10 times to make sure we got it.

I bounced off pretty hard myself. I don't mind it being a brutal world but it felt like the author repeatedly set up situations where the MC could act as a psychopath and it being acceptable "in universe" but for no meaningful material gain, despite the MC supposedly being this hundreds of years old rational person. It felt too much like entering the author's edgelord magical realm for my taste.

Its a shame because some of the world building was really interesting.

I'm just grateful you're sticking to it. It only gets better, and on a re-read, I like the start despite its slow pacing.

RI does have author exposition pointing out the foreshadowing, but it's not lampshading. Half the time, I as the reader didn't even notice the foreshadowing, and then was hit with an "aha!" moment when things came together. A lot of things make perfect sense in hindsight, though the author isn't shy about showing that he did his homework.

A few things on the go.

  • Fiction - The Secret History (Donna Tartt) - which I think was recommended here recently.
  • Finance - Debt: The First 5000 Years (David Graeber) - re-teaching me things I already know about the way the world works.
  • Race - The Barn (Wright Thompson) - I would read Wright Thompson transcribing the phone book. Also, I’m not American, so it’s good to get an understanding of this from the pen of a master.

Mandatory reminder that David Graeber is an activist hack.

Interesting read, thank you. Sordid stuff, dripping with ego.

Still on The Perfect Heresy. It's a lot more accessible than the last book I read about the Cathars (Montaillou) but still a bit difficult in absolute terms. The voice is a bit droning and I sometimes forget how a paragraph started by the time I get to the end of it.

Gate Crashers, by Patrick S. Tomlinson. Good read, but really not living up to the favorable comparison to Douglas Adams that helped get me to bite, either.

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