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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3085 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 6, 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.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm picking up With and Without Galton, an open access book on Vasilii Florinskii and Russian eugenics, or as the author calls it, 'eugamics' (ie. well-married), as distinguished from Galton's eugenics.

Treason's Harbor - Stuck in Malta while their ship is refitting Aubrey and Maturin discover the place is infested with prostitutes, French spies and a geriatric Admiral that can't keep his hands off the help.

I'm still enjoying this series and I'm not even half way through. I hope the quality keeps up.

Is there a secret to being able to actually understand what's going on in those books?

I'm as big a wordcel as you would expect someone who hangs out on this forum to be, but I cannot for the life of me finish Master and Commander. It feels like I'm a teenager being forced to read Shakespeare and not understanding the Early Modern English.

Do I need to persevere until my brain just gets it? Get ChatGPT to summarise the chapters for me? Re-read every sentence? Is there any trick beyond 'be less dumb'?

I’ve heard good things about A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian. Full disclosure though, I’ve never read it, nor any of the original books themselves.

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