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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   764 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 23, 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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Went back to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I tried to read it once and got to about the middle and abandoned it because I just couldn't make any sense out of it. On the second attempt, I kind of understand what he's talking about much more - not exactly agreeing or liking everything, but at least I now understand what's going on. Willing to see how far I get this time and if I can get to the end without losing it again.

Also after finishing Asimov's autobiography that I mentioned a while ago, I realized I never got to read the prequels to Foundation series, and read Prelude to Foundation. Which was pretty decent, but a bit underwhelming - maybe a curse of all prequels, since reading the Foundation series (a long, long time ago) was so exciting, and the prequels do what prequels usually do - describe things that happened before the important things happened. Also, the appearance of robots there was kinda meh - yeah, robots, so what, nothing really changed. So I got exactly what I should have expected, which wasn't bad, but also wasn't an absolute must read. I'll probably read Forward the Foundation next sometime soon.

If you still don't get on with Zen you could try Pirsig's Lila.

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