Philosopher by training, facilitator by trade. Late-coming social activist and experienced stacker of books.
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We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff is an innovative and critically British novel, taking issue …
Equal parts Ballardian dreamscape and stream-of-consciousness commentary, Waldner's short novel is a sharp survey of queer working-class realities in a declining Britain. Concise and rich in references, they test and transcend the limits of conventional storytelling without ever losing touch with their proponents' perspective. Funny, sad and angry.
Piercy contrasts a disturbingly detailed portrait of poverty and powerlessness with an exploration of a more-than-humanist utopia and connects them in a celebration of interconnectedness and resistance. A classic and a call to arms.
On the ugly fringes of the Internet lurks the future of far-right jerks. They are …
Constantly switching between causal histories, close readings and caustic remarks, Sandifer fearlessly explores how (and why) we're fucked – how the the alt-right's (and, more fundamentally, capitalism's) lack of empathy and sheer stupidity are creating a "cratering shitstorm in which the human race seems hell-bent on going extinct".
When Sandifer traces the alt-right's recent (Gamergate) and ancient (Austrian Economics) history, the book is most readable; when she assembles an army of intellectual comrades to dismantle neo-reactionary narratives and rhetorics, it is most exhilarating (and exhausting). Horror and historical materialism are our main guides, crude psycho-analytical exegesis is more of a bonus and thankfully marked as such.
For me, the book achieves a rare confluence of intellectual rigour and rugged empathy, actively wielded weirdness and precisely channeled rage. Pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will by way of William Blake and Alan Moore.
George Washington Black, or "Wash," an eleven-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is …
An epic adventure, a coming-of-age story, and a long hard look at slavery and white privilege.
A funny, sad and richly textured portrait of a struggling community in the crumbling and racist New York of 1969.
While reading the book I kept asking myself: I agree with every single component of O'Brien's thinking – then why does it “feel” so wrong?
Here's my tentative answer:
Using ideas and concepts taken from Barad, Wendt etc. out of their original context creates the risk of misinterpretation. E.g. “quantum” and “entanglements” are not understood as phenomena at the scale of people, communities etc., but as the “original” microscopic quantum phenomena somehow influencing macroscopic reality. This creates a false sense of tangibility when we are really talking about quite abstract ideas.
Even more importantly, there is no sense of how to apply her ideas. There is just no explanation or evidence for actual “fractal patterns that both resonate and replicate at all scales”, just the de facto metaphor of the fractal pattern repeated again and again – which means at the very heart of the book, there is a giant …
While reading the book I kept asking myself: I agree with every single component of O'Brien's thinking – then why does it “feel” so wrong?
Here's my tentative answer:
Using ideas and concepts taken from Barad, Wendt etc. out of their original context creates the risk of misinterpretation. E.g. “quantum” and “entanglements” are not understood as phenomena at the scale of people, communities etc., but as the “original” microscopic quantum phenomena somehow influencing macroscopic reality. This creates a false sense of tangibility when we are really talking about quite abstract ideas.
Even more importantly, there is no sense of how to apply her ideas. There is just no explanation or evidence for actual “fractal patterns that both resonate and replicate at all scales”, just the de facto metaphor of the fractal pattern repeated again and again – which means at the very heart of the book, there is a giant gap.
The book is also very noticeably written from a privileged perspective, from which non-linear change seems to “just happen”, without regard for the often brutal processes involved in making it happen.
This makes her ideas even less relevant for real political struggles. In the last chapter, O'Brien poses the question: “Your argument about changing thinking and changing practice is rather ahistorical and ageographical, and so what about the real, variable constraints many people face in thinking and acting anew in places such as Russia, Brazil or Myanmar?” She really has no answer to that beyond “yes, it’s hard”.
In short, O'Brien's perspective and proposals are superficial and deeply apolitical – it's activism, commodified.
Deep and wide-ranging world-building, a complex and thrilling plot, and an uncoventional, convincing and immersive representation of slavery and exploitation. I especially liked how Jemisin managed to capture my attention and keep me guessing on three levels simultaneously: deep civilisational history, impending apocalypse, and finally family and personal sacrifice.
A typical nonfiction bestseller hopeful: Well-narrated, full of vivid examples, reasonably well structured and argued – but its core arguments could be boiled down to a few pages, and most of its assumptions and evidence would need to be scrutinised in order to reliably assess them.
The authors' central recommendation is:
[T]he mark of the first-rate decision-maker confronted by radical uncertainty is to organise action around a reference narrative while still being open to both the possibility that this narrative is false and that alternative narratives might be relevant.
The Nature of Technology will change the way you think about this fundamental subject forever. …
A compelling general theory of technology, based on the idea of evolution via recombination. Well-argued, clear and not too abstract, while miles above the usual non-fiction fluff. Connections to Kuhn, Perez, Holling and (implicitly) Kauffman.
Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization was simple: To advocate for the …
Terrifyingly, largely nonfiction. After a very strong, almost shocking opening, it lacks a strong story arc that pulls you through the book, the kaleidoscopic storytelling feeling a bit artificial. But full of interesting, sometimes essential ideas and insights about climate breakdown, the wider socio-economic system and possible solutions. After only two years already somewhat dated, which makes it even more terrifying.
E-book extra: In-depth study guide.Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek …
Le Guin explores why and how an anarchist society can work, undaunted by complexity and in vivid detail. At the same time a reflection on individuality, sense of purpose, and the nature of abstraction. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.
Becoming increasingly uneasy about suspicious activities at a new job she felt lucky to land, …
A short, suspenseful, sad, kafkaesque parable about our (futile) attempts to gain (or keep) control over our lives.
Apart from a bit of wonkiness in the last part a very compelling, immersive and ultimately haunting story about identity and strangeness. Berlinski allows us to get a glimpse of very different perspectives onto the world without suggesting we could just take either of them without living the life that comes with them.
A formally compelling, calmly narrated, but intense exploration of identity, self-inflicted solitude, privilege and hypocrisy, the nature of space and time, and our place in it. Lingers long after reading.
The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 is that it unnecessarily tells a small but critical part of the story via exposition in dialogue instead of directly.
Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, …
Solid space opera, but construction (how Banks creates suspense and mystery) and message ("more humility, less competition") are a little in-the-face ("man merkt die Absicht und ist verstimmt"). Good: how Banks deals with identity, memory and guilt.