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[merp]

15 BookTok creators whose SFF recommendations will shake up your reading list

For all of your science fiction and fantasy bookish needs

www.polygon.com

Has anyone heard of "BookTok?"

Who should I follow on there?

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

15 BookTok creators whose SFF recommendations will shake up your reading list

For all of your science fiction and fantasy bookish needs

www.polygon.com

Has anyone heard of "BookTok?"

Who should I follow on there?

I only hear about BookTok when people make fun of it

 

[jirou]

I've been meaning to properly get into reading for years now. Yesterday I have finally picked Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio back up after probably more than a year of not reading it at this point. I'll probably read one short story (anywhere from one to five pages long) per day, as I don't have much time in the coming weeks.

Hopefully I'll soon have more to share about what I've been reading!

 

[MisterSpo]

Currently reading Peter Beresford Ellis's Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends. I read a few novels this month: Convenience Store Woman (Sayaka Murata), Tamarisk Row (Gerald Murnane), All the Lovers in the Night (Meiko Kawakami) and How High We Go In The Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu). The latter might be my favourite book of the year so far, though I need to read it again. Also read The Art of Resilience: the Lessons of Aeneas (Andrea Marcolongo), which was an interesting analysis of The Aeneid and what makes it resonate in our current cultural moment. Though mostly that book just made me want to read more Virgil and more Roman history.

 

[merp]

I only hear about BookTok when people make fun of it

Oh damn, really?

Only to make fun of it?

It seems... rather useful, from what people say of it.

 

[merp]

I've been meaning to properly get into reading for years now. Yesterday I have finally picked Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio back up after probably more than a year of not reading it at this point. I'll probably read one short story (anywhere from one to five pages long) per day, as I don't have much time in the coming weeks.

Hopefully I'll soon have more to share about what I've been reading!

I'm trying to do the 52 Book challenge.

And speaking of China, I recently finished all 3 volumes of Deng Xiaoping's speeches.

 

[Supreme Overlord]

Has anyone heard of "BookTok?"

Who should I follow on there?

Oh damn, really?

Only to make fun of it?

It seems... rather useful, from what people say of it.

BookTok has something of a reputation for pushing particular sorts of books, often more surface level and "accessible," with less of an eye for craft. Personally, a lot of "TikTok Reads" don't seem particularly appealing. I've seen them with a "TikTok made me read it" burst, and those largely epitomize the lack of appeal.

That said, there's clearly a large audience for these. I just very much don't tend to agree with them.

And that's really the most visible recommendations that go viral and pop up everywhere. If you dig into the platform, there are nigh certainly channels that cater more directly to your tastes.

Anyhow, I don't have any channel recommendations because I don't use the platform, but that's the basic gist of the situation.

 

[merp]

BookTok has something of a reputation for pushing particular sorts of books, often more surface level and "accessible," with less of an eye for craft. Personally, a lot of "TikTok Reads" don't seem particularly appealing. I've seen them with a "TikTok made me read it" burst, and those largely epitomize the lack of appeal.

That said, there's clearly a large audience for these. I just very much don't tend to agree with them.

And that's really the most visible recommendations that go viral and pop up everywhere. If you dig into the platform, there are nigh certainly channels that cater more directly to your tastes.

Anyhow, I don't have any channel recommendations because I don't use the platform, but that's the basic gist of the situation.

I'll be honest:

You got me interested more in this phenomenon than anything.

Frankly, even if the works are not that "professional" (I take it that that is the main criticism?) I... am kinda interested in something that's un-professional. That is a bit amateur-ish. I'm a bit done with the more ensconced authors out there by big-name publishers, if you catch my drift. Not that I have anything against them... but I feel like what you describe might provide something new for me.

That, and it seems as fun as reading fanfiction... and I have a guilty pleasure for reading fanfiction.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

I'll be honest:

You got me interested more in this phenomenon than anything.

Frankly, even if the works are not that "professional" (I take it that that is the main criticism?) I... am kinda interested in something that's un-professional. That is a bit amateur-ish. I'm a bit done with the more ensconced authors out there by big-name publishers, if you catch my drift. Not that I have anything against them... but I feel like what you describe might provide something new for me.

That, and it seems as fun as reading fanfiction... and I have a guilty pleasure for reading fanfiction.

I get the feeling BookTok is very YA centric, and very into, like hope punk.

 

[merp]

I get the feeling BookTok is very YA centric, and very into, like hope punk.

I like that too.

But I getcha.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

I like that too.

But I getcha.

Just outta the blue, what are your favorite books, like top 10

 

[merp]

Just outta the blue, what are your favorite books, like top 10

1. A Song of Ice and Fire series (favorite characters are Stannis Baratheon and Davos Seaworth)

2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (trying to write a series sort-of based off of this)

3. Zhuangzi

4. Remembrance of Earth's Past series (the series that begins with Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem book)

5. Wheel of Time series

6. The Qur'an (haven't read the hadiths though)

7. The Bible

8. Star Wars: The High Republic series

9. Daodejing

10. Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

Honorary Mentions: Gideon the Ninth (haven't read the other books... yet) and The Southern Reach trilogy.

In terms of short stories:

1. Ambrose Bierce's works

2. Algernon Blackwood's works

3. Lord Dunsany's works


In terms of non-fiction (not sure if religion counts or not so I put it up top in terms of things that I enjoyed as fiction, but didn't otherwise take seriously in any other way):

1. Kwame Nkrumah by Yuri Smertin (African history)

2. The World and Africa by W.E.B. DuBois (more African history from a favorite author of mine)

3. Lectures of Fascism by Palmiro Togliatti (Marxist individual defining fascism during the 1920s/30s)

4. The Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels (Marxist history on the Great Peasant War in Germany)

5. Materialism and Empirio-criticism: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy by V.I. Lenin (philosophical rebuttal to anti-scientific views)

6. Composer and Nation: The Folk Heritage in Music by Sidney Finkelstein (music and what makes music good)

7. The Civil War in the United States by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, edit. and intro. by Andrew Zimmerman (lots of interesting Civil War politics that don't get mentioned nowadays)

8. American Trade Unionism: Principles, Organization, Strategy, Tactics: Selected Writings of William Z. Foster by William Z. Foster (labor history)

9. Cultural Psychology and Qualitative Methodology: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations by Carl Ratner (psychology)

10. The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr (author is a right-wing dumbass, but advice checks out)

11. Fundamental Principles of Marxism: Political Economy & Philosophy by Daniel Rubin (outdated, but good at explaining things)

12. The Communist Party and the Auto Workers’ Unions by Roger Keeran (more labor history)

13. Reconstruction: The Battle for Democracy 1865-1876 by James S. Allen, Foreword by Eric Foner (more on Civil War and Reconstruction history)

14. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume 1 (would recommend to @jirou )

15. White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela by Gerald Horne (even more African history)


In addition:

I've read lots of fanfiction since I was little and recently have an interesting in fanfiction dealing with Stannis Baratheon or Davos Seaworth or both. Favorite one is "Dark Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" (Batman x ASOIAF cross-over where Bruce of House Wayne fights evil or whatever)

Again, I love short-stories.

And finally: to be honest, I've read more non-fiction than fiction, but have tried to read more fiction lately, such as the famed Jin Yong's Condor series.

So, err, yeah, HOPEFULLY you can gauge where my interests lie and everyone here can pitch in and help me figure out what my next read is. I can also read more than one book at a time and I'm withholding finishing the Condor series for now.

 

[jirou]

Recommendation is noted, thanks!
Daodejing is a nice shoutout as well, though I must admit I still haven't quite got a good grasp on Daoism lol
Should get back into that as well once I have time. Three Kingdoms is one I've been meaning to read for years as well at this point... hopefully this will be the year I start reading regularly so there aren't as many glaring holes in my library.

Edit: Missed Zhuangzi on your list the first time. Also haven't read that in full, but def will asap!

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

1. A Song of Ice and Fire series (favorite characters are Stannis Baratheon and Davos Seaworth)

2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (trying to write a series sort-of based off of this)

3. Zhuangzi

4. Remembrance of Earth's Past series (the series that begins with Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem book)

5. Wheel of Time series

6. The Qur'an (haven't read the hadiths though)

7. The Bible

8. Star Wars: The High Republic series

9. Daodejing

10. Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

Honorary Mentions: Gideon the Ninth (haven't read the other books... yet) and The Southern Reach trilogy.

In terms of short stories:

1. Ambrose Bierce's works

2. Algernon Blackwood's works

3. Lord Dunsany's works


In terms of non-fiction (not sure if religion counts or not so I put it up top in terms of things that I enjoyed as fiction, but didn't otherwise take seriously in any other way):

1. Kwame Nkrumah by Yuri Smertin (African history)

2. The World and Africa by W.E.B. DuBois (more African history from a favorite author of mine)

3. Lectures of Fascism by Palmiro Togliatti (Marxist individual defining fascism during the 1920s/30s)

4. The Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels (Marxist history on the Great Peasant War in Germany)

5. Materialism and Empirio-criticism: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy by V.I. Lenin (philosophical rebuttal to anti-scientific views)

6. Composer and Nation: The Folk Heritage in Music by Sidney Finkelstein (music and what makes music good)

7. The Civil War in the United States by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, edit. and intro. by Andrew Zimmerman (lots of interesting Civil War politics that don't get mentioned nowadays)

8. American Trade Unionism: Principles, Organization, Strategy, Tactics: Selected Writings of William Z. Foster by William Z. Foster (labor history)

9. Cultural Psychology and Qualitative Methodology: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations by Carl Ratner (psychology)

10. The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr (author is a right-wing dumbass, but advice checks out)

11. Fundamental Principles of Marxism: Political Economy & Philosophy by Daniel Rubin (outdated, but good at explaining things)

12. The Communist Party and the Auto Workers’ Unions by Roger Keeran (more labor history)

13. Reconstruction: The Battle for Democracy 1865-1876 by James S. Allen, Foreword by Eric Foner (more on Civil War and Reconstruction history)

14. Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume 1 (would recommend to @jirou )

15. White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela by Gerald Horne (even more African history)


In addition:

I've read lots of fanfiction since I was little and recently have an interesting in fanfiction dealing with Stannis Baratheon or Davos Seaworth or both. Favorite one is "Dark Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" (Batman x ASOIAF cross-over where Bruce of House Wayne fights evil or whatever)

Again, I love short-stories.

And finally: to be honest, I've read more non-fiction than fiction, but have tried to read more fiction lately, such as the famed Jin Yong's Condor series.

So, err, yeah, HOPEFULLY you can gauge where my interests lie and everyone here can pitch in and help me figure out what my next read is. I can also read more than one book at a time and I'm withholding finishing the Condor series for now.

Alotta cool sounding shit, and a lotta stuff I like too. Been meaning to read the condor series. I'll drop my list soon

 

[Supreme Overlord]

I'll be honest:

You got me interested more in this phenomenon than anything.

Frankly, even if the works are not that "professional" (I take it that that is the main criticism?) I... am kinda interested in something that's un-professional. That is a bit amateur-ish. I'm a bit done with the more ensconced authors out there by big-name publishers, if you catch my drift. Not that I have anything against them... but I feel like what you describe might provide something new for me.

That, and it seems as fun as reading fanfiction... and I have a guilty pleasure for reading fanfiction.

I wouldn't say it tends to fall under that general sort of designation. The big viral Tok books are often works published under major houses and often might be seen on even the scant shelves of a Wal-Mart. It's less that these are amateur -- technically, they should be considered professional -- and more that they're often surface level with more shallow writing.

I haven't put together a list of qualities they share but have noted they seem to have a particular vibe.

I get the feeling BookTok is very YA centric, and very into, like hope punk.

While it certainly appears very YA-centric, I wouldn't suggest this designation necessarily be constrained to that, nor do I wish to denigrate YA as a whole; however, yes, a lot of common YA attributes seem to permeate the sphere. Beyond a shallower style of writing, I might suggest the classification includes a tendency toward a reliance on more superficial emotionality, where the emotional components wouldn't hold firm if one ponders too much about it, and that might point to some elements of what you're looking at as HopePunk.

Again, though, there's clearly an audience for all this, and I can't say someone won't appreciate what they find. And I know there've been actually good works that have worked their way to this. In the end, though, it's a platform with a variety of individuals who have many different preferences. What goes viral garners the most interest and draws more people on the platform to talk about it, but there will always be other interests if one explores the platform.

And I think it's what thrust the Ice Planet Barbarians into the public eye, and there has to be something said for that, whether that's your interest or whether you simply find the whole thing absurd.

Alotta cool sounding shit, and a lotta stuff I like too. Been meaning to read the condor series. I'll drop my list soon

Definitely check out The Legend of the Condor Heroes. It's the seminal work of its sphere and is a ride in itself. I might add that, like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms before it, it has a grounding in Chinese history, given the Song Dynasty era setting and the leadup to the Yuan Dynasty.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

While it certainly appears very YA-centric, I wouldn't suggest this designation necessarily be constrained to that, nor do I wish to denigrate YA as a whole;

I have negative interest in YA because most of it is dog shit. Also, I'm 31, so this shouldn't be a controversial opinion.

More seriously though, I have been reading 3 kingdoms and it rips extremely hard yeah.

 

[Supreme Overlord]

I have negative interest in YA because most of it is dog shit. Also, I'm 31, so this shouldn't be a controversial opinion.

More seriously though, I have been reading 3 kingdoms and it rips extremely hard yeah.

Of course, Sturgeon's Revelation would posit that "ninety-percent of everything is crud," and Orwell would agree, saying that "in much more than nine cases out of ten the only objective truthful criticism would be 'This book is worthless.'"

Further, though, the designation of YA is overall nebulous and volatile, given to the whims of whatever marketing determines will best sell a product. A work like Alcott's Little Women could be argued to slot into the designation, but doesn't hit many of the YA-feeling marks. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings certainly doesn't match with a great much of what we would call YA, and the connotations of the term largely ensure we would never refer to it as such, but it absolutely has editions produced to be sold under that designation (and if that happens to direct more readers to such works, all the better for it). While I would suggest something like Sanderson's Mistborn -- another with editions shelved in both YA and in general fantasy -- could well be slotted as YA, I've had people argue ardently that it's not (It definitely seems to me that it fits well enough into some of what creates that feel, though).

All that said, I think when we're referring to that YA-feel, we have the same general idea as to what that is, and those elements don't tend to be to my taste or to yours, especially when it comes to those books which find great popularity.

Studiously,
The Supreme Overlord -- still waiting for Children of Húrin to be shelved in the YA section, just for unsuspecting readers to stumble across it.

 

[merp]

Recommendation is noted, thanks!
Daodejing is a nice shoutout as well, though I must admit I still haven't quite got a good grasp on Daoism lol
Should get back into that as well once I have time. Three Kingdoms is one I've been meaning to read for years as well at this point... hopefully this will be the year I start reading regularly so there aren't as many glaring holes in my library.

Edit: Missed Zhuangzi on your list the first time. Also haven't read that in full, but def will asap!

Get the one translated into English during the 1990s by a Chinese translator.

It's the best one, imho.

 

[Metroid]

Honorary Mentions: Gideon the Ninth (haven't read the other books... yet)

Highly recommend getting on that. The sequel is written on such a tightrope and still nails it.

 

[Deleted member 2670]

Audio books allowed? I've been diving into the Discworld novels for the first time, starting with Going Postal. Really great diving/hiking/walking companions. Idk why, but I actually got emotional at the end of it, which is silly but I've got silly side so it tracks. Last book that made me tear up was the end of the N.K Jemisin's The Stone Sky. Books couldn't be more different lol...

So like, read those books I guess.

For the spooky season I'm going to buy Songs of a Dead Dreamer (Thomas Ligiotti) and I've heard great things about Stephen King's Revival.

 

[Earthbounder]

Just finished reading The Three-Body Problem trilogy. It's hard science fiction at its best.

 

[weemadarthur]

Audio books allowed?

Anyone who thinks audio books don’t count is a silly. Although it doesn’t help with improvement of reading skills, as long as those are fine, who cares how a person can consume media most conveniently.

 

[Supreme Overlord]

Audio books allowed?

When you get into the details, listening won't carry with it all the same potential benefits, and it uses the brain differently, and is rather different as a whole from reading the printed word, but that doesn't mean it's without merit of its own -- but I really only mention this because of various pieces of discourse I've encountered over the years, and that's all regarding, basically, how it works, which doesn't carry an impact into the thread's purpose.

The thread is about books. There's no sound and useful argument which would disallow audio books.

Anecdotally, I don't seem currently wired to make the most of the format, but I've known people who have used it to listen through books during times reading wouldn't be possible, and I know people who always loved to read but who possess or have otherwise developed difficulties with the actual act of reading. Audiobooks are what allow them to enjoy books.

All this to say, yeah, there's no reason to disallow them from the conversation here. And they would even bring with them other angles of discussion, such as regards narrators.

Actually, I was just talking with someone yesterday, where one of the people referred to earlier was never able to get into The Silmarillion but should definitely try out Children of Húrin as narrated by Sir Christopher Lee.

For the spooky season I'm going to buy Songs of a Dead Dreamer (Thomas Ligiotti)

Should I assume this is that most common edition which collects also Grimscribe? I've been eyeing Ligotti's work for a long while but haven't yet actually bought any.

There's been a lot I've thought I should pick up and then didn't, and much of that is due to the negative space I have to keep them. Perhaps I should ask the library if they'd be willing to order some things.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Rereading Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, which is, of course, excellent.

I picked up Stephen King’s Fairy Tale but I’m trying to hold off on reading it for another week because there’s a chance one of my book clubs might want to read it together. (We’re meeting on Sunday to discuss the first Witcher book, which…I still haven’t started yet. So I definitely shouldn’t start Fairy Tale…but…)

 

[merp]

Just finished reading The Three-Body Problem trilogy. It's hard science fiction at its best.

Liu Cixin's other work is great and I love his story collection The Wandering Earth.

(On another note: that movie got way too much flack for its supposedly "crazy" or "outrageous" setting or central idea.)

 

[merp]

Highly recommend getting on that. The sequel is written on such a tightrope and still nails it.

I'm going to read the sequels, but I'm currently reading Lev Vygotsky's first volume of works and readings.

He's a famous Soviet psychologist. Who is also popular today in Latin America, China, and, of course, Russia and other Eastern Bloc countries. Thought @jirou might want to know.

Maybe you'd be interested since you found the books I've been reading to be interesting. @Phosphorescent Skeleton

Also, I believe you have a list that you were going to give?

 

[merp]

Double-post. Nvm.

 

[Earthbounder]

Liu Cixin's other work is great and I love his story collection The Wandering Earth.

Oh, thanks for the recommendation. I will check those out!

 

[merp]

Oh, thanks for the recommendation. I will check those out!

I believe the trilogy that you read also got a sequel, or at least a fourth book of some kind, or will.

 

[Earthbounder]

I believe the trilogy that you read also got a sequel, or at least a fourth book of some kind, or will.

You are right. I just checked it, and there is indeed a fourth book of sorts, albeit without the involvement of the original author, it seems.

 

[merp]

You are right. I just checked it, and there is indeed a fourth book of sorts, albeit without the involvement of the original author, it seems.

OOOHHHHH

Okay, then don't read it.

 

[merp]

Also, please click the "Join" button in the link to the klerb website. Thanks. It's not like you're immediately joining a book club anyway.

merp discovers klerb (please read... plox)

Please join: https://www.warmstart.me/waiti/f91c2b45-ca6b-4f59-a5f6-5290e67813f1 More info here: https://mashable.com/article/klerb-tinder-for-book-lovers From the Mashable article: Can similar reading tastes lead to a healthy romance? Klerb, a new social app based on literary preferences...

famiboards.com

 

[merp]

The demons told Karl Marx to write Das Kapital.

 

[jirou]

I'm going to read the sequels, but I'm currently reading Lev Vygotsky's first volume of works and readings.

He's a famous Soviet psychologist. Who is also popular today in Latin America, China, and, of course, Russia and other Eastern Bloc countries. Thought @jirou might want to know.

Maybe you'd be interested since you found the books I've been reading to be interesting. @Phosphorescent Skeleton

Also, I believe you have a list that you were going to give?

Yo, didn't mean to ignore you, I just haven't been on the site properly for a while!
I'll look into it, thanks for the pointer!

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

Finished reading The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus, which is a 17th century novel about the 30 Years War in Germany. Hell of a book. Filled with shit and piss jokes, break neck narritive speed. A billion things happen and then the narrator is just like, the world sucks, so peace out. Highly recommended.

 

[merp]

@jirou

@Phosphorescent Skeleton

@Earthbounder

@Legion of Primes

@Gay Bowser

Currently reading:

Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a Digital World by Bernard Marr

The Brand NEW Book from Bernard Marr, bestselling author behind Business Trends in Practice - Winner of Business Book of the Year 2022.

Future-proof yourself and develop critical skills for the digital future

The working world has changed dramatically in the last twenty years and it's going to continue to transform at an even faster pace. How can the average professional stay afloat in an ocean of constant change and technological revolution?

In Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a Digital World bestselling author and futurist Bernard Marr delivers an engaging and insightful discussion of how you can prepare yourself for the digital future of work. You'll learn which skills will be in the highest demand, why they'll command a premium price, and how to develop them. You'll also find:

Strategies for improving human-centered skills, like teamwork and collaboration
Straightforward explanations of digital skills, like data literacy and cyber-threat awareness
Ways to make yourself an indispensable component of future firms, and practical tips for continuous improvement
A can't-miss book for every working professional seeking not just to survive – but to thrive – in the coming years, Future Skills belongs in the libraries of company leaders, managers, human resources professionals, educators, and anyone else with an interest in the future of work and how humanity fits within it.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 4 million copies sold!

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
design your environment to make success easier;
get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

Balance: How It Works and What It Means by Paul Thagard

Living is a balancing act. Ordinary activities like walking, running, or riding a bike require the brain to keep the body in balance. A dancer’s poised elegance and a tightrope walker’s breathtaking performance are feats of balance. Language abounds with expressions and figures of speech that invoke balance. People fret over work-life balance or try to eat a balanced diet. The concept crops up from politics―checks and balances, the balance of power, balanced budgets―to science, in which ideas of equilibrium are crucial. Why is balance so fundamental, and how do physical and metaphorical balance shed light on each other?

Paul Thagard explores the physiological workings and metaphorical resonance of balance in the brain, the body, and society. He describes the neural mechanisms that keep bodies balanced and explains why their failures can result in nausea, falls, or vertigo. Thagard connects bodily balance with leading ideas in neuroscience, including the nature of consciousness. He analyzes balance metaphors across science, medicine, economics, the arts, and philosophy, showing why some aid understanding but others are misleading or harmful. Thagard contends that balance is ultimately a matter of making sense of the world. In both literal and metaphorical senses, balance is what enables people to solve the puzzles of life by turning sensory signals or an incongruous comparison into a coherent whole.

Bridging philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, Balance shows how an unheralded concept’s many meanings illuminate the human condition.

Err, you could say I'm going through a life-transition at this point.

Edit: Formatting of this post is off to me and is missing the Amazon links meant for other people.

 

[Gay Bowser]

I feel like I’ve heard good things about Atomic Habits for like years now. Let me know if you find it interesting and useful, I’m also trying to make something of a life change

Finally have a few days off of work so I’m still trying to decide what I want my first book of the year to be, because I’m a weirdo who places a lot of importance on stuff like that for “setting the tone” and whatnot. My goal this year is 26 books, which is more than I read last year (sadly).

I really enjoyed reading Richard Osmund’s The Thursday Murder Club with my own mystery club last year, and I already have the (first) sequel to that, so it might be that although I kind of don’t know if I want to start the year on a sequel. I’ve somehow never read a Miss Marple mystery and that’s gotta be the biggest gap in my mystery library at this point so I kind of feel like I should start with that. I know they just republished all the Marple books in a bunch of beautiful new editions in the US too.

 

[famicorpse]

Does anyone else have a tough time dropping a book? I'm halfway through 'A Gentlemans Guide to Vice & Virtue' and I'm not enjoying it, but instead of dropping it, I feel like I have to finish in the hopes that it'll get better (but also, I paid money for it). And it's making my reading motivation tank. But the booktube girlies loved it, and I wanted more gay romance in my life, so here I am.

Anyways, what's everyones reading goals this year? I'm aiming for one self help book a month + one fiction book (so 2 books a month).

 

[kvetcha]

Just finished reading The Three-Body Problem trilogy. It's hard science fiction at its best.

I remember having a hard time getting into the first novel, but the second and especially the third are top-shelf. Great trilogy.

Stuff I've read this year and loved:

The Teixcalaan Series (A Memory Called Empire / A Desolation Called Peace) by Arkady Martine
The Imperial Radch Trilogy (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy) by Ann Leckie
Ru - Kim Thuy
The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman
Devil House - John Darnielle
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

Stuff I've read this year and enjoyed:

Termination Shock - Neal Stephenson
How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu
I Contain Multitudes - Ed Yong

I need to read more regularly in 2023. I tend to go through phases.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

Does anyone else have a tough time dropping a book? I'm halfway through 'A Gentlemans Guide to Vice & Virtue' and I'm not enjoying it, but instead of dropping it, I feel like I have to finish in the hopes that it'll get better (but also, I paid money for it). And it's making my reading motivation tank. But the booktube girlies loved it, and I wanted more gay romance in my life, so here I am.

Anyways, what's everyones reading goals this year? I'm aiming for one self help book a month + one fiction book (so 2 books a month).

I usually read like 5 books at once. Helps me get through the ones I'm less into, or helps me just drop them.

 

[kvetcha]

I usually read like 5 books at once. Helps me get through the ones I'm less into, or helps me just drop them.

I wish I could multitask this well.

 

[jirou]

I've read through Lu Xun's Wild Grass, a collection of prose poem. Enjoyed it thoroughly. I've gotten a collection of his fiction for Christmas and will be reading that next. Matter of fact I should just read the first one right now, thanks for reminding me merp.

 

[KilgoreWolfe]

Does anyone else have a tough time dropping a book? I'm halfway through 'A Gentlemans Guide to Vice & Virtue' and I'm not enjoying it, but instead of dropping it, I feel like I have to finish in the hopes that it'll get better (but also, I paid money for it). And it's making my reading motivation tank. But the booktube girlies loved it, and I wanted more gay romance in my life, so here I am.

Anyways, what's everyones reading goals this year? I'm aiming for one self help book a month + one fiction book (so 2 books a month).

It's very rare that I have to drop a book, but since I only read one book at a time (in an effort to stay focused on what I'm reading) if I notice I'm taking way too long on a book and just can't get through it, I'll drop it.

As for reading goals, I read 37 books last year so I'll aim for 40 this year. Yesterday I read the graphic novel adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five in two sittings, which was excellent. Made me want to re-read the novel though.

 

[famicorpse]

It's very rare that I have to drop a book, but since I only read one book at a time (in an effort to stay focused on what I'm reading) if I notice I'm taking way too long on a book and just can't get through it, I'll drop it.

As for reading goals, I read 37 books last year so I'll aim for 40 this year. Yesterday I read the graphic novel adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five in two sittings, which was excellent. Made me want to re-read the novel though.

40 a year seems crazy, but if you're counting graphic novels, then it's definitely doable. I do read manga, but I didn't think to count it towards my total.

 

[KilgoreWolfe]

40 a year seems crazy, but if you're counting graphic novels, then it's definitely doable. I do read manga, but I didn't think to count it towards my total.

I have a decent amount of downtime to read at work, so that helps. But yeah, a book is a book to me, even a graphic novel. Hell, last year (or maybe the year before, can't quite remember) included the entire Sandman series (which counted as two books, the two volumes of the omnibus).

 

[kvetcha]

40 a year seems crazy, but if you're counting graphic novels, then it's definitely doable. I do read manga, but I didn't think to count it towards my total.

I think if I eliminated most of the time I spend scrolling on here and reddit I could read 100 books a year.

 

[merp]

Hey, you still there, old friend? @1upmuffin

 

[KilgoreWolfe]

So after finishing a book I started last year (Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones, excellent werewolf book if you're into that), reading a novella (Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson, I've read the four main Stormlight Archive books so I'm going for the novellas now) and the aforementioned Slaughterhouse-Five graphic novel, I've started the first "meaty" book of the year for me: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

This one is definitely gonna take me a little bit to get through, it's densely written and somewhat lengthy (~540 pages or so). It's supposed to evoke David Copperfield (which I have not read) but in southern Appalachia. I've always loved Kingsolver's work, and this is shaping up to be a great one.

 

[smoothies]

I've had a string of bad luck lately with books I thought would click with me but lost steam.

In the past month or two, I've dropped:
Remain in Love by Chris Frantz
The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim
To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Looking for a quick, weird read to get me back on track...

 

[CloverNotes]

I'm currently reading the Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell for pleasure and because I'm learning game design. It has a lot of personality for a textbook.