A stunning, haunting portrait of a country that seems lost and set on self-destruction. The harshness, oppression, and corruption experienced by its people is heartbreaking. Kostyuchenko’s writing is incredible, necessary and deeply affecting.
The Factory, Oyamada Hiroko
A surreal nightmare of a book which is fitting giving modern work is its subject. The calm, measured prose does a wonderful job of creating a bizarre, confusing feel, aided by (at first disturbing then I eventually figured out what was happening) abrupt and unmarked transitions between different character PoVs.
More. Numbers. Every. Day, Helge Thorbjørnsen and Micael Dahlén
A fantastic book; one that tackles a topic that has been on my mind for the past few years—I even wrote an essay on the topic. Numbers have invaded our life and our thinking to such a degree that they distort debate, discussion and decisions. Being conscious of the power of numbers is the first step to a healthier relationship with digits small and large. Special acknowledgements to the fun little personal anecdote from the authors – set apart from the text itself – as well as the end of chapter summaries.
Quietly Confident, Kate James
If you’ve never read a book in this genre, or had no therapy, this book might be a good start. For me though, this book was just reheated insights I’ve read quite a lot of already. There’s not much new or compelling about this one. If this genre interests you, start with Dr Guha’s book instead.
The World of Yayoi Kusama, 1000 piece puzzle
So much fun! This is the first puzzle I’ve done that included an almost one to one sized poster which made assembling the puzzle really delightful. And as a bonus, the back of the poster explained the story of Kusama-san’s life. The centre provided quite the challenge, involving a bit of bifurcation, whereas the outer edges were more straightforward. Thanks, Claire, for the loan!
In Praise of Shadows, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō
An important essay – both so far as form goes (the afterward in my edition comments on the rather Japanese structure, itself a demonstration of the themes Tanizaki-san writes about) and content. I’ll never quite look at the interplay of light and darkness and shadow in the same ways every again.
Open Throat, Henry Hoke
The ability to set a novel from the viewpoint of a non-human has always fascinated me; it can be quite hard to do well, but I think Hoke manages to pull off a convincing sense of otherness. We can both relate to and be curious about our mountain cat narrator.n And I think the book largely avoids falling into an overly anthropomorphic view point. A brilliant and contained story.
The Great Housing Hijack, Cameron K Murray
Very dense economically, which is necessary, of course, to understand the current housing crisis and to begin to be able to think about ways out of the mess we are in. I felt myself getting a bit lost in the soup from time to time, and would have appreciated a high-level summary of the five equilibria.
I was excited to read Murray’s proposed solution as well as being offput to reflect on the power of what he calls “the housing cheer squad” – i.e. the vested interests that are protecting the status quo. As always, I cannot help but think the problem is too big and too politically messy for a solution as brave and necessary as Murray advocates.
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
An unsettling, near-endless film; I think I wanted something more than what it was, which ultimately was a film that made me very upset at humanity’s tendency towards wretchedness. Still, it’s a Nolan, so you know there’ll be some good bits.
I May Be Wrong, Björn Natthiko Lindeblad et al
A book of such profound and genuine wisdom; the life of a monk (and the periods both before and after) are written with such grace, kindness and humour. Beautiful and moving.
Monstrilio, Gerardo Sámano Córdova
A dark (and darkly fun) novel about loss and the ways in which we cope. I was impressed with the clarity and strength of Sámano Córdova’s prose and character work and am very keen to read more of their work.
The Pattern Seekers, Simon Baron-Cohen
Dense – the central argument is a powerful one, but the presentation is not favourable to engaging with the ideas. I applaud his conclusion that people with autism deserve better support and opportunities to participate in the workforce—I just think it unlikely that this book would convince anyone who wasn’t already receptive to his message.
Literary Theory for Robots, Dennis Yi Tenen
A curious and delightful book; although the delight is not uniformly distributed. The initial chapter or so did not grab me, but I came to enjoy Yi Tenen’s nuanced take on AI.
Designing Your New Work Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
A real mixed bag: I thought the sections on design thinking were, as you might expect, the stronger part of the book. The book falls down, though, in having a real USA-centric attitude to work and I think some views of the authors are just outdated. For instance, they seemed unconcerned or even enthusiastic about the growing dominance of the gig economy. There was also little to no evidence base for many of their recommendations (and indeed, underlying view). And to round off my criticism, the case studies they used to illustrate their points (especially from their own lives) felt a little trite.
Creamerie, season two
Not quite as sharp or enjoyable as season one (nor, I think as funny). Still, the things that made season one so wonderful are still present here, just perhaps in lesser amounts.
The Great Divide, Alan Kohler
A wonderful essay by Kohler of the hows and why of the hellscape that is the housing market in Australia in 2024. Absent political bravery—of the sort totally absent from the world today—I cannot see any meaningful improvements, although I agree with many of the essay’s suggestions and conclusions.
Baby Reindeer, limited series
Stunning and harrowing. An important story that is rarely told: that while it happens far less, men are still victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence and other similar crimes (although, the perpetrator of violence towards men is likely to be other men). I was also blown away to see a romance with trans woman handled so well, and with nuance and love and care, while also acknowledging that modern life does not make it easy for trans people to be happy and to thrive. This is tremendous television which rises far beyond the usual garbage one finds on netflix.
Until the End of Time, Brian Greene
Quite a dense and chewy book, and one that is stronger when it sticks to the areas closest to Greene’s expertise (hard physics). It becomes quite vague and waffling in areas farthest from his (professional) expertise. The book often relies on assertions as to the likely answer to some of our thorniest questions (such as consciousness) which I think comes across as intellectually incurious and rather dogmatic. It is disappointing that he does not make an effort to engage with arguments that challenge his physicalist preferences.
Creamerie, season one
A brilliant post-apocalyptic show that is darkly comic as well as frighteningly plausible. Whereas something like The Handmaid’s Tale television show only walks, this smart production from New Zealand runs effortlessly. I was so delighted to discover another season was ready and waiting for me.
Is it Cake, season three
Yes, it does appear to be mostly cake. The host, sadly, continues to be stubbornly not cake.
Dayswork, Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel
I’ve never read anything quite like this remarkable book, a sui generis exploration of Herman Meville’s life through a fictional narrative of an academic. The writing is so warm and nuanced and emotive and incredibly moving. And it has inspired me to read Moby Dick, which would be hard to avoid given how warmly this novel deals with Moby Dick. Lovely stuff.
A City on Mars, Zach and Kelly Weinersmith
A fascinating book that genuinely moved my thoughts on a topic: beforehand I would have described myself as quite bullish on space travel and settlement, but through this book’s broad exploration, I am now somewhat more cautious about the whole idea. In particular, I note with appreciation the Weinersmith’s conclusion that we oughtn’t consider space as a solution to the general socioeconomic and political instability that characterises the earth today. Rather, when (or if) we resolve this, then we should ought to pour ourselves into the stars. I did find the humour in this book a little too referential for my tastes in the way that a lot of (self professed) geeky or nerdy things are. There was probably an equal amount of eye rolls to chuckles. Still, even aside from the tone being not to my taste from time to time, I admire this book, its research and the passion that went into it.
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
A powerful book that focussed on something very universal; life’s purpose. I took a lot from his conclusion that we can only define our own purpose, no one else can define another’s purpose. His views on suffering as a key and essential part of our lives also lit something inside me. Deep and moving. I will say that it is quite unfortunate that he refers to homosexual relationships as “sexual perversion,” but we can understand that as a relic of the era in which the book was written. It is similarly disappointing that he uses ‘men’ to mean people.
The Patriarchs, Angela Saini
The first half of this book was repetitive and in search of a thesis. I found the second half better: clearer and with less repetition, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the book. I am still interested in the topic of how it came to be that patriarchal systems became dominant when there is nothing certain or inevitable about that fate.
Fallout, season one
This was such a loving thing, done with great fondness and respect for the source material. I have a few quibbles—I wasn’t convinced by Aaron Clifton Moten’s acting, and I found the whole thing, like the game I suppose, to be very violent and gory—but on the whole, I had a lot of fun and I am excited to see where they take the show in season two.
The Buddhist and the Ethicist, Shih Chao-Hwei and Peter Singer
I found this dense and the format—a conversation between the two authors—did not work for me. Not that I think it couldn’t have worked, it just didn’t work in this book. I am torn because some ideas in the exchange are deeply information and thought provoking, and I like the obvious respect and admiration between the authors. Yet I cannot possibly recommend this in its current form.
488 Rules, Kitty Flanagan
This was funnier, and less ‘okay, boomer’ than another similar book I read about an Australian comedian-type. I think I made a mistake by not finding the audiobook version of this, as I’m sure Flanagan’s delivery would have added so much. That said, it is still a bit familiar, and very few of the jokes made me laugh out loud.
Why, Philip Goff
A tremendous piece of original thinking and philosophy. Some ideas were necessarily dense, but Goff’s writing and thought is clear, witty and thought-provoking. I have not landed if I find Goff’s ultimate thesis convincing, but I will be thinking about them for a long time, I suspect.
Kung Food, Jon Kung
Kung’s views on food are fun and his recipes are smartly written. I’m yet to cook anything from the book yet, but I have about 30 or so recipes I’m very excited to make.
The Wandering Mind, Jamie Kreiner
Look, this WAS interesting. But it was very little about distraction and far more about monks: how they lived, worked, acted, and so on. But luckily, Kreiner writes with such wit and authority that even though I wasn’t getting what I expected, I had a fine enough time.