Short, interesting, concise lecture. I've always been curious about Buddhism. Not as in, I wanted to become a Buddhist, but just...what's it about? AlsoShort, interesting, concise lecture. I've always been curious about Buddhism. Not as in, I wanted to become a Buddhist, but just...what's it about? Also, not gonna lie, it kind of swizzled around in my brain, getting mixed up with parts of Hinduism. And I've hit the halfway mark of my life and decided I should probably be able to distinguish two such major religions. Is Buddhism a religion? I had been under the impression that it was more a philosophy, but then again, what's the real difference between that? If you adhere to a set of morality rules that someone else came up with, I'm at a loss to differentiate on a cellular level between the two. I guess it's whether or not you toss a God/gods in the mix.
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I have to say, though, after reading about several of these biggies, they're all pretty much the same. And maybe this sounds silly, but I've come to the conclusion that all of this stuff is for people who need someone else to give them a moral compass, thereby taking the weight off of having to decide what's right for themselves. There's just no need for any of it, otherwise. It's just one giant game of adult pretend where different factions spend way too much precious time debating the various intricacies of nonsense rules. Just be nice and butt out of everyone else's business. How fucking hard is that?
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Ok, as far as this course goes, I thought this was a really good introduction to Buddhism. You can tell that Eckel really buys into all of it by the way he phrases some things (I think he actually believes the current Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of all the others), so he has this joy about the way he speaks of Buddhism. That was kind of different for me when it comes to religious lectures, as most of the professors I've listened to don't seem to put much stock in the supernatural elements of what they are teaching. Or if they do, it doesn't come across in the lectures. But he did a really good job explaining the history and how it has morphed and changed over the centuries into what we see today.
Addiction comes in all shapes and sizes. Most addicts have to hit a personal low before they recognize they want to change, and Mark is no different. HAddiction comes in all shapes and sizes. Most addicts have to hit a personal low before they recognize they want to change, and Mark is no different. He's spent his adult life working for some "agency" as their pet assassin, making a name for himself as the baddest of them all, known only as The Pale Horse. After something happens (you don't find out till towards the end of the book what it is), our protagonist joins an AA group for killers. He's almost made it to the one-year mark when a fellow professional shows up after a meeting and tries to kill him. He's forced to go on the run with the hot doctor who patched him up and his beloved cat, P. Kitty. And now he's got to figure out who wants him dead, why, and if he can get out of this mess without killing anyone.
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So this had a pretty good plot when it came to the backstory stuff, and a few of the twists were fun. However, I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'd continue with this series, simply because I think an assassin who won't kill to save himself is silly. If the only way to stop someone crazy from killing you or someone you love is to kill them, then...? Like? Ok. I know what you're thinking, but at the end, when he's confronted with {name redacted} and their nefarious plan, you know that someone is going to end up having to take that person out. So someone is going to be a killer. And someone is going to get killed. And nobody will mourn them. I guess it's a glitch in my personality that I get annoyed by the irrationality of a moral stance that puts others in a position to have to take care of your own dirty work. And that kind of ruins the fun of the story for me.
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I have to compliment the author on a few things. First and foremost, I find that sometimes authors drag out The Big Secret Thing and then don't deliver on the promise. Hart delivers. I was surprised when we finally got to the big reveal, and it made sense for what happened to really gut-punch our character enough to make him rethink his life choices. I thought it was going to be that recycled (view spoiler)["I shot a kid" (hide spoiler)] thing, so when it wasn't, I was impressed that he had gone outside the box a bit. Second, he managed to pull the wool over my eyes with another character, and while I thought that one was a bit iffy (view spoiler)[(a top assassin who moonlights as an off-the-books doctor? getthefuckoutofhere. (hide spoiler)], I still liked it. Honorable mention for Mark loving that damn cat so much & the running Jason Statham gag.
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Audiobook readers: I didn't care for the narration of this one. It's not because the narrator was necessarily bad, I just thought the dialogue sounded cheesy coming out of his mouth. Like he was doing some generic "cool guy" voice. Or maybe what someone who isn't cool thinks a cool guy sounds like. <--does that even make sense? I don't know. For whatever reason, I didn't love it....more
Eh. The premise sounded great, but for whatever reason, I had to force myself to finish it. I was just very bored with both the storyline (I'm sick of Eh. The premise sounded great, but for whatever reason, I had to force myself to finish it. I was just very bored with both the storyline (I'm sick of all things Nazi) and couldn't get invested in the main character.
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So the skinny gist is that a psychological memory specialist with a "secret/shameful sad memory" in her past is called to Paris when her grandmother, who is a famous painter dealing with dementia, confesses to a murder that supposedly happened at the end of WWII. Toss in a lost love that disappeared into the ether, a hitman, a curmudgeonly cop, a childhood crush, the OG memory specalist guy who saved her and her grandmother, and the voice of a (dead?) woman who did terrible and brave things to save her country during the second world war, and you have the basis of the cast of characters. Now, take the hitman, the cop, or perhaps someone else entirely, and swirl them around to see if any of them might be a lost love that disappeared into the ether.
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That sounds interesting, right? And parts of it were, because that disappeared lover thing managed to keep me guessing. But for the majority of the book, I was just bored, and can't exactly pinpoint why. I wouldn't try to warn anyone off of this one, though, so if it sounds like your bag of cats, give it a shot. Not my cuppa, but it could be yours....more
We need more people willing and able to explain big concepts of hard science in a way that the averageWe need more people like Tyson out there.
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We need more people willing and able to explain big concepts of hard science in a way that the average person can understand-ish. Or if not understand, at least make interesting. And that's what this is. Neil deGrasse Tyson is the adult version of Bill Nye the Science Guy. Although, as an adult, I still love me some Bill Nye. Come on, now. I can't be the only one.
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So this isn't a lecture on one particular thing. It's this hodgepodge of "fun facts" that is intended to kind of give the layperson a little nibble of some of the more interesting things we've discovered about the universe that we don't necessarily have answers to yet.
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I know some people don't like this about Tyson, but I absolutely love his no-nonsense attitude toward shoving God in the cracks of science. I get that most people are spiritual, if not outright religious, so your personal mileage will vary. And while I don't see how it's wrong or blasphemous to separate science from a personal belief in some high power, I do think it's dangerous not to make the distinction. If people just assumed that everything we didn't understand was un-understandable, we wouldn't have chemotherapy or vaccines, we wouldn't be working on cures for dementia, and we wouldn't have preventative tests that can find diseases before it's too late. And, maybe most importantly, we wouldn't know how to grow a seedless watermelon. Then again, I may perhaps be slightly biased toward the seedless watermelon and overstating its importance. Nah.
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Clocking in at an inviting 3 hour length, this makes for a fantastic time suck, or just an introduction into the fascinating world of what we know we don't know. And it gets bonus points for being an awesome road trip lecture for me a few weeks ago.
Laconians. So straight-laced. So sure of themselves.
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If you aren't aware, the Laconians are a planet full of people who have had no outside contLaconians. So straight-laced. So sure of themselves.
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If you aren't aware, the Laconians are a planet full of people who have had no outside contact with the rest of the universe for a generation. While they've got superior firepower due to the protommolecule, they lack any real understanding of other cultures. So, this adventure into taking over the wider universe is akin to what happens when you send out homeschooled evangelical children to a university that is known for its party atmosphere. Doing the right thing is almost never a black and white issue with only one correct answer and zero nuance. Cult-like rigidity works for a while, but eventually, the society eats itself.
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This is the story of what happens to the new governor of Auberon, his wife, & their values, as they clash with the reality of how the world really works and what it takes to survive it. One of the minor recurring characters shows up in this one, and he's a lot of fun. And now I want an arm that can catch a bullet.
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Another great novella in The Expanse series. Recommended for fans....more
The only thing that kept it from being 5 stars for me was that I never connected with any of the characters. I don'tHaunted Mansion for adults.
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The only thing that kept it from being 5 stars for me was that I never connected with any of the characters. I don't know how else to describe it other than it had a chick-lit feel. And that's not going to be a bad thing for most readers, so don't take that as a knock.
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Clio is the youngest sister of three, with a devil may care attitude and confidence that seems to be a common denominator in those who are the baby of the family. She's not a bad person, but she's a bit spoilt and doesn't seem to have much in the way of depth to her life. She's an influencer who streams and posts her life online, selling dreams and projecting an image of the ideal. Attending parties with frenemies, abiding by the influencer code, having meaningless flings with hot guys, what's not to like? All of that and the love of her tight-knit family have been the norm for as long as she can remember. But it turns out there's a lot she doesn't remember.
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When her estranged mother dies of a heart attack, Clio finds out that she and her sisters have inherited their mother's home, which rips off a bandage that she didn't even know she was wearing. When her sisters flatly refuse to go to the funeral, she finds herself talking to some very strange people who have a drastically different take on her mother's erratic behavior.
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When she decides to renovate the old home for views, she inadvertently opens the floodgates of her memory to what really happened when she was a child. And piece by terrifying piece, she starts to put the puzzle together, while simultaneously realizing that her entire life might be built on shifting sand.
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Did her beloved father finally have to walk away from her mother because of her irrational beliefs, or was he a control freak who was sleeping with her now step-mother and just wanted out? Was her mother an abusive alcoholic who lost custody of her children after her deluded actions endangered them, or was there an ACTUAL demon in their childhood home? Were her memories just stories that her family made up to keep a fragile little girl from falling apart? Or is the real story of her mother far more complicated and tangled than one haunted house with a malevolent spirit in the attic?
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This had all the things I think anyone could want from a story about the demons we all have. Real or imagined. Recommended....more
This isn't an in-depth look at any particular culture, but it is a good overview of the ancient civilizations that wConcise trip into the past.
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This isn't an in-depth look at any particular culture, but it is a good overview of the ancient civilizations that we have been able to study. As I'm sure someone will point out, there are probably ancient civilizations that could have been bigger/stronger/faster/cooler, but we just don't know about them yet, and/or they haven't been as unearthed and studied as the ones Harl mentions here.
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This isn't my first lecture with Harl, and it's also not my favorite. That one is still Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity. And I feel it's fair to mention that, for whatever reason, my mind wandered off a lot during this lecture. I don't know why, but I just couldn't really engage with this material, which is weird because I was really looking forward to listening to it. Point is, I'm not sure if this was a me thing, or if this lecture was boring.
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Anyway. This does what it sets out to do and gives the listener a broad look at some of the major ancient civilizations' religions, politics, and way of life, showing how they influenced each other and the civilizations that came after them.
Mid-level black humor with an unlikable main character.
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Now, I know what you're thinking. Look, lady. The main character is a serial killer. Of cMid-level black humor with an unlikable main character.
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Now, I know what you're thinking. Look, lady. The main character is a serial killer. Of course, she's going to be unlikable. That's the whole point of her, right? Well. Yes and no. You have to walk a fine line when your main character is morally vacant. I don't have to want to be like them, but I have to be able to comfortably crawl in their skin for a while and understand their motivations. As in, I'm not advocating killing off people that piss me off, but I can still nod along with the urge to do them in. I wasn't nodding along with the vast majority of the people she killed.
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As far as dark humor went, I didn't find this funny. Not in a I'm insulted way, but it just didn't make me laugh. I also got a bit tired of her referencing ordinary people. You're not an alien, dear. You've just got a really bad temper, no empathy, and are narcissistic enough to think that gives you the right to skin annoying people alive. I guess it wasn't funny enough to be funny or touching enough to feel touching. For me, at least.
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But it also wasn't a chore to read (or listen to, in my case), so I think this could definitely have an audience. It was off-kilter and a bit crazy, and not always in a bad way. The concept of this was definitely solid and interesting. Like I said, this would be a hard character and hard subject matter to get perfect, so I'm not knocking it into the garbage. I would be up for trying another of this author's stories.
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The very skinny gist is that a serial killer loses her beloved father after a long battle with dementia and ends up in a support group for other people working through their grief. Hijinks ensue when one of the people in the group finds out what she does on the side and tries to blackmail her. The title comes from her thinking she can "see people as ghosts", which just translates into her wanting to kill someone who annoys her and then being able to "look through them" and think they are insubstantial.
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It's not a bad premise at all, but it just didn't quite work for me. But I don't think you should let that put you off trying this book out if it looks like something you would enjoy. Recommended. Ish....more
Snow White, the Magic Mirror, and that damn apple.
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Except Snow isn't the main character, and the mirror (mirrors) actually leads to a shadow worSnow White, the Magic Mirror, and that damn apple.
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Except Snow isn't the main character, and the mirror (mirrors) actually leads to a shadow world that is dominated by an evil queen. It's the recognizable mixed with some brand new, and it really worked well for me here. It also introduced a new twist on the Snow White folklore mythology, as Kingfisher takes the jump scare of our mirror images acting independently to a whole new level.
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The skinny gist is that our main character is a young(ish) woman who is an expert on poisons. After watching her cousin ingest poisoned berries and die, she became obsessed with finding antidotes. Not because she loved her shitty little cousin, but because she was just fascinated by the science behind it. This makes her a bit of an anomaly for the surrounding villages, but it also makes her the very person the king needs to save his daughter, who (he believes) could be the victim of a nefarious poisoner who is causing her to sicken and waste away. Oh, and he also killed the queen recently. <--because he found her cutting the heart out of their youngest child. Yeah. So. That happened, as well.
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How does Kingfisher turn this into a retelling? <--I'm assuming you ask. Well, I don't know. I'm not a writer who weaves magic on the page. But she somehow takes one of the most recognizable fairytales and creates a whole new story, with a whole new protagonist, and a whole different plot, but still manages to check the box with all of the major moments of the original still there. I was impressed.
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Ok, so. I feel like I say this every time, but retellings tend to move slowly, much like other genres that are fantasy-adjacent, sometimes meandering along and crunching on the aesthetic vibes of scenery or unimportant conversations for too long for some readers. <--myself included. But whileHemlock and Silver is no real exception to that, if you know what to expect going in, you're less likely to get frustrated with this genre on the whole.
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Highly Recommended for fans of fairytale retellings....more
Ok, so I wasn't expecting the story to take this turn. I wasn't expecting the time jump into the crew's older years. I wasn'What just happened?!
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Ok, so I wasn't expecting the story to take this turn. I wasn't expecting the time jump into the crew's older years. I wasn't expecting to see the Belters and Martians and Earthers getting along. I wasn't expecting to see Earth rejuvenated, for that matter. I certainly wasn't expecting Holden and Naomi to decide to retire! Don't worry, this is all in the first few pages. What comes next? That might be a spoiler.
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But not really. Because this story is about what happens when those crazy Martians who had been fucking around with the protomolecule come back from the other side of the gate, and bring their hybrid technology with them to conquer the universe.
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I really enjoyed this one! So the last book felt like a proper ending to the series. This one? Complete cliffhanger. (view spoiler)[James is a captive on Laconia, kept alive only because he's the only person with firsthand knowledge of some wonky things the protomolecule is doing. Naomi and Alex are separated from Bobbie and Amos, all fugitives from the Laconian Empire after a massive jailbreakesque run they made from Medina Station. And the rest of the resistance is spread thin throughout the worlds, in the hopes of finding a way to hit back at some point. Clarissa went down fighting for Naomi, which was the only thing I sort of clocked happening at the beginning of this one. Everything else was a nice surprise story-wise. Also, it was good to see Chrisjen Avasarala still kicking around. (hide spoiler)]
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I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book. Recommended....more
I was afraid that after the emotional roller coaster of The Last Devil to Die, the humor and charm oOur Oldsters are back! And better than ever.
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I was afraid that after the emotional roller coaster of The Last Devil to Die, the humor and charm of our little gang of senior citizen sleuths might be forever dimmed. But honestly, this might be my favorite book in the series.
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While Joyce's daughter has always been an adjacent character in these books, popping in and out of the narrative to shake her head at Joyce or to step in and save a retirement village, she's never been front and center in the way Donna, Chris, or Bogdan have. Well, this is Joanna's time to shine.
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It opens with Joyce telling us about the argument she and Joanna had over the size of her wedding. Joyce wants the grand wedding of her dreams, while Joanna wants something more "intimate". Of course, the conclusions they are both drawing about what the other thinks is big versus small, and the ultimate resolution to the mother-daughter stand-off, are part of why Obsorn shines as a writer. I really loved being able to finally see what was going on behind the scenes with these two and their sticky but lovable relationship. Again, I could feel that tug for Joyce as she continually managed to say the eversoslightly wrong thing to her daughter. I hear myself doing that with my girls now that they are grown. And internally, I'm screaming at myself to shutupshutupshutup, Anne! as I listen to myself spiral further and further down the unwanted advice hole. There are just all of these little things about them that I want to "fix" or "save them" from, and if they'd just let me... I know how it sounds, but it's so hard to stop running someone's life for them. And maybe even harder is to stop self-inserting and making their choices into a reflection of yours. Letting go of your children, really letting go and remembering that while you raised them, they are not yours to define, is... Well, it sucks. And that's my long way around to say that I just feel Joyce in my bones.
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Another breakout character that I loved in this book was Connie Johnson. Our drug Queenpin is out of jail on a technicality and yet still voluntarily attending therapy sessions with Ibrahim, while mentoring a little queenpin in the making. <--not sure this is what Ibrahim meant about helping out troubled teens, but it all works out.
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So the very skinny gist is that Joyce's son-in-law's best man has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. And by suspicious circumstances, I mean that he asked Elizabeth for help after telling her that someone had planted a bomb under his car. Then disappeared. Well, the gang certainly isn't going to stand for that, are they?
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Like every other Thursday Murder Club book, this one has multiple storylines running through it. And while Osborn has you looking one way to find a killer, the real plot of the book is quietly unfolding on the sidelines. Lots of suspects, lots of secrets, and lots of moments that made me laugh or tear up. Mostly, at the same time. Also, loved that Ron was willing to die on the hill that Pierce Brosnan was the best Bond.
Granted, it doesn't take much to boggle me, but theoretical physicist Sean Carroll is working with ideas that made my head spin. InI'm boggled.
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Granted, it doesn't take much to boggle me, but theoretical physicist Sean Carroll is working with ideas that made my head spin. In a good way. <--don't want you getting the wrong idea. 95% of this went so far beyond anything that I understood, that I spent the vast majority of the book with a perpetual look of huh? on my face. Checkerboards, disembodied brains, and black holes. What? <--I'm assuming you asked. I don't know. But it was educational in that broad-level crazypants way that made me feel smarter AND dumber at the same time.
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But that's ok. Because 5% of what he was saying sank into my brain and just filled it up with incredible information and theories that it's fair to say I'll probably not retain, but were cool while they lasted. On the flip side, the more I read about this stuff, the more I recognize ideas when I read the next book. There's that. So while the title is catchy, the reality is that I understood very little of what was coming out of Carroll's mouth because I am old and have zero background in any of this. Don't think you're going to step into this book and really take anything solid away from it if you're not a science or math major. Carroll is talking to peers in this. Or if not peers, then not middle-aged folks who, like me, still count on their fingers and sing the alphabet song to put the letters in order.
But hey, if you got Nobel prizes for reading things outside of your comfort zone, I'd be collecting mine right now. Recommendedish....more
Good, depending on what you're looking for in the lecture.
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Well, I thought this was a re-read for me, but apparently not. I had this confused wiGood, depending on what you're looking for in the lecture.
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Well, I thought this was a re-read for me, but apparently not. I had this confused with The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History and was just listening to it as something to do in between other books. BUT. This was fine. Nothing I hadn't heard before, but if you're looking for a somewhat Biblical look at how the Christian Church was formed over the first 4 centuries, this is that. If you're looking for a more historical look at how the Christian Church formed and changed over the centuries, I would HIGHLY recommend Kenneth W. Harl's Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity.
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I am in no way saying that Ehrman doesn't separate church doctrine from history, but this lecture is targeted at how the doctrine came to be what is now known as orthodox. Harl's lecture gave (in my opinion) a more comprehensive look at the social and political goings-on, and Ehrman's gives more time to what was happening in the actual churches.
