7858

@7858.eth

488 Following

2953 Followers

7858 pfp

The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett follows the construction of a fictional cathedral across many decades. The cathedral is just a nexus, the book is about the power struggles, social dynamics, and sex lives of the people involved. It’s very good. It uses occasional archaic flourishes but for the most part, it’s totally modern English. The story arcs overlap and interlock enough to keep momentum high across the thousandish pages. The characters are all memorable, and either lovable or gratifyingly hateable. The religious crap is palatable and balanced by a few skeptical characters. My main gripe with the book is the mad rush in the last 15% to provide comprehensive happily-ever-after denouement. Every single thread got tied up with a tidy little bow, which felt like a minor betrayal of the complexity and intensity of the rest of the book. Three stars for the class it wanted to be (an enduring epic). Five stars for the class it achieved (great big soap opera).

0 reply

1 recast

5 reactions

7858 pfp

Your original intuition is likely on point, @benbassler.eth Take a quick pass through your followers and sanity check them Here’s a screenshot from my profile where every follower is a bot I suspect that this was stage one, maybe just the oldest and most egregious bots I bet and hope there’s more to come

1 reply

2 recasts

5 reactions

7858 pfp

Shogun James Clavell tells a fictional story of a westerner in medieval Japan. I’m taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to talk about this because I can’t get it out of my head. My fellow readers will know exactly what I mean when I say that I miss living in this book. I’ve felt homesick for it since I finished it a couple weeks ago. When I started it, I figured it was going to use the main character as a vehicle for touring around Japan saying “wow how strange it is here!” Instead, the book takes you deep into Japanese culture. And the characters are nuanced and interesting across the board. Great plot, riveting character development, sophisticated themes, all set against the backdrop of one of my favorite time and place combinations. I’d update my wife on what was happening in the book every day, just because I was so excited that I had to get it off my chest. Five stars, will be tough to beat in 2025. Can’t wait to watch the show 🤩

2 replies

0 recast

7 reactions

7858 pfp

Hamlet Shakespeare tells a tragedy. I’m not going to wax poetic about the play. Its influence and power are well established by the mere fact that we’re still talking about it at all. Very briefly: it’s great. Almost 25% of the lines have become cliches, for good reason. Instead, I want to propose a path for going from zero (can read) to one (can read Shakespeare) for people who want to read Shakespeare but find the language intractable. Here’s what not to do: Don’t read a modernized text. A lot of the impact comes from the words themselves, not just the stories. And don’t just sit with a dictionary tab open looking stuff up, because that breaks your flow to the point where you experience a slog, not a story. Instead, mix 25-50% pre-1930 books into your rotation. Eventually your fluency in older and older language increases. Jumping all the way back to Middle English from Jane Austen is still jarring, but way less than the jump from modern English.

1 reply

1 recast

7 reactions

7858 pfp

Ireland Frank Delaney tells the history of Ireland through a series of fictional stories. This is like a kids’ illustrated book, except instead of actual drawings it has interwoven fictional stories to hold adults’ interest across 650 pages of genuine history. The frame tale is compelling enough to keep everything feeling unified, all the way from the ice age to Ireland’s bloody twentieth century. The stories inside the frame are packed with Irish history, myth, character. It’s an agreeable way to learn a whole bunch of Irish history. The audiobook does justice to the Irish oral storytelling tradition. I’ve never read a book quite like this, so right now it’s alone in its class. Read it if you’re visiting Ireland or going through one of those phases where you’re excited about your Irish heritage.

0 reply

1 recast

15 reactions

7858 pfp

Infantry Attacks Erwin Rommel recounts his WWI experience in minute detail. The man went on to be one of the greatest forces for evil in the 20th century, but in WWI he was just an aggressive lieutenant with a strong memory. This is a military history deep cut. It’s rare to see the level of tactical detail that he provides, which is incredible if you’re into that kind of thing, but it’s not for casual readers. If you’ve read We Were Soldiers Once, and you want to get the level of detail about WWI that you got about Ia Drang, this is a great pick. Otherwise, you can safely skip it.

0 reply

1 recast

7 reactions

7858 pfp

The Inimitable Jeeves PG Wodehouse stitches a bunch of inane short stories into an insufferable novel. Quoting from my contemporaneous review: “Just the worst. If you’re the type of person who laughs by turning down the corners of your mouth, lifting your chin, and pushing small chuckles from deep in your throat out of your nose, you might find something to like here. No likable or interesting characters, no development, no unifying story. Just more or less detached episodes of obnoxious people getting into silly, boring situations. The writing is nowhere near as good as its reputation suggests.” I stand by that. I will add as additional flavor that this was the end of my run of mining Paul Graham’s book recommendations. Not good, not funny, not worth reading.

3 replies

1 recast

7 reactions

7858 pfp

Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt tells the story of growing up in a poor, dysfunctional family in Brooklyn and Limerick. The author’s grace, humor, and empathy elevate this book above the standard crop of poverty porn memoirs, even those that share its S tier writing and storytelling. It’s mystifying to me how someone could so effectively convey that much pathos, despite having clearly matured and recovered so completely. But somehow he manages to, and the result for the reader is that you feel McCourt’s pain deeply, but without the emotional hangover that often accompanies this type of book. I think part of it is that the Irish as a culture are especially well equipped to process sadness and misery. But there’s something singular about McCourt, even in that cultural context. Your heart breaks as you see Frank coming to understand his dad’s “odd manner,” but you don’t feel like offing yourself after. The audiobook is read by McCourt, strongly recommended. Five stars, a masterpiece.

1 reply

2 recasts

13 reactions

7858 pfp

The River of Doubt Millard tells the story of TR’s ill fated trip into the Amazon. The story itself is great. The book is full of interesting characters. But the storytelling does justice to neither, and the book falls flat. It’s at its best just reciting a litany of jungle horrors. Two stars for its class.

3 replies

1 recast

9 reactions

7858 pfp

Merkle is on a tear right now. Elite special forces. You just love to see a protocol, product, and team come together like that. It’s a Schelling point for the space’s best and brightest now. Huge credit to Dan and V for the hard work and good decision making that brought such a special thing into existence.

0 reply

1 recast

9 reactions

7858 pfp

The Two Towers JRRT packs two separate books into one volume. The first is the story of everyone other than Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. Merry and Pippin get captured by orcs, escape, meet the ents, and go with them to Isengard to fight Saruman. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli follow hot on their heels, meeting the riders of Rohan and a resurrected Gandalf on the way. And then the good guys all smash up the bad guys at Helm’s Deep. Peak LOTR. The second book is the story of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum advancing the ring roughly from Moria to Mordor. That’s the slowest, weakest section of the entire series. I think the whole series, but this book in particular, would benefit from heavy abridging. I’m not going to try to sell anyone on reading this. You probably already know if you should. It’s fantasy canon, outside the world of recommendation and rating. I will say that my boys still fight imaginary orcs many months after finishing these, so they’re definitely still relevant.

4 replies

3 recasts

24 reactions

7858 pfp

Semimonthly refresh of the mission: Review one book per day until I’ve reviewed every book I read in 2024. You can follow the quote chain all the way back. So far, the book’s popularity seems to move the engagement needle a lot more than anything I say about the book. But the consistency is paying off! I’ve gained ~1k followers and I’m getting tagged in literature related discussions, which is fun. I’m about a third of the way through the list and at this point I’m thinking about continuing daily reviews even after burning down my 2024 list. Thank you all for following along 😊

2 replies

1 recast

9 reactions

7858 pfp

The River Gary Paulsen tells another story in the Hatchet universe. You should not read The River. You should not even read this review unless you have kids. Go and read things for grown ups. … OMG I love these books. Brian is such a likable hero. I’ve reread them all in the past couple years to my kids and I enjoyed them every bit as much as I did as a tween. They’re a mainline injection of “I could definitely hack it as a caveman” delusion. My boys also like them for the same reason plus, to quote from my 6yo’s reading journal, “I liked it because it was the kind of story I could really understand.” Start with Hatchet, the original story of a teenage boy stranded in the remote woods. From there you can pretty much bounce around anywhere in the series. Five star YA adventure lit.

1 reply

3 recasts

13 reactions

7858 pfp

The Wright Brothers David McCullough documents the Wright brothers’ engineering triumph. The book does justice to its story, and the story is every bit as good as one would hope, given the technical and cultural impact of flight. I especially liked the parts about their time in Kitty Hawk, which was more or less wilderness at that point. McCullough also does a great job dispelling the myth that the Wright brothers were simple mechanics who tinkered their way to success. They were serious businessmen, serious engineers, and serious scientists. They also possessed a species of focus and drive that we now associate with successful founders. I never realized how slow the world was to accept the reality of the Wright Flyer. It was such a different world back then. Strongly recommended. This and Bill Bryson’s 1927 book would make a great one-two punch. Five stars for its class.

6 replies

2 recasts

17 reactions

7858 pfp

Good Omens Two work colleagues from competing firms collude against management to produce better services for their customers. Or, said differently, an angel and a demon fight to stave off the prophesied apocalypse. Funny, irreverent, dynamic, magical, and sincere. A mixup at the hospital puts the antichrist in suburban England and a normal child receives the tutelage intended for the Antichrist. A real witch and a bumbling witch hunter team up to grapple with the titular prophecies. Everyone’s paths intertwine in comical and gratifying ways. The goddam tapes in the glove box all keep turning into Queen’s greatest hits. It parodies religious literature in the same way that Hitchhiker’s Guide parodies hard sci-fi. If you like Douglas Adams, either of its authors, or books about the supernatural, add it to your list. Five stars for its class.

4 replies

1 recast

12 reactions

7858 pfp

In My Time of Dying Sebastian Junger comes within spitting distance of death, and writes a book about it. It’s especially fun to read it in the context of his other books. All the uncertainty about meaning and purpose that came through in Tribe and Freedom evaporates in the face of death. He spends more time talking about his family in this book than in the rest combined, which I suspect is not a coincidence. He’s always had a knack for making readers sympathetically feel things deeply, and clearly the near death experience shook him to his core. He gets a bit squirrelly about theories of supernatural experience, but as always, his storytelling, writing, and research are amazing. Even the opening anecdote about cold water surfing sticks in my mind. If you like SJ or books about death, this is essential reading. If not, I recommend it nonetheless. Four stars by SJ standards.

2 replies

1 recast

6 reactions

7858 pfp

Norse Mythology Neil Gaiman retells a few choice cuts of Norse mythology. If you’re tempted to blow this off because Marvel made you think Norse mythology is bland, here’s an antidote: Loki gets banged by a horse at one point. This is the real, unhinged thing. Not some sanitized soap opera adaptation. The stories are great, the writing is masterful, the graphic novels are excellent, the audiobook (read by Gaiman) is outstanding. Everything about it fires on all cylinders. It’s one of those times where the right person for the job takes on the task at the perfect point in his career. Maybe you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to read stuff with a longer shelf life. Maybe you just want to mix some fiction into your usual how-to-run-a-startup rotation. Whatever excuse will work, find it and read this book. Five stars.

2 replies

4 recasts

15 reactions

7858 pfp

Tribe Sebastian Junger posits that the cure for modern ennui is fierce loyalty and intense belonging in a small, tight knit group. The thesis of the book starts with the assumption that people are miserable despite society’s fabulous wealth. He’s such a good writer that I have to actively remind myself to query whether that’s even true. But hey, buy the ticket, take the ride. Assuming it is true, he asserts that the reason for the misery is a lack of belonging and purpose. He cites as evidence the fact that people sometimes miss wars and fondly remember crises, because situations like those force us into tribes. You need to be willing to die for someone else for life to have meaning, he asserts. Regardless of whether the whole line of reasoning holds up, his prescription is a good one: double down on loyalty and dedication to your people to make yourself happier. Go call your mom, partner, kids, whatever. Tell them Sebastian Junger sent you. Three stars by SJ standards. High bar; worth reading!

3 replies

9 recasts

19 reactions

7858 pfp

The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith invents modern economics at a glacial pace. This was a grind. Even with the benefit of knowing what to look for, it’s exhausting to extract the core theses from the interminable illustrations of silver prices and pin factories. It’s one of those enlightenment works that felt zero urgency and zero obligation to cater to its reader. It’s a degree of authorial selfishness that’s inconceivable in 2025. And you’re going through all that just to mine out a handful of economic ideas that come to modern readers with mothers’ milk. Despite what the other book says, reading Adam Smith will not change your life, except that it’ll wipe out forty hours. I guess it’s a five star book as a historically influential work, but don’t bother reading it unless you’re consciously courting the clout. As an actual reading experience, it’s a two. Read Basic Economics instead, which is more entertaining, more edifying, and less demanding.

8 replies

2 recasts

29 reactions

7858 pfp

Hillbilly Elegy A kid grows up in a poor, dysfunctional family and somehow makes it into Yale. My wife, a devoted memoir reader, read this when it came out and hated it. The only books we’ve ever mutually loved have Harry Potter in the title, so this was a positive signal for me. Turned out there wasn’t much to love nor much to hate in my experience. The writing was respectable but not remarkable. The story was familiar for those of us who grew up in socioeconomically analogous communities. Same with its insights—nothing too surprising. That is, unless you’re a coastal elite in a bubble, and then it apparently blows your mind. For a directly comparable masterpiece of the genre, read The Glass Castle. For a similar story with different textures, read Angela’s Ashes or This Boy’s Life. Three stars for its class, mostly unexceptional.

2 replies

7 recasts

24 reactions