Weekend Reading
Dan Gillmor is a BoingBoing guest-blogger.
Some books and longer articles I've recently been reading or re-reading:
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick's masterpiece (IMO). Chilling alternate history, set in an America that lost World War II to Germany and Japan.
The Snowball, by Alice Schroeder, a warts-and-all biography of investor Warren Buffett. His Nebraska-kid schtick hasn't fooled anybody for a long time, but he's even more complicated than we suspected.
What Would Google Do, Jeff Jarvis' thought-provoking look at our changing world from a "life is beta" perspective. I don't agree with all of his arguments, some of which strike me as throwing out the proverbial babies with the bathwater, but this book is well worth a read.
Severance Package, a noir-squared novel by Duane Swierczynski, about a memorable last day at work. Violent, mordant and an absolutely compulsive read.
"The Gatekeeper," a New Yorker article by Ryan Lizza about Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emannuel. Hugely detailed, but has a more suck-up-to-power story ever been published in a magazine that prides itself on serious journalism? Yuck.
the latest
latest episodes
Will there be a quiz?
Nicely shared.
I'm working K.C. Cole " the Hole in the Universe" Probably not topical. Just in case, do you think all your stuff may be useless?
The quiz is next weekend...
Some Dick will do you good. : )
That's cool to see different links to different publishing and distribution sites. I went right to Severence Package, saw that I could download it in less than second, and then realized I can't download it because my Kindle is registered to my mom. doh. The upside, supposedly, is that I have access to everything she's ever bought on Amazon, but we have pretty different taste, so its so-so. But I have bought a few things through her account. Anyway, they should figure out how you can share your books but still be able to buy your own.
I liked The Man in the High Castle, but I think A Scanner Darkly was PKD's masterpiece, in part because it's such a personal work. Certainly it had more of a lasting impact on me.
Gilbert Anonymous here:
It seems like many of the cover artists for The Man in the High Castle never even read the novel. Most of the covers have no relation to what the book's about.
I forgot to Define "Useless". There is no such thing. The most useless thing you can think of is already useful. Gives you something to do . It has something to do with the Quarks vibrational frequencies and the world space available to say hello from that level. The problem, as always with humans, is that they cannot be trusted with knowledge. They just kill each other with it.
Joe, I think I have them pegged about equal in quality and love them both, but I love TMITHC just a little bit more.. I don't know why.
Ubik and Do-Androids-Dream are also favourites.
ever do an open Game on a PKD thread?
Amen, Dan. The NYer, my habit, has become so gd gushy about all things Obama it's unnerving. I lived through Tina, but its current political writing borders on buffoonery. Yes, Hendrik, I mean you. The rest of it is still pretty cool.
I love PKD, but 'The Man in the High Castle' is wildly overrated IMHO. One of my least favorites. Try 'Ubik', it's new and improved!
i am the way hugest pkd fan in da woild! or pretty damnably close! i have a 4x5 foot wall literally covered with pkd and books about pkd. just procured a 1rst ed. hardcover of "Dark-Haired Girl"! don't know if i wanna break the plastic, or wait til i get a paperback/TP copy! 'ubik' is definitely on my list for this year. it's entirely harmless when used as directed!
Tak.. funnily enough, I don't think so :)
Do it!
oblige me if you would, my powers are bated.
Hmm.. how about:
Definite Multi-Chess Indefinite Canuck-Taxman?
~ PKD
I *just* picked up a copy of Ubik from this fabulous all-night bookstore where the books arrive instantly and no shipping and handling charges... pretty fun little gadget. And a really cool book... a lot like Minority Report, right?
....excellent...my fangs are already splintering on this featureless stone...
Wolfiesma
I was soo jealous of your bookstore, until I realized there was a branch in my town too. Right in my building, in fact. They do albums and videos in mine too. Handy, huh? :)
Enjoy Ubik!
Taku.. good, good.
Have to underscore Phillip K Dick's Man in the High Castle as a MUST READ.
As a huge fan of the entire corpus of this great writer, which is the basis for many great sci/fi films, I have to say this is his masterpiece.
Most of the time his work is dark and pessimistic. I was so surprised to be greatly inspired by this particular story. The message is telegraphed far too obliquely however for the typical hollywood producer to grasp, so I doubt there will ever be a movie production.
I liked P. K. Dick's D. A. D. of E. S. but I think I'll read reread the Twilight series this weekend instead.
I like The Man in the High Castle, but I have to say, Valis blew my mind. PKD is so awesome.
Right now I'm reading Golding's The Inheritors and loving it.
Severance Package looks amazing.
I'm guessing wikipedia's take on The Man in the High Castle isn't an accurate one or is incomplete, because it's description of the book sounds very boring.
still nada
I'll vote for The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, for its God/Drugs synthesizing. Why is PKD such a fever-inducing cult figure and Kurt Vonnegut, just as interesting and prolific, a sideshow?
because Kurt's innate kindness made him want to be accessible to all. Not that Phil wasn't kind.
"clans of the alphane moon" is one of the most amazing, in-depth studies of mental illness in the guise of s-f, EVAR! and 'penultimate truth' reminds me of the bush era(s).PKD was so very far ahead of his time. hard to believe that a lot of his most far seeing and amazing stuff was written over 50 years ago!
Not bad, Tak. Dan, in addition to the PKD fest you kicked off, thanks for sharing a thought provoking mix of the stuff you're reading.
Put John Updike's 'Endpoint' on your reading list if you can. There is a spread of ten of his poems in the New Yorker this week and they are phenomenal.
Unfortunately, the online portal to the New Yorker is a little clunky. Good reason to get a print subscription I guess.
I'd like to see more magazines like the New Yorker, magazines that could manage to support a small or large cadre of writers like John Updike. He was able to support himself and his family with writing and could really dedicate himself to his craft and as a result the whole society benefits.
Sorry to sound so maudlin about it, but his writing just has that effect on me. I'm reading Updike's early short stories on the kindle and they are gems every one. We've witnessed the passing of a great great talent. Who are the Updike's of our generation is what I wonder...
(curse you Arkie)
Jesus. Just mention PKD and watch the geekgasm!
Takuan, did you get your Game?
you're all welcome to pitch in. Arkie's @17
Ha! I didn't think it was that hard.. we must be out of practice
:)
yeah! yeah, that's the ticket..."practice"...yeah...
(simulacra?..simul...nahhh!) The and a (definite/indefinite articles) simul; simultaneous chess? CRA?
YEAH! Well done!
[The] [Simul] [a] [CRA]
Pose!
me brain 'urts
OK.. wanna see sweet holo* display, to make it better?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=556FvXHLtAo
The whole thing is really interesting, but go to around 40:00 for this.
*not really holo. Actually a 360° Light Field.. but close enough :)
tres cool Arkie! 3D chess for sure.
Three-Dimensional Chess, in 3D?
I like it :)