Review

4 stars for this book existing 2 stars for how much I enjoyed it

Raw notes: Lawyers talking about principles of litigation Influence from the grave Capital is more than financial

** Leviathan Deflates ** She was reaching for supernatural answers, when memory and mundanity were enough. * Frankly disappointing. Tiamat’s Wrath had managed to take what was good about the series and use the massive shared context with readers to satisfyingly increase complexity. Along with Winds of Winter, this was one of the books I was looking forward to taking time off work to inhale in a day. Unfortunately Leviathan Falls pairs back to the plot to a few main characters and a pseudo-science arc. ...

aka: the dangers of attending a masquerade ball and credulity of accusations of adultery.

3.5 stars. Review TBR

** Mindgames ** Fast and loose with scientific conclusions. Approaching god as an applied linguistics topic is a compelling perspective with fascinating methodology. Reasonable overview on meditation. ** 93rd book of 2021 **

**Offending the Culture Gods in Reassimilation ** A stressed lesbian medium fights gods, ghosts, gangsters, and grandmas in 21st century Penang. * In a book about feeling alienated, I feel seen. First is the difficulty when trying to re-assimilate into a foreign culture, especially when that culture is your own. The look Aku gave her was familiar. Jess had seen it at different points points from, Mom, Dad, Coco, and their friends. It was a look of realization that here was an alien to whom even the most basic things, even the things everyone understood, would have to be explained. * Then the basic desire to find people that have shared context. * It was just nice to hang out with somebody that was her age, somebody that was more like her than her parents. Jess could guess what kind of restaurant Shang went to, what he did for fun, what he watched on Netflix. * Sure I didn’t grow up with Asian parents (* Mom would kill her if she got murdered here, she thought. * ) but some feelings are universal. I appreciated the focus on filial relationships, and the visceral setting. Plot twists weren’t entirely predictable, and to the detriment of my sleep schedule, I finished the book in one sitting. Recommended.

** Pop Buddha ** In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, every story follows the same basic template with only the director’s touches to differentiate one story from the next. Self help books suffer the same monotony. In Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach takes Buddhist thinking as a means to administer a saccharine dose of self help, and I had an allergic reaction. Rumi quotes to start off chapters, references to ‘The Right Stuff’, and so many anecdotes about how this one strategy solved a lifelong problem for this one patient was too much. If I were on a desert island and this was the only book available, I would read it and even benefit from its lessons. But with every book of civilization at our fingertips, Radical Acceptance is a pass. ...

It does not cost $165m to write a book, or adapt a book into a script. Building a fictional world with art in such a way that it is believable is an epic endeavour, and the Art and Soul of Dune does a decent job casting a light on the intentionality behind designs that sometimes get only seconds of screen time. Dune Pt I is a movie conveyed visually. Likewise, you won’t be reading this book for it’s prose, however the sketchbooks provide a feast for the eyes and an understanding behind the art of the universe that is just what I was hoping for and a great companion to watching the movie.

Nuanced Selfishness With an upcoming lake cabin purchase and investments in Montana, it’s time to start reading about what’s happening in the modern west. Teton County WY is where *the billionaires price the millionaires out of the market. * Farrell’s book is a long winded expose on the rich acting selfishly. Even charitable activities, especially environmental conservation, are either directly linked to tax benefits, or indirectly only a select few with the resources to benefit. This creates a charitable industrial complex where issues around social services for those in need are considered buzzkill causes and ignored. ...