2023 Update: Although I may still finish up quoting and reviewing a few books through this account if they are already partly documented here, new book‐readin–posting is now going on through wrul@book.snailhuddle.org. See you there! 😊
they (en), yel (fr), etc. Nairm & Birrarung-ga, Kulin biik gopher://breydon.id.au | gemini://breydon.id.au | https://breydon.id.au/reading
Testing out a stenography system by remarking on the odd good sit-down. Sometimes nicking vocab from non-ficcy bits.
Let me know if we know each other from elsewhere, and please feel free to say hi (or not) either way!
My user avatar is a rainbow lorikeet feeding on orange gum blossoms.
Ratings, roughly: “Half” stars (to approximate zero) seemed almost pure harm and were poorly written. 1s were slogs and wastes. 2s I would have refused publication pending thorough rounds of redrafts, reframing, and/or reresearch. 3s read neither fantastically nor awfully, or they did both just enough that it cancelled out — unless they delighted but I barely began, so couldn’t reliably say. 4s held something, substantial, of distinct interest or especial enjoyment, which might richly reward a deliberate revisiting. 5s may not ring perfect to me, but I would gift or receive with unhesitating gladness.
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Decolonisation is a term that alarms some, and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and often bewildering concept …
How did the delphinium get its name? Which parts of the body lend their names to auriculas and orchids? Who …
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As …
The life and last work of a modernist composer.
Between 2005 and 2009, in a remote religious Mennonite colony, over a hundred girls and women were knocked unconscious and …
The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. They can change our minds, heal our bodies …
A dazzling history of Africans in Europe, revealing their unacknowledged role in shaping the continent …
Otele’s work is fascinating!
After a long crawl through the first chapter, between dozens of consultations of a dictionary of proper nouns (for all those geographic features, retired place names, and assumed‐famous figures and offices), it feels that this text would be even better for readers who are not already versed in more dominating European and “Ancient” histories, if the excellent writing were either slightly expanded here and there, or presented with frequent, simple maps. I have also been wishing for plates to look to of the cited artworks.
I guess, for me, this chapter might want rereading soon!
As plants see it, humans are not the masters of Earth but only one of …
I disagreed with virtually every rhetorical invitation — but nonetheless: great game plan!
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence is a book by Swedish-American …
There’s something ringing rather “manifest destiny” throughout this.