what are you reading and/or what did you read last?
this last week i have been mainlining books straight into my veins
i am still reading the potato book "history and social influence of the potato" and am a third of the way through now. the current chapter is talking about the effort to grow blight resistant strains of potato after the potato famine, and the trials and issues within that. as well as an economic boom/bust cycle with various strains afterwards at farmer's markets and how people sold the same types of potatoes under different names
however, while delving into that in the mornings before work, i have also been audiobooking during the route.
this last week i have listened to john Big Kells's "the great mortality" about the spread and impact on europe of the black plague. a great book that talks about the differences in plague bacilli, and how famine 20 years earlier may have helped the spread as childhood malnutrition leads to illness susceptibility in adults
after that i listened to "the fall of heaven" by andrew scott cooper about the final years of iran's shah and the revolution. an interesting book, detailing social and economic policies and cowardice on the shah's part (fleeing the country in the 50's while having the u.s. intervene and remove the prime minister, refusing to act during the revolution). bit of a frustrating book, tbh. still good tho.
then came kierkegaard's fear and trembling. a deep dive into the actions of abraham and his son isaac, the nature of devotion and sacrifice. there is a mention of a woman named agnes who is briefly kidnapped by a merman. it reminds me of my swedish fairy tale book and the story of agneta and the sea king. possibly two related tales (op's both scandinavian) changed over time and distance? more research must be done
then peter kropotkin's the conquest of bread. analysis of the failure of the paris commune, etc. theoretical differences between authoritarian communist versus anarchist communist society and why authoritarianism sucks, how and why working class people are bled dry, etc
currently on michel foucault's discipline & punish, which i am enjoying so far. the nature of how old school torture versus reform torture, how torturers/executioners were the arms of the king, how the enlightenment and the move away from monarchy to a more parliamentarian system changed the nature of prisoner punishment from the physical body to the spiritual (penitence). looking forward to finishing this one n maybe getting another foucault, or possibly kant...
this last week i have been mainlining books straight into my veins
i am still reading the potato book "history and social influence of the potato" and am a third of the way through now. the current chapter is talking about the effort to grow blight resistant strains of potato after the potato famine, and the trials and issues within that. as well as an economic boom/bust cycle with various strains afterwards at farmer's markets and how people sold the same types of potatoes under different names
however, while delving into that in the mornings before work, i have also been audiobooking during the route.
this last week i have listened to john Big Kells's "the great mortality" about the spread and impact on europe of the black plague. a great book that talks about the differences in plague bacilli, and how famine 20 years earlier may have helped the spread as childhood malnutrition leads to illness susceptibility in adults
after that i listened to "the fall of heaven" by andrew scott cooper about the final years of iran's shah and the revolution. an interesting book, detailing social and economic policies and cowardice on the shah's part (fleeing the country in the 50's while having the u.s. intervene and remove the prime minister, refusing to act during the revolution). bit of a frustrating book, tbh. still good tho.
then came kierkegaard's fear and trembling. a deep dive into the actions of abraham and his son isaac, the nature of devotion and sacrifice. there is a mention of a woman named agnes who is briefly kidnapped by a merman. it reminds me of my swedish fairy tale book and the story of agneta and the sea king. possibly two related tales (op's both scandinavian) changed over time and distance? more research must be done
then peter kropotkin's the conquest of bread. analysis of the failure of the paris commune, etc. theoretical differences between authoritarian communist versus anarchist communist society and why authoritarianism sucks, how and why working class people are bled dry, etc
currently on michel foucault's discipline & punish, which i am enjoying so far. the nature of how old school torture versus reform torture, how torturers/executioners were the arms of the king, how the enlightenment and the move away from monarchy to a more parliamentarian system changed the nature of prisoner punishment from the physical body to the spiritual (penitence). looking forward to finishing this one n maybe getting another foucault, or possibly kant...
