Weekly “what are you reading” Thread #52

I've been reading Humans: From the Beginning. It's an interesting book about all of prehistory, basically charting human development from our ape-like ancestors up to (and I think including) the middle bronze ages. I'm only like 10% through the book so far, and the author is discussing the various Homo species - the chapter I'm currently reading is about their spread in east Asia, including these hobbit-like people Homo florienses or something like that, which we think got isolated on an island and over hundreds of generations shrank in stature (and significantly in brain size ).

Interestingly, it seems like Homo erectus was probably around in this region all the way up until 10-20k years ago, and likely interbred with early Homo sapiens. I wonder if that's part of the reason Asians are shorter, but I still haven't gotten to the part of the book on Homo sapiens yet so I'll need to keep reading to find out.

I do recommend the book, though. It's not too dry but is fairly well researched and up-to-date (including discoveries from just the past few years), and all the potential findings are backed by why we believe them and alternative theories, since there's just so much uncertainty in the field.

The Curse of Lono - Hunter S Thompson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Lono

One of his rarer books, it's pretty short and basically fear and loathing in Hawaii covering a marathon

I admit those Jacobean era dialogues are hard to follow.

im reading this thread rn

Hai c*nts, I haven't been here for over half a year.

Finished La Place by Annie Ernaux (excellent), All the Names by José Saramago (superb), Zone of Intrest by Amis (didn't even know they made a movie about it, that's why it was pushed to the front of library display, and I wanted to check out another Amis' work after Dead Babies (mid)), currently reading Open Secrets by Munro. Good writing, meh stories (so far).

Th Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph A. Tainter

Just read No Longer Human and I need more japanese books

I read 73 books in a nine month period so i started over again with the Bible

Finished Cannery Row, it was OK but not as good as To a God Unknown.

Listening to a book about running science. It hasn't made me a better runner but it's made me run more

Out camping, final book of the Dark Tower series.

He's really going overboard with giving everything two or three different AU names. The ka-tet, following kef, approached Duvon-Tor, known by the locals as Ruytim Hins, spoke to the kaheen surrounded by low men

You get kinda annoyed where it's like, the mystery of the entirely of book 5 existed just as a vague non-answer here. Children are stolen, return retarded. Why? Their mental life force helps the Breakers. Ok, but how? Did the they need it? Did the actions of book 5 affect how things are now? Why this one specific town? Why not just grab random kids across the country as needed? Why not breed your own little human farm closeby in captivity?

And I'm really getting my almonds activated about the fourth wall breaking. When describing the books to my wife, I mentioned how the magic balls and little turtle thing were basically a deus ex machina. They exist so King can have them do whatever is needed for the plot to continue. Then later in the books, the characters think to themselves if Stephen King used a deus ex machina in the form of the turtle. It was so goddamn obvious to even an idiot like me, but Stephen King still painfully spelled out "yeah the turtle exists in case I write myself into a corner, i just have the turtle magically fix everything" RIGHT INTO THE GODDAMN BOOK

I don't understand how he's such an acclaimed author. Everything is too long, too weird, too much pedophilia. He creates interesting worlds but you really have to skim through it and fill in the gaps yourself

Dungeon Crawler Carl

It's fun. One of the main characters is a marsey

Finishing the morning star by karl ove knausguard

The ultimate evil behind sexuality is the human female. They are the main instigators of s*x. They control which men get it and which men don't. Women are flawed creatures, and my mistreatment at their hands has made me realize this sad truth. There is something very twisted and wrong with the way their brains are wired. They think like beasts, and in truth, they are beasts. Women are incapable of having morals or thinking rationally. They are completely controlled by their depraved emotions and vile sexual impulses. Because of this, the men who do get to experience the pleasures of s*x and the privilege of breeding are the men who women are sexually attracted to... the stupid, degenerate, obnoxious men. I have observed this all my life. The most beautiful of women choose to mate with the most brutal of men, instead of magnificent gentlemen like myself.