Wednesday Reading Meme
What I’ve Just Finished Reading
Carl Safina’s Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, which is so good, you guys, I am resisting the urge to walk around thrusting it into people’s hands crying “Read it! Read it!”
I mean really, just look at this quote: “The three peaks in brain size on planet Earth belong to whales, elephants, and primates. Life has not selected one smartest line with humans as the be-all (though we may yet be the end-all).” THE BURN IS VISIBLE FROM SPACE.
I also really liked this one:
We’re obsessed with filling in the blank for a Mad Libs line that goes: “_____ makes us human. Why? Scratch and sniff the "what makes us human” obsession and you get a strong whiff of something that could fit into that blank: our insecurity. What we’re really saying is “Please tell us a story that distances us from all other life.” Why? Because we desperately need to believe we are not just unique - as all species are - but that we are so very special, that we are resplendent, transcendent, translucent, divinely inspired, weightlessly imbued with eternal souls. Anything less induces dread and existential panic.
What I’m Reading Now
littlerhymes and I have become The Second Adventures of Nora (also known as Mates at Billabong). Norah is to be SENT AWAY TO SCHOOL, which filled me with excitement because there is nothing I want to see more than Norah playing cricket and interacting with other girls, but alas I think that if the books cover this period of her life at all, it will be in the next book, because this one is going to be all about the visit of Norah’s cousin Cecil, the lavender-wearing dandy.
I predict that by the end of the book Cecil will do something heroic, probably while wearing mud-spattered overalls (do Australian ranchers wear overalls? Something manly and completely un-dandyish, anyway), cured of his effete ways by the magic of Billabong.
What I Plan to Read Next
In the process of sorting out my book collection, I have discovered that I have a huge pile of unread books, so probably some of those.
This entry was originally posted at http://osprey-archer.dreamwidth.org/564783.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Carl Safina’s Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, which is so good, you guys, I am resisting the urge to walk around thrusting it into people’s hands crying “Read it! Read it!”
I mean really, just look at this quote: “The three peaks in brain size on planet Earth belong to whales, elephants, and primates. Life has not selected one smartest line with humans as the be-all (though we may yet be the end-all).” THE BURN IS VISIBLE FROM SPACE.
I also really liked this one:
We’re obsessed with filling in the blank for a Mad Libs line that goes: “_____ makes us human. Why? Scratch and sniff the "what makes us human” obsession and you get a strong whiff of something that could fit into that blank: our insecurity. What we’re really saying is “Please tell us a story that distances us from all other life.” Why? Because we desperately need to believe we are not just unique - as all species are - but that we are so very special, that we are resplendent, transcendent, translucent, divinely inspired, weightlessly imbued with eternal souls. Anything less induces dread and existential panic.
What I’m Reading Now
littlerhymes and I have become The Second Adventures of Nora (also known as Mates at Billabong). Norah is to be SENT AWAY TO SCHOOL, which filled me with excitement because there is nothing I want to see more than Norah playing cricket and interacting with other girls, but alas I think that if the books cover this period of her life at all, it will be in the next book, because this one is going to be all about the visit of Norah’s cousin Cecil, the lavender-wearing dandy.
I predict that by the end of the book Cecil will do something heroic, probably while wearing mud-spattered overalls (do Australian ranchers wear overalls? Something manly and completely un-dandyish, anyway), cured of his effete ways by the magic of Billabong.
What I Plan to Read Next
In the process of sorting out my book collection, I have discovered that I have a huge pile of unread books, so probably some of those.
This entry was originally posted at http://osprey-archer.dreamwidth.org/564783.html. Please comment there using OpenID.