A new theory of health! And some book reviews.
When you feel terrible, can't think straight, and are working more and more hours while getting less and less done, one thing to ask yourself is "Have I eaten any food recently?"
I feel better now. Next step: Sleeping. In a few hours, and not for long enough, but it's something. At some point I need to change my life so I'm doing something I care about that's not a worthless sink of countless days and hours, since that pretty well describes my daily routine.
I did read a good book and now I am reading another, so that is a thing that I like. The former was Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, which I think that Mark Hughes might have recommended to me but actually I'm not sure if it was the same one. I picked it up because I thought it was, looked at it and decided it wasn't, but looked good, so I bought it. Then upon reading it, I think it might actually have been the one he recommended after all. It was really good, so if you like to read you might like that. It was a little space-opera-ish, but in a kind of David Brin way. Actually it almost reminded me of what Known Space could have been if it hadn't gotten into a kind of weird locked-Ringworld thing full of fancy toys but lacking in wonder. Maybe like if Protector had been written by a guy who was a better writer than Niven. And, also, if it was about different stuff.
Right now I am reading Warriors of Medieval Japan by Stephen Turnbull, who did a bunch of Osprey books on various, uh, warriors of medieval Japan. The samurai stuff is pretty much familiar, but well presented. The ashigaru section is really good. There are also sections on ninja and sohei (warrior monks). I haven't read those yet. It's published by Osprey, so a lot of the art looks like it's recycled from the Osprey books (the Warrior or Elite or whatever). That's really pretty, of course, though in this case it's presented without the copious notes you'd normally find in an Osprey book. Warriors of Medieval Japan lacks many of the pictures and drawings of archaeological finds that a lot of the Warrior books and so on have, but it's got a lot of pictures from some museums of clothing and of standing structures and so on. Overall it's a more general than you'd see in a regular Osprey book, so you're lacking the kind of detail on favored beard styles you might have wanted, but it takes a wider view so you get information on, for instance, buildings or interior decoration that you might not get in a more focused book on the samurai of the early Tokugawa or on Sekigahara or something. I am really happy with it, it does a good job of examining things in context and generally of being a good book for a nerd who likes to read about things in a real big picture, rather than just "Oh X was the best at everything". I like my cheesy ninja as much as anyone, but I also like an examination of the military relationship between samurai and ashigaru.
Is anyone still reading this? Did you like it? Should I write more mini-reviews? I bet I could write a paragraph on every book I read that wouldn't be too stupid if anyone would like to read it.
I feel better now. Next step: Sleeping. In a few hours, and not for long enough, but it's something. At some point I need to change my life so I'm doing something I care about that's not a worthless sink of countless days and hours, since that pretty well describes my daily routine.
I did read a good book and now I am reading another, so that is a thing that I like. The former was Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, which I think that Mark Hughes might have recommended to me but actually I'm not sure if it was the same one. I picked it up because I thought it was, looked at it and decided it wasn't, but looked good, so I bought it. Then upon reading it, I think it might actually have been the one he recommended after all. It was really good, so if you like to read you might like that. It was a little space-opera-ish, but in a kind of David Brin way. Actually it almost reminded me of what Known Space could have been if it hadn't gotten into a kind of weird locked-Ringworld thing full of fancy toys but lacking in wonder. Maybe like if Protector had been written by a guy who was a better writer than Niven. And, also, if it was about different stuff.
Right now I am reading Warriors of Medieval Japan by Stephen Turnbull, who did a bunch of Osprey books on various, uh, warriors of medieval Japan. The samurai stuff is pretty much familiar, but well presented. The ashigaru section is really good. There are also sections on ninja and sohei (warrior monks). I haven't read those yet. It's published by Osprey, so a lot of the art looks like it's recycled from the Osprey books (the Warrior or Elite or whatever). That's really pretty, of course, though in this case it's presented without the copious notes you'd normally find in an Osprey book. Warriors of Medieval Japan lacks many of the pictures and drawings of archaeological finds that a lot of the Warrior books and so on have, but it's got a lot of pictures from some museums of clothing and of standing structures and so on. Overall it's a more general than you'd see in a regular Osprey book, so you're lacking the kind of detail on favored beard styles you might have wanted, but it takes a wider view so you get information on, for instance, buildings or interior decoration that you might not get in a more focused book on the samurai of the early Tokugawa or on Sekigahara or something. I am really happy with it, it does a good job of examining things in context and generally of being a good book for a nerd who likes to read about things in a real big picture, rather than just "Oh X was the best at everything". I like my cheesy ninja as much as anyone, but I also like an examination of the military relationship between samurai and ashigaru.
Is anyone still reading this? Did you like it? Should I write more mini-reviews? I bet I could write a paragraph on every book I read that wouldn't be too stupid if anyone would like to read it.