@outer@mas.toHere's the cover from a really great book of short stories, from 2010, named "Shadow Show".
The stories, written by a wide variety of top-notch authors, such as Margaret Atwood and Harlan Ellison, each celebrate Ray Bradbury's life and writing.
(The book cover art is by Tom Gauld--I found it searching online for Gauld's cartoons.)
#Writing
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systemsTime for another "review". This one's hard. While the book was quite interesting, it required me to be quite open-minded. Still, I think it's worth mentioning:
Robert Wright — Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
The book basically focused on a thesis that both biological evolution and cultural evolution are a thing, they are directional and this directionality can be explained together using game theory — as eventually leading to more non-zero sum games.
It consists of three chapters. The first one is is focused on the history of civilization. It features many examples from different parts of the world, which makes it quite interesting. The author argues that the culture inevitably is evolving as information processing techniques improve — from writing to the Internet.
The second chapter is focused on biological evolution. Now, the argument is that it's not quite random, but actually directed towards greater complexity — eventually leading to the development of highly intelligent species, and a civilization.
The third chapter is quite speculative and metaphysical, and I'm just going to skip it.
The book is full of optimism. Capitalism creates freedom — because people are more productive when they're working for their own gain, so the free market eliminates slavery. Globalisation creates networks of interdependence that make wars uneconomic. Increased contacts between different cultures makes people more tolerant. And eventually, the humanity may be able to unite facing a common "external" enemy — the climate change.
What can I say? The examples are quite interesting, the whole theory seems self-consistent. Still, I repeatedly looked at the publication date (it's 1999), and wondered if author would write the same thing today (yes, I know I can search for his current opinions).
#books #bookstodon @…
@qurlyjoe@mstdn.social#readThisBook #bookstodon
I’ve been reading since 1955. Countless times I’ve dropped a book for various reasons. But this is the first book I’ve wanted to not read. It’s painful af. It’s Alan Davies’ autobiography, Just Ignore Him. He’s a British actor & comedian. His writing is phenomena…
@axbom@axbom.me”I wrote a book and AI is my writing partner.”
or
”Tens of thousands of writers just contributed to my book without me needing their consent or blessing. I simply used a product that stole their writing first.”
@whophd@ioc.exchange
@fanf@mendeddrum.orgfrom my link log —
Writing a C compiler.
https://norasandler.com/2022/03/29/Write-a-C-Compiler-the-Book.html
saved 2025-06-11
@theodric@social.linux.pizzaWriting a post
And double spacing it
Like this
Doesn't make it poetry
It just makes you a twat
Read a fucking book
Not just any book
Read a good book
You might learn something
Maybe even how to write well
Maybe
@Rob_Oost@mastodon.social
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialJust finished "The Melancholy of Summer" by Louisa Onomé. It's an excellent book about parental abandonment, rejecting and accepting help, and friendship, set in Toronto. There were a few threads that didn't quite get wrapped up by the end, but the ending wasn't dissatisfying, and the writing is excellent, particularly TV gee dialogue and the narration of Summer's thoughts. I felt like the strategic use of stutters both gave the main character extra vulnerability, but also helped subtly clue the reader into moments where Summer's perception of her interlocutors doesn't match their real feelings. Between this and "Like Home", I feel like Onomé's novels are a bit rough around the edges, yet they're still some of the most enjoyable books I've been reading, probably because she's pours so much humanity into her characters and lets their honest desire for something better rub off on the audience.
#AmReading
@shriramk@mastodon.socialAbsolutely no reason at all why we should be looking at this book right now. Pure coincidence.
https://www.brown.edu/news/2025-08-11/george-orwell-1984-manuscript
@StephenRees@mas.to @shriramk@mastodon.socialthinking of writing a book brb
@saraislet@infosec.exchangeA triptych on Starhawk, who developed some of the most poignantly insightful ideas in structural theories of power, among the many philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists who wrote about theories of power in the 20th century
Note that the second and third image come from the *same book*, in the first and second chapters
I…did not expect woo poetry on magic and sexuality in a book that's highly cited by writers on theories of power
@glauber@writing.exchange
@davidaugust@mastodon.onlineJust re-read the first chapter of a book I am probably not gonna finish writing.
11 years have passed, and oddly some of it feels more topical now.
https://stuff.davidaugust.com/avocado-katz-and-the-battle-for-mars/
@mgorny@pol.socialDziś dowiedziałem się, że nazywanie chrześcijańskiego Boga "wszechmogącym" to błąd w tłumaczeniu.
https://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/the-mistranslation-of-pantokrater-as-omnipotent
@aardrian@toot.cafeOne of my books is in here. Probably check for any of your professional (or less professional) writing and sign on:
https://mastodon.social/@Richard_Littler/115105862107138339
@idbrii@mastodon.gamedev.placeI love adventure games, but I've never made a game in Adventure Game Studio, so I found Ben304's devlog on their upcoming game from Wadjet Eye an interesting #gamedev read.
https://ben304.blogs…
@shriramk@mastodon.social1/ Feels a bit poignant to be putting finishing touches on the next vesion of my book (PLAI 3.2.5) knowing it'll be the last of the v3, and if my planned experiment goes well, it may be the last longform book I will ever write. I will truly miss longform writing: ↵
@dwf@social.linux.pizzaLooked up a truly dreadful piece of CanLit I was made to read in high school (because the author is now subject to book bans in Alberta), it seems whoever was writing the Wikipedia article fell asleep mid sentence, which is quite relatable given the subject material
![Screenshot of Wikipedia: the paragraph is unfinished and trails off mid-sentence. The text reads:
A Bird in the House, first published in 1970, is a short story sequence
written by Margaret Laurence.[*2] Noted by Laurence to be "semi-
autobiographical”, 3! the series chronicles the growing up of a young
agnostic writer, Vanessa MacLeod, in the fictional town of Manawaka,
Manitoba.l%! A Bird in the House was written from the perspective of
Vanessa at age forty, while she recalls her childhood (…](https://cdn.social.linux.pizza/system/media_attachments/files/115/118/726/932/085/345/original/00817ea493cbb49b.png)
@stargazer@woof.tech#WritersCoffeeClub
July 29: How happy or bittersweet are your endings?
July 30: What single book had the greatest impact on your writing?
---
29: Both? Both. Both is good.
Not necessarily simultaneously. (mostly the former)
30: Definitely Dune. That is the level of layered storytelling and themes that I seek.
Art by ZeepheruPone(
@tomkalei@machteburch.socialA quote from Darwin on this:
"Nor shall I here discuss the various definitions which have been given of the term species. No one definition has as yet satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist know vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species".
So that's 'you know it when you see it', or at least the group of naturalists does. So that's part of the definition of 'naturalist'? That you can know species when you see them?
Didn’t stop Darwin from writing a book about species.
