justing.net

The Mixed Diversions 50

By Justin G. on 25APR09WED

A lot of good reading this week. Keep on reading.

1. Books
   • I finished Tiny Experiments by Le Cunff. This airport-business-self-help book and it suffered from the constraints of the style; it could have been a flow chart. Still, there is valuable stuff in there. For example, I will be doing the plus, minus, next exercise about the thing that I am doing right now: writing this blog. I’m glad I skimmed it, paid enough attention to not miss the good bits.
   • I continue reading The Work of Art, but I am slowing down on it. What do I want more of here? To read it in the morning.
   • Started on Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard. It’s absolutely beautiful. I am quite happy to learn that it is a series of four.
   • Rules by Lorraine Daston. Technically I am reading to support my amateur research hobby into bureaucracy and the social science of how humans do big things when they’re not all that smart. The topic of the book is, well, rules. That is laws, algorithms, measurements (ruler), and also examples and paradigms. It turns out to be way more fascinating than I expected. This is a deep look at a severely under appreciated aspect of our everyday lives. And Daston is hilarious, taking every opportunity to construct funny, absurd, and surprising rhetoric to describe how truly unexpected so much of “rules as a topic” is.
2. Television
   • The X-Files S2E8 “One Breath” is a pivotal episode in developing and understanding Mulder’s relationship to Scully.
3. Music
   • Monterey Bay Aquarium, Krill Waves: chill shrimp, schooling fish.
   • Caught in Joy has a few good ambients: House, Returnal, Homeward.

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