Books

[Narel]

@Narel

I've just finished Ilium part one,

highly recommended if you haven't read it already and are a fan of absolute bonkers sci-fi and brilliant world building.

Was it you who asked me if my track ‘the void which binds’ was a reference to Hyperion?
The most original (and yes, bonkers) ideas I’ve ever read in the Hyperion saga. Ilium sounds similar based on your description

 

[Jetflag]

Was it you who asked me if my track ‘the void which binds’ was a reference to Hyperion?
The most original (and yes, bonkers) ideas I’ve ever read in the Hyperion saga. Ilium sounds similar based on your description

guilty as charged yeah that was me.

It is, its less " galactical" but the lore, ideas, world building etc. is very much the same. highly recommend.

 

[Progrez]

Poetry Youtube channel.

Ours Poetica

Making poetry personal, in the hands of people who love it. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Produced in collaboration with The Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

www.youtube.com

 

[LostLegend]

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson, by Gardiner Harris

OK, so huge multinational pharma company doing shady things shouldn't be much of a surprise, but this was downright outrageous.
Straight up there with Nestle and Enron for sheer villainy.

"Harris takes us light years away from the company’s image as the child-friendly “baby company” as he uncovers reams of evidence showing decades of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions. He covers multiple disasters: lies and cover-ups regarding baby powder’s link to cancer; the surprising dangers of Tylenol; a criminal campaign to sell dangerous anti-psychotics to children; a popular drug for cancer patients that increases the risk of tumor growth. Deceptive marketing efforts that accelerated opioid addictions rival even those of the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma. All told, Johnson & Johnson's products have helped cause drug crises that have contributed to the deaths of as many as two million people and counting.

Filled with shocking, infuriating, but utterly necessary revelations, No More Tears is a landmark work of investigative journalism that lays bare the deeply rooted corruption behind the image of babies bathing with a smile."

 

[hellostarStar]

Any fans of WoT around here?

 

[Archon]

Semper Idem by Djordje Lebovic​

(Only available in Serbian as far as I know, so minor spoilers won't bother you.)

My sister recommended (and gifted) this book to me - the author and I (and her) share the same city of birth, and there is a masterful 6h-long play right in that city, based on the book. It happens once a month, and it's always packed full of people. Haven't heard a bad word about it.


"Semper idem" is a writing on the Evangelical church in that city, and translated from Latin, it means "Always the same".

It's a semi-autobiography about the author's growing up and maturing right amidst the rise of fascism/Nazism in 1930s and early 1940s Yugoslavia (today's Croatia and Serbia). The author is a Holocaust survivor, having been to three different concentration camps as a child (due to being Jewish), and ultimately lost ~40 members of his family in WW2.


It's very well written, especially because a child is telling you this story through his eyes, struggling to comprehend both the rise of hatred, as well as the contrast in his family (which is quite mixed and colourful); just as he is growing up and learning about the world, he is forced to discover the evil.

It reads fast, is quite funny at times, and sometimes very foreboding and foreshadowing through the author's clever creative approach.

The author wrote it as a response to Yugoslav wars in the 90s, as he saw the rise of hatred yet again. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could complete it, but even if unfinished (2 chapters left; it feels slightly unfinished), and even if we didn't get to read anything about his experience in the camps, it is still regarded as one of the great modern books from Serbian writers.


As you read it, you discover the meaning of the book title - "Semper idem" relates to evil; it never changes, it always comes back.


Now my girlfriend needs to read it, and then I can't wait to go and see the play!