Booth #5: ThoRns Grove - Where Books Eat YOU

[Thorngrub]

Oh yeah: by the way. It's short. 145 pages. Small pages. w/ wide margins. Large text. Easy on the eyes.

And although reading the first half may come across as FUCKING GREEK to most of us (myself most definitely included), just hang in there. Let it soak in. Bruce Sterling has the "gift of gab", and he knows what he's doing. Although 99 out of 100 people would go "WTF?" whilst perusing its initial chapters . . . if they were to simply keep on reading, perhaps re-reading certain passages, by the time you get halfway through, its postmodern sensibilities and jargon start assimilating themselves into your consciousness, and you find yourself undergoing an educational transformation right before your very eyes.

You will never look at human history -- or that bottle of wine you purchase & drink down next -- the same again. That much I absolutely guarantee.

[Thorngrub]

Here's one particular Amazon.com Reader's Review which I feel manages to vaguely capture what is valuable about the book:

Addresses modern reality in a convincing and fun way

by Gordon E. Anderson (NYC)

A "Spime" may or may not eventually exist in the real world of the near future. A Spime is an object plus it's RFID or wireless ID that tracks the object during it full lifecycle.

What Sterling is trying to do is close the loop on manufacture and design in the modern age. No wait, scratch that: He's really saying that closing the loop via a Spime or something like it will be inevitable.

What do I mean by "closing the loop"? In the book Sterling makes the convincing case that the full impact of industrial output and design is not currently accounted for in the cost and design of objects made and sold. Rather, we "export" a lot of the impact into the future in the form of industrial waste and so on.

Spimes will allow intelligence and statistics about the full impact and lifecycle of objects to be fedback into future capitalism and industry. In fact, Sterling argues that, for future designers and manufacturers, the data representation of an object is potentially far more valuable than the sale price or the object itself. And as crazy as that sounds, in some industries (most notably credit cards) that's already true.

And the strength of this book lays not in the eventual reality of Spimes or the industrial environment Sterling envisions, but in the fact that Sterling attempts to sketch out something akin to a solution to current social & envionmental problems that actually makes sense in the current economic climate of the world. It's a good try, at least.

In terms of the layout, typography and design of the book, it is a hell of a lot of fun. There's plenty of pithy, epigrammatic phrases sprnkled thoughout the book, but over against a backdrop that is large convincing. It's a cute little book that you will definitely spend some time thinking about.

[Thorngrub]

finished THE SHADOW OF THE WIND.

I highly recommend it to absolutely everyone on this forum.
Especially everyone.

[Thorngrub]

No wonder it was a smashup runaway success in Spain (where it was written and where it is based). I'll be looking for the 2nd book from this author for sure. I almost want to dive right back into the beginning and read the whole thing again (it was that good).

[sisyphus]

ur mom sure knows you. good on her for gettin' ya that book.

[Thorngrub]

hell yeahs

[Thorngrub]

Just started in on this rare Philip K. Dick novel - published in 1970 - about a future where literature & alcohol are outlawed, and the government is set up between 2 "opposing" factions consisting of precogs and telepaths.

The premise involves an "Old Timer" who is on the Most Wanted List, who escaped in a space ship to find help for the human race. Apparantly he returns w/these beings from a system called "Frolix 8", ready to save us from ourselves.

Can't go wrong w/PKD.

[Thorngrub]

^ so far, this is an above -average PKD novel ^

[sisyphus]

sounds interesting, thorn.

[Thorngrub]

The middle page was where my mind went "whoa" for like, a sec. Then it kinda ramped back down from there.

All -in -all, an average PKD book, but it kept the pages turnin', which is always a good thing.

*Keep in mind your average PKD novel is better than your ordinary average novel

[Thorngrub]

here's a pretty spot-on uptake provided by an Amazon.com reader, Craig L. Gidney:

****

Poetic and violent cyberpunk, June 29, 2000
Reviewer: Craig L. Gidney "ethereallad" (Washington, DC USA)

The sub-genre of cyberpunk has a subtextual critique ofadvanced Capitalism. It is usually set in dystopian future, full ofcorporate monopolies, laissez-faire economics and huge gulfs between rich and poor. For all that, most of the novels in this genre concern the disaffected middle-class. Stephenson's Snow Crash, for all its unique characters not often seen in science fiction (a black-asian hero and a young teenaged girl) were well enough connected in their world to be aware of and stop a massive conspiracy. And Gibson's classic Neuromancer added glamour and menace to the mostly white male world of computer hacking.
Misha's novel, first published in 1990, takes on a cyberpunk environment from the viewpoint the disenfranchised, eschewing the high-tech gadgetry usually a part of the genre.

It's set in Dek Tek, a crime-ridden diseased suburb of the posh and exclusive city Mickey-San. Deadly gases permeate the air, forcing the residents to don masks. Brutal gangs of teenagers from Mickey-san, called the Pinks, prowl the streets of Ded Tek, looking for victims to bash or rape. Renegade groups of Zombies, practitioners of a Santeria hybrid religion also hunt for people for their ritual cannibalism. The novel follows a group of artists who try to eke out a living in this toxic environment. The main character is the tough-as-nails holographic artist Kumo. She is devoted to the purity of her art to a fault. She makes unfortunate enemies with Dori and Motler, who intend to sell-out and become corporate artists for Mickey-san. Her friends are the mostly spineless Jujube and the hermaphroditic David, who don't want to sell out, but spend most of their time avoiding both the cops and the criminals; in short, they are tied up in the business of survival. Finally, there is Tommy, a Warhol-like figure who plays on both sides of the coin-he's both an underground artist and a beloved icon of Mickey-san. He's even gained god status among a fascistic Christian sect. Looming over them all is a new horrifying development: a mysterious serial killer is eviscerating all of the artists in Dek Tek, one by one.

Misha's writing is rich and parodic. Her action sequences are highly visual and move swiftly. A particularly wonderful scene involves a description of the candyland-like corporate Mickey-san, where control underlies the soulless beauty of the city. She alternates a strong, straightforward prose style with stream-of-conscious poetic sections that are in the point of view of the artist-killer.

"She is dancing, a beautiful orchid in ballet pink, her frills gray with grime, droplets of dew run down her face, the missing track lights leave her elegant dance for lonely shadows...I am wrapping her white neck with the throat of a dying swan, and she is still, waiting to dance, to dance again as I am lifting her, her leap of silence into clouds from years of molting feathers from a broken lawn flamingo once again a silent pink swan."

The writing is a wonderful mix of fragility and violence, kind of a cross between Janet Frame and William S. Burroughs. The density of the writing, and Misha's interior monologues can be confusing. The characters frequently speak in untranslated Japanese and there are unexplained terms. But Red Spider, White Web is none the less, a compelling read. The novel's theme-about integrity in the face of harsh situations-comes through.

[sisyphus]

looks interesting. i'll have to read it.

[Thorngrub]

halfway thru. it's a trip.

[sisyphus]

from what you read to me, sounds like it... intense description, tho.

[Thorngrub]

Daniel Pinchbeck's Breaking Open The Head: A Psychedelic Journey Into The Heart Of Contemporary Shamanism


Maybe 20 pages in, and it's the most thought-provoking book I've ever begun to read.