blauracke – Page 4 – Cannonball Read 17

“If all goes well, human history is just beginning.”

The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity by Toby Ord

September 29, 2021 by blauracke Leave a Comment

“The Anthropocene is the time of profound human effects on the environment, while the Precipice is the time where humanity is at high risk of destroying itself.” There are quite a few different scenarios that could lead to the extinction of humans in the next 100 years, but some of them are negligible, like an asteroid or comet hitting the Earth, or a stellar explosion. Others, like climate change, nuclear weapons, or unaligned artificial intelligence, on the other hand, seem more likely. In this book, […]

The World Does Not Belong to Us Alone

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

August 29, 2021 by blauracke Leave a Comment

In this collection of 41 essays Helen Macdonald writes about a wide variety of subjects concerning nature and the way humans relate to it, ranging from a solar eclipse and migrating birds to migraines and mushrooms. This landed on my TBR list when I read this review by KimMiE” which made me curious about the book. I am glad that I followed her advice and read it slowly over several weeks, one essay at a time, because I don’t think I would have enjoyed it […]

“Why are things the way they are?”

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas

August 13, 2021 by blauracke Leave a Comment

Mattis and his older sister Hege live in a lakeside cottage in a rural community in Norway. Hege, a 40-year-old spinster who has taken care of Mattis all her life, is earning a meager living by knitting sweaters, while Mattis is unable to contribute due to his mental disabilities. When the lumberjack Jorgen moves in with them, it becomes clear that they can’t go on as before. This is a deceptively simple story, with a straightforward plot and only a handful of characters. Mattis’s inner […]

Dancing the Entropic Two-Step

Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene

July 27, 2021 by blauracke 1 Comment

Although my main interests have always been history, languages, and cultural studies, I somehow also developed a love of astronomy early on. Due to my lack of interest in maths, chemistry, and physics in every other aspect than cosmology, I was however satisfied with reading popular science books about the universe and following the scientific progress in a very casual way. About 15 years ago, I read The Elegant Universe, in which the physicist and string theorist Brian Greene explains string theory in as accessible […]

“What yesterday was sure footing is now unstable ground.”

Doggerland by Ben Smith

July 14, 2021 by blauracke 1 Comment

On an off-shore windfarm in the North Sea, the Boy, who no longer is a boy, and the Old Man, who already worked with the Boy’s father before he disappeared, are tasked with the upkeep of the wind turbines while living on a maintenance rig. Their relationship is plagued by mistrust and resentment, but they need each other desperately; the work is not only dull and repetitive, but ultimately futile as the turbines are slowly corroding more and more, land has become a foreign concept […]

“Get out there and leave some boot prints – and don’t forget to bring home some good souvenirs!”

Notes From Small Planets by Nate Crowley

June 29, 2021 by blauracke Leave a Comment

A few years ago, humanity gained access to a few hundred different planets that anyone interested could travel to, but only for a short time, before the access vanished again. Of course, a writer visited these exotic places and wrote a guide book, which is really all that has remained of the small worlds of which each one corresponds to a subgenre of fantasy or science fiction, whether its concerned with pirates, superheroes, and space adventurers, or wizards and barbarians. Not all subgenres, however, have […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

About blauracke