Do you ever lie awake at night and wonder what’s going on inside your stomach? Do you examine your poo before you flush? Do you know what tonsil stones are? Well, if you’re curious about any of the above, you should read Gut by Giulia Enders, because not only does she have answers, she also has a cheeky way of explaining how some parts of our bodies work that most of us just choose to ignore, because…. eeewwwwww. I made a conscious decision to stop reading *diet* […]
The future is augmented
I’m combining my reviews for Company Town and Autonomous for a couple of reasons. 1. Both stories happen in the future 2. Both stories take place in Canada 3. Both authors have won awards for their books 4. The authors have appeared together on panels to discuss their work, where they are often likely to discuss human/robot sex, for reasons which will become clear in this review. Writing about the future is a broad topic and goes by a lot of descriptors—science fiction, utopian/dystopian fiction, speculative fiction—there are many […]
When other people keep making your point for you.
I follow a ton of art historians, museums and academics on Twitter, and Mary Beard is one of my favourites. I genuinely love her tweets and have been surprised to see how many people are willing to troll her, and ignore her academic bona fides because she dares discuss sexism and diversity in the ancient world, not to mention being an older woman in an academic field (Classics) where almost all well-known presenters are male. Beard, a Cambridge University Don, was most recently involved in a tempest about the distinct […]
The facts are in evidence, but the truth is never told
His Bloody Project, nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2016, is one of those great books that makes you wonder if it’s a true story, a fictionalised account, or just completely made up by the author. After reading the first bit, I actually went to read some reviews (which I never do in advance) to find out for sure. Graeme Mcrae Burnet’s main character—who’s “project” is the subject of the book—is Roderick John Mcrae, or Roddy as he’s called, so it seems entirely plausible that the […]
I’m pretty sure this novel was written by an AI
So, I’m not really sure how to say this, but I think this book was written by an Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not a clever one, but one that was trained by reading bad murder mysteries from the 1940s, and travel books. I’m not gonna lie, I only got half way through, and because I got a free, pre-publication (PDF) copy I tried, I really, really tried, but oh my lord this book is soooo bad. I’m gonna lay this out for you as best I can, but […]
A great primer in how both higher education and the justice system victimise women a second time in cases of rape and assault
I finally picked up Missoula just as the #metoo revelations started to pick up steam. As someone who’s had a lifetime full of #metoo moments, I was both eager and hesitant to dive into this read about multiple rape accusations in the college town of Missoula, Montana (home of the University of Montana Grizzlies!), and the school, and/or police investigations, (or lack thereof) and trials, (or lack thereof) which resulted from those accusations. This is not a good choice for the faint-hearted, or anyone who has been […]
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