Murderbot is back again- trying to discover what went wrong in her past while avoiding being captured for her rogue SecUnit status.
“Yes, the giant transport bot is going to help the construct SecUnit pretend to be human. This will go well.” pg 59, ebook
In the second installment of “The Murderbot Diaries,” readers are introduced to ART, the robotic pilot of a transport ship, who has more computing power than Murderbot ever imagined.
Together, they will find a way to do the investigation into Murderbot’s past.
Their relationship is interesting. Both are machines, both have their shortcomings. They don’t always get along very well.
“Tlacy’s terms were great,” Tapan added, “but maybe too great, if you know what I mean.” ART did a quick search and returned the opinion that it was intended to be a figure of speech. I told it I knew that.” pg 66, ebook
I read this novella in a day- it was that good. Highly recommended for science fiction fans. You’ll want to start at the beginning to fully appreciate this story.
Geek Ink is a fairly representative book of “geek” culture tattoos with brief biographies of some of the tattoo artists.
I have to say though, there were far more Star Wars ideas in here than Star Trek. In that particular showdown, the Trekkies were not representing. I know there are major fans of the Star Trek franchise out there… where are you guys?! Not getting tattoos, I guess.
I was also disappointed in their collection of literary tattoos. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Little Prince were there, of course. There were a few science fiction themes. But nothing from other beloved classics like Where the Wild Things Are, or poetry, or various mythologies beyond a few generic-looking fairy tale castles.
Are book readers not into tattoos? This one is. 🙂 I was particularly drawn to the hyper-realistic tats of plants and animals.
Recommended for people looking for tattoo ideas or who appreciate gorgeous body art. Despite my quibbles, this is a beautiful book created by incredibly talented artists, and which would look great on your coffee table.
Stephen Millar examines British royal portraits and artwork created about royalty throughout history. In examining the small details and the context around the art, he shines the light on so many moments of forgotten history.
Through the strategic use of art, royals have controlled their images and used those images to maintain or increase their power. Take, for example, how the famous portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger affected viewers:
“Strategically placed in the Palace of Whitehall and measuring three metres by four, the wall painting dominated the privy chamber where it was located. The effect on visitors was dramatic, one writing it was so ‘lifelike that the spectator felt abashed, annihilated in its presence.'” loc 444, ebook
Millar examines postures, costuming, setting and more so readers feel as if they have a new appreciation of these classic works of art. We’re also given an insider’s view and able to appreciate nuances that we might otherwise have missed.
“Why was Holbein’s depiction of Henry so influential? The stance taken by the king in the painting was radical, unashamedly masculine and defiant, with Henry staring directly at the viewer in a way that was highly unusual in royal portraiture in the early 16th century.” loc 457, ebook
My favorite of the art discussions is “The Rainbow Portrait” of Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger or Isaac Oliver. There is so much symbolism packed into one portrait. It’s fun to take it all apart.
Plus, Elizabeth I is one of my favorite historical figures. I go on about that in my review of Elizabeth I by Margaret George.
Millar helpfully includes the family tree of the royals every couple of chapters so its easy to keep track of who is who. And after the art, there’s a whole section of walking tours through London. At first, the two parts of the book seem unrelated, but when you go through the tours, you notice that he brought forward some of the history from the art and tied it to real world locations.
Talk about making history come alive.
Highly recommended for fans of history, especially forgotten history. Though some of the figures and events are well known, this book contained a few I had never heard of, which is always exciting to discover.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook.
Michael Kimmelman, art critic for the New York Times, gives art trivia and philosophic insights in The Accidental Masterpiece.
… I have come to feel that everything, even the most ordinary daily affair, is enriched by the lessons that can be gleaned from art: that beauty is often where you don’t expect to find it; that it is something we may discover and also invent, then reinvent, for ourselves; that the most important things in the world are never as simple as they seem but that the world is also richer when it declines to abide by comforting formulas.” pg 5
Though, at times, I felt as if he was getting too deep into the art “appreciation” portions, I learned a great deal about not just unconventional forms of art, but how art can be found in your every day life. It is all a matter of adjusting how you view reality.
There were some historical tidbits I particularly enjoyed. For example, did you know that when Kodak film was invented and made the art of photography available to the general public, that some professional photographers believed the medium was doomed?
“The placing in the hands of the general public a means of making pictures with but little labor and requiring less knowledge has of necessity been followed by the production of millions of photographs,” wrote Alfred Stieglitz in 1899. “It is due to this fatal facility that photography as a picture-making medium has fallen into disrepute.” pg 32
Wonder what Stieglitz would have made of Instagram.
Or this other bit of trivia, which seemed particularly apropos with the news reporting today that so many people are climbing Mount Everest that they’ve become a danger to themselves and others: humankind didn’t always find mountains beautiful or worthy of appreciation. The Romans hated the mountains — they were difficult to maneuver armies across and also enemies had a nasty habit of popping out of them. (Think Hannibal.)
Here’s a young Thomas Hobbes’ view of mountains:
“Behind a ruin’d mountain does appear Swelling into two parts, which turgent are As when we bend our bodies to the ground, The buttocks amply sticking out are found.” pg 55
Hilarious. And now we highly value mountain views and the sublime feeling of ascending a mountain’s peak.
“The evolution of the whole modern worldview, including the notion of beauty, you might even say, is exemplified by the evolution of our feelings toward mountains.” pg 56
I also enjoyed Kimmelman’s thoughts on the art of collecting objects, every day and otherwise. I live with someone who has serious collecting tendencies — notably a large military hat collection. It made me appreciate my husband even more when I found out there are people in the world who collect things like light bulbs to the extent where they’ve set up light bulb-themed museums. In their own homes.
We’ve agreed (so far) to keep the collection in one room. So, comparably, I’m doing pretty well. 🙂
Recommended for readers who enjoy non-fiction reads about art, philosophy and a curious mix of the two.
In Creativity, Philippe invites the reader into his mind and attempts to dissect his creative process. For this to make any sense, you sort of have to let go of reality as you know it and step into his pipe dream world for the duration of the read.
Sometimes I was able to do this and followed his twisting train of thought to some fascinating conclusions, but other times I couldn’t. So, if you pick this one up, prepare yourself. It’s not for everyone.
I marked a couple of his ideas that resonated with me:“If you are an artist, you want to create a giant wall around yourself and, inside that wall, to follow your honesty and your intuition. What the audience will see is a man or woman who is a prisoner of his or her passion, and that is the most inspiring performance in the world.” pg 16 “To be a prisoner of passion”- I’ve never heard an artist described that way before.
In pages 20 to 26, Philippe essentially describes his brainstorming process as a paper version of Pinterest (my comparison, not his). He takes all of these words and pictures and files them according to some associations that his mind makes, then reassembles the results into art… somehow.
Read these pages if you want to explore how difficult it is for a creative type to write down his process in a manner that makes sense to anyone other than him or herself. It’s interesting but baffling.
“Another theory of mine: turning in circles and getting lost is important! You find yourself when you get lost.” pg 28 I embrace that theory as well.
“Go to school if you want to learn. Go to life if you want to feel.” pg 85 Loved that.
“Use your creative paranoia to be on the lookout for negativity; observe with a positive spirit: “What a beautiful disaster!” uttered the French architect Le Corbusier when he visited Manhattan for the first time.” pg 100
“Even if you are not a performer, even if you don’t have an act, do not think that you have nothing to rehearse! The art of living makes a performing artist out of you.” pg 122 We are all creators, painting our lives in wide strokes around us, even those of us who can’t draw a stick figure or walk on a rope between skyscrapers.
“Look in the mirror of fear and focus beyond it. What appears in the background is your path, awaiting.” pg 149 Something to keep in mind when life’s anxieties and impossibilities assail you.
Creativity: The Perfect Crime is one of a kind but if you liked it, I’d recommend reading PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives by Frank Warren (hundreds of people around the country decorate plain postcards with a secret that they’ve never revealed to another person- it shows the heights and depths of creativity and artistic catharsis) or How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton (a more logical than emotional book about the creative process, how it works, and how everybody can create).
Speaking of Philippe Petit, did anybody else watch The Walk with Joseph Gordon-Levittwhich was about his famous tight rope walk between the Twin Towers?
If you read this book first, it makes so much more sense.
A call-to-action for artists and business people of all types to create the work that only they can create which makes them irreplaceable and also Unmistakable.
“When you’re the only person who could have created a work of art, the competition and standard metrics by which things are measured become irrelevant because nothing can replace you. The factors that distinguish you are so personal that nobody can replicate them.” pg 2.
That makes sense to me. You’re essentially writing the book so no one can tell you how it’s supposed to go.
The theory of becoming Unmistakable is fairly simple but the journey to that place is not. There are no maps to this realm because it is different for everyone and the paths to that place vary as widely as the talents that people bring with them.
As Srinivas reminds us: “Unmistakable work is a process of self-discovery. We start our ride not knowing what it is that makes us unmistakable, and a thread reveals itself through the creation of a body of work. Dots connect, patterns emerge, and our unmistakable gift is revealed. Time is the critical ingredient required for this to take place, hence the role of longevity and commitment in the quest to become unmistakable.” pgs 56-57
So, you can’t give up. Create and fail and try again. That is as hard and as easy as it is.
“…creating unmistakable work might be one of the hardest things to do: you have to look into the depths of who you are, explore what matters to you, and infuse that into every element of your work until it can’t possibly be mistaken for something anybody could have done but you.” pg 68.
The messages contained within Unmistakable become repetitive after a few chapters, but Srinivas threads some of the stories and artists from his podcast to break up the material as well as his personal testimony.
Unmistakable encourages creation even in areas that you may have no prior experience: “Lack of formal instruction might keep us from attempting some sort of creative pursuit or starting anything in which we don’t have experience. … When we lack experience, we also have the advantage of lacking preconceived notions of what’s possible.” pg 113.
And, you don’t know what you’re capable of until you get started. So, what are we waiting for!
As Srinivas writes from an interview with Seth Godin: “The enemy of creativity is fear; that seems pretty clear. The enemy of fear is creativity; that doesn’t seem that obvious.” The antidote to our fear is to put our heads down, do our work, and make something each day.”pg 189.
Part art appreciation and part homage to the female reader, Women Who Read Are Dangerous is probably the the most aptly titled book that I’ve ever read.
In addition to the beautiful images (my favorites pages 73 & 89), this book educates the reader about the politics, historical trends, and gender inequality tied to reading. Who knew that simply picking up a book could be such a subversive act?
Women Who Read are Dangerous sums up years of strange thinking about women and books with a dose of humor that I appreciated.
Take these historical opinions for example: “Women are too literal-minded for reading. Women are too sentimental, too empathetic, too distractable for reading. Women are passive, practically somnolent, consumers of popular culture, never realizing how, with the very books they choose, they participate in their own subordination.” pg 16
Or this: “The lack of all physical movement while reading, combined with the forcible alternation of imagination and emotion,” said the teacher Karl G. Bauer in 1791, would lead to “slackness, mucous congestion, flatulence, and constipation of the inner organs, which, as is well known, particularly in the female sex, actually affects the sexual parts”- so anyone who read a great deal and whose powers of imagination were stimulated by reading would also be inclined to masturbation, as indeed we can already observe in Baudouin’s painting. But such moralizing could not hold up the triumphal march of reading, including- and specifically- female reading.” pg 23
Can’t hold us back, right readers? I’m actually feeling pretty well for all the reading that I do.
Reading is power, I’ve always known that: “With the ability to read, however, there developed new patterns of private behavior that were to threaten the legitimacy of both the Church and secular authorities on a permanent basis. Women who learned to read at that time were considered dangerous. For the woman who reads acquires a space to which she and no one else has access, and together with this she develops an independent sense of self-esteem; furthermore, she creates her own view of the world that does not necessarily correspond with that conveyed by tradition, or with that of men.” pg 26
An introvert’s paradise, the keys to your freedom, the way to stick it to the “man”… as if I needed more reasons to read.
I also liked this description of reading: “Reading is an act of friendly isolation. When we are reading, we make ourselves unapproachable in a tactful way.” pg 34 I never really considered it that way before, but it is a method in which you remove yourself from the world for a time, even from those sitting in the same room.
Seems obvious, when I consider it, but I had never taken the time to do so.
Finally, I learned about how “silent reading” is a recent trend. Did you know?: “An illiterate today is not only someone who cannot read (or write), but also anyone who cannot understand a text unless he or she reads it aloud. Yet there must have been a time when the opposite was the case- when reading aloud was the norm, as silent reading is today. … Until well into the Middle Ages and in some cases well into modern times, reading consisted of both thinking and speaking, and was above all an act that took place not in separation from the outside world, but at its center, within the social group and under its surveillance.” pg 25
Ugh. “Under its surveillance”?
That brings to mind the quotation, “Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.” -Ovid.
Highly recommended for art enthusiasts and anyone who loves to read, Women Who Read are Dangerous is a lot of fun and a walk on the wild side… if one believes in such things.
If you’re looking for more non-fiction information about reading, try “Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature” by Betsy Bird. It doesn’t have the beautiful artwork of this book, but it does contain a lot of information about the history and, sometimes scandalous, back story of children’s books and authors.
A big thank you to the Goodreads First Reads Program for a finished copy of this book for review purposes. And, thank you for reading!
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