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What books are you reading?
MilesAhead:
chain saw on the corps
-MilesAhead (April 21, 2021, 03:12 PM)
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"corpse" actually.
-Arizona Hot (April 21, 2021, 03:34 PM)
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I have to stop using that Opera extension that automatically dis-corrects my spelling. :)
wraith808:
chain saw on the corps
-MilesAhead (April 21, 2021, 03:12 PM)
--- End quote ---
"corpse" actually.
-Arizona Hot (April 21, 2021, 03:34 PM)
--- End quote ---
I have to stop using that Opera extension that automatically dis-corrects my spelling. :)
-MilesAhead (April 22, 2021, 09:21 AM)
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Yeah, I figured you just left off the -e.
MilesAhead:
chain saw on the corps
-MilesAhead (April 21, 2021, 03:12 PM)
--- End quote ---
"corpse" actually.
-Arizona Hot (April 21, 2021, 03:34 PM)
--- End quote ---
I have to stop using that Opera extension that automatically dis-corrects my spelling. :)
-MilesAhead (April 22, 2021, 09:21 AM)
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Yeah, I figured you just left off the -e.
-wraith808 (April 22, 2021, 08:17 PM)
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Concision does have its merits. ;D
tomos:
I'm just getting into "The First Signs" by Genevieve Von Petzinger. It's about the symbols used in cave art during the ice age (50k to 10k years ago). Apparently there were only 32, and they were used repeatedly all over Europe during that time.
She sees them as a precursor to writing.
Talks a lot about when people became "like us", or even "became us". Along the way you kind of learn what she means by this: one aspect is the ability to think about abstract concepts; another the symbolic (non-functional) use of colour, and decoration, engraving (initially abstract).
Says "language and creativity [are] driven by the capacity to think and communicate with symbols."
I find that whole aspect interesting -- what it might mean to be a "modern" human. She takes a lot for granted here: that we are wonderful, says that we use *all* the creative potential of our mind ( !! that, in the intro already, seemed like a bit of a bald statement and got me focusing on how she see modern versus ancient -- she carefully avoids use of "primitive").
Enjoying the book a lot btw.
Fwiw here's an article with another perspective "Humans were not centre stage: how ancient cave art puts us in our place"
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-humanoid-stain-ehrenreich
Suggests that people at the time saw themselves as small in the scheme of things (in the cave art, the only humans are tiny stick figures, surrounded by huge animals -- animals that were also huge irl); also that they had a sense of humour (apparently small clay "Venuses" were intentionally made with flaws, probably for throwing in the fire, where they would explode - a precursor to fireworks)
x16wda:
Getting ready to start "Alive, Son Of Awake". Brief article on it here. Excerpt from the article:
In this age of anxiety, anger and contestations between the West and the Islamic world, many epoch-shaping stories of intellectual exchanges between our cultures are often forgotten.
A powerful example comes from literature. Millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim readers across the world have read that famed tale of the man stranded alone on an island: “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, the 18th-century British pamphleteer, political activist and novelist.
Few know that in 1708, 11 years before Defoe wrote his celebrated novel, Simon Ockley, an Orientalist scholar at Cambridge University, translated and published a 12th-century Arabic novel, “Hayy ibn Yaqzan,” or “Alive, the Son of Awake,” by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tufayl, an Andalusian-Arab polymath. Writing about the influence of Ibn Tufayl’s novel on Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe,” Martin Wainwright, a former Guardian editor, remarked, “Tufayl’s footprints mark the great classic.”
Ibn Tufayl’s novel tells the tale of Hayy, a boy growing up alone on a deserted island, with animals. As he grows up, Hayy uses his senses and reason to understand the workings of the natural world. He explores the laws of nature, devises a rational theology and entertains theories about the origin of the universe. He develops a sense of ethics: Out of mercy for animals, he turns vegetarian, and out of care for plants, he preserves their seeds.
...
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Of course there is more, sounds very interesting. This is generally not my style of book at all, I prefer the SF that I gorged on in the 60s and 70s, but I have less time and often just pull out the Kindle. That said, my SIL referenced this article in a post and I am now committed to reading this so we can all discuss it when we meet this summer.
I am looking forward to it but it will be more work than I am used to...
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