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Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

May 19, 2026

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Awaiting review...

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Harassment Architecture by Mike Ma

Not currently reading... It is a rare and notable event that I, a committed if idle completist, choose to not finish reading a novel, if one would elect to categorise this as such. I chose not to complete this pamphlet (see what I did there?), although to remove all trace of its existence on my shelves, the itch at the back of my woke, lefty-liberal, eco- non- fascist, Guardian-reading mind, would be to also remove the salience of a good cautionary tale. Let me start with context. Mike Ma was close to Sam Pink (another author of dubious moral merit, perhaps) and on the same screen as one of my literary heroes, Kurt Vonnegut, on the Global Network of Discovery (GNOD)'s literary map , where readers can see what other authors readers were reading, constellated around the author in context. In this case, the author may have been Delicious Tacos after I may or may not have suggested someone on the internet who said some words at me to have a read of his book Finally Some Good News . Kla...

S.N.U.F.F. by Victor Pelevin

Nourishing Manitou with blood is a cosmic necessity. Quite how I swung away from the banks of Sorrowland and into the rushing, tumescent waters of Russian dystopian satire is, sadly, lost to the fog of history, but swing away I did, and it gives me the chance to shamelessly court clicks from those pugnacious Homo-Sovieticus -ians, thusly: И снова здравствуйте, мои русские друзья! І привіт усім моїм українським читачам - ти чудово виглядаєш, це взуття нове? One must marvel at Google’s translation function, and all technological advancements of this age (even if Microsoft Word just tried to change the word Google to the contextually appropriate Gogol , naughty Satya Nadella) and worship before the altar of progress like good little consumers, and like the sorry inhabitants of the lower world in this classic dystopian satire: the Orks. For context, the Earth is ruined, we’re led to believe, America and China are no more, and with the remaining inhabitants of the landmass formerly ...

The Android Mirror by Christopher Hall

Awaiting review... (Paid link)

Our Ancestors by Italo Calvino

The dog signifies nothing... Now is as good a time as any I suppose to admit that I regularly confuse Italo Calvino with Umberto Eco and when struggling for the name of one of them, invariably come up with the name of the other. What value does this add to a review of either’s work? None whatsoever. I just thought it would pay to be honest up front, so that if I start talking about semiotics, the discourse of literary criticism, or beards, then you’ll know my train of thoughts has switched tracks and is heading for a bridge under construction. Of course, reading the Wiki pages on the two of them (to make sure I was talking about the right fellow) I noticed with some dread that Our Ancestors is one of the best known works of the most translated contemporary Italian writer (at the time of his death) and here I am, trying to make sense of it in my own personal context. Well, I’m always going to be treading down some fool’s heels so why should I care if it’s actually most peopl...

Spares by Michael Marshall Smith

Terror, and relief; relief and terror, so intermingled that they feel like the same thought. I'm having a great time reassembling my lost library, re-reading books I once thought I'd consumed and therefore to which I might justifiably never return. It's great! Next up, in case you're wondering, will be Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut (not that I'd lost it, just that I reallyreallyreally want to read it again, having been a whole 10 years since his untimely death). Michael Marshall Smith (or Michael Marshall when he writes out-and-out horror/thriller titles) is a British writer who brings to mind the work of his contemporary sci-fi & etc. novelist Jeff Noon. His first book was Only Forward (on my To Re-Read list for sure) which with the talking appliances originally made me think of Rogue Trooper in 2000AD comics, and got me into slick, quick, character and plot-driven sci-fi back in the late 1990s. Wait, or was that One Of Us? Bah, who cares. Spare...

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Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

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