Review: Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Superintelligence is clearly a book about philosophy, focusing on a conceptual examination of the development of artificial general intelligence (and, subsequently, artificial superintelligence). Bostrom's book has an almost prophetic ring. Written in 2014, it lays out maps for the possible ways in which AI development might progress, and a decade later it is clear that some of these paths seem well underway. In places, his concerns seem particularly well-founded, especially when discussing human-human interactions in a world where a potentially revolutionary technology is being created.

On the other hand, this age also makes parts of the book feel less relevant to the modern contexts. Obviously certain ideas and decisions that were viable in 2014 seem less viable or important considering where AI-progress has been seen (e.g. the focus on ML and LLMs). Furthermore, the tech-agnostic manner of writing means that Bostrom's examination of concerns is a little bit coarse-grained, for example he does not dig deep into value-loading specifically through linguistic means, which is becoming a more realistic possibility considering advances in the last ten years.

Overall, however, Superintelligence was a great read. Extremely urgent and, of course, terrifying.

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Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

India After Gandhi is deep, rich, and powerful, charting a massive course and bringing together an eclectic set of stories from across politics (national and regional), economic decisions and developments, technology, and more. Politics remains the guiding lens, but the book is vast and expansive beyond it.

A brilliant read.

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Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Six of Crows is textbook. It is written to be a classic, every beat planned to achieve the desired effect, every plot-point, every trope, wielded like a hatchet to chop and bite and build a fantasy novel that does exactly what it tells you it will do. The plot is tight, closely structured, with only a small number of open questions that get closed as the book moves on. Almost all of these answers serve the purpose you've been told they will serve, explanations of betrayal and dark pasts full of horror, they are all tied neatly with a bow. There are some moments of mild surprise, nothing too spectacular but also nothing too predictable. The magic system is basic and elemental, the setting lacks heterogeneity but has some interesting ideas. It is written well, with some beautiful quotes interspersed amidst mostly functional prose.

With regards to most things, plot, setting, magic, mystery, style of writing, Six of Crows is textbook and that's it.

There are, however, two exceptions. The first is the characters, which are fantastic. I loved every single one of our motley crew of heisting thieves, I loved the way they talked and the way they moved, I loved the internal monologues and interactions between them and the relationships that formed and grew as the pages turned. I was surprised by some, doubted myself on others, but in the end they were all interesting developed characters I enjoyed following along with. My favorite was Kaz, but Inej was a close second and Nina a closer third. They were vulnerable in bits, badass in others, and generally I think Bardugo writes great characters.

The other exception is that there is a deep tonal mismatch in the book, primarily in the parts where the mystery and world-building. Here, the book is at its worst. The best example of this is Kaz, the book consistently makes Kaz out to be a dark deeply disturbed character, capable of great horror, with a past that matches it. Then, we follow him and learn about his past, and I could not help but feel disappointed. He's a cool character, but at no point in the book is he actually the cold-blooded monster that we keep hearing he is. He has a traumatic past, but not significantly more than any of the other main characters.

Here, and in a couple other places, the book is actively disappointing. Now, the caveat here is obviously that it is meant for a YA- audience, which means that the tonal mismatch is probably a result of trying to thread the line between a more mature-feeling book and content that falls outside this genre. Still, I think the complain is justified.

All in all though, you should read Six of Crows, most of it is good and the impressive character-building makes up for some of the disappointments that come later.

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Review: The Vegetarian

The Vegetarian by Han Kang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Vegetarian is an interesting book that does not take its premise nearly far enough. It is surreal, to an extent, building an enticing mystery surrounded by characters that weave through cultural ideas and moral questions. The core mystery, the one of the titular "Vegetarian", is interesting insofaras the actual vegetarianism is a small part of a larger unexplained situation.

The book is at its best as cultural commentary, examining general and specific reactions and responses to situations arising from the vegetarian. The titular character is somewhat a plot device, the story is in the behaviors of those that surround her. The themes range from societal stigma against vegetarians, to mental illness and infidelity, as well as questions about family and death. It takes some unexpected turns, but for the most part it struggles to surprise you because either it reveals too much too early or is so left-field that you are too confused to be startled.

Sadly, the interesting themes and questions are not explored fully. The story meanders too much, the characters will say some insightful things of consequence and then nothing. The book builds anticipation, reaches the climax, and then refuses to explore the future, it jumps over the difficult conversations to the detriment of its plot and themes.

It is interesting to read, but like so many other works of literature it is haunted by the ghosts of what could have been.

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Review: Killing Thatcher

Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rory Carroll's telling of the Brighton hotel bombing is a riveting piece of non-fiction, it is written in a way that is gripping and riveting and covers a breadth of source material with a focus on the plot and the IRA. The research is deep, covering interviews and private notes and diary entries that seem to provide a kaleidoscopic view of events. The suspense builds easily, a factor of the brilliant source material and the style with which Carroll presents it. Once you pick it up, it is hard to put down.

Carroll does his best to be an impassionate observer, or at least unbiased with a sense of compassion and admiration for the competence and history of all the people he writes about. Amidst the excitement, he does a good job of sketching the personalities involved. Names and characters of the main players stayed with me even after they had disappeared from the story.

The broader political implications of the bomb are perhaps not discussed as clearly as I would have liked, there are brief mentions of the politicians who were impacted and the ways in which it contributed to the future of the British and Irish political movements, but it is too concise and leaves many open questions and unexplored ideas. Some more background here would have been ideal.

Carroll's style is his strength, relevant and punchy, with a penchant for bringing things to life. There were surreal bits where he would repeat the same turn of phrase but as if he had not uttered it before. These were the only bits where I had to pause because of how jarring it was. For the most part though, the writing was solid.

All in all, an excellent bit of non-fiction.

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Review: So Late in the Day

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent short read by Claire Keegan.

The story plays it by the book, introducing minimal characters and taking the time to explore interesting and human-feeling ideas. It builds easy suspense, introducing small mysteries that are quickly solved but the "Why" and the "How" keeps the read interesting. The core story is an exploration of fascinating themes around love, marriage, and gender.

Worth reading.

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Review: Happening

Happening by Annie Ernaux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Happening is a powerful book. It is a book that is brutal and visceral, and I did not realise quite how raw and intense Ernaux's writing can be. This is a memoirist at her best, with excerpts from diaries and subtle interjections from the present, the surreal nature of existence drawn out in a way that feels so sublime and fascinating.

Her experiences are, and will always be, foreign to me. My identity is too distinct from her. In this, I am uncertain how my responses compare to someone who relates to them more closely and fully.

I read this in one sitting. It is a short and arresting read. It hurts. It hurts and then it goes and it feels like life inked onto pages, tinged with a little bit of red.

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Review: Bluets

Bluets by Maggie Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am often tempted to send quotes from books I read to friends and family, to share the beauty and to ascertain response. With Bluets, this becomes difficult for every line demands such sharing.

It is a book of condensed poetry, every verse encompassing something of weight, holding in it distilled essences of important things. Even so, they come together in an impossible tapestry that winds and bends and shakes and ripples in the wind.

It is, if nothing else, beautiful.

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Review: The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Way of Kings is an interesting book. I wanted to love it more than I did, despite the fact that I did love it quite fiercely. Sanderson is a brilliant writer, and while I have complaints, they cannot take away from how fantastic this book was overall.

The Way of Kings is an epic book in the genre sense of the word. It is set in a world that is clearly vast and extremely interesting. The analytic of the world-building is indubitably incredible. The elements have been thought out well, so they fit in perfectly despite being foreign and unique. Every new piece of information is beautiful in a way, holding deeper mysteries that are yet to be unfurled. New words are juggled and lost, but they never feel out of place. Sanderson is at his best in this.

His characters are fine. They are flawed, interesting, with goals that drive the story, but they are not compelling. Their struggles are painful, and they get moments to shine, but I felt a distinct lack of attachment to them. The plot itself, driven by these interesting characters, is intriguing and keeps you reading. There are few moments of deep and complex emotion, instead the book relies on complex situations where you must draw out how you feel in a more subtle way.

Where the book is best is worldbuilding, but alas here is also its greatest flaw. Sanderson's worlds are like Chekov's guns, everything is explained and everything is useful, but that makes everything feel just a little bit shallow. Where there is incredible depth in the exploration of implications, there is little sense that the world is significantly wider than we see. In this, this is a weaker fantasy book than some classics.

At its core, however, Way of Kings is beautiful. It was moving, exciting, and fun to read. Highly recommended.

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Review: I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Baek Se-hee's book is an intensely personal exploration of therapy, one of the most transparent books I've ever read. The discussions with her therapist are vulnerable and incomplete, they touch and go on topics, and it's clear that we're getting but a tiny glimpse of a larger person. In principle, this would be a great book because of how open it is. In that, I cannot fault it. It does not feel minced or over-edited with regards to the brutality of the themes, it feels honest.

However, the actual book ends up somewhat underwhelming. Perhaps it is the way it is translated, the cultural differences, or just the short-length not allowing for a deep dive into the therapy, but it just feels too quick, too impatient, too quick to move on from deep and dark ideas. We do not have the context to understand the complaints Se-hee is making to her therapist, so her stories all feel slightly one-dimensional. The vulnerability is not paired with particularly special stories.

In addition, the writing itself is okay but not special. While it does somewhat ground the book, it prevents the book from being poignant or beautiful. It is a reflection of the world, which I cannot fault, but amidst the lack of depth in story or language, it does lose engagement as it goes on

Decent book about therapy, cultural differences, and the future of work.

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Review: My Documents

My Documents by Alejandro Zambra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Zambra. I feel like I've started a review with this before. I love Zambra and the way he uses words. He pulls a magic trick, it feels as if his word are like cards that have been dropped onto the floor, haphazard and careless. Yet, you look closer, and it is clear that he is a deliberate and cautious writer, the planned carelessness, the constructed breeze, everything right where it belongs.

My Documents is an interesting collection of short stories. It is haunting, especially towards the end where the stories introduce some jarring themes (including rape). It is a conflicting set of stories, the characters are complicated, their motivations sometimes obscured just enough to keep them strangers. There are compulsions on display, so human and so terrifying and so bizarre but so real nonetheless.

It lacks the depth of some of his other work, but I love Zambra's language and his ability to write pieces that feel so much a part of this world, inexplicable but familiar.

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Review: I Will Write to Avenge My People: The Nobel Lecture

I Will Write to Avenge My People: The Nobel Lecture by Annie Ernaux
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A short, interesting read, a look into the broader context of Ernaux's work. This is more a preparatory reading I did in the build up to reading more of her work, so not much more to say than that.

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Review: Understanding a Photograph

Understanding a Photograph by John Berger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This collection of writings by Berger was an interesting little read on the form. While a little tedious in parts, and maybe mildly repetitive in bits, Berger generally has novel takes that inspire reflection and pause.

Berger's analysis of photography is interesting in multiple ways. At first glance, he is definitely got a unique perspective on what photos are. While I did not agree with all of his analysis, there is a clear power to the way he thinks of historicity, the importance and limitations of photography, and how it relates to seeing and memory. On another level, though, his analysis of photography falls within the larger philosophical positions he is defending in the broader sets of writing he does. Finally, his work is set within a specific temporal framework, there is a time and place within which his writing clearly sits.

As a result, this book is a fascinating snapshot of a developed philosophy about art. Its temporality means that parts of it are dense and have academic language that is somewhat outdated, and parts of it are outdated in content where the art of photography has moved forward. At the same time, other parts feel all the more richer because of how concretely they are grounded.

The volume only includes select photographs. I found myself having to google the others, and missing the detail.

Overall, not bad.

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Review: The Labours of Hercules

The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a perfectly pleasant set of short stories in classic Agatha Christie style, though none were too in-depth or too emotionally inspiring. They were quick, fun, charming, and each had a twist or the other that was impossible to foresee but felt plausible nonetheless (though unsatisfying due to the former quality).

I enjoyed it, but it did not strike me as particularly impactful. A good way to spend a nice sunny afternoon.

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Review: The Final Empire

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a perfect prototypical modern epic fantasy novel. It is technically masterful, with every plot point and every twist and every fight executed to maximise wish-fulfilment and joy. It is just the right amount of intriguing, just the right amount of tragic, to be fun and engaging all the way through. The writing is stellar, it is effortless while still being articulate and interesting. There is a clear technical mastery of the form itself, the structure is so well-thought-out, the characters so likeable and subtle, the world so full. Every twist is predictable, but in a good way, where you feel like the twist was bound to happen after it has happened because it makes sense.

Starting from the prologue, all the way to the very last page, this book delivers.

It may lack the depth of a Wheel of Time, but it is a fantastic book.

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Review: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting and engaging take on the economics of poverty, drawing from data to draw small but consequential conclusions. Banerjee and Duflo refuse to sacrifice nuance while still building an accessible set of ideas about how poverty works.

The book does a great job of introducing novel ideas, providing surprising facts, and using real-world anecdotes to generate towards interesting conclusions and policy suggestions. It is at its best when it uses the statistics to make largely descriptive claims about how people in different countries behave, and it is fascinating.

There is a tendency to overgenerate, such as using laboratory experiments to make broad claims about human behaviour in contexts where such claims should not as easily be made. However, these are few and far between.

Overall, an informative and interesting book.

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Review: The Creative Act: A Way of Being

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On a purely physical level, this is a beautiful book. It is bound well, the cover has texture, the built in ribbon as a bookmark reminds me of old books I used to own. It has heft and weight, and it feels good to hold. It is, physically, a book that I enjoyed having with me.

The content itself is far too light. It is short chapters that lack the punch to justify their length. It's clear that Rick Rubin is a man who knows something about the creative process, it's just frustrating that he refuses to tell us in 400 sparsely populated pages of vague statements with scattered gems. I wish this book had more exercises, a more coherent analysis of rules in the creative process, a proper chapter on the financial pressure and how it inhibits art. Even in the glimpses we get, there are hints of value.

But not enough. The book is a bit of a disappointment, in part because it so clearly has the potential to be so much more than it is.

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Review: How to Build Impossible Things : Lessons in Life and Carpentry Mark Ellison

How to Build Impossible Things : Lessons in Life and Carpentry Mark Ellison by Mark Ellison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How to Build Impossible Things is an interesting book, in some ways it feels very much like a stream of consciousness ramble by an experienced man who's done lots of amazing things. It is part-memoir, part-notes of life, philosophy in the loosest sense of the word. Where it lacks depth, it tries to make up for it with the wittiness and personality on the pages.

Reading it felt like what I imagine New York feels like. It was irreverent, bold, a bit too much bluster at first but then the style grows on you as you come to respect the ease with which it doesn't take itself seriously. The stories are brash but funny, and they are the best part. For someone who hasn't had to renovate houses for the super rich, it is a window into a fantastical world where the author finds space for challenge, originality, and great folly. The last of these sometimes made me laugh out loud.

On the other hand, there is a loose sense of philosophy about the whole thing that doesn't quite work. The lessons are often basic but also, in an almost comic way, just not very aligned with the stories themselves. I think part of this is that the book is not chronological, but it is still kinda funny when the author tells us he is unafraid to tell people when he doesn't know something, and then a chapter later he tells us of how he got a job by lying to someone about whether he knew how to use specific bits of equipment.

At its core, How to Build Impossible Things is not a book that I could take very seriously. I don't think it wanted to be that book. Instead, it was funny, interesting, and sometimes wise purely through the brute strength of experience.

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Review: All the Bright Places

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the Bright Places is a painful book, in a good way. It starts off cliche and then quickly snowballs into a complicated messy story about hurt, love, and death. It is unexpected in interesting ways and it will emotionally empty you by the end. It is a painful book, and it is manic and draining and powerful.

What Jennifer Niven does well is pull together something with a kind of raw energy. It is unapologetically giddy, it races up to the highs and then rushes down to the lows, over and over. The voices of the characters, while a bit same-y across the two main narrators, is unreliable in the sense that knowing their innermost thoughts does not translate into knowing how they are perceived or what actions they end up taking in the heat of the moment or outside the frame of our reference. This keeps the characters intimate yet known. The plot races towards tragedy, and it hurts when it hits because it's impossible to not hope for the people you are reading about.

On the other hand, this is not a perfect book. The cliche's are a bit on the nose at times, Violet and Finch sometimes come off as stereotypes of YA characters rather than actual characters. Their personalities outside of the plot itself are vague and remain unexplored. The plot itself, while strong, is missing some complexity. The central relationship is interesting, but no other ones are properly explored. These are complicated themes and ideas, and I feel like the book doesn't quite do them justice in the space it has taken.

I do want to note, however, that these critiques are mostly post-hoc. While at points I was taken out by a paragraph here, or a creative choice there, overall the book kept me engaged. For all my complaints, I needed to take a long walk to clear my head after I finished because of how painful a book it turned out to be. That's worth something.

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Review: The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot remember the last time I read a book like this one, where as the final pages turned I found it difficult to breathe.

This is a complicated book. It is a story of love and friendship, and of great men from myth and legend. It is a tragic book, where with every turn of the page you condemn those in it to a fate that rushes towards them. I started it knowing how it would end, but in moments I would forget and find myself hoping that it would end differently. It is not a great book, but I don't think it strives to be. It's goal is not scale but tenderness.

I cannot deny that in some ways, it's rough around the edges. The world does not feel as large as it did with Circe, the words do not always flow, the characters are not always as naturally pulled together as they need to be.

But it does not matter. The parts that shine are bright enough.

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