This book kept popping up in my Amazon Prime as a free download, but I never payed it any attention until KimMiE” reviewed it a month ago and mentioned that the author was the guy who makes the XKCD comics. That was all I needed to hear. Taken from the “What If?” Section of the website, where he answers the internet’s most inexplicable science-ish questions (for instance: what would happen if everyone actually had one soulmate, one random person in the world?). His answers are […]
Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left?
I couldn’t tell you the last time I read Murakami, but I now remember that the last time I read him, I swore I would read all of his work, and I’m making that oath again. He is magnificently imaginative, terrifying, mystical, and believable all at once. He throws you into the deep end and patiently waits for you to swim or drown; he doesn’t care which happens. He moves the finish line just as you’re about to reach it, over and over again. You […]
In which there are many words, but nothing happens
The story takes place in a single day. Adam Godley, a famous mathematician is dying, and his family and friends are gathered about his deathbed. We are mostly (always?) with our (mostly) omnipotent narrator, the god Hermes. Oh, yes, the Greek gods are real, and apparently bored, because they like to spend time fucking with mortals. (And also fucking them, but that’s not the main point here. Or is it?) Being omnipotent, Hermes can jump into other people’s minds and discover and relay what they […]
If Randall Munroe Invites You to Rhode Island, Don’t Go.
If you get an invitation from Randall Munroe to go to Rhode Island, say “No, Thank You” and start hoarding food and water*. It’s not that he’s trying to end the world, probably, but he has imagined a scenario that would bring about the end of civilization as we know it. Why would he do that? Because he created one of the most dangerous things in the world – a question box, and he attempts to answer questions with science and math. The answers are […]