User Profile

Derek Caelin

DerekCaelin@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 1 month ago

Seeking a Solarpunk Future

Climate Feminist | Biodiversity | Open Source Software | Civic Tech | Games | Justice | Regenerative Ag | Green Energy | He/Him/His.

This link opens in a pop-up window

Derek Caelin's books

Currently Reading

2023 Reading Goal

Success! Derek Caelin has read 53 of 52 books.

Blue Machine (2023, Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., W. W. Norton & Company) No rating

A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. …

Light is the first and the main reason that we know the rest of the universe is there. Neutrinos are the second, and gravitational waves are only the third. It's easy to forget how tenuous our connection to the rest of existence is.

Blue Machine by  (Page 211)

What an interesting thought. If the rules for light were different - if light faded after a few AUs of travel, we wouldn't have known about the existence of the rest of the universe. Our preoccupation with the stars - the stories we told - would be different.

Blue Machine (2023, Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., W. W. Norton & Company) No rating

A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. …

And this warm, sheltered layby of the global ocean has been the stage for some of the greatest dramas of western history, as the Phoneician, Greek and Roman civilizations rose and fell around its coastline. Those societies saw the hand of the sea gods Yam, Poseidon and Neptune in their daily affairs, and in appreciating the role of the water they were not far wrong. But no amount of human worship can change the fundamental rules of the ocean, and so the blue machine just kept turning as the humans yelled their puny battle cries at its surface, oblivious to the inner workings of the waters that carried them.

Blue Machine by  (Page 150)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Hardcover, 2015, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd) 4 stars

Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who …

Isn't it interesting how Becky Chambers subverts storytelling tropes? There isn't an over-arching conflict, there isn't a "hero's journey" (eat your heart out, Joseph Campbell!) - there is simply a crew/family living their lives. Sometimes there is a problem to be resolved, but, generally, the book is about plopping oneself down and watching these people exist and be decent to each other. I love it, and I love how it demonstrates the range of what fiction can be.

Blood in the Machine (2022, Little Brown & Company) 5 stars

The true story of what happened the first time machines came for human jobs, when …

If the Luddites have taught us anything, it's that robots aren't taking our jobs. Our bosses are.

Robots are not sentient-they do not have the capacity to be coming for or stealing or killing or threatening to take away our jobs. Management does. Consulting firms and corporate leadership do. Gig company and tech executives do.

Blood in the Machine by  (Page 401)