User Profile

laundry0099

laundry0099@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 week, 4 days ago

This link opens in a pop-up window

Chani Nicholas: You Were Born for This (Hardcover, HarperOne) 3 stars

Friendly, quick primer for first timers

3 stars

Despite having several witchy friends, I have never pulled my birth chart or held astrology for anything but made up woo. But a very close friend (who does not own a single crystal and whose book recs I always trust) loaned me their personal copy and told me I had to read it.

This involved first going to the author's website and entering your exact date, time, and city of birth, which gives me the ick knowing how secure any data we put on the internet is (not). Which meant I had to text my mother and ask what time I was born. With my sensitive personal data entered, I was emailed my birth chart to print. Printout in hand, I sat down to analyze it with this book.

I quickly realized that the chart I printed out did not correspond to the explanations included in my email. The Sun …

Jenny Odell: How to Do Nothing (2019, Melville House Publishing) 4 stars

Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our …

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

Imagine Braiding Sweetgrass was written by an annoying Californian yuppie and that’s this book. I’m glad I read it. It has a lot of good ideas and it challenged me to think about how social media and my internet use affect my life, which is what made me pick up the book in the first place.

However, it would have been a lot more effective if she had trimmed a few hundred pages of fat and just gotten to the point. Overall, though, still a good read. 

Cory Doctorow: The Internet Con (Hardcover, 2023, Verso) 4 stars

When the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their …

Review of 'The Internet Con' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I consider myself pretty well versed in the shortcomings of capitalism, but this book still managed to shock me time and time again with tales of the brazen greed of tech companies over time. It was an easy read, which I appreciated, and I greatly enjoyed the conversational and sometimes colorful tone of writing.

Yet even though the author said multiple times that he would explain how we go about fixing the problems of Big Tech, he never really did. That is, unless I somehow figure out how to suddenly make Congress listen to me instead of a huge corporation, or learn how to reverse-engineer my own social media company. Nevertheless, it’s a great read, and one that more people probably should. 

Michael A. Lebowitz: The socialist imperative (2015) 4 stars

"In a little more than a decade, economist Michael A. Lebowitz has written several major …

Review of 'The socialist imperative' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

This is the first time I have been exposed to a socialist who seems to have as much disdain for the socialism/communism of the 20th century as they do for capitalism. This book challenged my concepts of what socialism really is and has made me realize that I have a lot of internalized capitalist concepts that I need to consciously unlearn.

This book is a fantastic primer to thinking about a new socialism for this century. I wish it got into more specifics as to how to put the theory into practice, but then again this book is actually just a collection of essays and speeches made by the author throughout his career. 

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass (EBook, 2013, Milkweed Editions) 4 stars

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with …

Review of 'Braiding Sweetgrass' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This book has permanently changed the way I think about the world. It made me so overwhelmed with emotions that at times I had to set down my phone and cry for a few minutes. But it is beautiful. It is poignant and important and it has given me renewed hope for a world that is increasingly terrifying. 

reviewed Network Effect by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)

Martha Wells: Network Effect (EBook, 2020, Tor.com) 4 stars

I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems …

Review of 'Network Effect' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This series gets more addicting with each installment. The first four books were almost too short, and reading this one felt like I was finally really getting to dig in to the world of Murderbot. Consider me thoroughly hooked!

reviewed Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)

Martha Wells: Exit Strategy (2018) 4 stars

"Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling …

Review of 'Exit Strategy' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

I just don’t get tired of Murderbot as a character. Plus, now that the world building and characters are more established, it’s easier to follow the plot, which was something I found a little difficult in the first two books. I cannot wait to keep reading this series!

reviewed Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)

Martha Wells: Rogue Protocol (2018) 4 stars

SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris …

Review of 'Rogue Protocol' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This was my favorite Murderbot book so far. The fact that so many robot characters in this series are incredibly wholesome reminds me a lot of the video game Stray. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the terrifying stories where robots turn on the human race. 

I can’t wait to read the next one!

reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Martha Wells: Artificial Condition (2018) 4 stars

It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. …

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Murderbot is such a fun character. Never thought a construct could be so relatable but it’s just the cutest. I love when it gets bewildered by humans. 

reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Martha Wells: All Systems Red (EBook, 2017, Tordotcom) 4 stars

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, …

Review of 'All Systems Red' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

It’s rare to find a compelling sci-fi book that also has a hefty helping of humor and sarcasm baked into its tone. I will definitely be reading more of this series. 

Andrzej Sapkowski: Hexer Geralt 1: Der letzte Wunsch (German language, 2007, Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl.) 4 stars

Review of 'Hexer Geralt 1: Der letzte Wunsch' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

It’s a fun fantasy world but it tries to be so clever sometimes that the stories get a little confusing. The conclusion of most of the plots usually ends up being less satisfying than the build up would lead one to hope for. Nevertheless, Geralt and Dandelion are super fun and I’ll probably read more of the series.