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The ending felt rushed; I was sure there would be a sequel right up until the last page. Maybe there's a sequel...
Ahh, I see, this was the third installment in the "Talon Chantry" series. I thought there was an awful lot of allusion to the protagonist's grandfather. I'll have to see if I have the rest of them!
This book is like someone asked ChatGPT to write a book about AI in the style of Ray Kurzweil. Just replace all the instances of "The Singularity" with "The Coming Wave", and sprinkle in references to current events like the Ukraine war.
There are no solutions in this book, just the same warnings that you should have found in a Margaret Atwood book two decades ago.
"Revolution, for whatever reason, is self-defeating, for violent revolution results in violent reaction. Oddly enough, the worst reaction usually comes from within the revolution itself, and the first casualty is the revolutionary. Look what has happened in France, for example. Those who created the revolution, those leaders of revolution, all were victims of it. And who reaped the benefit?-Napoleon. "Peaceful change is the healthiest change, but if you will look closely you will see what the so-called revolutionary who deals in violence wants is simply violence. He is unhappy with himself, believes himself incapable of coping with the situation as it is, so tries to disrupt it. He wants violence to relieve his own anger and pent-up hatred."
"But does he not claim to be acting for the people?" Mr. Choteau suggested. I shrugged. "The 'people' is an abstraction. It is one of those general terms that has no meaning in fact. For 'the people' is in reality many peoples, with many interests, many possibilities. It is always interesting to me that none of these persons who claim to act for the people have ever consulted the people themselves."
— River's West by Louis L'Amour (Page 113)
I both agree and disagree with the noble protagonist; disenfranchisement is the root of revolution, but if you reject violence then those who don't will always win.
But this Talon isn't one to hesitate to use violence anyway, he's just trying to impress a lady ๐
"That's a fine girl," he muttered, "a fine, proud girl."
Something inside me cringed. I felt a shame come over me. Yes, she was all of that. I remembered the set of her shoulders, the look of her back as she walked away from me. But I knew she had no use for me, and although she was a fine, proud girl, she also had a fine, devil of a temper.
I said as much. Butlin chuckled. "Would you have it otherwise? If you're going to have steam in the kettle, you've got to have fire in the stove."
— River's West by Louis L'Amour (Page 81)
I started reading this on a plane last year and I recently found it in the pocket of my jacket. I picked it back up and started reading again. It's an easy read, like most of L'Amour's work. A manly, and independent protagonist tries to solve a mysterious murder while travelling to find his fortune. It's good hero fantasy stuff if you're into that.
If the notion of the self is a product of human confidence and security, of free time and free choice, then it is nothing less than a product of civilization. Individualism is a reward, like the printed word and manicures, for millennia well-spent. By this logic, those who draw their sense of identity from within--from the self, as loners do --rather than from a group and it's folkways, are basking in the glory of advanced civilization.
— Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto by Anneli S. Rufus (Page 4)
I like to leave my phone at home and walk to a coffeeshop by myself. On my way today I stopped at one of the little library boxes that people put in their yards and I found this book. As I sat alone in a corner of the cafe patio I read two chapters; easily absorbed by validating thoughts that it seemed I could have written myself. I couldn't have found a better book this morning, and I look forward to finishing it!
The first chapter is just everything you already know about quantum computers. The second is just everything you already know about classical computers. If it ever says anything I haven't already heard I'll let you know
Regular computers have bits that can only be in one of two states, quantum computers have qubits that can be in infinite different states and that means they can do anything. The end.
The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement โฆ
I found this book on the sidewalk the other day. I liked the Edward Hopper painting on the cover. So far I like the old timey modernism. It's got an American Beauty vibe.
"This wise, stirring book argues that the search for meaning can immeasurably deepen our lives and is far more fulfilling โฆ
Life 3.0 (Random House Audio)
"How will artificial intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of โฆ
"In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. โฆ
got distracted
