A few years ago, Not and I were having a discussion about whether rape jokes could ever be genuinely funny: there is, needless to say, an influential A few years ago, Not and I were having a discussion about whether rape jokes could ever be genuinely funny: there is, needless to say, an influential school of thought which holds that a funny rape joke is a contradiction in terms. But it only took us an hour of searching to convince ourselves that rape jokes could be hilarious, the winner being Amy Schumer's "Football Town Nights", a sketch about an unsuspecting football coach who tries to implement a no-rape policy for his team. The jocks simply don't understand why rape might be wrong: they keep trying to find loopholes ("Like, suppose we just filmed it on our phones?"), convinced that no one could really be making such absurd demands of them.
And, similarly, Kunsten at græde i kor is a genuinely funny book about child abuse, surely one of the grimmest subjects around. Well-meaning, naïve eleven year old Allan worships his father and simply doesn't understand what's wrong with him regularly sleeping with Allan's big sister. Dad always looks so much happier after one of their little sessions! Surely he can't be doing anything bad, even if Sanne is a bit weird about it? And when that's your moral starting point, things develop with their own logic.
Obviously it's a high-wire act, but Jepsen waves away the safety net and confidently strolls along fifty metres above the sawdust, cracking one hilarious incest joke after another in South Jutland dialect. He reaches the other end without even looking worried, then strolls back again cracking more jokes about murder, mental illness and suicide. The audience, tears running down their cheeks, clap until their hands hurt.
Why have I never even heard of this guy before? Danish authors are ridiculously underrated....more
- On Earth boss. Thou didst say the message was urgent.
- The message?
- Yes boss. About Africa. I'm pretty sure it's sor- Where have you been, Gabriel?
- On Earth boss. Thou didst say the message was urgent.
- The message?
- Yes boss. About Africa. I'm pretty sure it's sorted out now.
- Sorted out?
- Yes boss. Western people didn't understand Africa. Thou hast repeated that time and again.
- Well, I suppose I have. But--
- I did a good job boss if I say so myself. Born, started accumulating relevant experience at age six, wrote a literary masterpiece, got cancer, died. There and back inside forty years. Thou hast told us not to waste Thy time. I try to listen boss.
- You're telling me you've solved the Africa thing by writing a novel?
- Trust me boss. When I say masterpiece I'm just giving you the facts. Those smug Westerners will read this and they'll never think about Africa the same way again. Two parallel first-person present-tense narratives, one from a Western voice, one from an African voice. They'll feel they've been a Westerner living in Africa, they'll feel they've been an African person who's got to know Westerners, they'll feel they know what African people think about Westerners. In Swahili.
- But Western people don't know Swahili, Gabriel.
- My book will make them feel like they do. It's written in white person language but it sounds like Swahili. That's what they'll experience.
- Hardly any Western people even know what Swahili sounds like. How will they be able to tell?
- They just will. Trust me boss. This will change them.
- Gabriel, explain it to me a little more. You don't usually show so much initiative. So the language sounds like Swahili, but in fact it's English?
- Not English, boss. Danish.
- Danish?!!
- Yes boss. Like Thou said.
- Gabriel, what do you think I said to you?
- Thou said Thou wanted a tall black and a Danish. Boss? Boss? Did I do something wrong?
- Gabriel, I just asked you to get me a coffee and a pastry.
- Thou meanest Thou spake literally?
- I always speak literally. We've been through this before.
- Boss... I... I... I don't know what to say.
- I suppose it can't be translated into English?
- Uh, no boss. You see, the technique I used--
- Never mind, Gabriel. I know you meant well. It's a beautiful novel, Danish people will love it. We'll sort out the Africa thing somehow....more
Aziz has brought a bag of goodies with him. We smoke some of his bhangi and I start to feel pleasantly high. He puts his hand on my knee.
"No," I say. Aziz has brought a bag of goodies with him. We smoke some of his bhangi and I start to feel pleasantly high. He puts his hand on my knee.
"No," I say. He looks a bit sad but takes his hand away again. I go to the bathroom and powder my nose. When I come back to our table, one of the waiters is standing there.
"Call for you, miss," he says. "In the office. This way."
I follow him to the back room. There's a desk with a VCR. He presses the play button.
"I leave you here, miss," he says, and he closes the door. What the fuck is going on? Where is my call? But now there's some old guy on the screen. Long, untidy hair, English accent.
"Hello, Samantha," he says. "I'm Manny. Can you hear me?"
"Yeah," I say, before I've had time to think about it.
"Great," he says. "I'm calling from the future. 2021."
Aziz always has good bhangi but this is impressive. I must ask him where it's from.
"So what can I do for you, Manny?" I say.
"I've been reading about you in a Danish novel," says Manny. "I'm guessing someone you know is going to write it later. Any idea who the author is?"
I think about the Danish kids at school. "Christian?" I say. "Or Svein? Could be one of the glue-sniffers. But I don't see any of them writing a book."
"You seem to have made a real impression on him," says Manny. "I understand he spent a long time planning it."
It must be Christian.
"What's the book about?" I say.
"Well," says Manny, "that's not such an easy question. I guess the obvious answer is that it's about you. The day to day life of a bored white teenage girl in 1980s Tanzania who does too much alcohol and drugs and sex."
"You've been reading about all the stuff I do?" I say.
"All of it," says Manny. "The author leaves nothing out. You know, you're just exactly the way I imagined."
He can't take his eyes off me. So, nothing new. I lean forward a bit.
"But what's the point of the book?" I say. They always ask you that in Eng Lit.
"I'm not sure," says Manny. "Maybe you're a metaphor. For, I don't know, Western civilization or something. You're aware that your life is completely self-destructive, but you can't stop. It feels cool and fun to get wasted every night and pick pointless fights and say sassy things to your teachers that get you into trouble and sexually provoke every man you meet just to see what happens. And not think about your future. Because, really, you don't believe you have a future. Well, isn't that what Western civilization is doing too? I mean—"
I lift up my T-shirt and he stops in the middle of a sentence. "Fuck you," I say, and I hit the off button.
"Who was that?" asks Aziz when I get back.
"Just some old guy who wanted to look at my tits," I say. "Give me some more bhangi." ...more
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this presBe it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Polling days for parliamentary general elections
(1) This section applies for the purposes of the Timetable in rule 1 in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 and is subject to section 2.
(2) The polling day for the next parliamentary general election after the passing of this Act is to be 7 May 2015.
(3) The polling day for each subsequent parliamentary general election is to be the first Thursday in May in the fifth calendar year following that in which the polling day for the previous parliamentary general election fell.
(4) But, if the polling day for the previous parliamentary general election— (a) was appointed under section 2(7), and (b) in the calendar year in which it fell, fell before the first Thursday in May,subsection (3) has effect as if for “fifth” there were substituted “fourth”.
(5) The Prime Minister may by order made by statutory instrument provide that the polling day for a parliamentary general election in a specified calendar year is to be later than the day determined under subsection (2) or (3), but not more than two months later.
(6) A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (5) may not be made unless a draft has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.
(7) The draft laid before Parliament must be accompanied by a statement setting out the Prime Minister’s reasons for proposing the change in the polling day.
2 Early parliamentary general elections
(1) An early parliamentary general election is to take place if— (a) the House of Commons passes a motion in the form set out in subsection (2), and (b) if the motion is passed on a division, the number of members who vote in favour of the motion is a number equal to or greater than two thirds of the number of seats in the House (including vacant seats).
(2) The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) is— “That there shall be an early parliamentary general election.”
(3) An early parliamentary general election is also to take place if— (a) the House of Commons passes a motion in the form set out in subsection (4), and (b) the period of 14 days after the day on which that motion is passed ends without the House passing a motion in the form set out in subsection (5).
(4) The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) is— “That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.”
(5) The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (3)(b) is— “That this House has confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.”
(6) Subsection (7) applies for the purposes of the Timetable in rule 1 in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983.
(7) If a parliamentary general election is to take place as provided for by subsection (1) or (3), the polling day for the election is to be the day appointed by Her Majesty by proclamation on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (and, accordingly, the appointed day replaces the day which would otherwise have been the polling day for the next election determined under section 1).
(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of (1)(b) above, an early parliamentary general election is to take place if— (a) The Leader of the Opposition is a big girl's blouse, or (b) A girly swot, or (c) Frit....more
Thank you for sending me your book. When I picked it up and glanced at the back cover, I had a weird moment, because you look quite a lot lDear Shari,
Thank you for sending me your book. When I picked it up and glanced at the back cover, I had a weird moment, because you look quite a lot like our Russian friend Genia. And then when I read it, I had another weird moment at the point where one of the characters discovers, completely out of the blue, that they have terminal cancer. That's just what happened to Genia, and a month later she was dead. We miss her very much.
One of Genia's best qualities was that she was always totally honest, in that way that Russians seem to do better than anyone else in the world. When she didn't like something, she said so straight out. And to honour her memory, I also need to be honest and say that I didn't like the style of your book at all. But then I never like the style of YA books, and I am the wrong age to be reading it, so please don't take that too hard. I decided after the first couple of chapters that I would probably have appreciated this most when I was about twelve, so for the rest of the book I tried to hand over control to twelve-year-old me. As I'd promised, I brought it with me for a long plane flight. Twelve-year-old me started reading when we were somewhere over Greece, and he didn't put it down until he finished somewhere near Qatar, so I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it. I'm now in Dubai, and we're writing this review together.
It's a good story, and it makes some nice points about the world we live in that many twelve year olds would do well to think about. The world really is quite astonishingly fucked up. You never know who's acting in your best interests and who's trying to destroy you, and often the other people involved aren't too sure either. Sometimes they do terrible things while thinking they're acting in your best interests, and sometimes they save your life despite not actually liking you much. Things are rarely what they seem to be. In particular, you can be sure that the government is lying to you a lot of the time about really important matters. And sex, when you're a teen and trying to figure it out, is also terribly confusing. People can do very nasty things when they want sex, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are nasty people.
It looks like this is your first novel and I hope it won't be your last. It reminded me a bit of Philip K. Dick's The Penultimate Truth. PKD had amazing ideas, but he was a sloppy writer. He needed an editor to supply external discipline, and he was lucky enough to find himself a terrific editor for a while; that collaboration produced his two finest books, The Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly. Every author has to discover their own solutions, and I'm sure you will work out yours.
Okay, it's that time of year again. Here are my prizes for books first read in 2016, split up by category:
New languages
I thought I'd see if I could reOkay, it's that time of year again. Here are my prizes for books first read in 2016, split up by category:
New languages
I thought I'd see if I could read books in Russian and Italian - I did a couple of years of Russian at school during the 70s, and my mother is Italian, though she never taught me her language. How hard could it be?
Answer: Italian does in fact seem pretty easy, though so far I've only read a few children's books. Russian is considerably harder! I did however manage to get through a long chess book, Защита Алехина, and I'm sure it's improved my command of the language a great deal. More Italian and Russian in 2017!
German
I've been working on German for two or three years now, and I'm starting to feel more confident. I can read books for children and younger teens without difficulty, and adult books if I'm prepared to guess a fair number of words. For people who don't already know, there is some wonderful German children's literature. I think my favorite was Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, which I'd barely even heard of before I found a copy on a Berlin bookstall, but there were several others that ran it close.
A big thank you to all my Germanophone Goodreads friends, especially Matt, who have been amazingly kind and supportive towards this newbie's efforts!
Scandinavian
We unexpectedly inherited a bunch of Swedish books from the aunt of a Geneva friend - he didn't know anyone else who read Swedish, so I was the lucky recipient. Thank you Gio! As a result, I finally got around to reading Ingmar Bergman's Laterna Magica, which was indeed just as extraordinary as I'd been led to believe. I have plenty more interesting Swedish books on the shelf! I only read one Norwegian book, but Pan was utterly brilliant. I must get back to reading Hamsun.
French
I read sixteen French books this year. The one I liked best was La carte et le territoire; unlike many novelists, Michel Houellebecq seems to be improving as he gets older. I thought this was a wonderful black comedy, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the world of modern art. Soumission, the book that followed it, is even better.
English fiction
I didn't read a huge amount of English fiction, but Geoff finally persuaded me to pick up Against the Day. Geoff, you were right... it's as good as you said. It was the first book I read this year, and I was going to read some more Pynchon, but we're already in mid-December. Oh well... more Pynchon in 2017, I think!
Non-fiction
I read 26 non-fiction books - it's difficult to pick a clear winner, and I think I'm going to have to share first place between Helge Kragh's Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom and Catherine MacKinnon's Towards a Feminist Theory of the State. The first one convinced me that I had to carry on with quantum mechanics; the second, that I needed to start on feminist theory. My 2017 list gets longer...
Special prize
If only more people had read Trump University 2010 Playbook, things could have been different. Anyway, you might want to take a look now. You can't say you weren't warned. ...more
Many people seem to have a high opinion of this novel, I suppose because it's easy to read and presents a currently popular message. It's kind of MargMany people seem to have a high opinion of this novel, I suppose because it's easy to read and presents a currently popular message. It's kind of Margaret Atwood transposed to the Swedish YA genre and with all the intelligence, wit, humour and ambiguity removed; if you believe unquestioningly in the tenets of third-wave feminism and find Ms Atwood too annoyingly highbrow and obscure, I guess you should check it out.
I'm sorry to be so mean-spirited as not to appreciate the book on its own terms, but I dislike authors who serve you up these prefabricated solutions to problems which in reality are so difficult that no one knows what to do about them. Anyway, if your psycho boyfriend is alternating rape and physical abuse with monologues where he tries to insert you into a narrative in which you're Sylvia Plath or Vivienne Eliot, remember to strike up a life-affirming quasi-lesbian friendship with a free-spirited woman who loves Pirates of the Caribbean and before you know what's happened (view spoiler)[you'll have killed the psycho (like, it was him or you, you had no choice), the dumb male cops will assume it had to be suicide, and you and the pirate chick will sail away blissfully into the sunset. (hide spoiler)] ...more
Having struggled through a piece of pornographic trash, Manfred tells me he's now able to read books for grown-ups. I give him a copy of Die schmutzigHaving struggled through a piece of pornographic trash, Manfred tells me he's now able to read books for grown-ups. I give him a copy of Die schmutzigen Hände, and a day later he comes back and says he's finished.
"So did you enjoy it?" I ask.
"It was fantastic!" Manfred answers in his predictable teen way.
"Well, what was so fantastic about it?" I want to know. "What was it like?"
Manfred pretends to think carefully. He hasn't actually read many books, though he hates admitting it.
"It was sort of like Sofies Welt," he says after a while.
"Really?" I say. "You know, it's somewhat unusual to compare Jean-Paul Sartre to Jostein Gaarder."
"But look!" says Manfred. "It makes sense! See, they both want to explain philosophy to you, but they're trying to make it more fun by turning it into a story."
"I suppose you might have a point," I reluctantly concede. "So what philosophical ideas is Sartre trying to explain?"
"Well," says Manfred, "let me tell you what happens first. Hugo's this young Eastern European guy in WW II. His country's been invaded by the Nazis, but now the Germans are losing. He's working for the Communist underground. The Russian army is coming so they've got a great chance to take over. But they don't agree on the right strategy to use. The leader of the Communists is a guy called Hoederer. He says there aren't enough of them, they've got to be practical and do a deal with the other parties to share power. The other Communists say that's treason to the Party. They give Hugo the job of killing Hoederer. He's going to become his secretary, and when he gets a chance he's going to shoot him."
"And does he do that?" I ask.
"Oh yes," says Manfred. "You know he's going to do it right from the start, the whole play's a flashback really. But you don't know why he shoots him. That's where the philosophy comes in. It's kind of deep."
"And what is this deep philosophy?" I say. Manfred ignores my sarcasm.
"Well," he says, "Hugo thinks he knows why he's doing it. He's read all these books and he has all these ideas about what's right and wrong. He thinks he's going to kill Hoederer because Hoederer has the wrong ideas and he's dangerous to the Party. But really, you see it's not the ideas at all. He talks with Hoederer and he sees Hoederer's ideas are just as good as his. Better, even. He only thought he had to shoot him because he talked to the other guys first."
"But he does shoot him, right?" I say. "So why does he do it?"
"Oh," says Manfred. "He catches Hoederer kissing his wife. And he gets so mad that he shoots him."
"So what's the moral, then?" I ask.
"People don't really do things because of their ideas," says Manfred. "They think they do. But really it's just their feelings."
He stops and considers for a moment.
"Sartre's really good at explaining things," he adds as an afterthought. "Even better than Jostein Gaarder. Can we get another one?"
Manfred, as my inner German child insists on being called, has spent all day reading the end of Timm Thaler oder Das verkaufte Lachen. Since we share Manfred, as my inner German child insists on being called, has spent all day reading the end of Timm Thaler oder Das verkaufte Lachen. Since we share the same body, this means that I've also spent all day reading it. I kept dropping hints that I had work to do, but he pretended not to listen.
"Okay, what did you think?" I ask, when we finally put it down around 10 pm.
"It was amazing!" sighs Manfred, as he simultaneously smirks and wipes a tear from our right eye.
"You think everything's amazing," I say shortly. I'm quite annoyed about losing all that work time. "It's just a YA version of Faust with a happy ending. And the plot twist is pretty silly, you can see it coming a mile off. There's a reason why it's never been translated, you know."
"You didn't get it," says Manfred in his insufferable teen way. "See, the big joke is that you can see right from chapter 2 that Timm has made a pact with the Devil. The author makes sure it couldn't be more obvious. Like, the Baron's name is 'Lefuet', when you read that backwards it's--"
"Yes, yes, yes," I groan. Why do teens always have to believe that adults are dumb?
"And the plot twist isn't silly," Manfred continues. "Like, that's obvious too. Anyone who stops and thinks about it for five minutes can see how Timm is going to be able to get his soul back. But he can't see it."
"So?" I ask.
"Well, isn't life like that?" asks Manfred. "Lots of people have made a pact with the Devil. They think everything is serious and important and they can't laugh any more. And they could get out of it easily, but they can't see the answer, even though it's right in front of them."
"How would you know?" I say uncertainly. I really shouldn't let him get to me like this. Manfred gives a rather affected laugh.
"I'm going to let you think about that," he says, with even more than his usual smugness. "Now post my review. I bet you pick up some votes." ...more
**spoiler alert** I read Sophie's World in Norwegian last year and quite liked it. Now my inner German child, who's decided he's called "Manfred", has**spoiler alert** I read Sophie's World in Norwegian last year and quite liked it. Now my inner German child, who's decided he's called "Manfred", has read it too. He tells me it just blew him away and he'll write a review so that all my friends on Goodreads will know how fantastic it is.
"You can't write a review, Manfred," I say. "You're not even three yet."
"I'm much older than that!" says Manfred. "Would a three year old know words like Schwerkraft and Rationalismus and Nahrungsmittelproduktion?" I have to admit that he seems to have picked up a lot of vocabulary. It makes him even more irritating than he was before.
"So what was so great about the book?" I ask Manfred with all the patience I can muster. "You know, it's not very well written. And the philosophy is kind of obvious. Not to mention actually incorrect in a number of places."
Manfred makes a rude noise. "You're too old to get it," he says smugly. "You don't see how astonishing and mysterious the world is. You're so dumb you think you understand it. Kids like me know that we don't understand it at all. It might be completely different from how you imagine it is, but you never stop to think about that any more."
"Well," I say defensively, "I do get that. I read books on quantum theory—" But Manfred's having none of it. Quantum theory is small potatoes as far as he's concerned.
"I mean completely different," he says with the contempt only a geeky preteen can feel. "You don't get it. You read the book too quickly."
"That's because I know how to read," I snap. Manfred looks crushed for a moment, but comes back strong.
"You don't read properly," he says. "You just skim. I read it all, every word, and I really thought about it. See, Sophie believes at the beginning that she knows who she is, but she finds she's wrong. She thinks she's an ordinary girl in an ordinary Norwegian town, but that's not who she is at all."
"Sounds totally different from every other bestselling YA novel," I agree. But Manfred's not impressed by my irony.
"It is totally different from every other bestselling YA novel," he says. "She doesn't discover she has some crappy superpower or whatever. She learns the truth by working hard and studying philosophy. Real philosophy."
"Sort of real," I say.
"Real enough," says Manfred. "She discovers she isn't an ordinary girl at all, she's just a character in a book. And because she's studied philosophy, she's able to figure out how to escape."
"Yeah, how does she escape?" I ask. "The ending doesn't make sense. That stupid tea party—" Manfred looks smug.
"I told you, you read it too quickly," he says. "The ending makes perfect sense. You remember they talk about Freud, and the unconscious, and the Surrealists, and automatic writing? And how Alberto has a plan he can't explain?"
"Yes," I say doubtfully.
"Look," says Manfred, "It's simple. The reason the writing stops making sense is that they trick the Major into letting his unconscious take over. And they hint several times that the Major isn't the real author either, and that maybe even he's being written. They don't just trick him, they trick Gaarder too. He loses control of his characters, and Sophie and Albert escape. They really do get out into the world."
"Well..." I say. Damn, is it possible that this little brat noticed something I missed?
"And you see," continues Manfred, "Maybe it doesn't even stop there. Maybe I'm just a character in a story. Maybe you are. How do you know?"
"I'm real," I protest. "And I still think the ending sucked." Manfred laughs.
"I keep telling you, you're too old," he says. "Now post my review. I promise, even if you don't get it, some other kids will." ...more
2015 wasn't a very good reading year (too much software development), but I did finally manage to achieve one of my long-term goals and do something a2015 wasn't a very good reading year (too much software development), but I did finally manage to achieve one of my long-term goals and do something about improving my German. It's still pretty basic, but I've now reached the point of being able to appreciate books for younger teens. Hopefully I'll progress to grown-up literature during 2016! But even at the level I'm at now, I found things to read which were worth all the trouble. Krabat, Das doppelte Lottchen and Momo were all fantastic novels that I'd barely even heard of before, and I discovered to my delight that Swedish children's books are nearly as good in German; I particularly loved Madita and Karlsson vom Dach. A huge thank you to all my German Goodreads friends, particularly Matt, for being so kind and patient about explaining things to someone who a few months ago was still thinking of their language as an odd dialect of Swedish!
If you still haven't got round to reading Houellebecq's Soumission, it's a lot of fun. And, last but definitely not least, Pettersson's Ut og stjæle hester is an extraordinary novel which somehow hasn't had time to become famous yet. Trust me, it will.
Manny was working late one evening when he received an unexpected visitor. He was an old man with white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, curiously dresseManny was working late one evening when he received an unexpected visitor. He was an old man with white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, curiously dressed in a lace-embroidered doublet and a periwig, and he was carrying a book.
"Greetings," said the visitor. "I think you should read this."
"What is it?" asked Manny irritably. People were always asking him to read things. "I don't really have time right now. I need to get this software problem fixed for tomorrow. And then I have an article to write and a dozen emails to answer and some insurance paperwork I've been putting off for too long. I'm very busy. How did you get in, anyway?"
"It definitely sounds like you should read Momo," said the old man, ignoring Manny's question. "I am quite concerned about you. Here, take a look."
Manny flicked through it briefly and sighed. "It's some kind of YA fantasy novel, right?" he said.
"If that is what you want to call it," replied the visitor.
"But I don't read YA," said Manny. "All my friends know that."
"Why not?" asked the visitor.
"Well, I'm too old for it," said Manny, as he studied the error message his laptop was showing him. "I find it painfully unsophisticated and badly written. It never gives me anything."
"Perhaps you should become younger," said the visitor. "It's quite easy, you know."
"Really?" said Manny in a dismissive tone. But something made him glance up from his screen, and he saw to his surprise that the visitor was no longer an old man. In fact, he almost looked like a child.
"You see?" said the visitor. "Now, here's what you need to do. Just learn German. At first, you'll be a helpless infant and you won't be able to read at all. Soon, though, you'll find you're four or five and enjoying stories. When you're about ten, you'll be ready for this. I'll come back when you've finished."
"You must be joking," said Manny, who was looking at his screen again. "Didn't I just tell you I was very busy?" He turned around, but found his visitor had disappeared. All that was left was a large pile of German children's books.
Over the next few months, Manny somehow found himself reading one German book after another. He read Grimms Märchen, and Krabat, and Das doppelte Lottchen, and Madita, and Karlsson vom Dach. Finally, a couple of weeks before Christmas, he opened Momo. He found he couldn't put it down. He had just finished the last chapter when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.
"Well?" said the visitor. "I hope you're not too busy to talk to me?"
"Uh, no," said Manny. "It's funny, but when I think about it I find I have more time than I'd imagined. And you're right. Momo is very good."
"I'm glad to hear it," said the visitor gravely.
"There was just something I wanted to ask you," said Manny. "Here, wait a moment." He leafed through the book to find the page. But when he looked up, the visitor had gone again....more
I thought I would never need a shelf called 'ya', but this book convinced me I was wrong.I thought I would never need a shelf called 'ya', but this book convinced me I was wrong....more
Basically, Russell's History of Western Philosophy adapted as a postmodern Norwegian YA novel. Or if you want more details:
(view spoiler)["Where are wBasically, Russell's History of Western Philosophy adapted as a postmodern Norwegian YA novel. Or if you want more details:
(view spoiler)["Where are we?" asked Sofie. "I don't understand. We aren't in my world any more. Or in Hilde's world. So..."
Alberto sighed. "It is clear," he said, "that we have entered another narrative. By the look of it, I strongly suspect a review. On the Goodreads website."
"Explain!" said Sofie.
"You remember that we became a book," continued Alberto patiently. "I can see that this book was very successful. It has been widely read - so widely, in fact, that people have started parodying it. We are in one of those parodies."
"Then we are being written again?" asked Sofie. "By someone else?"
"Indeed," replied Alberto. "I can immediately tell from the style that the author has changed."
"But in that case," said Sofie, "are we still us? If we're in the mind of a different person?"
"Ah," said Alberto. "A very interesting question! Come, Sofie, you have now finished my philosophy course. What possibilities are there?"
"Well," said Sofie, considering. "I suppose Plato might have argued that the real Sofie was never in the mind of her author. What was there could only have been a poor shadow of the true Sofie, who was in the world of Forms. So why could not another shadow appear in the mind of a different person, and be just as real as the first one?"
"Excellent, excellent," murmured her teacher. "Please continue."
"And Berkeley," said Sofie, "would have told me I was an idea in the mind of God, even if I was at the same time an idea in the mind of another of God's creatures. So even if I have a different author, I am still one of God's thoughts."
"You are an attentive student," smiled Alberto.
"And Hegel would also agree," said Sofie. "He would say I had become part of the Weltgeist, the World Spirit. The Weltgeist encompasses many individual minds, so although I am written by a different person, I am still me."
"I am proud of you," said Alberto. "And now--"
"No, wait!" said Sofie. "Sartre would have said that it is my individual choice to decide who I am. Only I can resolve my existential situation. I have to take responsibility for it myself."
"And do you take responsibility for it?" asked Alberto.
"Hm," said Sofie. "On the one hand, I don't feel I'm very well written. My dialogue is flat and implausible. I'm not a particularly credible character, just a mouthpiece for the author. Of course the same goes for you."
"And is that bad?" asked Alberto.
"Maybe not," said Sofie. "After all, it's made clear that we are just characters in an invented philosophy text. And there are so many references to Plato. Many of his characters are flat and unbelievable too, and only serve as foils for Socrates."
"A good point," murmured Alberto.
"And the author's intentions are admirable!" said Sofie enthusiastically. "The passage about Nils Holgerssons underbara resa could not be more clear. He wants to write a philosophy course suitable for younger teens that will genuinely engage their attention. Maybe the Philip K. Dick plays on the nature of reality are unsubtle. But they work. Tens of millions of people have read and enjoyed this book, who would never have dreamed of reading an ordinary piece of philosophy. Of course we aren't as good as Russell, but is that the relevant comparison? We're so much better than Harry Potter or Twilight."
"But are you still you?" asked Alberto. "That, after all, is the question we started off discussing."
"I am!" replied Sofie firmly. "I decide that I am. I know I'm now being written by someone else, but it makes no difference. I can feel he wants to start picking at the details - that absurdly incorrect description of the Big Bang, for example - but I won't let him!"
"Irony, irony," said Alberto.
"I'll let him have his little bit of irony," said Sofie in a scornful voice, "but I don't care! I'm stronger than he is, and I will go on to introduce millions more kids to philosophy. Maybe they'll look back one day when they've become more sophisticated and sneer, but it doesn't matter. I'll know what really got them started on the subject."
"Well said!" said Alberto, and laughed out loud. "You are my very favorite teen girl philosopher superhero. Bravo! Bravo!"
"Thank you," said Sofie modestly. "I wondered when you'd figure out why I was wearing a cape. Here, I have one for you too. I hope the color goes with your skiing hat?"
"Not bad," said Alberto, as he surveyed his reflection in the magic mirror.
"Okay then!" said Sofie. She pointed towards the infinite realms of chaos around them. "No time to lose! Come on! Let's philosophize!" (hide spoiler)] ...more
Since the pages for Roland Omnès and all his books are still broken, for reasons explained in this thread, I am unable to review the one I have just fSince the pages for Roland Omnès and all his books are still broken, for reasons explained in this thread, I am unable to review the one I have just finished. Instead, I present
Celebrity Death Match Special: Philosophie de la science contemporaine versus Divergent
A new girl joins the group today. She arrives at dinner time and just sits at a table on her own, reading a book. After ten minutes, one of the Physicists, a thickset boy called Kyle, goes over to her. She doesn't even look up.
"What's your name?" he asks, when it's become clear she's going to ignore him if he doesn't say anything.
"Omnèsia," she replies. "But people call me Omnès."
"So tell me what you're reading, Omnès," says Kyle. He doesn't sound too friendly. She sighs and puts the book down.
"Philosophie de la science contemporaine", she says. "Philosophy of contemporary science."
"And you're a Physicist?" he persists.
"Could be," she grunts. Kyle looks at her, shocked.
"What do you mean, could be? You're over sixteen. You're a Physicist, a Mathematical, a Philosophy, a Literature or a Religious. Or are you telling us you're D--"
"I'm a Physicist," she says reluctantly. I see now that she has a tattoo on the back of her neck; it looks like the Dirac equation.
"So what are you doing reading that book?" asks Kyle. "You're a Physicist. You don't need to know what some German pussy said three hundred years ago. You--"
"Kant," she says, interrupting him. Kyle looks like he's been slapped in the face. "Not 'German pussy', Kant. Can't you say it? According to this book, a lot of the great twentieth-century physicists read him. Some of his ideas are still pretty relevant today. The interdiction on thinking about the Ding an sich - isn't that a lot like Bohr's interdiction on thinking directly about the quantum realm? But I guess you wouldn't ever have heard of the Ding an sich, right?"
Kyle shakes his head. He seems too angry even to say anything. She just goes on talking.
"It's not like I agree with everything Kant says." She makes a point of pronouncing the name as clearly as possible; she's needling him, seeing how far she can go. "About how space and time are necessary windows through which we are forced to perceive the world. We now know that's wrong. Modern science is essentially formal, so not limited to the traditional categories. But what's going to replace them? Don't you think that's an important question?"
"Maybe important if you're Philosophy," says Kyle. It's an open insult. One of the girls gasps and tries to move forward to say something, but the boy next to her pulls her back. Omnès doesn't seem bothered though.
"It's important if you're Philosophy," she agrees in a calm and reasonable voice. "And if you're a Mathematical. Maybe even if you're Literature or Religious. It's definitely important to Physicists. Wouldn't you like to hear more?"
Kyle's jaw muscles are jumping all over the place and I know something bad is going to happen. But at that moment the bell rings, and we all troop off to the dormitory. There's the usual frantic scramble to get ready, then the lights go out for the night. I think I'm going to be too tense to go to sleep, but my eyes close before I realize what's happened.
I don't know how long I've been asleep when I'm woken up by the screaming. I've never heard anyone scream like this before. Suddenly the lights come on again, and there's Kyle, lying three bunks over, his face covered in blood. There's a butter knife sticking out of his right eye. He's screaming and clawing at the knife.
"Look," says Omnès in her unnaturally calm voice. "That's just what I mean. Even if the Many Worlds Interpretation is internally consistent and can be explained in terms of the phenomenon of decoherence, the possible existence of other branches of the wave function is a purely formal result and has no necessary connection to the reality we perceive. Don't you agree?"
Match point: Philosophie de la science contemporaine ...more
Varoomshka feels insulted. She's been standing here with her tits out for a week now two weeks now, and no one's deleted her. Doesn't anyone care about nudity any more?
___________________________________________
Ignored no more! Here is the little exchange I've just had with the Goodreads Team:
Hi Manny,
Your review of The New Varoomshka Bumper Colouring Book Annual 1975 was recently flagged as inappropriate by Goodreads members. Upon review, we have determined that the review does violate our Terms of Service, as images containing nudity or sexually suggestive content are not permitted in public areas of the site.
To clarify our policies, we do not allow images that show any part of the pubic region (including hair) or the buttocks. We also do not allow images in which the subject is obviously nude (that is, not wearing any clothing that they could walk down the street in, even if relevant areas are temporarily covered). If a woman is not wearing a top in an image, for example, that is not permitted. Sexually suggestive imagery or imagery that depicts sexual acts also breaks our rules.
Please remove this image to comply with our rules. If the image hasn't been removed in three business days, unfortunately we will have to remove the review.
Sincerely, The Goodreads Team
Dear Goodreads Team,
You used to employ names. I am sorry that you have discontinued this charming custom. Be that as it may, it was a pleasure to receive your courteous and informative letter. I promise to react appropriately within three days.
I must admit, however, that I am surprised to hear you state that "sexually suggestive imagery, or imagery that depicts sexual acts, breaks your rules". You may be unaware of this, but there are many reviews on this site containing imagery of the kind you refer to. Some of them have acquired a startling number of votes. It is possible that people have been insufficiently diligent in flagging these pages.
Best wishes,
Manny ___________________________________________
Propriety has been restored. Varoomshka is now modestly hidden by a link which only the most depraved Internet porn-addict will consider clicking. Other people will no doubt heed my fearsome warning.
I hope this latest addition to my "flagged" shelf is a sign that traditional values are slowly returning to our war-torn site. ...more
Yesterday afternoon, we were walking past the children's bookstore just off the route de Carouge when my eye was caught by Le petit livre du caca.Yesterday afternoon, we were walking past the children's bookstore just off the route de Carouge when my eye was caught by Le petit livre du caca. I had to go in and buy it; the assistant tried to persuade me that I also wanted Le petit livre de l'amour, and while I waited for her to go and get a copy I picked up this charming little volume and started leafing through it. I eventually walked out with both the book I'd originally come in for and the one I picked up by accident. The shit and the stars: whether by accident or design, a remarkably balanced selection.
Hubert Reeves turns out to be a distinguished Québécois astrophysicist, who, if I am reconstructing the chronology right, spent several evenings during the summer and autumn of 2009 sitting out on the lawn with his 13 year old granddaughter, looking at the stars and talking about science. He comes across as a good scientist and a terrific grandpa. I don't get as clear an impression of the girl, but she asks smart questions. After a while, word seems to have got round, and she often begins a chapter by saying that this is something one of her friends wanted to know.
Some of the topics he covers are the following: what stars and planets are; what scientific method is, and why it's a sensible way to answer questions about the world; why science is useful, but not in any way infallible; how we know the universe is expanding; how people came to believe that the universe started with the Big Bang; how old the universe is; what dark matter and dark energy are; how the universe will end; what evidence there is that there are many universes; how life began; whether there is life elsewhere in the universe; and what we should be worrying about right now on Earth.
Reeves answers the questions honestly and well, and I'm touched that he went to the trouble of writing it all up. When there is an answer that's generally agreed on by the scientific community, he gives a clear and succinct summary; when there isn't, he is not ashamed to admit that he doesn't know. Sometimes he speculates a little, but he always gives a warning when he's speculating. He provides just the right amount of detail to satisfy a smart but not excessively geeky young teen.
Every now and then you get a nice anecdote. My favorite was the one about George Gamow, one of the author's professors when he was a young man. Gamow was asked if there was any possibility that protons and neutrons might not be truly elementary particles. "I am quite sure they aren't!" said the always-outspoken Gamow. "I would bet half my fortune on it!" Gamow was known to be very rich, so Reeves and his fellow students were convinced. But, a few years later, evidence began accumulating for the new quark theory, and pretty soon it turned out that Gamow had been wrong. Remember grandpa's words: maintain a skeptical attitude, and don't believe everything that famous scientists tell you.
The book is a delight to read, and if there isn't already an English-language edition I hope there soon will be. Should you happen to be the grandparent of a French-speaking teen, you may just have found the right birthday present. _________________________________________________
The English translation is now out - I saw it the other day in a local bookshop, though I unfortunately didn't have time to take a look at it. Given that the author is Canadian and presumably bilingual, I'm guessing though that it should be well done. ...more
SOME BOOKS I ALREADY OWN WHICH I PLAN TO FINISH BEFORE BUYING THE HUNGER GAMES
John Lanchester, Mr. Phillips Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake Steven WeinbSOME BOOKS I ALREADY OWN WHICH I PLAN TO FINISH BEFORE BUYING THE HUNGER GAMES
John Lanchester, Mr. Phillips Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes Jean-Jacques Sempé, Le Petit Nicolas Merritt Ruhlen, The Origin of Language Pernilla Stalfelt, Le petit livre de caca Hubert Reeves, L'univers expliqué à mes petits-enfants Gustave Flaubert, Trois Contes Dominique Lambert, Un Atome D'Univers Jean-Pierre Luminet, L'Invention du Big Bang Francis Collins, The Language of God Ben Marcus, The Flame Alphabet Dominique de Saint-Mars, Lili est harcelée à l'école Michel Brice, Love-Téléphone C.M. Kornbluth/Jordan Park, Valerie Snedwick P. Philebius, clownfucker Troy NeNuthe, Troy DeNuthe's World of Ice Cubes Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time Ian McEwan, Solar Dominique Lambert, L'itinéraire spirituel de Georges Lemaître Gilles Brulet, haïku, mon nounours Helge Kragh, Cosmology and Controversy Simon Singh, Big Bang Alison Bechdel, Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers Bertrand Russell, Religion and Science Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett and Reginald Adams, Inside Jokes Zep, Titeuf, Tome 3: Ça épate les filles Alan Guth, The Inflationary Universe Helge Kragh, Higher Speculations Hubert Reeves, La première seconde Jim Holt, Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design John Lennox, God and Stephen Hawking Immanuel Kant, Universal Natural History Pierre Probst, Pouf le chaton bleu Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max et Koffi sont copains Thomas Wengelewski, 99 Classic Movies for People in a Hurry Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max décide de faire des efforts Roger Hahn, Le système du monde A.D. White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom Lars Saabye Christensen, Beatles Tomi Ungerer, Les Chats Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok, Endless Universe Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max adore jouer Tomi Ungerer, Orlando William Paley, Natural Theology René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix chez les Helvètes François Lelord, Le Voyage d'Hector ou la recherche du bonheur Helge Kragh, Matter and Spirit in the Universe Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species C.S. Lewis, Miracles M.J. Nicholls, A Postmodern Belch Fred Hoyle, The Origin of the Universe and the Origin of Religion Anna Benson, C Alan Lightman and Roberta Brawer, Origins Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max et Lili ont des pouvoirs magiques Fabrice Bonvin, OVNIS: Les agents du changement Fred Hoyle, Frontiers of Astronomy Miles Kington, Let's Parler Franglais Again! Tristran Davies, Wallace & Gromit: The Lost Slipper and the Curse of the Ramsbottoms Herman Bondi, Cosmology Leonard Susskind, The Cosmic Landscape James Joyce, Ulysses Harry Blamires, The Bloomsday Book: A Guide through Joyce's Ulysses David B. Lentz, Bloomsday: The Bostoniad George Gamow, One, Two, Three... Infinity Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? Sylvia Day, Bared to You Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max se fait insulter à la récré Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max veut etre délégué de la classe Dominique de Saint-Mars, Nina a été adoptée Heather Busch and Burton Silver, Why Cats Paint Tomi Ungerer, The Three Robbers Pierre-Simon Laplace, Exposition du système du monde Paul Davies, God and the New Physics Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding Philipp Koehn, Statistical Machine Translation Sean Carroll, From Eternity to Here E. Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet Paul Davies, The Mind of God Edward Eager, Half Magic Brian Clegg, Before the Big Bang Mary Leunig, A Piece of Cake Guy de Maupassant, Pierre et Jean Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Lucretius, On the Nature of Things Olga Grushin, The Dream Life of Sukhanov E.W. Barnes, Scientific Theory and Religion William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Rudy Rucker, Mathenauts Philip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ Mikael Niemi, Populärmusik från Vittula Albert Einstein, The Meaning of Relativity Patrick Lapeyre, La vie est brève et le désir sans fin Iain M. Banks, Matter Lee Smolin, Time Reborn Guus Kuijer, Het boek van alle dingen Abraham Pais, Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers Comtesse de Segur, Ourson George Gamow, Thirty Years that Shook Physics Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent Helge Kragh, An Introduction to the Historiography of Science Heinrich Hoffmann, Der Struwwelpeter Italo Calvino, Si par une nuit d'hiver un voyageur Tove Jansson, Komet im Mumintal William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law Sir Thomas Heath, Aristarchus of Samos Otto Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity Carlo Rovelli, The First Scientist: Anaximander and his Legacy Arthur Berry, A Short History of Astronomy David Foenkinos, La délicatesse David Wallace, The Emergent Multiverse Peter Byrne, The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III Kevin Werbach, For the Win Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Alexander Unzicker and Sheilla Jones, Bankrupting Science Ian Bogost, How to Do Things with Videogames Pierre Pevel, Les Lames du Cardinal Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender Victor Stenger, God: The Failed Hypothesis David Berlinski, The Devil's Delusion Agniya Barto, Игрушки Somenath Mithra, Science and Mankind Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon, A General Theory of Love Jim Baggott, Farewell to Reality Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max n'aime pas lire François Lelord, Hector et les secrets de l'amour Richard Burton, The Arabian Nights Richard Panek, The 4% Universe George Smoot, Wrinkles in Time Victor Stenger, The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning Martin Rowson, F*uck Hjalmar Söderberg, Doktor Glas Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth G.R. Reader, Off-Topic Dominique de Saint-Mars, Lili veur faire une boum Ogden Nash, Custard and Company Louis Gautier-Vignal, John Updike, Roger's Version Hermann Weyl, Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science Jean-Marie Bruson, Musée Carnavelet Andri Pol, Inside CERN Mark J. Solomon, On Computer Simulated Universes Dominique de Saint-Mars, Lili veut être une star Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason Jules Verne, Paris au XXe siècle Åsa Larsson, Svart Stig Dominique de Saint-Mars, Max et Lili en ont marre de se dépêcher Julia Herschensohn and Martha Young-Scholten, The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition Capt. W.E. Johns, Biggles in Australia Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Der Kleine Prinz Richard C. Tolman, Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology P.J.E. Peebles, Physical Cosmology Alice Munro, Dear Life Jim Baggott, Higgs Heather Amery, First Thousand Words in German David Deutsch, The Fabric of Reality Max Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe Shan Sa, La joueuse de go Mark J. Solomon, The Evolution of Simulated Universes Hermann Weyl, Symmetry Ted Nield, Incoming! Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Stuart A. Kauffman, At Home in the Universe Gilbert Adair, The Act of Roger Murgatroyd Nigel Calder, Violent Universe Iris Fry, The Emergence of Life on Earth Fred Hoyle, Home is Where the Wind Blows Jane Gregory, Fred Hoyle's Universe Matty Millard, In That Other Dimension Katherine Freese, The Cosmic Cocktail Roland Omnès, Philosophie de la science contemporaine Pierre Cormon, Le traître Philip K. Dick, Clans of the Alphane Moon Jacques Monod, Le hasard et la necessité Plato, Charmides Philip K. Dick, The Ganymede Takeover George Andrey, L'histoire de la Suisse pour les nuls (tome 1) Plato, Lysis Plato, Laches Plato, Protagoras Maxine Eskenazi, Crowdsourcing for Speech Processing Dominique de Saint-Mars, Lili trouve sa maîtresse méchante Dominique de Saint-Mars, Lili se dispute avec son frère Plato, Euthydemus Karl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 1 Grégoire Delacourt, La première chose qu'on regarde David S. Atkinson, The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes Karl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 2 Michael Frayn, The Human Touch Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos Rose Lagencrantz, Tjejtjusaren och de tre Helenorna Francesco Marciuliano, I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats Karl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 3 Frans G. Bengtsson Röde Orm Karl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 4 P.J.E. Peebles, Principles of Physical Cosmology Brian Clegg, Gravity Karl Ove Knausgård Min kamp 5 Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon Harold J. Morowitz, The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex Curtis White, The Science Delusion Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky, Classical Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum John Sladek, The New Apocrypha Jesse Kraai, Lisa: A Chess Novel Randall Munroe, What If? Alice Munro, Runaway Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature Massimo Pigliucci, Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem Karl Ove Knausgård, Min kamp 6 Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman, Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals Trevor Johnston and Adam Schembri, Australian Sign Language Jens Bjørneboe, Bestialitetens historie Michel Brice, L'exécutrice Robert Oerter, The Theory of Almost Everything Stella Rimington, The Geneva Trap Scott K. Liddell, Grammar, Gesture and Meaning in American Sign Language Zachary Treisman, A Young Person's Guide to the Hopf Fibration Auguste Dick, Emmy Noether, 1883-1935 Mary Beard, Confronting the Classics Madeleine Bourdouxhe, La femme de Gilles Michel Houellebecq, Soumission Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin, The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time Charb and Zineb, La vie de Mahomet Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome I Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome II Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome VII Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome VIII Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome IX Philippe Geluck, Le Chat, tome XVI Hjalmar Söderberg, Den Alvarsamma Leken Marion Fayolle, Les coquins Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, El Principito Marjane Satrapi, Persépolis Integral Dwight E. Neuenschwander Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem Georges Simenon, Les fiançailles de M. Hire Pierre Larousse, Femme Rebecca Goldstein, Plato at the Googleplex Donal O'Shea, The Poincaré Conjecture Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran Agnar Mykle, Lasso rundt fru Luna Peter Woit, Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations: An Introduction Agnar Mykle, Sangen om den røde rubin Alan Lightman, The Accidental Universe Plato, The Dialogues Ramamurti Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking Charles Babcock, Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution Hermann Weyl, Theory of Groups and Quantum Mechanics George Andrey, L'histoire de la Suisse pour les nuls (tome 2)
But I imagine I'll get to it in due course. I just don't see what the rush is....more
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