Sixth grader Hector is used to being ignored by peers. Except recently his best friend has turned on him, so now he's getting used to being mostly ignSixth grader Hector is used to being ignored by peers. Except recently his best friend has turned on him, so now he's getting used to being mostly ignored but also bullied, and he wishes he could go back to being invisible. Then it happens, he literally turns invisible. He comes to learn there's more to it than invisibility, though, that he's been drawn into a hidden world of lost boys and monsters.
Hutchinson manages to make this book both a relatable real world story about dealing with difficult social dynamics and an exciting paranormal adventure about gaining courage and learning to do hard things. It reminded me of Buffy, for those who know the reference. I didn't expect a series starter when I began reading, but it definitely sets up more adventures for Hector by the end. I'm in for it....more
A prequel to the marvelous The Blacktongue Thief, one of my favorite books in recent memory, and it doesn't disappoint. In that prior book, Galva dom A prequel to the marvelous The Blacktongue Thief, one of my favorite books in recent memory, and it doesn't disappoint. In that prior book, Galva dom Braga is an elder companion to young Kinch Na Shannack as he tells the story of his adventures. In this, Galva tells her own story, that of her initial war campaign as a young soldier seeing battle and death for the first time.
Galva is a very different person than Kinch and, fittingly, tells her story quite differently. Much less gallows humor, much more warfare: tactics and gore and politics--though equally entertaining in its way. It is uniquely Galva's story, adding layers and depth and dimensions to this world that Buehlman has created. And now I want to read The Blacktongue Thief again while I wait hopefully for another installment....more
Brimming with voice and personality, Ian's narration tells--with many tangents and side trails and a non-linear style--of a particularly hard time in Brimming with voice and personality, Ian's narration tells--with many tangents and side trails and a non-linear style--of a particularly hard time in his hard life, poor and hardscrabble in rural Vermont. He's a lovely person with wit and a unique perspective and a dog that wanders into his life at just the right time to help him through his troubles, with a setting and community that have almost as much character as he does. It's a deeply satisfying reading experience....more
A beautiful creation myth of sorts. The creation of community. The first joining of the people beyond isolated family units spread across the land.
ButA beautiful creation myth of sorts. The creation of community. The first joining of the people beyond isolated family units spread across the land.
But it is not told in mythical style. No, this is an intimate story about a boy, a boy helping his parents survive after his two older brothers have gone missing. Pina finds himself kidnapped by a god-like eagle elder, taken to the eagle home in the far mountains. There he is told he must learn the lessons they teach or be killed as his brothers were.
This story takes place in the cold northern tundra, and the story reflects it. The eagles are similarly harsh and bleak and minimal in their interactions with Pina. Their instruction the same. Hopson's language is also unadorned and direct. A unity of style, conveying the content of the tale and culture of the people. Yet taking Pina's perspective, sharing the story through his thoughts and emotions, his struggles and doubts, makes it a warm and personable experience. Relatable. Resonant.
A wonderfully complicated group of teens trying to figure out the mess of their emotions and identities, relationships with each other, and places in A wonderfully complicated group of teens trying to figure out the mess of their emotions and identities, relationships with each other, and places in society--who have the added complication of being reincarnations of warring gods from another reality with a long, bloody, and twisty history. Magic, love, passion, and danger abound....more
A beguiling slice-of-life memory from the childhood of a climate change refugee in an imagined potential near-future.
Places and names are made up, butA beguiling slice-of-life memory from the childhood of a climate change refugee in an imagined potential near-future.
Places and names are made up, but the possibilities are very real, as Silvia recalls moving to a new city when she was eleven and trying to make sense of her new life in a strange culture. How her mom never spoke of the past yet mistrusted everyone due to how she had been scarred. How her aunt fed her imagination with folklore and myths from the old country and had her seeing the supernatural in her surroundings. How neighbors treated them as a lower caste. How trauma from the past was bound to catch up with them. And how ongoing collapse of infrastructure continued to loom over everything in the background.
Kennedy is a master of creepy, off-kilter, gnawing dread in this story of a teen girl in a middle-of-nowhere town on the plains that is constantly surKennedy is a master of creepy, off-kilter, gnawing dread in this story of a teen girl in a middle-of-nowhere town on the plains that is constantly surrounded by tornadoes that almost seem sentient and predatory. Life in town revolves around avoiding the tornadoes and a nearly religious reverence for a boy who has the magical ability to fight and kill tornadoes. And the adults all seem to know things that the kids don't, things that make their behaviors sometimes feel cultish. It's immersive and atmospheric in a way that messes with your head....more
My library has this in the religion section which, I think, set me up for disappointment, as I didn't find much religion in it. It's a travel book. YeMy library has this in the religion section which, I think, set me up for disappointment, as I didn't find much religion in it. It's a travel book. Yes, it captures Iyer's observations and reflections based on his travels to a variety of earthly "paradises," yet what he sees and ruminates on are the daily lives and cultures that have developed in those places over time, conflict, and history. There are glimpses at the religious practices that occur, but not the theologies or ideas behind them. As a travel book, I found it interesting, getting to know these different locations around the world. But I found focus lacking and would have preferred more direct and intentional investigation into the religious ideas that have shaped them.
Though the distinction between travel and religion is not as binary as I may have implied, because both are there. I particularly liked this thought.
Inner Australia had shaken me because it had shown me how threadbare every human settlement--and certainty--must remain; the traditional owners had learned to read the signs of brush fire and flash flood, yet their wisdom seemed to come in the form of knowing how little they could do to control them. Yet here in Jerusalem, humans were so sure of their gods that each one drew, in rough bold strokes, his own image of paradise on top of somebody else's; it was dangerously easy to believe that what we do with heaven is even more important than what heaven does to us.
I have to admit I don't think I understood a single poem in this collection. Yet reading them tickled a part of my brain that isn't normally engaged. I have to admit I don't think I understood a single poem in this collection. Yet reading them tickled a part of my brain that isn't normally engaged. Something associative. They made no sense to me, but there was a satisfaction to the non-sense.
And don't get me wrong--I'm sure more sophisticated readers and poets find meaning in them (as other reviews attest). That just wasn't my personal experience.
The top blurb on the back of my copy of the book calls it "a paradise of non sequiturs." Once, in a fit of inspiration or boredom, I took an online meme, "Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence as your status," and did all 11 books sitting next to me, then put the sentences into an order that made sense to me and called it a poem. That's what Bush's poems often felt like to me, that she collected random sentences and put them one after another to suit her fancy.
I wasn't moved, but something about reading it was intriguing....more
A fascinating and stimulating book that proposes a shift in how we think about emotions.
Humans are naturally social and every one of us is socialized A fascinating and stimulating book that proposes a shift in how we think about emotions.
Humans are naturally social and every one of us is socialized by our parents and others who surround us from the moment we are born. We learn what's expected of us to get along with others. Those expectations change from culture to culture, are different depending on the setting and context. A part of that socialization is learning how to "do" emotions. We all start with the same emotional potential, but what develops is determined by our situations. Not simply how we act, but how we feel. Mesquita makes a convincing case that our emotions don't originate inside of us and move out into the world, but are created in our social interactions, in the space "between us," and move outside in.
She concludes by considering the ramifications of such a conclusion, how the fact of different cultures having different emotions can create issues--and offers solutions for resolving such issues.
This is a thoroughly researched and documented case laid out meticulously by an expert, extensively illustrated by anecdotes from her lifetime of work in this field. Highly recommended....more
A sensitive story of two kids living hard lives in the desert. Elpidia and Stan are surrounded by broken adults in a poor community, doing their best A sensitive story of two kids living hard lives in the desert. Elpidia and Stan are surrounded by broken adults in a poor community, doing their best to get by, and discover strength in friendship with each other, martial arts training from an unexpected tutor, and the support of extended family and community. It's engaging and moving, and avoids getting too heavy or bogged down in struggles....more
A stark childhood conveyed with direct, unemotional fragments: descriptions, observations, and reflections. While reading about Ruthie's experiences iA stark childhood conveyed with direct, unemotional fragments: descriptions, observations, and reflections. While reading about Ruthie's experiences isn't exactly pleasant, Manguso's writing is amazingly effective. She avoids a typical narrative style with fluid words flowing from one moment to the next. Instead, she offers a staccato chain of short episodic paragraphs, foregoing any type of transitions to connect one to the next. It comes across as cold and aloof, perfectly capturing the content being depicted. It is sharp and quietly powerful....more
I am a librarian. I am a father. I am a Kansan. I am a husband. I am a hiker. I am many other things in addition. I have many identities. And each of I am a librarian. I am a father. I am a Kansan. I am a husband. I am a hiker. I am many other things in addition. I have many identities. And each of those identities shapes my perspectives about both myself and the world. Each one influences my values, my priorities, who I identify with, who I shun. I don't exist in isolation, instead am part of many different groups. Really, I am never an "I," but am always part of an "Us." I take my cues from my groups, conform to them, am largely determined by them. The same is true of everyone.
In this book, Van Bavel and Packer delve into the science of group identities and how they make each of us who we are. Their writing is accessible and engaging, shifting easily from studies and data to personal anecdotes to analysis and impacts. They offer a variety of approaches to increased self-knowledge and self-improvement through the perspective of group identities, relevant and useful for everyone. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Some highlights:
As social psychologists, we study how the groups that people belong to become part of their sense of self—and how those identities fundamentally shape how they understand the world, what they feel and believe, and how they make decisions. . . .
Knowing yourself is about understanding how your identity is shaped and reshaped by the social world that you are inextricably embedded in—as well as how you shape the identities of people around you.
Understanding how identity works provides a special type of wisdom: the ability to see, make sense of, and (sometimes) resist the social forces that influence you. It also gives you the tools to influence the groups you belong to. Among other things, you can learn how to provide effective leadership, avoid groupthink, promote cooperation, and fight discrimination.
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Assigning people to an arbitrary group can immediately affect patterns of brain activity, change how they look at others, and, at least momentarily, override racial biases. [Group studies have] fundamentally reshaped how we understand the nature of human identity. They have clarified to us that there is no true social vacuum. In many ways, the psychology of groups is the natural human condition.
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What people think, feel, and do is influenced, often to a startling degree, by what they believe everyone else is thinking, feeling, and doing. And because they are bound to groups and identities, the particular norms that guide people at any given moment can vary depending on which parts of themselves are the most salient and active.
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Social motives and beliefs can outweigh the desire for accuracy, causing people to be overly credulous when it comes to identity-affirming information. We have conducted several studies in which we found that people tend to believe positive stories about their in-groups and negative stories about out-groups, no matter how dubious the information may be.
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Social identities provide potent incentives for cooperation. . . . people more readily cooperate and improve outcomes for everyone when they identify with their groups and adhere to cooperative social norms. This has critical implications for creating groups and organizations that function effectively.
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The point of examining bias, implicit and otherwise, is so we can understand that our minds sometimes produce behaviors and outcomes that are inconsistent with our broader beliefs and values. And recognizing this, we can take control, exerting agency to challenge ourselves and others to build a better world.
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How much we offer help to other people, like so much else, depends on whether we see them as sharing a part of our identities. The philosopher Peter Singer refers to this idea as a “moral circle,” the boundaries of which determine who is deserving of our concern—and, of course, who is not. . . .
The boundaries of our identities are not fixed; they can vary across time and situations based on what is most salient. . . . the people we feel a responsibility to help and care for in any given moment is fluid.
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Human beings’ most important social identities are created around and fostered by shared traditions, rituals, histories, myths and stories, memories of accomplishments, and joys. But they are also forged by adversity, hardship, and the ways people are treated and mistreated by others.
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What great leaders do, no matter their domain, is tell stories about identity. . . .
Iconic moments of leadership . . . are instances of embodiment. They are powerful because they capture an essence. But it is an essence not simply of the leaders themselves—their particular dynamism or brilliance or charisma—it is an essence of us, of the group as a whole. They are moments in which the actions of a leader exemplify something about who we are or perhaps who we aspire to be.
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People cooperate and coordinate with one another much more readily when they see themselves as sharing an identity. The identities we activate and act upon are often those that differentiate us from others, whether they be based on boundaries of occupation, religion, race, gender, or nation. But, as we have seen, people are also drawn together by common fate, when they recognize that they share the same set of circumstances and are ultimately subject to the same destiny.
A wonderfully entertaining look at all the boring things surrounding us that we normally ignore, take for granted, and tune out. The process of how waA wonderfully entertaining look at all the boring things surrounding us that we normally ignore, take for granted, and tune out. The process of how water gets filtered, treated, and delivered to our homes and then leaves again and to be retreated as sewage. The history of asphalt streets, and how they're currently made and maintained. How cities deal with snow and clearing the roads and sidewalks. How our current system of road lines and signs developed and are applied. Plus many similar topics.
Carlsen didn't just rely on libraries and the internet for his information, though. For each topic he spent time getting to know and working alongside the experts who do the work related to it. He personalizes these mundane products, gives them faces and stories. A postal carrier, the owner of a recycling business, a plant pathologist and soil scientist who focus on lawns. A myriad of others. This is, in one sense, a book of trivia, but it is so much more.
Most of all, it is a pleasure to read.
It turns out that the story of things isn't so much about things as it is about people--their triumphs, failures, obsessions, and brilliance. It's about history, myths, and the future. It's about how things affect us and how we affect things.. Those in academic and bureaucratic circles refer to these "things"--these pipes, wires, roads, signs, systems--by the soda-cracker-dry term "infrastructure." I like to refer to them as "the things that sustain us," as the awesome, essential, hidden and not-so-hidden world around, above, and below our feet.
A surprisingly compelling and weighty story where four peers must learn to work together, first to succeed in a wilderness challenge then survive whenA surprisingly compelling and weighty story where four peers must learn to work together, first to succeed in a wilderness challenge then survive when things go wrong and the dangers get real....more
A little bit Frankenstein's monster--if the monster was a Jewish golem created in Nazi occupied Lithuania during World War II. Vera is built from clayA little bit Frankenstein's monster--if the monster was a Jewish golem created in Nazi occupied Lithuania during World War II. Vera is built from clay and parts of a resistance fighter for the purpose of enacting vengeance on those who killed her, yet she feels there must be more to life than becoming a tool for death and destruction. Her creator disappears unexpectedly and she finds herself on the run and the wintry woods, having to figure everything out for herself. It's an intriguing and engaging story....more
An enjoyable, authentic story of a sixth grader forced to confront questions of right and wrong, kindness, friendship, social pressure, popularity, anAn enjoyable, authentic story of a sixth grader forced to confront questions of right and wrong, kindness, friendship, social pressure, popularity, and her own moral character....more
I had much more trouble than normal putting myself into this story, and I'm not sure I ever really identified with the character like I'm usually ableI had much more trouble than normal putting myself into this story, and I'm not sure I ever really identified with the character like I'm usually able to. So on that level it was disappointing. Yet I couldn't help but be intrigued by the story and engaged by the writing, so on another level I enjoyed it. Most importantly, I think there are readers for this book who will intimately identify with Eli, and for them it will be a powerful experience....more
“Someday, I bet we'll all be social media unicorns and walk around with phones on our foreheads.”
As I listened to the audio production of The Chaos Ma“Someday, I bet we'll all be social media unicorns and walk around with phones on our foreheads.”
As I listened to the audio production of The Chaos Machine, I read that sentence in a book for kids written around the same time, Tangled Up in Luck by Merrill Wyatt. It seemed fitting, that depiction of kids doing what Fisher warns us about in his book, live streaming their activities to social media. He depicts many such instances and, unlike in that story, the destructive real-life outcomes that resulted.
Nothing in Fisher's book is unfamiliar, as everything he writes about has been widely covered in the news and debated for years. What makes it so valuable is the way he has compiled it all into one narrative, connecting and synthesizing and analyzing events with deep research. How, in situations time and again, in different locations around the world, over the course of years, the same dynamics have played out. How social media's inherent design to promote engagement feeds on aspects of human nature that lead to polarization and extremes. The tools, particularly the AI algorithms, support and even build tribal identities that fracture societies.
This is important knowledge that everyone needs to have. We're probably not going to stop using social media anytime soon, if ever, but we should do so with eyes wide open, fully aware of how it tries to manipulate and shape us. This is a book everyone should read....more
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