Lent Cooking Challenge

2026-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

I'm not religious, so I wasn't going to do anything for Lent this year—I didn't even know it was happening! But a friend reminded me and convinced me that even if I don't want to fast or give up sugar or alcohol, like many people do, this 40-day period can still be an opportunity for change. It couldn't hurt to try, so I set myself a challenge to try two completely new recipes each week.

I chose this challenge because, when it came to food, I was in a rut. I was mostly rotating the same three meals throughout each week. Sometimes I'd swap out an extra ingredient, but that was it. I had been aspiring to level up my cooking for a while, and the arbitrary forty days of Lent were just the motivation I needed.

I'm pretty slow in the kitchen anyway, but especially so with a recipe I haven't done before, so doing them every day would have been too much for me. But as I'm working part time with Wednesdays off, I could pick those and Saturdays as my two kitchen days: Each day I could select a recipe, go grocery shopping specifically for that recipe, and cook it.

The experiment was really successful for me, and I'd highly recommend it if you are in a similar situation as I've described above. Obviously, I had some really tasty meals and found some cool recipes that I'll cook again in the future. But I've also generally gotten to know some cool ingredients I hadn't tried before, like bamboo shoots and pak choi. And I have learned some new ways to use certain ingredients, like sweet potato casserole or blanching and skinning tomatoes.

Now my only "problem" is that I can't go back to my previous three boring recipes—I have developed an appetite for some of the more flavourful and exciting recipes and for some more diversity on the meal plan.

Stein und Flöte | Hans Bemmann

2026-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Steiniger Weg mit einigen verlockenden Flötenklängen

Als der Protagonist dieses Buches ganz still und lauschend auf die Welt kommt, wird er direkt Lauscher getauft. Auch wenn er älter wird, behält er dieses Gemüt bei und zweifelt, ob er in die Fußstapfen seines Vaters, des Großen Brüllers, treten kann. Also macht er sich auf zu seinem Großvater, dem Sanften Flöter, um etwas für – und über! – das Leben zu lernen.

Stein und Flöte ist ein Märchenroman. Die sprechenden Namen der Charaktere sollten schon in der Einführung aufgefallen sein. Aber auch sonst ist der Roman gefüllt mit Märchenkonventionen wie Wäldern und Schlössern, bösen Wölfen und tapferen Mäusen, Räubern und Nixen, Magiern und Hexen, einfachem Leben und großen Schätzen, Abenteuern und Träumen.

Wie Lauscher in die Welt reist, wird auch die Leser*in peu à peu in diese eingeführt. Übernatürliches und offenkundig Magisches ist rar und in der Erzählung eher nach hinten verlagert, wodurch die Einführung auch gleich wie eine vorsichtige Verführung gelingt. Besonders hervorzuheben ist dabei, dass Lauscher vor allem im ersten Viertel viele wunderbare Geschichten über Orte, Menschen oder Gegenstände erzählt bekommt, die sich im weiteren Verlauf als echte Teile seiner Welt erweisen.

Stein und Flöte ist ein Bildungsroman. Wenn Lauscher in die Welt reist, dann tut er dies vor allem, um seinen Platz in jener zu finden. Immer wieder gerät er auf Abwege, wenn er sich zum Beispiel von Macht verleiten lässt und anderen seinen Willen aufzwingt. Neben Lektionen in Sachen Zorn, Gerechtigkeit, Hoffnung und Geduld bleibt aber vor allem diese Verführung der Macht das zentrale Thema für Lauscher – und somit auch für die Leser*in, die irgendwann Lauschers Lernresistenz überdrüssig zu werden droht.

Auf gut 800 Seiten spielt sich das Ganze ab, und auch gegen Ende ist Lauscher nicht gefeit davor, andere gar wortwörtlich nach seiner Pfeife tanzen lassen zu wollen. Dass dies eine schwierige Lehre ist und dass sie einen Menschen lange begleiten kann, sei gegönnt. Doch wenn Lauscher so lange und oft auf dieselbe Weise damit kämpft und erteilten Rat schnell wieder vergisst, so kam zumindest dieser Leserin dabei schon oft der Frust.

Stein und Flöte ist ein Märchenroman und ein Bildungsroman – und das ist noch nicht alles. In der Kombination der beiden Genres finden sich interessante Effekte. So spiegelt beispielsweise die Welt die Bildung des Protagonisten auf die Weise, dass viele Zusammenhänge anfangs überschaubar sind und erst durch Lauschers Eingreifen ins Wanken geraten. Später jedoch zeichnen sich auch weitreichende und komplexe Verhältnisse ab, die andersherum nun Lauscher aus dem Gleichgewicht bringen.

Motive wie die Kraft der Musik und die Augen als Tor zur Seele werden konsequent in die Geschichte verwoben. Erzählt wird allgemein mit viel Leichtigkeit und ein wenig Witz, die der magischen Welt zuträglich sind und Lust auf das Leben machen. Weniger erfreulich ist allerdings der Spott über Fettleibigkeit, der gegen Ende an einigen Stellen auftaucht und auch vom Erzähler goutiert wird. Auch der sexualisierende Blick auf alle weiblichen Charaktere und eine Beziehung mit fraglichem Altersverhältnis gegen Ende stoßen schlecht auf. Insgesamt ist es jedoch schlichtweg das teils stark stockende Erzähltempo, welches dieses ohnehin schon lange Buch sich unangenehm lange ziehen lässt, wenn eigentlich schon längst klar ist, wohin die Reise gehen sollte. Denn am Ende dieses dicken Wälzers fragen wir uns: War das schon alles?

Sand Talk | Tyson Yunkaporta

2026-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Sand Shut Up
In nonfiction, a writer's credentials are often used to assure readers of their expertise and are meant to lend legitimacy to the text. Books on health, for example, often guarantee us that the author is a medical doctor. Writers of business books use dust jackets to brag about their own successful businesses. And the author's photo inside a gardening book depicts them with their plants. But in the end, the text has to speak for itself.
I was sympathetic when Tyson Yunkaporta opened his book by complaining about a readership "preoccupied with notions of authenticity and the writer’s standing as a member of a cultural minority." This betrays a kind of reader who wants to tick boxes, one who has misunderstood identity politics and cares only about whom they read rather than what they read. But he soon relents and does provide a short autobiography, which identifies him as belonging to the Apalech clan, apparently fit to examine "global systems from an Indigenous Knowledge perspective," which is how he describes the project of the book.
And we quickly find out why he does this: his identity is the only reason one might possibly want to read the book. The content does not live up to the expectations set. For one, he is often confidently wrong about things. He claims that, in the thought experiment, Schrödinger's cat is poisoned before being put in the box. He attributes the long time between the releases of the films Avatar and its sequel to people being simply too blown away by the first one. And at one point, he uses blockchain as an illustrative example while mischaracterizing the way it works. After spotting these, it would betray great naïveté to trust him blindly on the rest of his assertions.
Second, a coherent structure is greatly lacking. The chapters are based on "yarns," conversations the author had with other people. It's often difficult to grasp where a story is headed or why an anecdote is told. Some interesting ideas are only implied, while others are repeated over and over. A written table of contents is completely absent from the physical copy^{1</a>.}
The structure could be excused as more closely aligning with Indigenous ways of organizing knowledge. The associative jumps between topics evoke the feel of an unstructured conversation. There is a replacement for the table of contents in the form of a mosaic comprising icons representing each chapter. But when it is placed in the middle of the introductions and page numbers remain absent, it is unclear how we are to use it. At the same time, other Western conventions are followed: the book opens with an introduction, it closes with acknowledgements, the back provides a blurb. This calls into question how intentional the other changes really can have been. In any case, they are unsuccessful and result in an unsatisfying reading experience.
The book itself is written in a conversational style between reader and writer, highlighting the relationship between what he calls "us-two." This brings us to my final complaint: the author comes off as rather unlikable. Granted, this is a matter of personal taste, which is why I will do my best to provide examples of what specifically bothered me.
First, there's a lot of toxic masculinity, racism, and sexism. For example, at one point he claims—or jokes?—that "any blackfella caught eating tofu could lose his race card on the spot." Further, he seems quite immature. In one chapter, he describes being in a hotel he believes to be haunted by a ghost. The author reasons that the ghost must be a heterosexual male frustrated at finding him in his home. The specific words he uses to describe the situation are: "Now he's all unbusted ghost nuts and acting out."
One of the first things Tyson Yunkaporta talks about is "the most destructive idea in existence: I am greater than you," and he comes back to this a couple of times. And still, he himself often comes off as arrogant, signaling his own superiority. About Schrödinger's cat he says, "I can't see any sustainability solutions in thought experiments about felines in boxes." Well, I can't see any value in reading this book, where the content does not seem to have been checked for accuracy or edited for comprehension. An empty book by an author full of himself.

The eBook has one. ↩</a> </li> </ol> </section>

Über Menschen | Juli Zeh

2026-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Dieses Buch am besten über gehen
Robert ist mit seinem eifernden Aktivismus fürs Klima und für stärkere Corona-Maßnahmen unausstehlich geworden. Also flüchtet seine Freundin Dora Anfang 2020 aus ihrer gemeinsamen Berliner Wohnung in den fiktiven Vorort Bracken. Ihrem Job als Texterin einer Hashtag-Öko Werbeagentur kann sie auch von dort aus nachgehen. Und beim Anlegen des eigenen Gemüsegartens kann sie die gute Landluft atmen und sich die Traumata therapieren, die das Stadtleben ihr angetan hat. Wenn da nicht ihr Nachbar Gote wäre, der sich als "Dorf-Nazit" bei ihr vorstellt.
Autorin Juli Zeh versucht hier ein Plädoyer für Empathie, gegen militantes Abschotten, dafür, das Gespräch zu suchen. Zum Beispiel mit dem Nazi von nebenan. Ich sage "versucht," denn das ganze Projekt gestaltet sich dann doch recht beschwerlich.
Den Menschen hinter der Ideologie nicht aus den Augen zu verlieren. An sich eine banale Zielsetzung, die aber dadurch spannend wird, dass sie sich in der Praxis als äußerst schwierig erweisen kann. Nicht so für Dora und Gote. Zeh zieht hier alle Register, um Gotes Nazi-Sein stets im Hintergrund zu halten: Er trifft auf keine Ausländer, hat kein Problem mit dem schwulen Nachbarpärchen und ist eher bemitleidenswerter Mitläufer als Überzeugungstäter. Um ihn gleichzeitig zu vermenschlichen, wird auch tief in die Klischeekiste gegriffen: Er ist hilfsbereit und kompetent, hatte eine tragische Kindheit und hat nun selbst eine kleine Tochter, die ihn über alles liebt. Und er ist todkrank. Wer kann da noch böse sein, wenn sich das Problem bald von selbst löst?
Daneben verfällt der Roman einer ermüdenden Dorfromantik: Die körperliche Betätigung an frischer Luft ist der engen Stadtwohnung zu bevorzugen. Das Handy mal beiseite zu legen, beruhigt. Und ohne Lichtverschmutzung kann man die Sterne sehen. Das ist genauso schal wie die Darstellung der anderen Charaktere, die in den freundlichen Rezensionen zu diesem Buch immer als "zielsichere Satire" beschrieben wird. Aber für Satire müsste man eine tiefere Wahrheit an die Oberfläche holen, anstatt letztere einfach auszustellen.
Schließlich ist auch der Stil zu kritisieren. Erzählt wird aus Doras Perspektive. Unter anderem bekommen wir auch durchweg ihre Gedanken zu lesen. Diese bestehen vorwiegend aus stumpfen Reimen, kurzen Sätzen, Wiederholungen und Anglizismen, aber die nicht so richtig. Sie werden nämlich jedes Mal sofort übersetzt und erklärt. Mit diesen sprachlichen Mustern (ausgenommen der Anglizismuserklärungen, die eher dafür gedacht sind, die Leser*in nicht zu verlieren) wird natürlich die Werbetexterin Dora charakterisiert, doch ich empfand es als eher lästig.
Insgesamt sind die Anliegen des Romans also lobenswert und richtig, aber ebenso banal. Zusätzlich wird in einem erschöpfenden Stil und in Klischeebildern erzählt. Das Fazit mag überheblich klingen, aber mir wurde Über Menschen schnell überdrüssig.

Poor Things | Alasdair Gray

2026-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

👍 Bountiful treasure
Individuals are shaped by the society around them in a process sociologists call "socialization." An individual internalizes ideas and learns behaviours from the society. These are rarely explicitly taught but rather soaked up by osmosis. However, the process and its results differ from person to person. The way an individual internalizes the implicit "lessons" is one factor. The different people every individual comes into contact with are another. Yet another factor that hugely influences socialization is the dimensions of an individual's identity, like their age, class, gender, ability, or race.
The complex interplay of these identities and socialization is practically impossible to disentangle and trace. But some patterns reveal themselves in edge cases. A person who finds themselves transitioning between identities might discover their learned behaviours to be ineffective or inappropriate, or their beliefs to be incompatible with their new peers. Think of how much awkwardness</a> many people experience in their teenage years, when they transition from being children to being adults, unable to fulfill their own expectations of "adult behaviour." Or you might recall how, in Pretty Woman (1990), the sex worker Vivian crosses class boundaries and suddenly finds herself dining in fancy restaurants and enjoying the opera. Her socialization has prepared her to fend for herself and to speak her mind, but not for polite conversation or for identifying the salad fork.
Socialization is also what Simone de Beauvoir was talking about when she wrote, "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," in 1949. She goes on to explain that children are born without any conception of sex or gender and that the divide is instilled in them through socialization. She observes that the process of "becoming a woman" is unending but identifies that the quality of gender socialization changes through life and builds upon a foundation laid in childhood.
We might ask ourselves: what if we skip this childhood—what kind of person would an adult woman become without early socialization? Bella Baxter, the main character of Poor Things, is such a woman. She is the Gothic creation of Doctor Godwin Baxter, who, at the end of the 19th century, has taken the brain of an unborn child and transplanted it into the body of a 26-year-old woman. We follow Bella on her—at times literal—journey of becoming a woman. Other characters, mostly men, are often confused or angry with her behaviour because she has not internalized their view of womanhood. Her naïve questioning and often blunt refusal to adopt their ideology make for an amusing read, and a modern-day feminist will find themselves nodding along easily.
This isn't to say that following Bella's journey is overall easy or comfortable, though. Reading how she develops her own ideas not only on womanhood but also on childhood, sexuality, morality, and politics naturally raises questions in the reader: when did I grow out of these ideas, and what gave me the right to become so jaded and cynical? Bella's analysis of one man offers an avenue to explore:

"Then please hold my hand for a moment."
So I did and felt for the first time who he really is—a tortured little boy who hates cruelty as much as I do but thinks himself a strong man because he can pretend to like it. He is as poor and desperate as my lost daughter, but only inside. Outside he is perfectly comfortable. Everyone should have a cosy shell round them, a good coat with money in the pockets. </blockquote>
p. 164</figcaption></figure>
The novel is epistolary, wrapping the main story in layers of commentary that are regrettably absent from the 2023 film adaptation by Yorgos Lanthimos. These different perspectives call into question, among other things, what kind of woman Bella becomes and how abnormal or impossible her childhood actually is. In doing so, they elevate the already smart and gripping tale into a postmodern masterpiece.

All Systems Red | Martha Wells

2026-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

👍 That's a green light from me
A cyborg calling itself "murderbot" is rented out to accompany a research team on a survey mission on a foreign planet. Its job is security, but thanks to a hacked governor module it spends most of its time streaming entertainment programmes directly into its brain. Soon members of the survey team fall victim to strange happenings that appear less and less like mere accidents and more like foul play.
All Systems Red is the first book in the Murderbot Diaries series. The main appeal is most definitely the narrator and protagonist, murderbot. As readers, we can easily empathize with it and obviously see its humanness. Murderbot itself does not think as highly of itself. But its low self-esteem and the low value it ascribes to its life are enforced by the way humans treat it: as property. Add to that an (un-)healthy dose of anxiety and a dash of PTSD, and you've got yourself the cutest little bundle of anxious nerves you can imagine.
The plot is rather on the thin side, but it does what it needs to do: keep up a brisk pace and provide a context for murderbot and the other characters to interact. So if you are looking for something lighthearted, character-centered, and exploring relationships mediated through technology, I recommend uploading this to your brain.

Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket | Hilma Wolitzer

2026-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

👍 Today a woman fell madly in love with this book
We all are living in our routines. They are not static routines. They are changing slowly, often without us noticing. I don't know when I started taking a different route to work. And I used to spend more time reading—where did that go? But every once in a while, we experience a disruption. Something throws us off—a metaphorical curveball that won't let us continue in the same way. We can become open to new opportunities or simply aware of the patterns we have been falling into for months. Or years.
This book collects thirteen short stories of such disruptions. All of them center female characters, often the same woman at different times throughout her life. Sometimes the disruptions are up close and personal, like a death in the family, becoming pregnant, or being visited by the husband's ex-wife. Other times they are more diffuse, like rumors of a "sex maniac" spreading around the neighborhood, or a sleepless night spent wandering the apartment.
The stories take a distinctly female perspective, focusing on aspects of womanhood, like sexuality, marriage, motherhood, or domestic work. Especially the inclusion of this last one might give pause. But the stories were originally published between 1966 and 2020, capturing not just the author's perspective but also the world at these points in time. They do not, however, allow us to follow the development of Wolitzer's writing skill, as it is superb throughout. She vividly describes the usual with all its texture and then effortlessly ties the extraordinary back into it, as if the two had been entangled from the start. If you are looking to be pushed out of a rut, you can wait to find an anonymous letter somebody wrote to caution your neighbors about you—or you can read this book.

Der Belgische Konsul (orig. Premier sang) | Amélie Nothomb

2025-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Ein diplomatisches Schulterzucken
Wer durch meine Rezensionen scrollt, kann leicht feststellen, dass ich Amélie Nothomb sehr gerne lese. Ihre Bücher sind kurz, haben einen schlauen Humor, ein rasantes Tempo und schildern oft grenzüberschreitende Situationen, die uns Wahrheiten des Menschseins enthüllen. Die besondere Herausforderung, all das mit einer Biografie zu verbinden, meistert sie hier nicht ganz. Für einen charakteristisch starken Start spielt ihr allerdings in die Hände, dass Patrick Nothomb 1964 im Kongo Geisel genommen wurde. Das Buch beginnt so:

Ich werde vor das Erschießungskommando geführt. Die Zeit dehnt sich, jede Sekunde dauert hundert Jahre länger als die davor. Ich bin achtundzwanzig Jahre alt.
Der Tod vor meinen Augen hat das Gesicht der zwölf Vollstrecker. Üblicherweise ist unter den ausgeteilten Waffen eine blind geladen. So kann jeder sich für unschuldig an dem zu verübenden Mord halten. Ich bezweifle, dass dieser Tradition heute Respekt gezollt wird. Keiner dieser Männer scheint den Wunsch nach möglicher Unschuld zu verspüren. </blockquote>
Zur Hinrichtung sowie zu den Ereignissen, die unmittelbar dazu führen, kehren wir aber erst nach über 100 Seiten wieder zurück. Zunächst geht es achtundzwanzig Jahre zurück, an den Anfang von Patricks Leben. Dann arbeiten wir uns langsam vor, durch den Kindergarten, dann die Ferien bei Großvater Pierre Nothomb. Viele Seiten werden dem Alter von sechs Jahren gewidmet, als wollte der Erzähler hier verweilen, in dem Wissen, was ihm bald blüht.
Durch die Ausdehnung gewisser Erfahrungen und die Aussparung anderer tut sich langsam die Frage auf, wie ein Kind erwachsen wird. Was kann ihm mitgegeben werden, welche Umstände begünstigen das Erwachsenwerden? Und wenn wir schließlich wieder im Kongo sind und unser Erzähler eine von 1500 Geiseln wird, müssen wir zwei Schritte zurücktreten und ganz neu fragen, ob es überhaupt möglich ist, auf das Leben vorbereitet zu sein.

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics | Olivia Waite

2025-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Stellar in its genre, dim around the edges
Let's get this out of the way first: this is a lesbian romance novel set in the Regency era. It's what comes up if you search for "Bridgerton, but gay." And it succeeds perfectly at that, making it a really good book. At the same time, it does not reach beyond the genre, leading me to classify it as mere entertainment and not recommend it. But let's properly get into it.
The Polite Science Society is looking for somebody to translate a groundbreaking work on astronomy from French into English. Lucy Muchelney has become adept at astronomy herself by working with her late father, and she reads fluent French. But she's missing the one qualification the men of the Society value most: she is not a man. In swoops the widowed Lady Moth, who wants to independently finance Lucy's translation of the text. During Lucy's stay at Lady Moth's mansion, the two women slowly discover their love for each other, but is a union of the two possible with all outside forces working against them?
From the first line to its finish, this book does an excellent job of transporting the reader into the Regency era. The language is reminiscent of authentic works like those of Jane Austen, with vocabulary that's period-appropriate without ever feeling stilted or foreign. Similarly, descriptions are colorful and display a range of synonyms that never feel forced.
The budding romance of the two leads is very sweet to witness. In its pacing, it feels true not only to the rising passion of the women but also to their circumstances. And while a more definite resolution to their courting is reserved for the finale of the book, there are intense romantic as well as sexual moments sprinkled throughout. Like all else, these are executed skillfully and range from cute and heartwarming to sexy and hot.
The plot around the romance introduces some stakes and drama that threaten to pull the two ladies apart. All of this is well constructed, with setups that pay off much later and side characters that go through their own little stories. Interwoven is a theme of science versus art: which has greater value, how are they connected, and—period appropriately—how are they gendered? This is a nice exploration, expertly paced to always mirror the women's relationship, and it is as neatly tied up in the end as all other elements of the plot. And this is where the problem lies: every little aspect is so planned out, and all the stars align so perfectly that it actually becomes unsatisfying in the end. There is no room left for things to go wrong, for things to not fit, for the messiness of life, or for ambiguity. It's as if you're looking up at the night sky, and somebody else has already marked all the constellations for you.

Das Meer der Aswang | Allan N. Derain

2025-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

👎 Lasse dich im philippinischen Meer ertränken
Nachdem Luklaks Mutter für ihr Fremdgehen hingerichtet worden ist, verspeist das 15-jährige philippinische Mädchen ihren Bruder. Dass dieser ein Aal ist und vorher bereits tot war, macht die Sache nur bedingt besser, denn in den nächsten Tagen beginnt Luklak, sich in einen Aswang, ein krokodilartiges Wesen, zu verwandeln.
Wie aus der Prämisse hervorgeht, handelt es sich um eine farbenfrohe Mischung aus Coming of Age—genauer: Initiationsroman—, mythologischer Erzählung sowie philippinischer Kultur in der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Handeln wir diese Aspekte also einzeln ab. Letzteres, die philippinische Kultur, schlägt sich am stärksten in den Lebensumständen der zentralen Charaktere nieder: Ihre Häuser stehen auf Stelzen, die Männer halten auf dem Wachturm Ausschau nach Piraten, und der spanische Priester wirbt unter der Bevölkerung für das Christentum. Die koloniale Gewalt macht sich immer wieder bemerkbar. Zuletzt gibt es häufig metafiktionale Einschübe, welche sich oft mit der örtlichen Sprachvielfalt befassen und linguistische Beobachtungen machen.
Die vielen Mythen und Legenden, die dem Roman eine verführerische magische Qualität verleihen, sind natürlich eigentlich nicht von der philippinischen Kultur zu trennen, wie ich es oben tat. Im Gegenteil präsentiert der Autor im Nachwort eine sehr ausführliche Auflistung seiner Quellen, die einladen, einem goldenen Schamhaar, einem Affen mit roter Hose oder eben den Aswangs aus dem Titel tiefer auf den Grund zu gehen. Wie für Mythen üblich, sind viele von ihnen von Gewalt durchzogen. Hier bilden einige nüchterne Anmerkungen des Erzählers einen Gegenpol, der sich zu dem sehr trockenen Humor gesellt, der sich still durch das gesamte Buch zieht.
Wenn wir nun zum Coming of Age kommen wollen, so offenbart sich langsam mein größter Kritikpunkt am Roman. Losgelöst vom Setting und den Mythen bleibt hier nämlich nicht mehr viel übrig. Ich will mich nicht missverstanden wissen: Luklak ist ein interessanter Charakter, und wie sie den Tod ihrer Mutter und ihr eigenes Erwachsenwerden erlebt, ist spannend erzählt. Nur funken hier oft eingeschobene Sagenerzählungen dazwischen, sodass Luklaks Geschichte sich teils träge oder sogar unwichtig anfühlt.
Das kann natürlich beabsichtigt sein. Mit Blick auf die Gesellschaften, deren Teil wir sind, werden wir alle zu Fußnoten degradiert. Dennoch lässt sich nicht abstreiten, dass die Geschehnisse um Luklak den rote Faden der Erzählung bilden und damit noch mehr hätten ausgeleuchtet werden können.
Insgesamt ist die Geschichte also gut recherchiert und abwechslungsreich, mit etwas zu wenig Ziehkraft in ihrem Haupthandlungsstrang. Außerdem ging mir das Allgemeine zu sehr im Spezifischen verloren. Dadurch, dass eben jedes Detail so minutiös nachgeforscht wurde, fiel es mir schwer, das Universelle darin zu erkennen. Am Ende möchte ich niemandem abraten, dieses Buch zu lesen, aber für eine Empfehlung reicht es eben auch nicht.

BLAME! | written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei

2025-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

👎 More like LAME!
To this day, the manga series BLAME! is celebrated for its world building. It takes place in the far future where humans have built autonomous robots called Builders. These Builders have, in turn, built The City, a construct billions of kilometers in diameter, made of metal and concrete. Its inhabitants are a variety of creatures, humans, and artificial life forms, ranging from humanoid to insect-like. The world's strange and vast architecture, as well as the diversity among its denizens, is indeed quite notable. Some double-page spreads simply leave the reader in awe.
The protagonist of the series is named Killy. In stark contrast to many other characters, who boast imaginative designs, he looks like any generic male manga protagonist: average build, black hair, no distinguishing features. His personality is similarly flat: he talks very little and does not seem to care about anything. Even the character guide doesn't know what to say about him:

Not much is known about Killy. Even his age and origin are a mystery, as he no longer possesses a complete memory. [..] Killy is a quiet person; he is rarely seen smiling. </blockquote>
appendix of the German edition of Volume 6, translated by me</figcaption></figure>
You could imagine this working as a "drifter" type character, as is popular in many Westerns, but unlike those kinds of characters Killy isn't carrying the burden of his past—he doesn't know his past! Drifter characters also need to be propped up by a strong supporting cast, which BLAME! is thoroughly lacking.
Most of the characters Killy meets on his journey fall into one of three categories. First, there's neutral characters living in their settlements. They are mostly concerned with their own survival, and Killy is really not the protagonist to find out more about them. Rather, he quickly abandons them once they start to show any more personality. Next, there are the Safeguard, a synthetic life form with one directive: to kill Killy. Not very interesting, and they themselves mostly get killed within a couple of panels. There are some exceptions, Safeguard that get a flicker of individuality, but they similarly extinguish mere pages later. Finally, there are some major characters that follow Killy for multiple chapters. But they are also written to barely reveal anything about themselves before being abandoned sooner or later.
The action scenes, which could be the last saving grace, also disappoint. Here, the series' strengths already work against it: because the architecture, as well as the characters, are so varied and imaginative, it's tough to read the panels. In addition, establishing shots for the opponents as well as the location are often missing. Even during the action, the location often changes as characters get thrown around by the heavy recoil of their weapons or by jumping for cover. Finally, many weapons dismember and decapitate the characters, confusing their anatomy even more. There's also little consequence to these action scenes. Mostly it's just some enemies showing up and being disintegrated by Killy. Even when Killy loses a limb, it will be repaired or grown back a few pages later, leaving not even a scar.
The way the central driver of the plot—the thing Killy is looking for—is handled is equally frustrating. Killy keeps asking people for the "Net Terminal Gene," and proceeds to kill them when they don't have it, don't know about it, or sometimes when they take too long to answer. The exposition as to what the Net Terminal Gene is and why it might be useful is delayed for much too long, making it hard to care.
The pacing being off for this one plot detail is no exception. The reader is often left wondering why some characters, locations, or developments get so much spotlight while others are left by the wayside. The biggest failure in that regard is the way in which Killy's travels are presented. Again, the selling point is the city and its incredible scale—the vast scale, the potential to walk for years, becoming lost. It seems straightforward to spend time showing the silent protagonist simply wandering these seemingly infinite and empty hallways, stairs, and bridges. In reality, it's quite the contrary. First, the journey is interrupted at every turn by Killy stumbling upon some village, the Safeguard, or some other character sitting there. In stark contrast to the idea of a vast and empty structure, this makes it almost feel overcrowded.
The other thing making the city feel small is that between panels there often are huge jumps in time and location, making traversal seem quick and easy. This is best illustrated with an example. At one point, Killy enters an elevator. Inside the elevator lives a character whose whole purpose is to operate it. Killy asks him about the Net Terminal Gene, the whole exchange taking about four pages. When he's informed of a distress signal, he asks the operator to take the elevator there. The operator says it will take 800 hours, and one page later informs Killy that they have arrived. When I first read that I was confused whether this might just be a joke, but it does not seem to be one. A short conversation gets four times as many pages as a month-long elevator ride.
In all, this series was a huge letdown. I was looking forward to getting lost in the megastructure but found every other aspect, which could have elevated the manga—character, action, plot—working against it. Ultimately, the whole experience is rather cumbersome and disappointing, almost like the reader is exploring their own never-ending, bland domain.

Audition | Katie Kitamura

2025-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

👎 You won't get a call back

My dad used to tell me a joke. I nodded and waited for him to continue. He said that he had a friend who was no longer in love with his wife, no longer took joy in his children, but who nonetheless did not want to leave his family. He only wanted to feel the way he used to feel. He asked his therapist what to do. She told him to pretend he was in love with his wife. To enact it as fully as possible, and then eventually, he would be in love with her again.
Why is this a joke? I asked irritably and checked the time. [..]
Oh, he said. Because he was talking about himself. My mom was the wife he was no longer in love with, and me and my brother and my sister were the children who no longer gave him joy. </blockquote>
Audition, pp. 88-89</figcaption></figure>
The whole of our subjective realities is constructed through narratives. The stories we are explicitly told, especially when growing up, the stories we absorb through osmosis, by inferring what others are believing and living, and finally those we tell ourselves: I'm no good with music, I am a writer, this date went well, we are a happy family. By changing these stories, we are able to quite literally change reality. Reframing anxiety as excitement, for example, is a common tip for combating stage fright or similar performance anxieties: you aren't scared of failure, you are excited to go out there and perform!
The success of such reframing, of changing reality by changing the narrative, depends on the believability of the narrative. If it runs counter to other experiences, it's difficult to maintain. The subject has to explain away these experiences and entangles themselves in conspiracy theories. What's helpful, on the other hand, is to get your narrative confirmed by other people. Together, a shared reality is built and upheld.
In the "Diner Wink" sketch</a> of the brilliant series I Think You Should Leave, a father in a diner reaches out to a man at the neighbouring table to corroborate his story of ice cream stores being closed when the weather gets cold. The man agrees, lending additional credence to the story, enough to convince the child that it's not the father deciding against ice cream, but a higher power preventing them. In this demonstration of narrative power, the stranger now spots an opportunity for himself: he can create a reality in which he is rich, collects classic cars, and one where his wife is still alive. The comedy of the sketch lies in the contrast between the triviality of the original ice cream store lie and the raw grief the stranger suddenly exposes.
Another example would be the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and its 1966 film adaptation. Without spoiling too much, it shows us a couple that has spun its own fairy tale and maintained it for seemingly decades, only for it all to come crashing down in the end. As viewers we have been roped in by their narrative as well, and the reveal leaves us dumbfounded and shaken.
Finally, we come to Katie Kitamura's Audition. The story revolves around the nameless narrator, a revered actress at the end of her forties, her husband Tomas with whom she leads a shaky marriage, and Xavier, a 25-year-old who shows up during her rehearsal one day. Placing an actress at the center of a story about living—enacting—a false narrative seems like a good idea at first. But more themes are attached to her character: being insecure and self-conscious, being afraid of her fading youth, and lacking artistic inspiration. She is written well enough not to be a cliché, but the constant self-doubt still makes for an exhausting read. The rest of the plot is no relief either, as it is similarly overladen with themes—jealousy, maternal instinct—resulting in a very confused story where each constituent part works against the others.
As a whole, the book is structured around the experiment of a pretend reality: part one sets it up by explaining how the eventual participants come to decide for it; part two takes place in this pretend world, which finally implodes on itself. But even ignoring where the other threads interfere and confuse this main storyline, it does not hold its own. In part one we eagerly await the characters making some decision; in part two, knowing the characters are pretending, we wait for this reality to break. Both leave us hanging too long, failing to maintain suspense throughout.
The payoff, the moment the pretend reality bursts under its own weight, provides limited catharsis. Some of the other themes play into it in an interesting way, but on the whole it's not drastic enough to counterbalance the stretched-out anticipation. It's further undermined by an epilogue, which restores almost complete order to the lives of all the characters, undoing all that's come before, resulting in a deeply unsatisfying read. That is the narrative I have spun about this book, the reality that I live in.

Awkwardness: A Theory | Alexandra Plakias

2025-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

👍 Well, this is awkward. No, wait. "Awkward," this is well.
While awkwardness has always been around, the past 20 years especially have seen consistent popularity of awkwardness in media, specifically "awkward comedies."1</a> Examples include shows like The Office, Fleabag, I Think You Should Leave, or anything Nathan Fielder touches. In real life, on the other hand, people are looking to avoid awkwardness. An online search for "awkward" yields lots of articles and videos promising to help you "overcome awkwardness" or even to "be less awkward" altogether. The advice is mostly of limited practical use, and the articles often don't even attempt to properly define awkwardness.
Wikipedia is no help either. It does not have an article for "Awkwardness." Instead, the page for "Embarrassment</a>" lists it as a synonym. But the idea that these two ideas are the same quickly falls apart under scrutiny. So what is one to do if they are searching for guidance on what awkwardness actually is, where it happens, and how to navigate it—either intentionally leaning into it for exploratory or comedic purposes, or avoiding it? One might look to a book titled Awkwardness: A Theory.
Indeed, this book is an excellent and thorough look at awkwardness. It starts by defining awkwardness not as a feeling, nor as a descriptor of a kind of person, but as a property of a social situation. Specifically, awkward situations are those where you find yourself at a loss of what to do, to say, to feel—in short, you find yourself without a social script:

To be in an awkward situation is to realize simultaneously that you lack guidance and that you should have it; that there’s a kind of knowledge you usually have and suddenly don’t. </blockquote>
from the Introduction</figcaption></figure>
After providing numerous humorous examples and diving a bit deeper into the definition, the next chapter deals with awkwardness as it relates to feelings. While awkwardness itself is not a feeling, there are feelings that typically accompany an awkward situation ("uncertainty, self-consciousness, and discomfort"). We also associate awkwardness with cringe, but it's not so straightforward:

[C]ringing is a symptom of embarrassment, and we’re often embarrassed by our own or others’ awkward moments, so cringing and awkwardness do tend to correlate—but the mediating factor is either embarrassment or shame. Cringing isn’t a direct result of awkwardness itself, but part of an experience which responds to awkwardness, among other things. </blockquote>
from chapter 2: Feeling Awkward</figcaption></figure>
We are not cringing at the awkwardness itself, but we cringe because we are embarrassed at not having been able to navigate the situation, which led to it being awkward. Recognizing that a situation was awkward because we did not know how to deal with it, and subsequently forgiving ourselves for not having been equipped, is an easy way to finally let go of the negative feelings we have been carrying with us.
When I brought up the topic of awkwardness with people, they often connected it with social norms. Awkwardness, they would say, is when we break social norms. Chapter one will already have demonstrated where this falls short 2</a>. Chapter three takes a look at the interplay between awkwardness and social structures, and also returns to examine awkwardness' relation to social norms:

When a topic is awkward, it’s hard to get information about others’ attitudes. Thus, awkwardness is an epistemic double blow: by stopping us from discussing topics, it stops us from gathering the information about others’ expectations needed to determine which norms govern the issue. So even as awkwardness signifies an absence, it impedes our attempts to remedy it. </blockquote>
from chapter 3: Awkward, Socially</figcaption></figure>
Social norms guide us through social situations. When we find ourselves in a situation for which we don't know which norms apply, or we interpret either the norms or the situation wrongly, the situation is at risk of becoming awkward. This can deter us from further pursuing a direction, or even stop us from broaching a topic altogether, as might be the case with discussions of pay, death, or periods. Some topics are actually better not discussed, so awkwardness provides a decent barrier here. But as our culture and norms shift, awkwardness can also hinder our progress in developing new norms.
The book includes three more chapters: one on morality, one on awkwardness' silencing effect, and the last a conclusion with a look at the future of awkwardness. I'm not here to spoil all of it, so you'll have to read the book yourself to hear about those topics and to dive much deeper into the areas I've quoted above. And I think you should. Awkwardness: A Theory is an excellent guide to this quirky human phenomenon. Lots of fun and cringe-worthy examples illustrate social as well as philosophical insights and keep the text easily approachable.

"Cringe comedy" is a more popular term and often works as a synonym ↩</a> </li>

For one, purposefully breaking social norms is just rude, not awkward ↩</a> </li> </ol> </section>

"AI" is like…

2025-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

In August I spent 30 days (and my own hard-earned money) testing the "premium" AI models offered by Anthropic, namely Claude Opus 4 (and later 4.1). Previously, the invention of LLMs has been compared to that of the printing press, the smartphone, etc. My experience has revealed a much better analogy, at least from a user perspective: The humble Pedalo. 
You know "Pedalo?" Not the kind of boat, but the German toy</a>. It was a meme</a> at the start of 2018. It's a simple wooden construction that you stand on and operate through a kind of pedaling motion with your legs, allowing you to roll around. Our Kindergarten and elementary school had these for the kids. The parallels to LLMs are eerie:

Solid foundation: The eye-catching thing about the Pedalo is the way it takes advantage of a classic of human achievement, the OG—the motherfucking wheel. Name a better invention. I'll wait. Transformer architecture? Exactly.</li>
Slick design: The Pedalo looks slick: Natural wooden texture and a bright yellow brand identity, all packaged into a small form factor. The Claude website is a similar exercise in minimal design. A sleek chat interface reduced only to the most relevant 17 buttons with 3 different submenus and the brand icon, which looks like a butthole. During text generation it's even animated to look like it's pooping.</li>
Endless possibilities: You might think the Pedalo only presents an alternative to walking, but there's more. Instead of telling you what exactly, I'm going to cite Sam Altman: "We are excited to see what you do with it."</li>
Revolution just around the corner: Once they put wings on the Pedalo it's gonna be "game over" for any other mode of transportation. Just like AGI, AI agents, and the Singularity—which are very real things!—will make all our life so much better!</li>
More fun: If you are tired of walking you can switch to the Pedalo. The enjoyment this novelty provides has been scientifically proven1</a> to be non-zero in the first 15 seconds, which is about as much as I can say about chatting with an LLM instead of reading Wikipedia or StackOverflow.</li>
Faster: Look, just because nobody has won a 100-meter sprint on the Pedalo does not mean it's objectively slower. And actually, when you're standing on it, it feels pretty fast. Just like LLM-assisted coding</a>.</li>
Style: Using the Pedalo or an LLM you look equally cool</a>.</li>
Fanatic fanbase: There's no amount of snarky comments nor reasoned debate that will convince a seven-year-old German boy that his Pedalo is shit. AI boosters have similarly developed brains.</li> </ul>

Citation needed. ↩</a> </li> </ol> </section>

Obsidian Bases Tips and Tricks

2025-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

After a weekend tinkering with the new Bases feature of Obsidian</a>, I want to share some cool formulas I came up with, that will hopefully power up your bases as much as they did mine. 
I'm assuming you already know:

What Bases are</li>
How to create a base</li>
How to create views</li> </ul>
If you're unsure about any of this, you can watch Nick Milo's video</a> to catch up.
Filters, Properties, Sorting and Limits</h2>
A quick refresh on how to access the advanced functionality.
Filters</h3> </picture> </a>
A base has two sections for filters, one titled All views</samp>, the second one This view</samp>. These are applied sequentially: first the "All views" filter selects a subset of your notes, then the "This view" filter prunes this selection further. You'll want to make use of this. If you plan on having one view for notes on books, one for all notes on books you read in 2025, and one for all fiction books you ever read, then you'll want the "All views" filter to be the lowest common denominator, in this case "all book notes." The other views additionally filter down to "reviewed in 2025" and "fiction," respectively.
You can define your filters either using some help from the UI by selecting fields and functions from drop-down menus. You can also switch to the "advanced" mode by clicking the little </></samp></kbd> icon. All my tips will use this mode.
Properties and Sorting</h3>
The properties pop-up allows you to select properties to show in your view. But it also allows you to define custom formulas via the Add formula</samp></kbd> button at the bottom. My tips will also make use of this feature.
To sort on a property, you have two options. If the property is currently being displayed as a column, you can click on the column heading to cycle sorting directions. The other option that's always available is to use the popup hidden behind the Sort</samp></kbd> button in the top menu bar.
Limits</h3> </picture> </a>
Finally, if you ever want to limit the number of results (or export the results), you can bring up the corresponding menu by clicking on the XX results</samp></kbd> button next to the view selections.
Formulas</h2>
Now that that's all out of the way, we can almost dive into some nifty formulas. Just two general hints before that:
If you are converting Dataview</a> tables into bases, you can use this nifty converter</a> by Boninall. Depending on the complexity of your input tables, it might struggle, but it can still be a good starting point.
Second, if you find yourself reusing the same chunk of code a lot of times in a base, you should create a property formula and then use that instead. This makes it clearer what the code is doing, makes refactoring easier, and keeps the downstream formulas shorter. You can do this by referencing formula["formula name"]</code>. For example, instead of using these two formulas:
// This might be used as a filter in one view: list(sources).map(value.contains("Book")).contains(false) // This might be used as a filter in another view: list(sources).map(value.contains("Book")).filter(true).length > 5</code></pre> You'll want to refactor them like this:
// Property "is-book-sources" list(sources).map(value.contains("Book")) // Filter in one view: formula["is-book-sources"].contains(false) // Filter in other view: formula["is-book-sources"].filter(true).length > 5</code></pre> Okay, so here are the formulas that do some heavy lifting in my own bases.
File Is a Daily Note</h3>
/ø \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/.matches(file.name)</code></pre>
This formula uses regex</a> to match the naming format of my daily notes to return true</samp> or false</samp>.
My daily note names are formatted like this: ø YYYY-MM-DD.md</code>, e.g., ø 2025-12-31.md</code>. You'll need to adjust the part between the slashes to match your own format. If you don't know how to use regex, you can ask any LLM: they're actually quite good with that. But I also recommend learning the basics yourself, as it is quite powerful, and even just knowing a bit will help you write powerful formulas.
List Contains Non-Links</h3>list(sources).map(value.toString().startsWith("[[") && value.toString().endsWith("]]")).contains(false)</code></pre> This checks all values of the sources</code> property and returns false</samp> if any of its values are not Obsidian links (i.e., wrapped in double square brackets). Wrapping a property in the list()</code> function ensures we can run .map()</code> on it even if it was empty or formatted as a single-value property.
Find Non-Links in Multiple Lists</h3>
[list(director), list(actors)].flat().filter( !value.toString().startsWith("[[") || !value.toString().endsWith("]]") )</code></pre> This returns a list of all non-link values in the director</code> and actors</code> properties. We create a big list out of all values and apply our check as a filter. If we wanted to use this formula to help us filter notes that only contain these errors, we could alter its last line like so:
[list(director), list(actors)].flat().filter( !value.toString().startsWith("[[") || !value.toString().endsWith("]]") ).length > 0</code></pre>
Incomplete String to Date</h3>
if(note["release-date"].contains('-'), date(note["release-date"]), date(note["release-date"]+'-01-01')))</code></pre> This converts the value of the property release-date</code> to a date</code>, whether the review date was just a year (YYYY</code>) or a full date (YYYY-MM-DD</code>). The date()</code> function only takes full dates formatted as YYYY-MM-DD</code> as its input. Here we naïvely assume all dates without a dash to be YYYY</code> and add the month and day January 1st to make them valid.
Wrongly Formatted String to Date</h3>
date(note["last-seen"].slice(6,10)+'-'+note["last-seen"].slice(3,5)+'-'+note["last-seen"].slice(0,2))</code></pre> This converts dates in the last-seen</code> property from German date formatting (DD.MM.YYYY</code>) to a value of type date</code>. As explained above, we have to arrive at YYYY-MM-DD</code> as an argument for date()</code>. Here, we accomplish this by assuming all dates to at least be in the correct German format and then slice</code>-ing the relevant parts out and reordering them. Latest Date in List</h3> list(note["review-dates"]).filter(value.contains('ø')).map( if(value.slice(2).contains('-'), date(value.slice(2)), date(value.slice(2)+'-01-01'))) .sort()[-1]</code></pre> This returns the latest date in note["review-dates"]</code>, taking into account only notes formatted like my daily notes or yearly notes. This combines a lot of what we saw above, but adds some new things: Wrapping the property in a list()</code> makes it more robust.</li> We filter down to only those values that contain my date-marker "ø."</li> We use the Incomplete String to Date</a> formula to turn the value into a date.</li> We sort the dates using .sort()</code>.</li> Finally, we access the last element (the latest date) using [-1]</code>.</li> </ol> Interlude: this</code></h3> In case you didn't see Nick talking about it</a>, let me tell you about this</code>. This variable is a reference to the note you have currently selected,1</a> unlike note</code>, which references the note the base is looking at. For example, if you want to troll yourself, you can add this filter to your base: this.file.ext != 'base'</code></pre> This will make your base always appear empty when you are right on it. Only when you have a different (non-.base</code>) file focused will the base show what the other filters permit. Trolling yourself isn't the best use, so let's look at some others. Backlinks</h3> file.hasLink(this.file)</code></pre> This emulates backlinks functionality, returning true if the other file is linking to this</code>. Don't dismiss this filter based on its simplicity. In combination with other filters, it becomes incredibly powerful. We'll come back to that</a>. Outlinks</h3> this.file.hasLink(file)</code></pre> This returns true if this</code> note is linking to the other. You can dismiss this one. It is quite a bit less powerful than the core outlinks plugin, as it only collects existing links. Daily Notes Of Weekly Note</h3> date(file.name.slice(2)).format("WW") == this.file.name.slice(8)</code></pre> This returns true</samp> for all daily notes that share a week with this</code> weekly note. This is meant to be used in conjunction with File Is a Daily Note</a> and assumes my formatting for daily and weekly notes. The first part, date(file.name.slice(2)).format("WW")</code>, slice</code>s off my prefix and returns the calendar week the day belongs to. That's compared to the last two characters that remain after slicing off the starting 8 characters of this.file.name</code>, which should be the active weekly note. Last Three Daily Notes</h3> date(file.name.slice(2)) < date(this.file.name.slice(2)) && date(file.name.slice(2)) + '3 day' >= date(this.file.name.slice(2))</code></pre> This returns true</samp> for all daily notes that lie 3 or fewer days in the past relative to this</code> daily note. The first line checks whether the other note is in the past relative to this one. The second checks that when we add 3 days to that other note, it is the same or a future date relative to this one. Backlinks To Sections</h3> file.links.filter(value.startsWith(this.file.name+"#")).length > 0</code></pre> This returns true for all notes that link to a section in this</code> note. In case you didn't know, you can link to a section by including a #</code> in your link like so: [[Link#Section]]</code>. This filter finds only those links. Privileged Backlinks</h3> file.links.contains(this.file.name+"#")</code></pre> This returns true</samp> for all notes that link to this</code> note with an additional #</code> at the end. An especially nifty one I came up with. As we've seen above, you can use the #</code> to link to a specific section. But you can also include it without following up with a section heading: [[Link#]]</code>. This breaks absolutely nothing. Obsidian treats it as if the #</code> wasn't there. But the above filter cares. This allows you to mark certain links as special without having to put them into a property. Unrequited Outlinks</h3> This last one is a doozy! It's a powerful way to find those notes that have lots of outlinks that don't get returned by those notes. It's quite complex, so let's take it in stages. Create a property formula called inlinks</code>: file.backlinks.map(value.asFile()).unique().filter( !value.path.contains("Sources/") && value.path != file.path)</code></pre> It looks at all links coming into the file. It makes sure we're not including duplicates, not including ourselves, and not including anything from the Sources/</code> folder. Next, create a property formula called outlinks</code>: file.links.map(value.asFile()).filter( value.isTruthy() && !value.path.contains("Sources/") && value.path != file.path ).unique()</code></pre> It looks at all links out of the file. It makes sure we're not including duplicates, links to non-existent files, links to ourselves, and not including anything from the Sources/</code> folder. Next, create a property called unrequited</code>: formula.outlinks.filter(!formula.inlinks.contains(value))</code></pre> This results in a list of all outlinks</code> that are not also inlinks</code>. Set this property to be visible in your view. Finally, create this filter: formula.unrequited.length > 5</code></pre> You might need to additionally filter out your daily notes or similar, but the resulting view should show you those files that have more than 5 links to existing other notes that are not linking back. Sure, not every link-relationship needs to be a two-way street, but you'll probably find some opportunity in there! Conclusion</h2> I hope you learned a thing or two about Bases and were able to steal a formula or two. If you did, send this post along to your Obsidian buddies to help them out as well. To understand the bases functions more deeply or discover some I haven't touched, I can't recommend the official documentation</a> highly enough. It was a great help to me. If you come up with a cool formula, let me know. You can find ways to contact me below. If you have the base open in a different window, a different tab, and a sidebar, all of them will reference the currently active tab as this</code>. When you are embedding a base (by including ![[Some.base]]</code> in your note), this</code> instead refers to the note that includes the embedding. ↩</a> </li> </ol> </section>
Permutation City | Greg Egan 2025-08-17T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Thought-provoking arrangement of letters on the page In 2050, Paul runs some experiments on a simulated Copy of himself to probe the nature of consciousness and reality itself. He slows the computation of the Copy to a crawl. He assigns different steps to different computers around the world. He splits the computation into parts, which he distributes globally to be computed at different speeds. When all of these experiments result in coherent subjective experiences for his Copy, he comes up with a business proposal. The author's vision of the future contains the fairly common sci-fi concept of a "simulated brain," where scanned versions of human brains can be run digitally. But while most other works of fiction leave it at that, this novel asks the follow-up: If consciousness is not bound by meat-brains, what are its restrictions? It arrives at the mind-bending conclusion that consciousness is bound by little—that it and the reality it perceives are merely patterns that find themselves in the dust of the universe. The amazing feat of the novel is not just having this fascinating "Dust Theory" at its core but introducing it bit by bit in a way that makes it accessible and exciting. Other aspects don't get neglected either. Expected philosophical themes of identity, eternity, and death get their deserved exploration. The future of 2050 is painted vibrantly across multiple strata: class issues are acknowledged, public opinion on the ethics surrounding Copies factors into the story, an effort to combat climate change plays a minor part, and new religions have emerged. Overall, we are presented with a rich and bustling world that convincingly does not revolve solely around the characters or key concepts of the plot. Not as varied is the cast of about five characters we follow throughout. They all carry a loneliness with them, their thought processes fall on the rationalist side, and they're all deeply embedded in technology. This is especially tragic because some minor characters embody very different experiences, which always made me wish they'd stuck around the narrative longer. Still, the existing cast forms a broad enough kaleidoscope of perspectives, backgrounds, and fates to be satisfying. All in all, the novel renders a reasonably paced and exciting plot with a decent cast of characters set in a rich world. But the strong point most definitely is the "Dust Theory" at its center. New implications of the theory are revealed and explored right up to the end and leave the reader with ideas to ponder long after finishing the book. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept | Elizabeth Smart 2025-07-26T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Read this and let yourself be overcome with emotion I generally start my reviews with a synopsis of the beginning of the book—its hook, if you will. I want you to get a quick feel for what the book is about, why you would read it, regardless of what I have to say about it. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept requires a slight adaptation, as the plot is not really what it's "about." As Yann Martel, in the foreword of my edition, points out (emphasis mine): [W]hile love is the theme, language is the plot, the character and the setting. </blockquote> Martel refers to the fact that Elizabeth Smart has written this novel in poetic prose, and her command of language becomes the primary experience of reading. So, to give you the tiniest taste, here's how she describes the moment the narrator's lover arrives at the door: When the Ford rattles up to the door, five minutes (five years) late, and he walks across the lawn under the pepper-trees, I stand behind the gauze curtains, unable to move to meet him, or to speak, as I turn to liquid to invade his every orifice when he opens the door. More single-purposed than the new bird, all mouth with his one want, I close my eyes and tremble, anticipating the heaven of actual touch. </blockquote> This short passage is exemplary of how the author pinpoints those seemingly mundane moments, filling them vividly with love and desire. She then finds absolute treasures of evocative metaphors, which never feel trite or cliché. In her specificity there always lies a universality, and in her fantastical metaphors a brilliant clarity. The lyricism is still wrapped around a plot in the traditional sense: it is the story of a woman madly in love with a married man, their affair, and the world interfering—both because of moral qualms about their relationship and because of World War II unfolding in the background. All this is based on Smart's own experience of her relationship with the British poet George Barker, which started in the late 1930s and ended only well after the publication of this novel. This "scandalous" affair is interesting to look into, but the ever-present poetry transforms the desire into a more universal experience. Every page, paragraph, and phrase resonates with this consuming passion. Smart manages what any butterfly collector could only ever dream of: she captures her subject and presents it to us in all its beauty and detail without killing it, actually presenting it at its liveliest. Truly: sit down, read, and weep. Prophet Song | Paul Lynch 2025-07-20T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Captivating Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Lebensgeister (orig. "Sweet Hereafter") | Banana Yoshimoto 2025-07-07T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Wird mich nicht nachhaltig heimsuchen Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Creation of the Gods (often also "Investiture of the Gods," orig. 封神演義) | translation by Gu Zhizhong 2025-07-05T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Should've spent a bit more time on creating this novel first Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Claimed! | Gertrude Barrows Bennett 2025-05-20T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Oh good; then nobody else has to pick this up Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Seven Sons | Robert Windom, Kelvin Mao, illustrated by Jae Lee 2025-05-12T00:00:00+00:00 👎 And none worth saving Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Building A Better Keyboard 2025-05-01T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. 21C Human | Arch Hades 2025-04-20T00:00:00+00:00 👎 More like a C- Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Happy End (orig. Riquet à la houppe) | Amélie Nothomb 2025-03-27T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Ich war Happy bis zum End Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Keyboards Are Terrible 2025-03-23T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. You Need An Email Aliasing Service 2025-03-15T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Why You Should Give Kagi A Try 2025-03-04T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Leave A Like 2025-02-12T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. That Study About AI is Making People Dumber 2025-02-11T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. All About Love: New Visions | bell hooks 2025-02-03T00:00:00+00:00 👎 I don't love all about this Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Why I switched from writefreely to zola 2025-01-28T12:54:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Light Fantastic | Terry Pratchett 2025-01-17T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Doesn't shine Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Susanna Clarke 2025-01-04T00:00:00+00:00 👍 This is where English Magic has gone Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Starship Troopers | Robert A. Heinlein 2025-01-04T00:00:00+00:00 👎 You gotta be a Trooper to finish this piece of reprehensible trash Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Colour of Magic | Terry Pratchett 2025-01-04T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Doesn't pop Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Ambivalenz (orig. Les prénoms épicènes) | Amélie Nothomb 2024-11-18T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Eindeutig gut Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction | Michael Tanner 2024-11-02T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Does what it sets out to do Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Wave | Todd Strasser 2024-10-27T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Only a ripple in the kiddie pool Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Thirst (orig. Soif) | Amélie Nothomb 2024-10-27T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Not quite quenching it Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Eyes Are The Best Part | Monika Kim 2024-10-18T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Delicious, but could've used a couple more minutes in the oven Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Notes on Complexity | Neil Thiese 2024-09-27T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Umm, I've got some notes of my own, buddy Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England | Brandon Sanderson 2024-09-18T00:00:00+00:00 👎 You might wanna invest elsewhere... Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. November 2023 Overview and eBook 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Gods of Want | K-Ming Chang 2024-08-10T00:00:00+00:00 👍 So divine, you should want to be reading this book Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 12: Allianz der Hoffnung | Dirk van den Boom 2024-08-05T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Hoffentlich ist das Nächste, was ich lese, besser Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 11: Das Blaue vom Himmel | Dirk van den Boom 2024-08-04T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Löst zwar viele Versprechen der vorherigen Bücher ein, aber das heißt ja nix Gutes Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 10: Die Bio-Bombe | Dirk van den Boom 2024-08-03T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Weder ein gesunder Smoothie, noch ein gutes Buch Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 9: Karawane der Verlorenen | Sylke Brandt 2024-08-02T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Wäre nur dieses Buch auf dem Weg zum Druck verloren gegangen! Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 8: Reise ins Blaue | Dirk van den Boom 2024-07-22T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Eher ein Kindergarten-Wandertag Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 7: Krötenrebellion | Dirk van den Boom 2024-07-18T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Ich rebelliere auch gleich Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 6: Blutige Erkenntnis | Dirk van den Boom 2024-07-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Meine blutige Erkenntnis ist, dass jegliche Hoffnung für diese Bücher vergebens war Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Zombies in Western Culture | John Vervaeke, Filip Miscevic, Christopher Mastropietro 2024-07-14T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Nice brain snack—as in a snack for the brain Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Some Thoughts on Managing Personal Projects 2024-07-13T12:38:29+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 5: Das Ende Der Gewissheit | Dirk van den Boom 2024-07-09T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Das Ende des langweiligen Plots? Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 4: Fabrik der Zahlen | Sylke Brandt 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Gutes vom Fließband Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 3: Herr des Meeres, Herr des Blutes | Dirk van den Boom 2024-06-25T00:00:01+00:00 👎 Herr, erlöse mich Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Die Scareman-Saga 2: Der Eine | Dirk van den Boom 2024-06-25T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Ich will lieber einen andern Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Ein Scareman erwacht | Dirk van den Boom 2024-06-18T00:00:00+00:00 👎 ... und ich schlafe ein Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. What's so Great About «the forest jar»? 2024-05-14T11:26:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Torture The Artist | Joey Goebel 2024-01-19T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Am I an artist now? Because reading the ending of this book was torture. Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Bluebeard's Castle | Anna Biller 2024-01-17T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Should've been a film Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Antichista (orig. Antéchrista) | Amélie Nothomb 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Devilishly great! Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. No One Is Talking About This | Patricia Lookwood 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Every One Should Be Reading This Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Enemy's Cosmetique (orig. Cosmétique de l'ennemi) | Amelie Nothomb 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Gripping story at an incredible pace Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Stepford Wives | Ira Levin 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 This belongs on your bookshelf like the Stepford wives belong in the kitchen Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Vegetarian (orig. 채식주의자) | Han Kang 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Skip the meat and go straight to this Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Tokyo Fiancée (orig. Ni d’Ève, ni d’Adam) | Amélie Nothomb 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Not born of Paradise Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Veronika Decides to Die (orig. Veronika Decide Morrer) | Paulo Coelho 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👎 This book makes me decide to die Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Victory City | Salman Rushdie 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 A victorious book Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Wintersmith | Terry Pratchett 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Will entertain you through the cold winter season Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Escaping Neo Crete 2023-11-30T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Carry On 2023-11-29T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Rainy Days 2023-11-28T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Extremely Online | Taylor Lorenz 2023-11-27T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Extremely Boring Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Theme Park 2023-11-27T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. No Loose Ends 2023-11-26T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Night In Vegas 2023-11-25T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Kassandra | Christa Wolf 2023-11-24T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Nicht ganz zukunftsweisend Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Listening Society | Hanzi Freinacht 2023-11-24T00:00:00+00:00 👍 The key to understanding society Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Quartz' First Theory 2023-11-24T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Escaping Crete 2023-11-23T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Father's Workshop 2023-11-22T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Long Way Home 2023-11-21T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Martha 2023-11-20T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Fenco 2023-11-19T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Cracked Egg 2023-11-18T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. At The Café 2023-11-17T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Sweet Like Honey 2023-11-16T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Talent Show 2023-11-15T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Egg 2023-11-14T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Dance With The Prince 2023-11-13T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Metamorphosis 2023-11-12T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Abandoned House 2023-11-11T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Installing Castopod 1.6.5 w/ MySQL and behind Caddy 2023-11-10T16:53:08+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Hello Spring 2023-11-10T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Dead Lord 2023-11-09T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Buddy Programme 2023-11-08T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Tea Party 2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Mike 2023-11-06T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Woodcarver 2023-11-05T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Woodcarver's Daughter 2023-11-04T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Respite 2023-11-03T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Bean Speech 2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Clara 2023-11-01T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Treacle Walker | Alan Garner 2023-10-21T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Not worth rag nor bone Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Optional's Guide to Custom Emoji in Obsidian 2023-09-25T11:44:45+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare 2023-09-23T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Poetry to die for Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Pick me Girls | Sophie Passmann 2023-09-11T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Lieber die Finger von lassen Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Alte Sorten | Ewald Arenz 2023-09-10T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Gute Ernte mit interessantem Geschmack Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Diary of An Oxygen Thief | Anonymous 2023-09-01T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Outrageous tale quickly turns stale Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Men Without Women | Haruki Murakami 2023-08-28T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Congratulations to the Women who don't have to deal with these Men anymore Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Princess Bride | S. Morgenstern (Abridgement by William Goldman) 2023-08-17T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Not just the "good parts" Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. New Sub-Blog for Book Reviews 2023-08-16T15:46:29+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Hat Full of Sky | Terry Pratchett 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Can't stand on its own Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Philosophy of Loneliness | Lars Svendsen 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 I'd rather be lonely than with this book Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Room of One's Own | Virginia Woolf 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 A hundred years old and still very much relevant Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland | Lewis Carroll 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Don't follow that rabbit Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Arcadia | Arch Hades 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Beautifully capturing the dystopian present Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Der Process | Franz Kafka 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Clever und unterhaltsam Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Der Sprung | Simone Lappert 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Zu welcher Idylle hast du keinen Zugang? Und willst du das ändern? Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Der Triumph der Waldrebe in Europa | Clemens J. Setz 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Nettes Stück über Erinnerung und Loslassen Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Desire | Haruki Murakami 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 A couple excellent short stories Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Dies ist mein Letztes Lied | Lena Richter 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Lieber mal auf Mute drücken Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Digitale Bildkulturen | Annekathrin Kohout, Wolfgang Ullrich, Tilman Baumgärtel, Dirk von Gehlen, Diana Weis, Jörg Scheller, Roland Meyer 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Interessante Texte zu Mode, Fitness und Überwachung Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports | Valerie Aurora, Mary Gardiner 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Good starting point and reference Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Magdalenas Sünde | Romana Ganzoni 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Verbotene Frucht Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Metamorphoses | Ovid, translation by Charles Martin 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Monumental Work, Good Translation Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Paper Romance | Arch Hades 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 A few good ones Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Cockroach | Ian McEwan 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👎 Coping with Brexit through humour Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Dispossessed | Ursula K. Le Guin 2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 👍 Where does Anarchism succeed and where does it fall short? Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. An Optional selection of Calibration Tools for Pen and Paper Sessions 2023-07-07T14:01:55+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Only Bad Posts From Now On 2023-06-24T10:53:53+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. You Can't Learn From Outlier Events 2023-06-23T12:47:45+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. AI-Assisted Learning 2023-06-16T23:50:33+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Lasers & Feelings Game Wrap 2022-11-20T14:43:30+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. That Username Is Taken 2022-09-26T22:25:23+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. The Unlikable "Heroes" of «Belle» (2021) 2022-09-26T21:08:25+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. An Optional Intro to Pen and Paper 2022-09-13T14:50:42+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Learning in Life, as Seen in «Boss Level» (2021) 2022-08-08T18:00:59+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. An diesem Film ist nichts «Wunderschön» (2022) 2022-02-19T00:08:14+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. "Immoral Behaviour Is Good, Actually," Says Professional Ethicist 2022-02-05T10:09:37+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Meeting Up At Your Password 2022-01-25T15:02:17+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. Experiencing Personal Progress 2022-01-12T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. A Critique Of The New Pokémon Short 2022-01-11T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. How do you experience progress in your life? 2022-01-01T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post. What Is This Blog? 2022-01-01T00:00:00+00:00 Only the latest 20 posts have full text in this RSS Feed. Please visit the site to read this post.

Lent Cooking Challenge

Stein und Flöte | Hans Bemmann

Sand Talk | Tyson Yunkaporta

Über Menschen | Juli Zeh

Poor Things | Alasdair Gray

All Systems Red | Martha Wells

Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket | Hilma Wolitzer

Der Belgische Konsul (orig. Premier sang) | Amélie Nothomb

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics | Olivia Waite

Das Meer der Aswang | Allan N. Derain

BLAME! | written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei

Audition | Katie Kitamura

Awkwardness: A Theory | Alexandra Plakias

"AI" is like…

Obsidian Bases Tips and Tricks

Formulas</h2> Now that that's all out of the way, we can almost</em> dive into some nifty formulas. Just two general hints before that:</p>

Permutation City | Greg Egan

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept | Elizabeth Smart

Prophet Song | Paul Lynch

Lebensgeister (orig. "Sweet Hereafter") | Banana Yoshimoto

Creation of the Gods (often also "Investiture of the Gods," orig. 封神演義) | translation by Gu Zhizhong

Claimed! | Gertrude Barrows Bennett

Seven Sons | Robert Windom, Kelvin Mao, illustrated by Jae Lee

Building A Better Keyboard

21C Human | Arch Hades

Happy End (orig. Riquet à la houppe) | Amélie Nothomb

Keyboards Are Terrible

You Need An Email Aliasing Service

Why You Should Give Kagi A Try

Leave A Like

That Study About AI is Making People Dumber

All About Love: New Visions | bell hooks

Why I switched from writefreely to zola

The Light Fantastic | Terry Pratchett

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Susanna Clarke

Starship Troopers | Robert A. Heinlein

The Colour of Magic | Terry Pratchett

Ambivalenz (orig. Les prénoms épicènes) | Amélie Nothomb

Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction | Michael Tanner

The Wave | Todd Strasser

Thirst (orig. Soif) | Amélie Nothomb

The Eyes Are The Best Part | Monika Kim

Notes on Complexity | Neil Thiese

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England | Brandon Sanderson

November 2023 Overview and eBook

Gods of Want | K-Ming Chang

Die Scareman-Saga 12: Allianz der Hoffnung | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 11: Das Blaue vom Himmel | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 10: Die Bio-Bombe | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 9: Karawane der Verlorenen | Sylke Brandt

Die Scareman-Saga 8: Reise ins Blaue | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 7: Krötenrebellion | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 6: Blutige Erkenntnis | Dirk van den Boom

Zombies in Western Culture | John Vervaeke, Filip Miscevic, Christopher Mastropietro

Some Thoughts on Managing Personal Projects

Die Scareman-Saga 5: Das Ende Der Gewissheit | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 4: Fabrik der Zahlen | Sylke Brandt

Die Scareman-Saga 3: Herr des Meeres, Herr des Blutes | Dirk van den Boom

Die Scareman-Saga 2: Der Eine | Dirk van den Boom

Ein Scareman erwacht | Dirk van den Boom

What's so Great About «the forest jar»?

Torture The Artist | Joey Goebel

Bluebeard's Castle | Anna Biller

Antichista (orig. Antéchrista) | Amélie Nothomb

No One Is Talking About This | Patricia Lookwood

The Enemy's Cosmetique (orig. Cosmétique de l'ennemi) | Amelie Nothomb

The Stepford Wives | Ira Levin

The Vegetarian (orig. 채식주의자) | Han Kang

Tokyo Fiancée (orig. Ni d’Ève, ni d’Adam) | Amélie Nothomb

Veronika Decides to Die (orig. Veronika Decide Morrer) | Paulo Coelho

Victory City | Salman Rushdie

Wintersmith | Terry Pratchett

Escaping Neo Crete

Carry On

Rainy Days

Extremely Online | Taylor Lorenz

Theme Park

No Loose Ends

A Night In Vegas

Kassandra | Christa Wolf