My goal is to start the month with one in-depth book review accompanied by a link to all of the short book reviews I posted on Substack Notes. Well the book review I’m working on which was supposed to start this month is taking longer than expected, and as we’re quickly exiting the amorphous “start of the month”. I thought I’d include some witty bits from last month’s notes so you can know what you’re missing if you’re not either following me on Substack, or clicking through on some reviews when I post the monthly round up.
1. Taking the title literally — Faster
An early entry into the “why is everything moving so damn fast” genre, more descriptive than prescriptive. But he’s an early documenter of smart watches, the attention economy, constant connectivity, and the coming backlash against it all. I decided to honor it by reading it a page at a time rather than listening to it at 3x.
2. Eldritch horrors that sound like the Swedish Chef — Doctor Strange Epic Collection: A Separate Reality
A collection of Doctor Strange comics from the early 1970s. With all that period entails: psychedelic panel layouts, Eastern-tinged spirituality, mysticism, other dimensions, and elder gods with names that make one think of a heavy-metal band, or the Swedish Chef.
I will say that the visual effects of the Doctor Strange movie was more on point than I imagined. Though, as one might expect, the movie version is much quippier than the comic one. And less likely to cast an ill-considered spell for Spider-Man.
3. Brilliant people congratulating themselves on being brilliant — Possible Minds
The book also engages in a weird framing device with everyone keying off a 70 year old book. The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener, which I guess helps constrain the discussion, but also makes it even less accessible, and gives it an air of pretension. “If you were a brilliant individual, like me then of course you’d be familiar with this out of print book, and would have realised long ago Norbert Wiener’s uncanny prescience.”
4. An extremely French book with an extremely unsympathetic protagonist — 21 Days of Fear
A very French book with a very clever physical conceit: each chapter is wrapped as an actual letter. The protagonist isn’t annoying because he’s French, but it doesn’t help. The weird sexual dynamics aren’t exclusive to France, but there is that reputation. And strange infantile psychological obsessions weren’t invented in France (it was Austria) but they were perfected there.
There’s a cliche in screenwriting that you have the protagonist save a cat early in the movie as an easy way to get people to like them. This book goes the opposite way and has the protagonist smash in the head of a little girl’s dog with a rock. Now he was blackmailed into it, but even so that should give you an idea of what you’re in for.
5. An argument so old-fashioned we’ve forgotten about it — The Superstition of Divorce
A book making an argument so old-fashioned that you’re surprised to be reminded that anyone ever made it. In this case, it’s the argument that hono(u)r still matters, that marriage is a vow rather than an experiment, and that it’s a superstition to believe societal approval can release you from an obligation of honor.
6. An old man yelling at clouds, from inside the cloud — GIRLS®
An “Old Man Yells at Cloud” lament for Gen Z, delivered from inside the cloud. Targets for yelling include Facetune, TikTok therapists, dating apps, Pornhub, pharmaceuticals, divorce, and girlboss feminism. All are accused of turning young women into products. These accusations are documented through personal stories and heavily endnoted research.
When I say this is in the “Old Man Yells at Cloud” genre, that is not a negative thing. It’s the genre I primarily work in.
7. I still don’t like Scalzi — The Collapsing Empire
When I was in high school I wrote a few cheeky science fiction and fantasy stories, where all the characters had one trait turned up to 11, and nothing was particularly serious. That’s what this book reminds me of. That or perhaps high quality fan fiction. Which is to say the writing feels like something a well edited high schooler would write.
8. Scrubs, but with more orifices — This Is Going to Hurt
The NHS version of Scrubs, only with more graphic descriptions of item removal from orifices, and an even greater annihilation of work/life balance. Like Scrubs, it’s mostly funny and occasionally tragic. Unlike Scrubs (Dr. Cox excepted) it’s frequently furious. Most of this fury is directed at a system that grinds up junior doctors, junior doctors like Kay himself.
9. A memoir about the madness of a loved one — The Descent
The tragic memoir of a journalist watching his loved one slowly descend into incoherent rambling, violent temper, conspiracy theorizing and paranoia over the space of 25 years. Unfortunately this loved one is the entire country of Russia. More unfortunately, whatever happened to it may be contagious.
10. The messy creation of modern science fiction — Astounding
A quadruple biography (John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard) telling the history of science fiction’s golden age. But the relationships themselves weren’t golden. In fact another name for the book might be The Four-Body Problem. Much of the book is taken up with the birth of dianetics and Scientology. (A whole other dungeon I don’t have time to explore.) But out of the head-butting between four giants we got such things as robot ethics, libertarian space marines, and nuke prognostication.
Charles Manson had about 150 hours of Scientology auditing. (I’m not pointing fingers, but that seems like a lot…)
And here’s all the book reviews I posted in October in one place:
The Traveler By: Joseph Eckert
Astounding By: Alec Nevala-Lee
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything By: James Gleick
Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen By: Donald Miller
X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga By: Chris Claremont and John Byrne
The Descent: Witnessing Russia’s Spiral into Madness Under Putin By: Marc Bennetts
Dear Debbie By: Freida McFadden
The Collapsing Empire By: John Scalzi (from the archives)
The Will of the Many By: James Islington
Warriors and Worriers: The Survival of the Sexes By: Joyce F. Benenson with Henry Markovits
This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor By: Adam Kay
GIRLS®: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything By: Freya India
Porcelain: A Memoir By: Moby (from the archives)
Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons By: Ben Riggs
Watch What You Hear: Penelope’s Dream of Twenty Geese By: Edward Teach
Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI By: John Brockman (Editor) (from the archives)
The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game By: C. Thi Nguyen
Doctor Strange Epic Collection: A Separate Reality By: Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Gardner Fox, and Stan Lee
The Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration By: Tad R. Callister (from the archives)
Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less By: Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz
21 Days of Fear: One Day, One Letter By: Hervé Commère
The Superstition of Divorce By: G. K. Chesterton
The City & The City By: China Miéville (from the archives)
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If I was better at the kind of promotion needed for success on this (or any other platform) I would spin this as some kind of amazing offering. But instead I’m unfailingly honest. And on that basis I can tell you that this is kind of a place holder. So yeah, I can’t in good conscience ask you to subscribe for the quality (at this moment) but the honesty has to be worth something right?
Honesty is a great virtue to have.