2020 Reading: On the Shortness of Life

#19 A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics

This book was actually very interesting when I really got into it. It's just a series of essay-type ramblings, but the subject matter is fascinating. Seneca speaks of life in terms of what one person is able to do. He stresses the need to not work too hard so that you miss life, but also not to waste it by doing nothing. There was a passage that stuck out to me:

'Where is the 

need,' I ask, 'to compose something to last for ages? Why 

not stop trying to prevent posterity being silent about 

you? You were born to die,  and a silent funeral is less

bothersome. So if you must fill your time, write some-

thing in a simple style for your own use and not for

publication: less toil is needed if you study only for the 

day.' (p 71)

Something about that resonated with me. It made me feel better about writing and just creating in general because it reminded me that I should do it for me and no one else. Sometimes people should be reminded of that. It might make things much happier.

2020 Reading: Raising Dairy Goats

#18 A book on a subject you know nothing about

I asked a fellow librarian friend of mine what I should read for this challenge. It was difficult to come up with an answer because being the information grazer that I am, I know a little bit about a lot of things so finding something that I know nothing about was hard. She chose this and I had to admit I knew nothing about the practice. Now though, I know enough to know that I could never personally run a farm of dairy goats. And that is fine with me. That being said they are still cute and adorable.

(For those interested, when she asked me what she should read for this prompt, I sent her down the road of serial killers, of course.)

2020 Reading: Workin' It!

#36 A book with a pink cover

I still maintain that I want to be RuPaul when I grow up. I just wish I had the confidence and drive to pull myself up like he did. This book was full of gorgeous pictures and a little witty commentary and I was a pleasant read.

2020 Reading: Cartoons of WWII

#24 A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader

Ever since I was in my early years of college, I have been fascinated with the propaganda campaign during WWII. One of the classrooms we used (I think it was the one for public speaking) at my Community College had all of these reproductions on the wall of German Nazi propaganda posters along the wall. I remember looking at them and thinking they were the greatest things ever and some of them were really well illustrated.

This book just gave me more of that to a bigger extent. It's fascinating to look back on that time and see what tactics either side used to sway the opinion of the masses.

2020 Reading: I Hate You, Kelly Donahue

Ever wondered what it would look like if grown men acted like little boys when they liked a girl?

It can get pretty intense and scary.

2020 Reading: Machines Like Me

#22 A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character

At first, I thought this story was long-winded and just full of random information about robotics until I realized that the facts were the alternate universe facts provided for this society that changed right after WWII and became so much more technologically advanced. It was as if computers developed twice as fast as they did in this reality and this was a story from that point of view. Fascinating.

The character of the AI became a terrifying figure and the main characters seemed to fear that knowledge and ignore it at the same time. It was as if Asimov's Laws of Robotics were cast out which is a horrifying concept.

That having been said, I loved the story, and though this little glimpse into an alternate timeline was like looking into a less exciting Phillip k. Dick story, if that makes sense.