Henrik Carlsson posted this
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and tagged it with Fall; or Dodge in Hell Neal Stephenson Reading The reading continues. After finishing Life 3.0 I resumed my listening of Neal Stephenson’s Fall; or Dodge in Hell. This one is a wild ride. Such an interesting premise and great start, then kind of slow for while and now (Prim’s journey) it’s great again.
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I did finish reading Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 earlier this week and as I wrote the other day I don’t know if it was a great book or a quite tedious one. Probably both. The questions Tegmark discusses are really important ones for the future, and he does it in a well informed way. The problem is that it just goes on. I think you could get the same points across just as well in half the amount of words.
It is possible that it’s a problem with my attention span. A few weeks back I rewatched CGP Greys video ”Thinking about attention” and just as the first time I watched it, it did made me think about my attention a bit more. I think it’s quite possible that rewatching this was what got me to listen to an audiobook (The Drawing of the Three) when mowing the lawn last week instead of listening to a podcast, and this was certainly what made me keep listening to books. So maybe I’m out of practice. The argument agains this is that I very much enjoyed Norse Mythology even though that one has felt like a slog when I was out of practice. So if that one didn’t make me lose interest, maybe the problem is Life 3.0 and not me.
Though ”losing interest” isn’t the right way to put it. I was interested in Life 3.0 all the way through.
I think this is a long way of saying that this is a book that most people probably should read or listen to, because it’s a really important one, but it’s likely not to be the greatest book you’ve ever read.
Henrik Carlsson posted this
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and tagged it with A.I. Life 3.0 Reading Also I’m currently reading Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 and I can’t for the life of me decide if I really like it or if it’s really tedious. Perhaps both. The first few chapters where great but as it goes on it really goes on, and on, and on, and on.
Moreover1 it discusses a lot of similar topics, and based on similar sources, as Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s interesting to nod along to things I already knew from Kurzgesagt, while it’s also tedious to be told things I already know from Kurzgesagt.
As you can tell, I’m really mixed on this book so far. Currently I have a little over two hours left on it.
This Article was mentioned on blog.henrikcarlsson.se
Henrik Carlsson posted this
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I finally finished ”reading” (listening to) Stephen King’s The Drawing of the Three today. As I’m looking back through the archives of this blog now I realize that I started this book in 2018. Wow, that’s a long time ago.
As I’ve written before, I’m not really a reader anymore and even thought I want to read more I find it hard to get around to doing it. Earlier this week however I decided to listen to an audio book while mowing the lawn and since it’s a fairly large lawn I managed to listen for over an hour. Because I had already started The Drawing of the Three and almost but not quite finished it, I decided to give it a go.
And boy am I glad I did. I liked the book all the way through, even though I stopped reading and listening to it for so long, and the ending was just awesome. Great climax and perfect lead in to whatever happens next in the Dark Tower series.
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Earlier this week (on Monday?) Linn and I watched The Woman in the Window. I have had the book that it’s based on in my bookshelf for a while but I haven’t gotten around to reading it. I do recall it was recommended to me in a book store because I said that I liked Gillian Flynn’s novels, so when I heard that there was a movie version and that it starred Amy Adams I really wanted to watch it.
All in all I liked it. The final confrontation scene seemed like a silly B movie but apart from that it really worked for me. Adams’ performance was great and the film genuinely scared me at times.
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and tagged it with Covid infected? I just realized I left the story of covid-19 in the family unresolved, and that I haven’t blogged for over a month. Anyway, I got a total of two tests while Linn was covid positive but both my tests came back negative. I’ve been meaning to get an anti-body test but haven’t gotten around to that (yet?). So it’s quite possible that I didn’t have covid. All we know is that Linn had it, that Iris might have had it, and that I maybe possibly had it.
Linn got better after a few days and hasn’t had any long term effects, so we seem to be in the clear.
Now spring is here and the summer seems to be right around the corner. Lot’s of things to do.
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So far Covid is going quite well for us. Linn is the only one with a confirmed infection but I’m fairly certain Iris has it as well and probably me too. Everybody feels quite okay today and we are all resting at the moment.
I’m enjoying a beer in the sun and I’m designing a mount for the car charger that I will 3D print later.
Henrik Carlsson posted this
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(We all feel quite fine at the moment.)
@MrHenko I hope it is not serious.
@MrHenko Hope you’ll all have a nice Easter despite the diagnose, and that the symptoms will be mild. 🐣🌱
@jeremycherfas Thanks Jeremy. Linn’s cooking risotto and drinking wine so thus far the symptoms are quite mild. :)
I felt fine up until she read her test results. At that point hypochondria kicked in and I’ve had a teeny tiny ache in my throat during the day but it’s probably psychosomatic.
@odd Thank you Odd, so far the symptoms are mild and we are having a good day. Fortunately we have a well stocked fridge, a big house and a nice garden so as long as we don’t get very ill we’ll be fine.
Henrik Carlsson posted this
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and tagged it with 3D printing odd (micro.blog)@MrHenko Is it done? I’d like to have a 3D printer some day, wonder which one you’ve got, and if you’re satisfied with it.
@odd I got the FlashForge Adventurer 3. That photo was from the very first print I did with it so thus far I don’t know if I can recommend it or not.
Generally speaking I haven’t done much 3D printing but when I started trying it out for the πFi Music Player I also started thinking about whether to get one for myself or not and when I started looking around I found this one on sale. The machine I’d used previously to that is the printer that we have at work and that one is a different FlashForge model so I figured getting a similar but smaller model for myself would be a good decision.
@MrHenko Thanks for your reply. It all looks very interesting to me, but I really shouldn’t get another hobby. Even so, I think there’s a lot of little things that I could fix using such a machine. I’m terrible at 3D construction though, so maybe it’s not for me…
@odd Yeah, that’s how I keep rationalizing the purchase to myself. ”Imagine all the things that I can make that makes life easier.” 😀
But it is a very fun toy to have! And the web is full of free things to print while you build up your own 3D modeling skills.
Henrik Carlsson posted this
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Replies and comments
Cheri
6 juni, 2021 00:51@MrHenko I love the way he writes, but his books are too chewy for me.
I did love Anathem even though it took me four tries to finish!
kirschen
6 juni, 2021 00:58@MrHenko my first listen on Audible was ”Snow Crash” – lengthy but very enjoyable @cheri
MrHenko
6 juni, 2021 23:19@Cheri “Fall” is only the second Stephenson book I’ve read, but I’ve gathered that brevity isn’t exactly his thing. But I do like both “Fall” and “Snow Crash” a lot.
Have you read “Fall”? I seem to recall you posting a photo from Moab a few weeks ago, and that place quite a big roll in the first part of the book.
jack
6 juni, 2021 23:54@MrHenko I loved the first 300 pages of Fall, but stopped at about 500. The further they got into ”bitworld” the less interesting it was to me. I liked ”Seveneves”. It’s especially great if you’re interested in orbital mechanics as a main character. (My goodness he can drone on about stuff). Also enjoyed ”Reamde” and ”Anathem”. Didn’t finish ”D.O.D.O”.
Cheri
7 juni, 2021 00:55@MrHenko I have a copy of Snow Crash that I’m nibbling at. But I saw how thick Fall was and my internal reaction was: Ha ha ha nooooooo. 😂
MrHenko
7 juni, 2021 10:40@jack I don’t have my physical copy of ”Fall” at hand, but the page numbers probably corresponds well to my impression of it. You should have pressed on because it did get a lot better again once the time of Adam and Eve had passed. The ending was genuinely good, something it seems based on other reviews isn’t Stephenson’s strength.
And yeah, he does drone on, and on, and on. I think ”Fall” would have been just as good, probably even better, if condensed to half och 2/3 the length.
”Seveneves” is the next audio book in my queue, but I think I need something shorter before embarking on another 30+ hour journey.
MrHenko
7 juni, 2021 10:42@Cheri I’ve just now finished ”Fall” and while in the end I liked it a lot I think it would have been just as good, probably better, if it had been edited down to half och 2/3 the length.
Keep nibbling at ”Snow Crash”, it’s a really good one.
kirschen
9 juni, 2021 05:42@MrHenko I’ve listened to ”Cryptonomicon” – it’s an amazing tale interwoven amongst several generations, with all the threads falling in place at the end. I remember telling myself ”so that’s how it’s all connected”! Quite a long listen but worth it
MrHenko
10 juni, 2021 08:21@kirschen I’ll add that one to my list of books I might listen to. I see a possible Neal Stephenson binge coming up. :)