This is a thoughtful read “post” COVID. The setup for this book is that a virus first renders all rice plants sickly and diseased. The West looks on with detached pity as the East suffers under famine. The virus then mutates and all grass suffers the same fate. Western civilization takes drastic action to circumvent famine and that’s where the bulk of the novel takes place. This book is at its core a study of just how quickly we’d lose our social graces in dire straights. It’s really well done. Some of the beginning dialog feels hopelessly dated and stilted but the book is 70 years old.

This book was disappointing. It’s also factually misleading. The first couple chapters I didn’t have any particular qualms with, Fritz Haber’s demise, good fats vs bad fats, etc, the misleading white paper that led to the Opioid crisis. However, the chapter about DDT felt like a Rachel Carson hit piece. The tone was so specifically angry it felt completely out of place in a pop science book. And then to quote Michael Crichton of all people in this chapter. Michael Crichton, known hater of science and liberal ideology. Woof.

This was a fascinating look at the scholars who discovered, collected, and cataloged the Cairo Geniza. Otherwise unknown to me, a Geniza is a hidden room inside a synagogue where worn out paper with the written word is cached. Never thrown away, just stored. In this case, for millennia. Geniza refers to both the room and the contents thereof. This book functions primarily as a biological study of the researchers. The subject matter of the Geniza documents is presented as an overview because the contents are just so vast. As might be expected in modern anthropological study, it is the personal letters about the mundane that are the most Illuminating. Mothers missing their sons. Drinking at a wedding. Kids asking for money. The book is long and dry at times, but I’d recommend it if you’re interested in Judaical study or medieval studies as the bulk of the information recovered is from that time period. Very well written.

Interesting if gruesome read about a string of serial killings in Texarkana during the mid 40s.

Really wonderful book about a boy from Malawi who built his own windmill to provide electricity to his home. I learned a lot about the politics of Malawi and the famine that resulted from agricultural mismanagement. Highly recommended.

Pretty interesting Afro-futurism book. I’d never read anything by Okorafor, I’d try a few other titles. I’m not sure I understand the title of this book being Remote Control.

Well I am depressed.

I really enjoyed this. “On Keeping a Notebook” was excellent. Didion was so intentional with her words.

Very Lovecraftian. Great gradually building sense of dread. Had no idea this was a movie?