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RanaldClouston

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Lecturer in Computer Science at Australian National University.

He/him.

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lunalein , to bookstodon group
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I finally read Ancillary Justice last night. Late to the party, but glad to have gotten here! I enjoyed the book but it also sort of felt complete to me. Can anyone tell me how the sequels are? @bookstodon

RanaldClouston ,
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@lunalein @bookstodon all her books are worth reading, but her later book in the same universe, Translation State, is her best yet in my opinion

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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Just finished reading the Fellowship of the Ring out loud to my 11yo. The book has its flaws but boy is that last chapter good. For all that is sometimes regarded as a stuffy conservative, Frodo viewing the world from the top of Amon Hen is as fine a piece of mystical writing as you'll find. @bookstodon

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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through illness, exam marking, and paper writing, I think this goofy superhero nonsense was about all I could cope with this fortnight. It's the sort of novel where every character spends a lot of time noticing how sexy all the other characters are, when they're not discovering new powers to escape the latest combination of villains that are after them. Not exactly a classic, but enough there to keep me engaged @bookstodon

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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this awesomely odd collection of short stories by Argentinian author , translated by . The stories are very short and unfold in dreamlike fashion and often deadpan humour, with deep undercurrents of unease, violence, and symbolism. @bookstodon

If you pound a person's head against concrete - even if you're doing it only so they'll come to their senses - you will very likely end up hurting them. This is something my mother explained to me early on, the day I pounded Fredo's head on the asphalt of the school playground.

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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this truly original story of 19th century magicians and the strange legacies they leave for their 20th century descendants. Their twisted deceptions lead to some pretty remarkable sentences: "I apologise if I think I was deceiving me, and meant no harm". @bookstodon

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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The shadow of New Crobuzon hangs very heavily over this story of socialist agitation in a magical steampunk city. I found this readable but not compelling. Some nice scraps of worldbuilding - why aren't there more minotaurs in fantasy? - but the characters didn't pop for me. @bookstodon

kimlockhartga , to bookstodon group
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Since we are coming up on June, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone here on @bookstodon regarding favorite reads of 2024 so far. Whatcha got?

My top five reads of 2024 so far:

The Criminal series of graphic novels by Ed Brubaker (ten primary works)

James, Percival Everett

The Book of Love, Kelly Link

Poor Deer, Claire Oshetsky

Prequel, Rachel Maddow

RanaldClouston ,
@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon Translation State by Ann Leckie is my favourite read this year by far, but others I've enjoyed include

  • Tristram Shandy (Laurence Sterne)
  • Top 10 (Alan Moore / Gene Ha / Zander Cannon)
  • Made Things (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
RanaldClouston ,
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@BramMeehan @kimlockhartga @bookstodon 'slow' is if anything an understatement; the central joke is Shandy's inability to make progress telling the story because of various distractions. 'Tedious' is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you do need some tolerance of the fact that not every 200+ year old joke and allusion is still going to make sense

RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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I've a few of these best-of anthologies, and they've all been ridiculously good value. This one collects short stories from 2001, with my favourites being 'On K2 with Kanakaredes' by , 'The Chief Designer' by and, best of all, 'May Be Some Time' by , a time travel story that tells which 'some time' Captain Oates headed into the Antarctic blizzard for. @bookstodon

RanaldClouston OP ,
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@bookstodon also, while stories aren't really 'for' predicting the future, 'The Real Thing' by is a bang up to date, only slightly exaggerated, satire of the current state of the internet, written in 2001! Cesspits of conspiracies, amoral tech bros, AI-sweetened images, actual information as an expensive niche product, it's all there...

appassionato , to bookstodon group
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The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman, 2020

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that it dramatically shifting our understanding of birds — how they live and how they think.

@bookstodon


"There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." This is one scientist's pithy distinction between mammal brains and bird brains: two ways to make a highly intelligent mind. But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries. What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They're also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own.
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    • RanaldClouston ,
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    @appassionato @bookstodon loved this book; some of the most fun I've had reading pop science in the last few years

    RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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    What a delight it is to discover an author you really enjoy, and they've got a massive catalogue of other books! This little novella by tells a charming and fairly simple adventure story with such spark and wit. @bookstodon

    RanaldClouston , to comics group
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    has written some of my favourite comics, but if this is representative if his 2020s output then I'll pass. There's no lack of effort in here - plenty of imaginative pyrotechnics - but there seems no sense in which there are characters worth caring about in the midstof it all. @comics

    RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group
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    In the early 80s interviewed neurologist / author for a New Yorker piece. It was never written, due in part to Sacks prevaricating about whether to out himself, and they became lifelong friends instead. Just before his 2015 death Sacks encouraged Weschler to write the story up after all. Which is a sweet story, but the book itself is mostly just a meander through transcripts of old interviews, and I can't recommend it @bookstodon

    RanaldClouston OP ,
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    @jswilkins @bookstodon turns out prevaricate doesn't mean what I thought it mean. Procrastinate doesn't seem right either, although it's closer. I think I was maybe thinking of 'vacillating', so I'll edit to that. Thanks!

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