Ran 97 Poets of Revachol in September 2024, so all the reading happened on a bus or while setting up the location.
The Complete Beginner’s Guide To ChatGPT: Unlock Practical AI and Master Prompts to Harness the Full Power of ChatGPT in Just 7 Days
Ok, this one is on me – I thought the „beginner“ here is…well, a bit more advanced than the „you know nothing about how computer works“ stage. It can be useful for somebody for sure, it just ain’t me.
Monkey: The Journey to the West
There is a reason why this is a timeless classic. Solid myth with all the important parts (including moral message of course), flawed heroes and subplots refined by ages. Window to a past for sure and such a f*cking excellent thing.
(and something that also shows a clear differences to how western myths reflect history and culture – just consider how many times passports and bureacracy are mentioned in any Greek myths…)
(read 1994 edition from Evergreen Books translated by Arthur Waley)
Five small town friends gather to understand how much their paths diverged after a crime they comitted: and they all pay for it. In the most cookie cutter way you can imagine.
This would be much more interesting if it would be worse, quirky or something. The sheer mediocrity and averageness of everything, literally everything in it is just tiring, especially knowing how much better Malfi can do.
Hard to think about a book that would be more problematic to review. Did I love Disco Elysium, the world of it? I did so much that I spent years of my life creating a larp inspired by it. And that spark is present here.
Is it well written? Well, straight up no. Does it have some quite problematic undertones? Yes, it does.
Did I still read through it twice? I did. But I am still unable to tell you if I liked it. And even less able to tell you if it is a good book.
Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy
Banger. Went through it in one quick reading and – oh boy, it did also got more value with the last months events.
The chosen hypothesis (concentrated capital wants to end democracy and any sort of challenge to its power, including competition) has not been overtalked yet, the examples and reasoning are clear and well laid out and the whole concept of ultra-capitalists trying to break states and reinterpretation of what does political life means today is very well built. Recommended.
Also, this is exactly the kind of „contemporary history“ that Czechia is sorely missing, getting just random pieces and snippets mostly convoluted with other ideologies. This kind of clear “historical thinking” would be a blessing to have here, and I hope at least this book gets translated.
Kamome Shirahama, 白浜鴎, Stephen Kohler (translator)
Went for a super simple and cozy reading, mostly got it, with some scenes being actually a bit too quick / confusing, and did not really match with the super slow rhythm of the overall story.