Tag: reading

The Dry by Jane Harper, Book Review

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

Drought is hitting hard in a small Australian town. The livestock is dying, the river is empty, and people are losing their minds. A man kills his wife and one of their children before turning the gun on himself—or at least, that’s what everyone thinks. But his childhood friend, who is also a cop, isn’t so sure. Are there other suspects lurking in the dry bush?

This book feels like a modern version of Agatha Christie. All the suspects are right in front of you, and every possible explanation is on the table.

Rating: 4.5/5 – It’s a fantastic, well-written book, though it’s dark.

The dry riverbed photo is from Bansko, a day before it rained.

When All the Girls Have Gone

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

When All the Girls Have Gone is a crime thriller by Jayne Ann Krentz. It’s flagged “Romantic Suspense” on Goodreads but there’s not much romance in it. There’s some in the continuation “Promise Not to Tell”. I picked the book primarily for the good name and wanted to learn what happens next. It reminded me of Harlan Coben. The book was more of a Cormoran Strike story than a Harlan Coben story but it didn’t disappoint.

Women from an investment club start dying and disappearing, and the sister of one of these women rolls up her sleeves to find out what’s going on. Around ten intertwined events take place, tangled like a mess of wires, where everything causes everything else.

About 20 years ago, the main characters survived a deadly fire. A young cult leader had locked the cult’s children in a barn and set it ablaze. They were rescued by a local cop who crashed through the door with his car. The cult’s secrets remain unsolved, forming the central mystery of the series.

Overall, not a bad thriller, and Part 2, which I’m currently reading, is better.

4*/5

Orconomics

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment
Cover by Artline Studios

I bought this book because I wanted to read something like Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. The book wasn’t that. It’s a very serious epic fantasy, closer to George R.R. Martin than Pratchett.

Gorm Ingerson is a dwarf and a fallen hero, who abandoned his mission years ago. Once an unstoppable slayer of monsters, he now lives under the radar of the major treasure-hunting enterprises. He must join forces with others like him to chase stolen, powerful artifacts and return them to an owner of their choosing.

While the mission is so-so, the world is wow. It’s a boiling can of worms that can’t possibly exist. J. Zachary Pike describes at least 20 smart humanoid species with some dominant over the others, like a fantasy version of Star Wars. The issue is that most of these races would naturally become endangered unless they have some form of habitat isolation, which they don’t. Here’s scientific proof:

  • The Witcher series has a similar setup with all the possible folklore and Tolkienist fantasy races. Humans meticulously exterminate the “monsters”, making the Witchers less and less needed
  • LOTR has habitat isolation with different races living in separate areas and not mixing much, apart from occasional wars to make the story worth telling
  • Discworld has a situation in which the races are not fighting with each other, somehow evolved together
  • Song of Fire and Ice has isolation but also has Dragons that are endangered species
  • Raymond Feist’s Midkemia world has the evil Valheru, which were wiped out from the universe before the books even began

In Orconomics the mess of intelligent fantasy species was created by magic and the Discworld-like mixture suffers from the Witcher-like problems. Most races are endangered and suffer from a Moriori-style future. The book doesn’t offer a plausible explanation for why or how these species still exist.

A well-written and engaging book with many charming characters, though it’s grimdark and lacks humor. The world is both the best and the worst part of it.

4*/5

Umberto Eco’s Criticism of Dale Carnegie

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

I never imagined I’d ever read criticism of Dale Carnegie’s ideas in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. However, this happened last month while reading a collection of essays by Umberto Eco. The collection is called “How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays”, and the essay in question likely translates to “How to Be Famous”.

Eco mocks Carnegie and summarizes his famous book down to the idea that if you want to be successful, trick strangers into feeling famous. He uses the example of TV shows that invite regular folks as guests—so many shows, and so successful, that eventually, every person ends up on TV. However, I’m thinking of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and so on. The success of these apps depends on how famous they make the average user. Give a 10-year-old 1000 likes, and they’ll stay on the platform for years, building a mental image of themselves as the next MrBeast.

Eco brings up the problem that Carnegie’s advice encourages non-genuine behavior. However, having watched The Flintstones, I suspect that genuine human behavior involves frequent fights with clubs, living in caves, and an average life expectancy comparable to squirrels. I’d rather stick to what Carnegie says.

Eco is at least partially right about one thing – most people on the Internet love likes, myself included 🙂