Philosophy of Olfactory Perception by Andreas Keller

enframed wrote: Mon May 05, 2025 3:28 pm Philosophy of Olfactory Perception by Andreas Keller

I’m curious to know if Roy Bedichek’s The Sense Of Smell gets mentioned in that book.

Currently reading The Son by Philipp Meyer.

Karp, A. C., and Zamiska, N. W. (2025): The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, The Bodley Head (London).

Dave N. wrote: Mon May 05, 2025 4:12 pm

enframed wrote: Mon May 05, 2025 3:28 pm Philosophy of Olfactory Perception by Andreas Keller

I’m curious to know if Roy Bedichek’s The Sense Of Smell gets mentioned in that book.

He does not.

seby wrote: Karp, A. C., and Zamiska, N. W. (2025): The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, The Bodley Head (London).

I like how in the bios and summary surveillance and predictive policing isn't mentioned by name. Also Palantir started in Palo Alto. One doesn't shed one's "tech bro" status (or guilt) just by moving HQ to Colorado. I'm curious if these guys who just capitalize on what is essentially data mining and dissemination used to feed algorithms and LLMs lay any of the "blame" at their own feet. They are also "libertarians" who make their billions almost entirely from governments.

Just finished:
Whatever : Michel Houellebecq
It's hard for me to find sympathy with the narrator, to believe in the sincerity of his pathos, as he passes judgement on his environment, since he himself is about as unpleasant as any of the phenomena he describes. He is particularly fixated on people he considers ugly - especially women - like he is personally insulted that they walk around where he can see them. Some of this could be a function of his depression, I'm not a stranger to how paranoid hatred and compulsive violent thoughts can turn up in those situations, but some of his annoyances with other people are so petty that I feel like he creates his own problems.

The writing is good and occasionally funny, and every now and then it touches upon something painfully real, so I'm interested to see how this develops over subsequent books.

In my bag I've got a collection of X-Men comics from the 80s and some poetry by Rupert Brooke.

Neko Case's book was checked out at my library, so instead I got All the Pretty Horses.

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 1:57 pm Neko Case's book was checked out at my library, so instead I got All the Pretty Horses.

I reread All The Pretty Horses within the last year or two after making my way through Cormac’e entire written output after the release of his last two leading up to his death. I didn’t think that much of Horses before, but the Border Trilogy stacks up nicely against the rest of his catalog, though its not exactly hard to beat the pieces of shit he wrote early on. The ending of the last one had me spellbound, though I think that was the very last of his books for me to either have read for the first time or reread, since I was working out of order from Stella and The Passenger.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 6:52 pm

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 1:57 pm Neko Case's book was checked out at my library, so instead I got All the Pretty Horses.

I reread All The Pretty Horses within the last year or two after making my way through Cormac’e entire written output after the release of his last two leading up to his death. I didn’t think that much of Horses before, but the Border Trilogy stacks up nicely against the rest of his catalog, though its not exactly hard to beat the pieces of shit he wrote early on. The ending of the last one had me spellbound, though I think that was the very last of his books for me to either have read for the first time or reread, since I was working out of order from Stella and The Passenger.

What else should I read from Cormac McCarthy? I've also read The Road, Blood Meridian, and No Country For Old Men.

zircona1 wrote: Wed May 07, 2025 8:31 am

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 6:52 pm

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 1:57 pm Neko Case's book was checked out at my library, so instead I got All the Pretty Horses.

I reread All The Pretty Horses within the last year or two after making my way through Cormac’e entire written output after the release of his last two leading up to his death. I didn’t think that much of Horses before, but the Border Trilogy stacks up nicely against the rest of his catalog, though its not exactly hard to beat the pieces of shit he wrote early on. The ending of the last one had me spellbound, though I think that was the very last of his books for me to either have read for the first time or reread, since I was working out of order from Stella and The Passenger.

What else should I read from Cormac McCarthy? I've also read The Road, Blood Meridian, and No Country For Old Men.

Suttree first and foremost, then any of the other titles after that, though I probably wouldn’t be in that much of a hurry. Maybe move on to The Border Trilogy if you’re hooked.
I would actively avoid anything earlier than Child of God as that was his first good book, if only because I think that’s when he began to grant his despicable characters some humanity. I also think his last two were better than what the general consensus grants ans I never liked any of his scripts.