Excellence aching for transcendence, as in the dance that it is the human condition. An anamalia of letters letting you know how the world works in woExcellence aching for transcendence, as in the dance that it is the human condition. An anamalia of letters letting you know how the world works in words....more
(People can see destruction, but most of them cannot see redemption.)
In my initial review I stated that this book reminded me of Marakami's Hard Boile(People can see destruction, but most of them cannot see redemption.)
In my initial review I stated that this book reminded me of Marakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World, due to dual world building. But that is a superficial observation, and the total content of that review was before I paid the local library the fines for overdue materials. 2016 was a good year for me to accrue library fines.
Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer is one of the most important medicinal plants in Northeast China, and ginsenosides are the main active ingredients found in medicinal ginseng. The biosynthesis of ginsenosides is regulated by environmental factors and the expression of key enzyme genes. Therefore, in this experiment, ginseng in the leaf opened stage, the green fruit stage, the red fruit stage, and the root growth stage was used as the test material, and nine individual ginsenosides and total saponins (the sum of the individual saponins) were detected by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography). There was a trend of synergistic increase and decrease, and saponin accumulation and transfer in different tissues. The expression of key enzyme genes in nine synthetic pathways was detected by real-time PCR, and the correlation between saponin content, gene expression, and ecological factors was analyzed. Correlation analysis showed that in root tissue, PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) and soil water potential had a greater impact on ginsenoside accumulation, while in leaf tissue, temperature and relative humidity had a greater impact on ginsenoside accumulation. The results provide a theoretical basis for elucidating the relationship between ecological factors and genetic factors and their impact on the quality of medicinal materials. The results also have guiding significance for realizing the quality of medicinal materials.
—via The Effects of Environmental Factors on Ginsenoside Biosynthetic Enzyme Gene Expression and Saponin Abundance by Tao Zhang, Mei Han,* Limin Yang,* Zhongming Han, Lin Cheng, Zhuo Sun, and Linlin Yang
One of my speed-reading college friends recommended this book to me once when we were drunk and I forgot about that conversation until nearly ten years later, when I began reading this one on a whim. Glad I did manage to get around to it, even though I was somewhat skeptical of it when he was telling me about it. Oh, what a fool I was!
There were a few eye-rolling moments in this book, but for the most part, there are definite reasons as to why it is arranged/told as it is. The author's and translator's notes at the end of the story were particularly helpful. I do not read many new translated Chinese novels and my understanding of 20th century Chinese history was lacking when I began the book; thankfully there were a few helpful in-text notes to contextualize certain things.
I will probably read Contact before deciding to finish this trilogy, or maybe some PKD.
Upon beginning to view a tele-adaptation of this, I realize I never did finish reading the book. Time to get back to work. (hide spoiler)]...more
TRIGGER WARNING, details below beneath the "spoiler" tag.
Historical fiction can be hit or miss, depending upon one's interest in the given subject andTRIGGER WARNING, details below beneath the "spoiler" tag.
Historical fiction can be hit or miss, depending upon one's interest in the given subject and the author's abilities and execution. For those who are fascinated by witchcraft and/or the waning of Queen Elizabeth's influences on England (Gunpowder Plot, anyone?) this is a quick and enjoyable read.
(view spoiler)[Note that if you have any sensitivities or objections to depictions of incest or torture or rape, this is not the book for you.
William Shakespeare plays a minorrole; many of the characters are based upon actual historical figures. Despite this footing, Winterson keeps her prose lively as her plot is quick which makes for fast page turning (short chapters also help in this regard). One of the historical figures who is alluded to—but does not appear in the story—is Edmund Campion, a Catholic priest persecuted by England in the early days of that country's reformation. This is of personal import to me as the first college which I ever attended was named for him. (hide spoiler)]
Winterson has some great lines in this one; one of my favorites is the phrase witchery popery popery witchery which was recited by the McCarthy-esque government goon named Potts. The structure of the narrative employs some use of flashback although it is not nearly as intricate as Winterson's Gut Symmetries, which I also enjoyed (although I am hesitant to make any concrete comparisons between the two without rereading both after completing Winterson's published catalog). Suffice it to say that if you enjoy her writing (for either themes or style) than you will love this book, as it is certainly a tightly-honed little package that will leave you breathlessly contemplating the briefest glimmers at dusk....more
For being a book about curmudgeonly know-it-all assholes specializing in obscurities, the fact that the author prThat's entertainment. (view spoiler)[
For being a book about curmudgeonly know-it-all assholes specializing in obscurities, the fact that the author presents an alternate spelling of Willie Nelson's first name riled me up. Maybe it was the intentional remnant of a Free Willy joke or maybe not.
I liked the ending, aside from the depositing of one minor-yet-major player from the narrative, but, hey, that's life, right? People appear, stuff happens, and some people just disappear, their problems being literally beyond the scope of those with whom an observer's principal concerns are honed in on. It is what it is.
I really liked this book and really did not like it at the same time. There was a line near the end, in describing a movie that is "satisfying" on a visceral/palliative level without being fully intellectually/morally/emotionally/aestheticallyengaging, a sort of celebration of big budget Hollywood schlock. And that is sort of where I feel that this book hovers, back and forth between comedic brilliance/novelty and the page-turning "beach read". This was my third time attempting to read it since its recent publication; my local library still shelves it with the New Releases after two years. The difference being that this time I actually made it past the first thirty pages and was hooked. At certain points I did become bored, as the story became repetitive and predictable at times, but I kept returning to it because of the fresh humor and the well-developed protagonist.
While reading this book in public, I would show it to people in real life and, if I suspected that they were hip to music and films, would state rather simply that it does for video stores what High Fidelity did for record shops. Which is somewhat untrue; Hornby's first person narrative is more than an ocean apart from this celebration of the commodification of the American South. Plus Hornby's book suffers from the rare inability to perform to the same level as its adaptation, due in part to the technical limitations of books not yet having embedded soundtracks.
But really, the High Fidelity comparison is not so apt. This is more Empire Records due to its bildungsroman-esque trappings imparted by its college-town setting.
Two stars because this is an okay book that could have been excellent. It seemed too long, which is unfortunate as the edition I read clocks in at under 300 pages. The reliance on pop culture references was annoying and distracting and will only further limit this book's immediate grasp upon future audiences. The exact year in which the story took place was difficult to pin down at first, given the general technological progression in the film/home/mobile entertainment industries. The author chooses an out-of-context quote from A Confederacy of Dunces to preface his book but makes no mention of the work which that quotation points to. The book teases with sex and porn but never delivers the goods. It was funny, it was entertaining, it was a way to pass the time.
Like any form of entertainment deemed sub-par by an overly critical audience, this book demands one to evaluate—in light of the simple fact that the thing was not such total rubbish (nor overly demanding, for that matter) to be snubbed entirely and left halfread— the grounds upon which the value and pleasures of literature and art are to be determined. All of which means that for a book I did not care for, I liked it quite a bit.
The idea of a VHS rental place being the setting for a story has been explored by a few different films though. There's Ben Churchill's documentary Video World and something called The Last Video Store and then there's Video Store and, of course, Be Kind Rewind—I've only seen parts of the latter and fell asleep through it multiple times, not that that really means anything because movies = naptime for me, as a general rule. (hide spoiler)] That's why I read books, for the congruence of cover art....more
This book offered as much to like as to not like. The concepts were certainly intriguing—using nanotechnology to enhance one's mental capacities and eThis book offered as much to like as to not like. The concepts were certainly intriguing—using nanotechnology to enhance one's mental capacities and essentially surf the internet via an optical implant, having medical nanobots used for evil. But after a certain point, the stereotyped characters became overly annoying and the plot just a little bit predictable.
Nonetheless, it was entertaining in the same way that action movies where lots of things blow up can be entertaining, if one is in the mood for that sort of thing. I'm sure that there are other SF novels that explore these same scenarios and themes in a more thorough fashion, but I am hardly comprehensive in my familiarity of that genre so cannot make any concrete comparisons.
The most surprising thing about this book for me is that the author is female—which I did not find out until having finished the book. Having previously written for the television series "Xena, Warrior Princess", the author certainly knows how to cater to an essential part of the male geek psyche.
My review copy was furnished courtesy of the publisher, 47North (an Amazon imprint) in exchange for an honest review. I waited over a month to write this review in order to better ascertain what made me enjoy such a salacious piece of literature. I honestly do not know why I liked this book, but I know that I did not love it, though I liked it enough to pass it on to a friend who shares my interest in the philosophical exploration of consciousness and the possibility of simulation/enhancement thereof....more
Inherently subjective fun provoked from the manifolds of objective (hyper)reality.
Whether this book is a sober work of immaturity or a mature output Inherently subjective fun provoked from the manifolds of objective (hyper)reality.
Whether this book is a sober work of immaturity or a mature output of intoxication is as irrelevant as the concept of a target audience". Basilières deftly pokes fun at Canada, internet, porn, time, AI, sex, money, "free will" and other sundry topics such as CONTROL/anarchy/quantum shit. The parts that are good are great while the parts that are not are easily skimmed over.
There are footnotes. There is a confusing nested-narration thing which allows the telling to jump time, which is confusing given that this is a story about time-travel. There's this one page which lays out the relationship between Time and Motion and Gravity in a really clear, overly-simplified way that is worthwhile for the sake of Thought.
I'm not rating this in the GoodReads star system because I don't really understand how that stuff works. My copy was given to me as a courtesy by the publisher, who recognized the sheer winning luck of my entry in the FirstReads pogrom.
Overall a positive use of cognitive effort/time-expenditure though not at all something to be read All At Once as you kind of have to be In The Mood for something silly. And the cover art is rather apt to boot....more
Bought a dingy mass market paperback copy of this sometime after reading Beowulf.
Said copy sat around unread for approximately twenty-seven years befBought a dingy mass market paperback copy of this sometime after reading Beowulf.
Said copy sat around unread for approximately twenty-seven years before I ate the whole thing in two days after becoming temporarily invalid, during which time my skin absorbed the fine dusting of book-mould my particular copy accrued over the course of its existence.
Traded my copy in at a different shop for other books so to unlock the updated book-mould so as to refinish the illusions of space and time through which my consciousness appears to pass.
I do not plan on reading any further in this series....more
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