Book Review: Family Abolition

Image: The cover of the book is a gradient of pink at the top fading down into purple and then blue at the bottom. In large letters stretching the entire page, dark over the lighter parts of the background and light over day, is "family abolition - capitalism and the communizing of care" and at the bottom, "M.E. O'Brien"

Anyone who has followed my reviews likely knows by now that I have mixed feelings about academic texts, especially queer theory and the like. I often find them to be deliberately inaccessible, often discussing communities with the least access to the kind of vocabulary one needs to understand a single sentence. Sometimes a book comes along that straddles the line between academia and accessibility quite well. I found Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care by M. E. O'Brien to be one such text. The book will be rewarding to academics or others who frequently immerse themselves in nonfiction reading while also being readable both stylistically and regarding vocabulary. Someone unfamiliar might need to google here and there, but overall, the book emphasizes the arguments therein rather than the biggest most obscure words that can be used to make those arguments. This book challenged the way I thought about some things, validated others in ways I did not realize I needed, and offers a great deal of imaginative praxis in terms of reaching the goals set out by the author. The book is also very well organized.

This review is years after the publication date because this book and I got off to a rough start. My attempts at the PDF ARC version (I usually get hard copies or ebooks) made reading too impossible and I abandoned it for a while. I am glad I was able to return to it in another format later as it is one of the better and more original nonfiction texts that I have read.

I am actually quite estranged from most of my blood relatives, though that is something I am working on changing at the moment. Still, I did have a slight knee jerk reaction to this subject that many people may have. The Family is something woven deeply across cultures and holds great power almost everywhere in its own way. One may think of abolishing such a structure as to mean taking away the very foundation many need to survive and have relationships. O'Brien acknowledges this inevitable reaction early on. She then effectively argues that abolishing the family does not involve taking away safety, security, cooperation, nurturing, etc, but rather adding them (or creating them for the first time in some situations.) O'Brien exemplifies this through an excellent and well researched history of the intersection and interplay between the Family and Capitalism as well as other forms of oppression. 

Aside from teaching me many things I did not know about this history, one thing that stood out to me most in this book was the criticism of communities. I have always sort of blamed solely myself for my isolation, yet O'Brien discusses the phenomenon of older organizers/activists/counterculture community members etc becoming isolated through age, disability, etc as a very common problem. I still believe I could have done a much better job working on relationships in my past, but it was interesting to read that there is more to it. The argument is essentially that communities fail because capitalism causes them to and the family helps capitalism in this task. When community always ends up secondary to the family, even for those without one, communities will fall apart socially, financially, distance wise, or any other number of ways. Without fighting capitalism and other oppressions including the family, things disintegrate and fall apart. Using (antiauthoritarian) Marxist and other arguments- including also criticism of Marx and others' oppressive flaws and prejudices- the author discusses how the focus needs to be on the commune rather than the community.

O'Brien offers extensive descriptions of what the commune is, why it is important, what it and its components look like, and how they could be implemented. To tackle a rehashing of said arguments would make this review far too long. I can say that I was already on board with some things and became convinced about the others that I had not been aware of yet. I hate to admit it as an anarchist, but I am terribly misanthropic and pessimistic at times. I have a difficult time believing in utopias where everyone cooperates that do not- at best- fall apart. O'Brien's discussion of both the failure of community and an all-inclusive commune, ripe with strategies for  tackling harm and conflict, felt much more realistic to me than many things I have read. I might have found a disagreement here and there, but they were far fewer than other such proposals. 

It is clear that O'Brien created a very complex but believable whole with this book. She covers the past, present, and future in honest and accurate ways. I won't pretend that I cease to be pessimistic, as that is generally my baseline. But, this book made many things I think about and desire actually seem possible. All of this is to say that Family Abolition isn't just about critiquing and dismantling "The Family." It is about creating something better and more enriching it its place- something critical texts often fail to do properly. While critiques alone definitely have their place, this one won't leave you thinking, "Well, then what? Now what?" when you reach the end. It did not surprise me to find an optimistic speculative fiction about a future commune in her repertoire when I looked into the author. Needless to say, I look forward to giving that a read as well, hoping that O'Brien is one of the few whose academic writing skills are not at odds with her fiction ones.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: The Gull Guide

image: the cover of the book is a grey, white, and black bird in flight with a blurred blue sky in the background. Across the top in white letters is "the gull guide: North America," and in the bottom left corner is the author "amar ayyash."

Even master birders with decades of experience will often concede that they struggle with identification of gulls. These birds are so diverse yet so similar, have so many different phases where they look drastically different, yet very similar to one another in similar cycles, and sometimes telling them apart is a matter of the edge of a single feather or something equally ridiculous. As a result I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Amar Ayyash's The Gull Guide: North America.

I myself am not a master birder. While I am not a complete amateur since I have some years of experience under my belt, I only very recently started venturing out into interactions with other people who can teach me new things outside of my own reading and studying. As a result a guide like this is exceptionally valuable. The reason this book works so well, in my opinion, is that it does not fall into the trap that some guides do and trying to simplify something complicated. The author discusses this in how some people do not want to teach the different feathers and parts of the bird so as not to confuse someone new. However, with gulls as well as some other species, being able to tell these minute differences apart is critical. Ayyash also critiques the "x winter" labeling style since it's inaccurate given the differences in molt and breeding months between species and instead uses a far more accurate "x cycle" labeling structure. 

The information as well as the many charts and labels are indeed somewhat intimidating, but I found myself completely engaged. I was not intimidated in the way one can feel like they're drowning in information that's impossible to parse. There are copious amounts of photos showing each bit of information from a different angle. All of the photos have clear descriptions that help to learn things by sight quite well. Each section on an individual species has tons of photos and many different ways of identifying and thinking about the birds. There is even a section on aberrant birds such as leucistic and melanistic gulls. 

Ayyash also offers general birding tips on when to step back and when to hyper focus. He gives examples of confusing identifications that were made in error. The only criticism I have of the book's structure is that the multitude of images in an average sized book means that it's tough to see some of the details in smaller images. But, I'm not sure this could have been created any other way because making the images large would make the book so massive and heavy as to be unusable. I'd rather have this structure than fewer images.

Approaching the material this way not only helps one see the whole bird and learn more, it gives the reader multiple ways to focus on the birds. What I mean by this is that people learn and perceive things in different ways with different traits dominating their minds. This gives enough information on each identification type to be used by each person. Because it is full of photos and the print is high quality, it is a heavier guide. Sort of like a medium-sized Bible. So, to use in the field, I imagine this guide would be better for something like a stationary birding session. However, as someone who uses both apps in the field and print guides at home, don't let this deter you. There's something about book guides in hand that aid identification in ways that are different than those on electronics, including the wonderful pages available on Cornell's website. I can't even describe what this is, I just know that there are many times that I've been stumped only to open a book that makes everything clear to me. This book is indispensable as one of those on my shelf. None of my other guides, of which I have many, managed to make it possible to more confidently identify gulls. 

I still have a lot of practicing to do. Recently a group of ring-billed gulls in multiple cycles stood in a nice little line for me. Thanks to this guide, I was able to pick out the features and cycles of each which was a great exercise with an abundant species I'm somewhat familiar with. The next time a rare bird alert goes out for a gull, I'll be much more confident in my ability to find that needle in a haystack. 

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Dismantling the Master's Clock

Image: The cover of the book is a close up collage of a clock face showing stenciled numbers of standard and military time. There are tan lines over top of the close up cut out of the clock face which make up the lines of maps, calendars, and illustraions. In the center is a large black circle. Inside that in white and tan lettering is "Dismantling the Master's Clock - on race, space, and time- Rasheedah Phillips."

Rasheedah Phillips' Dismantling the Master's Clock is the sort of creative academic scholarship that makes me glad that I still give academic books a shot, despite some of them seeming to be little more than reinventing the wheel using the biggest words possible. The author is a jack of many trades, boasting not only academic author chops, but she is also an activist, organizer, artist, and lawyer. Her ability to mash these things together and come out with something coherent, engaging, and fascinating is a major strength of this book.

I took my time reading this. It is very out there (in a good way) and quite dense. It includes many quantum physics topics that I have read the popular science versions of but was very rusty even on those. Phillips also is constantly blending metaphors and real histories to create a constant stream of thought exercises on the topics of time, race, social justice, gender, and so on. I will say that I would love to hear a review from someone who is more of an expert in quantum mechanics to see what their take on her use of these concepts in this text would be. My very meager understanding is that quantum mechanics are occurring at the tiniest of scales. Things work differently there than they do on the macro scale... sorta? Phillips uses a lot of quantum mechanics ideas- especially of duality of matter states and nonlinear timescapes- as a way of explaining how things occur or can be seen on a macro scale. From my understanding- again, a very limited one- this would not be accurate if taken literally. Sometimes it's not clear to me how literal she is being in this application. But, using quantum states as metaphor for history, culture, and experiences of Black and other marginalized people does make sense. It's a creative way of discussing things that have been studied and examined before in a new light. This offers new ways of thinking about both critical theory and the science of time, which is what separates this text from your run of the mill academic book on either subject.

One thing central to the book is the phenomenon of "Colored People's Time" (CPT) which Phillips dives deeply into (also comparing it with the quantum physics concept of charge-parity time.) She discusses its use as a pejorative, as a lie, as a different cultural way of living, as an inevitable response to years of oppression, and a way to transform one's thinking about space and time in general. She explains her ideas about "temporal oppression" which involves forcing Black people into a version of time that was designed without their freedom in mind. My personal experience is with similar phenomena less centered around race often called "anarchist time" or "punk standard time." I have similar mixed feelings and experiences about how these looser interpretations of pun(k)tuality affect oppressed people. The confines of strict schedules can both harm marginalized people who cannot meet them OR harm them by causing them to wait when they don't have the ability to. My very, frankly primitive, understanding of these things has left me frustrated many times sitting for hours longer, irritated, wondering how the world is supposed to function when someone needs to be relieved of their post. Thankfully, Phillips is talking about something so much deeper than that. I feel honestly grateful to now see how shallow my understanding of these things has been.

One thing about linear, strict, standardized time keeping is how rooted in European colonization it is. Now, I knew this was a thing, but did not really know the specifics of it. I am sitting here surrounded by clocks (mostly because I dig the aesthetic, but also because I can barely keep a schedule without having them in my face constantly and running 15 minutes ahead.) Reading about when the first clocks were erected in public squares and how that changed time keeping was eye opening for me. Time is no longer based majorly on more rational things like light, seasons, weather, and so on specific to various locations and cultural needs. It is based on clocks designed by a small subset of people mainly for capitalistic, globalization, or related reasons. This review is obviously the briefest of cliff notes. The author presents a case that is both informative and convincing that the way we currently keep time is oppressive and doomed to fail the most vulnerable. It is designed in ways to control and also in ways that make those with the least resources have the most difficult time meeting deadlines.

Another thing she discusses is who is allowed grace with time. One thing that really hit home for me as someone dealing with my hellscape of chronic illnesses was the mention of doctor's visits. That was one of the first things I used to think of when folks would discuss looser concepts of being "on time." How would a doctor's appointment with life sustaining treatment be run if people showed up whenever they wanted? (Which- for the record- is not at all what she is arguing.) Phillips ends up mentioning the waits in many doctor's offices and it came together in a more personal way for me. I can sit in a waiting room for 2 hours and it is expected that I do so if those we are paying are running late. But, if a patient- again, the person paying- is 15 minutes late, they can be asked to leave. My doctor can reschedule my appointment 3 times, but too many cancellations on my end could leave me looking for someone new. The institution's time is valued over the patients', even if the doctors themselves don't feel that way. 

The really deep dive goes into the history of slavery and Jim Crow. How long did Black people have to wait? Centuries. Yes, this is big picture and abstract, but the only way to survive waiting centuries for even partial freedom is to have a looser, more fluid idea of time. She wraps up the book with an interesting study of time capsules and how they differ across cultures and races. It is here that she uses the most examples of art installations including her own to show how imagining new ways of understanding time give a more accurate depiction of the world at large. I must stress again how this book does a much better job explaining this in detail. I have struggled to write this review in giving people a taste of the contents that are so very complex. What I can say for sure is that no matter what sort of views you have on time and space, this book will have you thinking differently about them. 

Overall, Rasheedah Phillips uses her varied skills to discuss these topics in creative and fresh ways. The book will require your time, thought, and attention- and it pays off. I hope that folks with physics degrees will read this book and offer their takes as I imagine they would have very interesting things to add. This is definitely an example of an academic book that is both heavy and worth the effort to lift.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: To Rob a Bank is an Honor

Image: The cover of the book is a red tinted photograph of Lucio Urtubia from the neck up, an older light skinned man wearing a black beret and looking to the right side of the cover. Over top are scrawling of words in red handwriting. In the center in off white color is "Lucio Urtubia" and "To rob a bank is an honor." Vertically up the left side in blue letters is, "translated by Paul Sharkey" and the right side: "Foreword by Philip Ruff"

In times like these, it can be easy to feel doomed. I am not one for platitudes that seek to shame us for our struggles. Using people as inspiration porn does little good for anyone. However, I do think there is room to draw inspiration from one another when we are united in struggle. So, when a fascist is re-elected into office, it can be valuable to look to those who fought fascism, often in even worse conditions, who came before us. This makes Lucio Urtubia's memoir/autobiography - To Rob a Bank is an Honor - a well timed publication.

We learn early on that this book comes from stacks of writings that Urtubia handed over for help organizing while claiming, "I'm no writer." He reasserts this again in the text, upset that he did not have a better education in writing. I appreciate how this book put all of his words together and made it a readable book. Many times we get memoirs that are poorly edited or written solely by a ghostwriter. This bridges that gap so that he can tell his story in his own words. I must say, for someone who claims not to be a writer, he is highly quotable. Woven throughout each set, often each paragraph, are declarations for liberation and statements on fighting repression.

There were quite a few things I had to google with this book which I guess would be my main criticism. Being a basic USAmerican, it is unsurprising that I am not well versed in the political movements of other nations. It would have been cool if some footnotes were added to define some of the "ists" and "isms" found throughout, for instance. Especially since search engines give increasingly monetized results. Nonetheless, I was generally able to find out what I needed to know to make the story whole.

There is a lot more to Urtubia's life than robbing banks. In fact, he mentions how much he hated the threatening part of the exercise and only did so to fund a critical revolution. He was a laborer with strong interest in worker cooperation, a partner to the equally brilliant and revolutionary Anne Garnier and father to their daughter, Juliette, a well known friend and community member, and many other things. He also grew up and experienced levels of poverty that many of us here have never endured, even those of us who are poor. He and those around him endured countless barriers, yet found ways to cooperate and support one another. All of that said, the title of this book gives credence to a truly successful form of illegalism. I don't take issue with certain tactics executed for the sake of disruption, but I really enjoy reading about when said tactics result in very advantageous expropriation from capitalist ventures where the much needed benefit outweighs the costs- even when the costs such as regular surveillance, imprisonment, and state-sanctioned murder are huge. The robbery and fraud helped fund the critical movements that fought fascism. In these peoples minds, there was no other option than to fight.

Today, when I find myself feeling as if there is no hope, I use histories like Urtubia's and that of his comrades, not to shame us for our despair or level of (in)action, but to remind us that there are people who have fought similar demons in the past. Some who have lost, some who have won, and most who have continued a struggle that is never ending- and they did it together. I think that this autobiography full of widely applicable liberatory messaging is a good companion in dark times.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Absolution

 

Image: the cover of the book is a black background with a grotesque illustration of a  alligator whose body is breaking off into various pieces which are morphing into plants. There is an oil slick rainbow sort of coloring throughout that is also the color of the lettering. Across the top reads "absolution -  a southen reach novel - new york times bestseller" and the bottom "author of Annihilation - jeff vandermeer."

I am not alone in my love of Jeff Vandermeer's works. I was pleasantly surprised to see this 4th volume come out, adding new dimensions to the ever creeping terror and unease that I often feel in strange places that remind me of the series. Absolution functions as a prequel of sorts, taking us back to expeditions of previous generations that lead to the Area X we encounter in the original books. The way this book functions is exciting because it gives some answers, but also creates new questions. It leaves me hoping that the Area X series will end up being one of those science fiction collections like Revelation Space where quality offshoots just keep coming and growing over time. 

I really enjoyed seeing a new side of Vandermeer's writing. I have admittedly not read every book of his, so I do not know if he has done this in others. I felt like he really captured the whole MK Ultra era and used it well in the story. It's something that has been referenced in so many stories, fiction and non, at this point that I initially worried if I might become bored. However, here it felt appropriate and natural. I found myself even seeing the drab tan, brown, and orange of the time in my head. We also get a different level of technological interaction with area X which is interesting.

The characters were well written but not always my favorite taste wise. I cannot quite put my finger on why. They did fit into the stories well though. However, be warned that one section is full of F-bombs and I imagine those listening to an audiobook without headphones may find themselves turning down the volume lest they scandalize their neighborhood.

The atmosphere was there. I felt drawn back to the original stories from a decade ago. The world of manipulation of nature in ways that are supposed to be impossible. It is interesting that in Area X, said manipulation is successful, with horrifying results. Unlike many other "scientific" endeavors of the same history that were unsuccessful, also with horrifying results. There is something uniquely attractive about scifi and horror that manages to bridge that sort of impossibility without feeling like pure fantasy. I don't need everything to be hard scifi or whatever, but I do appreciate something that feels very real. Vandermeer's world continues to feel real. 

This book left me yearning to return to the others. There are so many books in the world that I want to read and never enough time. I think I will have to fit in a reread of the trilogy after this though. Hopefully we will be in for more surprises from Vandermeer. If not with Area X, than with some new found horror that feels too close to home, creeping up beside us, and changing us into something else before we know it.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Feather Trails

Image: The cover of the book is a nature shot with a light blue sky background and a snow covered branch sticking out from the bottom left. A peregrine falcon- a bird with a dark mask, pointed wings, bright yellow legs and around eyes and bill and barred belly and wings- launches themself off of the branch to the right. Across the top in blue is "Feather Trails," below that in yellow, "A Journey of Discover Among Endangered Birds," below that in white, "One Conservationist's effort to save the peregrine falcon, hawaiian crows, and california condor," and in the bottom right in yellow, "Sophie A. H. Osborn, foreword by Pete Dunne."

This is going to be a ranting, rambling review full of animal liberationist opinions as it's impossible for it not to be with how many feelings, some old and some new, were awakened by this beautiful book. The author and I have many agreements and a few disagreements, so be careful not to project all of my opinions onto her writing if I happen to convey this jumbled mess without enough organization. Sophie A. H. Osborn's Feather Trails is a standout in the genres it spans (memoir, nature writing, science, and more.) The writing is excellent, engrossing, and drew me in completely, making me feel like I was there. Her ability to immerse the reader with details about locations, visuals, feelings, experiences, etc is strengthened by her simultaneous ponderings on what things are like for the individual birds of the species she worked to support and conserve. Her passion about birds and conservation is clear and reading this book added to my own passion and understanding.

Learning Osborn's history with peregrine falcons had me thinking of every time I have had the luxury of seeing this no longer endangered bird with the awe of knowing they may never have had a chance without people like her and the challenging work they did. The stories of the alala crows tore at and touched my heart. You can tell from my name that I have a soft spot for corvids and to know these crafty creatures are extinct in the wild is devastating. Learning how the remaining individuals in captivity still maintain some wildness and ability to enjoy life makes the reality easier to digest. The section on the California condors was by far the hardest, yet still full of beauty. The pitfalls and absolute cruelty and callousness of so many humans, how they killed so many birds, and damaged conservation efforts over and over has infuriated and haunted me since. 

Frankly, I already found the propaganda of hunters all being the "greatest conservationists" to be gross. Taking a history where regulations had to be created and rigidly enforced because hunting drove many species to, or close to, extinction (including deer, canada geese, and other now abundant species,) then rebranding the entire story with hunters as the heroes is dishonest at best. (Not to mention how current subsets of conservation that are partly funded by hunting licenses end abruptly when their ability to kill who they want when they want, or the profits of loggers and ranchers, are affected.) After Osborn telling the stories of lead poisonings, individual condor by condor, all dying extremely prematurely, while the NRA and "conservationist" hunters clung (and still cling) to lead shot because "gun rights" frankly made me so infuriated by this hunting propaganda that I could barely breathe. For the record, Osborn herself does not claim to be anti-hunting, just anti-lead ammunition. Osborn's stories of individual birds, their relationships, explorations and adventures, and the short lives they did get to lead made out for a book that is not purely trauma. However, it is never easy to read sensitive, thoughtful, honest accounts of how we got here, where we have succeeded, and where we have failed. That honesty leads me to my next point.

I often go in to books about the greater than human world open-minded but with low expectations. There are tons of books out there that disappoint, not so much in their lack of research and information, but in their objectification of their subjects. I am so tired of reading books that treat birds and other animals as a monolith of beings with no personalities and only a single minded focus (usually reproduction.) I did not know much about Osborn before this book (because I am out of touch, she is in fact a rather large name in ornithology and conservation.) I was pleasantly surprised by how she told these stories for a variety of reasons.

Despite sometimes falling into the dreaded "it" designation that many humans continue to give animals, Osborn focuses on each bird that she worked with and knew as an individual being. We learn about their personalities, how they interact with one another in different ways, how human interference affects things, and so on. She also does not shy away from the ethical conundrums of working with endangered birds. While I don't always agree with her, I found so much value in her discussion of the realities of how righting human wrongs can be very complicated. From DDT and lead contamination to the introduction of feral cats and killing birds to feed other birds, Osborn does not shy away from discussing her feelings and overall ethics (topics often woefully absent in science literature.) She discusses her uneasiness with the practice of killing quail to save falcons and how seeing a feral cat be killed to protect other species taught her to transition her own cats to be indoor only. I did not notice her analyzing the killing of cows for condors, though, which I think could have pushed the ethical convo further when discussing animal agribusiness and its contributions to climate change and species extinction- especially given the focus on hunting (which presently has less overall impact than animal exploitation agribusiness.) Not only do the wastefulness, greenhouse gases, land use, groundwater pollution, etc, cause issues, but many vulture species have become endangered due to poisoning from drugs given to cows, but I digress.

She discusses the human fault for introducing non native species in much more honest ways than many scientists, though in my opinion she still put too much blame on said species at times for endangering other animals by condoning their slaughter. The big picture is more complicated than that. In reality, humans (aside from introducing said species in the first place) have far worse impacts than any feral cat. Overfishing/hunting, habitat destruction, pollutions, animal agribusiness, etc are all massive threats to birds and other animals. Even the first humans who traveled outside Africa to colonize other continents began to cause imbalances, extinctions, etc upon arrival (no shade to folks just trying to survive without this knowledge centuries ago.) With European colonization, industrialization, etc, those problems were intensely magnified. Yet, humans believe that we and our luxuries are worth more, so we call the other animals "invaders" and blame it all on them. Osborn is unafraid to have this discussion which I truly appreciate, even if she and I disagree on a fraction of the solutions.

Osborn also is willing to acknowledge the ethical conundrums in terms of conservation, study, and breeding of endangered species. She does not shy away from the reality that handling birds is stressful. I have seen bird banding posts with people taking selfies with terrified animals or claiming they're "smilin for the camera!" (I support banding research efforts, for the record, and respect the efforts of scientists to reduce stress as much as possible. Unfortunately, nonconsensual contact with other animals is sometimes needed for conservation and research. I also support questioning everything we do without another animal's consent and how we characterize those actions.) Osborn discusses the practice of separating animals who choose one another as partners in order to place them with another animal with a higher chance of breeding. This is a practice I oppose, but I see the logic. She does not discuss artificial insemination as much as one should as it ranges from stressful to horrific depending on the species. I think zoos playing a part increases the problem (reminder: wherein the majority of animals are not endangered and are bred/purchased just for entertainment/profit.) Zoos tend to want to breed species so that they have more of that species to display in captivity, despite the fact that the stresses of the zoo tend to hinder various species interest in breeding. You can see the difference between zoo-run conservation and other types not driven by profit in this book and elsewhere. Even so, the Alala crow efforts are important and sometimes a zoo will hold the only members of an endangered or extinct-in-the-wild species available and thus one must work with them in order to participate.

In terms of herself, Osborn is excellent at describing her strengths, shortcomings, successes, and mistakes along the way. She discusses being a woman in the sciences and which people were her allies vs which ones treated her as subservient. She interrogates her own biases and examines her feelings. Rather than drawing conclusions that all emotion is bad in science, she examines which way her emotions may lead her and why. I don't know if she realized she was using this sort of wisdom around feelings or if it is just evident to me as an outsider. Afterall, isn't the desire to care for and conserve an entire species partly an emotional one? Humans are an extremely emotional species, much like many other animals. I think we benefit far more from these discussions than we do from humans who think that emotion has no place in the sciences (as if that would even be possible with us involved.) But, again, I digress.

I've written plenty and have filled this review with so much of what this book brought up for me because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it every day since I finished. I hope that Osborn's style is a trend in writing that will continue in science, conservation, nature, etc topics. It not only draws people into the worlds of other animals, but it pushes us more towards possible solutions. The planet would not have lost so many of its species with more efforts like that of Osborn. With her and those like her still out there, maybe many still have a chance.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions

Image: the cover of the book is a painting by Joshua Mays of a Black woman from the chest up. She is looking to the right and the highlights on her right side fade into light blue with white dots swirled throughout. There are illustrations of purple thistles and flowers behind her and around her shoulders. At the bottom center is a grey pigeon like bird with a red-orange forehead. Across the top in white letters is "world fantasy award winner Nalo Hopkinson," and across the bottom, "Jamaica Ginger and other Concoctions."

Nalo Hopkinson ranks in the top tier of my favorite scifi and speculative fiction authors. I have read most of her excellent novels, but she stands out as an author whose short story collections actually end up being my favorites in her repertoire. Falling in Love with Hominids is one of the best short story collections I have read by either a single or multiple authors. Naturally, I was excited to see Tachyon putting out a new collection by Hopkinson: Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions. Nisi Shawl also aided Hopkinson and cowrote one of the stories in the collection as well.

While this collection did not hit as hard as Falling in Love with Hominids for me personally, it is still a strong collection that spans genres as Hopkinson is known to do. There are a couple stories that can be found in other collections, but many of these are ones that were written for specific projects- including a TED talk fiction performance by multiple authors gathered by Neil Gaiman- that are not so easily accessible. I really enjoyed that they included Nalo's words before each story, describing where the stories came from and what her writing process was. It enriched the experience of reading the book. Her description of the aforementioned TED story entry was the longest and most interesting in its discussion of how the stereotypical boundaries of science fiction must often be surpassed when marginalized characters are present. Hopkinson is also excessively humble in some of her assessments of stories. There were ones that were not her favorite that I ended up liking quite a lot.

The best stories in the collection in terms of my own tastes were Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story inspired by a Jamaican folksong and real life horrors of flooding, the satirical Clap Back telling truth through fiction about exploitative arts, Repatriation about a very special type of cruise, and my absolute favorite San Humanité which somehow, despite being only two pages, gripped me and left me craving an expansion of it into a full novel. I do not think I have ever felt that way from a 2 page story before. There are plenty of other excellent stories that people who are fans of all sorts of genres will enjoy as well.

Nalo Hopkinson is not just groundbreaking in her telling of stories with characters not often centered in SSFF genres, though that is definitely a draw for me. She is a damned good writer who continues to evolve with time and this collection is a good example of the many places her fiction has gone. I look forward to the next entry in her writing career, hopefully sooner rather than later.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Meet the Neighbors

Image: The cover of the book is a blue background with a welcome mat at the bottom center. Superimposed on top of the mat are images of animals- a salamander, tortoise, goose, bear, racoon, donkey, sparrow, deer, and blackbird. Across the top in light yellow is "Meet the Neighbors" and below that in white, "Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World"

Brandon Keim's excellent book Meet the Neighbors seems to be one that suffers from a title and cover that don't quite match what is inside. (Though, I do love the subheading phrase "more-than-human worlds.") It's strange that the idiom, "don't judge a book by its cover" is still so popular when it is arguably less practiced today than it ever was given the wide reach of the internet and availability of graphic design. The welcome mat with all of the animals on it resembles a child's nature show to me, but Keim did not write a cutesie book about animals as one-dimensional cartoon characters. I assume the title and design were created to reach as wide an audience as possible- anyone who likes other-than-human animals and wants fun facts about them. This strategy sometimes works for sales but often results in disappointment by readers who expected something lighter.

Keim's book is grounded in reality and is written with great sensitivity, deep thought, and a level of honesty I often do not encounter in these kinds of texts- even from those whose entire goal is to de-center humans in discussions about other animals. This is not a buzzfeed-esque fun-fact book (though there are certainly many fun facts and heartwarming stories within) nor is it a book focused solely on more-than-human animal traits. The parts that mostly focused on facts about animals were the beginning sections of the book which I thought could have used more organization. This initially left me worried that I might be reading another run-of-the-mill book of animal facts, which is just fine, but moving forward took me into another world entirely. This book is includes a mixture of general info and research about other animal minds and experiences as well as discussion about how humans treat and view fellow creatures. The latter can make it tough to read at times. However, even as a person who generally has a hard boundary against reading detailed accounts of animal cruelty and exploitation, I encourage folks to push through those parts. I make exceptions to this rule when the information is used to make larger, complex points and to combat common knowledge in important ways that cannot be done accurately without including said details. Basically, when it makes me think about things in ways I had not before, I will make my way through it. I believe this book does this. It does so in ways that are exceptional in comparison to others in the genre. 

We are currently in a place, at least in much of western culture, where it is super cool to talk about climate change, but not to actually take responsibility for it. It is super cool to discuss amazing fun facts about other animals, as long as we always keep them a step below us and don't challenge the ways we exploit them. It is super cool to combat threats to endangered species, including blaming other species introduced by us, as long as the threats combatted aren't human (you know, the main threat.) Even in far left circles, these kinds of neoliberal and reactionary ways of thinking are common in regards to nonhuman animals. It's even fashionable to tokenize human struggles in reasoning as to why other species do not deserve respect and consideration. This book forces the reader to confront all of these anthropocentric biases and more. Keim acknowledges the great importance of the little bits of happiness we can gain from Dodo videos while also acknowledging that we "live in a world of wounds," as he said when he generously joined VINE book club last month. Keim also grapples with conflicts and questions that are often left out on the more liberatory side of things, such as when humans should intervene to help other animals and what kind of interventions are more wasteful or disruptive than they are helpful. He consistently asks the question- what would an individual from this species think or want? He ponders things such as the differences in opinion bears vs salmon might have in regards to habitat management and how humans choose which species to focus on helping or admiring. The most illuminating parts of the book for me personally, were those that discussed introduced/non-native, "overpopulated," and/or species labeled as "pests." I had not even realized just how much bias I had internalized about certain dilemmas even as a 18 year die hard (collective liberation) vegan with a ton of animal rescue experience who knows that these things are more complicated that the anthropocentric ways they are presented. 

This book is what I was hoping the the book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains would have been. Even though MTN is not entirely about these species and conflicts, it tells multiple sides of the story in honest ways as much as a human can attempt to without being able to interview other species. I had no idea, for instance, that introduced (non-native) donkeys had rewilded in many places and helped other species survive through things like oasis digging in deserts. I had heard of "judas goats," but never knew about "judas donkeys," which were only mentioned in a footnote, but are truly one of the most heart wrenching examples of cruelty I have read about. I can't stop thinking about them, but do not regret learning this as part of the full story. I have read countless texts that explain how rats and feral cats threatened island nesting birds, which insisted that killing all of them was the only solution. Those texts neglected to mention that humans overfishing, habitat destruction, and killing of the ocean were countless times worse for said birds and everyone else. Keim also discussed how said purge of feral cats was also used to reduce competition with foxes, only to find that foxes at more threatened birds than the cats (who ate more rodents.) The culling of introduced pigs ended up taking away food from golden eagles, who then turned on the foxes, which then meant the eagles had to be "managed." I am a birder and often see people patting themselves on the back when telling people to keep their cats indoors (which I agree with for the record,) but will attack anyone who even questions how our actions affect birds (outside of the abstract or pointing the finger at other human groups- usually in oppressive ways.) We learn that feral cats are the "top killers" of birds when they aren't. We are. But, many writers (outside of animal rights and liberation niche texts) are encouraged not to talk about this as the reader needs the ability to channel the upset about what is happening onto someone else. Keim doesn't fall into that trap.

Keim also did a lot of research and got a lot of big names to interview. Bobby Corrigan on rodents for example. Again, the way he approached the book exceeds what you often find in nature and animal literature. He interviews scientists, environmentalists, lawyers, wildlife "management" services, philosophers, naturalists, animal sanctuary founders, zoo employees, and so on. He also presents one of the most honest sections on hunting and fishing- particularly westernized hunting that rebranded itself as "conservationist" (after hunting drove many species to, or near to, extinction.) I don't know if I have ever read a text that acknowledged the horrors hunters have committed, the trouble with ecosystem imbalance caused by overpopulation of certain species (and harm to other species,) the other human activities that often cause more harm but get less attention/ire than hunting (such as urbanization,) the conservation efforts of a subset of hunters, and how those conservation efforts ultimately serve hunters, ranchers, and loggers more than other animals or ecosystems (by prioritizing sport, profits, trophies, and species hunters want to kill even at cost of true balance and other species harmed by their "conservation" practices.) Keim even calls out the permission fallacy and idea of animals "giving their lives" as a way to redirect from the reality that their lives are taken. He is not claiming taking a life is always wrong, on the contrary, it is sometimes a necessity including for other species. But, he combats this view usually touted by people romanticizing hunting by claiming animals are super into being shot or stabbed for conservation, tradition, sport, trophy, food, or all of the above. It's very rare to find that level of honesty and diligent research on a topic so sensitive to many people on all sides. Keim truly seemed more interested in understanding the dilemma than taking a side. 

As a bird nerd, I learned so many new things about birds from this book. Some were depressing and far more were fascinating. Yet, he also has me thinking hard about what species I am fascinated by and how that affects my actions. I have lots of photos of birds eating insects and fishes. While I have definitely felt for these animals, especially when that damned ring-billed gull held that squirming fish for ages before finally killing them, what is it about birds that attracts me? And how does that affect my actions? I'm not saying I have never considered these things, but Keim gave me new ways to think about them. One might think based on what I have said here that there is a punishing way to these thought processes, but on the contrary, I actually found Keim's outlook freeing. It is often honesty, however painful, that is much less anxiety inducing in the long run. This book allows me to see myself as part of this world- an animal among many other animals- and to examine what that means to me.

As you may be able to tell, I could write a book on this book. I want to leave some surprises for the reader as well. I highly recommend Meet the Neighbors and I hope that if you find your expectations dashed a bit, that you can move forward and take what else the text has to offer because there is a lot here that I have rarely found elsewhere.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: The Zapatista Experience

Image description: The cover of the book is a Black background with an illustration of a woman standing on the left side with her first raised and flames surrounding her fist. She has brown skin and is wearing a black balaclava and a pinkish colored dress with multicolored square prints on the front, a white ruffled cowl, and sandals. In the top right in white letters is "the Zapatista experience." Bellow that in red letters is, "rebellion, resistance, and autonomy." The bottom left in white letters is, "Jérôme Baschet," and in smaller white letters, "translated by, "Traductores Rebeldes Autónomos Cronopios"

I must admit that I've been a bad anarchist ™. While I've read many references to the Zapatista movement, I've never spent a ton of time really learning about them in detail. The Zapatista Experience was a much needed and enjoyable remedy to that situation. I can truly see now why do many leftists of many stripes look up to the Zapatistas as a functioning movement and liberatory society in practice. (I should note that they don't specifically identify as an anarchist movement, but share much overlap in philosophy.)

The translation of Jérôme Baschet's text by Traductores Rebeldes Autónomos Cronopios is skillful and readable. This and the text's introduction explaining foundations of the Zapatista movement make this book accessible to a wide audience. My book is completely littered with page flags. It's highly quotable. While there is an academic nature to the text, it is not the kind of excessively wordy type meant only to be understood by a tiny PhD minority. 

I really enjoyed learning about just how far reaching and revolutionary the beliefs of the Zapatistas are and continue to be today. They offer a real example of successful autonomy and resistance rather than only theory, flawed/unsuccessful/hierarchical revolution, or state solutions to problems. Baschet did well discussing the many strengths of their practices and also the limitations and difficulties implementing such things. For instance, there is a lot of discussion around inescapable finances despite the fight against capitalism, which is something often neglected in revolutionary struggle (and as a result can cause a movement to fall into authoritarian structure.) Also, the discussions of autonomous vs "official" justice provides solutions to the common question thrown at as: What about the (murderers/abusers/etc)?

Another strength of Zapatista movements is the focus on dignity, joy, and humor. A cooperative society must include these things and organized effectively, leaves far more room for them than capitalist and authoritarian culture. The use of metaphor (the hydra, storm, and crack) in theoretical discussion was also very interesting. 

There are in depth discussions of the Zapatista view on various forms of identity politics such as indigenous/mestizo participation and gendered oppression. There is regular emphasis on cooperation across lines of identity and experience rather than creating binaries. The Zapatisas acknowledge that we cannot return to a precolonial era and must find liberatory ways that allow cooperation across power differentials. The only thing I was left frustrated with here is how little I learned about women in the movement. Almost all quotes are from men. While I understand that they did have spokespeople and thus the most available quotes may come from them, there were also women speaking out that I did not get to hear from aside from abstract references to women's liberation.

I was fascinated by the discussion of how the other-than-human world played into their philosophies. There was discussion of the "anthropocene" being problematically human centered, but they used the term "capitalocene" to explain how capitalism is linked to and exacerbates this process. There is also discussion of both respect for and moving beyond indigenous tradition. There is emphasis on more modern benefits of certain societies, particularly environmental sciences. Rather than a war between "the West" and indigenous and other societies, there is a push for cooperation, taking the best parts of each. Indigenous Zapatistas discuss both the importance of preserving AND not being tied down by traditions.

All of these things are wrapped up inside the oft quoted Zapatista foundation: a world in which many worlds fit. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about the ins and outs of this movement. The Zapatista Experience is a well written and skillfully translated volume that makes this important information accessible, and inspiring, to a wider audience.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Disabled Ecologies

Image: The cover of the book is a close up photo of a cactus with green finger like projections reaching towards the top of the page with green flowering pieces atop each branch. In the background is a dark, cloudy grey-blue sky and the sun is shining onto the cactus from the left. In large orange letters across the top is "Disabled Ecologies." Below that in smaller yellow letters is, "lessons from a wounded desert." Below that is the author's name: Sunaura Taylor.

Updating to add a link to Taylor's coauthored important article that was just published:
If the left is serious about saving democracy, there’s one more cause to add to the list

Original review:

The bar was already set very high for Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert before I even had my hands on the book. I have been a massive fan of Sunaura Taylor's work- both artistically and academically for some time. Her paintings are uniquely stunning and her book, Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation was a groundbreaking text regarding discussions of the ableism central to nonhuman animal and human exploitation. I'm happy to say that this book met my expectations and then some. 

One of the best things about this text is that it has all of the meticulous research and information of an academic dissertation without all of the absurdly unnecessary jargon. It reads like an academic text for sure because that's what it is, but it can actually be read by people outside the field which is something that should be true for any disability scholarship but often isn't. Taylor also had a clear intention with how she used footnotes that gives the reader a variety of ways to choose how to engage with them without requiring them to skip to the back of the book where they are often found. The research materials of the book are also used in a very engaging way. We have the usual statistics here and there as well as lots of newspaper clippings and photographs from a time before everything was easily found online. Taylor also offers reportbacks from activist community meetings and other events that she attended in person. Taylor clearly put a ton of work into this book. It not only adds to the credibility of her claims. It allows her to highlight marginalized voices often silenced in these discussions. It also makes the book more readable in general and breaks up the text well.

Disabled Ecologies is an interesting academic exercise because it has a very personal note at the center. Taylor uses her experiences from Tuscon, AZ of aquifer and other pollution caused by the military (which likely led to her being born with her disability,) as an anchor for the rest of the book. Such an intimate exercise navigated the personal connection to disability with the global field well. This is an important skill as none of us is able to divorce ourselves from our own experience and position in the working. This framing also allows her to discuss the thorny issue of disability liberation in the context of when environmental destruction is the cause of disablement. 

Taylor grapples with the disabling nature of ecodestruction and the idea of illness, cure, eugenics, and public health in general. She does not glamorize disability nor does she take away from the positive idea of a disabled future with the care and support that could entail in an ideal situation. She gathers the words of others like Eli Clare who have also discussed the politics around the idea of cure. In all of these elements, Taylor makes clear the need for disability to always be part of discussions around environment including how environmental injury occurs.

Much of these sections made me think about the idea of body neutrality as opposed to body positivity. We do not need every narrative of success to be a happy story where each person is/feels uniquely beautiful within a fairy tale as our only response to the negative, pitying, blaming narratives around disability and other body-related issues The body can just be a body that has an amalgamation of characteristics coming from many sources and experiences. 

A good chunk of the book is spent discussing the methods that polluters use to redirect their responsibility for the destruction of the planet and the lives of everyone on it. This fits into disability and eugenecist capitalism in how they turn health into an individual issue. When disability is depoliticized and characterized only as an individual medical problem, it allows those in power to shift blame onto (often also racist, classist, colonialist, etc) notions of culture, behavior, etc. Polluters manage this even when entire communities are suffering and dying from high rates of illness unique to their location for generations matching up perfectly with the polluters' activities. Polluters knew then just as they do now the effects of their industry. They are even skilled at turning science/medicine against us claiming to always need more research to "prove" their pollution causes illness- a level of burden always just out of reach. One little historical tidbit that surprised me was that Raegan's "war on cancer," was instrumental in changing the focus to genetics and individual and rather than environmental research. I've had cancer 3 times (which I do believe may have environmental causes) and even personally I can see how this culture affected every aspect of my treatment. Even if Raegan was well intentioned for once, flooding one form of the research market and neglecting the other undoubtedly backfired. I had genetic testing and infusions but no one asked about my polluted water or examined why my roommate and I both had cancers with recurrences in our 30s.

The conclusion of the text is very well written and connects the local to the global in skilled and frankly horrifying ways. We learn that the same polluters in Tuscon manufactured bombs used in Yemen among other atrocities. She also connects the human to the more than human in discussions of how the rest of the animals on this planet are affected. She reframes narratives on Darwinism (while acknowledging his many faults) to include the reality that the message should not be about the "fittest," but about how consistent change, mutation, and variation are what have and continue to propagate life. It is a call to action to support this variation in order for us to continuously adapt to ecocide. When Taylor joined us at VINE book club to discuss the text, she elaborated more on her intention to avoid "one and done" apocalypse narratives, discussing the importance of seeing ourselves in an ongoing struggle. She also mentioned how the discussion of systemic pollution and authoritarianism do not remove the value and effectiveness of our individual participation in organizing and liberatory movements (such as veganism.)

This review could have been even longer had I mentioned everything I learned and loved about this book. Sunaura Taylor has shown us yet again her ability to add something new and revelatory to ongoing discussions about disability and the environment at a time when it's more important than ever. 

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: Borderline

Image: the cover of the book is an off white background with a pointilized ribbon of black descending down the page. In the middle in red letters is borderline. Below that inside a mustard circle with black letters is "the biography of a personality disorder." In the upper left in red is "Alexander Kriss, PhD."
 

This book was an interesting surprise. Usually going into any sort of pop psychology book I have somewhat low expectations. Part of this is because dominant culture is often woven throughout so much that it becomes frustrating. Part of it is that complex medical systems that are already problematic even at the academic level are simplified down too much. Part of it is that we sometimes get way too much of the author's bias or unethical oversharing.

The latter part ended up being a lot different than it usually is in this case. Borderline is a foray into history by Alexander Kriss that is composed alongside (mostly) a single case study. I often feel nervous about these sorts of things being shared even when identifying information is claimed to have been removed because psychological care should be 100% private. In this case though, it comes across that this was done quite thoughtfully and with consent and input from the patient whose case is at the center. There's even a clear discussion about the power dynamics at hand and if a patient can consent properly to something like this. I think the reason it works in this case is because the author is a psychoanalyst of the more classic type that spends multiple days a week over an extended period of time with their client. This results in a level of connection and intimacy that is inescapable. I found the accounts in this book to be honest in this regard as much as I can tell from the writing. The author was also open about his thought processes, mistakes, and shortcomings.

As much as my former advisors and professors would probably be disappointed, I love psychoanalysis. I love its fantastical focus on the unconscious and all of the things that we can't possibly measure. I love that it's near impossible to quantify and study like biopsychology or cognitive neuroscience, which is what most of my education was based on when I went to school for psychology.

I would say that this book is not really a biography of borderline personality disorder such that a complete beginner could pick it up and learn about it. I saw it as more of an expansion on the rather one-dimensional way that the disorder is viewed by many today. Kriss weaves together the long history of maladies attributed to women and argues that hysteria and related diagnoses of the past are older names for the same syndrome now known as borderline personality disorder. As a result, I think it will work better for folks with a foundational understanding of the current definition and manifestations of bpd diagnoses.

One of the best parts about how this book does history is that Kriss discusses the social position of the psychologists and theorists he is focused on. I went through years of school and psychology classes learning about dead men and their thoughts on the womens brains without ever learning which ones of them were slavers. We never discussed how Sigmund Freud being Jewish affected his place in the field and how he approached topics. We never discussed how American capitalism would be used to shape the direction of psychology when certain ideas arrived from overseas. There was rarely any discussion of patriarchy or privilege. Freud as a name was always attributed to Sigmund, not Anna, despite the latter having far more accurate and grounded beliefs albeit still problematic. I felt that I learned so much more about these various theorists by understanding their position in the world at the time.

One of the most surprising things to me is that Sigmund Freud, Sándor Ferenczi, and others were actually closer to reality in the beginning of their theories about why women are suffering (sexual abuse and exposure to trauma) before Freud decided to go extra misogynistic and buried his own history and Ferenczi's work. Through all of these histories, Kriss makes it pretty impossible to deny how current day treatment of borderline personality disorder isn't a whole lot better or more evolved than the treatment of Hysteria in the past. It might even be worse in terms of predicting the ability to heal because at least in the past it wasn't assumed that the patient was doomed as soon as the label was slapped on them.

Kriss also covers more modern day manifestations of care for borderline personality disorder and disorders related to traumatic experience. He has more favorable yet still nuanced takes on dialectical behavioral therapy and treatments around post-traumatic stress. He discusses as well the ways in which psychoanalytic concepts such as splitting were redefined as if they were new concepts with labels like multiple personality disorder. There is a case study he is careful to discuss with someone I would argue was manipulated by an internet "friend" into believing they have "dissociative identity disorder" and played the part. Kriss seems to argue more that people all have varying degrees of splitting into other personalities in one way or another, some of which are dysfunctional and some of which are just normal. It's more complicated than that, but that would make this a very long review.

Kriss has a lot to say about the DSM and modern day psychology centering it. Rightfully so. Something I learned in particular from this book was that PTSD being entered into the DSM was the first time that a disorder symptomology included an external event being the cause. Everything else is about problems with the individual. That is bananas to me. I knew this problematic aspect of diagnostic practices but had no idea that the environment was that absent from the DSM.

I will share one quote that stood out to me regarding how many paradigms claim we must create a new self while mourning the old one we somehow lost to a trauma or illness:
"We always add, never subtract. All the way down to the psychotic core, we can only be ourselves and the things that happen to us, that make us ill, also have the potential to serve as sources of empathy and ideas that challenge a toxic status quo."

Overall I really liked this compassionate psychoanalytic foray into the previously unknown to me long history of borderline personality disorder. I hope it will foster more empathy toward those with the label and lead to better outcomes for them and the world that we share.

 This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: The Blueprint

Image: the cover of the book is a yellow background with light grey rectangles repeating in toward the center. Weaving in and out of the rectangles is an illustration of olive colored bird entangled in the grip of an orange and yellow snake. On the upper left in black is "the blue print" and across the bottom is the authors name - Rae Giana Rashad.

It's difficult not to invoke The Handmaid's Tale when talking about a book like Rae Giana Rashad's The Blueprint. There are many pieces of it that resemble popular texts that came before it. However, given that one of the main criticisms of books like THT, despite Atwood clearly saying that she never meant it as a depiction of something that had never happened, is that they often focus on oppression of white women that has already been enacted upon Black women and others throughout American history. The Blueprint is somewhat of a cyberpunk adjacent dystopia taking place in an alternate history, present, and future- told from alternating time periods in different chapters. Chattel slavery was not abolished but instead shifted to a system where Black women in particular are still purchased and abused through a high tech system involving an algorithm which assigns women to men based on their social class and profession among other dystopian characteristics. The book is told both from the point of view of the protagonist and her biography of her enslaved ancestor, making evident the myriad of ways in which the two timelines collide.

I found this book to be beautifully written and the world building to be immersive. The book is extremely dark, but it did not feel pointlessly so or like trauma porn. The stage felt real and the characters were all believable as people. Part of this is likely because they are also messy just like real life. There is a lot of focus on intercommunity dynamics and how oppressed groups of people can mistreat one another when individuals are grasping at and holding on to any little bit of power they can get when the rest is taken from them. There were lots of themes about Black love, hurt, expectation, suffering, and liberation. There were discussions of power dynamics and at what level power prevents love and respect from being able to occur.

I admit about 2/3 of the way through I felt myself less engaged with the book, but I can't quite pinpoint why. It may have been the shift in focus to specific relationships. It's interesting because at other less dark times I found myself thinking, "why is everyone focusing on creating this relationship drama at this moment?" and then remembering that in any situation I have been in no matter how dire, there is always relationship drama going on. So, it's not necessarily a poor creative choice.

The best part of the book is Butters sharing her wisdom, but I won't say much more than that in order to avoid spoilers. I look forward to more writing from this author in the future as she expands on these genres in skillful and engaging ways.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph. 

Book Review: New Adventures in Space Opera

Image: The cover of the book is an illustrated outer space scene with a blue-black background and a speckled sphere in the center with light hitting it from the the lower left creating a crescent appearance. There are several cream and orange colored lines going through the center and a line of circles of different shapes and sizes going through in another direction. In orange letters across the top is "new adventures in," followed by large white letters for "space opera" on the top and bottom of the cover. In small teal and orange letters surrounding the planet at the center are the names of all of the contributing authors.
 

New Adventures in Space Opera first caught my eye due to the sheer number of excellent contributors that I was already at least somewhat familiar with. Even with this excitement, I tend to go into anthologies with below average expectations as I can often run into as many duds as I do excellent stories. This book surprised me by how solid it was across the board. Even the stories that genre-wise were not my cup of tea, were still well written enough to be entertaining. Some of the authors I already enjoyed brought their A-Game, but I was also introduced to a few others whose work I will be seeking out after having read this anthology.

As Jonathan Strahan discusses in the intro, the definition of what constitutes the "space opera" genre, like pretty much all scifi and fantasy, is debated. Though, there is often a common thread and that is that some see it as a lesser form of science fiction. A bunch of legit nerds like us scifi fans pretending anything we like is cooler than anything else is silly to me, but it is human nature I suppose. This anthology has a wide range of styles and subgenres well complemented by its talented authors, making it difficult for anyone to argue that space opera is lesser in any way.

I read the book cover to cover and one thing I really liked is how long many stories were. One of my biggest issues with short fiction is that I often feel like it's cut off before I am even invested in the story. These entries are still short, but with enough length to settle into. There were some stories that I would describe as war stories, spirituality themes, or space fantasy, that were not my taste (but as I mentioned, not poorly written.) The rest though, ranging from what I would describe as adjacent to cyberpunk, satire, and general space scifi were totally up my alley. The stories that were my favorites were Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee, A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime by Charlie Jane Anders, Immersion by Aliette de Bodard, Planetstuck by Sam J Miller, and The Last Voyage of  Skidbladnir by Karin Tidbeck with Miller and Anders being tied for the top spot. 

Representation in the book was also above average with many stories surrounding characters of demographics and nationalities that we don't often see centered in English language scifi. This was also a great pride month read. If you're familiar with many of the authors, you may already know that. If not, then I will tell you that many of these stories are wonderfully gay and spectacularly queer. I also tend to go into anthologies expecting otherwise, but since I was familiar with some of the authors, I knew they'd deliver.

Overall, New Adventures in Space Opera is a great collection of stories that both add new elements to the genre and celebrate its long and beloved history among non-pretentious science fiction lovers. Its inclusion of a wide variety of styles and topics means there's likely something in it for everyone. It's a great edition to any shelf for those who love scifi, and maybe many who don't yet realize that they do.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.

Book Review: (R)evolution

 

Image: the cover of the book is acloseup of gary numan staring into the camera. He is a pale skinned person with black hair falling onto his face and is wearing messy black eyeliner. He is holding his hands adorned with ripped nylon information of his face. Across the top in gold scribbled letters is revolution and in printed gold across the bottom is his name. Under that in smaller script is "the autobiography."

Before writing a review of Gary Numan's memoir, (R)evolution, I decided to catch up on his later releases. To be honest, my interest in this memoir was due to knowing him as a great electronic and goth/industrial adjacent pioneer. But, unlike many who, as detailed in the book, always wanted him to stick to the early hits, I found some of his early stuff a bit too upbeat for me. The saxophones and backup singer style are just not my cup of tea. I've come to find that most of what Numan released after the mid 90s is right up my alley as well as more of his earlier stuff than I realized. He's put out a massive amount of music throughout his career.

Numan discussed his process for many releases, describing some of the later stuff (from Pure onward) as darker and that is certainly the case. I'd also go as far to say that this is his best material. The sound is much more evolved and shows a maturity with electronic media as well as the ability to grow with the technology. I also just love the darkness that comes with a lot of artists' later work who started from a more pop place (Kite comes immediately to mind.) Now that I've started from the end, let's get back to the beginning.

(R)evolution is an interesting memoir and one I chose to listen to as the author himself was reading it. It stands out from many musician stories, especially that of pop stars, in how he chooses to gloss over many of the more wild days and instead focuses on family and career. I don't know if that's just what is most important to him now, or if he is deliberately choosing not to highlight things he's admittedly embarrassed of. I can't help wondering what he meant when he said he was a bad partner or what he was ashamed of when he and other stars interacted with groupies. I get it, though. He also discussed a documentary team doing their best to agitate him in interviews and focus on a small part of his career for entertainment value. I can't blame him for resisting that portrayal, but I would totally read a memory from his former partner.

Based on this memoir, Gary Numan is a nerdy scifi fanatic on the autism spectrum (he uses the term Asperger's,) whose creative expression was truly unique and individual, composing his own material, moreso than many famous pop artists. I never realized how many scifi stories he wrote before then writing songs and albums based on those stories. I love it. I also loved hearing about how gay clubs were a haven as they were when I was a young rivethead/goth kid long before I understood my own gender and sexuality. This sort of crossover always makes me happy even though there can be conflicts and problems with straight folks in gay bars. Perhaps the difference is coming together over subculture and performance rather than the spectacle or exploitation that comes with cishet bachelorette parties or other voyeurs seeking comedic entertainment which is something both lgbtq folks and dark subculture folks deal with.

Something baffling to me is how bad he was with money. I know it's common for people who get a lot of money and fame quickly to screw it up. But, my dude, maybe don't buy a castle if you're in so much debt. I was a little frustrated by how he spoke about his money troubles, maybe because I'm poor and meticulously plan every cent. But, there's also a reality that you could never pay me enough to be famous. I would rather die. So, I know it costs a certain amount to have any privacy or life once you're in it. Also, many of his struggles with money were because of his creative and elaborate set designs for live shows, which seems very wholesome as it's clear that he always wanted the fans to have the best possible experience.

A lot of the book is about things I find boring like trying to have kids, Gemma (his wife) and his endless struggles with IVF, as well as both of their multiple plastic surgeries. It was unexpected again because of my own biases of what I think musicians must be like. Me finding them boring is irrelevant to the books value, just personal taste.

He has interesting takes on mental illness, particularly depression. I liked seeing a middle ground take on the often polarized debates around mental health drugs. In his eyes, depression is curable with a course of meds, but you can also become dependent on the meds and turn into someone you're not. I don't agree with this across the board (some people recover better with no meds, some with lifelong meds, some never recover despite all efforts and hard work, etc) but it's a valuable perspective.

There are sections where he mentions musicians he either worked with or who covered his stuff and generally does not have anything negative to say (with the exception of Bowie who deserved it for acting like a giant baby which he apparently later regrets.) But, some of them like Marilyn Manson have since been outed as serial predators and I felt a little frustrated that there was no mention of that. There also was some glossing over discussions of racism around not liking hip hop despite earlier in the book being flattered by some artists crediting him as inspiration. On public social media Numan has been supportive of BLM and pride along other things, so maybe he doesn't know the details or just made a creative choice not to talk shit.

What I really enjoyed was his discussion of how he processes music. He thinks of music with every possible sense, as a multidimensional exercise. Each album was composed not just for how it sounds, but how it feels, how it looks when performed, how he would move when performing. He discusses wanting to be a pop star from a young age but also having crippling stage anxiety. He partly credits his Asperger's for how he decided to perform as well. Watching him, you would not know, but he would basically think of how things should be and practice movements and expressions he thought were supposed to go along with it. Perhaps this sort of thinking is why he was able to become one of the early electronic music pioneers despite being told that synths were going nowhere, which is hilarious to think back on given the state of music today- most of which contains at least one synth instrument or computerized processing of some sort.

Overall, I enjoyed this peek into Numan's life, career, and creative processes as well as the experience of a multi-decade time capsule. I'm also glad that it inspired me to add a slew of great albums to my music library.

This was also posted to my goodreads and storygraph.