Eggplant.place

198d

Living without my self

Our culture valorises the big, coherent self: reading Robert Musil helps me embrace the beauty of my no-self existence

by Mette Leonard Høeg

https://aeon.co/essays/robert-musil-gives-confidence-to-the-no-self-minority-like-me?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a074b02ade-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Musil at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/37187

#books #literature

Robert Musil in 1900

Unknown author - Scan du livre .Musil, Journaux

Musil faces the camera directly with a composed, self-possessed expression. He has short, neatly parted dark hair, a trim moustache, and wears a dark jacket with a white collar and bow tie.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Robert_Musil#/media/File:Robert_Musil_1900.jpg

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27d

67 days later... I finally finished reading Darwin's Descent. I knew I would spend a significant amount of time with this book, but this is still a new personal record. Thoughts are being committed to paper, but for now, here is the obligatory mugshot. Annotations galore! Especially if you consider (second photo) that I ended up annotating both Darwin's original text and the numerous annotations.

#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Scicomm #Evolution #Darwin #CharlesDarwin #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci @princetonupress @princetonnature @bookstodon

A photo of three books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books and part of the beech-coloured laminate floor.

On the right, The Descent of Man, showing a white oblong hardback with a colour photo of a fan of brown bird feathers with noticeable eyespots (these belong to the argus pheasant). The book is heavily annotated with coloured Post-it notes.

On the left, two books: "Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection", a white hardback with a period black-and-white cartoon illustration of a woman in Victorian garb seen from the back, holding a small umbrella. Her head, back, and the umbrella are covered with coloured peacock feathers.

In front ot it, lying down, is "A Most Interesting Problem", showing a white hardback with the title written across the spine.

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A top-down photo of three books lying on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books and part of the beech-coloured laminate floor.

In the centre, "The Descent of Man", showing a white oblong hardback resting, page open, on a bookstand that is not visible. The book is open on a random page to show both columns of text on each page densely annotated with coloured Post-it notes.

On the left, two books, one lying on top of the other. On top, "A Most Interesting Problem", showing a white hardback with two monotone colour illustrations of a chimpanzee skeleton in yellow and a human skull in green. Partially visible underneath is "Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection", a white hardback with a red box that contains the title in white font and the author's name in black font. The illustration on the cover is hidden by the book lying on top.

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108d

Among All the Great Things Benjamin Franklin Invented or Discovered, His Alter Egos Gave Him the Most Freedom

Silence Dogood. Richard Saunders. Benevolus. Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim. All were pen names that allowed Franklin to say things he couldn’t have otherwise said

by H.W. Brands

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/among-all-great-things-benjamin-franklin-invented-discovered-alter-egos-gave-him-most-freedom-180988824/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550&user_id=19f2988141aeef1ce3da2871b25613801e24297faaf654001575521d8c39910f

Books by Benjamin Franklin (including his Autobiography) at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/92

#books #literature #history

"He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force, they very generally played together. Happening once to put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,' said the Doctor."—Thomas Jefferson

A colorful period illustration depicting an elegant 18th-century court gathering in a grand chandelier-lit salon, with elaborately dressed figures in powdered wigs and embroidered gowns surrounding a simply dressed man seated at a chess board.

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197d

A Review of Marginal Worlds: https://lydiaschoch.com/a-review-of-marginal-worlds/

#ScienceFiction #Books #BookReview

@bookstodon

Book cover for Marginal Worlds by Alfred Bekker. Image on cover shows a realistic drawing of a space ship sailing past a streak of light in outer space. There are no planets or suns in the picture, so the source of the light remains mysterious.

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197d

#OTD In 1859, Samuel Langhorne Clemens receives his steamboat pilot’s license.

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-april-9-2026/

Books by Mark Twain at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/53

#books #literature

Young Mark Twain. He is turned to his left. He moustache and hair appear brown.

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197d

Kobo(dot com) has eReaders that work great and so far they haven't gotten weird about what you can do with any old readers. My oldest one is going on 9 years old and has been passed down to my kid, who uses it daily.

Additionally, you can still break the DRM of Kobo books easily in Calibre. You don't need Amazon for literally anything book-related at this point. Every eBook I own (around 4k at this point?) is FREE. They are mine. It's still possible to do this. (If an author only sells on Amazon, well, that's a choice they made.)

Audiobooks? There's libro.fm, which lets you download unlocked files. All your current "locked" Audible books? You can easily break the locks on all of those too. My audiobooks are all free.

#Books #ebooks #Bookstodon #Kobo #Calibre #DRM

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162d

Reading True Color by Kory Stamper (non-fiction book about the quest to define colour, from a lexicographer who worked at a major dictionary).

Decided to get it as an ebook rather than audiobook because I wanted to see the colours she’d be discussing.

And then what did I do?

That’s right, I loaded it on my black-and-white ereader.

#books #FacePalm @bookstodon

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178d

Happy birthday Sir Terry Pratchett. The more the world gets more cruel and unfair, the more I miss him.

Plus the Vimes boots theory remains the greatest piece of economics ever written.

#TerryPratchett #Books

A pair of tattered boots and the Vimes boots theory:

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."

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177d

Book Review: Anti-State, by Allen Stroud
Stewart Hotston has our review of Stroud's latest space opera, a standalone in his long running universe, at the Hugo Finalist NOAF blog:
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/04/review-anti-state-by-allen-stroud.html

#books #sciencefiction #review #bookstodon @bookstodon

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196d

Today at the NOAF blog, @mikechenwriter 's THE PHOTONIC EFFECT gets a review from @Princejvstin
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/04/review-photonic-effect-by-mike-chen.html

#books #bookstodon #review #sciencefiction @bookstodon

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174d

The Moral Beauty of Middlemarch

George Eliot’s masterpiece teaches us to live faithfully a hidden life.

By George Scialabba

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/beauty/the-moral-beauty-of-middlemarch

Middlemarch at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/145

#Books #Literature

Dorothea Brooke and Will Ladislaw from Middlemarch by George Eliot.

A composed woman in red sits beside an earnest young man who leans toward her. Warm, intimate interior with latticed windows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlemarch#/media/File:Dorothea_and_Will_Ladislaw.jpg

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177d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/FeyFighters

Two soldiers on opposite sides, pixie Commander Stargazer Candleflash and human Sergeant Edwin Harris, find their fates forever entwined, first by revenge, but as they crash together in a dangerous rainforest, they’re forced to work together, just to survive. Will they make it or will their bickering get them killed?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Fey Fighters, by Owen Tyme.

The background is the stars of space, with nebula-like clouds, in blue. This has been divided into jigsaw puzzle pieces by dark lines marking the lines between pieces.

The foreground features an enormous, stylized phoenix, which is composed of fire. The phoenix looms over an Earth-like world heavily obscured by cloud cover.

(Right) The same world from the cover orbits a purple gas giant, with a stream of flame above it, which may be the phoenix, with the following text over the top:

“We’re in a human-made, goblin-enchanted spacecraft, powered by a dryad that’s under the mistaken impression she’s a nuclear reactor, half-piloted by a pixie and half-piloted by a human.”

“Is there anywhere we can go we won’t be shot on sight?”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/FeyFighters

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195d

How Amazing Stories Served as the Blueprint for American Science Fiction

Ed Simon Goes Back to When the Past was the Future

https://lithub.com/how-amazing-stories-served-as-the-blueprint-for-american-science-fiction/

Amazing stories at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=amazing+stories

#books #literature #pulpfiction

Cover image: Trajectory to Taurus

Author: Les Cole

Illustrator: Virgil Finlay

This image is a vintage pulp magazine cover with a bold, eye-catching science fiction theme.

At the top, the large title reads Amazing Science Fiction Stories, with a smaller headline above it saying “When the Moon Was Red.” The issue is dated September, and the price (35¢) is shown on the left.

Central illustration: the Moon is depicted as a large, greenish, human-like face with exaggerated features—bulging eyes, deep wrinkles, and a mischievous or menacing expression. A small rocket is flying toward the Moon, and it looks as if the Moon is smoking it like a cigar, with a trail of smoke extending outward.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/72539/pg72539-images.html

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199d

Books Set In Places on My Bucket List: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-places-on-my-bucket-list/

#TopTenTuesday #Books #PrinceEdwardIsland

@bookstodon

Book cover for Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog by Eileen Beha. Image on cover shows a photo of shaggy little dog peeking out at the viewer. Behind the dog one can see wooden crab traps stacked up on the pier and, behind the peer, the calm ocean.

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198d

📚 Son of Nobody by: Yann Martel

Harlow Donne has devoted his life to the Classical world. When a chance comes up to study an obscure collection of papyrus fragments at Oxford University, he seizes it. Though it means leaving his daughter and fracturing marriage back home in Canada, this is the kind of career break he desperately needs.

In ...

https://bookblabla.com/book/son-of-nobody

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #alternativehistory

$Harlow Donne has devoted his life to the Classical world. When a chance comes up to study an obscure collection of papyrus fragments at Oxford University, he seizes it. Though it means leaving his daughter and fracturing marriage back home in Canada, this is the kind of career break he desperately needs. In the depths of the Bodleian Library, Harlow discovers a lost account of the Trojan War, a glimpse into the founding of Western civilization itself. He names the epic poem The Psoad, after its protagonist, a Greek commoner identified as Psoas of Midea, but known to all as son of nobody. As sole translator and interpreter of The Psoad, Harlow dedicates the poem and its footnotes to his daughter, Helen. Under his gaze, the text unlocks echoes of Ancient Greece into the present day, and a personal message to his beloved child appears. Despite the two-thousand-year gap between the two, a thread hasn’t frayed: the universal song of homesickness and regret, of ambition, love, and grief. In this masterpiece of myth, history, and domesticity, Son of Nobody explores how stories become facts, the price we pay to share them, and how we live—then, now, and always. Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Esquire • Marie Claire • Art+ • The Times • The Guardian • The Observer • The Financial Times • BBC • The Sydney Morning Herald • A Globe and Mail Spring 2026 Read • Featured in The American Booksellers Association's Spring 2026 Preview • Oprah Dail$

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197d

Shakespeare Gardens Around the World Honor the Playwright—and Hold Their Own Storied History

The curated plots of flowers, herbs and trees serve as windows into Shakespeare’s work and life

by Mary Randolph

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/shakespeare-gardens-around-the-world-honor-the-playwright-and-hold-their-own-storied-history-180988497/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64102

#books #literature

Illustration from Walter Crane's 1906 book, Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden.

A young woman in a pink Regency-style dress and wide-brimmed floral hat kneels in a garden, gathering an armful of vividly coloured flowers — daisies, poppies, irises, marigolds and more — before a marble bust of Shakespeare on a pedestal, set against dark topiary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare_garden.jpg

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197d

Have you enjoyed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir?

Then you’ll probably also enjoy The Andromeda Strain and The Andromeda Evolution. They, too, explore the idea of an extraterrestrial microorganism, a mystery that must be solved to save Earth, and plenty of fascinating scientific details.

Sci-fi readers, what other similar books would you recommend?

#scifi #books #bookstodon #sciencefiction #projecthailmary #andyweir
@books
@bookstodon

The Andromeda Strain and The Andromeda Evolution

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197d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/FeyFighters

Two soldiers on opposite sides, pixie Commander Stargazer Candleflash and human Sergeant Edwin Harris, find their fates forever entwined, first by revenge, but as they crash together in a dangerous rainforest, they’re forced to work together, just to survive. Will they make it or will their bickering get them killed?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

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197d

📚 The Alchemist by: Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts...

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-alchemist

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryselfhelp

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.

A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho.

Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

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179d

Today I listened to a great bird appreciation book, The Private Lives of Public Birds by Jack Gedney. It's a collection of reflective essays about common birds of California and how to be more attentive to them. There was a fair bit of overlap with my Arizona bird friends, but even when it was a bird I didn't know, it was worth it to hear the author's experience of the bird. I heartily recommend this book.

#birding #birds #books @bookstodon

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177d

Why Does Music in Science Fiction Sound Like That?

Imagining the sound of other worlds has a long past—and persistent creative limits.

By: Angelica Frey

https://daily.jstor.org/why-does-music-in-science-fiction-sound-like-that/

Full article available for download:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27106975?mag=why-does-music-in-science-fiction-sound-like-that&seq=4

Music & Science Fiction at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/50
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/68

#Books #Literature #Music

Title page of New Atlantis in the second edition of Francis Bacon's Sylva sylvarvm: or A naturall historie. In ten centvries. London. Printed by J.H. for William Lee at the Turkes Head in Fleet-street, next to the Miter, 1628.

Published after the authors death, by William Rawley Doctor of Divinity, late his Lordships Chaplaine.

1628 title page of New Atlantis, an unfinished utopian work by Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Features period typography and a small decorative woodcut engraving at the bottom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Atlantis#/media/File:Bacon_1628_New_Atlantis_title_page_wpreview.png

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180d

Great interview by #Palfest w/ author/illustrator #MollyCrabapple about her new book #HereWhereWeLiveIsOurCountry: The Story of the #JewishBund

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn01FwM_xnM

#Bund #bundism #JewishHistory #JewishLeft #antizionism #Palestine #PalestineQuestion #memoirs #books @bookstodon

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197d

I'm probably going on a minor shopping spree tomorrow, any recent(-ish) fantasy books I should take a look at?
#Fantasy #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

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196d

If you want to enter ancient Rome through a book that feels vivid, intelligent, and surprisingly dramatic, The History of Rome is a great choice.

It is more than history: it is a story of power, ambition, political struggle, and the making of a civilization.

This monumental work helped Theodor Mommsen win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902, becoming the second laureate in the prize’s history.

#books #bookstodon #history #nonfiction #rome #nobelprize
@bookstodon

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174d

This week's #NewBooks at the library: Another three books from our January clearance sale, some of which have been review candidates for some time now.

- Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything – and Endangered the World, a shocking and eye-opening reportage written by Jocelyn C. Zuckerman and published by Hurst Publishers.

- Making Faces: The Evolutionary Origins of the Human Face, written by Adam S. Wilkins, published by Belknap Press. Not one I was planning to review, but I find it very hard to pass up a bargain on an interesting book on human evolution and physical anthropology.

- Unfit for Purpose: When Human Evolution Collides with the Modern World, written by Adam Hart, published by Bloomsbury Sigma. One of several books that explores the mismatch between our evolutionary legacy and the modern world we have created for ourselves. I expect them to be amusing reads all!

#Books #Bookstodon #Scicomm #EnvironmentalIssues #PalmOil #PlantationForestry #FoodAdditives #Evolution #HumanEvolution #PhysicalAnthropology #Anatomy #PopularScience @bookstodon

A photo of three books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books.

On the left, Planet Palm, showing an orange hardback with an abstract colour illustration of an orangutan's face, its eyes made out of two palm oil fruits.

In the middle, Making Faces, showing a black hardback with a colour photo of a hominid skull lying on a bed of sharp black rocks (possibly basalt shards).

On the right, Unfit for Purpose, showing an orange hardback with a series of black silhouettes showing a variation on the classic march of progress meme. The last two human figures are of a walking man hunched over while holding a mobile phone, and a woman sitting on a chair hunched over while holding a mobile phone.

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