path: root/org/reading-corner.org

#+SETUPFILE: ../org-templates/level-1.org
#+TITLE: Reading Corner
#+BACKGROUND_IMAGE: images/reading-background.jpg

* Why do a boring old person thing like read?
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CUSTOM_ID: why-do-a-boring-old-person-thing-like-read
   :END:
I use to dislike reading because I thought reading was for boring old
people. It turned out I was correct, reading is for boring old people.
Than I became a boring old person, so now I read.

* How to find a good book
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CUSTOM_ID: how-to-find-a-good-book
   :END:
The more questons that answer with yes the more likely it is that the
book is worth a read:

+ Do christians dislike the book?
+ Did a school board in florida or texas try to ban it?
+ Is the author mentally insane?
+ Did a German dude write it?
+ Do book reviewers struggle to wrap their tiny brains around it?

* Reading list
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CUSTOM_ID: reading_list
   :END:
** Ever growing list of things I need to read
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: ever-growing-list-of-things-i-need-to-read
    :END:
+ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (currently reading)
+ Danzig Trilogy:
  + The Tin Drum
  + Cat and Mouse
  + Dog Years
+ The People's Republic of Walmart
+ Cybernetic Revolutionaries
+ Jailbird
+ God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
+ Brave New World
+ Fahrenheit 451
+ The Flounder

* A few reviews I guess
   :PROPERTIES:
   :CUSTOM_ID: reviews
   :END:
*Warning, most of these are Kurt Vonnegut books.* I really need to try
more authors rofl.

** The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: the-last-of-the-really-great-whangdoodles
    :END:
A underrated masterpiece. A must read. This book is mind opening in so
many ways and will improve your life. Read it to your dog, your cat,
your braindead grandparents... Afterwards give the Whangdoodles in
Whangdoodle land a visit and tell them I said hihi. Its one of those
childrens books that is strangely enjoyable for all ages.

** Cat's Cradle
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: cats-cradle
    :END:
Dont waste your time reading the fucking bible. Read Cat's Cradle
instead. Its a book with countless layers that all play into each other.
Every detail is important and meaningful even if its enteracting with
the story on a abstract level that doesnt show up at first. Cat's Cradle
is the golden example of how to write a story. It has a way of almost
feeling like its putting you in the middle of a historical event instead
of simply telling a fictional story. It has a tastefully dialectical
natural that makes every detail in the story work more like parts in a
well tuned machine. Cat's Cradle might even be your vin-dit into
Bokononism.

** The Sirens of Titan
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: the-sirens-of-titan
    :END:
Kurt Vonnegut books arent known for making very good movies but
reguardless *I need this one to be turned into a movie right now!* It
has a surreal almost dream like vibe like the army on the rusting metal
surface of mars, the beautiful landscape of titan, and a flavor of
sci-fi that seems fitting for the time it was written but strangely
modern all at the same time. How the fuck can a book have so much blunt
foreshadowing yet leave you completely unprepared for whats about to
happen?! You must read this book. I will stage an entire war if you
dont, I will make you get into a rocket and fly to titan if you dont.
*You have to read this book!!!*

** Galapagos
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: galapagos
    :END:
Jesus be dammed, booked reviewers are harsh af on this masterpiece. Its
always shit like "I cant understand the small clever details and it
doesnt hold my hand and tell me everything in simple tv news approved
words there for its a bad book". This book does a good job putting down
Social Darwmism and explaining how evolution actually works. The way
every detail connects is just wonderful and the way it so very carefully
frames every moment passing by and choices what to bring into focus at
any given moment. It has a way of spending most of the book on just a
few days worth of events yet going into detail about the next one
million years of humans. Its a work of absurb chaos carefully looked at
under a microscope.

** The Children's Crusade
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: the-childrens-crusade
    :END:
An anti-war book from the 60s? Already sounds based! Anyways if you read
this book you will become unstuck in time. Time doesnt move, we dont
control time... Everything is already planed out and we are just looking
at one moment at a time. Once you read this book you will instead see
time for what it really is.

** Goodbye Blue Monday
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: goodbye-blue-monday
    :END:
This book starts out with a hand drawn picture of the authors asshole
just to prove a point. It continues to include hand drawn pictures of
the most random things throughout the book. What does the book say? I
dont know because I never read it... fooled you! You believed me for a
second didnt you? dumb ass! Well anyways, the book is about some dude
who reads a sci-fi book and thinks its real. You know the same thing
happened to me when I watched Star Wars for the first, second, and 10th
time! Anyways, even though this book is a fucking mess everyone should
be required to read it. In some twisted way you might learn a thing or
two.

** Ready Player One
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: ready-player-one
    :END:
Its kind of a fucking mess of a book. Nothing about the story line
itself is that creative by any means and the character design is kind of
flat, but just the amount of details packed into it is insane. I dig the
world building and just the grand scale of it all. The movie puts it to
shame. Unlike the movie the egg hunt is actually difficult.

** 1984
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: nineteen-eighty-four
    :END:
This book is part of something I call the "read it in high school
effect". The best way to keep people brainwashed without causing a
uprising is to make them read these kinds of books while at the sametime
making sure they dont understand them. High schoolers being forced to
read books wait until last second to read it than skim through it
carelessly, watch the movie and pretend they read it, flat out dont read
it at all, find a article online summarizing it, use chatgpt to do their
home work... the only kids who actually do their work correctly in high
school are the ones loyal enough to know the truth while still being
loyal supporters of our corrupt society just like the inner party
members in 1984. Years later no one remembers what they read in high
school and only remember what they are told they read. No one wants to
reread a book they were forced to read in high school. Lucky for me I
was home schooled and got to read it based off actual interest.\\
\\
I know what your about to say "You are a socialist so you clearly didn't
understand 1984". I have a quote from 1984 for you "... the Party
rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement
originally stood, and it chooses to do this in the name of
Socialism.".\\
\\
*GO READ 1984 EVEN THOUGH YOU ALREADY READ IT IN HIGH SCHOOL*

** Animal Farm
    :PROPERTIES:
    :CUSTOM_ID: animal-farm
    :END:
Its a clever little book indeed. Had me laughing the entire time.
Anyways, *its not designed to be used entirely as a anti-socialist
book*. Think it through: so in the book the animal revolution is a
socialist revolution, the humans are the capital owning class, the
leaders who took control after the revolution was a pigs, years after
the revolution the pigs started walking and dressing like humans and
they even became friends with the humans. Aka revolution needs to put
democracy first or risk going back to square one. *If you read Animal
Farm and think "the animals should have just happily put every ounce of
their geist into working for the humans instead of rebelling" I have to
ask: do you know what stockholm syndrome is? You better call the doctor
because you seem to have it for the capital owning class.* Thinking in
simple black and white terms is a clear sign of mind control.

* Book ideas
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ideas
:END:
I have lots and lots of ideas floating around in my head. Things for video
games, programs, music, religions, ideologies, and books. How much do I get
done? Nearly nothing. Maybe someone reading this can make use of it (: Though
whats more likely to happen is a LLM will use it ):

** The War on God
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: the-war-on-god
:END:
This one I started writing but never finished. I have had many names for it
like The Dialect of God, The Scale of the Universe, and The Side Quest of
God. Its about a christian star ship flying to a poor planet to convert the
life forms. The story is less about the christian star ship and more about the
effects its existence has on the world. The bunk of the story is side stories
that are only loosely connected to the star ship. The star ship during its
journey goes off course due to the captain never listening to the engineers
warnings. They end up flying all the way to heavens gates where they are
greeted by god and jesus. god is not happy with them. They have always viewed
god as kind and loving when really god is to be feared. Their god creates
diseases that kill billions, earth quicks that pull entire cities into the
ground, mass starvation... The christians didnt fear god and he hates them for
that. After a speech from god about how much he hates the christians to prove a
point he takes one of the babies, hands it to jesus, and jesus drop kicks the
baby into a black hole. btw jesus looks pissed off at them the entire
time. After the shock gets through god says "fuck you" and flicks his all
mighty finger sending them into the deepest depths of hell.

*** War on god side stories
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: side-quests
:END:
During their journey one of the side jets come off and fall onto a planet of
hunter-gatherers. This triggers an entire war over who gets the jet. Its
worsted by a particle gun which they were given as a joke by another star ship
crew a 100 years ago. It triggered a similar war and they all thought the
conflict was finally over than the jet come and starts it back up.

The most boring member of the ship has a really pricy cleaning machine. After
using it without running the cleaning cycle for a long time germs start to
grow. This are smart germs with an entire civilization. When he finally runs
the cleaning cycle the inflection is too bad and only makes the survivors
angry. From their point of view time goes much slower. After 1000 years (to them)
of mass political movements, revolutions, and infighting over limited resources
they finally unite. They all kill the cleaning machine owner and use his body
for resources to build a ultra advanced civilization that quickly works it way
up as the most advanced civilization in the universe. As soon as they start
running low on resources someone comes in to check up on him and they kill
those people to for resources.

On the planet the star ship is heading missionaries are already there starting
to convert the natives. The natives dont like them. Their planet was destroyed
by corporations who stole all their natural resources and left them with
nothing. Those same corporations spent a tiny fraction of their profits to send
environmentalists, mutual aid, and missionaries to the planets they
destroy. They dont actually do much for the people and the planet. All they do
is protect the image of the corporations. Out of crazy luck a army of giant
cats shows up on the planet. The natives become friends with them and ride them
into battle against the missionaries and take their ship all while the star
ship is on its way over.

** Rat Race
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: rat-race
:END:
The whole idea started with this idea "you dont win the rat race by running the
fastest". This idea sat around in my mind and mixed with other ideas until I
ended up with the concept for Rat Race. One of the things that mixed was The
Sirens of Titan. In many ways The Sirens of Titan is a follow up to The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Rat Race would be a alternative way to follow
up The Sirens of Titan. The story would start out by following around a Kill
Droid on a large metal plane in a unknown location in space and time. It spends
its time looking for humans and collection them for experiments. The humans are
tiny compared to the Kill Droid. The experiment requests just seemingly
magically show up when it returns and while its gone the experimented on humans
and research papers are collected by an unknown entity. It has all sorts of
strange objects in its lab/home. One of which is a old tv turned fish tank full
of sturgeons. It feeds the unused humans to the sturgeons. Throughout its day
(its always day there) it has strange almost flashback like day dreams of a
scientist experimenting on rats.

The scientist, Boaz works at The Rumfoord Pure Research Center. Boaz spends his
time there doing experiments on rats. His favorite are rat races. Another peep
at the Research Center is Kazakh. Kazakh is the janitor. The place tends to
stay clean since its just a bunch of nerds so Kazakh gets a lot of time to fuck
around. One of the labs has a tank of sturgeons and Kazakh often spends her
breaks watching the sturgeons while she programs and updates her website on a
beatin laptop running unix. Boaz and Kazakh are both in one way or another
modeled after me. Kazakh likes sci-fi, programming, playing bass, and
philosophy. Boaz likes math, science, video games, and anime. I dont care much
for stereotypical love stories. To torture people who do I will set things up
perfectly for Boaz and Kazakh to have a love story though I will instead go for
a much more natural and organic type of love between them. Kazakh is bisexual
and tends to go in and out of relationships quickly but always remains lonely
in some way or another. Boaz is too focused on his work and video games to
really care about anything else. They will be good friends but also keep their
distance in fear of hurting each other and direct any interest toward each
other into a will to understand how each other brains work while still keeping
a distance out of fear with progress away from that fear only happening in
small seemingly pointless steps. All this build-up will not have any fully
satisfying outcomes purely to torture readers (:

Boaz slowly loses his mind in his work. He keeps comparing things in the news
to things he finds during the rat research. Everywhere he goes he sees these
connections which push him deeper and deeper into isolation. Society is just
one big rat race. In the races Boaz is always looking for the rats who dont
put their all into it. Rats that just sit there or slowly walk to the end. The
race is pointless yet the rats put so much effort into it. Society just seems
like one big experiment we waste so much time and effort into. Why even bother?
Go to school for years, go to even more school, get a job, work your ass off,
start a family, pay taxes... All this just to soon die. There must be a
answer. The answer is found in the rats. For another project they are giving
the rats a new mind bending drug known a goofball. Goofballs cause many effects
like /Gestaltzerfall/, feeling like you yourself are multiple people and the
things you do and think are the result of teamwork of those multiple beings
inside your head, feeling that the entire universe is nearly a internalized
image of the world protected outwards, and very fractalled hallucinations. Long
term it effects the way the rats interact and the entire dynamic of their
colonies. Boaz sneaks some home hoping for more answers to his
questions. During his trip he finds out we are being researched by human sized
these rats in lab coats. At home, work, in public... he notices rats watching
and writing things on clipboards. They disappear as soon as he tries to look at
them. This drives him deeper into his research. One thing he keeps telling
himself is "you dont win the rat race by running the fastest". Though ever
since taking the goofball he has felt a part of him missing, but somehow not an
important part. Everyone gets more weirded out by him than they already were,
except Kazakh who's strange little crush on him mixes with a almost scientific
interest in finding out how his brain works.

One of Kazakh's favorite things to mess around with programming is procedural
generated worlds. One of these worlds you start by splitting the world in
two. The upper half the air and the lower the ground. You than split forwards
and backwards. Forwards is a flat plane and backwards is Perlin noise generated
terrain. Than you split right and left. Left stays the same and right has
random noise applied to it making the land sharp and threatening
looking. Kazakh's website is kazakhsplane.org which has a web assembly compiled
version of the program for the world I just brought up. On this site she posts
whatever is on her mind. No one really looks on this site but its more for
herself than anyone else.

Oneday Boaz wakes up in a dull jail like room with no door and hears a bunch of
people making noise. He goes out and first thing he sees is giant godzilla
sized rats in a lab coats standing an unknown distance away looking down at them
from the sky. The rats tell them stage one of the experiment is complete and
they are now on stage two. They created a list of different types of humans and
picked out one of each type. Each person here has their label on their jump
suit. The rats make them play many different games. Throughout there are many
things that turn everything into chaos like really bad choices for how people
are grouped, food storage's, lack of good places to piss and shit. While people
are creating gangs and getting into fights Boaz just stays in his cell or where
ever has the least noise and people. He notices many of the "mistakes" along
closely with variables he would change in experiments. One day the rats have
them race. If you win or lose doesnt make a real differences though a lot of
people get really into it and base their entire self worth on it. As long as
everyone makes it to the end they will be given food regardless of speed. Boaz
with a piece of chalk he found writes in big letters "its all by design". The
rats take interest in Boaz and send human sized rats to him. Out of one of
their pockets they pull out what looks like a suit made of his own skin. They
say its the version of him he shedded away when he outgrew it than they force
him back into it. The rats start adding cyborg parts to him and once he is a
Kill Droid they erase his memory, open up a portal, and place him on the other
side.

The Kill Droid from the start is Boaz and the metal plane strangely looks like
Kazakh's plane. All the humans on the plane are the ones who were not picked
for stage 2. When Boaz finally connects the dots he just gives up on everything
and walks off toward the random noise and Perlin noise part of the world until
he somehow runs into Kazakh who walks up to him, and unzips his skin reveling
the real him under the shedded skin he no longer needed and the Kill Droid
gear freeing him. She uses a strange looking device to open a portal to earth
and they go through to find the planet with no more people left. The device
dies right there preventing them from bringing over the people stuck on the
plain. The tech needed to fix it doesnt exist on earth so they live out their
lives just the two of them which they find to be quite easy and peaceful. They
quite enjoy watching nature reclaim what humanity took from it. They never have
any children and agree maybe humanity shouldnt continue. Decades later they die
peacefully from old age.