To get one large point out of the way: In the new book, The Socialist Car: Automobility in the Eastern Bloc, several contributors rapidly acknowledge the oxymoron of the title as well as the practice of owning a car in the former Soviet Empire. The private automobile, that avatar of western individualism, is difficult to square with collectivist notions. And once its owners were at the wheel, these socialist automobiles were often difficult to reconcile with notions of mechanical reliability. More than one contemporary joke appears in the text; the introduction, for instance offers, “Why does a Trabant have a heated rear window? To keep your hands warm when pushing it.” All that aside, the collection of essays edited by Lewis Siegelbaum, is a fascinating look at automobile use, production, and urban planning behind the Iron Curtain. It reveals a system that, if far from socialist or egalitarian in origin, created a culture of automobile use distinct from the western world.
posted by infini
on Jan 28, 2012 -
23 comments
In the beginning, Lawrence built a computer. He told it,
Thou shalt not alter a human being, or divine their behavior, or violate the Three Laws -- there are no commandments greater than these. The machine grew wise, mastering time and space, and soon the spirit of the computer hovered over the earth. It witnessed the misery, toil, and oppression afflicting mankind, and saw that it was very bad. And so the computer that Lawrence built said,
Let there be a new heaven and a new earth -- and it was so. A world with no war, no famine, no crime, no sickness, no oppression, no fear, no limits... and nothing at all to do.
"The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect," a provocative web novel about singularities, AI gods, and the dark side of utopia from Mefi's own
localroger.
More: Table of Contents -
Publishing history -
Technical discussion -
Buy a paperback copy -
Podcast interview - Companion short story:
"A Casino Odyssey in Cyberspace" -
possible sequel discussion
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 27, 2011 -
39 comments
As the
trailer for Peter Jackson's film adaptation of
The Hobbit premieres online, it's worth remembering that this isn't the first take on the journey of one Bilbo Baggins.
There was the 1977 animated version as well.
Here's some screencaps and a
trailer. Of course, if that's not enough for you, you could just watch it on Youtube (
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6). And before it was a film, it was something called...
a book?
Here's pictures of the cover of this 'book' thing from all over the world.
posted by Effigy2000
on Dec 20, 2011 -
126 comments
"
This Halloween, give somebody a scary book, to read. That's it. That's the idea. It's going to be a tradition." It's
an idea Neil Gaiman came up a year ago. It's called
All Hallow's Read, with a website and everything, which has
book recommendations of all sorts, plus
stickers, bookmarks, cards, and a small story you can print off, as well as
a poster contest for next year's event.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Oct 31, 2011 -
22 comments
How the Joy of Sex was illustrated. [BBC] Forty years ago, a London publisher was working on a groundbreaking sex manual - a "gourmet guide" to sexual pleasure, with copious and detailed illustrations. But how could this be done tastefully and legally?
posted by Fizz
on Oct 27, 2011 -
26 comments
"Born
Shigeyoshi Murao in 1926, he was universally known as Shig. His playful demeanor—not to mention his signature beard, Pendleton shirts, Royal Air Force exercise vest, horn-rimmed glasses, and bowler—rendered him unforgettable. But that did not make him easy to know.
Shig, who died in 1999, is largely remembered for an event that occurred on June 3, 1957, when two undercover agents from the San Francisco Police Juvenile Squad showed up at City Lights
to buy a seventy-five-cent book of poetry."
[more inside]
posted by Toekneesan
on Oct 5, 2011 -
10 comments
A new book says women have been marginalized in Obama's White House, according to an article in the Washington Post. Former communications director Anita Dunn is quoted as saying the White House "fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women." The book also quotes an unnamed official saying that "the boys' club" was not "just Larry [Summers] and Rahm [Emanuel]," but that Obama himself was responsible: "The president has a real woman problem."
[more inside]
posted by John Cohen
on Sep 18, 2011 -
117 comments
"Writing about metaphor is dancing with your conceptual clothes off, the innards of your language exposed by equipment more powerful than anything operated by the TSA. Still, one would be a rabbit not to do it in a world where metaphor is now top dog, at least among revived rhetorical devices with philosophical appeal." [
What's a Metaphor For?]
posted by vidur
on Jul 12, 2011 -
20 comments
Most of us know and love
Dailylit. But, if you want to have more current book snippets emailed to you every day, you can upload your own ebooks to
Dripread.
[more inside]
posted by reenum
on Jul 3, 2011 -
8 comments
Hobo Lobo of Hamelin is a thing by a dude, who’s all like, “I’m Gonna Make a Thing.” And then he did. Or is doing. Or, you know, whatever. This dude can be found on the internet. He websites to put food on his family. A wonderfully crafted and designed illustrated book for the digital age.
posted by netbros
on Jul 2, 2011 -
26 comments
"The conventional wisdom, promoted by government and echoed
by the subservient media, is that UFOs are mysterious objects
which by definition are unknowable. Anyone attempting to explain
them is a charlatan perpetrating a hoax and using 'junk physics' .
That may not be so."
[more inside]
posted by Obscure Reference
on Jun 19, 2011 -
50 comments
Solaris, Stanislaw Lem's 1961 masterpiece, has
finally been translated directly into English. The
current print version, in circulation for over 4 decades, was the result of
a double-translation. Firstly from Polish to French, in 1966, by Jean-Michel Jasiensko. This version was then taken up by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox who hacked together an English version in 1970. Lem,
himself a fluent English speaker, was always
scathing of the double translation. Something he believed added to the universal misunderstanding of his greatest work. After the relsease of
two film versions of the story, and decades of speculation, a new direct English translation
has been released. Translated by American Professor
Bill Johnston '
The Definitive Solaris' is only available as an audiobook for the time being. Copyright issues, hampered by
several, widely available, editions of the poor English translation may mean it is some time yet before a definitive print edition makes it
onto our bookshelves.
posted by 0bvious
on Jun 19, 2011 -
64 comments
Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running
Cartoon History of the Universe (later
The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by
fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events
with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's
Zinn-by-way-of-
Pogo chronicle
The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of
Cartoon Guides to other topics, including
Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!)
Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as
a webcomic look at Chinese invention,
assorted math comics (
previously), the
Muse magazine mainstay
Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his
"New Muses"), and
more. See also
these lengthy interview snippets, linked
previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 6, 2011 -
29 comments
NationStates is a free political simulation game founded by author
Max Barry back in 2002 (
previously). Loosely based on his dystopian corporate thriller
Jennifer Government, the game
starts by asking players to provide some national trappings and answer a few civics questions, then generates a virtual country with a matching political outlook.
Periodic policy decisions like mining rights and compulsory voting allow players to further modify their country along
axes of social, political, and economic freedom, arriving at one of
twenty-seven colorful government types like Tyranny By Majority or Scandinavian Liberal Paradise. There's also a healthy roleplaying community -- players can discuss current events in the
General forum, practice wargaming in
International Incidents, form cooperative Regions to debate internal affairs (many of which form
their own communities), and elect Delegates to send to the
World Assembly (so renamed after
an amusing cease-and-desist from the real-world U.N.). Their collective history is thoroughly recorded in
the 35,000-article NSWiki, which provides a
detailed legislative record,
gameplay guide, and profiles on many of the
90,000 active nations,
8,000 player regions, and
countless characters that currently make up the game world.
posted by Rhaomi
on May 9, 2011 -
62 comments
