End March Reading Thread
Short Stories & Novellas
The Children of Hurin – J.R.R. Tolkein
Comment: everyone who says that Middle-Earth is too black-and-white should read this tale. It’s full of disaster, betrayal, failure, and strife. Some obvious influences like Gilgamesh and the Oedipus Cycle. Powerful curses, and of course a wily dragon antagonist. It’s from the saddest part of the First Age after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears when all the free peoples can do is hang on and wait for angelic intervention from Valinor. And the hanging is not gentle.
A Fragment of Life – Arthur Machen
Comment: somewhat like it says on the tin, it’s the story of an English couple living a relatively mundane life, but one that occasionally makes contact with an otherworldly (Fey) realm. With Machen, you’re here for an interesting vibe, and this one does not disappoint. Unlike, say, The White People, that vibe is hopeful-strange rather than unsettling.
Carmilla – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Comment: A vampire novella from the 19th century, you can see a number of the elements that define better-known vampire stories like Dracula: the Eastern European setting, the mysterious figure (guest rather than host), the distinction between a single obsessive target whose downfall is slow and almost artful vs. the one-off meals that clue everyone in that something is off, the aversion to religion and religious symbols as a counter, a wise old figure who solves the mystery, and drinking/turning as seduction rather than attack (unlike Drac, this one is sapphic). I liked that it left a handful of questions unanswered, and that it had a diffident ending.
Books
Masters of the Air – Donald L. Miller
Comment: a very thorough overview of the 8th Air Force during WWII, starting from its arrival in 1942 and continuing on to discuss the extensive survey on the effects of strategic bombing. It’s well written. Miller can make your blood run cold describing the suffering of POWs in Switzerland (I am lowkey much more angry at the Swiss over their collaboration than I was before reading this book), and he can make bureaucratic debates over grand strategy (e.g. the passages describing the slow descent of the 8th Air Force Brass from accepting extra casualties in the name of precision day bombing to embracing terror-bombing in the closing months of the war) as gripping as any action sequence. I was a little worried that it would duplicate the (also excellent) Apple TV series, but instead it serves as complement. It’s more analytical and less character-narrative driven, and in a book that’s a good thing. It also should be required reading to current US military/political leadership, who seem to still buy into the original error of the “bomber mafia”: that air power alone, with all of its awesome destructive power, can achieve political ends like regime change or unconditional surrender.
Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle Earth – John Garth
Comment: this is a biography of the early years of Tolkien’s life, covering his education, his original great friend group in the TCBS, and their experiences in the Great War. The main goal is to situate Tolkien in and amongst the literary movements stemming from the war, and to explain when and how his experience of war (especially at the Somme) influenced his Legendarium. It is interesting and well-researched, pointing out a number of striking convergences such as the dragon assault on Gondolin and the tank assault at the Somme. It also details the tragic deaths of two of his closest friends, with some speculation on how that affected his literary arc. I enjoyed it, although I would have liked more of a bridge between Tolkien’s early lost tales and what we find in the Silmarillion. That’s a transition that mostly took place during his post-war career, which is covered in an epilogue. I suppose it’s a good piece of work that leaves the reader wishing it were longer.
Links
Retired FBI Agent Concerned About Kash Patel’s Bureau
Comment: elect idiots, get idiots.
Scott Alexander Thinks that AI Don’t Hallucinate
Comment: instead, they guess without shame. Honestly he makes a decent case.
Should We Amend the Pardon Power?
Comment: yes. It was abused before Trump in various ways, and it will be abused more severely now that Trump has pulled out every post of Chesterton’s Fence re: corruption. It needs limits. I am open to particular proposals on the details.
Will TACO Tuesday Come to Iran?
Comment: game theory, Nate Silver, economics, and geopolitics. A slurry of interesting stuff in this piece.
Scott Alexander Defends Trump Collaborators
Comment: Scott seems obviously right, but once their reign is broken it is okay to give the collaborators a hard time.
Silicon Valley Goes to (Profit From) War
Comment: like every technological power center before them, they found a way to make violence pay.
Comment: one of the longest shots with a ballistic missile in history. Fortunately no one was hurt.
The Challenges of Profitable Vertical Farming
Comment: in a way, vertical farms are a victim of their promise. They have fewer externalities than traditional farms, and for that reason can’t compete on cost.
Comment: everyone likes the America-as-Rome analogies, but there’s merit to this comparison between the US and Prussia on the eve of the twin disaster at Jena-Auerstedt.
The Many Sins of the Iran Attack
Comment: in many ways, the strategic blindness of Hegseth’s Hordes stems from the ideological blindness of his master in the white house.
Update on the Iran War as of Day 22
Comment: lots of tactical successes, still no word on the strategic situation.
Entry #34 in ‘Everything is Gambling Now’
Comment: Finlete is a company that lets you invest in minor league players for a stake in their MLB earnings, with a recent Yankees phenom making headlines. I can’t decide if this is brilliant on the level of Green Bay owning the Packers or a sign that the degens are out of control. But either way it seems ripe for manipulation and scamming.
Sora is Dead. Love live Open Source Video Slop.
Comment: OpenAI focussing on profitability harder this year, it seems.
Bret Devereaux’s Sensible Thoughts on the Iran War
Comment: it’s as if many people in the administration did not read the basics of strategy. Or got so caught up in flashy tactics that they never bothered to ask the strategic question.
Russia Breals US Oil Blockade of Cuba
Comment: no idea what the logic behind this move is, and no one is talking.
AI Models Achieve Top Marks on X-Ray Benchmark Without Reading X-Ray
Comment: hypester: AI uses ESP for medicine! Pessimist: AI doesn’t have real vision! Lesson: benchmarks are tricky.