Pimsleur Korean Level 1 Lessons 16-20 by Pimsleur
There is still a lot of "buying stuff", but it feels this is finally branching out into a little more useful Korean. It would be useful to just go through some general counting rather than have random numbers here and there.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson
There is a nightmare painter and a girl from another world. They discover what things are like on this world. One world is more "magical" while the one they are visiting is technology based. They discover some of the odd things like fashion in the tech world. It is an interesting fish out of water story. Then some of the Cosmere and shards parts get brought in. There is also discovery that the lead never made it to the school he wanted it. Book feels like it goes o a bit too long.
The Joyful Wisdom (The Gay Science) by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Thomas Common
This is an early brain dump of Nietzsche's thoughts. He brings up concepts such as "god is dead" and "Zarathustra spoke" for which he would be known. The thoughts are all over the place, with thoughts of disadvantages of men being like women. He even includes some of his poetry in there. Some parts aged well. A lot didn't.
Reflections on the Revolution in France/Rights of Man (Giants of Political Thought) by Wendy McElroy and George H Smith, discussing works by Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine (Contributor)
This is a quick audio introduction to two famous works from over two centuries ago. The audiobook includes various voice actors to discuss the essays and their authors. There was some controversy with Burke as he seemed to take on different views. This short audiobook provides good background, but is not a source of the original works.
Terror at the Gates: Blood of Lilith, Book 1 by Scarlett St. Clair
In a religious society, people are somewhat confined by where they stand. The main character lives in an area of sin. She wants to work for a guy. there are conflicts and some romance. There is at least some plot, though the anti-religion gets heavy.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
Reading this book is so depressing. The author pointed out the flaws in the suburban planning more than a half century ago. And what has happened since then? Most of the US has been developed with the same bad planning. Central planning. Parking lots. Separation of concerns. Now there has finally been a little bit of observation that some of these things were bad. Why did it take so long? Why did we destroy actual communities earlier on? Now with phones and devices we are even more separated. Maybe that has been the final nudge that we need to realize that we want some community in our physical life.
Many times cities are "killed" rather than suffer natural deaths. Planners confuse "density" with "overcrowding". High density areas are often very successful, especially if people care. Neighbors will "self-police" to ensure everyone meets standards. People can also have a degree of anonymity in cities that they cannot in small towns. They can be private, yet still part of a tight-knit urban community.
The author criticizes the "garden city" and other movements that would likely be considered "new urbanism" today. Instead, she advocates pure urbanism. Keep big sidewalks for people to travel, play and spend their time. Let cities have many different concerns together. She spends some time looking at alternatives to public housing. Her position would look much more libertarian, with the government less involved than they are now. One key point is that people would still be able to live in the community once they earn too much to qualify. (Would this change incentives to hide income?) There seem to be some flaws, though she admits that it is a starting point and should be revised as needed. in some places, we do allow people to remain after earning more. There are attempts to have more "mixed income housing". However, the entire public housing system still suffers many of the same problems that the author identified in the the early 1960s.
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (The "Good Parts" Version) by William Goldman
This is the "good parts" abridged version of the Princess Bride. It is narrated by the director of the movie. He had loved having his father read it to him when he was young. Only later, did he find his dad had focussed on the interesting action parts.
This version is similar to the movies and has many of the quotable parts. A girl loves a boy. The boy goes off to sea to be worthy of her. However, he is said to have been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. She is later betrothed to royalty. The son of a swordmaker has vowed to avenge the death of his father (who was killed by a 6 fingered man.) He teams with a giant and a Sicilian as part of a criminal gang. They try to kidnap the princess. However, the man in black appears. He is actually he Dread Pirate Roberts - and the original boy. (Turns out the "pirate" is a title that goes from person to person.) He defeats the Sicilian in the battle of wits, and swordmaker son in sword battle. The swordmaker and giant become friends with him and they all go to rescue the princess from the evil royal dude. There are sword fights, comedy and action.
