albnelson

archaeohistories , 2 days ago to random

Berbers of North Africa were colonized by, interacted with and outlived Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines. History of these civilizations hardly mentions women. Indeed, history of pre-Islamic women is mostly recorded in funerary steles that were erected in their honour. This is in contrast to Berber culture, in which women play prominent role. Myth of Kahina, pre-Islamic female warrior, still very much alive in Berber culture and nowadays is used by youth as symbol of Berber language and culture.

albnelson , 2 days ago

@archaeohistories This makes me think about the relationship between St. Augustine and St. Monica, his mother. I believe she is supposed to have been a Berber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Monica

ModernDayBartleby , 5 months ago to bookstodon group

And so it begins - #NowReading2024
PASSING by Nella Larsen (1929) via Oshun Publishing imbibed at Yanaka Coffee #Nishiarai #西新井
#Books #Novels #BlackLiterature #HarlemRenaissance #Bookstodon @bookstodon #BookMastodon #BooksMastodon #WomenWriters

albnelson , 2 days ago

@ModernDayBartleby @bookstodon it’s a good one

albnelson , 2 days ago

@ModernDayBartleby @bookstodon great writer and great musician… she makes me feel hopeful for our culture

emeraldzak , 4 days ago to bookstodon group

#books books books
Piranesi time

I hated the level of writing skill present in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Upsetting because I really loved A Psalm for the Wild-Built, also by Becky Chambers. I ended up finishing TLWtaSAP waiting for it to get better. It did not. My first 2/5 star completed read in a while.

Dialogue was often awkward and unnatural. Transitions between locations and events were absent. A sense of time in the book is almost completely missing - if you aren't paying attention to dates for each chapter (I often flipped back to the prior chapter to get a sense of time), you will have little to no idea how much time is actually passing. This means that within chapters, it feels like a fever dream where time loses all meaning.

I'm sure this is an enjoyable read for people who enjoy the characters who get a lot of page time. I would've enjoyed them more if their reactions to one another and the world around them were more consistent and organic. The dialogue really killed any affection I had for them. It seemed the characters were stereotypical tropes and if you recognized the trope, you'd know everything about the character and what they'd do. But this meant that on the rare occasion where they break out of the trope to monologue - essentially infodumping on the reader and not really communicating with another character - it comes off as really insincere and not true to who they are.

enjoy the lazy #BookReview
@bookstodon

albnelson , 4 days ago

@emeraldzak @bookstodon I had some of the reactions you did and mostly enjoyed nevertheless… however… I suspect you’d like the other books in the series better. There is some overlap with the first but they mostly function as standalone novels in the same universe.

futurebird , 4 days ago to random

I love how when your posts get boosted by @theantlady her transparant user icon makes it look like you have a little ant friend on your shoulder.

😊

albnelson , 4 days ago

@futurebird @theantlady how clever

CatsOfYore , 26 days ago to random

Cat guys. ❤️ Photo from my collection, no date. The only info I have is that “Tom” is written on the back.

albnelson , 26 days ago

@CatsOfYore they’re all named Tom

ElleGray , 1 month ago to random

At last, a worthy adversary

albnelson , 1 month ago

@ElleGray or it’s Canadian

futurebird , 2 months ago to random

The only way anyone could fall asleep in their criminal trial would be if it was just all gibberish to you, blah blah blah...

I think I understand why lawyers who work for Trump, some who were once pretty OK at their job get worse the more they work for him.

Can you imagine trying to explain a theory of the case to him?

We knew about this. They had to load the daily briefings at the white house with images and "news articles about him" or he'd get bored and ignore them.

albnelson , 2 months ago

@futurebird I recently went through jury selection (rejected!) and couldn’t help but notice how the defendant was just sort of trapped while we answered questions about things like how many of us watched true crime shows. I think this may be maddening for him in a way we have not yet seen.

futurebird , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

"The animal iconography of the site could shed light on the world view and religion of the people."

I get it. So often that's all they have to go on. But what if it's just decorations?

I wonder what people would make of the Bronx based on the decorations on our buildings that could stand the test of time? Let's choose some random things to survive...

How would you describe this culture?

(assume all writing is gone because of an AI info bomb making all text useless)

albnelson , 2 months ago

@futurebird vertebrate?

albnelson , 2 months ago

@futurebird they are the gods

appassionato , 3 months ago to bookstodon group

Stoic Foundations by Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus

An essential guide to the core texts of Stoic philosophy, featuring a new introduction from Massimo Pigliucci, author of How To Be A Stoic.
Stoicism is a philosophy, a worldview, and a transformational practice.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#philosophy
#Stoicism

albnelson , 3 months ago

@Lady_Thistle @eldubuu @appassionato @bookstodon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wWUc8BZgWE

ianbetteridge , 3 months ago to random

I love this post from @pluralistic because it reminds me of the other, more broad adage: "you can't shop your way out of capitalism".

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/05/the-map-is-not-the-territory/

albnelson , 3 months ago

@pluralistic @ianbetteridge the kind of interaction you can only find on Mastodon

eivind , 3 months ago to bookstodon group

Reading in the foreword to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that Verne originally envisioned Captain Nemo as a Polish noble on an underwater campaign of vengeance against the Russian Empire that'd killed his entire family, but that this version was pronounced unprintable by his publisher for political reasons. @bookstodon

albnelson , 3 months ago

@mattmcirvin @eivind @bookstodon I like him as a mariner without a country

albnelson , 3 months ago

@8petros @patterfloof @bookstodon @eivind ha ha I'm not sure they are!! It's almost a decade old. But yeah I would love to still write stuff like this.

albnelson , 3 months ago

@8petros @bookstodon @eivind @mattmcirvin exquisitely put.