ErmaStermaderm

Philosophy for dirty hands and clean consciences

Revisado: 11-27-24

Nobody I’ve ever worked with wants to listen to a punchable face say million-dollar words.

McKerracher insists at the start of this book that, in terms of style, “this work is neither academic nor popular.” By and large, I agree.

There is enough meat for the reader who considers themself seriously invested in philosophy to get a sense of the author’s core theme. At the same time, he obviously went to great lengths writing in a more conversational, less scholarly tone. Assuming he hopes that his primary audience will be workers–more likely than not listening to this book–that tone is incredibly important. As I write this in the year of our Bezos 2024, the fact I began this review with has been well and truly demonstrated by way of popular vote.

There are a large group of Americans who simply refuse to understand that their style of communication is why they fail in their political projects. As Benjamin Studebaker wrote in The Way is Shut, “the language is so important to their sense of self that political defeat is preferable to abandoning it.” There’s a reasonable logic to this, after all they spent years of their lives (and will probably spend decades more) paying for that language.

Then again, just like them, McKerracher took on debt and great amounts of academic effort developing that very language and nevertheless shows the courage and good-sense to drop it in favor of actually speaking. He has taken Ivan Illich to heart and separated his academic “fluency with the ability to say something new.”

There are a number of conclusions on which I differ with McKerracher, and I imagine many readers will find their own points of controversy in this work. In a text like this, that is an inevitable situation. This isn’t merely content. McKerracher isn’t simply pandering to an already-agreeable audience. Nor is he doing the scholarly-shuffle, appealing in bad-faith to the widest possible group by engaging with only those voices which have already proven socially acceptable and, of course, marketable.

His central theme, a concept he calls Timenergy, is coherent and developed; albeit not to the degree that I’d feel comfortable writing any kind of serious critique. That’s not a failing of the text, but a measure of respect in both directions. This isn’t a theoretical text, but a manifesto of sorts. He promises a more technical work in the future and I think it’s only fair to his theory and my own timenergy to wait for that before I have much else to say about it specifically.

***
Side note: Nance’s voice makes my pants tight.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

An indexed work should have corresponding bookmarks

Revisado: 01-15-24

TLP is organized hierarchically. The way this piece was bookmarked completely disregards that fact. This was a simple inclusion, which represents a gross error. On the off chance audible/amazon cares enough to remedy this; this piece would benefit from bookmarks at the tenth’s level.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Possibly worthy as an historical text, not much else in my opinion

Revisado: 08-30-22

But otherwise there is just so much of this book which is outdated and just cringe level anachronistic in terminology and theory. This really feels like what it must’ve been like reading an unironic textbook on phrenology back when that aging 1 in 100 undergrad professor required it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Lol snowflake magats.

Revisado: 07-23-22

This is a pretty solid standalone Scalzi novel. If you’ve read him before, you’re getting exactly what you think you are. If you haven’t, think witty science jokes, basic nerd humor. Wil Wheaton’s great as always; Scalzi and Wheaton are a classic pair.

Don’t mind the ignorant rabble with their complaints of politics. In fact, just generally don’t worry about folks who complain about words they couldn’t define without a smartphone in their hands. It’s hilarious that thanks to audiobooks, books themselves are now available to this population, bless their dull little hearts.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Narration equivalent of a mayonnaise sandwich

Revisado: 12-11-21

Thing about a mayonnaise sandwich is that it checks all the technical boxes of a sandwich. Two pieces of bread surrounding something.

It’s also a tasteless waste of potential that destroys what would have otherwise been the platonic ideal use of good bread and on spread.

This series is classic, very much in the same way that bread and mayonnaise are both classic. This COULD have been a fantastic performance if it had been done by someone who gave a damn about what he was doing beyond the paycheck.

A technical note: when you get to chapter 36 you will hear a point someone make regarding “the original sins of Adam and Kiev.”

You should know that this narrator is a mayonnaise sandwich and the proper pronunciation of Kiev is “Keev” unless you are of Putin’s ilk or a mayonnaise sandwich. Now that you know this, “Adam and Kiev” has a certain poetic humor to it eh?

Ugh just disgusted with this performance and that’s saying something because I love sandwiches and I love mayonnaise.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

100% Nostalgia from the Star Trek narration cast and I’m here for it

Revisado: 07-14-21

But that’s only the surface level. These stories are rich. The world is interesting and relevant.

If you enjoy any one of these authors and/or any one of these narrators then this book belongs in your collection.

***A note of caution on reviews (specifically of anthologies)***

If you enjoy anthologies, then you’re already used to variance in prose. Some people aren’t as well rounded in their literary consumption and are therefore unreliable reviewers as they’ll tend to issue statements resembling: “I liked some stories more than others…” which says more about the reviewer who prefers to state the obvious than it does of the work.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Get the other, 9 hour version, this one is busted

Revisado: 07-11-21

Audible has no good reason to keep this version. The chapters are not only out of order but there is repeated content (this recording is 13 hrs vs the unabridged, correct version which is 9 hours long).

Having read this story many times I highly recommend reading it, just not this version, which you should avoid.

Avoid this.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Scott Brick is Chris Parnell’s audiobook pen name and I’ll die on this hill.

Revisado: 06-27-20

I’m not sure why, but having this read to me by Jerry from Rick and Morty is just so right on so many levels. Look anyone’s opinion of Isaac Asimov’s work that hadn’t already been stated by 1980 is perfectly irrelevant. I’m just trying to elevate the conversation.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Insipid.

Revisado: 02-22-20

I would have stopped with simply insipid but the form required seventeen other words. Insipid.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Yikes. It’s a cringey neckbeard fantasy, m’lady.

Revisado: 10-22-19

What can I say, I just hoped after the first book the protagonist would eventually veer away from the Epsteinessque direction it seemed to be teetering on. Stupid me.

5 stars for Wil Wheaton; love that guy. (Seriously tho my man, didn’t you catch the me2ness of it all?)

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña