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possm

possm@bookwyrm.tilde.zone

Joined 1 year, 2 months ago

silly little guy he/it

My languages in order of proficiency: German French English Chinese. The reason I read so much in English is only because most pirated epubs are in English. I have no consistent grading system, the stars are based on vibes, don't read into it. I am not a critic; my "reviews" simply document what it was like for me to read the book in question.

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possm's books

To Read

Currently Reading

2024 Reading Goal

70% complete! possm has read 21 of 30 books.

Jörg Bergstedt: Suizidalien (German language, 2015, Seitenhieb-Verlag) 2 stars

Pretty bad

2 stars

This is a story written by an anarchist, set in a near-ish future where assisted suicide is legal. The protagonist is spending her last few days alive in an enclosed facility where everyone gets to wait three days for the date of their assisted suicide. The facility is described as a utopian space where social relations are kind and free, with the protagonist wondering why society outside can't be the same way. Bergstedt obviously wrote this story for the purpose of describing his ideas about how society should and shouldn't be. It's a very 18th century kind of approach but ok, why not. The problem is that Bergstedt isn't Voltaire and his prose is pretty bad. His dialogues suck because he gives all his characters the same voice, they all talk the same. His worldbuilding is muddled: the world outside the suicide space serves as its negative counterpart because the …

Isabelle Robinet: Histoire du taoïsme des origines au XIVe siècle (French language, 1991, Editions du Cerf) 3 stars

Another history of Daoism

3 stars

Reading this right after the Kohn one, it's impossible not to compare. This one covers much of the same ground but in more detail, it is less didactic and more centered on texts. I enjoyed it well enough but did find some passages tedious. I think it is more interesting for people deeper in the material; less beginner friendly.

Umberto Eco: Wie man eine wissenschaftliche Abschlußarbeit schreibt. Doktor-, Diplom- und Magisterarbeit in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (Paperback, German language, UTB Uni-Taschenbücher Verlag) 4 stars

Entertaining and instructive

4 stars

Fascinating seeing how the academic research and writing process worked before personal computers and the internet. Even if much of the more specific advice in this book is obsolete in the digital age, it is still worth knowing e.g. the logic behind a bibliographical entry (even if nowadays you'll get Zotero to generate it for you). The more general, broad advice on how to write, how to find a topic, what attitude to have towards your work and others' works that you cite, etc, is still applicable today. Eco uses tons of examples, real and fictional, that really help get an idea of what a dissertation in the humanities actually is. They help make the whole book tangible and entertaining. Good book all in all, would recommend to pretty much every humanities student.

Livia Kohn: Daoism and Chinese Culture (Paperback, University of Hawaii Press) 4 stars

Good introduction to religious Daoism

4 stars

I read this book as research for a class. It serves as a good thorough intro to the history and contents of Daoism viewed as a still-ongoing current of religious practice. The editing is pretty bad in this edition, there's a lot of typos. I didn't find that too distracting though.

Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer: Dialektik der Aufklärung (Paperback, German language, 1969, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH) 5 stars

Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno verfassten gemeinsam im US-amerikanischen Exil ihre Gedanken zur Dialektik …

Made its way into my head and lives there rent free and I can't get it to leave

5 stars

I am still re-reading it, obsessing over paragraphs, taking notes and drawing diagrams, etc. Haven't worked this closely with an entire book before. Told myself I would wait until I have gained "enough understanding" of the text before I write a review, but I realize now that's not a smart goal to set. So here's a few sentences. This is a very dense text. You can read it multiple times and unlock new layers of meaning each time. Sometimes a little Nebensatz will contain multitudes. There's little dialectical movements to be found all over and it's always fun to spot them. The prose is beautiful and precise. I can't explain my current obsession with this book (and with Teddie in general) but it is what it is.