Category Archives: Books

Rare Book Discovery

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I have a hazy recollection of a brief visit to Canterbury’s  The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge many decades ago on one of my first trips to England, but I was intrigued by a story about its current special … Continue reading →

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To leave the world a little better than you found it

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Paul Auster // “That’s all I’ve ever dreamed of… To make the world a better place. To bring some beauty to the drab humdrum corners of the soul. You can do it with a toaster, you can do it with … Continue reading →

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James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

James Baldwin // “The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” To celebrate what would have been the 100th … Continue reading →

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We must begin at the beginning

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

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Build Your Sci-Fi Reading List

Posted on July 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Adrienne Westenfeld at Esquire enumerates the 75 best sci-fi books of all time. While I might find fault with some of the choices, and could quibble about the omissions, all in all it’s quite an interesting list. To be fair, I’ve … Continue reading →

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Weeding out some stuff

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“My relationship with cats has saved me from a deadly and pervasive ignorance. I prefer cats to people, for the most part. Most people aren’t cute at all, and if they are cute they very rapidly outgrow it.” William S. … Continue reading →

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Post-apocalyptic Book Fest

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Are you guilty of tsundoku

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Japanese word tsundoku means buying books and letting them pile up unread. The word dates back to the very beginning of modern Japan, the Meiji era (1868–1912) and has its origins in a pun. Tsundoku, which literally means reading pile, is … Continue reading →

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secret from the river

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at … Continue reading →

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Alien Picnic

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I recently ran across a reference to the fantastic Russian Sci-Fi classic Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky that included a link to a free online version of the novel. You can read or download the book here. The Strugatsky brothers … Continue reading →

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