Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

My good dudes, it's Wednesday! Almost forgot because time has no meaning.

Just finished: Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor. I really enjoyed this one. It's about three kids living on a reserve on Otter Lake who befriend a weird, neglected little girl. The mom of one of the kids, a free-spirited hippie type, installs a chalkboard in their kitchen and calls it the Everything Wall, inviting the local children to draw on it. The girl, Danielle, draws a horse that's looks like unnervingly like it's about to come to life. Years later, one of the boys, now a cop in Toronto, encounters the Horse as a piece of graffiti, and a homeless man who can see people's inner truths. It's a lyrical, quirky fairy tale with interesting layers to its mysteries.

Currently reading: Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried To Take Over the Money by David Gerard. I loved David's first book, Attack Of the 50-Foot Blockchain, and in this one, he continues his important and often hilarious work of demystifying libertarian Silicon Valley asshattery around cryptocurrency. Libra Shrugged is about Facebook's attempt to create its own version of Bitcoin, a story I somehow managed to completely miss when it was happening. Anyway, it's a great read full of schadenfreude and I envision a chorus of Oompa Loompas to emerge at the end of each chapter to sing about why you shouldn't get too greedy when you already own the biggest social network in the world.

Comments

[smhwpf]

I think I met David Gerard. I'm pretty sure it was him. It was a David who wrote a book on Blockchain, and the picture on his webpage matches my memory.

It was when that Axel fellow visited London in February, towards the end of the Before Times, and was asking round for a floor to crash on and I offered, and we went to the pub to meet some friends of his, one of whom was who I am fairly certain is David Gerard.

[tetsab]

That was 100% that David Gerard. We all know each other 'cause of alt.gothic and he is reddragdiva here in DW. :)

[sabotabby]

Hah beat me to it.

[tetsab]

I take all the rare constructive comment chances I can get. :D

[sabotabby]

I know David through Axel, so it was almost certainly him. Admittedly I only know David through FB and DW, but he's super cool online.

[china_shop]

Currently reading: Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried To Take Over the Money by David Gerard. I loved David's first book, Attack Of the 50-Foot Blockchain, and in this one, he continues his important and often hilarious work of demystifying libertarian Silicon Valley asshattery around cryptocurrency.

Ooh, those sound fun! *makes a note*

[sabotabby]

Definitely check them out. They're some excellent tech writing with good political analysis.

[mistersmearcase]

I am going to have to be gone from the Bay Area for a long time before I have distance enough to read things that pick apart libertarian Silicon Valley bullshit. I have heard the show Silicon Valley is laugh-til-you-puke funny but I can't even watch that. I did laugh out loud at the Oompa Loompa idea though.

[sabotabby]

Yeah, I'm distant enough that this reads as funny as fuck, but I'd feel differently if I ever had to encounter people like that.

[annie_r]

Chasing Painted Horses sounds good. Added to the list, which may mean not during my life expectancy. I need to drag my eyes off the internet and read fiction again.

[sabotabby]

The nice thing about having zero social life outside of the internet is that I read a lot.