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coriander Locked account

coriander@ramblingreaders.org

Joined 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Interested in community building, mutual aid, gift economies, good faith dialog, uncertainty & non-rigidity of views, healing modalities for people not profit, and just being a person.

Reading books that inform and inspire, opening the mind and heart to the whole world. Love non-fiction, speculative fiction & science fiction. Envisioning the worlds we wish to live in together.

Always up for a cup of tea. 🍵

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coriander's books

Currently Reading

Erik Jampa Andersson: Unseen Beings (2023, Hay House UK, Limited) No rating

By drawing on traditional eco-philosophies and Buddhist wisdom, Erik Jampa Andersson offers an approach to …

There are numerous theories of how viruses emerged. Some scientists say they formed from stray bits of genetic material that learned to move between cells. Others think they descended from once-autonomous organisms, but over time they chose to embrace a parasitic way of life. Some have even suggested that they were our progenitors, and that all of us are descended from some virus-like ancestor. Because they're made up of mere strands of proteins that unfortunately leave no trace in the archeological record, it's impossible to study a 'virus fossil." But fortunately, their traces can be found in the genomes of other living beings. Researchers have detected traces of viruses in a wide range of organic genetic material, even in our own human genome - around 8 per cent of our own DNA (100,000 pieces) is viral.

Unseen Beings by  (16%)

Campbell Walker: Your Head Is a Houseboat (2021, Hardie Grant Publishing) 5 stars

Your Head is a Houseboat is a uniquely hilarious guide to what goes on in …

Playful & encouraging guide to journaling for mental clarity

5 stars

A fun, encouraging, accessible way into journaling for mental clarity. I like the playful and lighthearted approach and the funny characterizations of all the creatures in our brain-boat. The goof-o-meter is high, yet important nuances are preserved and the prompts are very helpful. If you want to get into journaling to better understand yourself and your aims, and especially if you're inclined to laugh at yourself sometimes, this is a good guide.

reviewed The Good Life by Robert Waldinger

Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz: The Good Life (2023, Simon & Schuster) 5 stars

What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their “captivating” …

Both heartening and saddening

5 stars

I enjoyed this. It's an impressive study, and I liked the glimpses into a variety of peoples lives, seeing how they lived, the choices they made. The emphasis is on relationships, and how crucial they are to a sense of a good life. This is both heartening and saddening, as it seems so many feel increasingly isolated and not knowing how to cultivate positive relationships. So I wished for a bit more depth around the pervading loneliness and how we can support one another to connect in meaningful ways.

reviewed The Employees by Olga Ravn

Olga Ravn: The Employees (Paperback, 2020, Lolli Editions) 4 stars

Funny and doom-drenched, The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship. The human and …

poetic science fiction for lingering with

5 stars

I really enjoyed The Employees. It does not resemble other stories! I read it slowly, giving each statement time to sink in, to imagine the life beyond the fragments shared in each snippet. They are each so potent, full of spoken and unspoken longing. So I read each page and lingered with it, going very slowly through this short book. Each page is a world unto itself, yet connected to the other characters and broader story, which unfolds slowly, mysteriously, giving you just enough to wonder more.

The Employees reminded me in style a bit of Piranesi and Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead, two other mysterious tales that I enjoyed, although not in the same space setting. I think if you enjoyed either of those books, you might like The Employees.