Reading and Links

[wolffyluna]

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

I actually read this a while ago! And could have sworn I wrote it up here, but apparently not? I can recommend it as book about the 14th Century. It's dense as hell, but it's very informative. It follows the life of Enguerrand de Coucy, normal-ish nobleman who had a lot written about him, as a scaffold for following what the heck was going on at the time, but the book often gets side tracked by mystery plays or discussions of how inheritance works. It's real good! Also, depressing.

The Wave by Susan Casey

I borrowed this book because it claimed to be about the science of waves, especially big, 100ft waves. And it's... not not about that? But primarily, it is anthropological and narrative look at big wave surfer culture in the late 2000s, with a smattering of science, insurance, and salvage to round it out.

And I would have preferred more science and salvage, but I can't say I disliked learning about surfer culture? Though I'm not sure Casey realised how excitingly toxic the culture she was talking about is? (Big wave surfing requires teamwork, which leads to dynamics where you can't stop unless you have a good enough 'excuse' like nearly dying. It's very sexist. And-- okay this might be my weird bugbear, but it's obviously really expensive, but no one seems to ever ask where the money comes from? It took me till nearly the end of the book to realise one of the main people being followed owns a pineapple farm, and I'm not 100% on whether he works it himself or not.) But yeah, I can admit to being interested by the adrenaline junkies. And also the way the waves at different places have-- distinct personalities? And some of it is anthropomorphism, sure, but it's not unjustified anthropomorphism? But it's also funny how while all these locations are chosen because they might produce real big waves, people talk about each location very differently; Jaws is the Grand Empress, Teahupo'o will fuck you up and maybe kill you but in a fun way, Ghosttree will fuck you up and you will hate every minute of it, etc.

The book is also an unintentional period piece? There's discussions of climate change and women that are. very 2008. It's Distinctive. The sexism I can explain-- there's a lot of normalised sexual harrassment and women as decoration in a way that's seen as indecorous now. The climate change is harder to put my finger on, but. yeah. Distinctly 2008.

Also, big wave surfing is another one to add to my silly list: you know how anti kink people like to use the existance of sub drop as evidence kink is unethical? I like to keep a list of things that cause something that is clearly subdrop, while not being kinky at all. Big wave surfing: not unethical because it's sexist, dangerous, or expensive. Yes unethical because getting dommed by Neptune causes subdrop.

A Rape in Cyberspace by Julie Dibbel link Warning for sexual assault and harassment.

Another period piece! This is an essay about an incident that happened at a MUD (think text based roleplay thing with a database behind it), where someone else took control of other people's characters to force them to do violent and sexual things, and the community's response to it. It's very much about the early days of the internet and working out how to deal with bad behaviour. It's also about [wiggles hands] harms that can be done in cyberspace, what it means to be hurt when it's a virtual body that gets hurt and what that means for the meat person behind it. It's an interesting read!