[nesfa-reading-group] Potential reading choices for February 2025

Thu Oct 3 20:53:07 EDT 2024

Not all books are available in libraries but if they are not expensive to
get I see no reason why not to select them.

Lots of self published books are not available in libraries. My favorite
example is Sam Hughes - when I requested NYPL to add it they could not do
it because it was not a traditional publisher, very disappointing.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8352985.Sam_Hughes

Very reasonable price for ebook:

https://www.amazon.com/Valuable-Humans-Transit-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B0BL24DFMW?ref_=ast_author_mpb

It seems one of his book got regular publishing deal though so it may be
allowed in libraries :fingers crossed:

https://qntm.org/scp

Best,

Alek

On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 8:29 PM Gloria Lucia Albasi <trebbiana61 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Apologies for selecting a novel not widely available in greater numbers.
>
> Please advise if the group prefers a replacement title.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Gloria
>
> On Oct 3, 2024, at 8:24 PM, Aleksander Slominski (NY10) <
> ALEKNY10 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 
> I use browser extension to show me what book are available in libraries:
>
> https://www.libraryextension.com/
>
> after installing yo get side panel on book web pages such as goodreads
> showing the book availability - I like that with one click I go the library
> book page or to the libby for ebooks [1]
>
> best,
>
> Alek
>
> [1] screenshot:
>
> [image: image.png]
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 7:27 PM Gay Ellen Dennett <
> gayellendennett at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Just a note about Hoopla - this is a pay as you go per item database for
>> the subscribing library and they usually restrict borrowing to town
>> residents only (Needham has a subscription and this is what we do).
>>
>> — Gay Ellen
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> > On Oct 3, 2024, at 5:37 PM, Wesley Brodsky <wesbrodsky at alum.mit.edu>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hello Everybody;
>> > "The Futurological Congress" is
>> > Listed in Old Colony Library Network as
>> > Digital Format: HOOPLA E BOOK
>> > Vendor: hoopla
>> > Available: Unlimited
>> > I suppose the download is valid for a limited duration
>> > -Wes
>> > ________________________________________
>> > From: reading-group <reading-group-bounces at lists.nesfa.org> on behalf
>> of Melody Friedenthal <friedenthalmelody at gmail.com>
>> > Sent: Thursday, October 3, 2024 1:24 PM
>> > To: NESFA Reading Group
>> > Subject: Re: [nesfa-reading-group] Potential reading choices for
>> February 2025
>> >
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > Although I have rarely been involved with your group, I am on the
>> emailing list and noticed you've been talking about Lem's Futurological
>> Congress.  So, just a note to say a really weird movie was made which was
>> simply called The Congress. Starring actress Robin Wright, who plays an
>> actress named Robin Wright. Part live action and part animated.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> > Melody Friedenthal
>> >
>> > On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 12:30 PM Gay Ellen Dennett <
>> gayellendennett at gmail.com<mailto:gayellendennett at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> > The last two are widely available in different formats in the Minuteman
>> Network (and can be gotten via ILL), the Lem book will be harder to find,
>> as I'm only seeing 3 copies total in Minuteman, which probably means that
>> the other Networks may have the same issue.
>> >
>> > --Gay Ellen (lurking while on the Reference Desk, and counting this as
>> a question😉)
>> >
>> > On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 11:56 AM Gloria Lucia Albasi <
>> trebbiana61 at gmail.com<mailto:trebbiana61 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> > Here are my three suggestions for our group to vote on. Dave Grubbs has
>> assured me that these haven’t been read as group choices. Yet.
>> >
>> > Thank you,
>> > Gloria
>> > 
>> >
>> > (1) The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem
>> >
>> > “The Futurological Congress is a 1971 black humour science fiction
>> novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem. It details the exploits of the hero
>> of a number of his stories, Ijon Tichy, as he visits the Eighth World
>> Futurological Congress at a Hilton Hotel in Costa Rica. The book is Lem's
>> take on the science fictional trope of an apparently Utopian future that
>> turns out to be an illusion.
>> >
>> > The book opens at the eponymous congress. A riot breaks out, and the
>> hero, Ijon Tichy, is hit by various psychoactive drugs that were put into
>> the drinking water supply lines by the government to pacify the riots. Ijon
>> and a few others escape to the safety of a sewer beneath the Hilton where
>> the congress was being held, and in the sewer he goes through a series of
>> hallucinations and false awakenings, which cause him to be confused about
>> whether or not what's happening around him is real. Finally, he believes
>> that he falls asleep and wakes up many years later. The main part of the
>> book follows Ijon's adventures in the future world — a world where everyone
>> takes hallucinogenic drugs, and hallucinations have replaced reality.”
>> >
>> > — Wikipedia
>> >
>> >
>> > (2) Infomocracy by Malka Older
>> >
>> > “It's been twenty years and two election cycles since Information, a
>> powerful search engine monopoly, pioneered the switch from warring
>> nation-states to global micro-democracy. The corporate coalition party
>> Heritage has won the last two elections. With another election on the
>> horizon, the Supermajority is in tight contention, and everything's on the
>> line.  With power comes corruption. For Ken, this is his chance to do right
>> by the idealistic Policy1st party and get a steady job in the big leagues.
>> For Domaine, the election represents another staging ground in his ongoing
>> struggle against the pax democratica. For Mishima, a dangerous Information
>> operative, the whole situation is a puzzle: how do you keep the wheels
>> running on the biggest political experiment of all time, when so many have
>> so much to gain?”
>> >
>> > — Google Books
>> >
>> >
>> > (3) Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
>> >
>> > “Pattern Recognition is a novel by science fiction writer William
>> Gibson published in 2003. Set in August and September 2002, the story
>> follows Cayce Pollard, a 32-year-old marketing consultant who has a
>> psychological sensitivity to corporate symbols. The action takes place in
>> London, Tokyo, and Moscow as Cayce judges the effectiveness of a proposed
>> corporate symbol and is hired to seek the creators of film clips
>> anonymously posted to the internet.
>> >
>> > The novel's central theme involves the examination of the human desire
>> to detect patterns or meaning and the risks of finding patterns in
>> meaningless data. Other themes include methods of interpretation of
>> history, cultural familiarity with brand names, and tensions between art
>> and commercialization. The September 11, 2001 attacks are used as a motif
>> representing the transition to the new century. Critics identify influences
>> in Pattern Recognition from Thomas Pynchon's postmodern detective story The
>> Crying of Lot 49.”
>> >
>> > — Wikipedia
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
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>> > Passcode: 244476
>> >
>> > Recurring Meeting; Generally the first Friday of every month at 7 PM
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>> > _______________________________________________
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>> _______________________________________________
>> Join Zoom Meeting
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>>
>> Meeting ID: 944 6001 4978
>> Passcode: 244476
>>
>> Recurring Meeting; Generally the first Friday of every month at 7 PM
>> See https://www.nesfa.org/events/nesfa-reading-group/ for group info.
>> _______________________________________________
>> reading-group mailing list
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>>
>
>
> --
> The best way to predict the future is to invent it - Alan Kay
> _______________________________________________
> Join Zoom Meeting
> https://us06web.zoom.us/j/94460014978?pwd=a1BFQndDa1NYTnlNcUVCMU95dWdNZz09
>
> Meeting ID: 944 6001 4978
> Passcode: 244476
>
> Recurring Meeting; Generally the first Friday of every month at 7 PM
> See https://www.nesfa.org/events/nesfa-reading-group/ for group info.
> _______________________________________________
> reading-group mailing list
> reading-group at lists.nesfa.org
> https://listsmgt.nesfa.org/mailman/listinfo/reading-group
>
> _______________________________________________
> Join Zoom Meeting
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>
> Meeting ID: 944 6001 4978
> Passcode: 244476
>
> Recurring Meeting; Generally the first Friday of every month at 7 PM
> See https://www.nesfa.org/events/nesfa-reading-group/ for group info.
> _______________________________________________
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>

-- 
The best way to predict the future is to invent it - Alan Kay
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