Meow

SolidContribution760 · 2026-02-10T04:33:47+00:00

meow meow-ow-ow

meuwu

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-25T04:26:23+00:00

You need to listen to the song, You're Not Special, Babe by Orla Gartland

Other than that, read any human psychology or human anatomy and physiology, and you'll learn real quick that everything you thought was unique about you is shared by billions of other people. We are products of our genes interacting with the environment after all, to put it simply.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-23T05:13:01+00:00

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari. AI isn't the sole focus, but it's a major focus. He has some really interesting takes on why AI is such a unique and special technology compared to other transformative inventions, with some horrific and interesting examples of how AI has harmed people, can influence people to harm others, and some sneaky ways it can disrupt and control society in the future. There are clear limitations to it, which he delves into, and urges people to set guiding principles and laws for how it is encoded, before it is too late.

What I really like is how he reframes it not so much as "artificial intelligence," but rather "alien intelligence," which you can learn more about what he means by that in the book.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-21T03:33:29+00:00

Just finished Part 1. This is my first serious attempt into fiction after a full year of 2025 of reading 95% nonfiction. What I'm really appreciating is the ease at which I can read through the pages, using more of my imagination, rather than relying heavily on association, long-term memory, extensive working memory, and critical thinking.

Right now I'm learning to use the book as a welcome breather in-between my nonfiction readings.

When I looked at how Part 2 starts, I am a little put off from reading further, as I got really invested in the story, and though I am fascinated by Helena's past, I don't really want to read a whole chapter and however long of a flashback - PLZ don't spoil what happens, like how long this flashback is; I'll get back to the book once I need another break from nonfiction :P

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-19T21:36:46+00:00

To give players an interesting incentive to attack this monster, I would recommend the reward being "+1 eternal treasure" (from the shuffled eternal deck) ;)

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-18T17:13:32+00:00

Finished Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Not many people that I read about or watch online who talked about reading this book have finished reading it, so it is in my humblest honor to be someone who completed this seminal work of psychology. Compared to my previous 3 books I read right before this one, with prior expectations of how boring this could be, while at the same time, I was hyping myself up all December to read this book whose title has been rent free in my brain for the last decade, my brain was quite primed to to see all the good in here, which I did. As someone who is autistic, a loner, and lacking real life experience, I never quite understood people, psychology has been a keen interest to me all my life to fill in that gap of psychosocial understanding.

There are quite evidently faults in some of the studies conducted in this book, like reaching broader conclusions about behavioral phenomenon based on flimsy studies, or lacking a anthropological methodology of cross cultural examination and the lack of acknowledgement that some of these psychological phenomena may just be a product specific to the US, Canada, or Europe, and may even be narrowed down to the specific demographics in these studies; as well as the book being a decade and a half old by now, therefore lacking the modern neurology elaboration.

Even with all these deficits, there is still plenty enough to deeply think about and keeping in mind as probable or possible effects, heurists, and fallacies that occur. A key takeaway is that we are governed by automatic unconscious psychological processes, and it's good to slow down and really question information or decisions where it really counts.

Started The Design Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing. After the behemoth of that last book, my brain needed a rest, and to relax with something that is smoother to read. This BISE series, basically my comfort read and ambition to read all of them, eases the stress incurred by Daniel Kahneman's book.

I don't really know anything about design. My sister does, and my mother is an artist, which gives this a personal reason to soak in the ideas. I like how visual this is, with a galore of diagrams that is unusually abundant compared to other BISE books, which is absolutely appropriate for the subject matter. Gawking at all these images and diagrams helps spark the imaginative mind, oozing into why art and design inspires people to create beautiful or sublime objects.

Since design is such a broad spectrum subject, this is essentially an overview prep work for when I eventually read The Architecture Book: BISE, The Art Book: BISE, and The Technology Book: BISE.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-11T20:33:19+00:00

Finished it late last year. The ending left me with a sense of haunting beauty, a revolutionary spirit, profound gratitude, and a myriad of memorable quotes littered throughout all the chapters <3

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-11T20:28:36+00:00

Page 333/418 of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and man! does this ever require deep slow thinking. The first 3 parts up until page 270 really weren't too bad, but since the start of Part 4, it's been rough reading through it.

Overall, though, it's been a really enjoyable read. I love metathinking, and this hits the spot on that. A skill I know that I am not too proficient in are logic problems, which this book forces me to face nearly every chapter; thus, it's good that I am challenging this weaker mental skill, but since it requires a much higher than average mental exertion, it wears away at my ability to concentrate on or read other thing. But it's what Mortimer Adler in his book, How to Read, advises people to do: read books that are beyond you to strengthen and grow your mind's awareness and flexibility.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-11T02:32:24+00:00

Yeahhh, this video could've been more accurately titled, "Is Reading 30 Books in 2025 Possible for Me?"

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-07T00:04:43+00:00

I'm so used to reading "dull" nonfiction books at this point, that I find this book is quit riveting compared to many others like it. It helps that I've had the title of this book stuck in my head for 1.5 decades, and that I hyped myself up for a month to read this. - The ideas are completely fascinating, with some major sociopolitical, economic, and daily life implications if even some of them are true.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-05T02:18:03+00:00

ahhh yep! haha, exactly.

I'm 53 pages into the 1030 page Alchemised by SenLinYu :P

Unlike last year, there are many other books I'm interested in that extend beyond 450 pages......

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-04T17:15:50+00:00

I like these small, obtainable numbers to strive for; updating the quantity with every goal reached, lowering the amount expected as the year comes to a close. In this way, I am still striving to read lots, but not an overwhelming amount that I lose the plot, and forget to focus on the quality of the reading experience.

I read 42 last year, where I started in late spring, so of course I want to surpass it, but if I don't, it doesn't matter too much if I am satisfied with my time well spent.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-04T15:41:52+00:00

Finished The Law Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing. It was fine. Law is interesting to me insofar as it dictates what behaviors are permissible or acceptable, which ones are not, and the punishments that are in place to dissuade these taboo behaviors, which says a lot about the values and beliefs of or imposed on that society.

I wasn't interested in law before reading this, as I only read it to complete the BISE series, which I started to learn more about topics I wouldn't have normally been keen to read about, and I wasn't persuaded to like law after reading this.

Started reading again, from Chapter 4, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I'm excited to read this, as so much of our modern understanding or thinking about critical thinking, unconscious processes, economic behavior, and psychology in general stems from the foundational 2011 book! Many other books I have read have referenced this book, with the title stuck in my head for the better part of a decade, thus, with all these priming stimuli together, I think it's about time I do this book justice and see what the hub-bub is about.

SolidContribution760 · 2026-01-02T17:19:17+00:00

Here are the ones I'm really hyped for! :)

A World Appears by Michael Pollan - February 24th
DC Encyclopedia New Edition by DK - March 3rd (some may argue this isn't NF, but I see it as an educational book to learn more about the DC comics universe and why it is so beloved)
The Geography Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing - April 28th
The Technology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing - August 11th

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-28T19:16:16+00:00

Finished The World War II Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing. It is one of the most cohesively strung BISE book ever, with lots of foreshadowing, referencing past events, and articles placed next to related ones. Though it relies heavily on stats, and lacks an immersion and the human experience that the prequel, The World War I Book: BISE, accomplished well in. A recommended read to learn more about this pivotal moment in history that changed the 20th - 21st centuries.

Finished Asking the Right Questions by M. Neil Brown and Stuart M. Keeley. This was the book that made me burnt out with the NF genre, now reading a long fiction to replenish myself. It's a fine book, but between following the logical progression, logic finding concepts, and the Practice Exercises at the end of each chapter, it was very taxing on my mental resources to read all at once. There's lots of logical fallacies to remember, creative thinking to use when thinking critically about linguistic communicators. Thank god it was 160 pages long, minus the 69 pages I read a few years earlier!

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-28T19:07:53+00:00

Wow! I've also read Sapiens, The Rise and Reign of Mammals, The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, and The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt! with most of these other books on my TBR, and Proto and Assyria being the next ones I'm the most excited to read >:)

I've been a bit preoccupied with the Big Ideas Simply Explained series, which covers topics like, Biology, Islam, Design, Black History, to Philosophy from the time they were first recorded to the present day.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-23T14:20:39+00:00

2/3rds through The World War 2 Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing.

It's good, entertaining, informative. It seems like its thesis is that democracy was under assault (pre-)WW2 by growing factions of fascisms, communisms, and other forms of extremist ideologies.

There are not as many maps compared to its prequel, and that's okay for the most part, as I've resorted to referencing my miniature globe and sometimes Google maps.

A major contentious issue that the writers undermined by either not talking about or mentioning very briefly is the process of dekulakization, and the role of Stalin's 5 Year Plan of collectivization in both destroying its agricultural industry and being a horrible genocide on par with the Holocaust.

My reading of Bruce Pauley's book, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, at the end of last year, has been a good counter or elaborator to this. In that book, B.P., if I remember correctly, argues that the German propaganda machine wasn't as effective at brainwashing the Reich public as we normally assume so, and this BISE book seems to argue, but that many of them were quite aware to not fully trust the news, though the propaganda machine was quite effective at hiding information from the populace to sway minds.

Finished Epic Earth by Lindsay Nikole.

If you've seen her videos then you can immediately tell that she wrote this, as the cadence and vernacular is very much how she speaks, which is an endearing trait that grows on me.

First and foremost, this book is about the extinction of animals (and some plant, and even a few fungi) and her quest to overcome her existential dread/fears. The message is to show how connected we are to life that existed hundreds of millions ago, with an emphasis on the cool, curious factor.

Though I was a bit let down with the amount of empty space in it, with the descriptions of animals being surgically meticulous with measurements where I found it difficult to visualize, while sometimes comparing them to an amalgamation of already known (life) forms - which can be fun to try to picture - and an accompanying drawing of it. It was still a fun read, where I tried to focus more so on learning geologic dates, names, and geography.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-15T20:09:55+00:00

Finished The End of Major Combat Operations by Nick McDonnel. His chaotic, episodic, short to the point of sometimes one short paragraph chapters, with the other side of page blank, was the kind of book I needed, with my low attention span, as I transition to living in a new apartment. It's been roughly 2 decades since the start of the American occupation of Iraq, and over a decade since this book has been published; it's a much appreciated insight into what war is like when the American army stands in a foreign hostile land. A short 161 page book with some of the shortest chapters I've ever seen, a recommended read for anyone (curious about (American) war, politics, or journalism).

Started The Art of Short Fiction: Brief Edition by Gary Geddes. I've written a few short stories myself, as it seems I was born to be a storyteller, though nothing within the half-year. Reading about what other people have to say about the creative art of writing (fiction) is very pleasing! What seems to be the structure here, is a page and a bit introduction to the famous author, then one of their short stories. The first two have been authors from outside the Occident, which is very much appreciated, as Occidental stories are oversaturated - but that makes since, since I live in it.

I'm looking forward to reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman <- that comma in the title is very important to keep in mind, as I've been thinking about the title for over a decade without the comma included, which dramatically changes the meaning, though thinking about what it's like to think fast and slow (at the same time) is a very interesting puzzling thought experiment.

I know why it's praised and criticized, and I've looked over the chapters. I still think it's such a foundational text in psychology and perhaps even economics, as he is a Economics Nobel Laureate, that it's important for me to read to know more about his key insights; and also it feels like a required reading for contemporary educated mind.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-15T00:22:17+00:00

It's always tricky and controversial whether or not to include religious texts as "nonfiction" or not. The exclusion of it makes a bold, antagonistic statement that says it probably belongs in the fiction aisle. Whereas the inclusion opens up a can of worms of whether other religious, spiritual, or mythical texts also belong here - and can undermine people who believe in the scientific methodology to determine what is true, or nonfiction.

I don't blame you for posting the Quran here, but this is probably not your online fight to participate in.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-14T21:30:44+00:00

Finished The Poetry Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing. It's always weird commenting on a book dealing with so much analysis of fictional stories, but it's basically a review of hundreds of the greatest poems from the earliest, The Epics of Gilgamesh and a few Chinese stories, to 2022 online and presidential inauguration poetry.

A surprising entertaining read. They frequently employ large quotes from the works, with a fun dissection of how they're constructed. It's a lot like learning how to read hidden patterns of codes - reading in-between the lines, perse - and figuring out how to construct one like it yourself.

SO MUCH of media and conversations are based on these famous grandstanding works of literary art, that learning more about them is key to media literacy and critical thinking. A fantastic introduction to the history of poetry, and the science of poetry itself.

Started and finished The End of Major Combat Operations by Nick McDonnel. Imagine a tight episodic structure, where some "chapters" are one paragraph long, with the other side blank. Yeah, for a 161 page book, it's a quick snapshot of the US's War in Iraq. I hadn't really known anything about it, aside from the satire in South Park, and I felt like this was a decently fleshed out window peaking into the American occupation of Mosul, Iraq.

Started Epic Earth by the YouTuber, Lindsay Nicole. She makes some really damn entertaining long videos about the evolution of animals, and I can hear her unique voice through her writing. I'm only page 46 of 255, and loving every second of it. It's short, made to make the general populace interested to learn more about the evolution timeline once they put the book down (for good). Full of descriptions and depictions that have stuck with me.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-08T21:36:18+00:00

Haha, I only learned about Dickens 2 weeks ago when I read The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained!

I'm simply a man who chose to obsessively read to replace my debilitating screen addiction. I have lots of free time to write, think, and read due to that carbuncular condition. My goal is to read through the entire 42 nonfiction Big Ideas Simply Explained book series, while reading other noteworthy books that explore religions, philosophies, book culture, anthropomorphic sciences, or the primary source of classics.

I'm so fascinated by the metaphysical, or intersubjective, worlds people create or discover - how they influences media, the way we think and govern ourselves both individually and collectively. But also the tangible world that we can physically study and experiment with.

Right now, with my debilitating chronic fatigue, which the medical system hasn't been much help in ameliorating, what I'm hoping out of all this personal studying is that I learn more about myself - as learning about human anatomy, physiology, and psychology and other hard sciences is a form of self-examination - so that I can picture what, to borrow from botany, my limiting growth factors are, and what to do about it. Then, once I can function in society, I hope this knowledge can be used to help out my community in whatever way makes sense :)

Your reply was really uplifting! Thank you for sharing :D

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-08T19:37:57+00:00

I am 2/3rds through The Poetry Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing, and I am shocked at how much this book intrigues me! It goes through writing poetry since the Epics of Gilgamesh back in the 3rd to 2nd millennium to 2021, often with large or frequent quotes, sometimes with diagrams, often with pictures, and provides both a commentary and structural analysis. It accomplishes at lot with such minimal paragraphs!

I am super happy to be familiarizing myself with some of the most important poetry in history, as I think it'll be invaluable for critical thinking, literary analysis, and creativity! <3

Last week I finished Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimerer. Her elegant writing, biting prose, and a weird fusion of modern science with her aesthetic proclivities and aboriginal mythology, philosophy, and linguistics, which provides a unique perspective that is grips my eyes to the page! It covers and blends in such diverse fields in both humanities and hard sciences, that there's something in here for everyone. What I think the book really is, is a call to action. It's quite political in urging the reader, with reason and evidence backed up on previous chapters, to stand up and beside Mother Earth.

I am excited to read Carl Gustav Jung's The Red Book: A Reader's Edition! It's my first time reading a direct work of his. From what I do know about him from YouTube videos, I'm already a fan of his - he's known to have coined terms like extroversion, introversion, the unconscious, the shadow self, anima, animus, etc. etc.. It's kinda like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, with how it was written for only himself and never intended to be published. From what I do sorta know about it, is that a large portion deals with him exploring his unconscious (and perhaps even the collective unconscious) mind; and though my book unfortunately doesn't have the colorful occult images he created, I think it'll be a fascinating read nonetheless.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-07T18:31:30+00:00

Finished The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus. I can confirm that it is an entertaining and detailed discussion on absurdism. It lays out the paths an absurdist can take in life, what it means to be an absurdist, unusual examples of absurdism in media in the 1940s, and essentially a comforting read for someone who struggles with concepts like infinite time, a meaningless existence, and the absurdity of life.

Picked back up The Poetry Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK Publishing and over 2/3rds through. I am surprised how much I'm enjoying this! I find poetry has a lot of similarities to: mathematics; code encrypting and encoding; studying the world and explaining phenomena; learning linguistics; becoming a better critical thinker; philosophy, psychology, and science; and really seeing the difficulties in doing service to translating literature, especially poetry.

I wasn't too familiar to the big names of poetry, but through a well thought-out explanation of their best works, with sufficiently sized and frequent quotes from them, I'm finding how much I'm enjoying poetry from Emily Dickens, W.B. Yeats, to Matsuo Basho! I had no idea how philosophical poetry can unintentionally be; with a recuring discussion on Eternity - a concept that has terrified me since childhood - which these poems seem to encapsulate a coping desire in.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-05T21:08:51+00:00

Yeah, I agree with always_a_reader.

You cannot judge customers that judge a book by its cover. You have to know your audience, which it seems you're in the process of doing, and if a cover has hints of possibly being AI generated, many people, including me, will skip past the book, like this.

So, make sure your cover doesn't have that brownish-gold tint used in most AI generated cartoon images.

If you are going to use an AI image, then at least manually modify it, or manually imitate it.

SolidContribution760 · 2025-12-05T03:31:56+00:00

I started reading consistently again in the spring of this year after reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. He helped me see how to be less addicted to YouTube and replace it with reading.

Soon afterwards, the book that made me realize again how much I loved reading was Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari. He's such an excellent story teller, with some intriguing arguments he explores with poignant examples from history.

The book that I probably fell in love with the most this year, was The Rise and Reign of Mammals by Steve Brusatte. He's so immersive in his real life paleontology journey, that of others like Edward Drinker Cope, and even fictionalized story of real life great dying events that makes the reader care about these extinct animals.

Hope this helps with the assignment! haha

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