On its surface, Animal Farm feels rather silly – the idea of animals, led by hyper-intelligent pigs, taking over a farm from humans who are entirely impotent to reclaim the small territory, is difficult to take seriously at times – but the reader must recall that Animal Farm is not so much a traditional novel as we think of the form as it is a fairy tale or a fable.
Fantasy’s Four Eras
Modern fantasy can be divided into four eras, but there first came a zeroth era which I call the pre-fantasy era.
Paradise Lost Review
Paradise Lost honestly read at points more like genre fiction than like a piece of classic religious literature, and I do not in any way mean that to be construed as an insult.
The Quiet Americans Review
If I'm going to read a book about more modern times, therefore, I like it to be one that doesn't merely retread the same worn ground as other histories with some purportedly new-fangled interpretation or spin that never quite lives up to its advertisements. The Quiet Americans fit the bill perfectly.
The tale of Genji Review
I really don't know how to rate this book. On the one hand, it is well-written, well-translated, and culturally interesting. On the other hand, it is incredibly boring.
Cath Maige Tuired Review
In this case, we have a translation of an Irish myth involving a war between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, and it has everything you and I have come to enjoy about these sorts of works: talking swords, gods with a profound weakness for porridge, and sorcerous rap battles to determine the fate of the land.
“Advanced” Civilization
How do we define “advancement” of a civilization? Their technical ability? Their scientific understanding? Their cultural complexity? Their living standards? Their economic vitality? Their individual rights and freedoms? Their average capacity for individual fulfillment? Their life expectancies?
Satyricon Review
I figured I would learn something about Nero’s Rome, which I suppose I did – I learned that it was remarkably vulgar and fixated on physical pleasures. Rarely have I found a book as discomfiting as I did Satyricon.
Fictional (Un)Just War Theory
A fantasy story I was reading recently which featured an alternative world setting and so forth, happened to mention war crimes. It presented this as natural and expected, except that the world-building did not support it.
Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire Review
From a scientific sense, though, there are far better means by which to learn about thermodynamics and the theory of heat engines.
IGC Publishing 