Dune is your 13th read! GO YOU.
-Zoée
Zoée also follows elite reader Kristen on StoryGraph. Kristen has basically met the reading goals Zoée and I set for ourselves this year. While I consider myself a competitive person, it’s become more intrinsic these days. I’m more inclined to bond over shared interests rather than whupping asses. I’m certain Zoée, like I, have resigned to having our asses whupped by the sandworm of bookworms, Kristen. All we want to do is surpass our 2025 numbers.
Anyway, we’ve begun a “Readalong” of Frank Herbert’s Dune on StoryGraph. My knowledge of the Duniverse is limited to the first 15 or so minutes of Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation, which was poorly received by many, myself included, hence why I didn’t sit through the entire thing. I’ll admit that even though Kyle McLachlan>Timothée Chalamet in almost every conceivable way, Chalamet’s physical appearance is better suited for the character of Paul Atreides, who is 15 years old at the start of the story.
Whether or not StoryGraph implemented the feature to denote what percentage of the book a participant has read to stoke competitiveness, I’ve been on top of updating my progress. At 30% read, though, I don’t have too much to contribute to the discussion yet. Instead, I’ll discuss a book I’ve recently 100%’d: Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond.
With hojillions of historical events to choose from, I figured this book would serve as a sampler. If any of the six crises Diamond has written about catches my interest, I can pursue it in depth by reading books dedicated to the topic.
The most intriguing of the six crises Diamond touched upon was the 1973 Chilean crisis, as the political landscape in the US over the past decade has mirrored Chile’s 1973 trajectory, which transitioned from being led by a democratic socialist, Allende, to enduring Pinochet’s authoritarian regime almost overnight. Despite the abuse he inflicted on dissidents, Pinochet still retained many loyalists who credited him with stopping communism, improving the economy, and maintaining order.
History is doomed to repeat itself, which is exactly why more people–especially US politicians (!!!)–should pick up a history book every now and then. I agree with Diamond when he bemoans the current trend of educating oneself about world issues via social media. It’s proven that algorithms on social media restrict users to content that reinforces what they already believe. I am not impressed with the number of people I know who are quick to regurgitate what they’ve learned from a 30-second Insta video or TikTok, even when I mostly agree with the message. We need to stop consuming human rights issues like junk food and instead read a book. Take a break from doomscrolling, pick up a non-fiction book on history or social science and get that hamster wheel spinning!
That’s not to say history books are infallible. I had some issues with Diamond’s books. For example, he lost me at this part:
“…I recall spending a vacation in Britain after a physiological conference, touring ruined Cistercian monasteries with a nice and gentle American physiologist with whom I had strongly disagreed about the mechanism of epithelial water transport at the conference. That would be impossible today.”
Well, Jared (hey, his asinine example warrants the informality of being called by his first name), I don’t think most of us are blocking family members on Facebook over disagreements about microbiology.
Anyone who tells me they don’t think women deserve equal rights won’t get an amenable response like, “Well, let’s agree to disagree!” from me.
The book concludes with an ominous chapter detailing how nuclear war is our most likely doomsday scenario. It may have been the least favourite thing I’ve ever read right before bedtime.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to pursue my ambitions. Since I ticked off my big weekend goals today, what remains is making a lampshade for the “poop light” at work. The poop light is a lightbulb connected to a contact sensor on the bathroom door. This way, mechanics don’t have to make the long trek to the bathroom only to find it occupied; they can wait until the poop light turns off.
The lightbulb burnt out on Monday and was replaced the following day with a million-watt bulb. Daniel and I, being the ones stationed the closest to this poop light, were offended by the glare of the new bulb. Within five minutes, Daniel jury-rigged a lampshade using cardboard and a few sheets of blue shop towel.
Since then, I’ve pondered how I could improve upon Daniel’s lampshade. Daniel’s main request was to make it less flammable, so I’m thinking of fashioning the lampshade from children’s sleepwear.
If I don’t get around to that over the weekend, I should at least finally finish my whale shark pencil case. Here’s a picture of the WIP:
A bit of regression is required before I go any further, as I flubbed the orientation of the seam that attaches the tail fin. I really pissed off my sewing machine trying to get the needle to punch through six layers of interfaced melton cloth, all for naught.
Recently, I’ve also been unlucky in pulling off a task that eluded my proficiency: replacing a flat tire. Last Sunday, about 3 km from home, my front wheel hit a channel cut across the road by a construction crew that had not put up any warning signs. Fortunately, I had a spare tube, a tire lever, and a mini pump with me.
Unfortunately, I have a stubborn tire and rim combo. The tire refused to seat properly on the rim. The easiest way to remedy this problem is with a spray bottle of soapy water, which I wasn’t carrying. I must’ve sat on the edge of someone’s front lawn, inflating and deflating the tube for 15 minutes before the tire was seated on the rim well enough for the short ride home. As I mounted the wheel in my fork, a guy pulled over in his Mini, got out and approached me to offer assistance.
I don’t think my bike would’ve fit in his car, so he probably meant to take over the task. I declined his offer to help with a friendly wave, masking my true feelings:
I can accept struggling with tasks like making a lampshade, sewing a whale shark pencil case, or photoshopping books onto an image of a sandworm, but a decade of wrenching shouldn’t have resulted in embarrassing myself on someone’s front lawn.
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