Booknotes 5.23

On the Calculation of Volume I, by Solvej Balle, published 2020 (translation by Barbara J. Haveland published 2024), science fiction, 105 pages. I’m not sure what I think. I do love time loops. The mechanics here were interesting, too, and the overall take felt fresh. And yet, in spite of having read Proust and thus being able to read books in which not much happens, and in spite of reading more for voice and character than for plot these days, I don’t feel at all compelled to pick up the next volume. If any of you have read the subsequent volumes and think it’s worth continuing on, let me know!

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Green, published 2025, nonfiction, 215 pages. A quick read about an awful, awful thing. Fascinating and worthwhile. I wish the world were a fairer place.

The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898, by Evan Thomas, published 2010, history, 450 pages. Another step on my unofficial quest to learn more about the smaller American wars I don’t know much about, in this case the Spanish–American War. Quite good, recommended. I hadn’t realized Teddy Roosevelt was so war-hungry, which came as a bit of a disappointment but in hindsight clearly means I didn’t know much about him. (I need to read the Edmund Morris biography. And The Bully Pulpit.) Boo to warmongering.

Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, by Stewart Brand, published 2026, nonfiction, 270 pages. The book doesn’t talk about actual maintenance as much as I would have hoped, and I struggled mightily with the Musk adoration at the end (given DOGE, his Epstein Island thing, turning Twitter into a cesspool, etc.), and Marcin Wichary’s review points out some other flaws, but there are still some interesting anecdotes, especially the sailing stories in the first chapter. Also, I had no idea there were electric cars way back in the early 1900s. Wow.