Hey, friends!

Stopping by a few days late with my April reads and a smattering of links. That’s a weird word and I don’t know why I used it, but I’m just going to leave it there (smattering, that is...).

Other news... if anyone wants a free baby angel wing begonia, let me know!

Anything fun happening in your world? Book/music/art recs?

Cheers,

Maya

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Links, links, links

Biology

• “The state of ‘nature,’ like the state of the global climate, can no longer be appreciated from a distance, and it’s literature can no longer be confined to a single shelf. If we must give it a label, I say we call it survival writing. Or, better yet, writing.” (Against the genre of nature writing)
• Pretty flowers under UV light. How much beauty do we not perceive?
• Robin Wall Kimmerer beautifully explains why moss are the most successful beings on Earth.
• On the evolution of sounds, and what it means about our relationship to everything around us.
• The mitochondria in our photoreceptors may act as lenses to focus light onto the necessary pigments— in addition to acting as the powerhouse of these cells!

Bio/tech

• A human look at the catastrophe of coral bleaching, and the innovative technique of 3D-printing coral nurseries that one Brazilian community is pioneering
• Another technique to hack coral restoration, with cool pictures and a hopeful tone.
• Some plants can “hyperaccumulate” metals from the soil, essentially mining the rare elements. How’s that to spark some bio-inspired design?
• Scientists have modified solar cells to produce electricity at night, by harnessing energy of radiative cooling.
• How the Audobon is working with cattle farmers to certify “bird-friendly beef”— a striking example of the sort of alliances that can and must be forged to protect and regenerate our environment (and how the answer is not just to leave the land untouched)

Words (games and such)

• The next Wordle-adjacent game to catch my attention: Redactle, where you guess the topic of a blacked-out Wikipedia article
• A highly relatable article on the addictive-ness of the New York Times Spelling Bee (and other similarly catchy word puzzles)
• A very cool glimpse into the role of fonts in solving crimes (remember to change the typeface of your forged documents from Microsoft Word’s default if they’re supposedly written before that don’t was invented…)

Et cetera

• Why line-cooks are designers, and challenging the notion of “unskilled labor.”
• Old Chinese quarries transformed into stunning cultural spaces
• Why Kids Make the Best Philosophers (and more on this)
• An interactive and visual article that shows yet another example of why we should question science headlines in the news… and the actual claims made by scientists themselves

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April 2022 books

• On Kindness — Adam Phillips & Barbara Taylor
  • Far more philosophical and far less interesting and engaging than I expected.
• Dark Constellations — Pola Oloixarac, transl. by Roy Kerey
  • Argentina book.
  • Very, very weird, often disturbing, often perplexing— a novel weaving together algorithmic life with orgies and hackers and new theories of evolution.
• Everything Now — Rosencrans Baldwin
  • Los Angeles, as a city-state (and so, a USA book)
  • An altogether interesting montage of LA lives, and a unique analysis of the sprawling city as an independent socio-political community.
• Fault Lines — Emily Itami
  • Japan book.
  • Itami gracefully builds the city and culture of Tokyo through the inner dialogue of her witty protagonist, employing clever metaphors and humorous remarks with ease.
  • True fact: “Having a secret makes me feel safe,” because nobody knows the entirety of you, their opinions and judgements may not be true.
  • And, a heartbreaking love story.
• The Turnout — Megan Abbot
  • I never knew I was into thrillers, and I guess this just barely passes as one, but I’m so drawn into this novel! I listen to it mainly when I run, and let’s just say it’s been great motivation to get out there and get going, rain or shine.
  • Abbot conveys painfully clear, shamefully honest scenes, through her narrator’s keen observations and memories, of ballet, performance, loss, fear, and love.
• All You Can Ever Know — Nicole Chung
  • A sweet and sentimental memoir about the power of love, truth, and connection… but not altogether that interesting or engaging.
• In the Field — Rachel Pastan
  • An somewhat interesting, semi-biographical account of a revolutionary plant geneticist, and the obstacles raised by her gender she had to overcome on her way to professional success
• Something New Under the Sun — Alexandra Kleeman
  • Another LA-centric book, this one a near-future climate dystopia… the culture of the city clashing with economic inequality and climate change provide an intriguing backdrop to the Hollywood plot line.
• Full Spectrum — Adam Rogers
  • A history of colors, pigments, and their human relations.
• Minor Feelings — Cathy Park Hong
  • The book is subtitled “An Asian-American Reckoning,” and I don’t think I can do better than that to describe this powerful and personal collection of essays. They made me think, feel, and react, and I highly recommend you read it too. Some notable ideas:
    • Not enough is written about the self-hating Asian
    • Innocence is the flip side of shame.
  • Also- third book of the month with an LA focus!