Lee Hunts

I remember being assigned The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka as reading in high school. I didn't read it then, of course. I do remember the general idea. I remember some of the questions I got wrong when being tested on whether I read it. But I especially remember the opening line. This was originally written in German, so the exact manner in which the line gets translated differs, but it starts by dropping the bomb: that Gregor, the main character, has become a giant bug. And this is what the book is known for. The book then follows the consequences of this fact. Before, he was a traveling salesman. He would wake in the early hours of the morning and sustain the family, but we quickly find that he is not able to do this now that he is a giant bug, or vermin, as some translations render it. I think there are two main points that I want to talk about in this review: namely the theme, and then the perspective. Theme When I went to look at some of the interpretations of the novel, it wa...

There has been a long-running debate among writers between how to best write prose. Simplifying a little, it can be broadly characterized as a division between those who argue for minimalism and those who argue for more ornate prose. Both sides have been derided—the former as "beige" or "dry," the latter as "purple." But I would say that minimalism is probably the most common form of writing, if only because it is easier. As a result of this, the debate almost always takes the form of someone like myself criticizing Sanderson for his prose, and a fan of his replying that his prose doesn't need to be ornate or poetic to be good. In other words, I usually find myself on the snotty "ornate" side of the debate. But I recently came across a few videos by Joseph V. Logsdon that seem to embody the literal caricature presented by the simple prose side, and I find myself on the other side of the argument. Now I want "minimalist" prose. Obvio...

I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by—I want to censor myself for the audience's sake—Phillip K. Penis. This is a science fiction novel written in the 1960s about 2021, a world where the Soviet Union still exists, where video calls have replaced phone calls, where cell phones don't exist, where hover cars are commonplace, and the world has largely been left in desolation due to some undisclosed nuclear conflict. At this point, mankind is now moving on, colonizing the wider solar system, namely Mars. Part of the incentive structure are androids, which are given out to people who leave earth. That is the carrot. The stick is the state of earth, itself. That said, many people remain, and Earth is where the novel is set. This is the book that inspired the movie Blade Runner. I have not seen it. I have seen the occasional out-of-context clip. And I've heard much about it. The biggest thing is that the movie is nothing like the book. I will probably watc...

For this post, I want to talk about some of the habits and tricks that I use to read books quicker and more effectively. I am a terribly slow reader. I have always had trouble reading books and especially staying committed to them when they are non-fiction. I haven't actually fixed the problem of reading slowly, as speed reading just damages your ability to comprehend what you are reading. What I have done is tweaked my own habits such that I actually get things done. These are not universal tips, but rather habits that I have adopted because they work for me. Will they work for you? Well, I don't care. You're a faceless nobody. I was motivated to write this after watching Better Than Food's video about the topic. I have additional commentary, namely because he focuses on fiction, and I often read non-fiction, too. I will link his video in the description; I suggest checking him out. Finally, I want to quickly explain some terms that I will be using throughout. When I w...