Media Round Up: Cities and Space
Dec. 10th, 2023 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryBeen a while since I did one of these, I've been in a bit of reading and watching slump, but I've just checked out a pile of MG graphic novels form the library and I think that will help. Anyways here's some thoughts on things I've read and watched since last time
The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke— For urban planning book club. This is a topic that I really don’t know much about so it was interesting to learn more. I do think the book spent a bit too much time repeating the same big picture summary stuff, and not enough time on the nitty gritty details.
Grace Needs Space! By Benjamin A. Wilgus and Rii Abrego— A very cute slice of life middle grade science fiction graphic novel about Grace, a 12 year old girl traveling with one of her moms for her space station home to Titan. The trip turns out not to go quite as she expected.
The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu—This YA graphic novel didn’t quite work for me. I liked the futuristic setting and the robot pals, but the romance didn’t have enough development, and the limited color plate was sometimes distracting.
A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard—Another book in the Xuya verse! I liked how this book dealt with the themes of revenge and community, but the romance felt rushed to me. I also enjoyed how most of the bit players in this are women. There are lots of parties and people getting dressed up which was lot of fun
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold—For Vorkosigan read along. This one is pretty fun. Lots of interesting biotech and society world building, plus I enjoy Miles and Ivan’s interactions. Miles spends so much time evaluating the appearance of all the women he meets here and that is a bit much.
Sui-Tang Chang’an: A Study in the Urban History of Late Medieval China
by Victor Cunrui Xiong—This is one of those books that’s mainly just descriptions of things, but since those things are buildings in Sui-Tang Chang’an, I found it fascinating. As well as describing the buildings there was bit about the rituals and ceremonies that took place in different parts of the city and a bit about daily life as well. A very useful reference!
Capital Cities and Urban Form in Pre-modern China: Luoyang, 1038 BCE to 938 CE by Victor Cunrui Xiong—I didn’t find this nearly as engaging as the author’s book about Chang’an. I think its just because we know so much less about Luoyang. This book is about half as thinking as Sui-Tang Chang’an but covers a much longer time period. So a lot of this book was summing up history rather than descriptions of the built environment.
Wrong Carriage, Right Groom, all 24 episodes— I haven’t been feeling up to watching something that’s intensely engaging, so I’ve been watching this charming drama and it's been just the right thing. The premise is that two brides get switched in transit and end up marrying each other's intendeds. But then of course they do fall in love with the men they married. Anyways it’s very silly but like I said also very charming
The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke— For urban planning book club. This is a topic that I really don’t know much about so it was interesting to learn more. I do think the book spent a bit too much time repeating the same big picture summary stuff, and not enough time on the nitty gritty details.
Grace Needs Space! By Benjamin A. Wilgus and Rii Abrego— A very cute slice of life middle grade science fiction graphic novel about Grace, a 12 year old girl traveling with one of her moms for her space station home to Titan. The trip turns out not to go quite as she expected.
The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu—This YA graphic novel didn’t quite work for me. I liked the futuristic setting and the robot pals, but the romance didn’t have enough development, and the limited color plate was sometimes distracting.
A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard—Another book in the Xuya verse! I liked how this book dealt with the themes of revenge and community, but the romance felt rushed to me. I also enjoyed how most of the bit players in this are women. There are lots of parties and people getting dressed up which was lot of fun
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold—For Vorkosigan read along. This one is pretty fun. Lots of interesting biotech and society world building, plus I enjoy Miles and Ivan’s interactions. Miles spends so much time evaluating the appearance of all the women he meets here and that is a bit much.
Sui-Tang Chang’an: A Study in the Urban History of Late Medieval China
by Victor Cunrui Xiong—This is one of those books that’s mainly just descriptions of things, but since those things are buildings in Sui-Tang Chang’an, I found it fascinating. As well as describing the buildings there was bit about the rituals and ceremonies that took place in different parts of the city and a bit about daily life as well. A very useful reference!
Capital Cities and Urban Form in Pre-modern China: Luoyang, 1038 BCE to 938 CE by Victor Cunrui Xiong—I didn’t find this nearly as engaging as the author’s book about Chang’an. I think its just because we know so much less about Luoyang. This book is about half as thinking as Sui-Tang Chang’an but covers a much longer time period. So a lot of this book was summing up history rather than descriptions of the built environment.
Wrong Carriage, Right Groom, all 24 episodes— I haven’t been feeling up to watching something that’s intensely engaging, so I’ve been watching this charming drama and it's been just the right thing. The premise is that two brides get switched in transit and end up marrying each other's intendeds. But then of course they do fall in love with the men they married. Anyways it’s very silly but like I said also very charming
Thoughts
Date: 2023-12-12 03:35 am (UTC)I have found some useful details on the Strong Towns website. Some of the articles even go into the math. They talk about the American economy as a growth ponzi scheme:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/8/28/the-growth-ponzi-scheme-a-crash-course
And why towns are going broke:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/9/the-real-reason-your-city-has-no-money
Basically, sprawl means that you have fewer people paying for expensive infrastructure. That includes everything from power lines to water to sewers to roads.
With energy in particular, it helps explain why power companies often fight against renewable energy that can be generated by private citizens. They need a captive audience paying to support the infrastructure, so they can't afford for people to escape off the grid or even use it less. :/