I just finished Henri Troyat's Ivan the Terrible, a biography of the 16th century Russian tsar Ivan IV. The book is written in a lively and engaging style that made it feel more like a story than an academic book. From what I gather, it's fairly historically accurate though. I think I've actually read this exact book some 30 years ago, possibly for a school essay. My father recommended Ivan IV as a subject. My father was a weird dude. Anyway, Ivan the Terrible and his brutal reign has eery echoes with modern Russian leaders and society. I wonder, will Russia ever find its way? Or has it perhaps accepted this is its lot and will travel this road to the bitter end?

Next I'll be reading Junji Ito's manga Remina. I have some familiarity with Ito's style, but I don't think I've ever actually read any of his work. Should be interesting.

That actually looks like an interesting phone. I hope it delivers on its promises.

I've taken to the habit of just logging in to the few sites I have accounts every time I open the browser. At this point, all my browsers are configured to delete all data. I don't find it an inconvenience, and I feel it adds a layer of security. I don't even use a password manager (though I should), as brain exercise I've memorized the few passwords I need. For me, it's definitely worth the slight extra hassle. However, I accept this may be a bit much, given I'm pretty much the only person who uses this computer. I just feel more comfortable flushing all those pesky cookies daily.

I read Mark Freestone's Making a Psychopath: My Journey into 7 Dangerous Minds. It's was a short and frankly somewhat shallow book, but I did think it was okay. My own interest in the subject matter probably carried the experience for me, but the seven cases were also genuinely interesting.

Right now I'm reading Andy Weir's Artemis, since I really liked The Martian, just like pretty much everyone else. Artemis, however, has not lived up to The Martian so far. While I really, really love the moonbase setting, the main character and dialogue doesn't have the wit and charm of the previous book. It's still pretty good, just disappointing.

Speaking of moonbases, I wonder if there's any good sci-fi stories exploring the concept. I have read A.C. Clarke's Earthlight and I remember it was pretty good. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd welcome them!

While I was never 'normal' myself, I've often thought of one kid in particular. He wore very old fashioned and formal clothes. He also spoke in a very precise and formal way and just felt off. Occasionally he would make odd and racist comments.

As an adult, I think his story is quite sad actually. Today I think he may have been somewhat autistic, and I think I heard he was raised by his grandmother. He didn't pick his own clothes, his old granny just dressed him how she thought was proper. I don't know what happened to his parents, but I doubt it's a happy story.

I hope he is doing okay. He was never going to fit in back then, and it was not his fault.

He's also a descendant of her uncle. Arwen's kinda nasty.

They have since also posted an apology on Twitter:

GOG has made a statement in picture form:

That is terribly sad. Persepolis is a great comic book and film.

I just finished The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson. Per request, I'll leave some thoughts about it here.

While I know Jordan wrote some of this book, I personally regard it as Sanderson's work. As such, I felt it was a huge improvement over Jordan's writing and for me, the best book in the series since The Fires of Heaven. This confirms to me a fact that has been bouncing in my mind for a long while: I don't think Robert Jordan is a very good writer. He certainly had an interesting story to tell in a captivating setting, which is why I continued to read this far, but his idiosyncrasies are somewhat infuriating.

... Which is why this book is so refreshing: the plot actually moves along, things actually happen, characters don't constantly sniff derisively or adjust their clothes when annoyed, nor is the reader incessantly hammered with how oh so different the sexes are in the setting, when they act pretty much the same. On that note, the characters feel more reasonable here, and not as unlikable as is Jordan's wont. While still arrogant and bullheaded to a fault, they feel more understandable in their actions. I think I even saw some character development typically lacking in the series.

While I will again take a break between books, I'm very optimistic about the last two books in the series. I probably won't read the prequel, but we'll see.