Still reading much less then I did last year in the same month, but some of the books I did read were very good indeed.
House of Suns — Alastair Reynolds
A very large scale space opera, taking place in a huge chunk galaxy and spanning millions of years, by somebody known for his “realist” approach to the genre. I found this disappointing because this scale had seemingly no impact on the characters or plot. It felt like just another Revelation Space novel.
Militant Modernism — Owen Hatherley
Owen is of course the man behind Sit Down Man, You’re a Bloody Tragedy and it’s his writing on architecture and modernism which made me read this. Owen gives a spirited defence of Modernism, puts it in its class and political context while attacking the notion that Modernism was unpopular or dehumanising.
Fields of Conflict — Douglas Scott, Lawrence Babits and Charles Haecker (editors)
A collection of essays on the challenges and difficulties of battlefield archaeology, explaining techniques and research methods and spanning a wide range of archaeological sites, from ancient Roman battlefields to those of the Korean War. An excellent book, written for professionals but very much accessible for lay people like me, interested in this subject.
Capitalist Realism — Mark Fisher
Another book by a blogger on my blogroll. Though it’s very short, barely eighty pages long, but dense in its ideas, tackling a difficult subject. We’re living in an age when there seems to be no alternative to capitalism and in which capitalism ideology has disappeared, has become the common sense assumptions underlying our daily lives. Mark Fisher sets out to make this process visible again, through the concept of capitalist realism, the ideological processes that keep capitalism propped up.
Type: the Secret History of Letters — Simon Loxley
A breezy but informed look at the history of typesetting and letter fonts. Interesting and unlike similar overview books on other subjects, it never flagged and kept my interest to the end.