commit 76ebea19eb4f8cd193538d10ba79ab086a705366
parent 49dd0c2548717cbd5ad9f4f0a07e705b09c15336
Author: FIGBERT <figbert@figbert.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 15:39:34 -0700
Add UNSONG review
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diff --git a/content/reading/unsong.md b/content/reading/unsong.md
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+title = "I Am Amazed That This Exists"
+date = 2024-09-20
+[extra]
+book = "UNSONG"
+author = "Scott Alexander"
+finished = 2024-09-20
+rating = "★★★★★"
++++
+
+The overt meaning of UNSONG is "a book written by pseudonymous
+rationalist blogger Scott Alexander published as a website in 2017." The
+kabbalistic meaning of UNSONG is "the nerdiest, most niche work one can
+consume, whose physical size as a massive tome may make carrying it
+around in a backpack across several countries more difficult and
+contribute to zipper failure." This we derive from my personal
+experience. Both of these are discrete from the acronymic meaning of
+UNSONG, which is of course "United Nations Subcommittee on Names of
+God," and thus illustrative of exactly why I enjoyed this book so
+thoroughly.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+I had initially dismissed UNSONG as outdated. Surely this was an old and
+abandoned creation of Scott's, less important than his contemporary
+contributions. I was also not hugely into the concept of website-books.
+It was thus fortuitous that these two concerns were addressed with [an
+updated physical edition]. "This was not a coincidence, because nothing
+is ever a coincidence."
+
+This book exists at the most wonderful intersection of things that I
+adore. I have already gifted a copy to a good friend, and intend to lend
+mine out enthusiastically to anybody who will take it.
+
+A selection of wonderful quotes:
+
+> Bizarre surrealist painter Salvador Dalí once said: "I do not do
+> drugs. I am drugs." He was being silly. He wasn't drugs. He was
+> Salvador Dalí.
+
+> "Kissinger, are you sure this was a good idea?" <br/>
+> "There is never any surety in politics, only probability." <br/>
+> "But you think it's *probable* this was a good idea?" <br/>
+> "Yes." <br/>
+> "What about our [expletive deleted] souls, Kissinger?" <br/>
+> "I fail to see how they are relevant to geopolitics." <br/>
+
+> My mother was a Hindu, but Hinduism passes through the paternal line.
+> My father, perhaps if he teaches me Torah then is Jewish. But Judaism
+> passes through the maternal line. I am nothing.
+
+> Somebody has to and no one else will.
+
+I've also added [King James Programming], referenced occasionally in the
+epigraphs of UNSONG, to my RSS reader and expect to extract a certain
+amount of joy from that every day.
+
+Some of the Hebrew in UNSONG is not fully intelligible. I have decided
+to accept this as suboptimal transliteration done in good faith, so that
+I can move on and love the rest of the book.
+
+With all that said, they released a [Kindle version] shortly after I
+bought the paperback and would absolutely recommend you get that one
+instead as it really is quite something to carry around all the time.
+But do get it.
+
+[an updated physical edition]: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/unsong-available-in-paperback
+[King James Programming]: https://kingjamesprogramming.tumblr.com
+[Kindle version]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D84DLKZW/
