#the culture books

[geoderocks]

Iain M. Banks was incredibly ahead of the times. The Player of Games was published in 1988, and introduces the Culture as a post-scarcity society, with no currency, or any hierarchal power structure of any kind, where everyone freely changes sex whenever they want - everyone is quite simply considered a person, regardless of gender/sex, race/species, status or physiology. This includes the human(oid)s as well as the (extremy advanced) machine intelligences.

When encountering totalitarian empires, Culture citizens find the lack of logic in these societies very confusing and are genuinely apalled by the concepts of conquering, oppressing, and (ecological and societal) destruction. But it never gets generalised/simplified or in any way ‘preachy’. Banks’ social commentary is razor-sharp and uncompromising, and his writing is of a literary level (while immensely readable). And at times, brutal. When there’s violence, he writes it as the truly horrific thing it is.

But there’s also brilliant wit and humour, incredible/insane levels of imagination, and Ship names such as ‘Youthful Indiscretion’ and ‘Just Read the Instructions’. The result is something unparalleled. Rereading this again in 2024, it all feels more relevant than ever. And I think I love these books more everytime I revisit them.

[diaryofaphilosopher]

"The shift from the Afro-Caribbean zombie to the U.S. zombie is clear: in Caribbean folklore, people are scared of becoming zombies, whereas in U.S. narratives people are scared of zombies. This shift is significant because it maps the movement from the zombie as victim (Caribbean) to the zombie as an aggressive and terrifying monster who consumes human flesh (U.S.). In Haitian folklore, for instance, zombies do not physically threaten people; rather, the threat comes from the voduon practice whereby the sorcerer (master) subjugates the individual by robbing the victim of free will, language and cognition. The zombie is enslaved."

— Justin D. Edwards, "Mapping Tropical Gothic in the Americas" in Tropical Gothic in Literature and Culture.

Follow Diary of a Philosopher for more quotes!

[landsccape]

[puppiesareperfect]

people on TikTok don’t realize fic binding didn’t begin with idiots selling mass printed fanfiction on TikTok-Shop. They think it started as a negative thing ON TIKTOK😭it started on tumblr years ago as a way to appreciate authors!! It was never about selling fics, we’re AGAINST THAT HERE and always have been. I am so tired of the way TikTok rewrites fandom culture.

[cansu-m]

[egophiliac]

everyone out of the way, this is the only thing I'm going to be thinking about from now on.

(okay, there is one more thing)

[july-19th-club]

seriously have been thinking about this all night long. call me autistic but the fact that 90% of workplaces the point is not to get your work done and then be done doing it but to instead perform an elaborate social dance in which you find something to do even when you're done doing everything you need to do in order to show your fellow workers that you, too, are Working . because you are at Work . disgusting why cant we all agree that if there is no work immediately to be done. we just dont do anything

[teaboot]

When I was a kid, I regularly lost reading privileges for "having an attitude" and "acting out".

It wasn't as simple as being told not to read during other activities- one of the first times it happened, I remember being six years old, watching my stepfather pull fistfuls of books off my bookshelf and throw them to the floor in a heaping mess while I cried and asked him to stop.

It was weird. Every other adult I knew described me as exceptionally well-behaved, but at home, it was the opposite, and it was blamed on "learning bad habits from that shit you're reading".

Because I couldn't read at home, I spent all my free time at school in the library, reading with my friends.

When I grew up and moved away, I realized that my family life was toxic and abusive, and the "attitudes" I was being punished for were standing up for myself, standing up for my younger siblings, and resisting actual, real-life psychological abuse. Because I'd learned from what I'd read that my family wasn't normal, not like my parents said it was, and in my stories, the heroes were the people who spoke out when it was hard to.

It is insane to me that there are students right now who can't access books. It is insane that books are being outlawed. It is perverse that we are stealing away an entire generation's ability to contextualize their lives, to learn about the world around them, to develop critical thinking skills and express themselves and feel connected to the world or escape from it, whatever and whenever and however they need.

That is not how you raise a compassionate, thoughtful, powerful society.

That's how you process cattle.

It's fucking disgusting.

[karemandohan1999]

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[cthulhu-nymphos]

Die-cut cover art for My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews

[yoestuveaquiunavezfrases21]

Llora tan fuerte como quieras. Pero asegúrate de que, cuando dejes de llorar, nunca lo harás por la misma razón otra vez.

[the-blueprint]

"Brazilian hand games and American hand games!!!! Realizing that the art of hand games comes from Africa! I never thought about it before. It was just embedded in our childhood."

"The collective consciousness is real"

"My goodness. We played this in Nigeria too."

There's a documentary with @jamilawoods called "Black Girls Play" about the history of handclap games in the US and their importance in the Black community. And a book before it called The Games Black Girls Play, by Kyra D. Gaunt.

[sncrlynwtms]

"i was born in the wrong generation" I wasn't. i love existing at the same time as fan culture. i love knowing I can make a post saying "character a wears big ass pants and is obsessed with character b's thighs" and fifty percent of people are gonna agree with me while the other half call me a dumb bitch because of it. it's great.

[themarchingbeetle]

French Flower stamps

Photos by Pilllpat on Flickr

[landsccape]

[escritos-perdidos]