1Ameise1
Hello everyone, my name is Barbara and I live in Zürich (Switzerland). I will be reading 10 books of my own again this year. Otherwise, I have a great local library and my list of books that I can borrow there is endless.
If anyone is interested in what I do and read, my main thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/377065#n9058778
If anyone is interested in what I do and read, my main thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/377065#n9058778
4Ameise1
>3 connie53: Thank you very much, Connie. I will be happy to pass that on to him.
5Robertgreaves
Happy ROOTING in 2026, Barbara
6Ameise1
>5 Robertgreaves: Thank you very much, Robert. I wish you the same.
8MissWatson
Have a good ROOTing year, Barbara!
10Ameise1
book 1 Read in German
ë: Roman
I read this book as part of my book club and was deeply impressed. It is an autobiography about a young woman who fled to Germany with her parents in the early 1990s, but has almost no memories of her early childhood in Kosovo and now, as an adult, is trying to understand what happened to her relatives and in her hometown during the Yugoslav War with the help of relatives, the internet and lectures.
It all begins with a piece of tooth that broke off during the night. The dentist determines that her jaw is very tense and prescribes her a dental splint. In addition, she is advised to seek psychological help, as this tension needs to be addressed. The dentist visits and jaw tension are recurring themes in the book. Even a visit to an osteopath brings no relief, but shows her that what she has long assumed – not being able to speak spontaneously and therefore keeping everything to herself – could be the cause.
Speaking: When she came to Germany, it was shortly before she started kindergarten. She taught herself German by sitting very close to the television, watching the mouth of the person speaking and trying to repeat it as correctly as possible. From an early age, she has had enormously high expectations of herself and therefore only speaks when she can be absolutely sure that it is error-free. A friend of hers always tells her that she speaks like an “audiobook narrator”, both in terms of her tone of voice and her overly clear pronunciation.
In her search for clues about what happened to her family and relatives in Kosovo at that time, I learned a few things that I didn't know before. I worked with many children from Kosovo during the 1990s, and the new insights from this book help me to understand them even better. She does not learn much from her immediate family, as many things are still hushed up, but through her cousins and aunts she learns part of her past. The “ghost” of her grandfather, who suddenly disappeared and whose remains have never been found, hangs over everything.
I hope for the author that writing this book has helped her come to terms with part of her past and that the physical effects of her jaw tension will subside.
The author is certainly a perfectionist and sets high standards for herself, as she also has university degrees in philosophy, German studies and modern German literature.
ë: RomanI read this book as part of my book club and was deeply impressed. It is an autobiography about a young woman who fled to Germany with her parents in the early 1990s, but has almost no memories of her early childhood in Kosovo and now, as an adult, is trying to understand what happened to her relatives and in her hometown during the Yugoslav War with the help of relatives, the internet and lectures.
It all begins with a piece of tooth that broke off during the night. The dentist determines that her jaw is very tense and prescribes her a dental splint. In addition, she is advised to seek psychological help, as this tension needs to be addressed. The dentist visits and jaw tension are recurring themes in the book. Even a visit to an osteopath brings no relief, but shows her that what she has long assumed – not being able to speak spontaneously and therefore keeping everything to herself – could be the cause.
Speaking: When she came to Germany, it was shortly before she started kindergarten. She taught herself German by sitting very close to the television, watching the mouth of the person speaking and trying to repeat it as correctly as possible. From an early age, she has had enormously high expectations of herself and therefore only speaks when she can be absolutely sure that it is error-free. A friend of hers always tells her that she speaks like an “audiobook narrator”, both in terms of her tone of voice and her overly clear pronunciation.
In her search for clues about what happened to her family and relatives in Kosovo at that time, I learned a few things that I didn't know before. I worked with many children from Kosovo during the 1990s, and the new insights from this book help me to understand them even better. She does not learn much from her immediate family, as many things are still hushed up, but through her cousins and aunts she learns part of her past. The “ghost” of her grandfather, who suddenly disappeared and whose remains have never been found, hangs over everything.
I hope for the author that writing this book has helped her come to terms with part of her past and that the physical effects of her jaw tension will subside.
The author is certainly a perfectionist and sets high standards for herself, as she also has university degrees in philosophy, German studies and modern German literature.
12Ameise1
>11 connie53: Yes it was a very impressive reading.
13Ameise1
book 2 Read in German
The Hour of the Predator
If it were a historical novel, some would say it is captivating and exciting, thinking, “That was once upon a time.”
Unfortunately, this book reflects the stark realities of today. Even though certain statements may make you laugh, it is very frightening and deeply saddening. Current events even surpass the content of this book or have already accelerated enormously.
The author jumps around between different eras to show that we have already experienced all this before, in line with my motto: Humanity learns nothing from history.
The author writes about his book:
It attempts to capture the breath of a world at the moment it plunges into the abyss – and the ice-cold seizure of power by another that takes its place.
He describes the power play of today's most important despots as the Borgia effect. That is, at the very beginning of the 16th century, Cesare Borgia invited his enemies to a peaceful celebration and then captured and tortured them, thus cementing his world order as sole ruler.
This is still happening today. With “false” promises, states are forced to bow down. Takeovers occur and no one intervenes. The ruler (president) appears as a “wolf in sheep's clothing” and feels justified in his actions. Thinking advisors are dismissed and replaced with puppets. A president no longer listens to his staff, because he and he alone is right about everything. Laws and treaties, whether national or international, do not apply to him in his eyes. We see this every day today; the whole world is in a kind of shock-induced paralysis and no one dares to stand in the way of such individuals.
Various examples of this are presented in this book.
In the last part, the author writes about the development of AI. He compares its introduction and beginnings with Kafka's “The Trial”, in which no one understands what is going on, neither the defendant nor the judges who are prosecuting him, and yet events take their inexorable course. The same thing happens with leading politicians: no one understands AI, but they are afraid to admit it, so they prefer to remain silent and let it flourish instead of enacting laws that could curb it.
Welcome to the brave new world, one that is frightening.
The Hour of the PredatorIf it were a historical novel, some would say it is captivating and exciting, thinking, “That was once upon a time.”
Unfortunately, this book reflects the stark realities of today. Even though certain statements may make you laugh, it is very frightening and deeply saddening. Current events even surpass the content of this book or have already accelerated enormously.
The author jumps around between different eras to show that we have already experienced all this before, in line with my motto: Humanity learns nothing from history.
The author writes about his book:
It attempts to capture the breath of a world at the moment it plunges into the abyss – and the ice-cold seizure of power by another that takes its place.
He describes the power play of today's most important despots as the Borgia effect. That is, at the very beginning of the 16th century, Cesare Borgia invited his enemies to a peaceful celebration and then captured and tortured them, thus cementing his world order as sole ruler.
This is still happening today. With “false” promises, states are forced to bow down. Takeovers occur and no one intervenes. The ruler (president) appears as a “wolf in sheep's clothing” and feels justified in his actions. Thinking advisors are dismissed and replaced with puppets. A president no longer listens to his staff, because he and he alone is right about everything. Laws and treaties, whether national or international, do not apply to him in his eyes. We see this every day today; the whole world is in a kind of shock-induced paralysis and no one dares to stand in the way of such individuals.
Various examples of this are presented in this book.
In the last part, the author writes about the development of AI. He compares its introduction and beginnings with Kafka's “The Trial”, in which no one understands what is going on, neither the defendant nor the judges who are prosecuting him, and yet events take their inexorable course. The same thing happens with leading politicians: no one understands AI, but they are afraid to admit it, so they prefer to remain silent and let it flourish instead of enacting laws that could curb it.
Welcome to the brave new world, one that is frightening.
14detailmuse
Already, two important books. >13 Ameise1: is onto the wishlist
15Ameise1
>14 detailmuse: I hope it helps you to understand today's world a little better too.
16detailmuse
>15 Ameise1: I follow a journalist (Jennifer Cohn) who writes about big-tech oligarchs who fund toward a complete world reorder. I'd like to step back into an overview so I better understand.
17Ameise1
>16 detailmuse: I think the crazy thing about AI is that it takes on a life of its own, and even those who initiated it can no longer control it. It scares me.
