2020
Monthly

Let Us Begin

I started recording the books in my reading list towards the end of last year and it worked out pretty well. Who would have known? But it turns out recording my every observation takes time... time I often don't want to spend. So, this page is a sort of End of the Line / Least I Could Do in which I list (on a monthly basis) the books I am currently reading and maybe make a comment or two rather than noting anything greater.

January

• Vanity Fair
• As this tome enters its second year, I will note that this is perhaps (just perhaps) the slowest I've ever read a book...
  • And still have claimed to be reading it.


• Supreme Court Slip: Kisor v Veterans Affairs
• Reading all the Supreme Court Slips is another project that has ground to a near halt.
• I've grown bored...
  • Or maybe, the current issue is a tricky one and I find myself without a ready-made answer.
• Fast Poisson Disk Sampling in Arbitrary Dimensions by Robert Bridson
• Well, this one was lucky to make the cut.
  • Acquired yesterday, it will be gone tomorrow.
• Burning Man: Transforming Community through Countercultural Ritual Process
• This is an 'Occassional Paper' by Jessica McCaffrey, which I am interpreting as a thesis.
• Ah, it's a revised version of a thesis.
• Mad Max led to The Sturgis Rally led to Burning Man.
  • Let us just say it has been a Wild Ride.
• I have two more papers (similar to this one, in subject matter, at least). And then, I may well just be done with Burning Man.
• Once again, the read rate has slowed to a crawl...
  • Maybe, because the lot are being used as a focus for a Rant...
    • And nearing the end of that Rant, I no longer feel the way I did at the beginning.
    • I'm second guessing myself.
• Psychopathy Stuff
• These are a grouping of papers waiting to be transformed into a rant, which much like the previous, I have stopped caring about.
• Law & Economics by Cooter and Ulen
• It's a textbook focusing on the intersectionality (a word used incorrectly in this context) between law and economics.
• I'm not very far along (page 18).
• And I'm expecting abandonment of the tome...
  • You know, if I were a Betting Man.
• This later having more to do with Economic's (as a whole's) failure to recognize that it too (just like Psychology) is more of an Applied Philosophy than a Gateway to Truth.
• Linear Algebra Abridged
• If you do not play chess, I will destroy you. I am awesome. But if you do play chess, I am an idiot and you will destroy me.
• The same dichotomy holds for mathematics.
• Saga-Book Vol. XL courtesy of the Viking Society For Northern Research
• The latest article concerned the date of a Runic Carving and whether its provenance extended back to the original burial, tomb raiders, or (and I may be the only one putting forth this idea) mere vandals centuries later...
  • But millennium before now.
• I've co-opted this idea for something else...
  • Not that I can remember what that something else is at the moment.
    • Honest.
• Thus, it is not just the main topic (of the Saga Journal) which interests me, as I find utility in the secondary analysis, as well.
  • Norse Mythology is the topic of interest.
  • Tracing the Provenance of Runic Carvings is not.
    • So, there's a fair bit of cross-pollination going on.
• The Elder or Poetic Edda translated by Olive Bray
• It's from early last century, I believe.
• This translation, obviously,
• Profile Notebook from the Watchman Fellowship
• It's a highly slanted Cult Watch Book.
• I cannot say I agree with the Watchman Fellowship's underlying premise that The Bible is Literally True and Infallible.
  • I mean, if I did feel that way, maybe I would be better off reading The Bible.
• I do, however, have complete faith in their critical reviews...
  • That what they are calling a fact is a fact.
  • And that they are presenting (or at least, trying to present) the opposition accurately.
    • But I won't go so far as to say the picture drawn is fair or without its little digs.
      • But then, that is part and parcel of describing the opposition.
• I am very pleased with the overall quality.
• It's a wonderful bit of Missionary Outreach.
  • See, I didn't even call it propaganda once.

February

• Vanity Fair
• I've read a few chapters.
• More noticeable, I haven't felt like making many notes.
• Most of my reading of Physical Media takes place in the library.
• At home and in bed, I just tend to read PDFs and Digital Editions.

• Supreme Court Slip
• The question at hand is whether the Census can include a Citizenship Question.
• I don't think it can.
• I, also, don't care.
• The Last Psychopathy Document
• After months on hold, I finally did of bit of writing, enabling me to delete the bulk of these documents.
• 2019 Illinois Fishing Information
• It's not accurate to say that I am reading this.
• But there seems a reasonable chance that I will get a Fishing License.
  • So, maybe, I will page through it further.
• G'MIC Reference
• I copied the 'Man Pages' into a text document.
  • So, I am cutting those down.
• I want to make a Tester Program which runs a bunch of different effects.
• Law And Economics
• I'll probably delete this before long.
• I rarely wish to read it.
• Linear Algebra Abridged
• The going is slow.
• I am at injective and surjective.
  • I've forgotten what these terms meant before.
  • And I will forget what these terms mean again.
• The Saga Book XXXIX
• I'm pretty sure I read the previous volume twice.
• I got halfway through it again, before becoming totally convinced I'd seen this information before.
• In the end, knowing I would be adding the document to this list was a major reason for moving on to the next issue.
  • I am reading them backwards.
  • So, in this case, the next issue is the previous issue.
• The Elder or Poetic Edda
• I got nowhere on this document, this month.
• Watchman Fellowship Profile Notebook
• This has been one of my go-to tomes for the month.
• Almost every night, I read one or two four-page articles.
• The focus is cults...
  • And anyone who does not share the same (i.e. correct) interpretation of The Bible as the Watchman Fellowship.
    • Still, I find the information to be amazingly even-handed...
      • Very fact based.

March

I am going to stop reporting on those items which are merely waiting their turn or which are truly reference works. Every once in a while, I pick up a Bible, which is just as close to my reading chair as Vanity Fair. But when I pick up The Bible, I tend to read a very short passage at random as a sort of game; and then, put it down. So, I am not reading The Bible. I am playing with it. Other works that fit this pattern (The G'MIC Reference, for instance) will no longer be recorded.

• Vanity Fair
• This is a great book.
• Please do not read too much into my slow pace.


• De Bello Gallico by Caius Julius Caesar
• The tome is also known as The Gallic Wars.
• It's a classic.
• It's a page-turner.
• I am finding it far more compelling than I would have ever believed.
• Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury
• This was recommended as a must-read classic in the same breath as The Gallic Wars.
• I've barely started it.
• It's supposed to be a masterpiece.
• The Saga Book XXXIX
• I needed a break from reading about Vikings.
  • Hence, The Gallic Wars.

There has been a conscious effort on my part to keep the list short, saving me the effort of transcribing it. Also, I was unable to find anything in regards to Festivals and EDM (they themselves being a continuation of the Burning Man, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally thread), which I felt like reading. That topic is very much visceral. I guess I've taken to listening to Dance Music, instead.

April

We are under Quarantine. One might think I'd be reading more.

• Vanity Fair
• I haven't picked this up in a long time.

I did Imgur for a while and Reddit for an even shorter while and I have been reading all of the Imperial College of London's reports on The Covid Virus.

• Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury
• I deleted this more or less right before making this list.
• I no longer care about it.
• De Bello Gallico by Caius Julius Caesar
• Ditto.
• It was interesting. But having stopped, I am finished.
• The Saga Book XXXIX
• Mainly what I did this month was skip ahead to the end of the current article.

Recently, I downloaded four Scientific Papers based on the search Covid Life Cycle PDF, as I want a greater understanding of it's reproduction. But I shall not be listing the titles.

The above is a short list. Imgur (the App having been deleted) took up a lot of my time: 40-60 hours, at a guess. And such a break from in depth reading made it easy to switch-out (i.e. swap-out) my reading list when I resumed.

May

The Pandemic Rages!
A Full Lock-Down Is In Effect!

• Vanity Fair
• I haven't read a single page in months.
• It's more of a coaster.
• But as I still intend to read, it remains on this list.


• Saga-Book Vol. XXXVIII
• I know I flipped to a new Volume this last month.
  • So, there is progress.
• It very much matters what the secondary subject of interest is: in what way are the Icelandic Viking Sagas being looked at?
• Imperial College of London Covid Report #17
• Formally: Report 17: Clinical characteristics and predictors of outcomes of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in a London NHS Trust: a retrospective cohort study
• Interestingly, they do not capitalize the title as I would.
• I have not started. But as I read the other 16, including this in the list made sense.
• Havamal
• I have two works related to this Icelandic Saga: a translation and a paper.
• I have not started either...
  • And may never.
• But once again, this is exactly the type of material this list was created for.
• Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World Of Weimar Berlin
• I was looking for a little erotica.
  • And that is exactly what this is...
    • A little erotic.
• It's hitting the spot.

Over the month, I read a slew of material regarding a Divergent Religious Group... perhaps, better recognized as a Cult. Those have been dealt with more comprehensively elsewhere (in a mid-level shorts write-up). But a little cross referencing here seemed appropriate.

The Saga-Book is what I am looking forward to reading at the moment. And is what I am going to open in just a second or two when I am done with this entry.

June

I do tend to make sure I am at a low point in my reading when I make these entries.

• Vanity Fair
• Hey, I read two pages this month, so give me a break.


• Minataur Tails
• I might as well read my own stuff if no one else will.
• Embracing The Smile That Is This Moment
• See above.
• Imperial College London: Report 23
• These have to do with The Covid Virus...
  • A topic which interests me less and less.
• Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin
• Highbrow Erotica!
• Saga-Book XXXVIII
• My interest in The Viking Sagas continues.

July

As with almost all of my projects, I tire of this particular catologing project. It's not so much that I've over-subscribed (taken on too much), as my subscription habits have changed... as have my reading habits. I'm doing a lot less reading, down to under an hour a day.

• Vanity Fair
• Yes. This way well be my last hard copy book.
• As such, I would like to actually finish it.
• But I got nowhere this month...
  • Not a single page.


• Supreme Court Slips
• I rocketed through almost the entire 2019 Term Year, this month.
• And then, I stopped.
• I'm sure I did over an hour of reading (more like three, if I had to guess) each day during this time.
• A Crash Course on the Lebesgue Integral and Measure Theory
• It's just a bit of light reading.
• A momentary conversation gave me a bit of nudge back into the world of math.
• I haven't started this.
  • But I read a fair number of mathematical articles this month.
• Imperial College: Report 23
• I was just going to trash this last night.
  • I do that.
  • The days before a write-up see a flurry of discards.
• But a quick preview turned up an interesting fact and I will review further.
  • US Penetration was something shy of +/-5% (at Lock-Down), based on my interpretation after a five second skim.
  • Regardless of the accuracy, it was enough to keep the document alive for a little while longer.
• Saga Book XXXVII
• I, probably, made the most progress on this.

August

In truth, this project is sort of pointless at the moment. I have not touched Vanity Fair all month long and on the typical night, I hardly read a word. My involvement with the written word is not as it once was. I have a Saga and a Sage Journal loaded. And I read a page or two here and there. But that is insignificant compared to my previous rate of consumption. Bottom line, I'd rather use what limited vision I have left to push content out the door.

September

DONE!

I am done.

My reading is not what at one time it was. Let me tell you, kiddo. At one time, I read one and two books a day. But no more.

I am still working on Vanity Fair... not that I read a word this month. And a full write-up on that tome will likely be my final posting in this section... unless I veer off and start to include video or auditory works.