Marvelous. Even in translation, I true spectacle of language. Time-twisting and reality-bending. At several points while reading I thought to myself: Marvelous. Even in translation, I true spectacle of language. Time-twisting and reality-bending. At several points while reading I thought to myself: I can see why Danielewski cribbed so heavily from this for House of Leaves. A copy should be on the bookshelf of every aspiring novelist. (Yes, it requires some extra cognition to get through but every piece is worth the effort.)
composite rating: 4.1176★
INDIVIDUAL RATINGS:
Part One: The Garden of Forking Paths
Prologue
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius — ★★★★★ The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim — ★★★★ Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote — ★★★½ The Circular Ruins — ★★★★★ The Babylon Lottery — ★★★★ An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain — ★★★ The Library of Babel — ★★★★★ The Garden of Forking Paths — ★★★★★
Part Two: Artifices
Prologue
Funes, the Memorious — ★★★½ The Form of the Sword — ★★★★ Theme of the Traitor and Hero — ★★★ Death and the Compass — ★★★★★ The Secret Miracle — ★★★★ Three Versions of Judas — ★★★ The End — ★★★★ The Sect of the Phoenix — ★★★★ The South — ★★★★ ★
Feels tedious to a minor degree, but only part of the time. The rest of the time it sways between a mundane Phildickianness and something that flirts Feels tedious to a minor degree, but only part of the time. The rest of the time it sways between a mundane Phildickianness and something that flirts with (but never quite consummates) the Kafkaesque. Surreal at times, miserably prosaic at others.
Mostly I'm frustrated that this guy is my age and it just conjures up jealousy for The Craft.
Borderline 5-stars; definitely not for beginners but something I would recommend to anyone who is mashing (partial, mini-mash, BIAB, or full-on all-grBorderline 5-stars; definitely not for beginners but something I would recommend to anyone who is mashing (partial, mini-mash, BIAB, or full-on all-grain) and possibly to extract brewers who are doing some "otherwise sophisticated" techniques. Strong packs in so much wisdom here that it's almost hard to believe one man could know so much about brewing!
While reading this, I wound up taking about 23 pages of notes -- highlighting the key lessons, creating follow-up research tasks, or else re-framing some of the content so that it would be easier for me to visualize and digest it.
Why the single star off? First, I wish there had been at least a little bit in here about extract or partial mash brewing. At present this is my primary brewing process, so there are a number of places in the text where I need to extrapolate. To be fair to Strong though, he addresses this point early on (in the introduction) by stating that he hasn't brewed using these techniques in many years and, given the anecdotal/conversational style, it would be disingenuous of him to write about something he simply doesn't do. (Gotta respect that!)
The second place where "points off" happened for me was with certain bits of content and how they were presented. To be specific, there were places where I thought an illustration, a figure, or a table would have been a great way to show the material he was discussing -- this as opposed to the bullet points that naturally come out of the conversational style that Strong uses throughout the book. This is a fair trade-off though -- Strong's conversational style works so well throughout the rest of the book that anyone who needs to see it about her way (like me!) can just sketch it out themselves. Good deal if you ask me.
These little nit-picks aside, I loved this book and believe I'll be referring back to it many times over the next couple years as I try to step up my brewing game....more
I've been heard to say that I don't care for Hemingway, but this book approaches perfection w/r/t/ novels. Stripped bare of pretense. Absolutely nothiI've been heard to say that I don't care for Hemingway, but this book approaches perfection w/r/t/ novels. Stripped bare of pretense. Absolutely nothing added that was not essential to the story. I wish someone had "made me" read this a long time ago. (Instead of Billy Budd -- yeesh!)
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