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The Animal Is Tired

robinhobb.com

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Re: The Animal Is Tired

#271

Post by Arete314159 »

humps wrote: post #226
climb_stealth wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't heard of these, thanks for the recommendation! According to Wikipedia he hasn't finished writing them yet. Is it worth reading them already or does it feel unfinished? It's not clear from a quick glance, Mistborn and The Way of Kings take place in the same universe?

His first book Elantris is also very good and well worth your time. A good starting point for his work and a self-contained novel (although he had mentioned writing two more Elantris books in the distant future).

FYI - Robin Hobb is a lady.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#272

Post by athenot »

arvinsim wrote: post #240
maxqin1 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> good food Everyone thinks they eat good food. Food is the number one physical measurable input into our bodies. So it boggles my mind that nutrition isn't the most studied subject, alongside maybe the study of living a fulfilling life. Changing my eating habits has changed my life for the better. It took kidney stones (not recommended) to get me here. But even my most obese and unhealthy friends like to proudly tel…

Dealing with food would be so much easier if it wasn't one of our main sources of pleasure and relief. Alas, it is not so. That's why adopting proper diet and nutrition is complicated.

I've adopted the opposite strategy: instead of constantly fighting against the pleasure in food, I have cultivated it. Expanded the horizons of my palate, chased amazing gustative experiences.

The result being that the immense majority of the food available to me is now "ok but not fantastic". I still take pride in being able to enjoy (almost) any food no matter how humble. But none bring me joy the way a rare fine dining experience will. And since I'm in no position to indulge on those on a regular basis, I'm never using food as a source of comfort and satisfaction.

TL;DR: appreciate and cultivate rarity (but try not being a snob about it)

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#274

Post by 8fGTBjZxBcHq »

possibleworlds wrote: post #164

Loved Robin Hobb when I was a kid. I read a LOT of fantasy back then and she was up the top of the list next to GRRM for me. The closest thing to traditional fantasy I have read in a very long time is Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, and now I am bit broken trying to chase a similar hit. If anyone has any recommends to scratch the post BOTNS itch please do share.

Some of my favorite Wolfe work is his Latro series. It takes place in antiquity but is fairly fantastical.

It's a very different setting, but tonally similar in some ways. A lot of ancient cultural and religious stuff is key to the plot but not explained (and often the protagonist is lost too for reasons that will be obvious when you start) so you get that same backstory-detective experience when reading.

It also takes the unreliable narrator trope to weird new lengths even by Wolfe's standards. I won't get into the details for spoiler reasons but the narrator is unwittingly unreliable for reasons outside of his control but is fully aware of this state. While the reader regularly has information that the protagonist should have but no longer does. The prose mechanics of how this is achieved is wonderful.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#275

Post by throwit1q2e3r »

piva00 wrote: post #257
germinalphrase wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll just throw out there that I didn’t care about kids, babies until after We had one. My brain definitely changed.

How was that feeling? Did you simply not care or did it take your energy away to be around them? I've actively tried to change and engage more with kids for a few years, this dread never went away, it's not only I don't take enjoyment but it saps something out of me, it's quite strange as I don't feel that strongly against anything else considered normal in life...

I'm not expected to be friendly and fun around adults I don't know -- so why is it that I'm expected to be friendly and fun around kids? They're still strangers. I dread spending time with kids I barely know in the same way I dread spending time with adults I barely know. I have friends with kids, but spending time with those kids is like spending time with those friends' parents. Yes, they're related to my friends, but they're still strangers to me.

Then I had a kid... and nothing changed about other kids. I still don't know them and I still feel awkward around them. But I do know my kid. He likes spending time with me and I like spending time with him, even though it can be boring/tiring sometimes.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#276

Post by Ensorceled »

blfr wrote: post #166

Better food, more exercise, more relaxation... but I also wonder if it would have made any difference. Yes. I'm only half OP's age but working out and eating well (well for me means much more) has made all the little aches I started to have in my 20s go away and made me much calmer, I can also sleep pretty much anywhere and at any time. More interestingly though, Me, and the animal I live inside. there is no animal y…

> there is no animal you live inside, this is not a meat vehicle for something else, your body is you, it's not some machine you merely inhabit.

It always drives me crazy when people take the work of a poet or author literally and then pedantically hound any joy or meaning out of the words.

The point is that humans are animals, treat your animal well.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#277

Post by ianai »

01100011 wrote: post #167
Swizec wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My animal is only 33 and is very tired In life satisfaction surveys, your 30’s are the most miserable stressful part of life. Highest amount of responsibilities, lowest amount of consistent reward, and it keeps getting worse until your 40’s Apparently it gets better again in your late 40’s and early 50’s. By 60 you’re as happy as you were at 20. https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/scientists-just-discovered-mi... (am 33…

Really? In my 30s I felt on top of the world. Enough wisdom to put my knowledge to good use and a fit body that only had the occasional ache. Everything went downhill around 42 though. Eyesight, hearing, processing speed, memory, sleep apnea, weight gain, hair loss, ED... I have to be on some combination of marijuana to sleep and modafinil to wake up. Exercise helps but the gains fade fast so it's basically a 10% tax…

I don’t think societies neglect for its citizens is easily tied solely to age. At least in my experience, it’s a pretty constant lack of care for me. I’ve had doctors tell me I’m making it up when I’m in shattering, blinding pain more than I care to remember. Had companies treat me like no amount of offensive behavior to outright bullying is a problem if I’m the victim. This is in 20s-30s.

Though I realize ageism is a thing. One of my 60+ coworkers has basically been told they’re too old for any sort of advancement.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#279

Post by iamacyborg »

autarch wrote: post #33

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. Her masterwork is a series of series (four trilogies and a quadrology) known as The Realm of the Elderlings. She published the first trilogy, which begins with Assassin's Apprentice, starting in 1995. I saw the books when they first came out and I assumed from the title and the cover that it would be a cheesy fantasy by the numbers, so I never bought it. But I kept hearing ab…

> more hopeful and humane than something like Malazan

Am I missing something here? It's been a while since I read the Malazan series but hope seems to be one of the primary themes of the series, even if things are utterly bleak at times.

Re: The Animal Is Tired

#280

Post by iamacyborg »

vessenes wrote: post #193
bitexploder wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not convinced anyone has ever read of of the Malazan series. Sure, it’s theoretically possible, but has anyone really read /every/ word? Jokes aside, I love epic fantasy, but that series was just a little too epic for me. Wheel of Time has a nice balance, you really get to meet the main characters, it just takes a while.

I read it all. I would say it needed a series re-edit. First book or two are really differently paced from the end; those two should probably get bulked up a bit, and pulled fully into the final story lore. Then the series needs a trim down, probably like 33% of pages. It's possible some of the story arcs need to be moved around as well for better readability. I have just specified like a decade of hard labor, I know…

The problem with the series is it seems Erikson wants to use it as a vehicle to talk about a wide range of societal issues, which means we end up with hundreds of pages of Bugg or Kruppe inner dialogue which can be pretty painful at time.

Maybe that's what separates it from other series though.

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