This article says “Book Review:” but then doesn’t provide the title of a book. I’m confused. :)
I suppose this joke only works when you've read it. I should take my meds, else I'll forget.
Remember to check your pancreas regularly.
Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
201–210 of 243 posts
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#202I've read both versions of the book and would strongly recommend the audiobook version that came out last year (it's available on Spotify). They did a good job handling the redactions and the narrator really brings the protagonist to life. A very strong recommend if you like audiobooks.
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#203The book was good but I struggled to finish it. You as a reader are encouraged to read because the ideas are so good but then it becomes hard to endure through to whatever resolution was waiting. For those unfamiliar, it will feel something like Momento - you start to feel yourself changing as you work through it. Worth a go for anyone looking for something different.
I know I must have read it, because I've found the book here with a page marker, but I don't remember much. I also can't find the book right now - it must be in my office somewhere.
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#204Are there any real-life examples of antimemes? How would antimemes even propagate given that they'd "die out" immediately?
I spent a fair amount of time thinking about this and the character of antimemes. Even ended up writing a whole taxonomy and mathematical framework for it. In general a meme is specific to an entity-pair, with self-censoring information as a subset of antimeme that makes the information itself remove itself from the mind that learns it. In general though, information that is an antimeme is not the same thing as a cat…
Isn't there also a physics angle to antimemes (as portrayed in TINAD)? Self-erasing information sounds like a reduction of entropy and should therefore be a violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, no?
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#205I have been thinking a lot about a notion of self-paradoxical knowledge, meaning knowledge that actively makes your reasoning worse. For example, knowledge of extremely rare diseases causes the mind to over-evaluate their importance by many orders of magnitude (there are many variants of this effect). Or trying to explain some concepts of the object/subject construction tend to use a language that is grounded on the…
"The Silence" in Doctor Who touches on similar themes. https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Silent#Amnesia_and_hypnotic_a...
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#206I listened to the Audible version and either I read a completely different book or the anti-memetic effects are real, because the main character in the article has a different name and the plot synopsis doesn’t seem to match up. My short review would be: the book is very one-note, it’s like a horror movie that keeps doing the same jumpscare over and over again. Despite this I managed to enjoy it.
The author changed names for the revised edition to increase the distance to the SCP wiki.
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#207Good timing, the Kindle version is $1.99 right now.
Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.
Alternatively[1], for those of us who have enough clutter: Buying it digitally means you've paid for it. The author gets their cut, and you can now seek out unencumbered formats that best serve your usage with a clear conscience.
[1] this is not legal advice...
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#208I just finished this book and complained about it the whole time. The prose is amateur and peppered with cliches (e.g. you should be fined for publishing the phrase "their suit was so sharp it could cut"). His attempt to write about the inner thoughts of the characters was pretty simple. The descriptions of violence and horror also felt child-like, especially the dialogue during those moments (e.g. Redd's introductio…
Have you read free online version or 2025 edited/paid one from penguin books or what have you?
The 2025 edition from Penguin
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer Diaspora by Greg Egan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (this one is a bit like doing homework but worth it imo) If you vibe with short stories Exhalation by Ted Chiang Crystal Nights by Greg Egan isn't bad either
> Diaspora by Greg Egan Basically anything by Egan is gold, IMO. > Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer I wanted to like this, as the premise was fascinating and the word-smithing was pretty good. But something about it left me feeling a little disappointed at the end. More so the end of the entire trilogy, than Annihilation by itself though, IIRC.
I'll second your feeling on Annihilation trilogy. To me, the whole message boiled down to "my life kinda sucked, and now it sucks even more". The phenomenon ostensibly at the center of everything seems to take back seat to protagonists being bummed about it existing / their lives in general.
Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gnomon by Nick Harkaway has some of the same “unreliable world” aspects with great writing to boot.
I enjoyed Gnomon, but boy I didn't find it an easy read
The second and third times through get easier, once you can appreciate the patterns and links that seem extraneous and confusing at first. Totally different kind of book, but I’d put it up with Infinite Jest as far as being convoluted but incredibly rewarding. And of course more SD / tech focused.