Last year and this year I've been trying to increase my non-fiction reading repertoire (though I cheat a little bit and count memoirs as non-fiction, which is a debatable classification that I take full advantage of) because I prefer fiction to non-fiction. Part of this is because reading is at least a partial escape for me, and I don't really want to read about the real horrible things happening in the world. This is also why I prefer romances and fantasy with at least a mostly happy ending. Part of it is that non-fiction reads differently than fiction, and often the writing style in non-fiction books is one that often leaves me with glazed over eyes even when the topic is interesting. However, I do want to be well-informed and I don't want to push myself into a corner with my reading, so in 2018 and 2019 I've given myself the goal of reading at least one non-fiction (memoirs included) book per month. And for April 2019 I read The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game. Somewhat surprisingly (though I don't know why it would be a surprise as I like board games) the history of Monopoly is fascinating.
You see, the game itself was originally an argument against monopolies and, to some extent, capitalism. I won't go into the whole history but the game of origin was called The Landlord's Game and was invented by Lizzie Magie in 1904. It had two ways to play, monopoly style and non-monopoly style. As the game spread and people put their own spin on the game, including making homemade boards, it became known as the monopoly game, as the monopoly style was the one most used. But I'll let you read the book to get the whole story. ;) While it wasn't my favorite book ever to read, at this point I'm unsure whether a non-fiction book will ever receive that distinction for me, it was very interesting because it went about telling the history of Monopoly through the lens of a game developed in the 1970s (I believe the official date is 1977), Anti-Monopoly. The cool thing is, while I hadn't really noticed such a game before, I actually saw one today at the Labyrinth board game store in Washington D.C. I don't know if it's just because I read this book and so I noticed the game for the first time, or if the game had just never been sold in any of the stores I've purchased games from before, but it was really cool to see the Anti-Monopoly game, especially because this book made the topic so interesting. The Monopolists is written by a journalist, and therefore has a journalistic tone. That is, it tries very hard to be objective even though no human being can be completely objective. That being said, overall I think the book did a fairly good job of not overtly telling us that big corporations are jerks and shouldn't be trusted. It was surely implied, at least it was in my mind, but it wasn't an in-your-face statement. The book also increased my interest in trademark/copyright law (which is something I'll need to deal with at some point as an aspiring author anyway) and how since cases like the Anti-Monopoly case went through laws have changed to better protect the big corporations from their iconic products entering into the public domain. Mickey Mouse anyone? Overall, I enjoyed The Monopolists. I think it was well written, well researched, and the topic was quite interesting. I suggest it for anyone who is interested in the history of games, underdogs winning court cases, commentaries on current economic systems, and enthusiasts of the Monopoly game itself. If you end up reading it, or have a non-fiction book suggestion for me, let me know in the comments! Happy reading!
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And because I like big books, when they all come in for me at once at the library it means I don't always finish them before they have to go back...Since I don't like to pay fines for overdue items, I bring them back and then have to put them on hold again. This has been my life the past few weeks. A lot of books that I really want to read have come in for me at the library, but I've also been pretty busy with work, applying for scholarships for an international PhD, and trying to finish the first draft of last year's NaNoWriMo novel. All this means, not as much time for reading, and therefore I've had to return books before I've finished them. :(
That being said, I am reading a book right now that I've had on hold for a while and I'm not going to let it go back to the library without finishing it because I've been waiting for it to be published for over a year! It isn't that big, actually, only 354 pages, and it is quite entertaining. What is the book you ask? The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. It is the final book in a trilogy that are based on Russian folk-tales. One reason I love it so much is that here in the U.S., we don't always get to experience the mythologies of other cultures. Vikings and Greeks and Romans, yeah, we've pretty much all heard some form of those. And the Fae of Great Britain are pretty popular too. But outside of those "big" mythologies, we don't get much exposure to the mythologies of other cultures here in the U.S. The trilogy starts with The Bear and the Nightingale, which I say anyone who likes folk/fairy-tales should read. The series concludes with the book I'm currently reading, and while I'm only 60-something pages in, I definitely know it's going to be a good book. It's already been a wild ride and I'm really looking forward to what happens next! That's why today's post is going to be so short, because I really want to get back to reading while I have time today (I still need to spend some time on my novel and finish making lunches for the week). If you want, let me know what you're reading and what your favorite mythology/folk/fairy-tale stories are in the comments. I'm always up for discussing them and finding new stories to love! Happy Reading! So in case you didn't notice, I missed two weeks of posting, sorry about that. I believe I had a reasonable excuse for the first week though, because I totally felt like death. Whatever cold/flu whatever that was hitting the East coast of the USA (and might still be here) took me down hard. And it took all but one of my co-workers down at the same time. It was an interesting week at work, what with the chorus of hacks and nose blowing. Last week I was on the tail end of it all and probably should have posted but I lost track of time during the day and it just didn't happen. And that type of thing just kept happening throughout the whole week, so here we are.
I don't really have anything specific I want to write today. Not that I haven't been reading a lot and gathering up a lot of fodder for social commentary, but if I'm not in the right mood trying to discuss either of those is exhausting and I don't do it well. Case in point, someone asking about universal income at a dinner I was at, me saying we should abolish capitalism, and the conversation going nowhere because it was difficult for me to fully articulate why I think that. Keep in mind, I'm a budding leftist. I haven't read much of the material needed to bring up hard facts/figures off the top of my head, and most of my knowledge right now revolve around small facts that I learn and my feeling that the current system never really worked because if it had then why haven't we fixed the problems of poverty, starvation, and climate change yet? Look at the technology we have. Look at the number of videos on the internet about "this plate is fully compostable" or "this robot cleans the oceans" or "this shampoo has no plastic bottle." Yet, none of those initiatives seem to really get off the ground. Not to mention, individual pollution is minuscule compared to that of factories. Yet even though climate scientists have essentially said we're screwed if we don't fix this by 2050, I don't see a whole lot being done by companies to fix it. All of this combined with the fact that some studies show there are about five times as many empty domiciles for rent as there are homeless people in the US (Truthdig 2012), and that there are people in the US who are homeless but still work 40 hours a week(McCoy, 2019)...Well, that doesn't give me warm and happy feelings about capitalism. So even though I said I wasn't going to talk about it, I did. Go figure. The story told by McCoy? It was right across from my work building. I walk that stretch of road every day and see people in tents or huddled under blankets. I'm pretty sure I saw the altercation mentioned, when Monica was yelling at the clean-up crews. It was a few minutes before a conference call, I was dialing the number, and I looked out the window and saw a woman yelling at the people dragging her belongings away. It might not have been the woman referenced in the story; it might have been another person saying the same things. Another person who is trying so hard to keep on his/her/their feet but failing because the system we're in works against them. Some people may say that this system we're in is a bastardization of capitalism, and pure capitalism isn't like this. Pure capitalism will actually work. But I don't think that's true. And maybe it's partially because I haven't actually read Ayn Rand and just can't picture it. Maybe human beings are "just greedy" and the system isn't at fault. But what if it isn't that humans are "just greedy?" What if a system like capitalism, or at least the version we currently have, is the reason humans are "just greedy?" I see a system around us that rewards being greedy. It rewards looking out only for yourself. It rewards the hoarding of money (which by they way, is totally made up and doesn't actually mean anything unless you're in a system that forces it to mean something). And when you are rewarded for being greedy? Then that is what you become. And evolutionarily, those people who are "best" at being greedy and ignoring others? Well they're in prime position to reproduce. There's a reason the highest ratios of psychopathic traits are in CEOs. This turned into a very deep and dark post, and I apologize. But sometimes when I'm writing and can actually search for my references/facts I make better arguments. I do not want this to turn into an online argument. I just needed to express some of the inner worries and stresses of my life. Feel free to give your own opinions or point me towards other articles that support or don't support my views. Just don't turn it into an argument. Next week I'll have a happier topic. Maybe a book or movie review... Happy Reading! References: McCoy, T. (2019, March 22). Homeless, living in a tent and employed: The changing face of homelessness in the U.S. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com Truthdig. (2012) Vacant houses outnumber homeless people in the U.S. Retrieved from https://www.truthdig.com/articles/vacant-houses-outnumber-homeless-people-in-u-s/ |
AuthorThe author is a librarian who reads "too much" (is there such a thing?) and talks just as much. As an aspiring author she gets bogged down by grammar rules when she just wants to forget them to make a sentence flow, but never seems to be able to. She appreciates thoughtful comments and constructive criticism, but internet trolls beware, she's read enough fantasy novels to know how to defeat the monsters. Archives
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