Climate Activist Interviews #2: Grace Maddrell

This is the second week of a series on this blog where I interview other climate activists. I hope these interviews help connect climate activists around the world, boost the good work they're doing, and give potential activists ideas and encouragement for action they could take to fight the climate crisis!

Today's interviewee is Grace Maddrell, a weekly climate striker and Extinction Rebellion activist in Frome, England. She strikes on weekdays for the burning Congo rainforest, and on weekends with Fridays For Future. You can follow her on Twitter at @GraceElm and join her strikes at the Frome Town Hall in Somerset!

Tell me a bit about you - where are you from, what age are you, and what do you do (climate-related and otherwise)?

I'm from England. I was born in Somerset and have lived in the South West of England my whole life. I'm 14 years and 3 months old. 

What has your experience of climate activism been like so far?

Most of the actions I have done have helped to give me hope and make me see that I'm not alone. Being an activist can be hard and stressful and I often feel under acknowledged but I also feel that I am part of this amazing activist family. 

How did you get into environmental activism?

Now that's a boring story! I just heard through classmates the idea that we might go on a school strike back in March, started to think about it more, and emotionally woke up, especially after watching videos of Greta Thunberg. 

What have you learned through your activism?

I've learnt some climate science and stuff about the power of a movement. I've learnt how people working for the same goals feel like family. I've learnt chants and slogans and how to be confident speaking in public. I've done media training and heard scientists talk. A whole bunch of stuff really! 

What are your goals for 2020 for climate action in the UK?

I want our Govt to tell the truth to the people, and commit to carbon zero by 2025. To

consider the aspect of equity in decision making and to form a citizen's assembly and be led by their decisions. Fracking needs to be totally banned, and many things need to be reformed.  I don't have all the answers, so mostly I want the government to listen to the scientists and act on what they say.

What’s something or someone you think more people should know about? 

The carbon budget. We have less than 350 gigatonnes left to emit to have a 67% chance of staying below 1.5°C, the best odds given by the IPCC. With current emissions levels, this will be gone in under 8.5 years. Most people don't even know this exists. 

Also that the people in the global south are already massively suffering the effects of climate breakdown. 

What frustrates you?

Lack of action. Period. Just lack of action and pig-headed denial by many politicians.

What gives you hope and keeps you going?

The amount of people who have joined this movement in such a short time. More than 7 million people joined the strikes on September 20th and 27th.

How can people join or support your activism? 

They can join strikes and XR actions. They can join me outside Frome Town Hall, Somerset, between Monday and Thursday each week to strike for the Congo rainforest, and on Fridays in Bath or Bristol to strike for Fridays For Future. They can join me at weekends in other parts of Frome. They can join XR and other climate action groups, donate, sign petitions, share this stuff on social media and educate others about it. They can use their talents for the cause, e.g. by making a film or writing an article about it. There are so many things. 

Anything coming up we should know about?

Well, the strikes I mentioned on my previous answer aren't gonna stop anytime soon. And In late 2020 the climate summit COP26 will be held in Glasgow.

Do you have any advice for fellow or potential climate activists?

Stay strong. We are with you. Stay non violent. 

It can be hard, but remember that you can tell the coming generations that you did everything you could for them. 

Is there anything you’d like to add that I haven’t mentioned? 

Africa is suffering, as is much of the global south. We need to talk about this and not just about disasters in more privileged places. And we need to platform indigenous voices and the voices of people of colour in this fight, and be led by them to a better world. 

Thank you so much, Grace, for your time and your action!

And to those reading this: Happy #FridaysForFuture! For next Friday, find your local strike point, or start one, and join us!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers in these interviews are edited for formatting/grammar/spelling and clarity.

Climate Activist Interviews #1: Anna Kernahan

Today is the first day of a new series on this blog where I interview other climate activists. I hope these interviews help connect climate activists around the world, boost the good work they're doing, and give potential activists ideas and encouragement for action they could take to fight the climate crisis!

Today's interviewee is Anna Kernahan, who founded Fridays for Future Belfast and is the Social Media Coordinator for the UK school strikes for climate organization. You can find her on Twitter @AnnaKernahan and on her blog at annakernahan.wordpress.com, and if you're near Belfast you can join her each Friday in Cornmarket in Belfast city centre!


Tell me a bit about you - where are you from, what age are you, and what do you do (climate-related and otherwise)?

I’m from Belfast in Northern Ireland and I’m 17 years old. I am a climate striker with NISCN, which is the Northern Irish branch of UKSCN, the national social media coordinator for UKSCN and youthstrike4climate, and I’m the founder of FridaysForFuture belfast where I’m the only weekly striker in my country so far. Otherwise, I’m an A level student studying Technology and Design, English literature and Biology. 

How did you get into climate activism?

I got into climate activism by hearing about Greta Thunberg through the news and word of mouth and wanted to find out more, so I did research by reading things such as the IPCC special report on climate change etc. Once I fully understood the science and the severity of the crisis I felt like I needed to do something about it. Since I am too young to vote I turned to the next best thing — protesting to raise enough awareness so as adults would vote for our future. I then turned up at a climate strike and was hooked. 

How did you go about starting Fridays For Future Belfast? 

It’s pretty straightforward to be honest. I just created a social media account called fridaysforfuturebelfast with the help of my friend Sam. Then, I made a sign out of some cardboard scraps I found in the recycling bin in my kitchen, and wrote on it with a black marker. After that, I just got the bus to city centre Belfast, sat myself down on the stone slab making up the base of the spirit of Belfast Statue in Cornmarket and read a book. It hasn’t changed much since except it’s four months on, I’m onto a different book and my sign has progressed to wood. 

You were part of a Greta Thunberg book-reading event at Waterstones Belfast. How was that set up, and what was the experience like?

It was set up by the NI Human Rights Festival to celebrate how women have been taking the lead in climate activism via the launch of Greta Thunberg’s updated book ‘No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference.’ The experience was very empowering as I got to hear other young people from across the country even coming from as far west as Derry talk about their experiences with activism. It was also a good opportunity to talk with them in person and meet face to face as a lot of them I knew from organising on group chats and slack groups. 

What have you learned through your activism?

Many things. I’d say I’ve learnt more in the days I’ve striked from school than I would have in the lessons I’ve missed, as you can always write up notes later on but you can’t redo experiences. I’ve learnt a lot about myself and being an adult because usually at events or meetings you’re one of the only young people there and so you are forced to talk more maturely than you feel, reporters and presenters expect you to be as educated as the scientists and politicians talk to you like you’re experts in law. The adults seem to not notice the fact that we are youth strikers. This isn’t our day job; we have to go to school the next day. Furthermore, I’ve learnt many valuable and unique but transferable skills such as communication when networking with people and leadership skills when coordinating social media volunteers for UKSCN. Finally, the politicians aren’t as confident in person as you’d think they’d be when they aren’t hiding behind a prepared speech or a prewritten interview. They are actually scared by a bunch of kids. 

What are your goals for 2020 for climate action in Ireland and/or the UK?

The dream is for them to have it enshrined in law that our emissions must be at net zero by 2030. In addition, for actions to begin to be carried out to achieve this. Currently I don’t see this as realistic by 2020 but I’m remaining hopeful. As the government in Northern Ireland has collapsed we couldn’t do this even if we wanted to. However, Belfast city council have declared a climate emergency and set up a climate change working group so the motivation is there, we just have no government to implement it in. In terms of Westminster, that’s a whole other story due to the Conservatives pledging to be carbon neutral by the sloth’s pace of 2050. 

What would you consider your successes and disappointments so far?

Successes: 

• the Lord Mayor of Belfast coming to the global strike in September and announcing to the crowd that a climate emergency would be debated because of us standing there today. We showed him what democracy looks like. And he acted. 
• A climate emergency being declared in Belfast city council just two weeks later. 
• The four month anniversary of my solo strike being this Friday.

Disappointments: 

• it’s been over 1050 days since we’ve had a functioning government and nobody has done anything about it. 
• It’s been three months since a climate emergency was declared and nothing has been done about it. 

What's something or someone you think more people should know about? 

People-wise: Grace Elm, Vanessa Nakate, Saoi O' Connor, Xiye Bastida, Isabelle Axelsson, Jessie Nicholls.

What frustrates you?

Whenever I’m at a strike and someone tells me that I should go back to school. They’re right. I should. I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my education and be the adult because the people in power are too immature to do so. But I have no choice because I’m not allowed to vote in the decisions that will affect my future. 

What gives you hope and keeps you going?

The people. The friends I have made and the kindness of the human spirit that I see. People handing out umbrellas out of their own pocket in the rain and offering to buy hot chocolate on the colder strikes. The people who aren’t responsible for the climate crisis but still try and clean up the mess anyway because they care about the living conditions of our children. 

How can people join or support your activism? 

By joining me at the strike or sharing my posts on social media to help me raise awareness. 

Do you have any advice for fellow or potential climate activists?

For fellow activists, it’s very easy to get caught up in the craziness that is activism — going straight from a full day at school, to a TV studio then straight on to an art meeting to make signs before collapsing on your bed and realising you forgot to do your English homework. You decide to get up early to do it but you realise you’ve already set your alarm early so as you can draft a letter to politicians urging them to act. It can be very overwhelming and the general public don’t realise how much work actually goes into it but just remember that it’s ok to say no. You don’t have to go to every zoom meeting, interview, strike and panel because soon you’ll burn out and will not be able to to any of it. Your health should always take priority. 

For potential activists, don’t let the hard work put you off. It’s honestly great fun too. You make the best of friends because you all share one common interest- saving the world. You get to chant, sing and dance at strikes, you get unique experiences and skills. And the best part is that it’s completely voluntary so there’s no commitment or pressure to stay at all but we all still do it for a reason. 

Thank you so much for your time and your action!

And to those reading this: Happy #FridaysForFuture! I'm heading off to strike in Dublin now — find your local strike point, or start one, and join us!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers in these interviews are edited for formatting/grammar/spelling and clarity.

Recap: October 2019

Finally posting this! Have waited ages because I never got around to describing the London trip, but just going to go ahead with it at this point.

October was busy but cool, with three of its four Saturdays filled by fun extracurriculars. The highlight was probably going to London for the Laidlaw Conference, and the lowlight slogging through the lit review that turned out to be a lot less fun than it appeared.

Laidlaw Scholarship

This month was very busy with Laidlaw events, and quite enjoyable.

On October 5th, we had our final Leadership Day, which involved a panel from the Spunout founder and a community leader, a workshop on emotional intelligence, and a debate. Our team had to propose that disruption is a force for good in the world, so we talked about political revolution, entrepreneurship and scientific progress. I was concerned the other team would bring up the very valid counterpoint that human expansion has been terrible for the rest of life, but instead they did something very entertaining: each brought up a laptop and a book and read out quotes from them. The books were The Power of Now and the Bhagavad Gita and their point was that we can't know what good is, shouldn't presume we can, and shouldn't attempt to do anything in the world but instead be detached from it. So that was interesting.

The next weekend, we went to London for the Laidlaw Conference in UCL. There were some good talks and a lot of fairly fun socializing. Also, we were on our way to the pub but Extinction Rebellion were blocking the road so we joined in, and then a load of police surrounded us with more arriving all the time. It was bizarre - we were just singing in the street but they seemed to feel the need to bring out every policeman in existence. 

Finally, a week and a half later, we had our Laidlaw graduation in the East Dining Hall, then went out. We first went to someone's apartment for a while, where I got to chat to one of the scholars I hadn't gotten to know well before, and met my friend's brother who works in sales. We were both interested to talk to each other because we do such different things.

Schols
I talked to a girl I know from school about preparing for Schols, and had the first meeting with the Schols Accessibility subcommittee.

Writing
I wrote the second draft of my novel over the month from mid-September to mid-October:

Then had the rest of October to prep for first-drafting my new novel for NaNoWriMo (not that I got much done because of the bloody lit review).

College

I can't believe this is the year I'm placing less emphasis on college! Anyway, in college in October I had lectures on:

• Molecular Evolution II
• Human Evolutionary Genetics
• Bacterial Molecular Genetics
• Principles of Genetics
• Plant Developmental Genetics
• Prion Diseases
• Genetics & Immunology of Neural Diseases
• Gene Therapy & Transgenic Animals
• Stem Cells

My favourite was Molecular Evolution, of course, but Plant Dev and Stem Cells are cool too. 

There is an utterly horrific amount of animal abuse in science, though, and our new block of lectures reminds me of that every day. 

I wrote up lectures decently for the first half of October, getting the courses from the first block (Mol Evol, Human Evolution, Bacterial) fully written up by early November, but I have not studied the current courses well. I spent the second half of October working intensively on my lit review titled 'Horse Genomics and Origins', which sadly meant I got no break in Reading Week (well, I took one day off once I finished it, the Bank Holiday, but sure that's less than even a weekend). Perhaps the lesson is that spontaneity is not actually necessarily good, and that what sounds like a fun project ('horsies!') may not be so you should just stick with your original plan (machine learning in genomics) instead?

Research

I've been working on the project I spent ten weeks on during my internship in America. While I have a lot to do, it feels good to be back working on it and talking to my supervisor about it rather than avoiding it! 

Climate & Activism

By the end of October, I reached Week 6 of weekly climate striking (#FridaysForFuture) on Fridays outside the Dail.

I also became a Youth Advisor for GOAL and attended the first of three workshops there all day on Saturday 26 October.

Other Extracurriculars & Public Speaking

I did two talks for Netsoc about data analysis and visualisation in R, and as Secretary have been doing the usual minuting/emailing stuff.

Socialising
GenSoc
family

Review: Be The Change by Gina Martin

Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Non-fiction
Source: eARC from Netgalley for review
Pages: 304


Blurb (from Goodreads)
Without any legal or political experience, I changed the law and made upskirting illegal in eighteen months. But this book is not about changing the law. It's not about me. This is yours. It's your handbook, your road map and your toolkit for pushing for change at absolutely any level. From using social media to gain support and to getting pro bono legal support, to regaining your confidence after a perceived "failure" (hint: there is no such thing), I wrote this book to make sure you believe in your voice, feel ready to put yourself out there and know how to start making things happen. Because my god, if I can do it, so can you.

BE THE CHANGE is an essential handbook for the modern activist, whether your campaign is big or small, local or global . . . or somewhere in between. If you want to challenge injustice in your school, workplace or community; if you want to lend your voice - and more - to a charitable cause close to your heart; or if you are inspired to take on a complex issue on a massive scale, Gina Martin's practical and empowering advice will give you the tools you need to ensure your voice is heard, your actions are noticed and your demands are met.

The Good:

The main thing that pleased me about this book is that it's full of actual practical advice, which you don't always get in this kind of book. For example, it talks about getting started with a campaign - whether it's active, where it's something you just start out of nowhere, or reactive, like hers was when she started the campaign in response to being upskirted. She had an interesting point that you can prepare even for a reactive campaign by being generally educated on the topic and thus knowing where the gaps are for when you're spurred into action. She also talks a little about how to research and diagram and plan out the issue, to break it down into a small, concrete issue that you can tackle, and how to do press releases and interviews. She breaks it down into different stages - awareness, advocacy and action, where you make people aware of the problem and your proposed solution, get members of the public and specific advocates such as celebrities on your side (she even has a bit on reaching out to celebrities and making it as easy as possible for them to do what you want), and then implementing the change you want, which for her was a law. I liked her idea of 'gatekeepers', where you identify the people that can make the change you want and how you're going to get to them - strategy. Hers were Westminster MPs.

I honestly don't have that much more to say in this part of the review - I was happy with it because it was full of straight-forward tips for starting a campaign, and had pretty much no biography. Does what it says on the tin. Plus, she was someone who had almost single-handedly done a successful campaign, so she could actually speak authoritatively on a sort of 'finished activism project'.


The Bad: 

Unfortunately, while it has good advice for doing a campaign on a concrete, social issue like hers (getting a specific law to prosecute upskirting as a sex crime), a lot of it doesn't seem to work very well for abstract, scientific issues like climate change. Climate change can't be fixed with one simple law, and the complexity of the science at hand and the global climate system makes it very hard to think of an unequivocally good thing to advocate. She also kept saying that if you don't have a personal connection to the topic then it's 'not your story to tell' - but for people in my part of the world, that would mean we just wouldn't do climate activism at all because it hasn't affected us badly yet. Even in parts of the world experiencing more frequent droughts and floods and hurricanes, it's very hard to attribute a particular event directly to anthropogenic carbon emissions. I don't think she's wrong, exactly - it's true that having a personal story to tell when you're campaigning makes what you're saying more powerful - but I just don't think it works for climate. Yes, we can and should amplify the stories of those directly affected, but for such a huge global change we need anyone to be able to campaign.

I also wasn't sure about some of her advice, like her declaration that to actually change anything you need to do it from the inside - I feel like revolutions are counterexamples to that! She also says that activists should have an answer and not just point out a problem, which I disagree with. Yeah, ideally have a solution, but if you don't you should still feel free to raise awareness of a problem. There are people employed to come up with solutions.

Some relatively minor niggles: 

• I didn't agree with her politics in parts, like recommending and admiring a homophobic LGBT ambassador, but that's not really to do with the quality of the book
• There was something that felt like performative wokeness - a whole chapter of the book on white privilege, yet (if I recall correctly) nothing about actually using your white privilege to de-escalate situations of police brutality, for example. 

5 Reasons to Climate Strike on Fridays For Future

I've been climate striking outside the Irish parliament (the Dail) for the last 8 weeks, and I want you to join us! Everyone is welcome and you can do it. 

1. To keep the pressure on the government & keep raising awareness and urgency

The main reason: to advocate for action against climate change! 

Repeating protests have a role in keeping the pressure up and letting your government know you care. They can also keep the issue at the top of voters' minds. Climate change is a political problem, not a scientific one.

If you have a particular issue you care about, like preserving the rainforests, you can put that on your sign, or you can keep it simple and demand climate action. 

2. Because it's easier than you think

If you want to participate in Fridays For Future, all you have to do is find a public spot, like a government building, a community hall, or your school or workplace and spend some time advocating for the climate, whether that's chanting or talking to people or bringing a sign. Here's me with my sign - for five of my weeks, I did it alone, so I just sat there with the sign and people came up to me! Before that I didn't even know you could just sit in front of government buildings and campaign - or that people would actively come over to learn more without you even having to say something to them. 

Thank you to Kenji Hayakawa for the photo!

People seem to think it's a big time commitment, but for many people it's not. if you can only come for a few minutes during your lunch break, come! Contribute whatever you can. If you can't make the main 1-2 pm slot, then go for a while at a different time! Many of my weeks have been at other times, like 2-4 pm or 11 am - 1 pm. In a way it's even better to keep it going around the clock. 

You can do it. 

3. To find community, and because everyone is welcome

People are incredibly welcoming at the 1-2 slot in Dublin, and it's great to be surrounded by other people who care about the climate. Seeing everyone's Tweets from around the world about their protests is brilliant - humans need community. 

I had someone ask me recently if only students can go to the strikes - the answer is no, anyone can! The School Strike for Climate was indeed started by an incredible student, Greta Thunberg, but we both need and want everyone who's interested to join in. You don't need to be officially striking from something, either - you can do it on your lunch break if that's what you can contribute.

I haven't even been going for that long and I've already seen people of all ages there, from primary school kids to people in their seventies. Student, engineer, translator, retiree...it doesn't matter, your presence is welcome. And think - if you're a non-student and your friends also think this, maybe seeing you join will make them realise they're welcome too! 

You may also discover that the public are more receptive than you'd think. People frequently come up and give a thumbs up or encourage us to keep going. We get lots of beeps when the 'beep for climate justice' sign is up. People are friendly! I was definitely scared at first, and it still can be scary when I first get there and sit in front of everyone - but in my experience, it's honestly fine. 

You definitely don't need to be a climate scientist or know every climate model off the top of your head - if you live on Earth, you deserve a say. (That includes you, ISS astronauts.) You don't need to be a member of any group.

Oh, and no - you don't have to be a perfect paragon of recycling to come. If you stay home out of shame that you're not a perfect example of virtue, all you've done is stay home. We all cause carbon emissions by virtue of existing in the world, but that doesn't mean we can't fight to make things better! 

4. To get involved and learn

For the longest time, I was worried about climate change but felt completely powerless so did nothing. This protest is a manageable thing that you can, if you wish, use to meet people and build on to join or start new initiatives. Maybe you'll prove to yourself that you can handle more than you think.

I used to spend ages considering donating to environmental charities, but then get sidetracked considering all the different choices and what would make the most impact. Now I've realised that what we need is action. Just start. Learn as you go.

You can learn from your fellow activists. I've been blessed to meet people with such a wealth of knowledge, who've been involved in environmental movements since before I was born. It also makes sure you keep thinking about it but in a positive way, because you're doing something, not just sitting there worrying. That means you can get ideas - I find they don't come until you prove you're receptive to them by taking action!

5. Because everything matters

What if your protest doesn't make a difference? Well, what if it does? You have nothing to lose and a world to save. Each degree of warming matters, each centimetre of sea level rise, each hurricane, each protest, each person.

I live in Ireland, and sometimes people say there's no point protesting here because we're too small to make a difference, and there are worse polluters out there. But small countries can still make a difference! Ireland, for example, is massively missing its emissions reduction targets, and we have obvious places we can improve - we have a huge amount of animal agriculture, and a large fraction of our land surface is covered in peat bogs that need protection to allow them to sequester carbon (peatland covers 3% of the Earth but stores 'twice as much carbon as all standing forests'). Plus, many people living in countries with high carbon emissions live under repressive governments, so those of us lucky enough to live in freer places should use that privilege.

Give it a go this Friday. 

There are loads of other important climate and environmental protest movements, but this one is a great way to get involved. If you've been feeling hopeless or thinking 'what's the point, there's nothing I can do' - this post is for you. 

Action begets action begets hope.

'Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action.' - Greta Thunberg.

P.S. The next big global strike is coming up soon - November 29th!

Review: Adventures of a Computational Explorer by Stephen Wolfram

Rating: 2/5
Source: eARC from Netgalley for review
Genre: Essays
Pages: 421
Publication Date: October 15 2019


Blurb: A pretty random assortment of essays, speeches and blog posts by Stephen Wolfram, the inventor of Mathematica and things like Wolfram Alpha and voice recognition used in Siri.

Overall impression: I'm not a fan of all the arrogance, but even beyond that it's not great. Some interesting ideas.

The Good

There was an interesting chapter doing data science on Facebook data, looking at the clusters of people's friend networks and at lots of different parameters like the amount of people saying they were single, in a relationship, engaged, married, separated and widowed by age. His chapter looking at the personal analytics of his life over decades was also quite interesting, though I thought it must be an intense security risk having all his keystrokes logged and sending stats about himself automatically to his email every day. Assuming he cares about people knowing, I suppose.

He had an interesting point about purpose and how to recognise man-made or alien-made objects, saying that the way we recognise things as purposeful depends on our particular societal history. He said there are some things that are computationally irreducible, where to figure out what happens you just have to follow it along every step, and that traditionally humans have only produced things where we understand the outcome, but that in future we can search the computational universe of possible solutions and select things that work even if we don't know how - like many biological features that we would never be able to invent from nothing but that nonetheless do work. I guess that's sort of a neural net approach.


The Bad

The cockiness is insufferable. Yes, it seems like he is in fact very smart with his PhD at 20 and Eton-Oxford-Caltech and all that, but did we really need to go through him finding the exact day he got his PhD to see that he is still the record-holder for youngest Physics PhD? I feel like as you get older you're supposed to stop making things about you and start making them about the ideas. He sounds iike he might be a proper nerd and not just an asshole but man, how do you come across so arrogant in your own book? He also keeps promoting Mathematica/Wolfram Alpha/Wolfram Language etc, and while it was interesting to learn about abilities they have that I didn't know about, it was a bit much.

Some of the chapters I really just had to wonder why on earth they were included. In particular:

• an entire long chapter about the many options they considered for naming their programming language - ending in just naming it after himself!
• a chapter or two about naming functions for Mathematica and how it's like poetry
• a whole chapter about his personal file system, complete with a picture of the icons currently on his taskbar and of his primary-school Geography homework. I just didn't need to know the details of his folders, I really didn't.
• The details of his personal productivity infrastructure, like how he sets up his laptop with an iPad for presentations and how he runs work calls. 

There was just so much stuff that it seemed utterly egomaniacal to include and think the general public would be interested in. 

Some other chapters I didn't like were probably more just not my thing, like the chapter digging into polyhedra.

It's also largely stuff he's already published elsewhere, so I'm not sure why you'd buy it. Perhaps if you were a Wolfram fan already? That's something that bewilders me about why this was put on Netgalley for review: if your goal is to get good reviews and you already have so many fans who love your work, why not just send ARCs to them? Especially since it seems to be published by his own company.

This is especially the case because a lot of this doesn't seem intended for a general audience. He keeps referencing physics problems I don't know and never explaining them, and I am doing a science degree so I know more about it than the general public. Some of the ideas sounded interesting, like the Principle of Computational Equivalence (seems to be about how simple patterns can end up constructing extremely complex or computationally irreducible things so sophisticated results don't imply complex patterns, which apparently means that beyond a low threshold all intelligence is as good computationally and we can't use complex patterns to infer inteligence), but he didn't explain them properly so it was a waste. I think it's set out in a 1300-page book he spent a decade writing, A New Kind of Science, but if you're going to keep referencing something I don't think it makes sense to expect people to have read a different 1300-page book. You should at least call it a sequel.

He also had a weird bit implying Africans and 'Amerindians' didn't historically use fabric...?

Finally, many of the pictures were impossible to make out on my iPad.

In summary: This was a book by someone who seems to think everything he thinks and does is fascinating, and not the book about the ways we can think about things computationally I thought it was.

Review: Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer

Rating: 4/5
Source: eARC from Netgalley for review
Genre: YA sci-fi thriller
Pages: 288

Blurb: Steph and her mom are constantly on the run, moving every few months to hide from her stalker dad. She finds friends on CatNet, which it turns out is run by a sentient AI called CheshireCat. CheshireCat starts taking actions to protect Steph from her father, but eventually screws up so that Steph must go rescue CheshireCat.










Overall review: 

I really liked this book! I've had a string of not-great reads for review so this was a very welcome change. This is the first thriller I've read in a very long time or ever, and it was great at that while also being super heartfelt. 

The Good:

Firstly, I loved the perspectives - in particular the first-person AI narration in some of the chapters. The book opened with a chapter from the AI which is what really hooked me and made me regret waiting so long to read it. I also loved that that meant I could mostly trust the AI rather than fearing it'd turn out to be the stereotypical bad guy AI. The idea is that CheshireCat is an AI that insead of having a particular moral code cares about individual people - its friends - which really 'humanised' them to me. 

The main perspective is Steph, told in first-person present, but there are also chapters from the AI (often first-person past - didn't know you could just have different tenses like that, but it was cool that those chapters would offer a very different perspective on what had just happened), and chapters full of messages sent in their groupchat on CatNet, which I enjoyed because I like epistolary things like that and they make reading fly by. 

CheshireCat was a very interesting character in general, partly because they were so powerful in some ways (could get into nearly anyone's unsecured phone, security camera etc) but so weak in others (no body). This gave them interesting ethical dilemmas, like whether it was okay to use their immense knowledge and spying ability to intervene on a friend's behalf - even when the friend didn't ask for it. I really loved the idea of an AI that cares.

As you'd hope in a book like this, the author showed good knowledge of tech overall, with little details like sshing into a server and phone tracking. I also thought the online chat was realistic. The near-future setting (so there are lots of drones and self-driving cars and robot teachers) was fun too. 

I was kept guessing as to who was really the villain for a large portion of the book, in that good way where you're not just unsure because you don't have enough information but where you keep being given really strong but conflicting evidence on both sides - was her father dangerous or was her mother just crazy? It was an important question because obviously if her dad's incredibly dangerous they have to stay away from him, but if not her mom is just constantly uprooting Steph's life for no reason.

There's a lot of LGBT rep, and I liked the glimpse of an f/f relationship we see. It was also funny how it matched my experience of being part of a community where you barely know any straight people.

The Bad:

I can't go into detail because of spoilers, but there's something her mam has that other people want, a key to world domination, that seemed a bit over the top and unnecessary as motivation. It was also weird that this very important laptop wasn't better-protected.

The conflict ended somewhat earlier than I'm used to, in the early 90-s %, and I was dismayed to discover that this seems to be the first book in a series. I'm very fond of standalones, but to be fair the author does wrap up this story quite well and just leave one small thread for the future, so it's not a cliffhanger or anything. And I did enjoy the book so I might be convinced to read a series...

Finally, I felt it went on a bit much about gender identity, with one of the non-binary characters repeatedly saying awfully didactic things like 'Shakespeare used they/them pronouns, you know!' at inappropriate times - but then, I suppose that probably is accurate to the character!

In summary

I would definitely recommend this to YA lovers in your life, especially if they're gay and/or into tech or online communities, and even if - like me - they don't normally read thrillers.

Book Reviews: August 1 to October 15

I read 10 books in this 2.5-month period, which is slower than my summer reading rate but still on track to read 52 books this year. 

Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
Rating: 4 stars
Source: Library app
Date finished: August 3
Pages: 306

When the main character's brother is shot in a long story of gang retaliation, he takes his brother's gun and gets on the elevator to go down to kill the guy the guy who did it. The story takes place on the elevator, as people killed in his past come on at each floor. It's narrative poetry, so it was quick enough to read in one sitting, and I really liked the writing. It was pretty emotionally powerful. 

The only things I didn't like were the cruelty to animals mentioned by the main characters and the ambiguous ending.




Am I Normal Yet? - Holly Bourne
Rating: 3 stars
Source: Library app
Date finished: August 7
Pages: 434

This is about a girl recovering from severe OCD and trying to get back to the Normal Teen Experience of friends and boyfriends. I'd heard rave reviews about how well Holly Bourne writes YA, but while the book was decent it wasn't really my thing.









Things a Bright Girl Can Do - Sally Nicholls

Rating: 3.5 stars
Source: Library app
Date finished: August 11
Pages: 418

This is historical fiction about three teenage suffragettes/suffragists before, during and after World War I. While it was fairly slow-paced and I couldn't connect hugely to the characters, it had a really cozy historical writing style, loads of interesting historical detail (assuming they're true!) including a character going on hunger strike in prison, a tax strike, and the outbreak of world war I, and a nice lesbian relationship. 






Screen Queens - Lori Goldstein

Rating: 3 stars
Source: Library app audiobook
Date finished: August 30
Pages: 368

This is about three girls who meet at a high-intensity summer tech incubator. Having been through similar things in my adolescence, I was definitely interested by the concept. Unfortunately, and perhaps because this was my first audiobook, it took me forever to get into the book so it was a slog for a long time. That said, it finally got good about 2/3 or 3/4 through, and the ending was super tense and then cute. From my experience, it would've been interesting to get more into their heads and their opinions of each other and themselves.




Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchet (radio dramatisation)

Rating: 3 stars
Source: Library app audiobook
Date finished: September 12
Pages: 512 pages in mass market paperback

I'd heard a lot of good things about this, but listening to it was a very confusing experience. It was certainly funny on a moment-to-moment bias, and I liked the characters, but I had no idea what was going on. Probably didn't help that I was listening on 1.5X or 2X speed but it'd take forever otherwise. 





Structuring Your Novel - K.M. Weiland
Rating: 3 stars
Source: Bought for Kindle app
Date finished: September 14
Pages: 295

This expands on Weiland's blog to go in detail through both story and scene structure. For the story structure half, she describes her idea of things that should happen at particular points in a novel:

• Hook (1%)
• Inciting Incident (12.5%)
• Key Event aka 1st Plot Point, that forces the main character to engage with the plot (25%)
• First Pinch Point - show of power from antagonist (37.5%)
• Midpoint - a big change or flip, transition from reaction to action (50%)
• Second Pinch Point - reminder of power from antagonist (62.5%)
• Third Plot Point - turning point into the climax (75%)
• Climax (88-98%)

She also talked about this idea of Scenes, which are made up of scenes (action - goal, conflict, disaster/outcome) and sequels (reaction, dilemma, decision leading into the next Scene). 

I liked the book overall, particularly the story structure half, but some gripes:

• at the end of every chapter, she says something like 'This will allow you to write a captivating story your readers will never forget'. It's a lot of repetition to sum up the chapter.
• so many 'rules of 3'
• She used examples from four stories for each of her points, and some of them didn't fit particularly well, or it felt like she could've said any event was the inciting one.

The Science of Storytelling - Will Storr

Rating: 2.5 stars

Source: Library app

Date finished: September 20

Pages: 289 (according to Amazon - Goodreads says 144?)

While the science is pretty bullshit (collectivist culture in China due to their geography?!) it gave me interesting ideas for writing. It talked about how our brain is stuck in the box of our cell so we can't actually perceive anything directly and just piece together the info our eyes give us into a story with us as a protagonist, and how that relates to things like status, wounds and change in stories.

Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston



Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: Bought for Kindle app
Date finished: September 29
Pages: 421


This is an NA book in which the First Son of the US and the Prince of Wales, both 20-somethings, fall in love.

As well as being the sort of high concept you wish you'd come up with, it's a delight. It's funny and charming and incredibly camp - they meet by falling over a cake together, and that sort of thing keeps happening. As someone who primarily reads YA novels, I was surprised to see it having sex scenes, though to be fair it does skip a lot with 'Afterwards'.
Lovely book.


Bridge 108 - Anne Charnock

Rating: 2 stars
Source: eARC from Netgalley for review
Date finished: October 13
Pages: 204

This is about the sad life of a climate refugee from Spain - I was not a fan. I do full reviews for books I get for review so here it is.











Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think - Hans Rosling

Rating: 4 stars
Source: Bought for Kindle app
Date finished: October 15
Pages: 342 (~260 excluding appendices)


Really liked the first part of this - it demonstrates that the world is not getting worse, it's getting much better, and gives tips for being able to think that way (e.g. when you see a terrorist attack reported, remember that that place could be just as peaceful as yours - you live in one place while the rest of the world is millions of places). 

For example, it explains population dynamics, saying that the number of births has already plateaud at 2 billion and that population growth over the next 50 years is just going to involve the big already-born generations coming into adulthood - 'filling up' the population pyramid. He also had a really cool chapter about the different shapes of curves of progress (e.g. linear, S-shaped). He said there's no such thing statistically as the 'first world' and the 'third world' - yes, in 1965 there was a gap between poor and rich countries, but now - while there are differences - there's no empty gap between them. Instead, he talks about Levels 1 to 4 of income (below $2 adjusted a day, below $8, below $32, above $32) and goes into detail on what life is really like on each level and how different trends apply to them. We on Level 4 see all the poor as the same, but there's actually a huge difference to them between Level 1 and above, where your basic human needs tend to be met.

There are also little relevant anecdotes from Rosling's life - thankfully not too much because I wasn't looking for a biography, and they're all interesting - and he had a truly remarkable life as a public health professional, working on infectious diseases in all sorts of places in Africa before his famous TED talks. On the negative side, I didn't love the framing device, where each chapter is a different instinct like 'fear' or 'negativity' or 'size' that explains why we systematically underestimate progress - but I liked the content inside. He's also vocally anti-communism. 

He complains about activists stretching the truth to get action for their cause e.g. scaremongering, which I think is a complicated issue. I'm a big fan of honesty personally, but if you have to lie to prevent a catastrophe or cause something really good it's kind of hard to defend total and unyielding honesty.