started:sept 8 finished: sept 23
I had a purpose when I started reading this book. My hyperfixation on the internet and coding and computers has reached its peak and I needed a good overview of the history of computing. I went for a womens history of computing first. this is a great book. a great starter/intro into the development of computers with an eye towards all the woman that pushed the technology further. A lot of this review will be me just writing about parts of the book/sharing quotes and ideas I liked. This is entirely self indulgent I cant lie. and i also needed a place to keep all these before I return the book to the library lol. so here it goes
first, I was in love with the history of the term BUG. It dates to at least the 1800s with Thomas Edison using the word to refer to mechanical glitches.
I also found it interesting how computing ended up in the hands of women at first. when discussing the contruction on the ENIAC,Evans writes about how women got put on the job without a ton of thought about it. She writes "it seemed only natural that the human computers should train their replacements" but what i thought was really interesting was that she claims this comes from the ENIAC also looking like a telephone switchboard which reinforced the assumption that its operation should be by women. the task of operating the machine was characterized as "more handicraft than science, more feminine than masculine, more mechanical than intellectual". There are a ton of relations of computing and programming to fiber arts and crafts. Evans mentions Sadie Plant who wrote about computing and its relationship to looms (Sadie Plant's book is next on my list lol)As someone who loves both fiber arts and technology this connection was really enlightening.
One of the other things I loved reading about was the tactile connections these women had with the machines they worked with. They were physically inside the machines, manipulating them from the inside. They knew these machines so intimately.
I am not a regular gamer so I know very little of gaming history. There is a section of the book on the game Colossal Cave Adventures that was fascinating to me. It is also a really touching story of a man who loved a women and a woman who made an amazing discovery. It made me really want to play the game.
at one point in the book, Evans talks about websites and domain names. There are different categories, .mil for military hosts, .gov, .org, and so on. .com is for commercial entities. Evans writes "that we use this domain most of all today should say something about what the network has become". This stood out to me. I do think it is sad to think about how much of our presence online is jumping from one .com to another. this is part of the reason i got into the web revival movement.
Another cool thing was Jamie Levy's electronic magazines. these were magazines on floppy disk! they have the vibe of zines.
started: Mar 31 Finished Mar 31 2026
I found this less interesting than the one other book i have read from her. The previous one I read was about her experiencing trying to gain an abortion in a period of time where they were illegal in france. This was fascinating, and the terror she felt and the lengths she was forced to go to make this abortion happen is especially relevant now in the United States.
This book follows a period in which she had a love affair with a married man. This love affair was all consuming and overwhelming. Her description of this obsession was incredibly interesting and visceral. I have experienced a less extreme moment of this fascination with another person, and seeing it magnified to this extreme felt nervewracking but also relatable. I especially appreciated moments where she would notice men out and about and compare them and their behaviours to A (her affair partner). The things she found charming and fascinating when associated with A became an irritant to her in others. She had moments of clarity that rather than being an object worthy of obsession, A was merely a man, and yet despite knowing this her inability to stop herself from feeling this passion felt real. I also enjoyed this passage where she off handedly mentions wanting to get tested for AIDS, and feels as if she would be happy to have it, being infected with something that would remind her of him even as he is gone. It reminded me of some of the writing I have read by Dennis Cooper, and this interlocking of sexuality and these abject things like disease and bodily excrements. In general I found the self destructive manifestations of this passion fascinating and real. Looking forward to other annie ernaux books!
finished: April 3 2026
I was immediately obsessed with this book and I am so excited to finish out the series. I have also immediately forced others to read it so I have someone to talk to about it.
I fell in love with this world and its parallels to the real world. The significance of the earth and it's movements was so fascinating. I adored these characters. I read many reviews of people disliking the characters or finding them flat, but personally I was emotionally invested in them all. I especially love Alabaster. I hope to learn more about him as the books go on (and I would do anything to experience things from his point of view). I love the casual queer relationships and identities.
one thing that particularly interested me was its potential connections to afrofuterism. I remember hearing one story, which i think got referenced in Black Panther, of the slaves who jumped off ship to avoid slavery, and imagining them building a life and a world on the ocean floor. I think level of hope and freedom is something that is brought up regularly in the Fifth Season. When the characters visit places like islands or comms build underground, they believe this to be a dangerous and pointless endevour. But what these people are doing is living a life on their terms, accepting the potential for a complete wiping out of their population for this freedom. I was also reminded of Beloved by Toni Morrison, and the decision of a mother to kill a child, just to prevent is from feeling the pain and abuse of slavery. Also the aftermath of that act, how you continue to live knowing the choice you made.
I will potentially add on more to this once I read the rest of the books, but basically I was blown away and I can not wait to continue!