Remembering a piece about the Wheel of Time and how Jordan prepared the books beforehand. He wrote that he had the whole storyline already before him. He only needed to fill the gaps so to speak. He didn’t bring much of his own style in as he claims. What I think is great about the last books not completely written by Jordan is that you don‘t feel it when reading all of them back to back.
I wonder if the source material from Tolkien is in a Format which allows to do the same. And also finding an Arthur that is willing to write in a specific style. But I would be happy enough if more parts of the world would be published in a normal novel like form. But then that was also the point of Tolkien to produce Folklore. So in essence he should be fine if another author retells his stories with a slight different way or take.
> you don‘t feel it when reading all of them back to back
Having just finished reading the Wheel of Time books for the first time about a week ago, I disagree with this statement. To me, the difference was stark - after going through so many of Jordan's books, you can clearly see a subtle but distinct writing style for each of the main POV characters. After the transition, the characters stay (mostly) the same but the writing style distinctions between them disappear; the worst offender being Aviendha's POV chapters (so! many! exclamation! marks!).
Sanderson also made a few mistakes in writing scenes involving the Aiel that contradicted lore laid down earlier in the series that really stuck out to me.
That's not to say Sanderson did a bad job, not at all. I really enjoyed the series, and I think Sanderson does a much better job at portraying emotional characters than Jordan did, which was crucial for the ending having the quality and impact that it did. they're both quality builders and writers, and both excel in different areas.
To me, though, it was if I had started watching something animated in the style of Arcane[0], and suddenly it switched to Moana[1]. Both fantastically animated and detailed, but the detail budget is spent in different places.
Hmm I didn’t feel it like this. Mainly because the writing style of the series had changed slightly already before. I remember vividly that the fist book had great fascination for fabrics and color:). I had a pretty good understanding about the fashion style in the world. Same as Tolkien with food and Martin‘s excessive name dropping of character names. Also because I actually had no idea that the series was finished by someone else. I didn’t pay much attention when buying the digital versions. I will read a little bit closer the next time I read the series again. Problem at the moment for me is the ugly taste that the Amazon series left with their take on wheel of time. I lowered my expectations to a bare minimum for the rings of power series.
A mile is not far. "don't run distances" is an excuse for most people (people with immutable disabilities notwithstanding) and gatekeeping in this case is not only valid, but necessary to maintain an objective idea of what bare minimum physical activity should be for a human body.
I'll take the 10k acres, wherever it may be: meadow, forest, desert, wherever, and enjoy not only the ability to sustain myself, but the beauty and meaning that one can only find in nature. The same beauty and meaning that every artist from the first ape to feel artistry to now has tried, and failed, to fully capture.
It's almost entirely "used." The places that look "empty" are pasture, fields, private timberland and national parks, and the few remaining pockets of actual nature should probably be left the hell alone.
There are ten thousand small towns (like, say, Bird Island) whose population has been declining for decades, due to lack of economic opportunity. You don’t have to choose between a city and an isolated home.
I wonder which would realistically be worse... full blown war with China or a real, Black Plague/Spanish Flu (I know, not Spanish) level pandemic? Not disagreeing with you, genuinely just interested in the thought experiment. I guess maybe there's a line after which the level of "bad" is kind of irrelevant anyways.
The worst (best?) possible odds of someone landing in the middle of the "socially isolated/sociopath + suicidal" and "smart enough to use newly simplified genetic technology" venn diagram is 1 in 8 billion-ish. I'd put money on there being more than that if I thought I would survive to collect.
I was (pleasantly!) surprised that nobody from ISIS traveled to Africa during the Ebola epidemic to infect themself, then flew back to NYC to hang out in Times Square. Doesn't require much brains, just the willingness to commit suicide and the motivation to kill a bunch of people, both of which ISIS had in spades.
I'll try: we have absolutely no idea to what degree any given living thing can feel pain, in the subjective sense. We know that mice, for example, react in a way that looks like pain to painful stimulus, but we don't know if there is anything that it feels like to be a mouse in pain. We care when humans feel pain, in a large part because we know, almost for certain (although not quite), that they are feeling pain... why should the same not extend to a creature that may be having a similar experience?
Just off the top of my head, I currently have TV from 2008, a microwave from the early 2000s, cookware from the 80s, dishes from the 80s, most of my furniture is from the 90s and earlier, my gym equipment is from the 70s and 80s, my bass amp is from the late 70s, and my extremely stylish windbreaker is my dad's from the 80s.
I have a electric shoe shiner my dad bought in the 60s that still works. It smells like ozone when you turn it on. I have a bunch of small kitchen appliances that are 20+ years old, including a George Foreman grill. My college washer and dryer lasted 20 years until the washer got out of balance. I should have just repaired it but I got new ones. I have furniture from the 90s, 60s, 30s and some pieces from the 1800s. I have tools in the garage 20+ years old. Until recently, I kept a car for 9+ years (last one broke after a few years).
I find I buy much less stuff. I get buyer's remorse from spending money that I should save as a war chest and the quality of stuff I buy today is mostly absolute crap.
