Books in May 2020

Less books than other months as the focus has been on gaming the last two weeks on the run up to North Star.

Agents of Dreamland (Caitlín R. Kiernan)

Enjoyable alternative take on the beginnings of the Lovecraftian End Times. Novella length, we see a snapshot of the events which are going on from the protagonist's view. If you've read your Lovecraft, you'll be looking behind the curtain on the plot, but don't expect a true conclusion: this is a small window on the future as terrible events take place on a ranch by the Salton Sea. Part one of the Tinfoil Dossier.

When I arrived at the Castle (Emily Carroll)

Beautifully illustrated, with a dreamlike story, with horror dripping throughout.

Black Helicopters (Caitlín R. Kiernan)

The second part of the Tinfoil Dossier; pay careful attention to the dates in the chapter headings if you want to follow this properly. Very similar in style, but it goes several hundred years into the future and you can see beginnings of the End Times much more strongly. Parts of this reminded me of Annihilation. I'm not certain I fully understood what was going on, as once again it's from the perspective of the protagonists. Intriguing and enjoyable.

Challenging the Safety Quo (Craig Marriot)

This was a work related read. As a safety professional it contains pure heresy.

Actually, it approaches a lot of the concepts used to make workplaces safe - such as the Heinrich triangle, Safety First Policies, measuring lost time rates - and examines them with an open and critical mind. It will make you think twice about why you do things and help bring refreshed thinking and some new impetus.

Approachable for non-safety professionals too, this would be a good toolkit for a senior manager who wanted to read around the topic. It's written in concise, thoughtful and challenging pieces.

Recommended

3 June 2020