Confusing timelines in sci-fi
"Chthon" by Piers Anthony. I have just read the synopsis on Wikipedia and wonder how I ever managed to read the novel in the 1970s.
El Reg bookworm Mark Diston is joined by Vulture South's own Simon Sharwood and Vulture Central's Nigel Whitfield to pore through the latest from the publishing world. William Davies examines the current political and corporate obsession with wellbeing. Neal Stephenson's latest sci-fi tome adds a satirical spin to saving the …
A depressing number of people have photos on Tinder (and presumably also on their Facebook profiles, where the app grabs them from) of themselves posing with tigers, lions and so forth.
Given that these are not normally creatures famed for being welcoming to strangers, they're almost certainly doped so that they're docile enough to be manhandled by tourists who want a 'cool' photo.
The old adage "ignorance is bliss" is evidentially true. If you don't know, or have chosen to deliberately blank out, that you're being screwed, ripped off, used, abused, and fucked with a rusty chainsaw by those with power in our society then you're going to be a hell of a lot happier than the ones who HAVE figured out that something is very wrong.
Buddhist monks might have the right idea in the long run. Own nothing. Know nothing. Be nothing. Do nothing. Institutionalized Schultz (for those who remember). Perhaps not very satisfying if one looks back, but probably conducive to a happier life much more free from worries.
I am highly unlikely to pick up "Confessions of a Tinderella" even at an airport bookshop ("Seveneves" is another matter), but this does not stop me from taking issue with your "Bridget Jones with an iPhone" characterisation. That place is firmly occupied by "Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy". Trespassers W...