Monday, April 17, 2017

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's FablesAesop's Fables by Aesop
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These moral lessons were my bible.

...when I wasn't made to learn my bible as a kid.

The other day I realized I didn't know all of Aesop's Fables. Certainly I've read a few and heard many more, but I'd never sat down and read the whole thing. So I rectified that.

Now I can see why some of the lesser known fables are lesser known. Not every one of these often-anthropomorphic tales of animals wise and woeful is a winner. None are terrible, but every once in a while one of them doesn't quite resinate.

A Cock is walking around the farm and sees a pearl. He excitedly picks it up. The other cocks laugh. "You may have a treasure," one says, "but I'd rather have corn any day."

Moral: The ignorant despise what is precious only because they cannot understand it.


However, most of them knock the moral lesson right out of the park and make for a solid basis of wisdom with which to live a decent life by.

The Tortoise and the Hare - Slow and steady wins the race.
The Crow and the Pitcher - Use your wits.
Belling the Cat - Saying you'll do something is one thing, doing it is quite another.
The Ants and the Grasshopper - Work before play.
The Young Crab and His Mother - Lead by example.

There's others about humility and being a good person to your fellow man, but I'm not awake right now and can't seem to find them online. Trust me, they're there.


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Raven Stratagem (The Machineries of Empire 2) By: Yoon Ha Lee

Raven Stratagem (The Machineries of Empire #2)Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you have not read Ninefox Gambit, DO IT. This is how hard scifi should be done, wild ideas, vivid worldscapes and the limits of science and space and physics stretched out to the max.

Raven Stratagem continues that trend, A world that reminds me of the brutality of warhammer and the strangeness of the Iain Banks Culture series. Jedeo, one of the leads, I totally love. He is a total weapon, smarter than everyone (in this world that says something) and 41433984 steps beyond everyone else, and APE CRAP crazy, made my day.

IF you are a scifi person, give Mr Lee your money and read this series, it will make your week.

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