Otamatea High School

Top 10 team members

Team members

MR.Clarkson

780 pts

(780 pages read)

Klara and the Sun

By Kazuo Ishiguro

4 stars

A very sad book, despite its hopeful protagonist. I'm unsure quite how to read it - a poignantly sad reflection on childhood at the end for sure. It reminded me in many ways of Never Let Me Go: written in the first person reflecting on events of a life - "putting memories in order" style with a major illness affecting the object of the protagonists affection. Also the specifics of the near future technologies being withheld to create mystery. A triad of protagonists. NLMG ends with a more crushing rejection of hope, while KATS explores what happens in obsolescence, once the things we hope for pass.
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

By Thomas Ligotti

5 stars

Surreal and chilling, glad I found it. I haven't read the Conspiracy Against the Human Race, but Lisotti's philosophical pessimism is apparent through the seemingly inescapable, incomprehensible, and distressing scenarios he puts his characters through - without ever resorting to violence. My favourites so far are Dream of a Manikin, The Frolic, and Alice's Last Adventure.
Anthropic Bias

By Nick Bostrom

4 stars

A book on logic of observation effects, some of the formal logic is a little over my head, though I see the importance of the issues Bostrom raises with including the observer in the data set. Will read more!
Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley

4 stars

Fantastically gothic imagery of the Swiss Alps and a very interesting investigation of how existential pain and moral turmoil wrack both the creator and the created. Direct allusion to biblical stories makes for interesting interpretation of the story as allegory for mans relationship with god. Outlines romantic pushback to rationalism very neatly. Far more emphasis on the interior worlds than I expected, and no townsfolk with pitchforks!

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Otamatea High School

Top 10 team members

Imogen

Alison OHS

JonThorns

ABarnesWright

Ev Rippon

TraceyC

EvandenBerg

Damon

MR.Clarkson

Lee

MR.Clarkson

Klara and the Sun

Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

Anthropic Bias

Frankenstein

Otamatea High School

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