Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer [1].

I don't tend to be great at finishing (or starting) books, and this is a big one. I've also never had any interest in Medieval or Renaissance history, for me it's been a black hole between the fall of Rome and the modern age.

But recently I saw some Youtube videos of Ada, and her enthusiasm is totally infectious [2]. She's fun and paints these vivid pictures of Florence and renaissance Europe that are incredible, absurd, and relatable, which makes sense since given she's also an accomplished sci-fi writer. She also reminds me of one of my favourite high school teachers. So I ordered the book right away.

The book is in the same tone as her videos, so it won't be for everyone, but I've really been enjoying it and now I'm fascinated by Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli, merchant republics, etc.

1. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo246135...

2. (My favourite example) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68p3jVQQdFk

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largePanda9 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

SSC Boston member by chance?

	▲	Rendello 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I am not, looking it up it seems to be a Boston rationalist meetup, if that's the what you're referring to. I'm not in the US or even very rational!

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mithras 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm currently reading her Terra Ignota series and it's great, so I was already planning to tackle this one next.

	▲	Rendello 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm considering checking it out despite not really being a science-fiction reader. Though I've been reading this terrifying slow-burn about superintelligent autonomous swarms breaking containment and stopping at nothing to complete the impossible tasks given by their feckless masters.