Mustang Book Nook

Mustangs, the world is currently rough out there! As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be widespread, one of the most frightening and frustrating aspects of the disaster is the fact that no one knows how long it will be before the crisis is resolved. Being humans, we are used to stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end; it can be hard to make sense of an experience without knowing where you are in the story line.

When life seems to lose its narrative structure, books can be a source of personal comfort. Jane Austen’s novels, for instance, are reassuring not only because of their happy endings but also because of the way they uphold social conventions, even while acknowledging their fallibility. Isaac Asimov’s works, from what has been known as the golden age of science fiction, presents optimistic visions of the future in which machines and the universe itself are governed by laws people can identify and understand. Commonly noted as a psychologist in the history of literature, Fyodor Dostoevosky's accounts are renown for his activity as a journalist that had prophetic vision of how Russian revolutionaries would behave if they came into power. Any direct quotes are from key literary enthusiasts from around the world. Here are some suggestions for your next book nook experience: 

“No other author goes with such casual intimacy as [Austen] … into the vulnerable spot where society touches the root of self. And few authors are at the same time so quietly fearsome and so intensely consoling.” Check out Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park! 

Fyodor Dostoyevsky achieved great celebrity in his own time. Indeed, he frequently capitalized on his legend by drawing on the highly dramatic incidents of his life in creating his greatest characters. Even so, some events in his life have remained clouded in mystery, and careless speculations have unfortunately gained the status of fact. Check out Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov! 

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and
3. a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

This is from his classic work, I Robot that explored the ethics of robots and conceptualizing other contributions to Artificial Intelligence. Isaac Asimov wrote much with front-rank works as a science fiction short story novelist in his era during World War II. Check out Nightfall, Marooned off Vesta, The Stars, Like Dust, and The Currents of Space. “So many popular science-fiction or speculative-fiction stories that have been given new life today are dystopian … Asimov is perhaps most useful as a counterpoint, a writer whose work resonates because it is out of step with the kind of future that readers have become so used to imagining.”