#the level of pettiness he has towards taylor is perfect

[spiltcandycoatedpunkblood]

Salt Liiiiiick

okay probs said this a million times but i absolutely hate how the lego movie has been pit against the playmobil movie like i REALLY know how cautious we can be when it comes to films based off a toy franchise but ever since the playmobil movie the level of vitriol and sarcasm i hear and see directed towards an animated family film in contrast to stuff i see way more deserving of it is completely uncalled. like fine, CALL IT A RIPOFF EVEN IF IT ACTUALLY ISN’T but all this talk about cringe culture and how we can get rid of it before throwing venom at this film like?? i get it that you DON’T like the film but do i have to hear it CONSTANTLY?? like what kind of life is it to regularly talk shit about the playmobil movie?? i don’t really go into that tag any more and there’s barely enough of a fandom as it is and the little marketing it had?? my cinema had it for TWO WEEKS in august last year and i saw it three times out of spite because of how badly it was doing

like?? it just seems like an unnecessarily petty trend to talk shit about this and i hate how critics are treated like be all and end all of film criticism like,, that doesn’t mean we don’t take them into account - like some of my favourite films weren’t the most well received but i find a lot to love about them. i hate how the average moviegoer feels like they get treated like some unreliable stupid audience member who only wants braindead action fuelled blockbusters. like i find a lot to love about the playmobil movie and i really don’t want to feel bitter about the lego movies but i’m beginning to (frankly i hate the third act of the first one) and at least i don’t have to watch a consistent romance develop between a clearly capable woman and a guy who just tripped up and found the artifact and didn’t really do a lot

like in the playmobil movie rex obvious flirts with marla but that’s literally more of a demonstration of his character and they are in no way compatible. besides,, lino got all of the cast he wanted and it’s like,, really on point?? daniel radcliffe is brilliant as rex, the level adam lambert went to to portray maximus is literally perfectly overdramatic (and gay as hell), jim gaffigan fuckin works as del?? ana taylor joy?? meghan trainor actually wrote the main song for the film?? lino wanted to make this for his young daughter?? daniel radcliffe fuckin loved playmobil as a kid?? the music is just so good?? it’s also funny?? the cast and crew genuinely enjoyed making it?? how can you look at that and not see how much love went into making it?? or do people just look at it and go ‘another toy based franchise it copied the lego movie it’s awful’ and then make it fun to talk about how shit it is?

like honestly i don’t think i’d feel weird about liking it so much if people didn’t act like it committed mass murder or set fire to their houses like i just,, chill guys it’s a family friendly animated film i am NOT forcing you to like it but just, WHY?? meanwhile i see films with abusive fucks in getting lauded and films where so many people are shipping abusive ships or excusing abusers and i’m like,, thanks but i’d like to enjoy something that DOESN’T try and laugh at other people’s expense and punch down like the fuck did the playmobil movie do to you ‘cause honestly if the playmobil movie wasn’t in the lego movie’s shadow it wouldn’t be treated so terribly i swear

(honestly what is it about certain things that are seen as entertainment?? there are so many genuinely good moments in playmobil,, sure it’s not perfect but with the way i see it gets talked about it’s seen as some kind of abomination so frankly i don’t care otherwise)

[polaroidofus-89]

‘Lover’ song-by-song breakdown [part 1]:

Long before @taylorswift joined Tumblr (and a billion thousand of Swifties with her), when this website was still unknown to most of mankind, I always made a post about my first thoughts on the album, writing down my opinion and rating each song at the end of release week. The first time I did this was with Speak Now and I created a chart to rate Lyrics, Chorus, Bridge and whether the song is a Skip or not. The only time I skipped this post was during the reputation era because of reasons I explained back then - if you want, I’ll send you the link to that post. 

This time, however, I must make this a two-part post because a) I just came back from my holiday today, b) I always listen to it three times before writing this post (right now I am on number 2) and c) this album is freaking long! 

So here’s the charts (chorus and bridge rated 1-5; lyrics rated 1-3): 

Chorus: 1- meh, nice; 2- good; 3- very good; 4- just magic; 5- PERFECTION

Bridge: 1- good, did better; 2- good; 3- quite perfect; 4- RIP ME. DEAD.; 5- BRIDGE CITY ALERT!!! (was previously BRIDGE HEAVEN... guess why it changed? lol)

 Lyrics: 1- good; 2- great; 3- AMAZING 

Also, since I have been more active lately and some very cute and amazing blogs started following me, I want you all to take part in this breakdown because I would love to read your thoughts and your ratings on each song!

So please, please, please join me in this adventure. Six months from this date (when we will all know the songs by heart), I’ll bring it back to see if anything has changed.

Anyway, here’s the first part of my breakdown... hope you enjoy it!

1. I Forgot That You Existed

Chorus: very good Bridge: good, did better Lyrics: good Skip? No Favorite lyrics: none in particular

Alright, say what you want but I am a sucker for sarcastic and provocative songs from Taylor; they always are filled with such irony and smart remarks… I just can’t help adoring them and memorize them from the first listen, going around humming the rhythm all day long. It happened with Mean, WANEGBT, Blank Space, Shake It Off, IDSB and TIWWCHNT… so it was obviously going to happen with this one too. I also think it would’ve made one hell of promo single – just sayin’. I am in awe of Taylor’s attitude towards people that hurt or badmouth her after being in some kind of relationship with her: she does not comment at first, letting them rant and have their little moment of glory. Then, when everything seems over and forgotten, she strikes back and I enjoy EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. OF. IT. This one I had been waiting for a long time because a certain someone DEFINITELY deserved it. The way a person behaves towards somebody AFTER their relationship ends says a lot about them and this particular individual proved to be childish, petty, arrogant and very immature – not to mention awfully mean. You can’t act that way about someone you’ve been with for ONE ENTIRE YEAR, someone you were supposed to be in love with. I hate this post-breakup kind of behavior and I had hoped so freaking hard that reputation would’ve had a song like this. But we have it now and secret sessioners were right: it is the most amazing way to start an album. What I love most about this song is the entire second verse: got out some popcorns as soon as my rep started going down, down, down/laughed in the schoolyard as soon as I tripped and hit the ground, ground, ground/ and I would’ve stuck around for ya/ would’ve fought the whole town for ya/would’ve been right there front row, even if nobody came to your show. I just know that it will make feel the person who inspired this song ashamed and won’t allow them any kind of response because it isn't hate, it isn’t love… IT’S JUST INDIFFERENCE. And I’m so proud of her for this.

2. Cruel Summer***

10/10 Chorus: PERFECT Bridge: BRIDGE CITY ALERT!!!!! Lyrics: great Skip? HARD NO Favorite lyrics: “Devils roll their dice; Angels roll their eyes” “what doesn’t kill me makes me want you more” “I don’t want to keep secrets just to keep you”

Secret sessioners were onto something again: Out of The Woods stans would be suckers for Cruel Summer… I can confirm that is, indeed, true. This track feels like summer sunsets, road trips and a sequence of lovey-dovey moments straight out of a rom-com. I absolutely adored the lyrics on this one! I mean “what doesn’t kill me makes me want you more”, “no rules in breakable heaven”, “devils roll their dices, Angels roll their eyes”, “and if I bleed you’ll be the last to know” … what are we even talking about here? And don’t even get me started on the bridge: once again the Swift-Antonoff combination proved to be a winning choice. It’s Taylor Swift at her best and I have nothing more to add. This track is one of my favorites of the entire album and I am hoping it’ll be her next single.

3. Lover*****

10/10 Chorus: magic Bridge: RIP ME. I DIED. DEAD. Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? NEVER IN ANY LIFETIME Favorite lyrics: “have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?” “I’ve loved you three summers now honey but I want them all” “My heart’s been borrowed, yours has been blue all’s well that ends well to end up with you”

When Lover first came out, I asked my boyfriend ‘do you think this will be my favorite off of the album?’ and he said ‘no’. He was not wrong at all: Lover and Cornelia Street are battling in my head and in my heart for ‘favorite song’ on the album - I swear it has never been so difficult for me to decide! This track is just pure magic; every time I listen to it, I have a picture in my head of slow dancing during my wedding day and it always (always!) makes me emotional enough to shed a few tears. Honestly, it just gives me poetry vibes – it is that beautiful to me. I absolutely adore this one. This track is also one of my favorite songs – if not my favorite at all.

4. The Man***

10/10 Chorus: PERFECTION Bridge: very good Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? NEVER IN ANY LIFETIME Favorite Lyrics: “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man”

When I read the interview in which Taylor played this song and explained it to the journalist, my excitement multiplied infinite times. Whoever said Taylor Swift is not a feminist should now go and sit in the corner, thinking about how idiotic such a statement is. This track perfectly summarized what a woman pursuing her goals in life has to go through daily and how hard it is when the world thinks you were born with the wrong attribute in the lower part of your body. It is very provocative and sarcastic, a real national anthem for women. I’m so very proud of her for writing this song, you have no idea. Of course, it has quickly earned a spot on my ‘top favorites’.

5. The Archer***

10/10 Chorus: good (pre-chorus is what I really love) Bridge: BRIDGE CITY ALERT!!! Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? NEVER IN ANY LIFETIME Favorite Lyrics: “All the king’s horses, all the king’s men couldn’t put me together again” “awake in the night, I pace like a ghost, the room is on fire, invisible ghosts”

Ah, the power of number 5! This song is life! The thing I love the most about this track is the way it speaks so much on an emotional level, using very little actual words. With track 5 we always got a very descriptive song: she wanted to tell us about an extremely delicate, heartbreaking moment in her life and walked us through the entire story with the lyrics. The Archer doesn’t give us a story, doesn’t talk to us about a distressing moment in her life… it tells us about a feeling – more than that, it gives us that feeling. The anxiety you have when you suffered one too many bad knockouts in life and you are always ready for something bad to happen, always ready for someone to betray you or leave you alone again. It’s a paralyzing fear, almost like you can’t breathe and the fact that Taylor was capable of putting it all into words… I just love her so much, you guys! Though not my favorite Track 5, it does get both a spot on my top three Track 5 (All Too Well and White Horse are number 1 and 2) and on my ‘top favorites’ for this album.

6. I Think He Knows

Chorus: meh Bridge: good, did better Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? Sadly, yes.

Ugh, this is a moment I hate very much. This is one of the only two songs I didn’t particularly like on this album. It breaks my heart to say this because I love both the lyrics (which I think are some of the best on the entire record) and the concept behind this song. But the rhythm just doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t speak to me like all the other songs do… something is just off. That being said, it is still a very good song. Let’s just say, I wouldn’t mind at all if it didn’t make it on the Lover Tour setlist. I know a lot of you love this song and I tried very hard to change my mind about it, but I just know it will be a skip for me.

7. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Chorus: very good

Bridge: magic

Lyrics: great

Skip? No

Favorite Lyrics:

“I’ll never let you (go), ‘cause I know this is a (fight), that someday we’re gonna (win)”

This one is absolutely incredible - also, my boyfriend’s favorite. It’s You belong with me older, more mature and melancholic sister. The bridge is what really made me fall in love with this track: one of the best she has ever written.

8. Paper Rings

Chorus: PERFECTION Bridge: quite perfect Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? Definitely no Favorite Lyrics: “I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this” “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings”

OMG THIS SONG! This song is so so so cute! I love it! It’s fun and catchy and makes you want to dance so hard! I’m really looking forward to seeing this song performed live. And don’t even get me started on the chorus: I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings… are you kidding me? Tell me this is not the most amazing declaration of love you have ever heard! Once again, I agree with secret sessioners: it does give Stay, Stay, Stay vibes and I’m totally here for it. These are the kind of songs that I missed the most during rep era and I’m so happy that we got Paper Rings, you have no idea!

9. Cornelia Street*****

10/10 Chorus: PERFECTION Bridge: quite perfect Lyrics: AMAZING Skip? NEVER IN ANY LIFETIME Favorite Lyrics: (too many to count) “I rent a place on Cornelia Street I say casually in the bar” “that’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend” “as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home”

When the tracklist came out and we found out about the Cornelia flowers Easter eggs I just knew that this song was going to hit very hard in the feelings: it was the only Easter egg she has repeated plenty of times, ever since Me! Came out. When we found out that she had written this one by herself, my expectation flew to the moon and back. It did not disappoint in any way: I LOVE THIS SONG! It’s so soft and romantic, my heart can’t take it! I also very much liked the production on this one. Seriously, one of Taylor’s best song for me. The reason I can’t decide which one between this and Lover is my ultimate favorite is that whenever I am finally convinced about one being it, I listen to the other and I’m stuck again. I don’t know if that was clear enough for everyone to understand but… yeah, I’ll let you know if I ever make up my mind.

[robertjacobsugdens]

ROBRON

Loving the enthusiasm tbh

Who would be the big spoon/little spoon? I feel like Aaron is usually the little spoon, bc of height logistics, but they do occasionally switch when Rob’s feeling particularly cuddly (gross).Who would wake up first? Probably Aaron during the week because he has to get to work earlier, while Robert, as a member of the bourgeoisie has kinder working hours. But during the weekend Aaron sleeps in while Robert gets up earlier to do Stuff.Do they have nicknames for each other? Mr. Dingle and Mr. Sugden, but that’s about it.How do they apologize after an argument? Lmao they don’t talk about it and pretend it never happened because communication is a foreign concept. THAT SAID. Once they actually get to a better place I feel like Aaron probably just makes a joke to alleviate the tension and Robert probably hits on Aaron. Disasters. What would they be like as parents? Oh boy. Robert is the kind of parent who spoils their kid rotten, but also has pretty high expectations for them, not because he wants them to be perfect, but because he wants what’s best for them. He’s also the one who enforces rules the most. Aaron is a lot more chill, but he’s also the parent who panics at the first sight of danger. He’s not an helicopter parent, but like, just barely. They’re nightmares, basically. Who is more romantic? Aaron is romantic in a lot of quiet and every day ways, but Robert’s the one with the big gestures and the rom-com aspirations lbr. Put down Jane Eyre, Robert!What sort of gifts do they get for each other? Aaron gets Robert stuff that’s just this side of soppy. Not necessarily showy stuff, but stuff Robert mentioned in passing and Aaron remembered, that sort of stuff. Robert “Diamonds Are A Bi’s Best Friend (Metaphorically Speaking)” Sugden instead is all about making Aaron feel loved and special and spoiled. He gets Aaron stuff Aaron would never get for himself because he rationalizes it as too expensive. Who gets jealous easiest? Aaron “Break Into Your BF’s Ex’s House For Fun And Profit, And Also Maybe To Spy On Them” Dingle. Hands down. Who gets more excited for events e.g.. Birthdays, Christmas? Oooh I feel like they get both equally excited about the couple stuff like anniversaries, but Aaron gets more excited about holidays and Robert about birthdays.Who is the most adventurous? Remember when Aaron wanted to go to A MUSIC FESTIVAL??? And also went to a lads tour in Europe??? Definitely Aaron. They both enjoy traveling, but Aaron is the one who just genuinely likes going somewhere unfamiliar and getting lost in there.Who is the most protective? They both are nightmare people who would burn down the entire world if the other got hurt, so this one is definitely a tie. What would they have been like as childhood sweethearts? OMG. NIGHTMARES. Like. Between the two of them they’d have enough angst to level Emmerdale to the ground. That said I feel like they’d either be breaking up and getting back together on the daily, or they’d last forever in a show of teenage stubbornness and sheer pettiness towards the people who said they wouldn’t last more than a couple weeks.Who uses all the hot water? Aaron. Hands down. He wakes up first so he gets to use all the water. Sucks to suck, Sugden, you capitalist pig.Who would accidentally set the kitchen on fire whilst cooking? Also Aaron, who’s apparently a mediocre cook at best. Who initiates sexy times the most? I feel this one’s pretty evenly spread. They both do.Who is more dominant? Eh. Again, fairly even. Maybe Robert, but only because I feel like he’s more vocal about what he wants.What would they do if the other one was hurt? MURDER. ON A VERY LARGE SCALE. Hey, remember when Aaron waterboarded and kidnapped a teenager because he so much as vaguely and laterally threatened Robert’s safety? And then Robert also lashed out at that same teenager because Aaron was hurt and he wasn’t with him? Good times.Who gives nose/forehead kisses? ROBERT FUCKING SUGDEN. The bane of my existence.What their biggest fight was/will be about: L M A O. Take a wild guess. But honestly I think we’re in for some more Iconic Robron Fights. 

BONUS #1: Song to sum them up? Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon Taylor Swift’s Blank Space Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way Frank Ocean’s Bad Romance Bastille’s FlawsBONUS #2: A head canon? Sometimes, when Robert is looking at Aaron, completely unprompted, his head will start playing What Makes You Beautiful, and Robert hates it, but this is the reality he has to live in now. 

BOTTOM LINE: Do I ship it? It’s more of a Stockholm syndrome sitch tbh.

[sciencespies]

How the Alphabet Got Its Order, Malcolm X and Other New Books to Read

https://sciencespies.com/history/how-the-alphabet-got-its-order-malcolm-x-and-other-new-books-to-read/

How the Alphabet Got Its Order, Malcolm X and Other New Books to Read

Throughout history, alphabetical order has acted as an unsung agent of democratization, providing an organizational framework based not on social hierarchies, but an easily memorized string of letters. As historian Judith Flanders argues in A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order, “The religious no longer automatically took precedence over the secular, kings over subjects, or man over animals.”

In today’s Western world, the A-B-Cs are as self-evident as 1-2-3. But the adoption of an ordered Latin alphabet (the system used in most European and English languages) was far from straightforward. In fact, writes Flanders in the “first-ever history of alphabetization,” the protracted path toward alphabetical order spans millennia, involving such diverse entities and individuals as the Library of Alexandria, philosopher John Locke and George Washington.

The latest installment in our series highlighting new book releases, which launched in late March to support authors whose works have been overshadowed amid the Covid-19 pandemic, explores the history of alphabetical order, the woman behind Wolf Hall, the life of Malcolm X, secrets of urban design and chance’s role in shaping the world.

Representing the fields of history, science, arts and culture, innovation, and travel, selections represent texts that piqued our curiosity with their new approaches to oft-discussed topics, elevation of overlooked stories and artful prose. We’ve linked to Amazon for your convenience, but be sure to check with your local bookstore to see if it supports social distancing-appropriate delivery or pickup measures, too.

A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders

The invention of the alphabet dates to some 4,000 years ago, when merchants and mercenaries in Egypt’s Western Desert developed a phonetic system of symbols that could be rearranged into words. “Just as money was a stand-in for value,” notes Joe Moran in the Guardian’s review of A Place for Everything, “so the alphabet was a stand-in for meaning, separating words into letters for ease of reordering” and allowing humans “to shape whole universes of meaning out of a small number of letters.”

Derived from an array of earlier alphabetic systems, the Latin alphabet gained traction across the ancient world following its invention in the seventh century B.C. But a widely accepted alphabetical order remained elusive. As Chris Allnut points out for the Financial Times, Galen, the second-century A.D, Greek physician, took a subjective approach in his On the Properties of Food, organizing listings by general category and level of nourishment. The Library of Alexandria, meanwhile, used first-letter alphabetical order to organize certain scrolls, but “this was just one system among many,” according to Flanders. Later, medieval monks elevated the sacred over the profane; one European abbot wrote his English dictionary in descending order, beginning with angels, the sun and moon, and the Earth and the sea and concluding with weapons, metals and gems, per the Times’ Dan Jones.

The rise of the printing press in the mid-15th century furthered the cause of alphabetization by sparking an unprecedented explosion in the dissemination of information. Still, widespread adoption of alphabetical order didn’t simply follow “hard on the heels of printing,” according to Flanders. Instead, she writes, “[T]he reality was less tidy,” owing much to government bureaucracy, librarians and an array of fascinating historical figures.

A Place for Everything is peppered with tales of such individuals. Among others, the list of alphabetical order’s early proponents (or detractors) includes diarist Samuel Pepys; poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge; George Washington, who kept his records in an “alphabetted” ledger; and 13th-century Dominican monk John of Genoa, who prefaced his alphabetized Latin dictionary with a note stating, “I have devised this order at the cost of great effort and strenuous application. … I beg of you, therefore, good reader, do not scorn this great labor of mine and this order as something worthless.”

Mantel Pieces: Royal Bodies and Other Writing From the London Review of Books by Hilary Mantel

In March, Hilary Mantel concluded her much-lauded trilogy on statesman Thomas Cromwell with The Mirror & the Light, which follows the last four years of the Tudor minister’s life. Her next work—a collection of 20 essays previously published in the London Review of Books—expands the universe inhabited by Cromwell, deftly detailing Tudor figures like Anne Boleyn’s infamous sister-in-law, Jane; Henry VIII’s best friend, Charles Brandon; and 67-year-old noblewoman Margaret Pole, who was brutally executed on an increasingly paranoid Henry’s orders.

Mantel Pieces also moves beyond 16th-century England: “Royal Bodies,” a polarizing 2013 essay that employed Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, in its broader discussion of how the media, royal family and public treat female royals, appears, as do meditations on Madonna (the pop icon), the Madonna (or Virgin Mary), Britain’s “last witch” and a pair of 10-year-old’s headline-grabbing 1993 murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.

The author herself—the only two-time woman winner of the United Kingdom’s highest literary award, the Booker Prize—takes center stage in several personal essays. Tackling events including her first meeting with her stepfather, a showdown with a circus strongman and the aftermath of a major surgery, Mantel demonstrates that “[a]s a memoirist, [she] is without parallel,” per Frances Wilson of the Telegraph.

As Wilson concludes, “It is only when her essays are laid out like this that we can see the inside of Mantel’s huge head, bulging with knowledge and a million connections.”

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les and Tamara Payne

When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Les Payne died of a heart attack in 2018, his daughter, Tamara, stepped in to complete his unfinished biography of Malcolm X. Two years later, the 500-page tome is garnering an array of accolades, including a spot on the 2020 National Book Awards shortlist.

The elder Payne started researching the civil rights leader in 1990. Over the next 28 years, he conducted hundreds of interviews with Malcolm’s friends, family, acquaintances, allies and enemies, tirelessly working to tease out the truth behind what he described as the much-mythologized figure’s journey “from street criminal to devoted moralist and revolutionary.”

The Dead Are Arising traces Malcolm’s childhood in Nebraska, brushes with the law as a teenager in Michigan, time as a petty criminal in Boston and Harlem, emergence as a black nationalist leader of the Nation of Islam, and 1965 assassination. The result, writes Publishers Weekly in its review, is a “richly detailed account” that paints “an extraordinary and essential portrait of the man behind the icon.”

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt

Based on the hit podcast “99% Invisible,” this illustrated field guide demystifies urban design, addressing “mysteries that most of us have never considered,” writes Kenneth T. Jackson for the New York Times. Why are manhole covers round? Why are revolving doors often sandwiched between traditional ones? What do the symbols painted on sidewalks and roads mean? And why are some public spaces so intentionally “hostile”?

Co-written by host Roman Mars and “99% Invisible” contributor Kurt Kohlstedt, The 99% Invisible City is “an ideal companion for city buffs, who’ll come away seeing the streets in an entirely different light,” according to Kirkus. Case studies range from metal fire escapes to fake facades, New York City’s Holland Tunnel, the CenturyLink Building in Minneapolis, modern elevators and utility codes, all of which are employed to illustrate broader points about inconspicuous and conspicuous design, geographic delineations versus designations, and the influence of government regulations on city landscapes, among other topics.

The authors’ enthusiasm for their subject is apparent in both the book’s wide-ranging scope and attention to detail. As Mars and Kohlstedt write in the introduction, “So much of the conversation about design centers on beauty, but the more fascinating stories of the built world are about problem-solving, historical constraints, and human drama.”

A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You by Sean B. Carroll

Biologist Sean B. Carroll opens his latest book, A Series of Fortunate Events, with an anecdote about North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, who claimed to have scored five holes-in-one the very first time he played a round of golf. North Korea’s propensity for propaganda, coupled with the fact that golf champion Tiger Woods has scored just three holes-in-one in the entirety of his two-decade professional career, casts immediate doubts on Jong-Il’s account. But the scale of the lie is made all the more evident by Carroll’s employment of hard facts: As he points out, the chances of an amateur golfer achieving four holes-in-one are around 1 in 24 quadrillion—or 24 followed by 15 zeros.

In this case, the odds are against Jong-Il. But A Series of Fortunate Events demonstrates that similarly unlikely occurrences shape individual lives and the fate of the universe alike. “[B]reezy, anecdotal, informative and amusing,” notes the Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Crumey, Carroll’s work renders hefty topics accessible, exploring the perfect storm of events responsible for evolution, the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and every living person’s conception. (In the scientist’s words, “it’s time to think about your parents’ gonads, and the moment you were conceived.”)

Acknowledging the “razor-thin line” between life and death or existence and extinction may seem like a terrifying prospect. But doing so can also be liberating.

“Look around you at all the beauty, complexity and variety of life,” writes Carroll. “We live in a world of mistakes, governed by chance.”

#History