When I read EY’s reactions to reviews of HPMOR, I find wild
deviations from the actual review, accounts of claims not even made, and
psychological projection that could be fixed with a few minutes of
reading.
The next sentence from the linked Medium post is also great, for a
very Medium value of “great”:
Most reviews seem to be essays about other topics Scotch-taped
hastily on to the occasion of the release of some book, as if the book
is just there to provide an opportunity for the reviewer to get to their
hobbyhorse.
Yes, heaven forbid that people focus on topics they know and care
about, or that a concrete event like the publication of a specific text
be the springboard for discussing something more general or
abstract.
Later:
The Politico article [about a company that sells books for
decoration] reminded me of a trip I took to a D.C.-area bookstore last
Thanksgiving. There I saw one of the strangest and most unsettling
products I’ve ever encountered: a
poster of a “feminist bookshelf” displaying book spines.
It’s a truly great poster: incoherent in terms of aesthetics, genre, and
politics all, it puts authors like Hillary Clinton, Roxane Gay, bell
hooks, Audre Lorde, Gloria Steinem, Jessica Valenti, and Lindy West all
next to each other, all their names written in that
almost-but-intentionally-not-quite-accurate cartoonism.
Yes, heaven forbid that a collection of books display a collection of
related yet distinct viewpoints.
The idea seems to be: You’ve heard these names rolling around; you
don’t have the time or money to engage with the actual books depicted
here, but you also can’t risk not seeming like you’re with it when it
comes to feminism. So here’s this genuinely insane item which can signal
your knowledge and affinities.
zoom and enhance
this genuinely insane item
OK, then.
(The author has written many times for Quillette, so I would
have thought he’d refrain from calling anything “genuinely insane”
without measuring its skull shape first.)
Also:
> Most books I’ve reviewed have been hastily written, repetitive, unclear (and where clear, derivative), full of errors of spelling, grammar, fact, and common sense.
What? Why?
It's his job to be unhappy, the poor fellow.
Edit to add: I only have [one book review](https://doi.org/10.1387/theoria.20465) on my CV, but it was generally positive, as have been most of the things I've said about books in [around fourteen years of blogging](https://www.sunclipse.org/?cat=31). I think that I ... might just like books.
Really weird to see [this list of art works of book spines,](https://www.icanvas.com/canvas-art-prints/artist/ideal-bookshelf?product=canvas&sort=popular) pick the feminist example and then get mad because you made up a reason why someone would buy the print.
E: lol of the science fiction one, I own a few of the same books including the same spines. (This also means the medium author didnt notice that this 'cartoonish style' is actually how the covers of those books looked).
Other reasons someone could buy such a print:
1. Had time but not money, borrowed books from the public library
2. Had time and money but not space, gave away books after reading
3. Had time and money, lost some fraction of books during a move
4. Had time and money, read books on e-reader
5. Own all the books, want something cozy to decorate office desk, where books would not fit
5a. Same, but for home kitchen, where books are not safe
6. Literally who the fuck cares
All of this points to one thing, the author of this piece complains that others who reviewed the same books had vastly different views, perhaps this person was in error and the others were wrong, and hanson and yud didn't notice because it flattered their own preconceptions.
This guys sees some art (in a bookstore ff sake) and goes 'it is a virtue signalling plot by the dastardly feminists who do not read'.
(And to not be hypocritical I should read the actual medium piece, which I have not. But I can even get to the link on my phone due to the twitter popups).
went to look and lol you weren't kidding, some of these are accurate enough that the publishers might arguably have grounds to sue over unauthorized use of the colophons
Another nifty thing about it is that it does not cite any examples of the kind of superficial reviews it is notionally criticizing. The supporting claims come from "a fellow graduate student", "a writer friend", "scientists". My uncle who works at Nintendo.
> You’ve heard these names rolling around; you don’t have the time or money to engage with the actual books depicted here, but you also can’t risk not seeming like you’re with it
Friggin [Aristotle](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437394), using a bust of Homer to signal his knowledge and affinities rather than actually engaging with the actual works
[source](https://www.reddit.com/r/HPMOR/comments/3ikzva/hpmor_reading_companion/cuivbza/), [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/HPMOR/comments/3ikzva/hpmor_reading_companion/cuijhq0/)
This is the grade school dropout lecturing the ex-academic-now-industry physics Ph.D on his deficiencies as a physicist. The crackpot offer, indeed.
We must note that Mr. Yudkowsky deliberately *did not read* su3su2u1‘s actual words at any point, but reasoned ex culo on what he expected the truth value of su3su2u1′s words would be starting from a state of deliberate ignorance as to what they are, and assuming as a prior his own correctness.
"lies lies lies lies lying liar who LIES LIES LIES"
"cites plox, here's mine where’s yours"
*tumbleweeds*
"lies lies lies lies lying liar who LIES LIES LIES"
LessWrong is a powerful lesson in the value of domain knowledge.
I refuse to accept the sneerpersons comments as true, and I will continue to point out I have not read the comments when others confirm them as true is so childish.
(Also jesus the constant references to Scott Aaronson. I can't be anti science, I have a renowned computer scientist in my cult).
> (all he would have to admit is making mistakes when writing a fanfiction at breakneck speed)
The pace was pretty variable, but the mistakes happened whether he was going fast or slow.
I chuckled at the title of that thread: “Who writes the best book reviews (apart from Scott?)”. Assuming Scott writes good book reviews, lol. IMO his book reviews are way worse than his worst opinion posts.
It really is weord but I feel like I like HPMOR more than he
does.
He does realize than in HPMOR he basically recreated the person of
Lennin right? I can’t imagine any interpretation other than that making
sense. Like, he wrote the logical conclusion of the story and then was
horrified it didnt match his values.
As bad as HPMOR is, this is a real phenomenon lmao. I’ve had some
works reviewed and a lot of the time I’m like, “dude… did you even read
it?” so many reviews come across like they read the first five pages or
did a quick skim and decided they knew enough about it to have an
opinion.
When I read EY’s reactions to reviews of HPMOR, I find wild deviations from the actual review, accounts of claims not even made, and psychological projection that could be fixed with a few minutes of reading.
is this about rationalists?
The next sentence from the linked Medium post is also great, for a very Medium value of “great”:
Yes, heaven forbid that people focus on topics they know and care about, or that a concrete event like the publication of a specific text be the springboard for discussing something more general or abstract.
Later:
Yes, heaven forbid that a collection of books display a collection of related yet distinct viewpoints.
zoom and enhance
OK, then.
(The author has written many times for Quillette, so I would have thought he’d refrain from calling anything “genuinely insane” without measuring its skull shape first.)
[removed]
These folks are great at picking which reviews to read.
It really is weord but I feel like I like HPMOR more than he does.
He does realize than in HPMOR he basically recreated the person of Lennin right? I can’t imagine any interpretation other than that making sense. Like, he wrote the logical conclusion of the story and then was horrified it didnt match his values.
As bad as HPMOR is, this is a real phenomenon lmao. I’ve had some works reviewed and a lot of the time I’m like, “dude… did you even read it?” so many reviews come across like they read the first five pages or did a quick skim and decided they knew enough about it to have an opinion.
https://youtu.be/XeKjKWXWZOE