philosophical novel that mainly takes shape as a telepathic socratic dialogue between a sentient gorilla professor named Ishmael, and an unnamed narrator human student. the book explores things like the nature of story, myth, culture, manās relation to other animals, language, and the subject Ishmael says he teaches: ācaptivity.ā
If you like Life of Pi, (another one of my favorites, which shows up as a related rec for this ask), you ought to read Ishmael.
Oct 6, 2024
Related Recs
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This is the sci-fi novella that the movie Arrival is based on. It beautifully combines aliens, linguistics, questions about free will, and sad familial drama. And it's only 54 pages long!Ā After reading, go watch Arrival. It's also amazing.Ā
Jan 23, 2024
This book rec was inspired by sofeās lil squid story. This book is about the evolution of sentient life; with a heavy emphasis on cephalopods, as their evolutionary tree branched off from our common ancestors so long ago. Octopuses have been my fav animal for ages but I hadnāt realised how cool squid are too! And cuttlefish fish! He describes the process by which they change colour and it blew my mind, they essentially have biological pixels, for cuttlefish anyway, they have two different kinds of pixel-like cells/muscles that control two different colour spectrums. Itās a really brilliant book, and for those who are put off by too sciency books (myself included tbh), this book is a philosophy/science hybrid!
Jun 6, 2024
I don't remember if I've read the whole thing so this is not an endorsement of it. Anyway it's pretty interesting. It's about biology but written for an interested, but not necessarily trailed, audience.
Nov 26, 2024
Top Recs from @bisonspider
oh golly oh gee... Iām honored that anyone here on PI.FYI even recognizes me!! how sweet to be thought of. uhhhh as for who I am and what Iām about: my name is Ethyn, Iām 22, Iām American (flyover state), cultural Catholic, my favorite color is purple, of a forgiving disposition
Iāve been using this app basically since launch (?) bc a tiktok mutual was clued in on the ground floor and I got the invite lol. I consider myself a very curious and open-minded person and something I love about this place is how committed it is to sincerity, such that I can no longer stand the casual cruelty and close-mindedness of almost all other social media. so PI.FYI is the only social media Iām active on anymore. I suppose the reason Iām more of a lurker is because I love getting to read recs from others (and Iām pretty liberal with the like button) but I feel strange reccing something if Iām not like 100% behind it lol. like thereās gonna be a test. Iāll also go two days or so without logging on and then Iāll catch up on all the recs I missed so it results in a spam for my mutuals <3
As far as interests, I generally consider myself to be an ooky and kooky type of person. I love art in all mediums, but especially films, books, paintings, and poetry. Iāve recād PLENTY of all four if you care to take a look :) Iāll make the occasional lifestyle rec but most of the stuff I talk about on here is art. Lol since the earliest days of this site Iāve kinda harped on the function of story as the thing that makes us human, and myth as manifestations of the collective unconscious. This is one of my most foundational beliefs and lenses for the world.
Another common theme youāll see in my recs is my love for the classics. Classic movies, classic books, all of it!! I think if something is classic thereās almost always a reason, and I think itās important to understand foundations of influence for art that comes after. Everything is in context!!!! Everything is interdependent!!!!
some of my favorite films: The Wicker Man (1973), Goodfellas (1990), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Viy (1967), Nosferatu (1922), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
some of my favorite literature: All of Edgar Allan Poe, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, the work of William S. Burroughs, the work of Yasunari Kawabata, and all world myth categorically.
I want to affirm becoming!!!! I want to exist in service of the liberation of the full breadth of human potential!!! I want to be ripped screaming and bloody from the womb!!!! I will incarnate just to touch the wound ten thousand more times!!!!
Mar 13, 2025
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study the folklore and myth of your actual local region. live your daily life under the logic of fairytales. communicate as heavily as possible in proverbs and riddles. humans are a storytelling creature and there is a reason these archetypes and motifs appear to humans across times/cultures/places
Feb 13, 2024
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Substack that emails you the entirety of Bram Stokerās Dracula in real time. since the novel is composed of diary entries, it sends you the diary entries day by day so you can read it on the same timeline in which it takes place. it started earlier this month but itās not too late to catch up!! or you could wait until next may. classics can be intimidating but this gives you the opportunity to read it in daily segments in your email and follow along in an immersive way :)
May 20, 2024