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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> [ExI] kirinyaga<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>The author died recently, I read - Mike Resnick. So I ordered Kirinyaga.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>I have never been more depressed by a book. The main character is extremely highly educated in Europe but is a shaman of East AFrican descent</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>…<span style='color:black'>I hope his other books are not so depressing, Maybe one of you could recommend one</span>…<span style='color:black'>bill w</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>BillW when I read this comment, I remember you had said something about another book being depressing, so I asked myself why I generally don’t find dark books depressing. The answer I came up with: the European-educated shaman (and the other dark character from Stuart) are caricatures. Dark writing is often filled with symbolism, and are intentionally exaggerated for the shock value. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Don’t be depressed, be elated. Reasoning: this kind of thing generally doesn’t happen in Europe and generally doesn’t happen in the modern developed world. Science wins over superstition. We all win. Life is better here and now. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Places where life isn’t better yet are getting better now, because they can learn from us. Example: the students fomenting revolution in Iran. They see how the rest of the world works and they want to be like us. Cool!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>