Interesting. As women tend to combat vaginal dryness later in life, guidelines like these are especially needed there. Pretty sure you very easily fall into a vicious circle of lubing, ruining cells which produce any remaining lube -> lubing even more. I guess the bottom line is to buy water-based lubes with some sort of an organic “gel” source and avoid propylene glycol/tons of glycerine/detergets (though those are harder to detect by name).

This is pretty interesting. I mean I’ve seen dogs dream vividly and am not quite sure how much I believe all them Babe the Pig-alike movies. :)

But I think the definition of a thought is a problem here. Everything we say (or contemplate of saying or trying to remember) is also a thought which precedes our verbal output. Those thoughts will inevitably be in a language of our preference. And actually in process of learning a new language that is often times the pivotal point - once your thoughts switch to a new language, you know you adapted it.

I think it’s Lay it on me by Vance Joy. It has a part about him being sad, then there is love, and then an instrumental chorus to which I dance to (given a chance). I guess I find it pretty uplifting.

This is beautifully said. There had been moments in my life when I’d be so very happy that I would indeed close my eyes, take a deep breath and appreciate the moment. When there is nothing to bug you in the back of your mind to ruin the setting, such moments are beautiful and I agree, could be described as pure joy.

Yes!! Funny story, I learned about redwood from a boardgame when I was six and thought they are some trees from this magic game world that don’t exist in real life. You can imagine how excited I was once I realized they are real and more so when I first saw them! Californian ones are the most impressive, no debate there, but I actually found quite a few across Europe too, often in super random places. So maybe you will also find some around where you live? You never know.

Lived in Bay Area for some time and been up to the Redwood National park but not to Santa Cruz! Just checked it out and now I have another reason to visit again. Honestly, I would have even stayed there - NorthCal’s nature is simply breathtaking - but unfortunatelly so are the living costs around there.

Trees! Those big, old giants which make you feel like they are indeed harboring some ancient wisdom, being there, in the same spot years before you, barely brushed by the passing of time. And then if they are evergreen not even season affects them - they just keep on existing, all tall and gracious. How awesome is that.

Not to mention academic/research text where authors are actually forced to pay to publish, only to have the articles end up behind a pay wall of given journal. If the authors want their papers freely available, they have to pay extra fees to the journal (we are talking thousands of dollars scale). Not a cent goes back to the authors or even research funding bodies. Long live Libgen!

Yes, yes, you are totally correct - delivery can make all the difference.

But I have to add that my main problem is that I am a scientist and big part of my job is to read immense amount of literature and memorize/connect often obscure terms. So when I read for pleasure (I love my job, but still) what I tend to enjoy the most are character heavy, emotional books with beautiful prose, written by people with deep understanding of life. Quite opposite to the academic literature.

So you are right, yes, this slog issue is not restricted to SF (e.g. I don’t read epic fantasy either; GoT and LOTR books I skipped myself as well), but SF in particular is something I really want to dig deeper, as there the ideas challenge my brain and remain lingering far after I finish the piece.

But! - I prefer to do it without being forced into a memory challenge. Because if I start and within the first two pages there are 15 names and 3 planets and lots of traveling (i really damn hate descriptions of pure traveling, like please lets just skip that part) then I lose interest in the main idea and the ideas are what I am after.

So Tldr yes, you are absolutely right, it is also the prose and the delivery, but still no prose or delivery would keep me long motivated or make me deeply enjoy reading work which has too many names or weird, invented terms.

Do you use diluted or out-of-the-bottle vinegar and does the fruit taste weird afterwards? I need to temporarily become a bit of germophobe and this sounds like a good way to take care of fresh produce.

Never too late for good recommendations! I am happy such a good collection of suggestions was made, not just for me but for everyone. Thanks for contributing!

I think to really solve this we will need to wait for the kids from this generation to grow up, and those who “figure it out” teach others how to do it, through a (hopefully adapted) educational system or otherwise. Because, to be honest, we don’t really know what this is like. We think we do, but we don’t, not really.

Cycling. I don’t (yet) have all the fensi equipment nor an expensive bike and don’t do long, exercise-like laps. It is much more incorporated into my daily life. I have an oldschool road bike which I use for my commute and then every day after work go around the city with it for some hours (with small breaks for say shopping/eating; ca. 25-30 km per day). Longer rides on the weekends (average ca 100-120 km per weekend). Never was keen on sports but was always into little daily adventures and this combines the two. Last time: yesterday.

Thanks, especially for summarizing other comments. Also, sorry for my 1000 years of solitude misspell… Marques didn’t dream as big as Asimov haha

She keeps popping up so I think I really have to check her out. :)

The Martian I am saving as one of those cannot go wrong books, in case i ever run into reading blockage. But Expanse i didn’t check out. Will do now. Thanks

I haven’t. I thought I wasn’t really into short stories… Till I discovered Ray Bradbury. Now I am very much into short stories. So will give Asimov a try for sure.

Just finished it a week ago. That prose… From another planet.

Exactly this. Thank you. :)

You do know nothing is black and white in life, right?

Anyways, I wouldn’t put Dune as my 5* read, but I did enjoy it. I only read the main part of the main Dune book, not the whole series, prequels etc. Also, it is mainly set on one planet.