I finally finished Understanding Comics by Scott MacLeod. I started it when I was 13 and kept meaning to finish it for 16 years. Perhaps my understanding of art history and theory wasn't well-formed enough to really grasp the concepts when I first started, but I always agreed with the central premise that comics are art. As somebody whose youth was heavily shaped by comics, there wasn't much I didn't already know, but having somebody break down everything that happens when you read a comic was still fascinating.

Then I saw one of my coworkers reading The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee. The first half is great, the second half has not aged well. While that kind of thing might have been plausible in France at the time of publication, I don't think it's plausible anywhere nowadays. There are certainly people capable of insurrection now, but they definitely aren't leftists, and they aren't going to make alliances with people who are. The iron was hot around 2011/12, but we didn't strike because the vast majority of the people involved with Occupy (and other movements of the time) didn't understand there was a hammer in their hands. Now we have to fight from a defensive position.

And finally, I found a book on chaos magic at the local thrift store. I've read a little bit of it and I'm comfortable saying it's probably not fashy garbage.