---
source: bookwyrm
date: 2026-07-18 23:17:49.00 +00
title: "On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Barbara J. Haveland, Solvej Balle, Solvej Balle"
post_uri: https://bookwyrm.social/user/gravely/review/12063194
post_id: 12063194
bookwyrm_updated: 2026-07-20T22:22:17.919912+00:00
tags:
  - bookwyrm
book_title: "On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)"
book_author: "Barbara J. Haveland, Solvej Balle, Solvej Balle"
book_url: https://bookwyrm.social/book/1823175
---
![Cover of On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Barbara J. Haveland, Solvej Balle, Solvej Balle, published 2024 by New Directions Publishing Corporation, a 160-page ebook](./cover-12063194.jpeg)

I enjoyed the prose. It is kind of funny and refreshing for a story like this specifically to engage with history and popular culture so little. If it weren't for the mention of a phone and maybe kitchen staple trends that aren't critical to the plot (yet?), this could be set any time in the past hundred years. I appreciate the disregard for time travel tropes where rules are supposedly crisp if you ignore everything the author ignores. Here rules are magical (again, so far). And there were a few things I expected the Tara character to explore that go unmentioned, but that's fine. I will try the second one.