System of the World: Volume 3 of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
Well, that’s it. I’m done with the trilogy, as of Tuesday. And I’m really sad. I simply wanted it to keep going. I read the last page of the Acknowledgements as my plane door opened in Atlanta from Arkansas this past week.
But the third volume was a great ending, and thoroughly enjoyable throughout.
Now, I feel I need to re-read Cryptonomicon. And thus, I will.
The Confusion: Volume II of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
On the cover of the book and the title page, it says by Neal Stephenfon (sortof), which makes me laugh.
This book took me about a year to read. I’d put it aside for months, because I really need to not read it in short 15 minute bursts a week or so apart. I would get lost, and decide to wait until I had a reasonable chance of getting a good stretch of reading in. I got a good chunk in during my recent trip to Food Lion, and now I’m done.
I love these books. They are so rich in detail, action, character, and plot that I feel like I’m hanging onto a rollercoaster by my fingernails.
Today, I decided that Cryptonomicon is my Hobbit and The Baroque Cycle, Volumes I – III are my Lord of the Rings.
Unfortunately, I’d say there’s a monad-of-quicksilver-sized chance of them ever becoming movies, or even an animated cartoon, owing mostly to a dearth of dragons.
Only one volume left… The System of the World. And then I’m done. I’m not looking forward to being done.
My brother is concerned that he’ll get to the end of them and the payoff will be a big disappointment, but I’d say the journey will be worth it despite the outcome.
Though I’d like a big finish, too. Why not?
The Cartoon History of the Universe II by Larry Gonick
I love this series. I’ve now read all three books, so theoretically I should know everything about the history of the universe. I don’t, but at least I was entertained, and picked up a bit or two.
But the main thing on my mind is a convergence of facts. I’ve noticed that once I learn a new word, I suddenly start to see and hear the word everywhere. It’s spooky, but I chalk it up to skewed perception.
But what’s odd is that the past three books I’ve been reading over the last month all have mentioned or involved the caste system of historic India. Before these three books, I really knew nothing of the Indian caste system. Hadn’t really heard of it, though I am aware that most societies have classes of sorts, and some are more formal than others.
In Lamb by Christopher Moore, The Cartoon History II by Larry Gonick and The Confusion: Volume Two of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, major plot points of these books take place in India, and detail the caste system:
1. Brahmans (priests)
2. Kshatriyas (warriors)
3. Vaisyas (farmers/merchants)
4. Sudras (laborers)
Because this society believes in reincarnation and kharma, a person never leaves the caste they are born into in his or her life. It is assumed that if they are born into a higher caste, they did a good job in their former life and deserve their new position. No upward mobility here.
What’s more, I’ve been reading The Confusion off and on for over a year now. But I didn’t get to the part of the book that takes place in India until a few days after I’d finished Lamb and Cartoon History!
At least the fourth book I am reading right now, Investment Fables by Aswath Damodaran, won’t bring up the Indian caste system.
Wait a minute! ASWATH DAMODARAN IS INDIAN! Aaaaaah!
(cue twilight zone music)
Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
This is a darn fine Moore book. He writes amusing mind-candy, and this one is pretty tasty.
Jesus knew Kung-Fu! Awesome! And I love the idea that God created Man because Angels were… well, stupid.
So, now I’ve read all the C. Moore books but:
The Stupidest Angel : A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This… is a good book.
Time Travel is tough, dramatically speaking. There are a few ways to write it, and it’s tough to do any of them well without flubbing up the logistics or the narrative.
Back To The Future, while entertaining, is full of enough plot holes to make it a swiss cheese you could drive several trucks through. It uses the convention that you can change past events, but it is dangerous to do so. (One wrong move, and you destroy the universe or at the very least, yourself.) They slap all sorts of inconsistencies and odd conventions to increase the drama, which just ends up in a holy logistical mess. I get frustrated just thinking about it, so I won’t anymore. (Twenty minutes!? Twenty minutes!? Marty gave himself TWENTY EXTRA MINUTES to try and prevent Doc Brown from being killed?! WHY NOT A DAY?! A WEEK!? A YEAR!!!??? Arg. Ahem.)
12 Monkeys subscribes to the “nothing changes” convention, where everything that has happened, has happened, and you can’t change anything by traveling in time, because you didn’t. I think this movie is good, and intellectually satisfying, but suffers a little bit in the narrative sense.
The Time Traveler’s Wife also subscribes to the “nothing changes” convention, but the narrative does not suffer in the least. On top of that, it is an engaging romance novel.
The story revolves around Henry and Clare. Henry lives a life where every now and again, against his will, he drops out of his present and lands in a different time and place for a while. The author explores just about every nook and cranny of the consequences of such a life, and how a romance could happen in this situation.
It is funny, sad, and captivating. I was concerned that this would be a Romance novel with some bad time travel thrown in, or a Time Travel novel with some corny romance thrown in, but it is neither.
And now I have to give it back to Stacey, who was in the middle of reading it when I swiped it from her nightstand. Sadly, I believe I lost her place, too. Damn.
America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction by the Daily Show Writers
A parody of a textbook that really sticks it to politics in general.
A little bit Onion-y, but with more actual information in it. I’d wait for the paperback, if you haven’t read it. Or borrow it from me.
How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God by Michael Shermer, 2nd Edition
A wonderfully interesting book. I read and enjoyed his book Why People Believe Weird Things, which deals with Holocaust denial, UFO abduction, and the like. My good friend Joshua gave me a DVD of a presentation Mr. Shermer gave at a skeptics convention.
The book deals with why people believe in God (stated reasons, and evolutionary/biological reasons), and what it all means.
Lots of interesting insights, and some statistics, two of my favorite are:
* Most people in the U.S. who believe in God, state that they do so because they see evidence of God in the world around them (e.g. the world is so wondrous, someone must have made it)
* Most people in the U.S. who believe in God, state that they believe other people who believe in God do so because they need to. (e.g otherwise they would be filled with existential angst and not want to go on living)
Others:
* 96% of people in the United States believe in God (or some supernatural being).
* In 1776, 17% of the population of the U.S. went to church. Mid 19th century: 34%. Today: 60%! How can people say we’re going to hell in a handbasket?
* Genes appear to control 50% of your tendancy to be religious.
* There is a hormone or enzyme or something (can’t remember which) that controls whether you tend to see patterns where none exist. Skeptics have little of it, believers have a sufficient amount.
Fascinating, fascinating stuff.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
An enjoyable read. It’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, except in Oz. I’d really like to go back and read the Oz series all the way through (I’ve only read the first two) to see how much of that history is woven into this story.
Also, this book has a lot more sex in it than the other Oz stories I’ve read, so there’s that.
Made In America: My Story by Sam Walton.
This one was on the list of Recommended Books for the Motley Fool’s Hidden Gems subscribers.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that this book has got a lot of “Aw Shucks” propaganda in it. Sam Walton claims he’s just trying to be a successful merchant by giving the customer what they want. He freely admits that he stole most of his best ideas from other retailers. The man brazenly walks into competitor’s stores with a tape recorder and a yellow legal pad and grills the workers on the floor about how they do things and how things are selling, taking notes all the while. He only mentions being caught once.
I’ll never know if he really believes all this stuff about doing right by his “associates” or not.
Two sides of the Wal-Mart debate are summed up by alternet and the Fool.
I came away from this book thinking that this is just a guy who is obsessed with the game of retail, and he was “good” at it. At the end of the book, I even detected a bit of nagging worry about what the legacy of Wal-Mart was going to be.
A lot of folks have criticized Wal-Mart for not giving back to the communities they are involved in. Sam’s response to this is that it is not the business of business to contribute to communities (“The business of business is business”, as the saying goes). His brand of contribution is to provide cheap pricing so that people can keep their money and use it to better their communities themselves. While one can argue (successfully, I’ll wager) that Wal-Mart hurts more than it helps in this regard (the low wages injected into the community and tax benefits Wal-Mart gets from local government offset the benefits of lower prices), the basic point he makes is worth considering: Why should a business be a force of charity? Should they not just lower prices and let people decide what parts of the community they wish to support with the savings?
At any rate, after reading how this organization works, I have a better idea why the Wal-Mart account reps in our company always have a worried look on their face.
And I also know I’m going to keep going to Kroger.
The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
by A.J. Jacobs
This was a gift from my mother-in-law for Christmas.
A darn fine one at that. It’s not amazing literature, but a nice story intermixed with interesting trivia.