reading (3 fer)

The short version, Asimov's December an interesting mix. The Fig Eater better to miss. The Markhat Files: noir light.

What can I say about The Fig Eater? It was too busy being deep and mystical to make sense. This being based on Freud's Dora, anyone familiar with the case would expect some nasty male characters. They are there and appropriately unsympathetic. But most of the female characters are extraordinarily nasty human beings, using anyone they have the opportunity to and having zero empathy. The detective has more empathy than the female characters! In the end the plot is sacrificed on the altar of mysticism in a fashion that is not fantastic but dull.

The Markhat Files files make for some fun light reading in an fantasy noir populated with ogres, vampires, and disparity of income. The stories aren't incredible or awesome, but it's fun and a quick read.

50. Asimov's December 2013
51. Jody Shields The Fig Eater
52. Frank Tuttle The Markhat Files

reading (Longitudes & Attitudes)

Longitudes & Attitudes is a non-fiction book primarily made up of the authors NY Times editorials shortly before and after 9/11. There is a lot of interesting and thought provoking stuff in the editorials. The second part of the book is a sort of diary, covering the same time with some more background. I think it would have been presented better to have the background before and after the individual editorials because as it was formatted it made more repetition and ended up reading like two books about the same thing.

Since the book was published ten years ago, it's a bit like reading a near future sci-fi story written in the past. Friedman makes predictions and mentions things he thinks will be important. Like anyone trying to predict the future, he gets it wrong. But he was right in highlighting some of the trends, trends that later blossomed in ways he couldn't guess. He repeatedly talks about how the advent of Arab satellite TV and the Internet were making it harder for the old Arab regimes to control their population. He didn't see them loosing power in the short term. So he got the root, but didn't guess what it would grow to. That shows his insight and how hard it is to predict the future with accuracy.

Overall a thought provoking book.

53. Thomas L. Friedman Longitudes & Attitudes

Quixotic

I've been reading Don Quixote on and off for a while now. The book is incredibly long! I can only read a few pages at a time, then I need a break. That said, it's very funny. I've always though I was a bit like Quixote in the fact that I take on these crazy impossible projects, but I'm beginning to realize that's only the simplified version of the syndrome.

I now realize the place to see Quixote in modern life is in places like talk radio, Facebook, or political news. Because Quixote is so wrapped up in his delusion, he won't see any other view, no matter what the argument or evidence to the contrary. It's not just that he's a throwback who wants things to be the way they never really were. He acts on the non-existent and will twist everything in knots to make what is into supporting evidence for his delusion. He's been living in the fantasies he likes to read for so long they must be true, therefore everything outside must be made to fit with them.

In no place is this clearer than our hero's answer when Sancho calls him on the fact that what he thinks is a grand helmet is a shaving basin:
"because there is always a swarm of enchanters in attendance upon us that change and alter everything with us, and turn things as they please, and according as they are disposed to aid or destroy us; thus what seems to thee a barber's basin seems to me Mambrino's helmet, and to another it will seem something else; and rare foresight it was in the sage who is on my side to make what is really and truly Mambrino's helmet seem a basin to everybody, for, being held in such estimation as it is, all the world would pursue me to rob me of it; but when they see it is only a barber's basin they do not take the trouble to obtain it"

Even when he somewhat admits it's all a pose, his Lady is really a farm girl or he is choosing to act mad for sake of reputation, he still doesn't let go of the illusion. He's pretending because he is a knight and wants to be a famous one. It's not that pretending means he is not a knight.

So it doesn't matter what you see. It only matters what I know I see. You can argue all day and night. I just smile and nod at your foolishness.

You can see that every day on Facebook. Hear it on talk radio. See it on your favorite unbiased news outlet.