Book 24: The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

I'm back around to non-fiction again and this time we're going for some science.  The Fabric of the Cosmos is an exploration of the basics of the universe, basically what is it?  Through theoretical physics, cosmology and string theory he attempts to define the nature of spacetime.  If you know anything about me you'd know this is right up my alley.

It's 493 pages but 536 pages including the more detailed Notes section, which I'll probably read.  So that makes about 80 pages per day.

REVIEW:  Brian Greene does a nice job of laying down the basics in this book.  He starts with explaining the history of our knowledge of space.  Meaning: what is space?  From there he goes through more of the big questions: what is time?  How did the universe begin?  How will it end?  What makes up the fundamental particles and forces in our universe?

I've read enough of these kinds of books to have basic understanding of these concepts already and my own studies have fleshed those concepts out pretty thoroughly.  But Greene does an excellent job of describing all of these difficult ideas.  He explains things in a very understandably way and, if you desire, there is a "notes" section at the end which explains things in more depth for the mathematically and scientifically inclined reader.  He also does a good job of explaining that most of these concepts are just theories, hypotheses, really.  At the fundamental level, we still don't know most of the answers to the basic questions.

Reading through another science book, I typically judge them by whether or not I learn anything from them.  This book had a couple of large sections that I came away from feeling that I understood things better than before.  Entropy was a big one.  There was a large section on time and whether or not it can be shown to have an "arrow", a direction, from a scientific point of view.  I had a basic understanding of these ideas, but his explanations and the math in the notes section, really taught me something.

There was some rehashing; basic, history-of-science stuff at the beginning.  But he quickly moved on to more of the latest findings and theories, so it never really bogged down.  I found this book quite an interesting read... those without a love of science, physics and/or astronomy may not enjoy it quite as much.  8 out of 10.

Book 23: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

My schedule was slipping for a couple weeks, but we’re back on now.  Next up is Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco.  It’s a bit of a mystery/conspiracy theory novel from what I understand, as well as historical fiction.  I really enjoyed The Name of the Rose when I read it a number of years ago, but wasn’t as impressed with some of Eco’s more recent novels.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Eco’s writing and all of his books that I’ve read have been good, but I’m hoping that this is a great one.

623 pages means 89 pages per day.

REVIEW:  This is the third Templar conspiracy book that I've read.  The first was Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln which was very fun and very interesting.  The second one was Dan Brown's  The Da Vinci Code which was a blatant rip-off of Holy Blood, Holy Grail and basically just dramatized the book.  This one takes on the same subject material, basically, but adds a new twist.  

Eco is a phenomenal writer, his prose is very dense and he tends to incorporate tons and tons of historical material into his writing.  There are two basic types of chapters in the book.  One part tells the story of the protagonists and those are quick and interesting.  There is lots of drama and things happen quickly.  The second type is building the historical conspiracy of the Templars and, because it's a world-encompassing conspiracy, it tends to get very, very arcane.  I wouldn't say that you could just skim through the historical material either, because he tends to build on it from chapter to chapter and he refers back to different groups constantly.  

The other thing about this book is that he uses a lot of foreign languages.  The main characters are obviously well versed in Latin and French at the least and a smattering of other languages when necessary.  With my linguistic background it wasn't much of a problem, but if you do not know at least Latin and French you may need a dictionary, or Google Translate.  I don't think that there was anything critical that wasn't in English, but you might miss some of the flavor.

All in all, I found this to be a very enjoyable read.  I still prefer Eco's The Name of the Rose but this is probably my second favorite of his novels.  It did get a little arcane with all the occult knowledge that he included, but that knowledge is critical to the plot and really is the point of the book so it's something you have to wade through to really appreciate whole product Eco presents at the end.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Book 22: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I should have started this one on Monday, but I'm a little behind.  This time around I'm reading some World Literature, which is what I'm calling literature in any language but English.  I learned Russian specifically to read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Pushkin in the original and I'm glad I did.  I always felt that something was missing in Russian literature in translation and I find that the works are far richer in their native language.

Clocking in at 735 pages, I should be able to finish in a week at 105 pages per day.

REVIEW: The Brothers Karamazov was a very interesting novel.  I usually feel a bit of dread going into Russian Literature and Dostoevsky in particular because it can get rather depressing.  Dostoevsky is very fond of delving into the depths of desperation, madness and tragedy.  This novel had a bit of that but was well rounded in other ways that had me pleasantly surprised.

It begins as a standard 19^th century family drama.  The story revolves around the Karamazov patriarch, his sons, their servants and their love interests.  The father is a bit of a scoundrel but wealthy.  The eldest son is also a scoundrel, but is more of a playboy.  The middle son is an atheist and a Socialist, practical and serious.  The youngest son is a pious, truthful novice monk and is the main point of view character.

As the novel changes gears the role of the youngest son, Alexei, becomes more important as Dostoevsky explores the role of religion in about 100 pages of pretty dense philosophy.  It’s here that the book bogged down a bit for me.  He has a lot of good things to say, but it’s pretty dense and scholarly.

The novel picks up again, however, as the eldest son, Dmitri, begins to take over as the main character.  Dostoevsky loves to write about manic characters behaving irrationally and this is Dmitri to a tee.  Not to spoil things but the book changes into a bit of a crime/mystery novel at this point as the reader tries to figure out the details of one fateful night.

Then the book changes gears again at the end of the novel and becomes a courtroom drama.  The last 200 pages or so deal with a trial and evidence given on both sides.  What was most interesting about this to me was that the author was able to effectively show how the available evidence was able to be interpreted, realistically, it two very different ways, neither of which was entirely the true series of events.

Overall, this was a very rich reading experience.  I’m not a big fan of Crime and Punishment because it was very far into the psyche of a madman but this book really showed Dostoevsky’s range as an author.  It was very engaging for most of it’s 750-ish page length and I have to put it pretty high on my list of best novels.  It did bog down in a couple of places and I don’t really like some of the characteristic traits that Dostoevsky characters tend to have (overly anxious women, manic, passionate men) but it was a very good read.  9 out of 10.

Book 21: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

I'm getting started late on this one due to a mixup with the library.  I found that the library had a compilation of The Walking Dead comics and had a very clever scheme allowing me to keep the book over the holidays but it didn't turn out as intended.  When I checked out the book and flipped it open I found that it was actually volume 3 of the set and the library didn't have volumes 1 and 2.  Bummer.  Oh well, I said, back to the book I was originally intending to read, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I have a couple of Potter-philes at work that say that this is their favorite of the series.  Mine, so far, is still The Prisoner of Azkaban but we'll see.

This volume has 870 pages which would be about 125 pages a day, but since I'm getting a late start I'll have to do better than that.

REVIEW:  With this book, the transformation from Children’s Literature to something more mature is in full swing.  Harry is now 15 years old and Ms. Rowling does a great job of writing a teenage boy.  Unfortunately, this also makes Harry a bit of a jerk.  He’s short-tempered with his friends, he’s frustrated with authority figures and he always thinks that he knows more than those around him.  A teenage boy to a tee.

With a darker theme pervading the book there is little room any more for some of the fun stuff.  It’s a good 200 pages before Harry gets to Hogwarts.  Then with everything that’s going on in his life, tests, girls, Voldemort and the new, authoritarian teacher, Prof. Umbridge, even the previous fun parts like classes and friends become more serious and less whimsical.

It’s not entirely a bad thing, however.  I’m very impressed with Ms. Rowling’s ability to alter her world as Harry (and his readers) get older.  The first book was written for a younger audience and it shows, especially, with names like Dumbledore, Hogwarts and Hufflepuff.  As the audience gets older and the theme gets darker, some of the more innocent things about Harry’s world get darker as well.  A good example of this is the self-drawn carriages from previous books.  It was assumed that they were self-driven somehow, but now, Harry can see what is pulling them: skeletal horses with leathery wings.  It turns out that you cannot see these horses, called Thestrals, unless you have witnessed death.  Pretty dark, huh?

It was still a good read and the world and events are still interesting, but the more mature, darker mood of the books has taken some of the whimsy and fun out of the story.  Also, Harry is a bit less likable than he is in previous books.  7 out of 10.

Book 20: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

While reading a lot of older books, I have found that I really like stories about the old sailing ships.  There's just something fascinating about wooden ships, canvas sails and the sense of adventure needed to take one of these things out on the open ocean.  I've read quite a few books from the Age of Sailing Ships:  Lord Jim, Robinson Crusoe, The Sea-Wolf, Treasure Island.  I'm hoping that this one lives up to it's reputation and gives me some great high seas adventure.

Only 464 pages means 67 pages per day but, if it is as good as I hope it is I'll probably finish in about 3 days.

REVIEW:  This book really hit the spot.  I was looking for a good sailing ship adventure and it was perfect.  I knew I was on the right track when I saw that there was an illustration inside labeling all the sails on a typical ship of the time.  If the publisher thinks it might be useful reference to know which is the maintopmast staysail or the mizzen topgallant then, chances are, you’re in for some good nautical adventure.

The book is the first of a very long series of books with the two main characters.  It covers their meeting and events on their first ship together, with Jack Aubrey as the Captain of the ship and Stephen Maturin as the ship’s doctor.  There’s a good deal of ship’s activity that is documented as well as the exciting parts of ship to ship combat.  The combat scenes are fast paced despite the minutiae of which sails are being pulled in and which others are being raised. 

I found these details to be engaging, especially in a genre that tends to gloss over details in favor of action.  This book had both.  I’m definitely going to continue with this series and have already placed the next volume on my reading list.

Approaches being a classic-worthy novel and is certainly one of the best sea-stories that I’ve read.  9 out of 10.

Book 19: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

I never really cared for American Literature until I discovered Hemingway.  Now that I've read most of his works I'm expanding to Faulkner.  This book was probably assigned in high school English class so it's been something I always felt I should read.  

348 pages in this one, a leisurely 50 pages per day.

REVIEW:  This book took a little while to get into.  Not only is it a stream-of-consciousness style novel, but it jumps around in time and space and has a confusing cast of characters.  Along with the confusing cast and the jumps in time and space you also have sections with no punctuation and others where Faulkner gives dialogue from Southern black characters which he spells out phonetically, “Dont you dare come in dis do widout a armful of wood.  Here I done had to tote yo wood en build yo fire bofe.  Didn’t I tole you not to leave dis place last night befo dat woodbox wus full to de top?”

Once I got into the correct stride, however, the book became much more readable and I began to be able relax and enjoy it.  It’s a rather sad story about the downfall of a traditional Southern family.  Each of the characters feels the loss of status and property in different ways but it’s all pretty melancholy. 

What I found most interesting about the whole story was the relationships between the blacks and whites in the novel.  It’s a complicated interplay.  The blacks have been free for some time now, but they are still segregated into their own communities.  The town’s white population have a complicated view of their black neighbors and seem to spend a lot of time agonizing over it while the black population has the view of “You tend to yo business en let de whitefolks tend to deir’n.”

Probably my favorite passage in the book comes from this narrative and takes place when Quentin, the eldest son, reflects on the relationship between blacks and whites:

“When I first came East I kept thinking You’ve got to remember to think of them as colored people not niggers, and if it hadn’t happened that I wasn’t thrown with many of them, I’d have wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone.  That was when I realized that a nigger is not a person so much as a form of behavior…”

Well said.  All in all, I really liked the book, though it was rather sad.  I’d give it about an 8 out of 10.

Book 18: Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

Well, I'm finally finished with the first four Song of Fire and Ice books.  I'll continue with the series whenever I pick up the fifth book but, until then, I'm moving on to other things.  First in line, another classic novel, a collection of five novels, actually.

Gargantua and Pantagruel was written in the mid-1500s and tells the stories of two giants: Pantagruel and his father Gargantua.  It's often cited as one of the best in world literature though, honestly, I'd never heard of it before I started this project.

So, here goes!  841 pages, which is less than my last 4 books and it has bigger type, woohoo!  120 pages a day or so should get me through the book in one week.

HUGE REVIEW:  It’s difficult to describe Gargantua and Pantagruel.  It’s like a combination of The Odyssey, Gulliver’s Travels and Don Quixote all mixed into one.  It’s an extremely crude book book by any standard, filled with drinking, sex, violence and… well… scatological humor.

Between the poop jokes, however, Rabelais actually has a lot to say.  The book is, essentially, very bawdy satire.  As such, it has biting commentary and even outright contempt for politics (with gluttonous, incompetent kings), religious orders (with monks that won’t defend themselves until their vineyard is under attack), the current state of education (with pedantic academics spouting overly-complicated nonsense words) and lawyers (with one judge who decides cases by throwing the dice). 

Rabelais doesn’t just criticize these institutions however.  He also adds his own ideas as to how they should behave.  As a product of the Renaissance, Rabelais believes that one should live fully and follow your instincts.  He preaches pleasure for the body as well as intellectual curiosity and study for the mind.  He was sincerely religious but skeptical of the excessive discipline and asceticism of the monasticism of his time.  It's really quite philosophical.

I would have attempted the French version of this book, but since it’s 500 years old, I didn’t have the confidence in my Old French as in my Modern French.  I can see though that, even through translation, Rabelais has a rare mastery of language.  He writes equally well from the perspective of the crude peasant as from that of the learned intellectual.  I’m sure the puns and plays on language in the book are that much better in the original.  The only real problem that I had was that my edition didn’t translate the many phrases of non-French: Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Italian, Basque, etc.  My knowledge of some of these languages helped quite a bit, but I was thrown by phrases such as:  “Omnis bella bellabilis, in bellerio bellando, bellans bellativo bellare bellantes.  Parisius habet bellas.”  All I got was the ending, “In Paris there are bells.”

There are several chapters in the books that are essentially lists or catalogues  of various items, from insults to methods of fortune telling to lists of books in a library.  These can be quite tedious to get through, though they typically have quite a few wry comments interspersed throughout them and one of them, the list of books, produced my favorite title, “Of the Gentle Art of Farting in Company.”

All in all, Gargantua and Pantagruel is great social satire disguised as the adventures of two very crude giants and their associates.  Laugh out loud funny in parts, thought provoking in others.  9 of 10.