The Feather Merchants

Posted on September 8, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Feather Merchants
© 1944 Max Shulman
145 pages
From Max Shulman’s Large Economy Size, 

Sergeant Dan Miller, supply clerk extraordinaire, is home on furlough — and leave to him to get into more trouble in one night than he’s found in months of service during the greatest war in history. It all started when he and his best buddy Sam strolled into a local tavern and had a little too much to drink and start making slurred speeches in Elizabethean English which *slightly* dramatize Dan’s role in the war so far. By the time he crawls out, Dan has bought a car, possibly gotten engaged, and is scheduled to single-handedly blow up a bridge in town to commemorate the opening of Minneapolis’ munitions plant. Oops.

The Feather Merchants is an absurdist drama in which poor Miller is railroaded into the trap of having to meet impossible expectations. He tries and tries to get out of it, but of course he can’t — the city of Minneapolis expects their local hero to do his duty and blow that bridge by himself. So he commits to doing it, and of course nothing goes to plan. It goes fantastically horrific, actually. It’s a kind of sitcom plot, but funny all the same. As in some other Shulman works, the humor lies not in the plotting but in the writing: characters launch into bizarre speeches which have nothing to do with anything at all (or so you think) and leave the main character frustrated at their uselessness, and the dialogue is…well, ‘zany’. There’s also much bawdiness.

As usual, something of a riot.

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Booking through Thursday: Queue

Posted on September 8, 2011 by smellincoffee

Booking through Thursday asks:
What are you reading now?
Would you recommend it?
And what’s next?

I’m nibbling at several books at the moment: Will Durant’s The Renaissance, which is thus far just about Italian city-state politics;  The Illiad, interpreted into prose by Barbara Leone Picard;  Marcus Aurelius: A Life, by Frank McLynn; Sharpe’s Gold by Bernard Cornwell; and the Discourses by Epictetus.   How on earth am I trying this much at once? Well…I’m taking a devotional approach to the Discourses, reading a chapter or two a night;  I read Sharpe’s Gold for leisure, and I alternate between the others when it is time for my serious reading. I know I need to commit to one if I expect to make any progress, but for the moment I’m still nibbling.

The Renaissance thus far is not igniting my interest (petty city-state rivalries are so pre-classical era), but The Iliad is thus far entertaining. People keep getting introduced and killed, but Hector insulting his brother (“Most wretched Paris!”) is almost a running joke.   The Marcus Aurelius bio is good so far, and Cornwell is always worth recommending.  I’m finding The Discourses surprisingly readable, although right now I’ve slammed into a section on the proper use of reason in thinking which is slow-going.

As for what’s next, I have Your Faith, Your Life: An Invitation to the Episcopal Church, by Jenifer Gamber and Bill Lewellis, which I’m reading  as part of my study of Anglicanism.

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This Week at the Library (7 September)

Posted on September 7, 2011 by smellincoffee

This week at the library I’ve put entirely too much on my plate. For starters, I’m knee deep in Will Durant’s The Renaissance, which is surprisingly..not all that interesting. So far it’s been three hundred pages of petty Italian city-state politics mixed in with some art discussion.  I’m still wading into a prose version of The Iliad, which is proving to be interesting. The gods are actual characters in the stories: one of them deflects an arrow shot Menelaus (the man who thought his pride was worth an eleven-year war) so that it only makes him angry instead of killing him. And, so help me, I’ve gotten interested in my big Marcus Aurelius biography after all this time.

At the library, I picked up Physics Made Simple and Sharpe’s Gold, along with a formal and complete translation of Epictetus’ works. I’ve read an interpretation of Epictetus before (The Art of Living, Sharon Lebell), but it’s not Epictetus proper. I don’t know why on earth I’m arranging so many books for myself to read, but I also borrowed Your Faith, Your Life: An Invitation to the Episcopal Church from a most kind rector as I’m continuing to learn about the Anglican faith.

In terms of books I’ve read this week, I have two reviews outstanding. I finally managed to make progress on my comments for The Big Rock Candy Mountain, and am short only a paragraph. Astronomy Made Simple and The Feather Merchants by Max Shulman need reviews, though both will be fairly short.

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Teaser Tuesday (6 September)

Posted on September 5, 2011 by smellincoffee

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish event hosted by Should Be Reading in which people share a brief excerpt from their current read.

“Most wretched Paris, would you shame us further? Have you not brought dishonour and grief enough on Troy already? Coward, and stealer of other men’s wives, I wish that you had died before you went to Sparta.”

p. 23, The Illiad. Translated/interpreted by Barbara Leone Picard. This is the Illiad told in prose, not verse. This will not be the last time Hector refers to Paris as “most wretched”.

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Sharpe’s Havoc

Posted on September 1, 2011 by smellincoffee

Sharpe’s Havoc: Portugal, 1809
© 2003 Bernard Cornwell
396 pages

“So what do you believe in?” Vicente wanted to know.
“The trinity, sir,” said Harper sententiously.
“The trinity?” Vicente was surprised.
“The Baker rifle,” Sharpe said, “the sword bayonet, and me.”

(p. 266)

Napoleon’s armies command Europe, and now, in the late spring of 1809, they threaten to force Britain to abandon its fragile foothold in Portugal. The British army is in retreat, and one Richard Sharpe — commanding a small band of riflemen — has been caught behind enemy lines while on a mission to find and rescue the daughter of a wealthy English family. Our man Sharpe is of course resourceful enough to get himself out of any pickle, but circumstances are complicated when he bumps into a “Lieutenant Colonel” attached to the foreign office, who has a great many schemes and (Sharpe thinks) the legal authority to order Sharpe about. The colonel thinks himself a chessmaster, but Sharpe has his rifles and a few friends with which to survive the weeks of danger,  intrigue, and treachery which lie ahead.

Within the last year or so Bernard Cornwell has become one of my favorite authors. Unlike Jeff Shaara or John Grisham, say, I don’t read him dutifully — but joyously. His books make me excited, and Sharpe’s Havoc is a fine example of why. Sharpe is thrown into a mess, but he survives the odds again and again through skill, wit, and not a small measure of luck.  Dialogue is marvelous as usual — I do love the usual repartee between Sharpe, Harper, and Hogan — and once more we get an interesting villain in “Lieutenant Colonel Christopher”, a right weasel. Cornwell also shows off his usual gift for making the physical environment come alive. I think Havoc will stand out among the rest of the Sharpe series whenever I complete it, for like a few others it has an intimate focus: Sharpe and his men are alone, and I enjoy their solitary adventures more than accounts of large-scale battles.

Next in the series is Sharpe’s Eagle, but as I’ve already read that I’ll be moving onto Sharpe’s Gold.

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The Gods Themselves

Posted on August 31, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Gods Themselves
© 1972 Isaac Asimov
288 pages

“Against human stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.” – Friedrich Schiller

In a small university office, something wondrous has been discovered: an isotope of Plutonium which cannot possibly remain stable according to the laws of known physics. Yet there it sits upon Dr. Hallam’s desk, quiet as you like. The search for the isotope’s origins creates a powerful new energy source for humanity, one which is effectively inexhaustible and utterly efficient. But nothing comes without a price, and one scientist realizes to his horror that the price of humanity’s bounty may be the solar system itself.  The Gods Themselves is a story told in three parts: as two men on Earth and the Moon attempt to find someway of convincing the civilization of Earth to save itself, in another universe (the origin of that isotope) a dissident alien rails against her own people’s attempt to save itself — an attempt which is dependent on Earth’s destruction.

The Gods Themselves is one of Asimov’s more unconventional works, for the good doctor rarely used aliens in his stories. This may be the readers’ loss, for the alien race he invents for The Gods Themselves is far from being a species of “rubber forehead” aliens with strange names. They are creatures far different from us, with three genders and bodies not quite so bound as ours. Wrapping my head around their society took a few pages, but once I’d gotten a handle on the genders I was hooked. Despite their differences, they remain sympathetic– except for their dispassionate decision to destroy Earth’s solar system to ensure their survival. Asimov’s world-building on the Moon is also worth noting: it seems to be a popular location for him, as he used it in The Positronic Man and more than a few short stories.  The Gods Themselves is also a ‘harder‘ kind of science fiction than Asimov’s other works (like Empire and Robots):  the first third of the novel takes place almost entirely in the laboratory, where atomic chemistry dominates the dialogue.

The essential source of tension in the novel is human short-sightedness: as one character explains to the others,  when people are forced to realize their actions have destructive consequences, we seek to counter the consequences instead of ceasing the actions. Because our human heroes can’t overcome human stupidity in this regard, they are forced to find a scientific solution to the problem at hand. I didn’t know beforehand if this novel is intended to be set in the same storytelling universe as the Robots, Empire, and Foundation novels, so whether the characters would emerge victorious or go down fighting remained up in the air until the final chapter.

Definitely one of Asimov’s more interesting works:  dramatic tension is maintained nicely, surviving even an interesting sidetrack to explore Asimov’s alien culture. The most sympathetic character in the novel is an alien, actually: most of the humans are boors, though humanity is redeemed by two characters in the ending section. It remains to be seen if we will redeem ourselves, for the same weakness of Asimov’s humans is present today: instead of throwing ourselves into solutions to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, we insist on maintaining them for as long as possible, and so invite disaster.

Related:

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The Age of Faith

Posted on August 30, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Age of Faith
© 1980 Will Durant
1200 pages

After centuries of economic decay, political corruption, and relentless outside attack, the glory of Rome finally surrendered to the tides of history some four centuries into the common era. The western empire gave way to a multitude of states ruled by those virile newcomers, a litany of Germanic tribes — Franks, Normans, Angles, Saxons, Goths — while in the east,  the classical world was maintained by the Byzantine empire, though more Greek than Roman. What unity remained was to be found in religion, in the Church: having formerly been integrated into the old Roman order, maintained its echo — but it struggled for power with the many new kings, and even its unity would eventually be fractured. Across the Bosporus, Rome’s old enemy Persia stirred — and further south, in the windswept dunes of Arabia, a man named Muhammad was destined to create a new world power and religion, one which would war with and yet help revive western civilization. Such was the medieval epoch, and in this thousand-year history Durant tells the magnificent story of Europe’s formative years.

Durant begins with the death-rattle of Rome and throws a spotlight on Byzantium before moving into the middle east. Although giving Persia and Egypt their time in the sun, it is the rise of Islam which dominates the early portions of the book — Islam, which fundamentally altered the balance of power around the Mediterranean and  preserved much of the classical knowledge that Christian Europe happily tossed into the flames. After a time spent on medieval Jewry — which, following the destruction of Herod’s Temple, united around the Talmud — Durant then moves to Europe which claims the bulk of the book aside from occasional check-ups on Byzantium. As with his other works, this is comprehensive history, tracking the growth of not just politics but of art, science, and religion. From where I sit, The Age of Faith is the best in the series so far.

It’s been over a year since I read from the Story of Civilization series, and in that time I’ve forgotten how masterful an author Durant is, especially when reflecting and evaluating on the lessons our history has to offer humanity. The book is a hefty read, but the size is appropriate, allowing Durant to reflect on a multitude of cultures and ideas. His scope is impressive. The political histories and cultural treatments are exciting enough, but after musing on the vagaries of currency exchange and enthusiastically guiding the reader through the transformation of architecture from Romanesque to Gothic and the growth of literature and music,  he sits down with the reader — perhaps under the shade of one of those awe-inspiring cathedrals which rose in the 13th century — and ruminates on philosophy and religion, mulling over the different approaches Christians took to their faith. Some fled the world, others engaged it:  mystics held to dogma, while rationalists like Abelard dared to make reason the master of belief.  This book is a positive banquet of the human experience, and I relished dining on it day after day.

Although the medieval period is scorned as an era of darkness between the lights of classical civilization and the Renaissance,  the picture which emerges here makes that a view impossible to maintain. Though the newly empowered Christianity did do irreparable damage to the human experience, destroying “pagan” art and literature, Europe itself recovered — and did so not by restoring Rome, but by claiming greatness in its own merits. Technology advanced, as did science — slowly and painfully. While science had to overcome hostility by the clergy,  the medieval Europeans were at least interested in it, far more than the Romans. The Age of Faith bears witness to how much present-day Europe owes to its ridiculed ancestors — those ancestors who created the universities, who conquered wilderness and marsh and turned them into civilization, who built towns from nothing and filled them with majestic structures which stand today, an enduring legacy. Then too are the fascinating human stories — love affairs like Peter and Heloise,  philosopher-kings like Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, and  philosophers and scientists in both Christianity and Islam who defied orthodoxy.

Although it took me several tries to tackle this book, I’m heartily glad I did. This is definitely one worth reading.

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Teaser Tuesday (30 August)

Posted on August 29, 2011 by smellincoffee

The last Tuesday of the month already? Oy, the time flies.

Civilization is the union of soil and soul — the resources of the earth transformed by the desire and discipline of men. Behind the facade and under the burden, of courts and palaces, temples and schools, letters and luxuries and arts, stands the basic man: the hunter bringing game from the woods; the woodman felling the forest; the herdsman pasturing and breeding his flock; the peasant clearing, plowing, sowing, cultivating, reaping, tending the orchard; the vine, the hive, and the brood; the woman absorbed in the hundred crafts and cares of a functioning home; the miner digging in the earth; the builder shaping homes and vehicles and ships; the artisan fashioning products and and tools; the pedlar, shopkeeper, and merchant uniting and dividing maker and users; the investor  fertilizing industry with his savings; the executive harnessing muscle, materials, and minds for the creation of services and goods. These are the patient yet restless leviathan on those swaying back civilization precariously rides.

p. 206, The Age of Faith. Will Durant.

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Top Ten Autumn TBRs

Posted on August 29, 2011 by smellincoffee

This week the Broke and the Bookish want to know: as school resumes and the trees begin their autumnal parade, what will you be reading?

1. The Age of Faith, Will Durant

“Oh, pshaw,” you say? “You’ve been trying to read that for a year. Why bother pretending you’re going to finish any time soon?”

Because I only have a hundred pages left, that‘s why. I’ve been dedicated to it this last week. I read it in the morning with my breakfast, I read it at lunch, I read it at supper, I read it in the afternoon and I read it at night.

2. Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock, Christopher L. Bennett

I bought this a couple of months ago but lost it halfway through my reading. Actually, I didn’t lose it so much as someone decided to put it someplace without telling me. By the time I found the book I’d forgotten what was going on, though — so I’ll probably be restarting.

3. Vagabond, Bernard Cornwell

This will be the last in the Grail Quest series for me, and (alas) my last medieval Cornwell read for a while, since I’ve been spending my spare money on Star Trek DVD sets instead of books lately.(If you could buy an entire season of an hour-long show for $15, wouldn’t you?!)

4. The Land of Painted Caves, Jean M. Auel

This is really more a maybe. I read the Earth’s Children series back in 2006 or 2007, but I enjoyed it progressively less as the series wore on. The last book (The Shelters of Stone) seemed to be missing a plot altogether, as the lead character Aayla wandered around being an awesome Mary Sue and coping with the other characters’ jealousy.  It’s still a book about Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals, though, so I’ll give it a try at the very least.

5. The End of Eternity and 6. The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov

For some reason I want to knock out the rest of Asimov’s novels this year. I’m not sure why, because I know I’ll regret it and mourn the fact that I have no more Asimov novels to read.

7. Children of the Storm, Kristin Beyer

Beyer has impressively turned one of Star Trek’s least-liked shows into one of its best-regarded novel series. Voyager is now leading a small flotilla of ships into the Delta Quadrant to make sure the Borg are truly gone, as well as to patch up any misunderstandings left from Voyager’s original trip through the Delta Quadrant’s many various civilizations.

8. The Litigators, John Grisham

Back in the start of the year we were asked to post books we figured we’d be reading this year, and I mentioned a hypothetical Grisham book. I titled it The Safe Assumption, because I just KNEW he’d be releasing another book this year. As it happens, it will hit the shelves on October 25. I won’t actually read it until Christmas (which is when my sister and I will receive it from our mother), but I mention it here because the accuracy of my prediction amuses me.

I’m not sure what to make of the plot, though. It seems like a combination of one of his short stories from Ford County: Stories and The King of Torts.

9. Jesus for the Nonreligious, John Shelby Spong

I bought this a few weeks ago and started it right before The Age of Faith demanded my attention. I love Spong from what I’ve seen of him on YouTube, so I’m looking forward to this.

10. Various Incidentals

I’ll be reading more of the Sharpe series, beginning with Sharpe’s Havoc. I’m reluctant to be too quick about it, though, because once I finish my library’s Sharpe books I’ve got nothing but Stonehenge and a series of books on the American Civil War which I’m inclined to avoid, because the idea of a northerner fighting for the slave-holding confederacy puts a bad taste in my mouth.  I’ll be finishing Astronomy Made Simple once this book on the medieval epoch is done, and I want to return to that history of chemistry I picked up a few weeks ago — Creations of Fire, I think it was called. I also have Galileo’s Finger to finish, if I can get past the chapter on entropy (an appropriate place for my reading to be derailed, I suppose), and I need to find The Wellsprings of Life by Isaac Asimov so I can finish that. There are also a couple of books from my “top ten books I resolve to read” list that I should get cracking on sometime this fall.

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Google Changing Blogger

Posted on August 26, 2011 by smellincoffee

This has nothing to do with books, but seems pertinent enough to share.  From Mashable.com:

Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned.
The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.

Blogger and Picasa aren’t going away, of course — they’re two of Google’s most popular products. Instead, according to two sources familiar with the matter, Google intends to rename Picasa “Google Photos” and Blogger will become “Google Blogs.” Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Video, its failed web video service, in May.
The move isn’t without precedent; Google acquired JotSpot in 2006 and rebranded it as Google Sites in 2008. In 2007, Google acquired VOIP platform GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice in 2009.

Picasa and Blogger were also Google acquisitions, although both companies have been part of the Google empire for far longer. Picasa was acquired in 2004 and Blogger (co-founded by Evan Williams of Twitter) was acquired in 2003 and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. Although the rebranding could upset some existing customers, it also gives Google the ability to completely integrate both services into Google+.

Rebranding Coming in Next Six Weeks 

The transition from Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs will occur “in a month to a month and a half,” we’ve been told. The date aligns with the likely public launch of Google+. Mashable has been told to expect the public debut of Google+ on or before July 31. The date is important because it’s the day all private Google Profiles will be deleted.
We believe Google doesn’t want to have private profiles after the public Google+ launch. Instead, the company is likely to encourage users who want more privacy to use Circles to curate their friend groups.

The brand unification effort will be the largest in company history — it’s never renamed a property as large as Blogger. The popular blog creation service has been receiving a lot of extra love recently. In March, Google announced that Blogger would receive a major overhaul. We doubt many people expected that the overhaul would include a rebranding, though.
Google+ makes perfect sense for Blogger and Picasa — they are both social products that improve as more people use them. It’s important to note that Google+ already has a photos feature, a product that we believe utilizes Picasa technology. It’s also important to note that Google+’s photo feature has no Picasa branding of any kind.

Update: Google declined to comment on this story.

I am already a Google+ member, so unless the new service is bothersome I will probably remain on “Google Blogs”. I have a wordpress account reserved for this blog just in case, having registered it a few years ago in case I needed to mirror the blog for whatever reason.

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