The Evolution of God

Posted on January 9, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Evolution of God
© 2009 Robert Wright
576 pages

Evolutionary psychologist Robert Wright uses the concepts of natural morality and the ‘moral imagination’ to  understand the growth and (arguably) increasing maturity of the three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  He moves swiftly from primitive hunter-gatherer mysticism to Jewish monotheism and through to the rise of radical Islam in four hundred pages, engaging in a casual conversation with the reader about topics like salvation, sin, and God. In the final hundred or so pages,  Wright offers concluding thoughts and expresses hope that the three “we’re so very special” religions will one day calm down and learn to work together. He believes this is possible, and even probable, because natural selection has equipped human beings with the ability to recognize  potentially productive social bonds and either improve or move beyond religion and custom to engage in healthy relationships with other people.

In Wright’s view, religion developed to effect and maintain social cohesion and order. Religion grows, shrinks, and otherwise adapts to serve society’s needs. It can bring tribes together for productive purposes, or unite them against a common enemy. When a society needs peace and tolerance, the invented scriptures or interpretation of existing scriptures promote goodwill: when the society ‘needs’ or would profit by aggression and war,  the creation and use of scriptures changes accordingly: thus,  Muhammad promotes a live-and-live-live policy when attempting to lead a mixed Arab-and Jewish community, but shouts “Kill the infidels/polytheists wherever you find them” when leading assaults on his community’s enemies.

There’s much of value in The Evolution of God. Those completely new to understanding religion from a natural perspective  should find it a fascinating introduction to the subject.  I have been studying and attempting to understand the growth of Judaism and Christianity for several years ago, and enjoyed the refresher. There are some ideas in here that I’ve not heard of —  for instance, that the biblical kingdom of Israel was formed by two unrelated tribe with similar gods, who merged their respective chief deities (Elohim and Yahweh) into one. He reveals some of the Hebrew scriptures’ mythological references, and turns evaluations of Jesus on their heads by making a distinction between the ‘real’ Jesus and the Jesus that matters. Sure, the historical Yeshua of Nazareth may have been an apocalyptic prophet who shared his people’s prejudices against non-Jews,  but the Jesus the church created — gentle Jesus meek and mild, defender of the poor and preacher of peace — is the one people are inspired by. That is modernity’s Jesus. Religion is important for what it does for people and society — not for its initial revelations or the record of its sayings. This approach especially helped me to understand and appreciate the rapid growth of Christianity under Paul’s command, as he uses it to create a network of mutually-assisting communities across the eastern Roman empire.

At the same time, his emphasis on a given society’s  use  of religion sometimes detracted from the understanding of the religion’s history: there’s nary a mention of outside influences. I thought it rather odd to read about the evolution of Judaism  without a single mention of Zoroastrian dualism and apocalypticism, for instance. The closest Wright comes to this  in his chapters on Philo and the Logos, but even there he maintains that the idea of the Logos, that the universe itself was embedded with ideas about how people should live,  occurred in other societies at the same time — so general Greek influences are ignored as well.  Wright tended to make more concessions that he needed to towards religious readers, but I suspect this is to make up for the perceived hostility of  his materialistic approach.

The Evolution of God is very readable, with a fair bit to offer those new to the subject. It is limited, though, so those interested would be well-served by reading further.  I have my own recommendations, naturally:

Related/Recommended Reading:

  • Asimov’s Guide to the Bible. Asimov examines the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as human literature, not revealed and holy truths. I’ve only read the first volume but have been well-served by it.
  • God’s Problem, Bart Ehrman.  Though the evolution of religion isn’t a theme for Ehrman in this book,  it solved a major part of the puzzle of Judaism’s evolution and later spawning of Christianity for me: apocalypticism.  Ehrman’s written other books of interest, but I haven’t read them. 
  • Reading Judas: the Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of  Christianity, Elaine Pagels and Karen King.
  • The Great Transformation, Karen Armstrong
  • Persian Fire, Tom Holland. This won’t tell you a thing about Judaism, but Holland writes on Zoroastrian concepts that migrated into the Judeo-Christian worldview following Israel’s brief annexation by Babylon and Persia.
These are some of the books which have furthered my own understanding of Judaism and Christianity. 
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Reunion

Posted on January 7, 2011 by smellincoffee

Star Trek TNG: Reunion
© 1991 Michael Jan Friedman
343 pages
On the cover:  Unknown models as Idun Asmund, Picard’s former human-raised-by-Klingons helm officer and Captain Morgen, who looks rather scary.  There’s also a little quirk on the cover: the Stargazer is depicted with only two nacelles. This was before the four-nacelle model  became official, I suppose.

Many years ago, fresh young lieutant named Picard saved his ship from peril by assuming command following the death of his captain and first officer. In recognition of his services rendered, Starfleet named him captain of the Stargazer.  Now an officer of legend, Picard commands the Federation flagship — the Enterprise-D — and is hosting a Stargazer reunion. The arrival of several Stargazer officers brings back mixed memories for Picard: fond recollections of those days when he was young and brash, before his best friend Jack died under his command — before Stargazer was lost. The memory of Jack is painful, though, and even moreso for Jack’s widow, Beverly Crusher. She and Picard aren’t the only persons haunted by the memories of what once was:  after the reunion is troubled by a series of nearly lethal accidents, Picard realizes someone among his former comrades is targeting the Stargazers on by one.  With the ship in peril, Picard and his friends both old and young must find the would-be murderer among their ranks and while striving to prevent a diplomatic catastrophe.

I don’t think I’ve looked forward to any Star Trek book as much as Reunion, perhaps save S.D. Perry’s DS9 capstone Unity. I began reading the Stargazer series years ago, and the first two books in it rank as some of my favorites in Trek literature as a whole — but Reunion invented those characters.  Death in Winter spoiled the mystery for me by alluding to the killer, but even so I had fun trying to figure out why the character in question had ‘snapped’ — and was able to use my previous Stargazer reading to keep ahead of Picard and the others.  There’s considerable peril to be had outside the potential assassin: while on a diplomatic mission, Enterprise is trapped in a high-warp slipstream that threatens not only the mission, but the  ship itself by throwing it far beyond Federation borders. Characterization is accurate for both the TNG crew and the Stargazers, though Picard is more formal with his old XO than I would expect — in the Stargazer books, they’re ‘buddies’.

I expected a great deal of Reunion and come away from it feeling quite satisfied. Like other Friedman novels, this is one I can see returning to again and again.

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In a Sunburned Country

Posted on January 6, 2011 by smellincoffee

In a Sunburned Country
© 2001 Bill Bryson
352 pages

Bill Bryson takes on the largest island in the world in In a Sunburned Country,  traveling its coasts and dashing into the heart of the outback to gaze upon some of the most wondrous natural scenery to be found on Earth in around three weeks. Though some of his other journey books take place on foot, Australia is far too vast to experience in such a way. Even by train and rental car, much of the trip is marked by hours of travel through the wilderness. Bryson spends most of his time in Australia’s cities, though, most of which are clustered in the southern ‘boomerang’.   Like A Walk in the Woods, Bryson begins his journey by reading about the terrifying perils that await him — especially the wildlife — and later uses this knowledge to entertain and terrify those who travel with him. Aside from the pleasure he takes in doing this, Bryson seems like an agreeable fellow to explore a new place with — he pokes his nose into every facet of life he can, never ceases to ask questions or make witty observations, and prefers to end days on the road by exploring local communities, winding up at a pub wiling away the hours.

In addition to describing his travel experiences, Bryson also engages the reader with a history of Australia, its provinces and towns, and also provides the odd science lesson — commenting on how Australia’s isolation led to its incredible and varied abundance of animals and plants, many of which can be found no other place on earth. To Bryson, Australia is an immense paradise — teeming with life, and yet bizarrely empty. That abundance of life is all the more striking considering the hostility of Australia’s climate, marked by scorching heat and long periods of drought and floods.  Bryson’s own travels were uneventful in this regard — the only wildlife he records was a small echidna in a natural park, and only once did the threat of weather stop him. (He had to wait for a flood warning in Queensland to pass before continuing north, an odd experience for me to read given the sweeping floods in Queensland at the moment.)  Despite the lack of drama, there’s no shortage of entertainment between Bryson’s commentary and the regular misfortunes of travel: at one point Bryson drove three hundred miles into the desert to take in a particularly momentous site, only to realize there were no open hotel rooms in town — meaning he had to drive three hundred more miles before finding any rest.

Recommended easily if you’re interested in Australia or a good laugh.

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This Week at the Library (29 December – 5 January)

Posted on January 5, 2011 by smellincoffee

I shifted to doing individual comments back in October 2008, but I still haven’t figured out what to do with this weekly wrap-up.  I tend to share interesting quotations on Teaser Tuesday where a larger audience (I assume) will enjoy them, and that and the weekly preview were its main functions once I started updating several times a week. I also like them for indexing purposes: the shorter lists are easier to use than scanning archives for every single title.

I avoid quantitative ratings in my comments/reviews in favor of gut reactions, but rating books on Shelfari has lessened my resistance somewhat. I still don’t like trying to stick numbers on art, but just for the sake of mixing things up a bit, I’m going to try including a rating scale on these weekly reviews. I’ll use a ten point system with decimal points to narrow things down.  Don’t take it too seriously, though. I just type numbers in until it feels right.

1 is Dismal, 10 Outstanding and 11 is Star Trek Destiny.

Last week:

  • Seize the Fire, Michael A. Martin.  6.8
  • Rough Beasts of Empire, David R. George III 8.2
  • The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell. 9.5
  • Over the Hills,  7.7
  • In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson. 9.0 . I haven’t done full comments on this yet, though I finished it Monday night. I wanted to delay it until well after the annual review was up.

This next week’s potentials…

  • The Evolution of God, Robert Wright. I am halfway through and generally enjoying it with the occasional caveat. 
  • The Age of Absurdity, Michael Foley
  • Star Trek TNG: Reunion, Michael Jan Friedman — probably. This is the original Stargazer novel, which sees Picard reunited with his old comrades. Friedman later wrote a series of books set during Picard’s first years commanding it.
  • Redcoat, Bernard Cornwell. I could not find the Arthurian stories series — not a single book in it, even though they were all logged in.  I got this instead.
  • The Mind of Egypt, Jan Assmann
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The Best of 2010: Annual Year in Review

Posted on January 4, 2011 by smellincoffee

Fifty-two ‘weeks at the library’ have come and gone once more, and like every year I’m taking some time to look back at the year’s reading and reflect, mentioning those books whose memory has not faded with time. My return to Trek literature and the discovery of some great authors like Bernard Cornwell, Christopher Moore, Alison Weir, and others marked this year, and with an interesting result:  For the first time ever, I read more fiction than nonfiction: usually, my historical, scientific, and philosophical reading surpasses novels by a good 20%.   This year it’s in fiction’s favor, though by a scant 3%.   This concerns me a bit, but as I stand back and think, 2010 was just a really good year for fiction.  Usually my fictional reads are isolated things, unless I’m reading a series — and I plowed through several series this year. I maintained a list of finished books, and with it made this chart, courtesy of ChartGo.com.

In general fiction, the following books in particular stand out:

  • Lamb, by Christopher Moore, a fictional biograpy of Jesus from the viewpoint of his pal Levi, also called Biff. While this is as laugh-out-loud funny as they come, it’s also notable for being the most realistic and sympathetic of Jesus I’ve seen in novels.
  • The Iron Heel by Jack London was one of the first dystopian novels, though now it reads like alternate history and social commentary. London uses his Earnest Everhard character to explain ‘the problems inherent in the system’ and advocate for change, addressing multiple audiences within the book.  It would recommend to someone curious about Marxist social criticism. 
  • I began reading more of Max Shulman and hold his Barefoot Boy with Cheek in high esteem: though I read four or so Shulman books this year, Barefoot was the closest to recapturing the Shulman magic which so delights me when reading The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. 
  • Stephen King’s Christine marked the year’s creepiest hit. I read it around Halloween while dutifully listening to the 1950s music Christine enjoyed playing before she rode into the darkness to terrorize anyone who got on her bad side. 
  •  The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles continues Iles’ habit of emotionally turbulent  southern-gothic thrillers. 
  • I also enjoyed Isaac Asimov’s surreal Murder at the ABA. 

Historical fiction made a strong showing this year thanks to the series I encountered, particularly the Horatio Hornblower Novels, Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories, and Alison Weir’s biographic novels. Most notable:

Earlier in the year I started pursuing my goal of getting back into Trek literature, something I’ve not followed since 2005. Though I began with the familar, as I continued in the various series I discovered some astounding new authors. Highlights:

  • David Mack, of the Destiny Trilogy.  I’ve heard this series hyped for years and dreaded reading it, but it bowled me over. Incredible.
  • Christopher L. Bennett, for Greater than the Sum, chiefly. Orion’s Hounds and The Buried Age were also excellent.
  • Kirsten Beyer, who revived the Voyager series with the stunning Full Circle.
  • William Leisner, whose Losing the Peace followed well in Mack’s footsteps. 

Even outside of Star Trek, this wasn’t a bad year for science fiction. I read some classics, creating a ‘vintage SF‘ tag for them. H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and  Michael Crichton’s  more modern Jurassic Park were particularly enjoyable. Matthew Stover’s novelization of The Revenge of the Sith surprised me, doing a great service by the movie in strengthening its characters and making the drama more purpouseful.

History has always been a staple of my reading diet, and 2010 was no exception. I began reading the Story of Civilization series by Will Durant, but the most impressive books were by other authors.

  • 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus was far and away the most impressive book in this category, and I’d go so far as to call it the read of the year. It completly changed my perception of how native cultures used the land, transforming it. 
  • Citizens by Simon Schama took a fresh look at the French revolution. 
  • La Belle France by Alistair Horne remains one of the more entertaining light historical narratives I’ve ever read  — I described it as a ‘romping ride through French history’.
  • Coal: A Human History ended the year on a high point.  

Science reading tended toward the anemic this year, though at the outset I enjoyed David Attenborough’s The Life of series.  African Exodus remains the most notable science read: its coverage of human evolution and expansion, particular the chapters on human-Neanderthal cohabitation, fascinated me. I also introduced myself to Oliver Sack’s interesting neurological work in The Mind’s Eye, and enjoyed a series of humor books grounded in science by Mary Roach.

In philosophy, two books have been on my mind all year: a collection of anarchist and political activist Emma Goldman’s writings in Red Emma Speaks, and A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine, which introduces contemporary minds to Stoicism and demonstrates its relevance to the modern world.  The Emperor’s Handbook, a modern-English version of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, is also worth mentioning.

I read little social criticism this year, but even in a crowd, Weapons of Satire, a collection of Mark Twain’s writings against American imperialism in the Phillipines, would have stood out. James Howard Kunstler’s The Geography of Nowhere mourns the loss of communities and condemns suburban sprawl and proved provoking.

Blogwise, at some point in late January I made including book covers part of the standard comment-review format, and early in the autumn I began a Shelfari account for the blog.

Thoughts for next year:

  • Trek fiction jumped to the 11th most-used label in half a year, and I predict it will unseat Religion by the early spring and forever claim a place in the top ten. I don’t think it will dominate the way it has recently once I stop playing catch-up, though. I am particularly interested in finishing the Titan series and obtaining the Terok Nor trilogy. I understand it features Kira Nerys as a main character, so I cannot possibly resist. 
  • My science reading flagged more this year than last year, so now I’m hunting for books I can buy via Amazon to maintain basic scientific literacy and continue exploring the natural world. 
  • Bernard Cornwell’s medieval fiction thrills me to no end: I intend on exhausting my library’s supply of his books. 
  • I also want to finish Asimov’s Empire series: I’ve only read Pebble in the Sky. It might also be a good time to read The Gods Themselves  and The End of Eternity, though I’m cautious about reading those, least I run out of Asimov fiction. 
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Top Ten Books Books I Resolve to Read in 2011

Posted on January 4, 2011 by smellincoffee

This week the Broke and the Bookish expect us to commit to at least ten books, particularly those which have sat meekly in the ‘pile of books to read’ for a while.

1. Marcus Aurelius: A Life, Frank McLynn
I’ve had this book for nearly ear now. Probably should get around to reading it, right?
2. A People’s History of the World, Chris Harman
I bought this back in the spring intending to read it during the summer.
3. The Age of Absurdity, Michael Foley
Hey, it isn’t my fault I haven’t read this yet. I ordered it before Thanksgiving, but it vanished somewhere over the Atlantic: I bought it from a firm in England. Either the Royal Mail or the USPS lost it, so they (WorldBooksUSA) sent me another copy. It arrived just recently. 
4. The Age of Faith, Will Durant
Reading about the decline and fall of the Roman empire followed by centuries of religious war sounds depressing, but I want to continue in this series.
5. The Confessions, Augustine of Hippo
I did begin reading this earnestly the first two weeks I had it, but then Vikings distracted me. I can’t blame Bernard Cornwell completely, though.
6. Paths of Disharmony, Dayton Ward.
Okay, I don’t need to make a Most Solemn Oath to read this book.  I expect on getting it in some way for my birthday.  I don’t think I’ve ever read Dayton Ward, and since this is a TNG book I’m looking forward to it.
7. The Essential Epicurus: Letters, Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Fragments. 
Same story as Aurelius and People’s history, really.
8. The Complete Stories (Volume 2), Isaac Asimov
I bought this in the fall of 2009 for $12 or $15. The remaining copies on Amazon sell anywhere from $60 to $140. I read the first volume in the set this year. The series isn’t actually complete— Asimov kept writing stories, which makes producing a complete collection difficult, and I like to think the publishers threw their hands up in frustration that Asimov had simply written too many stories for them to corner. 
9. Over a Torrent Sea, Christopher L. Bennett
Though I’ve not read many Titan novels, Bennett’s Orion’s Hounds pleased me greatly. I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read by the author, so this is something to look forward to when I finally buy it. 
10. The Outline of History, H.G. Wells
Well, why not? I’ve walked past it and stared with interest enough times. 
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Teaser Tuesday (4 January)

Posted on January 4, 2011 by smellincoffee

Welcome to the first Teaser Tuesday of 2011, hosted by Should Be Reading.

“This is a country that loses a prime minister and that is so vast and so empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off the world’s first non-governmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years would pass before anyone noticed. Clearly, this is a place worth getting to know.”  

 —————————————

The taipan is the one to watch out for. It is the most poisonous snake on earth, with a lunge so swift and a venom so potent that your last mortal utterance is likely to be: ‘I say, is that a sn—.’

Both from In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson’s travelogue of Australia.

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Rough Beasts of Empire

Posted on January 3, 2011 by smellincoffee

Rough Beasts of Empire
© 2010 David R. George III
304 pages
On the cover: Leonard Nimoy as Spock; Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko

Ever since the mass assassination of the Romulan senate in Nemesis, the Romulan Empire has existed in a state of disunity. Praetor Tal’Aura seized control of the government shortly after the events of Nemesis, but the Romulan fleet regards her as suspect — and for good reason, for she carried out the assassination. In an apparent attempt to prevent the Empire from falling completely into the hands of a traitor,  Commander Donatra of the Valdore established her own rival state to arrest Tal’Aura’s ambitions. Controlling most of the Empire’s agricultural worlds and allied to the Federation, Donatra needed only sit and wait for Tal’Aura’s power base to erode — but the woman who conspired with Shinzon to destroy her entire government in the pursuit of power is not one to wait for her own death. Instead, Tal’Aura partially arranged the Typhon Pact, a six-member alliance of nations composed of some of the Federation’s oldest enemies.  In Rough Beasts of Empire, two Federation citizens — Ambassador Spock and Captain Bejanmin Sisko — attempt to work out their fates in this dangerous new political environment.

Previous novels in the Typhon Pact series have focused on one story, but David R. George follows the lives of two men. On Romulus, Spock continues to lead the Reunification movement despite a narrow escape from an assassin, preaching peace and working toward the day when Vulcans and Romulans can look on one another as kindred spirits. Though Spock is the viewpoint character here,  he’s used by George to observe the power struggle between Donatra and Tal’Aura: his story is more one of Romulan politics than his own philosophical labors. Meanwhile, Captain Sisko — who rejoined Starfleet during the last great Borg War —  commands the USS Robinson, a Galaxy-class starship patrolling the Romulan borders, tormented by what he had to leave behind on Bajor and haunted by memories of the Tzenkethi war.  As difficult as it was for me to see Sisko put through an emotional meatgrinder here, it’s rather refreshing.  In the early Relaunch books, Sisko was more a Legend than man: he vanished inside the Bajoran wormhole at the end of Deep Space Nine,  though no one on the station in the months that followed could escape his memory. His reappearance at a pivotal moment only boosted the legendary aura, and  shortly thereafter he read like a saint, above the cares of the world. George brings him back down to Earth again — where he’s back to being human, back to struggling with issues and making hard, wrenching decisions.  Thus Rough Beasts offers heaps of political and character drama, though I think Sisko’s thread has the stronger ending.

Aside from this, Rough Beasts also reintroduces some characters who have not been seen recently —  Kira Nerys, and the master villain of TNG’s ‘Unification’  episode.  George also elaborates on the Tzenkethi, whose appearances was the source of great speculation when Pocket and CBS announced the Typhon Pact series.  They’re interesting sorts, though I wouldn’t care to see them again. Like Tal’Aura, I wished them defeat and disappearance every time they showed up in the book.

I’ve read George before, in Provenance of Shadows, and this was even more a page-turner. I probably would have finished it in one sitting had I not resisted reading it. I try not to read more than one Trek book per reading week (starting on Wednesdays) , but as you can see I failed. It’s all George’s fault — the book was too interesting to stop reading for too long, and the pages flew by so quickly that I was done before I knew it.  Of the three Typhon Pact books I read, I’ve enjoyed this the most — owing, in part, to my being a Sisko fan .

The next Typhon Pact read, Paths of Disharmony, is scheduled to be released anywhere from mid-January to early February. It is a TNG novel that is expected to focus on the Tholians (“The Tholian Web“, “In a Mirror Darkly“) and Andor.

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The Burning Land

Posted on January 2, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Burning Land
© 2009 Bernard Cornwell
336 pages

“I see all history as being — and this is very simplistic — a contest between puritans and cavaliers, and I’m instinctively on the side of the cavaliers. As far as Uhtred is concerned, the Danes are a helluva lot more fun.” – Bernard Cornwell, interview.                           
Uhtred of Bebbanburg has just achieved his greatest triumph, the masterful routing of a vast Danish army intent on making Mercia and Wessex their own. He is King Alfred’s Lord of War:  his greatest servant, albeit the least orthodox. Despite their mutual gains together, the peace in Uhtred’s life is soon shattered when his beloved wife dies in childbirth and a vicious bishop denounces her as a whore. This attracts Uhtred’s attention, the bishop loses the use of his neck in short order,  and soon our hero is faced with a choice: humiliation or exile.
Turning his back on his oath to Alfred and leaving his children in the care of a friend, Uhtred sails from Wessex  accompanied by his most loyal comrades-in-arms, intent on returning to his adopted Danish family where he will at last be free — free of Alfred’s ambitions, free of Alfred’s mewling priests, free of Alfred’s laws and constant disapproval. At Dunholm, with his Danish brothers at his side, Uhtred can finally plan his recapture of Bebbanburg, his family’s ancestral land. Fate, though, has other plans:  the Danes have not lost their ambitions to destroy Wessex, and when Uhtred receives a desperate plea from a woman whom he’s loved and protected all her life, he’s forced to make another difficult decision. Either choice will brand him a traitor and send him headlong into destruction, but “fate is inexorable”. 
The Burning Land is the fifth and latest book in Bernard Cornwell’s unflaggingly strong Saxon series. Most of the book is populated by familiar characters, the only notable introduction being that of Skade, the ethereally beautiful and cruel warrior-priestess who I wasn’t sure Uhtred would kill or marry. Emotional turmoil abounds, as does military action:  momentous battles bookend The Burning Land, and they’re two of the more interesting (site-wise) I’ve yet read. Though the books in this series are increasingly introduced by an aged Uhtred looking back at the past (and scowling at how remiss the monks have been in recording his role in these battles),  I’m never certain as to where Cornwell (or the fates) are going to send the outcast Lord of Bebbanburg next. As is usual, the book’s pace is furious: I deliberately had to stop reading last night to prevent my rapture from interfering in New Years’ Eve plans.
It is with sorrow that I note the lack of a sixth book at present: I will be looking forward to Uhtred’s continuing adventures. At least the recess is starting on a strong note — I’d say this is the third best in the series, behind The Lords of the North and The Last Kingdom. That’s no small prize, considering the stellar quality of this series as a whole. 
                                         

                                                                                                     

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Over the Hills

Posted on December 31, 2010 by smellincoffee

Over the Hills: A Midlife Escape Across America by Bicycle
© 1996 David Lamb
254 pages

Despite a life of front-line journalism in Vietnam and Rwanda, LA Times journalist David Lamb feels as though his lifestyle has become positively sedentary as he approaches middle age. In an attempt to prove to himself that he’s capable of great deeds, he decides to travel across the country — on a touring bike. After cursory preparation, Lamb hits the road with his saddlebags and makes his way across the hills and valleys of the Eastern coast, through the southwestern deserts, and over the Rockies straight to Santa Monica’s pier. Since pedestrians and cyclists are barred from the interstates,  Lamb keeps to the backroads, including the venerable Route 66, stopping to chat up local townsfolk on deserted city streets and pedaling for his life to escape from packs of aggressive dogs in farm country.

The trip itself is absent of drama, aside from the dog chases: there are no accidents, no close calls, no miserable slogs through blinding storms. Lamb manages to avoid rain the entire time, the only inclement weather being the ‘headwinds’ of the plains which slow him down considerably.  His travel log consists of descriptions of the passing landscape, particularly the small towns he beds in, his dealings with the people he meets, and ruminations about life on the road. He adds to this a history of the bicycle, and its role in shaping the United States’ social and transportation history.

I enjoy stories about people who hit the open road and go where it takes them, exploring and venturing into the unknown, and Over the Hills was no exception. While Lamb doesn’t use his isolation on the road to delve into philosophy and the meaning of life (as did Peter Jenkins in A Walk Across America), I enjoyed his encounters with small-town America all the same, though aside from the ‘ordinary kindnesses’ the strangers offered there was little good news to be had. Most towns, Lamb wrote, had picked up and moved to interstate exit ramps,  leaving the old communities to rot in abandonment.  More cheery than this was the fascinating history of the bicycle in American culture, which Lamb concludes by detailing how modern cities are attempting to encourage bicycle activity.  Parts of the book are dated ($15-and $20 motel rooms?!), but  it’s a fun ride read.

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