Pebble in the Sky

Posted on September 14, 2009 by smellincoffee

Pebble in the Sky

© 1950 Isaac Asimov
223 pages
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After finishing the Foundation and Robots series (save Robots and Empire) I decided to move on to the Galactic Empire series which fits in between them — tying Earth’s near future as depicted in the Robots books and the Galaxy’s far future in the Foundation novels together. I was able to purchase Triangle last fall but have never gotten around to reading any of the three Empire books contained within (The Stars like Dust, Pebble in the Sky, and The Currents of Space) in full until today. My impression of the series from what I’ve read in Asimov’s biographies is that they were not produced as a deliberate trilogy, but are rather three books that share the same essential setting. As the stories are not related, I’ve decided to read them in the order that they were published instead of in order of internal chronology.
The Galactic Empire books are set thousands of years in Earth’s future, in which humanity has colonized the galaxy and forgotten its own origins. Eight hundred years ago, the galaxy was united under the Spaceship and Sun emblem of the Empire, bringing peace, prosperity, and order. This I was expecting, and so you can imagine my surprise when the novel started out in 1949 Chicago, beginning with the story of a retired tailor named Joseph Schwartz who is suddenly thrust into Earth’s future when he walks through an undetectable fissure in space-time. He is an artifact — his language dead, limited parts of its vocabulary known only to archaeologists who specialize in the dismal subject of Earth.
Dismal? Earth? Indeed — in Asimov’s setting, Earth is a partially radioactive backwater planet regarded as the back end of nowhere, populated by superstitious and generally nasty people who think too much of themselves. The Galaxy, lead by the city-planet of Trantor, has long forgotten its populations’ origins: the theory that life arose on one planet and spread is supported by only a few, and bears an embarrassing resemblance to the stories told by the theocrats reigning in Earth that once Earth was the center of the galaxy, that all of civilization sprung from that meager pebble in the sky.
The theocrats on Earth — the “Council of Ancients”, who rule through custom and secret police — have not forgotten Earth’s former glory. If we can believe characters in the book, Earth has rebelled against the might of the Empire on at least two occasions. Earthers may be their galaxy’s Roma, despised and regarded as “uncultured”, but they are fiercely proud of themselves regardless. They regard themselves as free and technically at war with the Empire, although they allow an imperial procurator to live in a fortress on Mount Everest. Thus, when an Imperial archaeologist arrives to do some research in Earth’s radioactive zones — forbidden by custom — and a stranger is taken in by Earth scientists who are quite possible subversives, the Ancients’ secret police smell a conspiracy. As the story unfolds, we shall see that their paranoia is being induced by their fear that a plan in the works will be uncovered by the Empire — a plan that could topple the Empire and give Earth its “Second Kingdom”.
Pebble in the Sky is very much dated, but one of the reasons I like reading Asimov’s stuff is that his works are dated. His novels and story stories have that mid-20th century feel to them, one that’s hard to put into words but very noticeable — like when the characters speak of tape recordings. The same feeling is present when watching Star Trek’s original series, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Pebble in the Sky is a rather interesting story, although it was not originally meant to be a novel and may bear that out. It’s recommended reading for Asimov fans like myself, and for those who like their science fiction to have that classic “feel” to it, whatever it is.
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Taming the Mind

Posted on September 13, 2009 by smellincoffee

Taming the Mind

© 2004 Thubten Chodron
217 pages
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I judged a book by its cover when I read this one. Oh, I looked it up on Amazon to see what readers were saying about it — my substitute for thumbing through the book, which I cannot do when requesting books through an online library catalogue — but really, I checked this book out because I liked the cover. The scene looks simple, natural, and tranquil — and that’s the neighborhood I like my mind to live in. The book is apparently written as a sequel to a beginner’s guide to Buddhism, although I’m not sure why — as this book seems to cover the basics. Chodron gives a history of Buddhism, comparing its schools of thought to one another, explains the essential teachings, and then applies them to parenting or employment.
Chodron takes Buddhism very seriously — judging from their works that I have read, more seriously than the Dalai Lama. What I like about the Buddhist tradition is its emphasis on rationality and skepticism, and parts of this book made me uncomfortable in their apparent failure to live up to that standard. Siddhartha is viewed as less a wise teacher and more a demigod, and Chodron’s advice to practicing Buddhists to avoid people who don’t take the teachings carries a whiff of isolating fundamentalism. The book doesn’t seem to mesh together very well, aside from being about Buddhism in general. There are chapters on Buddhist history, Buddhist culture, and other assorted topics that don’t seem to go with “Taming the Mind”. That book is in here — some of the introduction, and the two beginning sections of “Our Relationship with Others” and on habits — but there’s a lot of information that distracts from that and absorbs space that perhaps should have gone to expanding the aforementioned sections.
Parts of the book are better than others, but I can’t say I would recommend it. And I’m sorry to say that, because I never like reading a book and not being able to get anything out of it.* I’m going to try the author again, though.
* Save this, from “Dhammapada 165″:
By ourselves is evil done;
By ourselves we pain endure.
By ourselves we cease from ill;
By ourselves become we pure.
No one can save us but ourselves;
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path,
Buddhas only point the way
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Waiter Rant

Posted on September 12, 2009 by smellincoffee
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip — Confessions of a Cynical Waiter
© 2008 “The Waiter”
302 pages
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While browsing humor site NotAlwaysRight, in which the malevolence and stupidity of the average consumer are celebrated through submitted quotations, I noticed a link in the sidebar to this book, which is based off an older blog of the same name (old enough for me to have read it years ago). I was pleased to find that my library had access to it. I decided to read this immediately following A Murder on the Appian Way (instead of finishing Taming the Mind) for the benefit of a friend, who spotted it and was immediately hooked after he read the introduction in the few minutes we had before a class started.
As you might guess from its title, Waiter Rant consists of stories told by an experienced waiter who has worked in a couple of restaurants for nearly a decade. It reminded me much of the NPR show This American Life, where every episode consists of first-person stories about a theme. Although I’ve listened to TAL for years, I approach every episode cautiously: it’s a poignant show, a very human show. When it’s funny, it’s tear-inducing, gasping for air funny. And when it’s sad, disturbing, or maddening, it hits the same way. There’s no hint of manufactured comedy or tragedy in either This American Life or Waiter Rant, making both the comedy, tragedy, and otherwise more powerful. Although this is a very funny book, sometimes the humor is bitter, and it’s always served with thought-provoking musings by the Waiter.
Our host — not to be confused with his occupation of waiter, peon, and quasi-manager — recounts the near-decade he spent working in two restaurants of varying quality, although neither of them seem like very pleasant places to work. Although some of the chapters are straightforward story-telling, most chapters consist of stories told about a given theme — the narrator recounting them to himself in thought as he is involved in something similar. For instance, in “The Back Alley of Influence”, he muses on the hidden side of restaurant life: just as customers will never see the back door of the restaurant with its overflowing dumpster, nor will they ever really realize anything about the lives the waiters live or on how much they depend on illegal immigrants.
Waiter Rant is definitely a recommendation, even if you don’t make a habit of frequenting restaurants. Just be prepared for the authenticity.
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A Murder on the Appian Way

Posted on September 12, 2009 by smellincoffee
A Murder on the Appian Way
© 1997 Steven Saylor
413 pages
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“Oh, the times! Oh, the morals!” – Cicero
“Ah, judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason!” – Mark Antony, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. (Act 3, scene 2)
A Murder on the Appian Way starts out in chaos. Publius Clodius, the darling of the plebs, has been murdered on the highway south of Rome. Clodius has been deeply involved in Rome’s political wranglings between the populares (populists) and Optimates (aristocrats). His own personal rival is Milo, a man who has been threatening to have Clodius done away with for some time. Clodius was loved by the mob for many reasons, chiefly his support of the grain dole, and when his stabbed and strangled body appears in Rome they want blood. The city is dark, but alive with hatred as people gather torches and march on the Senate, then on Milo’s home.
The setting here at the beginning is well done: I really felt as though I was in Rome, hiding behind locked doors staring out into a dark city and hearing the voices of the mob. I could feel Gordianus’ fear and anxiety about what the next hours would bring. They brought nothing good, as the Senate house burns. The Republic hasn’t held elections in a year, and the rioting mob results in a period of anarchy where homes larger than huts are sacked and people are murdered. Gordianus’ own home is similarly plundered when he and his son Eco are attempting to glean information at a political gathering, and the statue of Minerva in his garden is pushed off of its pedestal, breaking in half. It is very appropriate that the goddess of wisdom, justice, and civilization would be broken in two in a book such as this, where men “lose their reason”.
Although Milo is commonly thought of as the man who killed Clodius, many people aren’t quite certain — among them, Clodius’s widow and the general-politician Pompey the Great. Both approach Gordianus and ask him to find the truth of the matter, leading him to the countryside surrounding the Appian way where he will conduct interviews and try to find the truth of the matter. Gordianus’ attachment to the truth, which Saylor’s Cicero will thumb his nose at as being foolishness (he being of the opinion that “Truth” is whatever oratory that helps the Republic), serves him well in gathering the respect of many people in Rome, but also makes him dangerous to those who don’t want the real story being told.
Saylor has delivered an incredible read here. History is no longer the setting but is now actively driving the plot — think of a story set on the Titanic before and after the ship hits the iceberg and begins to sink. The fall of the Republic is similar to the sinking of the Titanic, and it may be here in this book that the Republic hits its iceberg. Historical fiction must be both good history and good fiction, and I’m reasonably sure A Murder on the Appian Way is both — its setting is compelling, its characters believable, its drama gripping. Saylor combines historical fact with an examination of moral ambiguity, both in interpersonal affairs and in politics.
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Death by Black Hole

Posted on September 10, 2009 by smellincoffee

Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandries
© 2007 Neil deGrasse Tyson
384 pages

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Although I’ve encountered Dr. Tyson before — chiefly through interviews in podcasts like The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe and the Humanist Network News — I’ve never read anything by him. His Death by Black Hole is a collection of columns and articles he has written for scientific magazines, edited for continuity. The 42 essays are divided into seven sections: “The Nature of Knowledge”, “The Knowledge of Nature”, “Ways and Means of Nature”, “The Meaning of Life”, “When the Universe Turns Bad”, “Science and Culture” and lastly, “Science and God”.

Tyson has been billed to me as the next Carl Sagan, and in some ways I think the description fits. He’s definitely passionate about popularizing science, and criticizes scientists like Richard Dawkins who he thinks have lost touch with the common people. Tyson as an astrophysicists writes essays mostly dealing with those themes, but he addresses a few other fields and science in general before the book is finished. The majority of these were fascinating, even if I don’t particularly understand the subfield being worked in, and humor abounds. It’s worthy of a read.

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This Week at the Library (10/9)

Posted on September 10, 2009 by smellincoffee

Books this Update:

  • A History of God, Karen Armstrong
  • The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
  • Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn
  • The Sons of Caesar, Philip Matyszak

I started the week off with Karen Armstrong’s History of God, a religious history focusing on the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While her focus remains here, Armstrong often connects themes in these religions as they develop to developing traditions in other religions The book reminded me of her The Great Transformation. While she covers a lot of information — focusing not only on the general history of the religions but trends within them, like mysticism and rationalism — she does it fairly well, and the end result reads nicely.

I decided to revisit Carl Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World this week. I read it in 2006, and it helped reignite my passion for science and the natural world, as it concentrates on the benefits of science education and scientific thinking in understanding and enjoying the world — as well as protecting us from very easily made errors.

I reread another book following this, although I’d forgotten most everything about it except for a few particulars. Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire is the first in the Thrawn trilogy of Star Wars books set after Return of the Jedi, in which Imperial forces are rallying behind the extremely competent and devious Grand Admiral Thrawn to take on the New Republic, which is having serious problems creating a government from the ruins of war and from the framework of the Rebel Alliance. The trio from the original trilogy are the book’s main characters, but other characters (like Thrawn and Mara Jade) are introduced. The last sentence in my extended comments sums it up nicely: “Zahn delivers a prime Star Wars novel with elements of everything that made the movies enjoyable while making believable modifications to the now-late ROTJ universe.”

Lastly, I read The Sons of Caesar, a narrative history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty covering Julius Caesar to Nero. According to the author, the Julio-Claudian dynasty oversaw the complete transition of Rome from Republic to Empire, each succeeding emperor making changes to the system. After spending a little time to analyze the late Republic, Matyszak devotes one chapter to each of the emperors. The narrative is nicely done, giving me a feel for how Rome was changing over the generations. It never lost my attention.

Pick of the Week: I’m exempting Sagan because I’ve read Demon-Haunted World before. The Sons of Caesar gets it this week, I think.

Quotation of the Week: “Science is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. It is a way of of skeptically interrogating the universe with an eye for human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those of authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan — political or religious — who comes ambling along.” (Carl Sagan, in an interview available at the Sounds of Sagan. He reflects a similar sentiment in the book.)

Potentials for Next Week, in order of likelihood:

  • Death by Black Hole, Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’m mostly finished with this one.
  • Taming the Mind, Thubten Chodron. This one is shaping up to be more dogmatic (and thus, less enjoyable) than I had anticipated. I may finish it, but I may stop and move on to something more enjoyable, like..
  • Murder on the Appian Way, Steven Saylor
  • Waiter Rant, Steven Dublanica.
  • The Philosophy of Humanism, Corliss Lamont. Considering I’ve thought of myself as a Humanist for over three years now, it may seem strange that I’ve never read anything about it. Humanism is a philosophy easily self-arrived at, though, its values being human values, and so no books are necessary.
  • Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn. The second in the Thrawn series.
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The Sons of Caesar

Posted on September 9, 2009 by smellincoffee

The Sons of Caesar: Imperial Rome’s First Dynasty
© 2006 Philip Matyszak
296 pages, 16 pages of plates.

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Most of my Roman reading has been set in the late Republic, although as a western student of history I have a working knowledge of the Roman empire. Even so, the amount of emperors I can name is somewhat limited, as is my sense of where they fit in on the timescale — with some exceptions. For instance, I didn’t know Nero was closely related to emperor Augustus, nor did I know how quickly he rose to the office. For me, The Sons of Caesar was an edifying read, nicely written and very informing. It corrected my ignorance of the early imperial period while telling an interesting story in and of itself.

Matyszak begins the book with statement that republics do not become empires overnight, and the empire that westerners think of is no exception. Although the system that would eventually emerge from the Republic’s death would be vastly different, Matyszak maintains that the early imperials simply co-opted elements of the old Republic, with each successive generation seeing more liberties taken. By the end of the first dynasty, the “last remnants of the old Republic [had] been swept away.” According to Matyszak, the transition between Republic and Empire happening nicely within the bounds of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and those six emperors (Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) are the topic of the work. He starts the book by analyzing the character of the old Republic, showing how what we might think of corruption was really just the normal affairs of the late republic. He shows too how it could be manipulated.

The first chapter on Caesar is nearly an introduction by itself, as Caesar — despite his claims to “Dictator for Life” — is more republican than any of his successors, and his rule does not last for very long. Soon he is assassinated, and Matyszak devotes attention to the war between Mark Antony and Octavius for the throne. The chapters do not blend right into one another: each emperor gets his own, but when it ends at his death, Matyszak chooses to begin the next chapter by telling the story of the successor’s career up to that point before he actually becomes emperor. Matyszak keeps himself grounded in primary sources, being careful to avoid taking some of the early Roman historians seriously, as some of them liked to gossip. This is a well-done narrative, definitely one of the better popular histories I’ve read.

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Heir to the Empire

Posted on September 7, 2009 by smellincoffee

Heir to the Empire

© 1991 Timothy Zahn
404 pages
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A few weeks ago I decided to read the Thrawn trilogy in full. Set in the Star Wars expanded universe five years after Return of the Jedi, it seemed an apt introduction to the post-trilogies universe. Although I am not a stranger to Star Wars fiction, the majority of my reading — except for this book, I think — has been set before the original trilogy. I haven’t sampled any of the vast post-ROTJ offerings for the same reason I was wary about starting Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels and for the same reason I am finding it difficult to get back into post-Nemesis Trek literature: people have been writing these novels long enough for the stories to be completely unrecognizable to the new reader, and I would rather not immerse myself in a pool of stories if I can’t swim.
But, the Thrawn trilogy has a background not too unlike the movies. Five years have passed and the Rebellion has formed a provisional “New Republic” which still fights the Imperial remnant recently strengthened as it rallies around Grand Admiral Thrawn, a mysterious and devious imperial commander — but it’s still the Star Wars I know. The title is ambiguous as to who the empire’s heir is: is it the fledging New Republic, still mostly ruled by the military leadership of the Rebellion, or is it the new face of the Empire — Grand Admiral Thrawn? This opening story sees Princess Leia, now expecting “Jedi twins”, attempt to rally support for the Republic while Han Solo tries to convince smugglers that the Republic welcomes their shipping. Naturally, neither of their missions go perfectly and the plot soon involves space battle, multiple attempts on the heroes’ lives or general well-being, Lando Calrissian, and several new characters who will play important parts in the story to come.
Zahn delivers a prime Star Wars novel with elements of everything that made the movies enjoyable while making believable modifications to the now-late ROTJ universe.
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The Demon-Haunted World

Posted on September 6, 2009 by smellincoffee
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
© 1995 Carl Sagan
457 pages
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Carl Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World is a classic of the modern skeptical movement. I initially began to phrase that “will be considered”, but quickly changed it: if a skeptical website or blog has a list of reccommended books, chances are good that Demon-Haunted World will be on the list along with Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things. Sagan is perhaps best known for his work with Cosmos: while a scientist himself with experience in the Voyager and Mariner projects, Sagan made a career out of popularizing science. In The Demon-Haunted World, Sagan writes on the importance of science education and more importantly — the mindset behind science. “Science is not just a body of knowledge,” he writes here and commented in an interview, “It is a way of thinking. It is a way of of skeptically interrogating the universe with an eye for human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those of authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan — political or religious — who comes ambling along.”
The importance of science education and a scientific/skeptical worldview are two themes here, but another that underlies them is the wonder of science. While he applies skepticism to UFO sightings, crop circles, and faith-healers in the book, Sagan writes that perhaps these things stem from an appetite for wonder that people do not realize can be found in the world of science. Part of one chapter seems to come from his lecture “Wonder and Skepticism”, which you can listen to here following an interview with his co-author, colleague, and wife Ann Druyan. Sagan does not only advocate a scientific worldview on the basis that it increases our well-being or is simply useful: as he cautions in an introductory chapter, “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.” Like Erich Fromm in The Sane Society, he cautions that change is not only useful here, but necessary.
It was lovely to revist Carl Sagan: his joy at the natural world and being able to think about it intelligently are compelling and contagious, as I found when I first read him in 2006.
Related:

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A History of God

Posted on September 5, 2009 by smellincoffee

A History of God: the 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

© 1993 Karen Armstrong
460 pages
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I checked this out in early 2006 but quickly lost interest after encountering the Sumerian mythology that Armstrong introduces the book with. After breaking through this, I found A History of God to be a quite readable and informative history of the three Abrahamic religions, covering their initial origins and then tracking their development through the centuries, devoting separate chapters to the religions’ response to mystics and the philosophic God of the Greeks. Armstrong is interested in what the idea of God has meant for people whose culture has been partially formed by the Abrahamic faiths, although she connects the book’s narrative to a greater human story by comparison and contrast to Hinduism and Buddhism. Armstrong’s voice seems fair: I can imagine no objections raised against her treatment of the faiths except from ardent inerranists or anti-religionists. The book is a thorough and readable take on the intellectual, philosophical, and theological histories of two of the world’s largest religions and their progenitor.
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