Posts Tagged ‘books’
2
Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything by Gordon Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This work is part personal journal, part manifesto, and part self-help book. Essentially, Gordon Bell tries to make a good case for the “inevitable revolution” towards “Total Recall” (caps, mind you) that will “force” us to “adapt” to it. His diction gives you a good sense of what’s to come, sigh.
If you can stomach his single-mindedly evangelical agenda, you’ll find that this book pursues some interesting ideas about the implications of recording as many details of one’s life as possible. And not just in writing, but in photos, sound, video, drawings, scanned documents, GPS locations, chat logs, pedometer readings, etc. etc.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book felt like a really long poem rather than a novel. I say this because the prose is so beautiful it really borders on poetry. The story, though, is almost negligible. We’re told what happens from the beginning: Chuck dies. The rest of it is a drawn-out exploration of Hans’ psyche as he wanders, ghost-like, through his NY life, his semi-divorce, and his friendship with Chuck.
Hans is a weak character, even as he narrates with wisdom that seems naive and deep at the same time. He doesn’t change, evolve, or confront conflicts head-on. He doesn’t take charge (well he tries, but the results were awkward, to say the least.) Basically, he spends his time bouncing off of Chuck, and the insides of his skull.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was awesome. First and foremost, it is hilarious. It is the kind of hilarious that is enhanced with a pinch of abject horror, but it is not sad like the way watching The Office is sad and soul-crushing. No, there is something strangely… uplifting about Bourdains account of his drug-ridden, half-crazed, sleep-deprived, machismo-driven careen through cookdom.
I like its contrasts. Sometimes it is fast and noisy action, other times it’s quiet introspection. Topics swing wildly between the gory and brutal realities of dinner rush in the kitchen, and sweetly touching descriptions of Bourdain’s love for food and all those who share this love. In one chapter, Boudain will be reveling in the playful, hubristic terrors of his crazed, drug-induced reckless young life, the next, he’ll be feeding himself platefuls of humble pie.
Though the writing style is extreme and pocked with exaggeration, he is great at maintaining perspective so I am content to romp along through his accounts of gasp-worthy excesses and crimes. Because I know by the end he will be able to wrap them up into some sort of personal critical response. Crazy as Bourdain’s life was, he has clearly done some soul-searching and introspectating, and the results are written all over this book.
He’s a great writer and has a surprisingly handy and beautiful way with words. It borders on the poetry of the insane. Because his background is what he says it is, I am never sure if the occasional gem of a turn-of-phrase is the effect of some lingering crack in his bloodstream or if he really is just that smart of a writer. Actually that is dumb; of course he is very smart. It comes through in the way he refers to important historical events like they were everyday household concepts. I kept having to look stuff up on Wikipedia, and not just the French words. And there’s also that endearing self-deprecation he constantly foists upon himself. Nothing says “smart guy” like someone who knows the limit of their smartness.
Finally, he’s made me want to learn French cooking. He’s turned me off of silly platings with squeezie bottles and towering stacks of scallops for a bit, but I do want to know how to make a good demi-glace, ever so much. Now where can I get me some veal bones in the US?
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough
rating: 4 of 5 stars
The central premise of Cradle to Cradle is we need to rethink and retool how we design and manufacture physical products. The authors argue that we currently follow a “cradle-to-grave” model, which results in the loss of valuable materials to landfill (which further poisons the land with chemicals off-gassing and leeching). Alternatively, they propose thinking of all physical resources as nutrients, which, like molecules in nature, can be cycled infinitely without loss of integrity and depletion. This would pave the way to a new “cradle-to-cradle” approach, in which. This main argument is set in the context of a greater, eco-centric philosophical mindset, in which all of our actions have ecological consequences and therefore we should seek to assimilate nature’s rules and existing energy and material flows. Finally, the authors are vocally against being “less bad.” Instead, they advocate breaking out of the current trend of focusing on “efficiency” – continuing to pollute and deplete resources, but more slowly – and focus instead of “effectiveness” – eradicating the dangers of pollution and finite resources entirely.
Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was good. Marjane Satrapi is a talented artist, story-boarder, and narrator. Before getting into this, I thought the art style was simple to the point of crudeness, but now I have a hard time imagining it any other way. It’s surprising how evocative eyes drawn with just a circle and a dot can be. She has somehow made all the characters and events feel very human, multi-layered, and complex, despite the simplifying/condensing/caricaturing that often comes about in the comic medium. For some reason, I am particularly enamored with her portrayal of children and their dialogue — somehow she has captured that naive innocence with a deftness that defies her age and her life experiences.
Other than that, I finally understand what Jess meant when she said that reading novels and stories helps her understand history better than news or non-fiction could.
