BEWILDERMENT: A NOVEL
By Richard Powers
Another wow.
Absolute poetry.
I can't stop thinking about this book, its characters and the implications of the story.
A young boy with autism, a single father who is an astrobiologist trying to do his best to raise him.
Beautiful fiction, part sci fi with a healthy dose of philosophy. That's right up my alley.
I have never read the author and will definitely go back to read The Overstory.
Man, if your Mom made you wear that color when you were a baby, and you're still wearing it, it's time to grow up!
I just finished Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes du Mez. (As in a previous post about a different book, this should not be considered an invitation to discuss the substance of the book, which is clearly PPB in every way possible.) Her main thesis is that the Evangelical movement was swept up by those who wanted to hang on to old-timey gender roles, with macho (even violent) men and nurturing/adoring women. She also contends that the election of Donald Trump was not through evangelicals holding their noses and voting against the perceived greater evil (H. Clinton), but because they enthusiastically supported Trump despite his well-publicized moral issues.
I just finished reading John Feinstein's Raise a Fist, Take a Knee: Race and the Illusion of Progress in Modern Sports. I highly recommend it.
My assistant gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas, let me know if y’all have any thoughts on what I picked:
The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson (came recommended)
The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (I really like his lecture series)
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (sounded interesting).
(And a Collins Road Atlas of Europe, 2021, because I am still hopeful I will be tooling around there this spring and wanted old-school maps in case I have internet/data issues in the deep forest or mountains. Plus — planning trips by map is a long-lost joy from my younger days).
I read "The Overstory" this fall after listening to Richard Powers on Ezra Klein's podcast. It was really interesting, and now, like you two, I should move on to Bewilderment. I think "The Overstory" featured more varied vocabulary than any book I have ever read. Some of it may be because of the dozens of nature terms I had never heard, but he really has a deep cauldron from which he constructs his sentences.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/o...rd-powers.html
These two are fantastic choices. You been hanging out in my brain? We're about to dive in on the early modern period of cross-cultural contact (~1500-1800) in my history class, and Guns, Germs, and Steel underpins a great deal of my teaching about that era. For my money, it's one of the great history books ever written, irrespective of subcategory. For that matter, it could be listed under a number of other, non-history disciplines and it would still be one of the greats.
Campbell is also a fun one. Scholars have criticized his work for being overbroad and generalizing too much about a vast array of sources (folklore from literally all around the world), but I for one laud his attempts at identifying fundamental similarities in such disparate works and cultures. His conversations about archetypes and the hero's journey will become relevant in the coming days in my class as well, as we launch into The Princess Bride (the book, not the movie).
I started a new book, The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan. It is the story of George Vanderbilt and Biltmore Estate.
Bob Green
I'm reading The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics, by Chris Jones. It has been quite interesting. I almost bailed early on the book, because the first couple of subjects were about finding the right formula for a hit movie, and then moved to pop music, neither of which interests me particularly. I stuck with it and am glad I did. Sections about sports and about weather forecasting were especially good.
I'm reading two books published in the 19th century.
1) Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of the Bering Strait, by Peter Lauridsen. Published in Danish in 1885, and translated into English in 1889.
Because of the current massive Russian investment in Arctic Ocean infrastructure, I wanted to learn more about how the north coast of Russia and the western Pacific were first explored. A far as I can tell, there is no modern bio of Bering. This book has its flaws (too much time spent defending Bering; too much detail at times) but is quite readable and interesting.
2) To Have and To Hold, by Mary Johnston. Published in serial form in 1899, it was the best selling novel of 1900. Set in early 17th century Jamestown. Because it was originally released in serial form by Atlantic Monthly, I'm reading it in the Serial Reader app, one chapter a day. Not a great novel, but it's entertaining enough to hold my interest.
I just finished Mel Brooks' new memoir All About Me!
An enjoyable read, great stories as expected, and anyone who enjoys Mel's efforts will want to get it. Considering his feats across all varieties of media and entertainment, he's probably the most accomplished comedian of all time.
It's good to be the king.
The Last Castle was a wonderful read. I thoroughly enjoyed the story about Biltmore Estate but the book’s largest impression was learning how George Vanderbilt, his wife Edith and daughter Cornelia utilized their wealth to help others less fortunate than themselves.
Bob Green