A rambling book about Fermor's exploration of various parts of Greece.
While there are some interesting sections - like the first part about a nomadic shepherd group called the Sarakatsans - he spends far too much time on arcane history of Orthodox monastic orders, the merits of Romios vs Hellene as a word for Greeks, and other topics. While there may be interesting ideas buried in some of these meanderings (for example, a history of the idea of Greece post-Turk), they are too deeply buried for me.
There is also a lot of the turn of the century English educated public school gentleman's idealized vision of Greece and the Greeks (and Byron) lurking behind his writing. And that annoying habit of making sweeping generalizations about races, nationalities, etc.
The section on Crete reminds me of some of Hemingway's writing on Spaniards during the Civil War. The natural peasant man seen as some kind of counter or embodiment of virtue in the face of western civilized man. It is embarrassing to turn the world into some kind of shadow play of your own mind (again that idea of being trapped in stories and mythologies).
Thursday 19 March 2015
Happy City - Charles Montgomery
A book filled with fascinating observations and research about the crazy way we have come to see and live in our cities. Too many to list here. One: inhabitants of Toronto and Vancouver express less satisfaction with life than people living in small towns and backwaters such as Sherbrooke and Brantford (!!!!!)
He looks at many of the unhealthy, unhappy trends in modern urban design and living. He explores the negative outcomes of our obsessions with suburban sprawl. He looks at the politics of power and inequality in modern urban environments, from the domination of the car to gentrification.
Throughout the book I met explanations for many of the things I disliked about my suburban living experience and also that I dislike in the changes in Toronto. Why walking is so unpleasant in the suburbs. Why parks are often so uninviting. Why the ROM addition is such an abomination. Why areas like Harboufront, with their endless condos and planned recreational areas, remain lifeless and uninviting. Why I was compelled to give up riding the subway this winter (the growing stress caused by repeated unreliability combined with a lack of power to circumvent the problem).
It also filled with inspirational stories of change for the better, like Bogata, Copenhagen, neighbourhoods and local movements around the world.
Definitely worth a reread.
He looks at many of the unhealthy, unhappy trends in modern urban design and living. He explores the negative outcomes of our obsessions with suburban sprawl. He looks at the politics of power and inequality in modern urban environments, from the domination of the car to gentrification.
Throughout the book I met explanations for many of the things I disliked about my suburban living experience and also that I dislike in the changes in Toronto. Why walking is so unpleasant in the suburbs. Why parks are often so uninviting. Why the ROM addition is such an abomination. Why areas like Harboufront, with their endless condos and planned recreational areas, remain lifeless and uninviting. Why I was compelled to give up riding the subway this winter (the growing stress caused by repeated unreliability combined with a lack of power to circumvent the problem).
It also filled with inspirational stories of change for the better, like Bogata, Copenhagen, neighbourhoods and local movements around the world.
Definitely worth a reread.
Discontent and Its Civilizations - Mohsin Hamid
A collection of wide-ranging essays, from personal to political.
For me, the most interesting are the essays focusing on presenting a deeper, more nuanced picture of Pakistan, and by extension, Islam.
Underlying a lot of his thought is the idea that civilizations are an illusion. They are stories that are told, often for a political end, or from a position of weakness. He explores the idea of the complexity and multi-layerd nature of identities, (This is a theme I read about recently in another book.) This idea also links into the idea I have been mulling over lately of the possibility of living without stories, without a personal mythology - is it possible? Or can you simply change your relation to stories and mythology, seeing them less as a definition of self and the world, and more as something to play with, to take on and off, like glasses or costumes?
To Find:
Antonio Tabucchi - Sostiene Pereira (and other works)
For me, the most interesting are the essays focusing on presenting a deeper, more nuanced picture of Pakistan, and by extension, Islam.
Underlying a lot of his thought is the idea that civilizations are an illusion. They are stories that are told, often for a political end, or from a position of weakness. He explores the idea of the complexity and multi-layerd nature of identities, (This is a theme I read about recently in another book.) This idea also links into the idea I have been mulling over lately of the possibility of living without stories, without a personal mythology - is it possible? Or can you simply change your relation to stories and mythology, seeing them less as a definition of self and the world, and more as something to play with, to take on and off, like glasses or costumes?
To Find:
Antonio Tabucchi - Sostiene Pereira (and other works)
Saturday 14 March 2015
Black and Blue - Ian Rankin
Another good, gripping read by Rankin. A little less philosophical than some of his others, but still the straw men of the modern bureaucratic government service...
Sunday 8 March 2015
The Many Lives of Josephine Baker - Peggy Caravantes
Crazy life of Josephine Baker. Coming from dirt poor St Louis slums. Running away to vaudeville at 13. Smash hit in Paris at 19. A life of crazy whims, big money and big mismanagement. In later years, saved from penury by Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer. Living in the world of larger than life...
Il pleuvait des oiseaux - Jocelyne Saucier
Intéressant petit livre. Il raconte essentiellement la vie isolée de trois vieux qui veulent finir leurs jours à leur façon. Un peu romantique à la façon québécoise.
Before the Dawn - Nicholas Wade
This book starts off well. When he sticks to reporting science research, he presents some interesting current ideas.
- the original homo sapiens population before the spread out of Africa seems to have been about 5000 people living in East Africa near the Red Sea - most of the rest of Africa at that times seems to have been suffering an extreme drought
- the original group that left Africa may have been as small as 150 people
- they seem to have spread east first, along the coast and into India and South-east Asia - from India, some groups spread back west towards Turkey and ultimately Europe
- the original Homo Sapiens would have been dark-skinned as there is strong selection pressure in Africa to have dark pigmentation to protect from degradation of reproductive capability (due to overproduction of vitamin D?)
- based on genetic studies of the differences between body lice and head lice DNA, it can be theorized that humans first started wearing clothes about 10 000 years ago!
- the migration out of Africa would have started about 50 000 years ago - this is also roughly when then last brain mutation appeared in an area affecting speech and language - people where this area is damaged or underdeveloped have trouble both articulating speech and processing incoming messages
- African click languages seem to be the oldest languages in the world - speakers of click languages have the largest accumulated number of DNA mutations in the homo sapiens population, making them the group that would have split off first from the original homo sapiens genetic profile - this suggests click languages may be the closest to the original speech of homo sapiens
- genetically, all lines of homo sapiens are descended from one X chromosome male and one Y chromosome female!!! Adam and Eve...
Unfortunately, when Wade gets past the earliest years of human development, he starts bringing in a lot of his own speculation and bias. There is a significant drop off of reference to research and studies once he starts discussing Neanderthal Homo Sapiens relations, early homo sapiens society and social relations, and intra- group dynamics. You get the strong sense he is a staunch Republican... war, conflict, social hierarchy and quest for dominance as the natural state of man.
Boring reading - I will not be finishing the book.
- the original homo sapiens population before the spread out of Africa seems to have been about 5000 people living in East Africa near the Red Sea - most of the rest of Africa at that times seems to have been suffering an extreme drought
- the original group that left Africa may have been as small as 150 people
- they seem to have spread east first, along the coast and into India and South-east Asia - from India, some groups spread back west towards Turkey and ultimately Europe
- the original Homo Sapiens would have been dark-skinned as there is strong selection pressure in Africa to have dark pigmentation to protect from degradation of reproductive capability (due to overproduction of vitamin D?)
- based on genetic studies of the differences between body lice and head lice DNA, it can be theorized that humans first started wearing clothes about 10 000 years ago!
- the migration out of Africa would have started about 50 000 years ago - this is also roughly when then last brain mutation appeared in an area affecting speech and language - people where this area is damaged or underdeveloped have trouble both articulating speech and processing incoming messages
- African click languages seem to be the oldest languages in the world - speakers of click languages have the largest accumulated number of DNA mutations in the homo sapiens population, making them the group that would have split off first from the original homo sapiens genetic profile - this suggests click languages may be the closest to the original speech of homo sapiens
- genetically, all lines of homo sapiens are descended from one X chromosome male and one Y chromosome female!!! Adam and Eve...
Unfortunately, when Wade gets past the earliest years of human development, he starts bringing in a lot of his own speculation and bias. There is a significant drop off of reference to research and studies once he starts discussing Neanderthal Homo Sapiens relations, early homo sapiens society and social relations, and intra- group dynamics. You get the strong sense he is a staunch Republican... war, conflict, social hierarchy and quest for dominance as the natural state of man.
Boring reading - I will not be finishing the book.
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