The Plague

The Plague by Albert Camus, translated by Stuart Gilbert, 308 pages

This book is set in Oran, a coastal town in North Africa. The narrator of the book isn't revealed until the end.

The bubonic plague breaks out in the town and everyone is slow to react. Eventually, protective measures are taken in stages. The town is quarantined. The disease is passed through fleas but later becomes airborne. 

People who were visiting the town are trapped there, unable to get back to their loved ones. As a doctor tries to create a serum, people come together to fight the plague the best they can.

In Camus's Absurdist philosophy the world is meaningless and people have three alternatives. One is suicide, the second is religion or spirituality and the third is acceptance and finding your own meaning. You can see how this relates to characters in the book and what Camus thinks.

In some ways the book mirrors current events involving Covid-19 but it is different in some ways too. Circumstances may have changed but human nature hasn't. That much is true. It means there are some lessons we can draw but it also means we may not be able to totally change the outcome.

As a novel I don't give it a great review but I give it a good review as a chronicle of how people react to a disease run rampant and Camus's philosophy laid out in fiction.

The Analects

The Analects by Confucius, translated by D.C. Lau, 248 pages

Summary from Goodreads: This lively new translation with clear explanatory notes by one of the foremost scholars of classical Chinese provides the ideal introduction to the Analects for readers who have no previous knowledge of the Chinese language and philosophical traditions.

"How dare I claim to be a sage or a benevolent man?"

By constructing the philosophy expressed through The Analects, Confucius might well dare to make such a claim. The Analects are a collection of Confucius' sayings, compiled by his pupils shortly after his death in 497 B.C., and they reflect the extent to which Confucius held up a moral ideal for all men. The aim is the perfection of one's moral character, the method one of arduous pursuit of such moral attributes as benevolence, wisdom, courage; the result is no recompense either in this life or the next – to follow the Way must be its own reward. A harsh philosophy perhaps, but shining through it is the splendid intellect and spirit of one of the most reasonable and humane thinkers of all time.

This introduction in this edition helps prepare you for the text. However, I think the second appendix, which covers his disciples in the text, should have come before the text. It would provide background for a lot of the names you encounter along the way.

I would recommend this book to those that are interested in philosophy, especially those interested in Chinese philosophy or the origins of Confucianism.

 

Zhuangzi

 Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings with selections from traditional commentaries translated by Brook Ziporyn, 238 pages

Zhuangzi was a late 4th century B.C. Daoist philosopher. Zhuangzi's writings have a very poetical style, especially if contrasted with the Daodejing. His writings and philosophy can be hard to define because they have elements of multiple ideas. His writings show him as a mystic, a skeptic, a metaphysical monist, a spirit-body dualist, an intuitionist, a theist, a deist, an agnostic, a relativist, a fatalist, a nihilist, a linguistic philosopher, and an existentialist. 

However, some themes that can be found in his writings include: relative magnitudes in time and space, the emptiness of words, the imperative of self-preservation, and the non-distinction between life and death. 

Readers can choose how to take in this book. They can read just the Inner chapters or any chapters or jump around. The commentaries are optional but can add meaning. I liked this book and recommend it to those interested in Chinese philosophy or those interested in Daoism.

The Meaning of Life

 The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction by Terry Eagleton, 109 pages

This slim book covers a lot in a relatively few amount of pages. From the beginning, Eagleton tackles the subject with some levity. He starts by asking if 'What is the meaning of life?' is a genuine question. He concludes that it is. He continues by looking at the uses of the word meaning. He briefly looks at times when meaning wasn't very much of a concern for people or when it was decided there was no meaning. He considers multiple answers to the question such as happiness, power, love, honor, etc. At the end, he provides his argument of what he thinks is the answer.

I appreciated Eagleton's take on the meaning of life. While he did spent a lot of time considering if it is a valid question and what the definition of meaning is I thought it was fruitful. I liked his humor as well. I would recommend this to those considered the question. 

Strong Motion

 Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen, 508 pages

This was Franzen's second novel. Much of novel centers around the Hollands. Louis, his father Bob, his mother Melanie and his sister Eileen.

Louis has moved to Boston for a job at a radio station. Soon after, his grandmother dies from an earthquake and his mom inherits a house and shares in a chemical company named Sweeting-Aldren. Louis discovers that money does strange things to people. His new girlfriend Renee is a seismologist and she finds information that implicates Sweeting-Aldren in causing the earthquake and others. 

The plot also includes a Christian fundamentalist church that is protesting abortion clinics. 

I would say this book is uneven. There are parts of it that are very good but other parts that are lacking. The plot is intriguing and Franzen does an excellent job writing his characters. Much of the novel is about people and what drives them but there is no real exploration of why Melanie is so obsessed with the inheritance. The biggest other shortcoming is that almost all but one of the women are written in a negative light. Despite its shortcomings, I would still recommend this book to fiction readers. 

Would You Kill the Fat Man?

 Would You Kill the Fat Man? The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong by David Edmonds, 220 pages

Summary from Goodreads: "A runaway train is racing toward five men who are tied to the track. Unless the train is stopped, it will inevitably kill all five men. You are standing on a footbridge looking down on the unfolding disaster. However, a fat man, a stranger, is standing next to you: if you push him off the bridge, he will topple onto the line and, although he will die, his chunky body will stop the train, saving five lives. Would you kill the fat man?

The question may seem bizarre. But it's one variation of a puzzle that has baffled moral philosophers for almost half a century and that more recently has come to preoccupy neuroscientists, psychologists, and other thinkers as well. In this book, David Edmonds, coauthor of the best-selling Wittgenstein's Poker, tells the riveting story of why and how philosophers have struggled with this ethical dilemma, sometimes called the trolley problem. In the process, he provides an entertaining and informative tour through the history of moral philosophy. Most people feel it's wrong to kill the fat man. But why? After all, in taking one life you could save five. As Edmonds shows, answering the question is far more complex--and important--than it first appears. In fact, how we answer it tells us a great deal about right and wrong."

This is an excellent book that looks at the question from multiple angles and provides some insights in to why people answer the question (and similar ones) one way or another. The author does a good job of relating the hypothetical question to similar real world scenarios.  I would highly recommend this book.

Warrior of the Altaii

 Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan, 352 pages      

This is Robert Jordan's first novel that was  unpublished until now. The Altaii keep herds and raid. However, the watering holes on the Plains they roam are drying up. The warrior, Wulfgar, discovers that the Altaii could be destroyed if they don't change. 

They must take on the walled city of Lanta who has allied itself with the Morassa people (who also keep herds and raid).  

Near the end, you find out that there is a lot more to this world than meets the eye. It is intriguing but a tease that doesn't get explored further.

It is pretty good for a first novel. You can see glimpses of Jordan's Wheel of Time series in this book. The dynamic between women and men and a past that was better among other things.

I enjoy it a lot and wish it had been the beginning of a series. I would recommend it to fans of Robert Jordan and people who like fantasy. 

Sisterland

 Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld, 400 pages    

The book is set in St. Louis, mostly during 2009. Kate and Violets are twins who have 'senses'. Kate

rejects her senses while Violet embraces hers. Kate just wants to live a normal married suburban life. That goal is challenged when, after a small earthquake, her sister Vi predicts that there will be a much bigger earthquake on the local news.

The story blows up gaining a lot of local and national coverage. Vi doesn't know when but Kate gets a feeling about a certain date in the next couple of months. As the date approaches Kate doubts whether she will be right but prepares anyway. Along the way she grapples with relationship with her sister, her childhood and family history. 

The author lived in St. Louis and the local references rang true to me. Sittenfeld leaves the reader in suspense and throws in some twists for good measure. I didn't find the exploration truth and belief to be that strong. I would recommend this as a good (but not great) fiction read, especially if you want something set locally. 

The Political Brain

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation by Drew Westen, 475 pages

Drew Westen is a psychologist who has studied how emotions affect our political decisions. The main point of the book is that political scientists have thought people make decisions rationally when emotions have a much larger effect than rational. 

Westen has studied this himself and cites other evidence as well. He analyzes the period of 1984 -2008. Using presidential debates and rhetoric used by Democrats and Republicans he says that Republicans used appeals to emotion to their advantage. Meanwhile, Democrats made their appeals based on facts and rational arguments. This led to Democrats losing presidential elections, as well as congressional and senate seats.

Democrats let Republicans establish positions using rhetoric with emotional appeals without challenging them. Westen provides multiple examples of how Democrats could have countered the arguments based on their values. 

The way the book is written, it would mostly appeal to Democrats but anyone interested in how people make political decisions might be interested. While the book could have been shorter, I would recommend it to those interested in the topic.

The Soprano Sorceress

The Soprano Sorceress by L. E. Modesitt Jr., 509p

Anna Marshall is a middle-aged music instructor at a university. She is somewhat down on her luck and wishes to be elsewhere. At the same time, a young musician named Daffyd in the magical land of Erde enlists a travel sorceress to summon a powerful sorceress to help him get revenge on the sorcerer who killed his father.

In Erde, magic is created through song. Things do not got quite as Daffyd hoped. Anna discovers her musical talents, including singing, make her powerful but she doesn't know the ways of Erde and how the magic works. She teams up with the sorcerer who killed Daffyd's dad  to defend the country of Defalk against the Darksingers of Ebra.

She is successful but the sorcerer dies and she is left to make her way in the political world of Defalk. Her magic gives her power but makes her a target for the Ebrans and threatens the power of those in Defalk. In the end, she has to try to save Defalk and come to terms with her own power.

It has things that could be appealing such as the song magic and it has been referred to as feminist fantasy. However, it lacks too many things for me to recommend it. I wanted more explanation of how the magic worked but didn't get it. Except for the main character, most of the characters aren't well developed. It drags in places and then goes too quickly in others.

Trail of Lightning

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, 287 pages


Summary from Goodreads: While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters.

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel to the rez to unravel clues from ancient legends, trade favors with tricksters, and battle dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.

As Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past—if she wants to survive.

Welcome to the Sixth World. 

It has won a Locus Award and was nominated for a Nebula and a Hugo. I wanted to like this book but I couldn't and can't recommend it although I am sure some people would. The powers were cool and the setting seemed good. The problem was that there wasn't enough world building. The characters had promise but Maggie was especially lacking. I won't be reading the next book in the series.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb, 415 pages


Gottlieb and her boyfriend are laying in bed one night when he drops a bombshell on her. He is breaking up with her. She didn't expect it and is devastated. Through some subterfuge she asks a friend who is a therapist to recommend a therapist. So begins her quest to figure out what happened. She figures out that she is so upset not just because of the break up but because of other problems in her life that she didn't fully deal with.

She goes back in time and talks about her other career before she became a therapist. She also talks about how she decided to use in vitro fertilization to become a mother.

Another part of the book is about beginning as a therapist. She chronicles her work with several patients over time. Through her work with her therapist and her work with her patients we get an in depth look at how therapy works.

Gottlieb does a good job of humanizing herself and her patients. I would say there is a good reason this book has been on the bestseller list and would definitely recommend it.

Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays

Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays by Paul Kingsnorth, 284 pages



Kingsnorth is English and England plays a part in several of his essays. In fact, the political mood that ended up leading to England voting to leave the EU (although he doesn't talk about Brexit) is talked about several times.

Through the essays we find out how he became an environmentalist and decided he didn't want to be one anymore. It isn't that he no longer cares about the Earth and how it is treated. Rather, he has broken ranks with what environmentalists believe. He believes civilization will collapse at some point and we are better off preparing for what comes after. Environmentalists see this as giving up. Even more scary to him is the possibility of us surviving in a world that is devoid of nature and the wild.

Kingsnorth does not say that he has answers. He presents alternative explanations and possible paths to explore.

Kingsnorth has a bleak and pretty unique viewpoint. People who care about the environment are likely to find this book depressing. Despite that, I would recommend it and consider it worthwhile reading.

Fade Away

Fade Away by Harlan Coben, 328 pages

I listened to this as an audiobook.
Sports agent Myron Bolitar is back! This is the third book in the series. Myron is a former basketball star whose professional career was ended before it started. Another player injured his knee before his rookie season.

Now the owner of a team wants him to find NBA star Greg Downing who is Myron's former rival. He will go 'undercover' by signing and playing with the team. In the process of searching for Greg parts of his past will be dredged up and will stumble on another mystery. A dead woman is found. Is Greg involved and what is her real identity?

Definitely recommended reading. Once again, Coben weaves his mystery with wit and suspense. The narration was as good as the first two books in the series. There is not so much continuity that you have to read the books in order but it does help.

Hungry

Hungry: Eating, Road-tripping and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier, 230 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Hungry is a book about not only the hunger for food, but for risk, for reinvention, for creative breakthroughs, and for connection. Feeling stuck in his work and home life, writer Jeff Gordinier happened into a fateful meeting with Danish chef Rene Redzepi, whose restaurant, Noma, has been called the best in the world. A restless perfectionist, Redzepi was at the top of his game but was looking to tear it all down, to shutter his restaurant and set out for new places, flavors, and recipes.

This is the story of the subsequent four years of globe-trotting culinary adventure, with Gordinier joining Redzepi as his Sancho Panza. In the jungle of the Yucatan peninsula, Redzepi and his comrades go off-road in search of the perfect taco. In Sydney, they forage for sea rocket and sandpaper figs in suburban parks and on surf-lashed beaches. On a boat in the Arctic Circle, a lone fisherman guides them to what may or may not be his secret cache of the world's finest sea urchins. And back in Copenhagen, the quiet canal-lined city where Redzepi started it all, he plans the resurrection of his restaurant on the unlikely site of a garbage-filled lot. Along the way, readers meet Redzepi's merry band of friends and collaborators, including acclaimed chefs such as Danny Bowien, Kylie Kwong, Rosio Sanchez, David Chang, and Enrique Olvera.

I wasn't familiar with Noma until I started reading this book. I was just drawn to the title and description. I was not disappointed. Gordinier weaves a great story about Redzepi and his philosophy towards cooking. I especially enjoyed the parts that talked about the variety and nuances of moles. I would highly recommend this book!

Dying for Ideas

Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of the Philosophers by Costica Bradatan, 238 pages


Summary from Goodreads: What do Socrates, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, and Jan Patocka have in common? First, they were all faced one day with the most difficult of choices: stay faithful to your ideas and die or renounce them and stay alive. Second, they all chose to die. Their spectacular deaths have become not only an integral part of their biographies, but are also inseparable from their work. A "death for ideas" is a piece of philosophical work in its own right; Socrates may have never written a line, but his death is one of the greatest philosophical best-sellers of all time.

Dying for Ideas explores the limit-situation in which philosophers find themselves when the only means of persuasion they can use is their own dying bodies and the public spectacle of their death. The book tells the story of the philosopher's encounter with death as seen from several angles: the tradition of philosophy as an art of living; the body as the site of self-transcending; death as a classical philosophical topic; taming death and self-fashioning; finally, the philosophers' scapegoating and their live performance of a martyr's death, followed by apotheosis and disappearance into myth.

While rooted in the history of philosophy, Dying for Ideas is an exercise in breaking disciplinary boundaries. This is a book about Socrates and Heidegger, but also about Gandhi's "fasting unto death" and self-immolation; about Girard and Passolini, and self-fashioning and the art of the essay.

Bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. I learned some things I didn't know before but the book falls short for what it is supposed to be. It seems as if Bradatan is trying to provide an argument about philosophers who end up dying for ideas. It is more of a chronicle of instances where they have. While Bradatan does use sources from other disciplines I am not sure how much he is breaking boundaries.

The Women

The Women by T. C. Boyle, 451 pages

The narrator to this book is a fictional Japanese man who is written as one of Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentices. I think Boyle chose him as a narrator because he could provide an 'inside' perspective but also provide some objectivity. The book is about three of Wright's mistresses. Two of them later became wives. Some of the what Wright did would still be considered scandalous today but to truly understand you have to consider the mores of the time.

It starts with the story of Frank and the last woman and goes backwards. Once I came to the end I saw why Boyle started with the last woman and went backwards. The events at the end are mentioned earlier but it doesn't prevent them from being a fitting climax to the novel.

Before reading this I was only aware of Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect. I didn't know about the mistresses, some significant events in his life or him as a person. It seems that he wasn't good about paying his bills on time. Overall, I would rate this book somewhere between good and very good.

A Book Forged in Hell

A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age by Steven Nadler, 279 pages


Summary courtesy of Goodreads: "When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published--"godless," "full of abominations," "a book forged in hell . . . by the devil himself." Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Yet Spinoza's book has contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine's Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking. In A Book Forged in Hell, Steven Nadler tells the fascinating story of this extraordinary book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired.

It is not hard to see why Spinoza's Treatise was so important or so controversial, or why the uproar it caused is one of the most significant events in European intellectual history. In the book, Spinoza became the first to argue that the Bible is not literally the word of God but rather a work of human literature; that true religion has nothing to do with theology, liturgical ceremonies, or sectarian dogma; and that religious authorities should have no role in governing a modern state. He also denied the reality of miracles and divine providence, reinterpreted the nature of prophecy, and made an eloquent plea for toleration and democracy.

A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs."

Nadler sheds light on Spinoza. He isn't a philosopher that is discussed a lot by philosophers and his ideas aren't well known. He also touches on Spinoza's ethics. Spinoza was Jewish but gave up Judaism. Despite what some believe he didn't become atheist or convert to Christianity. He had a different conception of God and religion. I appreciated the context that Nadler provided for Spinoza's book and philosophy. I would recommend this book to people that like reading history, religion or philosophy.

Good to Go

Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recoveryby Christie Aschwanden, 302 pages

Aschwanden is a science writer for FiveThiryEight. She is a former high level athlete and stays active with running, cycling and cross country skiing.

Aschwanden investigates whether recovery products and services work. Unfortunately, when you examine the evidence, most of it indicates that the products and services don't provide a benefit or it is inconclusive. A lot of the studies aren't rigorous enough.

Even if they are presented with the lack of proof, those that use these products are unlikely to stop using them because of the perceived benefit. The placebo effect is certainly a confounding factor.

Based on all the information Aschwanden provided there are four things that I took away from this book. Good nutrition is important and can be obtained from a balance diet. You don't need drinks or supplements. The proper amount of sleep is vital to recovery. Overtraining is detrimental to recovery. Lastly, exercising too much while you are sick can have long lasting consequences.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to athletes, people who exercise a lot or those interested in science.

Sounds like Titanic

Sounds like Titanic: a memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman, 250 pages

Summary from Goodreads: "A young woman leaves Appalachia for life as a classical musician—or so she thinks.
When aspiring violinist Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York City, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the group “performs,” the microphones are never on. Instead, the music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who is gaslighting his audiences with music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she “plays” for audiences genuinely moved by the performance, unable to differentiate real from fake."

The summary is pretty good but I have a problem with one part of it and the memoir is more complicated than what is in the summary. I don't agree that the Composer was gaslighting his audiences. I think he was sincerely trying to entertain and help people. 

By the time Hindman joined the ensemble and went on the tour that is at the center of the book she already knew that she wasn't the greatest violin player and had changed her major to Middle East studies. She wanted to become a journalist after 9/11 but found it hard to get a job. She stuck with the ensemble as a way to make ends meet. She also deals with mental illness. 

Overall, I would characterize the book as a young woman trying to find her way in the world. I appreciated her perspective on 9/11 and the aftermath. I would recommend this book to those people that like biographies and memoirs.