Mixed

Stereogum has a new Vampire Weekend song, from an upcoming soundtrack. It's all kinds of catchy. I can't say the same thing about the new Killers song.

If the financial news isn't apocalyptic enough for you, take a gander at futurist John Robb's take. Bad news for non-members of the hyper-elite.

On the other hand, Daniel Larison cautions us not to freak out and allow some garbage relief plan to sneak past. His last line is great: I am not inclined to believe the latest batch of alarmists who once again clamor for us to give them vast powers and ask as few questions as possible.

Have a listen to Christopher Buckley talk about his new book and why he may well vote for Obama.

Did you work upon the railroad, did you rid the streets of crime?

Wow, I don't know much about his novels, but John Gregory Dunne could write a hell of a memoir. Harp, a mediation on how writers use their lives for their art, is brief but beautifully written. His subjects are writing, family and death, and they are often intertwined.

The title of the book is a reference to an anti-Irish slur and much of the book is about growing up Irish and how the culture shaped Dunne into who he became. While the Irish element is central to his character, we also see how living and working in Hollywood, life in the Army ( and a return to the base and a red light district some decades later) and the threat of an early death by heart attack affect the writer.

As readers of Joan Didion's the Year of Magical Thinking know, Dunne did in fact die of a heart attack, although it was nearly 20 years after he learned of his likely killer. The writing in heart chapters, where Dunne faces mortality were surely powerful when written (in the late 80s) but they take on an even greater power when read today.

Dunne's writing is so crisp and revealing, that I suspect if he chose to write about a visit to Denny's, it would be fascinating. Taking his powerful writing with such heartfelt stories makes this a must read book.

You tell me to practice peace, you just think it looks cool

This is the best thing I have seen in at least a week.


Sir Ben Kingsley STOMPS into the shoes of Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo.

Don't mind the maggots

The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx is the second in a projected five book dystopian epic about Robert Moses and an alternate history of New York City. In the prior book, the Swing Voter of Staten Island, Arthur Nersesian introduced Uli, an operative who discovers that what he thought was New York was a kind of refugee camp in the Nevada desert. The Bronx volume (Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn sure to come) concerns Robert Moses, perhaps best known from Robert Caro's the Power Broker, and his unfortunate brother Paul, constantly thwarted and betrayed by his younger (and more sinister) brother.

Paul's path is sad and a bit pathetic and his sad life leads to a catastrophic decision. The villain of the book is definately Robert Moses and the crime is the historical destruction wrought on New York neighborhoods. Nersesian is exploring it via science fiction, although the real life damage to neighborhoods is sad enough.

The NYT recently published a profile piece on Nersesian and, if you live in Portland, you can see him at Powell's Burnside on Sept 30 at 7:30.

Filkins

Dexter Filkins has a new and praised book out on the Iraq War called the Forever War. I fully intend to read the book, but I found his new article talking about Iraq today very interesting. Essentially, things are a lot better than 2006. Depending on your view on the war, your reaction will likely vary.

Oprah

So Oprah picked Edgar Sawtelle. This one has already gotten a lot of love, but the trustworthy Citizen Reader earlier said it was not good...at all. So I am going to stick with the wonderful and sad Suite Francaise.

Fatal Vows

Writing books about unsolved crimes is tricky, what happens when the crime is eventually solved? Of course plenty of crimes are never solved and plenty of people like unsolved crime stories all the more. Fatal Vows tells the story of the unfortunate wives of police sergeant Drew Peterson and makes the case that the still missing Staci Peterson died at the hands of her husband.

This one is for fans of the genre, those that want to see the case made against the uncaptured villain. The story is of course terribly sad, not just because of the deaths (or assumed deaths) of these women, but also because it shows the very difficult lives led by many in our society.

Mommy, can I go out and kill tonight?

It's hard to beat the 70s for sheer nastiness in movies. Political films like the Conversation and the Parallax View, horror movies like the Exorcist, and dramas like Badlands took a much harsher view of the world and went to much darker places than most of today's films. The horror film the Other is visually bright and sunny but is a particularly dark take on the evil child theme. Set in a rural 1930s New England the movie is centered around the young twin boys Niles and Holland. Their father has died and they find themselves getting into trouble with the neighbors and their family. As it happens, bad things start happening around the farm and it looks like one of the twins is behind it.

The movie is fairly slow going at the start, involving lots of running to and from the swimming hole, the hidden area of the barn, the invalid mother's room and so on. Things start to get peculiar when the Russian grandma starts practicing what she calls the Game with Niles. It seems Niles has some psychic ability, and in horror movies, that is never good.

The end is where the big nasty comes as well as the big question as to what really is happening, a move so beloved by horror movie directors. You will probably call one of the twists in the first 10 or so minutes, but don't think that is all this moving is bringing.

Fifty thou a year will buy a lot of beer

I suspect that many got a chuckle out of McCain adviser Donald Luskin's unfortunately titled "Quit Doling out the Bad Economy Line," written the same day as news of the death of Lehman and the surrender of Merrill. That's all well and good, but I happened to be reading Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting With Jesus, which John, "I bet you wouldn't pick lettuce for $50 an hour" McCain really needs on his bedside table.

It is an immensely dispiriting book, in that it portrays the majority of Americans in thrall to a lie about the American dream, but it is wonderfully written and one of the few books that actually writes about the life of the rural poor.

And on the America is really hosed front, here is Andrew Bacevich on NPR.

They live inside of my head

I've just finished Peter Hamilton's The Dreaming Void and I have to say I am pleased as punch. Is this book as good as the Reality Dysfunction? No, but it is superior to Pandora's Star, which should make his fans rest easy.

Backing up a moment, if you are a fan of titanic space opera, involving massive perils to the universe, myriad subplots, outlandish characters and inventive action scenes, you really have to read Reality Dysfunction (don't read any of the reviews- really). Also, unfortunately, you shouldn't read anything about the book, otherwise you will spoil one of the great surprise plots in all of science fiction. You can find the book easily enough in a two part mass market, but a combined trade paperback is coming soon as well.

Pandora's Star took Hamilton's creativity too far. He spun plotline after plotline and the book became leaden. While the overall story was interesting, you had to wade through far too much detail too get to it.

The Dreaming Void, set in the same universe as Pandora's Star, is a far more streamlined book. This is a relative term as the book still has twice the plot of an ordinary space opera. You may wonder what is going with the apartment redeveloper and her multiple (in more ways than one) sex partners. This is the only case of Hamilton's frequent trick of hiding an important development in an apparent side plot. The majority of the book is spent on fast paced chapters involving agents of rival elements of post-humanity. The future direction of human evolution is at stake and a dream worshiping religion threatens to hasten the conflict.

The Void of the title is an impenetrable and deadly hole in the middle of the galaxy. Every once and again it expands, destroying all it touches. The dream worshippers believe heaven is on he other side of the event horizon and plan to go in. Others believe this will destroy the galaxy. All manner of hijinks ensue.

Hamilton's space opera is in the mold of the optimistic science fiction of the 50s and 60s. The threats are huge, but there is a sunniness to his books completely lacking in Banks, Morgan, Asher or other contemporaries. This is not to say that they read like throwbacks. There is frequent and often peculiar sex in these books and the violence is often alarmingly casual. Reading his books is the closest things to finding the next Star Wars, pure science fiction entertainment in which to fully immerse yourself.

RIP

Sad news, David Foster Wallace has died, reportedly by his own hand. I have not read his books, but his Infinite Jest is a great favorite of many people I know.

Odom

General William Odom died earlier this year. He had a long and distinguished career in the US military and government serving in Vietnam, as defense attache in Moscow and ultimately as the Director of the National Security Agency. After retirement he taught and was a fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. Odom was iconoclastic which shows as he was recently praised both by the American Conservative and also by Harvard's Nieman Watchdog.

Like Andrew Bacevich, Odom was a conservative anti-imperialist. As long as it didn't cost the country too much, as in the 90s, it wasn't a problem, but in the Bush years it has clearly become a problem. Odom's in testimony to Congress and in the op-ed pages called for immediate withdrawal from Iraq for years.

His stance on Iraq is admirable, but his older books should also get a look. His Fixing Intelligence is one of the best books on the intelligence community for the lay reader. His America's Inadvertent Empire argues that it is institutions rather than military power that makes the US strong. And while I have not read it, his Collapse of the Soviet Military is highly regarded.

Sing this reunion to me

Here's a retread show I didn't expect. The Sisters of Mercy are playing Portland on Nov 22. Andrew Eldritch is now bald, but I am sure his voice is as deep as ever. The heavy use of drum machines and synthesizers don't say "rock show" to me, but who knows maybe it will be cool. Best track? Probably Temple of Love. I do like Lucretia, My Reflection as well.

I suspect people are most likely to recall This Corrosion, if they recall the band at all.

Muslim Next Door

New immigrants tend not to have very nice anywhere, and the US, while better than most, is no exception. The Gangs of New York gives a taste of the reception of the Irish (and by extension, Catholics in general) in 19th century America. Of course, the sunny side of the story is that the US is particularly good at assimilating people and customs, the practically national status of St. Patrick's Day is a testament to how far the Irish have come.

In the Muslim Next Door, Sumbul Ali-Karamali is doing her part in hurrying along the integration of Muslim America into the broader national fabric. The book is written for non-Muslim audiences who want to understand the basics of the religion and its practice. It is also written from a practioner's, rather than an disinterested observer's, perspective. As such fans of Tim LaHaye on the one side, and Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris on the other, will not be pleased with this book.

That aside, Ali-Karamali does a good job of explaining the basic religous practices in terms understandable to those with Christian or Jewish backgrounds. Her main point is that Islam is a religion with a set of beliefs that are essentially democratic and egalitarian and hence well suited to the political culture of the United States. The violence and repression that we see in the media are outliers like 17th century Salem, MA or the Florence of Savonarola.

All in all this is a good introduction to what will continue to be a growing part of the American cultural landscape. It is in everyone's interest that we understand one another and avoid the tensions that plague Muslim populations in Europe. Reading this book can certainly help.

Vampire Weekend

You know I resisted it for awhile, but now I realize I quite like Vampire Weekend. It's no Turn on the Bright Lights, but A-Punk (seen below) is a lot of fun even the song reminds me of something (General Public?)



This in studio version of Oxford Comma.

Random

Anthony Bourdain lists his top three books on BN.com. Two of his picks were not surprising, but I was quite intrigued by Friends of Eddie Coyle, which he calls the "truest of its genre." I've come to the crime genre much later than say, science fiction, so there remain many greats unknown to me. So it is always nice to hear about the likes of this.

Reporter Dexter Filkins has a new Iraq book coming out called the Forever War. It looks rather good, but I am happy to see a geek reference in a serious work of non-fiction. While clearly a response to Vietnam, Haldeman's novel is even more appropriate for Iraq, where servicepeople are being called back again and again.

Stephenson's Anathem is now out and you should check it out. Here is my take.

Did you know that Roald Dahl was a spy in World War 2, and that he was in the same unit as Ian Fleming? Jennet Conat has the details in the Irregulars.

When she wants something, she don't want to pay for it

Check out this odd video of Chuck Palahniuk showing both how to shoplift and which books are likely be shoplifted. Some nice book references including Day of the Locust. It's from the fine folks at Borders.

Write about destruction

Oh my, Adam Tooze's Wages of Destruction is quite a book. It an economic history of Nazi Germany and it provides economic reasons for Nazi policy making. This alone should raise interest (or potentially hackles). The discussion of lebensraum is illuminating. Most texts write this off as sheer propaganda or delusion, but Tooze shows that the German economy of the early 20th century was actually quite behind a number of competitors and that the very large agricultural work force was difficult to employ, hence the interest in stealing others land.

Tooze argues that there were other economic choices available to the Germans including taking a classically liberal export oriented approach, but that ideologically and politically this was a non-starter thanks in part to the inward turn of the United States in the early 30s. The Germans saw their future as that of an economic satellite of the United States or as the leader of a united Europe. They chose the later course, to the world's great dismay.

Too often analysis of political choices, at least in American writing, ignores economic influences. If they are identified, it is usually on the basis of nefarious special interests hoping to get their narrow agendas satisfied. It is much more rare to see an analysis of the economic situation facing leaders and how this constrains their behavior. Tooze explores how the balance of payments in Germany greatly influenced its foreign policy throughout the 30s. Today, you can't examine the US-China relationship without looking at the economic aspect. We need more books like Tooze's that examine these things.

The horrors of the Holocaust and the other other German atrocities also have economic underpinings. Most importantly, there was not enough food for everyone in Europe, at least with all the resources going to war making. Couple this with the extreme racism of the regime and the wholesale slaughter of Eastern Europeans and Jews by starvation and then mass murder becomes a policy choice rather than a fit of insanity.

This is a very large book that takes close reading. The subject range is massive, including an assessment of Albert Speer's economic wizardry, technology investments by the German military, relative economic strengths of the various powers and average farm size in 1930s Germany. For many readers it will be too much. For those of whom that is too much, consider picking it up and reading the introduction and the conclusion, which is easy enough. If you think you have read all you need about World War 2, think again.

Wrapping things up

I've clearly stated my love for Charles McCarry's Paul Christopher novels, but I have to say Second Sight is a hard one to recommend. Set long after the disastrous conclusion to the Last Supper, the book reads like a collection of deleted scenes from the prior books roughly connected by a thin plot. The book consists of a series of flashbacks of various characters from the Christopher world. In many cases, we learn the fates or the unsuspected connections between characters. If there were any dangling plotlines from a prior book that you wish had been resolved, then chances are you will find resolution here.

The multi-decade connections often strain credulity, but the book remains a strong read if you can put these qualms aside. McCarry's general even-handness and realism break down only when he deals with the media, personifyed in a womanizing, hypocritical limosine leftist who dogs Christopher and his people. Written at the end of the Cold War, there is a sense of sadness at the close of an age. My paperback copy has the subtitle of The Last Paul Christopher novel, which turned out not to be the case, as McCarry has written two more since.

This book should only be read by those who have read all the proceeding novels. If you've committed yourself to those, you probably will enjoy this one as well. If the earlier ones didn't work for you, give this one a pass.

Cheap Trick

There are some bands you first encounter in their decadent phase, which can deny you the pleasures of their greatness. I suspect many a 20 something is astounded that REM is in fact one of the great bands. There are those that tell me that Journey and Rush have things worth owning, but they are wrong of course.

One bad I clearly have misjudged is Cheap Trick. In the late 80s they seemed to be a 70s arena rock band gone to seed. Well I was wrong. There are a lot of gems in their catalogue, filled with hooks and great lyrics. He's a Whore is a classic (compare and contrast with Big Black's cover and if you are familiar with the first Cheap Trick album cover, the Big Black single cover will crack a smile) Below I posted Auf Wiedersehen, a truly excellent song. And despite its incessant radio play, Surrender really is an amazing song.

Plane reading

I am off to Tidewater VA this weekend for a quick turnaround trip. I plan to bring the gigantic Wages of Destruction on the plane. Despite the books physical weight, I think the plane is the ideal place such an intellectually weighty read. These are the sorts of books that require long periods of concentrated reading and what better place than the airplane? Too much reading time is 10 minutes snatched here and 20 minutes there, ideal for essays, travel or other short light pieces, but not for something that requires a bit more engagement.

I could be wrong though. That's why I am packing a mystery or two as well.

Dark times in Wales

Thanks to Philip Roth's the Plot Against America, the alternative history novel gained a bit more cachet and interest than it once had. This wasn't the first literary alternative history novel, you could certainly point to the Man in the High Castle or Pavane as literary works, but it is much more rare to see a non-genre writer working in alternate history. In his debut novel, Resistance, Owen Sheers approaches this genre subject from the literary viewpoint.

In the book, the female residents of an isolated Welsh valley wake to find their husbands gone. They soon realize they have taken to the hills to resist a German invasion. In his timeline, the war has gone the Germans way and now the French experience of occupation, including the murky choices of resistance and collaboration, is foisted upon the British.

As in the underappreciated A Midnight Clear, Sheers looks at people, German and British, who try to opt out of the war. As you might expect, this is more difficult that it seems and people on both sides make it more difficult for them to make their choice. Eventually the nastiness rolls into the valley and tragedy ensues.

I quite liked the lyrical approach to the writing and I read it quickly. Late in the book, one character experiences put the valley goings on in much different light that strongly highlights the challenges of resistance. This element is a bit underplayed and could have been made stronger. Hard core alternate history fans looking for all the points of divergence or plenty of military action will need to look elsewhere as that is not Sheers' focus.

I need covers, oh I need them bad

I think one of the easiest, and best, ways to cover a song is to slow it down and or go acoustic. This REM cover of the Editors's Munich is more fun than the original. And who doesn't love Evan Dando's sweet acoustic version of the Misfit's Skulls? In the same vein, check this cover of the Undertone's Teenage Kicks by the Snow Patrol.

If on the other hand, you absolutely must rock out, then listen to Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire.

You can never quarantine the past

Like a ex-smoker turned into a hectoring prohibitionist, my over-indulgence in the world of horror novels as a youth makes me attack them, out of shame I suppose. I once combed low rent paperback exchanges in hopes of finding the likes of Guy Smiths Crab series, which as you might guess was about giant crabs attacking various coastal locales. The US cover was relatively benign, but the more lurid British cover makes a nod to the pervasive prurience which no doubt appealed to my adolescent mind.

I generally looked for the more bizarre books. I eagerly read the likes of James Herbert (I particularly liked the Fog,) and Graham Masterson. Masterson's Devils of D-Day was quite something. It involved the US Army using demon controlled tanks to defeat the Germans.

The undisputed master of the disturbing is Shaun Hutson. These books are the literary equivalent of Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS, or maybe even Salo, gleeful romps through torture, sadistic violence and sexual torment. Hutson is the sort of fellow who calls his blog "Shaun's Shit." His topics are wide-ranging from vampire zombie attack, killer slugs, druid evil, terrorists and so on. What sets him apart is his brutally vile depictions of death and destruction. I'd like to tell you that I was repelled in horror and went out and worked in a soup kitchen to repent. No, I gave it to friends who also ate them up. I can't really recommend these books to anyone unless you are a teen looking for something a bit (OK, quite a bit) more disturbing than usual.

Watch this Hutson interview (with a young Vinnie Jones) where he seems fairly normal.

A few bits

Over at Barnes and Noble, George Pelecanos picks three favorite books, none of which I have read, but one of which is on my shelf.

On the same site Ezra Klein reviews a book on immigration. There was a point where people were expected to be well versed in all major political topics, but I find it really hard to have reasonably well informed thoughts about all the world's pressing issues. Global warming, the national debt, trade, health care reform, immigration. Man it is hard, which I why I suppose politicians avoid detailed plans as you need some base understanding in order to digest what they say. The next immigration oriented book I will read will not be a policy tome but the nightmare travel book The Devil's Highway.

This is amusing. On a related note, the Watchmen trailer is much more impressive on the big screen that on YouTube. I suppose this could be said for every trailer ever made.

Dan Simmons follows up his recent historical fiction effort, the Terror, with the Dickensian Drood. This looks quite a bit like the glorious Meaning of Night.

I finally heard the Brazilian band CSS. This song reminds me a bit of Devo or maybe some other New Wave band which eludes. Now that I listen again, it is not Devo, but something else c. 1980.

New books for me

Oh my, it was one of those binge book acquisition weekends. In my defense, I spent very little money doing so, but now my neat shelves look crowded once again. First off I visited the local thrift store where I saw the last two volumes in John Birmingham's guilty pleasure series the Axis of Time. In these books, a multinational naval task force from the Year 2021 is catapulted back to 1942 where they cause all sorts of havoc. Pretty silly, but lots of fun. There was also the Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber, another entry in the literary thriller genre. I've heard mixed things, but I am sucker for this genre. If you haven't perused the local thrift store (and you live in a town with lots of readers) I suspect you will be surprised by what you find.

Then I sold quite a few books at Powells and had a lot of credit on my hands. Theoretically, credit is good for taking chances. It is a bit like free book money, so why not buy a bunch of wild cards that you may or may not like. What limits that behavior is the high numbers of books I know I want to read. This time, I acquired the following.

The White Man's Burden. The title is a tad off-putting, but the author, William Easterly, knows a thing or two about international development and I loved his prior book.

Brass Man. I LOVED the last Neal Asher I read, so how about another? I purchased the blocky British mass paperback edition. The corners seem less rounded than ours.

The Unblemished. Here is my wild card. This is a British horror novel that was on the scifi/mystery/horror recommended shelf (generally a gold mine). To be honest, it looks more than a little nasty, but what the heck?

Half-Life. Another Powell's recommendation. They generally know what they are talking about.

Sharp Objects. This one has some buzz, but reading the Powells review, I think it may be less that I was hoping. Thanks a lot Powells.

Then I went to the library and checked out Resistance, a literary alternate history novel (surely this is something new under the sun) and I am still plugging away at the titanic Wages of Destruction. Ah so many books.

More Bacevich

I finally watched An Inconvenient Truth yesterday. Sure, it's a slideshow, but it's a really good one. You've already read a thousand reviews. Suffice to say, it is good. There is one element worth mentioning. It reminded me of the recent Moyers interview of Andrew Bacevich in that Gore put a shared onus on the leadership and the people. We can blame Bush 43 all we want, but it is our behavior that is the problem. You can watch it here.

If you can't get enough (and who can?) here is an earlier (2005) Bacevich interview where he discusses American militarism.

Ain't that America

Most books are best read from cover to cover, but there are those that are equally, if not more, enjoyable when read at random. Picture books, including this interesting one highlighted at Citizen Reader, cookbooks, reference books (I spent a lot of time reading Trouser Press Guides to Rock) and the like are obvious examples.

One book that can be approached either way is George Stewart's Names Upon the Land, recently reissued by the New York Review of Books Classics Line. The book presents the story of how the combination English, French, Dutch, Native American and other naming systems and approaches, as well as the impact of history, led to the way American places were named. It can get pretty detailed, including the reasons why southern states have runs and branches for river names while New England states do not.

This sounds a tad dry, but Stewart's love of language and a good story make the book an entertaining read. It is also fun to pick it up and read the stories of Cabrillo, whose names did not survive, and Vancouver, whose names did. I found it amusing that the great Puget sound was named for a junior officer on Vancouver's expedition.

If you have ever wondered at why there is a Berlin, Vermont or a Syracuse New York, this is the sort of book for you.

Too much horror business

The vast majority of horror novels are not mediocre or even bad, but fully execrable. Given to the worst writing in nearly all of publishing, disturbing fascination with acts of violence and sadism and an utter disregard for a reader's intelligence, most people would rather pick up a Sweet Valley High story than anything found in the horror section. That's unfortunate because there are horror novels that don't make you hate humanity for allowing these literary abominations to see print. Here are but a few.

Stephen King, in particular late 70s, early 80s King. King's books are the rare airport reads that are worth a damn. Yes, they are stacked next to pages of airy nonsense, but his books are actually quite good. While his books are marked with graphic violence, the true focus and value of his books is the examination of the petty and not so petty evils lurking just below the surface of humanity and society. And they are very often great stories to boot. The Shining, Salem's Lot, and Pet Sematery are well worth any reader's time.

Eat the Dark by Joe Schreiber. This one is creative and frightening without a recourse to gross-out violence to make it "scary." I particularly like how the hints of nastiness he gives that create lingering feelings of dread.

The Ruins by Scott Smith. This one is controversial to say the least. Many people hated it, especially the way the victims fail to see ways of escape. I liked it as a grim picture of people slipping into despair.

Ghost Story by Peter Straub. If you ever go to those paperback bookshops that sell beat up copies of popular fiction, you will find lots of Straub. Despite his good sales, I think he is overshadowed by King and perhaps lumped in with Dean Koontz. Do not make this mistake. While I think Straub's books vary in quality, this one is every bit as good as the best of King.

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge. Partridge has been writing horror novels for over a decade and this most recent one is quite strong. It is short, but it is an effective and nasty story.

Mind the gap

While visiting the library this weekend, I picked up an entertaining and gorgeous book at the library called Transit Maps of the World. It provides historical and current maps of the world's mass transit systems. I've long been a fan of such maps. While was a backpacker I collected them and I continue to collect maps of all kinds, which has been handy for kid entertainment.

The book focuses primarily on the questions of design, as in how to communicate the necessary information quickly. There are issues as the importance of adhering to topographical reality, how to show changes and the importance of font. Before you scoff, consider the iconic nature of the NY Subway and London Underground fonts. A good font can make a real connection. One of my favorites is the one used in the 1930s National Parks promotion posters made by the Federal Arts Project. Here is an example.

The author posted a few blog posts over at the Penguin blog, which you can read here. Strange Maps has a promotional image which is a map of the world showing mass transit systems.

Bacevich

Check out Andrew Bacevich on Bill Moyers. It's a good interview. Early Word notes that shortly after the interview, Bacevich's new book shot to the top of the Amazon sales list. It is now back-ordered.

Wow, just finished watching, that is some television reporting right there. This is essential watching.

Gridlinked

If you are looking for creative, colorful, violent, and frightening science fiction novels, then pick up a Neal Asher. In the past few years I read Cowl and the Skinner, and I just read his first, Gridlinked. His books are set in the shared Polity universe, generally set a few hundred years from today where human society is ruled by AIs, connected via instantaneous travel and beset by enemies like the crablike Prador and the human Separatists. Holding back these terrors is Earth Central Security and, in Gridlinked, the James Bond-esque Ian Cormac.

Cormac begins the book by nearly blowing a mission to uncover Separatist activity. His AI minders decide to delink him from the AI grid, telling him that his connection to the AIs has reduced his humanity and, by extension, his usefulness. He is then sent to investigate a act of terror on another planet.

Asher's creativity is immense. Even is his asides he spins up bizarre biologies and technologies. Weapons fetishists will love his many ideas and the rest will appreciate that many of his ideas are tied back into the story.

Some readers will note similarities to Ian Banks and Richard Morgan (whose novels were published after Gridlinked.) The Polity is somewhat similar to the Culture and the AI led ECS is certainly similar to Special Circumstances. The Polity's world is generally grimmer than that of the Culture and the ECS agents tend to be more happy in their roles compared to those of the often self-doubting Special Circumstance agents.

Asher and Morgan make for an interesting comparison as Asher leans right and Morgan leans left. For the most part this does not impact their narratives although it does impact their emphases. Both authors, for example, deal with the possibility of bodies having new psyches implanted within them. For Morgan this is a story of the powerful crushing the weak. For Asher, it is a case of justice, those who are removed are hardened criminals that society doesn't want to pay to house.

Don't take the political orientation as a guide to whether you should read either author, you should read both if you read science fiction at all.

Beach house books

I visited the lovely Kiawah Island last week for a family vacation. The house in which we stayed had the usual line-up of books, a few Grishams, a few Pattersons, a few Reader Digests Condensed Books. The owners were more wide-ranging than most in their selection. There were a few mysteries, one or two scifis and a fantasy for those that didn't want to go with airport books. I left my copy of Damage Them All You Can in case a Civil War buff stays there at some point.

While there, I wondered to what extent the books represented the reading tastes or habits of the owners. Were other renters like me and given to leave (and perhaps take) a volume? If they were the owners books, were they favorites or the cast offs that otherwise would have been donated, sold or lent out with little care about a return? I admit I would be torn between the reality that any books I leave would be more or less gone from my collection and the desire not to be judged by my books.

Being a beach vacation, with very long flights, I managed quite a bit of reading. My dent into the reading pile was reduced by my purchase of John Julius Norwich's survey of the Mediterranean, the Middle Sea. At this point I have given up on ever reading all the books I own.

Damage Them All You Can

One of my books for the Back to History Challenge is Damage Them All They Can, a history of the Army of Northern Virginia by George Walsh. The book is centered on the leaders of the Army, with particular but by no means exclusive focus on the likes of Lee, Jackson, the Johnstons, the Hills, Longstreet, Ewell and Early. There is some discussion of life in the Army and the experience of the soldiery, but this is of decidedly secondary importance to the book overall.

The focus on the leaders makes the book's chronological approach problematic. The development of each leader is of keen interest to Walsh, but it can get lost in the shifts of time. I think the book would have been stronger if the book had been thematically or biographically organized ( as I believe Lee's Lieutenants is actually organized.)

While I was reading the book, I was hoping for more of the approach of Rick Atkinson in his Liberation Trilogy or Eric Bergerud in his Touched with Fire. These books tell what happened in the wars they describe, but also provide some understanding of the experience of these wars. Those looking for a good introduction to the Civil War in Virginia will find a lot to learn here, but they may get lost in the detail of brigade commands.

Cake gone wrong

I am shortly off to vacation, but I invite you to visit Cakewrecks, a site about rather bizarre cakes. This one is rather nasty (don't look before eating). (via Jezebel)

Darling don't you go and take that drug, do you think it's gonna make you change?

Novels, or modern ones at least, are very often negative forms of self-help books. While self-help books promote means of finding happiness, novels more often than not show how choices lead to bad outcomes. The reader hopefully will take the lessons and adjust their lives accordingly. I think a very good novel will often lead a person to reevaluate choices and consider how they might treat others better.

In Dirk Wittenborn's Pharmakon, the questions of happiness and the treatment of others are front and center. At the dawn of the pharmacological era, Dr. Will Friedrich, a psychologist with plenty of emotional issues of his own ambitiously pursues a plan to cure sadness with a substance distilled from a tropical plant. Things seem to go swimmingly and then they don't. The aftermath of the experiment leaves a path of destruction through two generations of Friedrichs.

Wittenborn is interested in the quest for happiness, which he makes out to be as elusive as the quest for Middle East peace. Nearly everyone in the book ends up compromising and settling for something they don't want. With more than one character given to abusing drugs and alcohol, he nicely compares legal means to find happiness with drugs to illegal ones.

The ending isn't terribly satisfying, but I enjoyed my journey with the characters. While much of the story is quite sad, or even tragic, the writing is crisp and often quite funny. Those looking for a skeptical look at the American Dream will find it here.

NYRB sale

The New York Review of Books is having a summer sale. If you are not familiar with their books, then by all means rectify the situation. A select group of individual items are on sale for 25% off (which after shipping isn't all that awesome) but a number of collections are on sale for 40% off which is actually awesome. A few of their collections are particularly appealing.

For those wanting a subtle critique of the Imperialist mindset, look no further than the Farrell and Flanagan collection. I can't speak to the Flanagan, but J.G. Farrell's books, which feature British citizens facing a crumbling Empire in India, Singapore and Ireland are fascinating.

The Science Fiction Collection has a Christopher Priest book, with which I am unfamiliar, but it's Priest so it is probably good. There is also a book by Ernst Junger called the Glass Bees, which looks quite good. Finally there is an edition of the War of the Worlds with Edward Gorey drawings.

Finally if you liked Blood Meridian, this pair of revisionist westerns might be up your alley.

Odds and sods

This is potentially nifty. Random House is releasing Karen Marie Moning's Dark Fever as a free podcast. On the book's website you will get a few chapters per week You can find it here. I don't know a thing about the author, but I like that publishing companies are finding new ways to try before you buy. The podcast approach is nice as well, as you can create chapters more easily on your Ipod or other listening device. Here are a couple of links on how to make CD based audiobooks more manageable on an Ipod. I remember lugging around 24 tapes of the Making of the Atomic Bomb. It would have been much nicer on the Ipod.

Check out this map of the world with country size determined by number of Olympic medal winners. Both Cuba and Australia look to be doing better than their populations would suggest.

Here is Pavement doing Cut Your Hair on 120 Minutes.

Carter Beats the Devil, reviewed here by the Williamsburg, VA regional library blog (which is quite good) is a book I quite liked, but was overshadowed by Kavalier and Klay which I read shortly before it. Like Klay, Devil is set in the early 20th century and tells a well written funny and sad story. I can't say why, but the two seemed quite similar. I should probably take another look now that it has been some years.

Over at Barnes and Noble Paul Paul DiFilippo has a review essay on the peculiar genre known as dark fantasy. I believe James Blaylock writes in this genre. I have a few of his books lying about the house waiting to be read.

Peter Hopkirk

I've rarely enjoyed a book as much as I did Peter Hopkirk's the Great Game. Written in a adventure novelistic style, it tells the story of 19th and early 20th century British and Russian adventurers who risked life and limb as they tried to win Central Asia for their empires. The stories are nearly incredible, with very young men traveling under amazingly harsh condition and with little background. Not surprisingly, they often died whether at their imperial opponents hands or at the hands of the locals, who more often than not, weren't all that interested in being part of an empire.

Hopkirk followed up these books with Setting the East Ablaze and Like Hidden Fire, books about Soviet and Ottoman/German efforts to up-end the British Empire in Asia. Like the Great Game, these are adventure stories, real-life ones, but adventure stories nonetheless. And they are filled with all the twists and turns of a novel.

I've just read his Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, which is also about European competition in Central Asia, but instead of political control as the focus, it is Buddhist art. The part of China now known as Xinjiang, but formerly known as Chinese Tartary or East Turkestan has the brutal Taklamakan Desert at its center. During the Tang Dynasty the area was home to a number of trading towns that featured a particular variant of Buddhist art. As the Tang fell, the towns and the art disappeared under the sands.

Foreign Devils on the Silk Road is about a series of explorers, representing Britain, Russia, Germany, Japan and the United States who sought to capture the archaeological glory of uncovering lost cities, manuscripts and art. Like in the prior books, the explorers were exposed to harsh conditions, although fewer met their end on these quests.

While I liked this book, I didn't like it as much as the Great Game related books. That is quite possibly personal bias, as I quite like political stories and don't have nearly as strong an interest in Buddhist art or archeology. Those with strong interests in these fields will find much to enjoy and even those who don't will likely appreciate Hopkirk's vigorous prose and nose for a good story.

The Fallen Idol

Having just read and adored Our Man in Havana (which for some reason I picked up three or four times before fulling committing --- a bit weak given its short length,) I was thrilled to hear a movie, made by none other than Carol Reed, existed. I was then crestfallen to learn that it is only available on VHS (in the US at least) ! Here's hoping the Criterion Collection fills the gap.

Reed and Greene's best known collaboration is the Third Man, one of the greatest movies of all time, but they also worked together on Our Man in Havana and the Fallen Idol. While I can't say I enjoyed the Fallen Idol as much as the Third Man, fans of that film will want to seek out the Fallen Idol.

The movie centers on the relationship between a lonely Ambassador's son and the British butler who runs his household. The boy idolizes (but also patronizes) the butler, calling him Baines (his far more formal wife is always Mrs. Baines). When the boy witnesses something he doesn't understand, he commits error after error that puts his friend in great peril.

The movie is both visually and thematically similar to the Third Man. Reed focuses in on faces and the faces communicate as much if not more than the words. He revels in shadow and large empty spaces, as in late night streets and unoccupied embassies. The themes of betrayal (sometimes two way) and the breaking of innocence are essential in both films, although this one is a bit gentler than the Third Man. If anything this will movie will prove that Reed was much more than a one trick pony

Sent to spy on a Cuban talent show

Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana is a delightful farce that manages to be serious and laugh out loud funny at the same time. It follows the unfortunate Wormold, a British vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana whose shortage of funds finds him willing to accept an offer to join the British Intelligence Service. As a generally inept and careless person, he can do any actual spying, so he ends up sending fake reports back to London so that he can use his expense fund to pay for his daughter's many expensive needs. It all goes swimmingly until his reports begin to create crises.

The book reads as a humorous novel. The spy characters are nearly all idiotic buffoons who can't see Wormold's creations for the poorly assembled tales they are. There is intrigue all around Wormold who is incapable of seeing it correctly. There is also plenty of domestic farce as his daughter leads him into a series of misfortunes.

The book can be read just as humor, but Greene has more to say than that. On the personal level, Wormold is the sort of weak person who takes the wrong path because it is easy and available. Most (if not all) of the tragedy in the book is a result of his careless approach to life. What's more, despite being a spy story, it's message is that the intelligence world is a world filled with fools whose damage far outweigh any benefit they provide. At the end of the book, a few characters explicitly reject the Cold War, but the book is an implicit rejection of the conflicts that grind up individuals for some higher purpose.

Uh oh

The Washington Post has a profile on George Pelecanos who wonders if he has said all he needs to say about crime.

Pelecanos, who is 51, told me: "Sometimes I think 'The Wire' said it all, and I might as well not write any more crime novels. I can feel my energy beginning to dissipate. One thing I didn't realize about this business when I started was that it could be my job to write a novel a year, but it's also my job to take a walk and think." He owes one more book to his publisher, and the contract specifies that it be a crime novel and that it be delivered by the end of the year, but he's not sure in what direction his writing will go after that. Working in the overlap where the crime novelist meets the literary novelist, Pelecanos has always been willing to push his heroes, his city and his storytelling craft through difficult changes.

I am of two minds. He is clearly at the top of his game right now, so maybe it is time to switch games. We don't want to see the slide in quality that we saw in Chandler or in all the sci fi authors who churn out books far longer than they should. On the other hand, even a so-so Pelecanos is better than most everyone else out there and he is one of the best of writers of DC, the other being Edward P Jones. So hopefully he will switch to politics or some such.

Mixed

Today I love George Pelecanos even more than I did yesterday. For he has name-checked the Silver Jews on his playlist. Now we can quibble over the song selection (I would have gone with the Wild Kindness) but I am quite happy that they lead his list. He also has some nice crime jazz and Drive By Truckers on there.

The Man Booker long list is out. I don't have much to say other than the inclusion of crime thriller Child 44 is nice to see.

Here is Spoon covering the Stones Rocks Off.

You have almost certainly seen this, but if not, take a look at Feist on Sesame Street.

Don't let your babies grow up to be wrestlers

When people think of exploitative industries, the first that comes to mind is generally porn. According to Matthew Randazzo V in his Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit; the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry, one should think of pro wrestling in the same light. He portrays a world in which sadism, substance and steroid abuse and self-inflicted torture are not just tolerated but celebrated. Ranging from Canada's Hart House, with its Dungeon, to the yakuza managed New Japan Pro Wrestling league to the mania of the American wrestling scene, the book is a story of degradation where some, like Hulk Hogan, manage to make millions, while others die in their thirties from the physical and drug wear.

The relatively small Chris Benoit, who Randazzo portrays as both a cruel sadist and maniacally driven was about as small as someone could be and still work in pro wrestling. Of course he became an avid steroid user, and as was well publicized, he killed his wife and young son, using the skills he learned in the ring. The book though isn't a true crime book. The focus of the book is not Benoit's crime, which gets only a few pages, but the crimes of the industry as a whole.

Wrestling fans will likely either eat up the large amounts of industry gossip or be repulsed at the depiction of their favorite form of entertainment as a cesspool. Non-wrestling fans will find more reasons not to watch or attend matches. Befitting the topic, the language in the book is more than a little rough, so be warned.

You can't like everything

I don't have much luck with lyrical fiction. The Man Booker Prize winning the Sea mystified me and I just put down Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping. Like the Sea, this book is all lovely language and no story. If you are looking for beautiful evocations of life on a barren plain, then you are in luck. If you want some story, not so much. The thing is I really liked Gilead, her more recent effort. That book, also an exercise in precise and gorgeous language, I found to be much more emotionally engaging, although it could very well be that I more naturally sympathized with the protagonist, a dying father writing to a child.

Apparently Robinson has more to say about the Gilead story as she has written Home, a book which focuses on another household from that story. It comes out in September.

Some more ways to find a book to read

The folks are Barnes & Noble are boosting their website book content. The Barnes & Noble review now has a Guest Book feature where notable authors tell you what you should be reading. William Gibson picks out three speculative fiction books that I now want to read. Based on his picks, I am guessing that Dennis Lehane is going more literary on his upcoming book. There is also a series on five books from a genre, the Rome one is nice as it has the wonderful Rubicon as well as the Silver Pigs which I keep meaning to read.

Most interesting to our YouTube obsessed Internet is the Book files, brief videos on interesting book stories. The one below reveals that the perfidious Reds nearly stopped the publication of Animal Farm.

From Russia with Rubles

There are many different styles of spy fiction. Alan Furst creates moody tales of amateurs pulled into the shadow wars created by the rise of Nazism and World War 2. Charles McCarry writes what might be called intelligence procedurals focusing on the often dreary and morally ambiguous lives of the intelligence operative. Daniel Silva, who has eight novels featuring Israeli assassin Gabriel Allon, follows Ian Fleming in writing the spy as hero novels. Allon is a Cincinnatus like figure. He would be happiest if he could be allowed to restore classic works of art, but he keeps being called back into the field to face threats to Israel and to the West.

In his latest book, Moscow Rules, Allon is called to investigate a rogue Russian industrialist who is rumored to be selling rather nasty weapons to the enemies of Israel. His path takes him in and out of Russia as he tries to find a way to get close to this rather dangerous person. Silva is definitely taking the beware the new Russia line in this book, but you needn't agree with Silva's politics to enjoy the book. You do however have to enjoy cliffhanger adventure fiction.

Like the Bond novels, Allon's life and perspective changes over each book, so you would probably be wise to start earlier in the series or you will get a number of serious spoilers about the preceding volumes.

Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you

Wow, that Last King of Scotland is one hell of a movie. Forest Whitaker's portrayal of Idi Amin was gripping. His rapid switches from rage to joviality to concern were authentic and frightening. Showing the human side of a monster can't be easy, but Whitaker did it. His Oscar was well earned. It's worth pointing out that James McAvoy's performance was also notable. His Dr. Garrigan was an amiable fool, whose series of bad decisions leads to some unpleasant outcomes. He joins the likes of Holly Martins and Harry Angstrom as the ideal idiot protagonists.

One thing I rather liked about the movie is it's focus on the court of Amin. Garrigan ignores the violence in Uganda because it is so easy to do from within the elite circle. When he is confronted by what is really happening, he probably shouldn't be shocked but he is. The equally excellent Downfall makes this difference between the fantasy and real worlds more obvious, but it paints the same picture of wicked decadence.

Mixed

Via Sullivan, here is a nice defense of Starbucks. I like Starbucks for the same reason I like Barnes & Noble and Borders. They take decent quality experiences to places that lacked them. Sure here in Portland I can go to Stumptown for coffee or Powells for books, but where I grew up decent bookshops and coffee used to hard to find. Not anymore.

George Pelecanos has a new book called the Turnaround. For a long time I thought we was on the showing-great-promise list, but the Night Gardener put him into great territory. Here's hoping he continues the streak.

Tom Friedman has a new book coming out on environmentalism. A lot of people hate on Friedman for his GWOT and globalization cheer-leading, but those people out to give his From Beirut to Jerusalem a try, that is one hell of a book. I suspect the haters are also fretting about global warming and they should be glad that an agenda setter like Friedman will be banging the green drum.

You may have seen that Pat Buchanan has a new book out on why the Good War wasn't a good idea. The American Conservative (which was co-founded by Buchanan) has a series of responses to the book, including a typically good one from Andrew Bacevich, titled "How Good was the Good War". The whole piece is excellent, but I thought this line particularly insightful

"Ripped out of context, the war, especially the struggle against Nazi Germany, has become a parable. Whatever their value as a source of moral instruction, parables offer less help when it comes to understanding international politics. Parables simplify—and to simplify the past is necessarily to distort it."

That is a very good critique of the use of history by most politicians and talking heads.

Watchmen

So the Watchmen trailer is out, and it is very visual. The same director made 300. Like that movie or not, it reflected the source material, a brief action-oriented graphic novel. The Watchmen is a densely plotted, very long and thoughtful graphic novel. This comic is beloved by critics and fans, Time Magazine, in a fit of indie hipness, included it in its list of the 100 best novels of all time. This doesn't look like a long thoughtful movie, but it does look like an effects fest.

See what you think.

Now theres a way and I know that I have to go away.

One of the loveliest and saddest songs I have ever heard is Okkervil River's Savannah Smiles. It is sung from the perspective of the father of Savannah, a porn star who took her own life after a disfiguring auto accident. While people will likely be distracted by the porn thing, I think the song will touch any parent who fears losing touch and relationships with their children.

Here is a great live version. This has convinced me that I need to these guys when they roll into town later this year.

Thursday Next

If I have ever read a more raucous and joyful ode to reading than Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, then I have long forgotten it. Set in a fantastical alternate Britain, the series heroine is the titular Next who is a member of the Literary Detectives, a government organization that combats book crime, such as, say, the unlawful editing of books. How can such events occur? Well as it happens, what is written in books exists in it own dimension and if you were to enter that dimension, you could say, leech all the comedy out of the Thomas Hardy books and make them terrible tragedies, as some nasty did in these books.

Did that last bit make you chuckle or leave you confused? If it is the former, these books are for you. In addition to being entirely about books and reading, these stories are marked by an unrelenting tide of jokes. I can think of few books that I want to read that I can also call "madcap," but this is certainly one. One scene features a Beatrix Potter character conversing with a Ming the Merciless clone, over tea. It is a mark of Fforde's skill as a writer in that he can be so incredibly silly, while also sucking you into the (often nonsensical) story.

His latest book in the series, Thursday Next, First Among Sequels, may be his most enjoyable yet. Flinging from one crisis to another, Next deals with (as usual) threats to the BookWorld, the universe, declining read rates, her family and to her pet Dodo (genetically re-engineered, wouldn't you know). The pacing is among the most relentless in this volume, so that if one joke or encounter leaves you a bit dry, you will soon find another.

While I won't stoop to spoiling, I will say that this is a series that can read out of order if you so chose. Yes, certain personages fates will be known to you, but like as not, they have changed in bizarre ways, so that you will be surprised nonetheless. The fun here is in Fforde's seemingly bottomless invention and literary referencing. If you are an inveterate reader, then you need to try these books.

Light posting

Blogging has been light due to work load (boo), cleaning the house to prep to sell (boo/yay!) and going to Crater Lake (yay!). If you haven't been to Crater Lake I suggest a visit. The wikipedia entry has a nice description of how the Lake was formed. My assumption has always been that it exploded, but actually it collapsed!

At this point I will note that if you want a good, intelligent war film, check out Band of Brothers. Or if you just like spotting interesting cameos, this one is still for you. Watch for Simon Pegg, Jimmy Fallon (!?) and James McAvoy among others.

The price of books

Rick Perlstein's Nixonland has been widely hailed as an excellent political book, so it is odd that his previous volume is so rare that it costs over $100 to get the paperback. Papercuts discusses the book's price as well as the phenomenon of expensive books in general. I admit I am rather tickled that I bought a copy at Goodwill for five bucks last fall. (via Amconmag)

Distractions

It's one of those evenings, where the work has piled up and relief is needed. Thank goodness for iTunes which thoughtfully served up Built to Spill's fantastic Else, one of the most soothing songs of all time. Here is a good live version of the song. Here are a few other good songs for bringing down the stress that is work-related.

Soft Rock Star - Metric. Emily Haines is the most under-rated singer in rock. This one is one of her best. Don't shine for swine, indeed.

Steadier Footing - Death Cab for Cutie. A sad song about missed opportunity. So all the more appropriate for work.

I'm Your Villain - Franz Ferdinand. This one is for the petty disputes and bickering that make up many a work day. This should have gotten more airplay.

Don't Ask Me - PiL. The king of cynicism goes for out and out earnestness. I feel I shouldn't like this song and yet I do. I quite like the intro to the video.

Cruisin' - Michael Nesmith. So so good. Wait for Nesmith's freak out at the end.

Anathem

My early take on Neal Stephenson's Anathem holds. This is top top-notch ideas driven science fiction that will appeal to fans of literary adventure and speculative fiction. The book's main characters are monks who study math and science without the benefit of much in the way of technology. The plot, which moves from medieval drama to adventure to classic science fiction, involves the interaction between the secular world and the cloistered world of math and science.

Stephenson balances his story between debates over the nature of reality, consciousness and the cosmos with political intrigues, coming of age tales and adventure stories. By lacing his most rarefied debates with humor and by walking people through the ideas, he makes it easier for those who need a bit more hand holding to enjoy them. As one of his major themes is the decline of thinking in the face of distracting infotainment, he is no doubt encouraging to use faculties that many readers have not touched since their college philosophy or math courses.

His story is driven by dialogues involving topics as dense quantum mechanics, so it is all the better that his prose is as light as it is. Despite the book's length (900+ pages) this is a brisk read, with many humorous interludes. There is an amusing joke for Star Trek fans tucked around the middle of the book and there is plenty for others as well.

In the review copy of the book, Stephenson provides a timeline of this world as well as some background for those less well read in science fiction. My advice is to skip it. Stephenson has taken great care in slowly revealing his world's details which makes for lots of fun guesswork and theorizing while reading. His use of dictionary excerpts is a particularly nice technique. Every 20 or so pages, Stephenson provides an entry from the world's encyclopedia. These entries provide context for earlier conversations as well foreshadow upcoming events. This avoids the often stilted explanatory text found in novels that devise an imaginary world.

The China question

Peter Navarro is worried about China and if you read his book, you are at the very least, you may well get concerned as well. The Coming China Wars details problems with Chinese production, quality control, human rights and environmental protection. He also points to Chinese foreign policy as an indicator that China is moving into peer competitor territory. Let's look at each in turn.

Navarro wants US consumers to limit buying Chinese goods, because it is not good for the American economy and because it supports bad Chinese work and environmental habits. He provides a number of cases of evidence for this, although some lean toward the anecdotal. Many times it is difficult to know the scale of the problems he is presenting. How much of the Chinese produced medicine is shoddy for example? I suppose the answer in that case is that one case is too many, but it can be hard to tell how serious the problems that Navarro presents are. His tone can reach the apocalyptic which reduces the appeal of his arguments to the unsure.

Quite a bit of the problems he relates call into question the ability of China to continue on its growth path. Internal divisions, more class than ethnic, are a problem. Environmental degradation is reaching critical levels and the wealthy classes will only go so long without a shift to a consumer culture. This is helpful, as most of the books you read tend to treat China's rise as inevitable.

On the foreign policy side, he portrays Chinese as a rapacious neo-imperialist creating new outposts places as far from Beijing as Central Africa and Latin America. This shouldn't be unexpected. China is growing more wealthy and powerful and as such it is spreading its wings. In few ways does this threaten the United States in any meaningful way. The Chinese Army, Navy and Air Force remain far behind the US and would not fare well in any conflict and the Chinese are sure to know this. Navarro strains credulity when he suggests Chinese anti satellite facilities on Cuba might lead to a new Cuban missile crisis.

So take a look at this book for some reasons to reconsider your shopping and for reasons to think that China's rise may stumble, but don't over-react.

Cover songs are a hell of a tester

Anathem is taking all my book energies so let's talk covers. The Web continues to serve up some good ones. Here's an odd one. Bonnie Prince Billie/Will Oldham singing Big Balls. If you are in the mood for something more conventional, here is Spoon playing Panic. Britt Daniel's distinctive voice sounds great hear and he plays it straight, even getting the "hang-a the DJ" at the end. Here is My Morning Jacket playing Across 110th Street, which is fun. This will either thrill you or leave you scratching your head. Colin Meloy playing Neutral Milk Hotel's King of Carrot Flowers. If that band is unknown to you, check out this Slate piece, which describes the singer, Jeff Magnum, as the JD Salinger of indie rock.

Or just watch this video for Holland, 1945. The music is upbeat, but as you might guess, the lyrics are not.

Nice guys finish last

If you're looking for a satire of the office place, and you don't mind a little ultraviolence (or I suppose if you are seeking ultraviolence, and don't mind the satire) then you should have a look at Duane Swierczynski's Severance Package. The concerns a group of co-workers trapped in a Philadelphia high rise as they find that their boss is planning to kill them all. Turns out they are a civilian intelligence contractor and they are to be liquidated.

So the theme of the book is that the modern office is a Darwinian nightmare, a place where strength weeds out weakness and morals have no place. While it definitely takes a few jabs at the culture of work, as in the case of the striver who thinks his killer is trying to test his loyalty, it quickly moves to an escalating series of sadistic murders. The killer is particularly inventive in this story and particularly cruel. If you are looking for that sort of read, you have found it.

My major complaint about the book is with the core character, the killer. This person is calculating, incredibly astute, amoral, and yet also supposedly given to bizarre affections and delusions. I just didn't believe in the character and I suspect the complications were put in place to allow for the gotcha ending that Swierczynski has in store for the reader.

In both the good and bad sense of the word, the action is cinematic. It flows with rapid speed and well described detail. As in an action movie, the action itself rather the themes take over the story. Swierczynski makes good use of visuals in the book, which isn't surprising as he also works in the comic book world. For the right audience, this book will be a hit, others will be less than pleased.

The new Stephenson

Neal Stephenson writes learned, lengthy novels, featuring great technical detail and set in eras other than our own. Cryptonomicon, a very large book, explores cryptography in World War 2. His Baroque Cycle, set in 17th and 18th century Britain continues to daunt me with its 3000 pages. If anything can get you to attempt these mighty books, John Derbyshire's review is the thing for it. Thanks mostly to length I haven't read these books, I read and loved Snow Crash and the Diamond Age, books that I suspect Stephenson considers learning projects as both are listed under "other works" on his books page. These books are also more explicitly speculative fiction as they are set in the future and feature all sorts of technical toys

His upcoming book, Anathem, takes the speculative element from his earlier books and the philosophical exploration elements of his more recent works. It is set on a planet much like Earth where a group of monks are starting to interact with the secular world. These monks are a little peculiar as they seem to be math monks, dedicated to the study of math rather than the glory of God.

So far ( I am about a third of the way through) it is an excellent read. The philosophical debates and political conflict among the cloister's various factions are fun to read, the characters are interesting (the main character's story is a classic bildungsroman) and Stephenson's humor is well used. He pokes fun at IT, modern culture, and modern politics in a way that fits in well with the story. One of his themes is similar to that of Susan Jacoby's Age of American Unreason, which argues that modern culture is anti-learning. The learning centric monks looks quite different than the entertainment addicted proles who dominate the secular world.

As one of the principal themes of the book is math, I suspect many will be leery of starting it. Don't be. He approaches the subject almost entirely from a non-quantitative way (although for the curious he provides some narrative proofs in the appendix) and the debates are understandable and interesting to a non-specialist (note: my math grades were my lowest in school).

Happy Fourth

In celebration of the birthday of the USA here are two interesting books I have come across.

I just picked up a copy of George Stewart's The Names on the Land which was recently re-issued by the New York Review of Books Classics line. The book is a thematic exploration of why American cities, states, rivers and mountains have the names they do. There are also a few maps including the distribution of "burgs" and "villes." I've only read a small bit but it has been fun so far.

For example, in the Pacific Northwest I learned there was an attempt, in the competition with perfidious Albion for the Oregon Territory to rename all the Cascades after US Presidents. While we did end up with Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and Mt. Adams, Mt. St Helens and Mt. Olympus avoided becoming Mt Van Buren and Shasta is not Mt. Jackson.

For the smaller set, I highly recommend Go Go America by Dan Yaccarino. The book is framed by a family's cross-country trip and focuses on entertaining details of each state including bizarre laws, inventions and historical events. It features Yaccarino's standard cheery graphics with a splash of retro.

And what better what to celebrate the US on a book blog than with the Library of America? Check out this volume on American environmental writing. And wow, does this noir collection look good.

Mixed

Barnett Rubin points out that Ahmed Rashid has a new book on US policy in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. Rashid's Taliban was excellent and I am sure the new one will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more this critical region.

Citizen Reader has a nice post on traveling and reading, specifically whether you read about the place to which you are traveling before or after going.

The good folks at Orbit have been republishing the works of Ian M Banks in the US. Consider Phlebas and Player of Games have been out for awhile and I am thrilled to see that Use of Weapons will be out later this month. Use of Weapons is probably his cruelest work, but I really quite liked it. I've started Matter which is a fun read so far.

Speaking of master science fiction writers, I just received a copy (via Harper Collins First Look -- which you would be crazy not to join) of Neal Stephenson's Anathem, which comes with a CD to which to listen while you read. Funnily enough, I don't think any of my favorite music would go with any of my favorite books. I am trying to think of what would go with Kavalier and Klay or the Road and can't think of anything appropriate.

What's the best Pavement song you don't know? This one.

Simplicity itself

In the late 80s, James Gleick wrote Chaos: Making A New Science, an entertaining book that described the rise of the study of chaos. The book also helped popularize fractals. I recall going to an early 90s Lollapalooza where a fellow attendee pointed to a fractal t-shirt and said "woah, chaos theory." In Simplexity, Time science writer Jeffrey Kluger aims to repeat Gleick's success and detail the rise of a new line of inquiry that explores the inter-relationship between simplicity and complexity. While the book tells a number of entertaining and enlightening stories it does not weave these into a strong, compelling thesis. Do not expect the kids at Bonnaroo to get their heads blown by Simplexity.

The principal idea of the book is that defining something as simple or complex is not easy. He gives the example of the pencil, which appears to be terribly simple, but in fact is a complex assemblage of materials from around the world. Much more interesting is his study of how this is manifested in real-world situations. He asks about the complexity of jobs including truck drivers who have to gauge the reactions and behaviors of other people, the status of his machinery, the effects of weather and many other exogenous factors. The highly paid Wall Street analyst running a series of financial models may seem less complex by comparison.

The book is best seen as a collection of a science author's short pieces. The individual chapters are interesting, but they do not build to an conclusion. There is never a clear use of the idea of just what complexity and simplicity are. We just know that when you look at a problem or a system at one level it is simple and at another level it is complex. It is hard to know what to do with this information. Those interested in learning more should turn to the Santa Fe Institute, where as Kluger explains, much of the research in this field is being done. You can read more about its complexity research here.

God speed all the bakers at dawn

Lifehacker asked its readers to identify the books that changed their lives. Results are here. No huge surprises, the books fall out into religion (the Bible and perhaps Ayn Rand?,) political/philosophical (Orwell, Dawkins and Rand) and geeky (lots of sci-fi). I have nothing against any of these books and have read many of them, but it would be another thing to say they changed your life. I've always been befuddled by the notion that a book might change my life. Never had I read a book that would fundamentally change my life and send me on a course I had not intended. I suppose there is the idea of inspiration, which many of them contain, but that seems to me to be the activation of latent tendencies.

Generally speaking if someone says to me "Read this book, it will change your life," I try to avoid it reading it all costs. For one, it sounds culty. For another then I have to talk about it with them and they will try to gauge if my life has in fact changed.